Meet Eric - Guitar & Bass Teacher

Thomas Arbaugh is a musical artist who specializes in performance, recording, composition and teach. Thomas offers lessons on guitar, bass guitar, upright bass, ukulele, mandolin, theory, improvisation, and composition. Support is the corner stone of his lessons, and his students choose their own goals. No one is forced to focus on aspects of music they have no interest in, but any aspect of music will require a strong foundation that inevitably will allow students to seamlessly transition into pursuing the dreams they won’t realize until later.

Thomas’ earliest years studying music focused on classical upright bass, followed by jazz. During the most formative years of Thomas’ music career, he was a member of Puget Sound Youth Wind Ensemble, Seattle Youth Symphony, Washington Ambassador of Music, and the Peirce College Jazz Band. Puget Sound Youth Wind Ensemble provided a great opportunity to play concert band focused music on the Upright Bass.

While performing with Seattle Youth Symphony, Thomas was taking private lessons from Tod Larsen (Principal Bassist at Pacific NW Ballet & NW Sinfonietta) and was growing greatly in the classical pillar of music. Thomas toured through Europe playing with the Washington Ambassadors of Music – performing both classical and jazz music. At Peirce College, Thomas had the opportunity to be led by Kareem Kandi, who he would later take advanced theory lessons from.

Thomas currently composes music, records, performs with The Salmonberries, and teaches. He has played with a variety of funk, blues, r and b, folk, and rock and roll groups. He composes for his band, for fun, and for commercial purposes. He has had many experiences recording in professional and home studios. The Salmonberries perform throughout Western Washington at mid-sized venues and festivals. Thomas teaches from a perspective of support and aims to lift student’s up to reach their dreams - And lay a strong foundation, so they can easily exceed them.