Harley Giles teaches guitar, bass and ukulele to students like high school sophomore Vincent Leyva at Fresno Music Academy and Arts.
"I would call this a second home at this point. I'm here all the time, and I love this place," Giles said.
Back when Giles was a student at Minarets High, he loved the opportunity he had to perform.
"And I thought, what if we do something like that here," Giles said.
So he came up with the idea of "Rock Lab."
It's a six-month immersion, building a performance band made up of students already studying at FMAA.
Students can be of any age, but to join, they must be intermediate to advanced and have been recommended by their teacher.
Instructor John Koontz recommended Hannah Bean.
"I have been playing guitar for less than a year, so I was like, that might be a very big push for me. My teacher really encouraged me to do it, and so I started coming here, and it's been great," Bean said.
Students learn a minimum of 10 songs from a variety of genres.
During their lessons, they work with their teachers on the music selection.
Then, on Sundays, they rehearse with their bandmates.
Giles says they expected to have one band made up of six musicians. Instead, there was so much interest that they ended up with four times that amount.
Each band comes up with a name.
Bean is part of The Blue Chains.
At the six-month mark, they got to show off all their hard work as they performed in the Vista Theater at FMAA for family and friends.
Bean says the challenge of learning a new instrument and working alongside bandmates has helped her grow.
"It has definitely boosted my confidence. I am not a very outward, expressive person, but through bands and being able to do all of this, I've really been able to express myself and allow myself to grow socially," Bean said.
For Giles, who dreamed up the program, he says it's been fun to watch the students evolve.
"I'm excited to see that a lot of them have grown into themselves, more have made friends, started to practice outside of class, which is a really cool thing to hear," Giles said.
All of the Rock Lab bands will be performing in Fresno's Tower District at Summer Fox Brewing on November 16.
It is open to the public.