Meet Mr. Weston
Dear Musician Friends,
Welcome to Weston's Fantastic Finger Guides. My name is Toby Weston. I appreciate your visiting my website to learn more about my finger guide invention for beginning and intermediate string players. I am a middle school orchestra teacher in the Pacific Northwest. On my 10th year of teaching I had a breakthrough and discovered a system better than finger tapes for teaching students how to play the violin, viola, cello and bass. Let me tell you the story...
Back in the fall of 2017 I had a large beginning 5th grade orchestra of 30+ students that met twice a week for 30 minutes. They were super excited to learn their first songs. After about 4 weeks of very slow progress, most of the students were still trying to figure out where the D string is. I realized at that moment that finger tapes weren't very effective as a teaching tool. I searched around for a better option and couldn't find anything. At that point I decided to create a finger guide for my students that included the essentials for a beginner to be successful.
Back in the fall of 2017 I had a large beginning 5th grade orchestra of 30+ students that met twice a week for 30 minutes. They were super excited to learn their first songs. After about 4 weeks of very slow progress, most of the students were still trying to figure out where the D string is. I realized at that moment that finger tapes weren't very effective as a teaching tool. I searched around for a better option and couldn't find anything. At that point I decided to create a finger guide for my students that included the essentials for a beginner to be successful.
Over about 2 weeks I designed the first prototype of the D Major Beginner Guide. I still remember the day I ripped off all of the finger tapes on the student instruments and replaced them with the D major beginner finger guides. In less than 10 minutes nearly every student was playing hot cross buns and could tell you with confidence their first notes. Students came back the next rehearsal beaming with confidence. Many had come back with new songs already learned on their own. I then went on to make the All Notes Finger Guide and A Major Finger Guide.
For the last 2 years I have tested dozens of vinyl decal samples and various printing techniques until I was able to find a highly durable, thin material that easily installs and leaves no residue upon removal. In addition, I applied for a utility patent and was just awarded the patent December, 2019 (Patent #10504378)
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I am now ready to share the Fantastic Finger Guides with the world. Our grand opening was officially December 24th, 2019. Looking forward to helping our beginning string students across the world to grow musically smarter by way of the Fantastic Finger Guides.
Please reach out to me through my contact page with feedback, success stories or any ways I can better help you get started in playing the violin.
Have a musical day!
Toby Weston
Fantastic Finger Guides LLC
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