Aditya Verma

Independent Musician & Part-Time Guitar Teacher | Original songs, small stages, six strings

I’m a Delhi-based musician releasing original Hindi and English songs through my independent project, Copper Kite Songs. A lot of them start as half a sentence in a notebook and get their first proper outing at an open mic in Hauz Khas. I also teach guitar part-time, helping beginners get comfortable with rhythm, chord changes and playing a whole song without stopping to apologise. My working hours wander a bit, but I’m fairly dependable about lessons and unusually attentive to the sound of ceiling fans.

Teach individual beginner and intermediate guitar lessons three afternoons a week in South Delhi, with occasional online sessions. Build lessons around students’ favourite songs, steady rhythm and manageable practice routines; organise informal student playing sessions every few months.

Write and perform original Hindi and English acoustic songs under a self-run music project. Play open mics and small listening-room sets around Hauz Khas, arrange home recordings, and coordinate occasional collaborations with percussionists and other independent musicians.

Assisted a small Delhi recording studio with session setup, microphone placement, take logging and basic audio editing. Learned how to make performers comfortable and why labelling cables is less optional than it appears.

Acoustic Guitar, Songwriting, Vocal Performance, Guitar Instruction, Live Performance, Home Recording, Audio Editing, Music Arrangement, Ear Training

Hindi, English

A guitar student played her first complete song this week. Three chords, a slightly adventurous tempo, no restarting. At the end she said, “That sounded like music.” It did. We spend so much time fixing individual bits that it’s easy to forget the pleasure of getting from the beginning to the end. I’m keeping a few minutes in every beginner lesson for exactly that now. The chord change can be imperfect. The song still gets to exist.

Tried an unfinished song at a Hauz Khas open mic last night. I had two verses, a chorus and a suspiciously long instrumental section where the third verse should have been. Playing it outside my room made the missing bit very obvious. Useful information, honestly. A room full of people hears things differently from a notebook. Back to the page today, with one borrowed pen and a much shorter instrumental section.

Small teaching experiment: I asked my beginner students to practise for ten minutes with a timer instead of aiming for “a proper practice session.” Fewer heroic Sunday catch-ups, more ordinary Tuesdays with a guitar. It’s only been a few weeks, but the chord changes are getting smoother and nobody seems quite so guilty when I ask how practice went. I’m trying it with my own ear training too. Apparently teachers also require gentle supervision.