The local spotlight
Meet the Southaven Music Teacher Who Wants You to Enjoy Learning
Before your first music lesson with Stephen McNeill, there’s something he wants you to know: you don’t have to be good yet.
You can miss a note. You can ask the same question again. You can bring in a song you’re a little embarrassed to admit you love. Learning is the reason you’re there, and Stephen wants you to feel comfortable enough to try.
Based in Southaven, Stephen teaches guitar, drums, bass, mandolin, and ukulele, with online lessons available through Zoom. His approach starts with a simple goal: help people find joy in playing music and give them a reason to keep coming back to it.
A Few College Students Became a Career
Stephen didn’t start teaching with a business plan. He needed a way to earn some money during college.
A friend who taught guitar had more prospective students than available lesson times, so he passed a couple of those students along to Stephen. Once Stephen began teaching, something clicked. He loved it, and he realized he had already been doing a version of it for years: helping friends learn songs and explaining how things worked on guitar.
Halfway through his senior year, he recognized that he didn’t want a career in his college major. He finished his degree and continued teaching guitar and drums while he figured out what came next.
Teaching turned out to be the answer.
It gave him work he cared about, room to write and record his own music, and time with his family. What began as a weekend job became something he wanted to build intentionally.
Music Lessons Where Mistakes Are Welcome
Trying something unfamiliar can make anyone feel self-conscious. Stephen wants to take that pressure out of the lesson.
“It’s very much okay to make mistakes,” he says. “And making mistakes is part of the learning process.”
That applies to playing the wrong notes, struggling with a rhythm, or needing more time to understand something. Those moments belong in a music lesson. Students are working on skills they haven’t developed yet.
Stephen wants them to leave feeling encouraged to keep trying. He cares about their progress, but he also pays attention to how they experience the time together. A lesson that feels like a constant reprimand is unlikely to make someone eager to pick up an instrument at home.
His goal is to help students enjoy the work of learning, including the imperfect parts.
Bring the Music You Actually Like
Some students arrive with a song in mind but hesitate to ask about it. Maybe it comes from a video game. Maybe it feels too unusual, too heavy, or somehow not suited to a guitar lesson.
Stephen welcomes that enthusiasm.
Want to learn something from Super Mario Galaxy? He’s happy to explore it. Interested in a metal song? Bring it up. Within age-appropriate boundaries, he enjoys helping students work on music that means something to them.
“Like what you like,” he tells them.
That openness benefits Stephen, too. His students introduce him to music he might never have discovered on his own. Their interests give them something to work toward and give him new things to enjoy along the way.
You don’t need to arrive with the same musical taste as your teacher. You can start with your own.
Finding Joy in the Small Breakthroughs
For Stephen, a successful lesson can be the moment a student recognizes a melody they’re playing or finally gets through a passage that had seemed out of reach.
Those small breakthroughs give students a reason to continue. They can hear their progress and experience the satisfaction of making music themselves.
Stephen connects that enjoyment with gratitude. His faith shapes his desire to help people notice something good in the experience and feel thankful for it.
“I want them to have enjoyed it,” he says. “I want them to have enjoyed trying.”
That matters even if a student eventually decides an instrument isn’t for them. He wants the process to have been worthwhile: time spent learning, discovering something new, and finding enjoyment along the way.
Teaching in the Community He Calls Home
Stephen grew up near the community where he now teaches. Staying in DeSoto County wasn’t a carefully mapped-out decision, but his roots here have grown deeper over time.
His family is here. His community is here. As his own family has grown, that connection has become more meaningful.
“It’s where I live. It’s my home,” he says.
His teaching business has grown through those local connections, too. Students and families tell their neighbors, friends, and coworkers. Those recommendations have helped him build a business in the place where his life is already rooted.
For families looking for music lessons in Southaven, that means getting to know a teacher who is part of the community himself.
Getting Started with Stephen
Stephen offers in-person music lessons in Southaven and Zoom lessons for people who live farther away or can’t make it to his teaching location.
Whether you’re interested in guitar, drums, bass, mandolin, or ukulele, the next step is to reach out, share what you’d like to learn, and ask about current lesson openings.
You don’t have to arrive knowing how to play. Bring your questions, your musical interests, and a willingness to try.
Interested in lessons? Contact Stephen through his website ↗ to ask about scheduling and availability.
Business details confirmed October 23, 2026.
Business website ↗