I grew up in Vinhais, a small town in the mountains of north-east Portugal. I started on piano at 10 and picked up the guitar at 13 — jazz, blues, rock, fado, whatever was in front of me. Since then I have played in rock bands and jazz combos, spent ten years playing fado, and was the conductor of the Banda Filarmónica de Vinhais. I started teaching in 1997 and have taught for over 25 years: students from 3 to 80 years old, mostly on guitar.

Along the way I studied music education and biomedical engineering — a degree and a master’s in each. The combination tells you something about how my mind works: I like systems, I like understanding why something works before I try to use it, and I care about how to actually teach it. That instinct shaped how I teach harmony: mechanism first, shape second.

I also build software. I created four guitar practice apps — riffroutine.com — because the tools I wanted for my own practice did not exist. A scale trainer, an ear-training app, a progression generator, a polyrhythmic metronome.

On YouTube I publish short, visual lessons on jazz harmony — drop voicings, voice-leading, substitutions — the same material the courses go deeper on. Every chord is on the screen as a diagram while it is played.

You will often see me on a manouche-style guitar. That is the instrument I happen to play; harmony is the subject. Everything here transfers to any guitar and any style that uses extended chords.