A Note About Scott Nygaard’s Role at Peghead Nation

Peghead Nation co-founder is moving into a new part-time role as an active music transcriber, editor, and curriculum consultant.

By: Dan Gabel

June 3, 2026

Hi Pegheads!

I want to share an update about co-founder Scott Nygaard’s role here at Peghead Nation.

Over the past several months, Scott has been gradually stepping back from his original, day-to-day role as the central Peghead Nation figure handling new course development and instructor communication to a part-time role focused on a portion of what he’s been doing all along: transcribing and engraving the music for many of our courses, editing lesson descriptions, and consulting on ongoing lesson and curriculum development. We’re now at a point where that shift is mostly in place.

Peghead Nation Founders — Scott Nygaard, Dan Gabel, Teja Gerken
Peghead Nation Co-Founders

Scott continues to contribute his formidable musical and editorial skills to Peghead Nation and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. This is a planned transition that Scott, Teja, and I consider a win, to be in a place where a co-founder and pillar of the company we started more than 12 years ago can move into another phase of life, in another country, knowing that Peghead Nation is healthy and very much continuing with our aim to teach the world to play the music we all love.

To be very clear: Peghead Nation is moving forward uninterrupted, with the same depth and care that has always defined what we do. What began as “the Scott Nygaard Way” of teaching has now become “the Peghead Nation Way,” and we will continue in that vein, with new courses being developed and released as I type.

While I’ve always had a hand in green-lighting courses and communicating with instructors, I am now leading our course development, building on the foundation Scott helped create, and working with our instructors to shape new courses, refine existing ones, and develop new types of Peghead Nation offerings. Co-founder Teja Gerken remains fully involved as our producer, video editor, and head of our ongoing instrument and gear coverage.

We’ve brought on a Music Education Editor, Paul Kotapish, who is working with us in the studio, helping to shape new lesson releases and ensure that each course reflects the teaching style our students expect. Guitarist Hayes Griffin has also been transcribing and engraving some of our mandolin and guitar lessons. And while we are certainly a music- and instruction-driven enterprise, all of this top-level content we create has to get onto the site and out into the world. We have lots of talent carrying on the Peghead Nation way, and these roles are already helping us stay consistent and continue to raise the bar.

Scott’s impact on Peghead Nation is hard to overstate. From the beginning, he was the driving force behind our approach to teaching, how material is presented, and how we help players make real progress over time. With more than 3,000 lessons on Peghead Nation (and counting), Scott’s vision of teaching is deeply woven into what we do, and it will remain the model on which we continue to build.

And Scott’s place in the world of flatpicking and acoustic music is undeniable, as a player, performer, instructor, and composer. When we started Peghead Nation, Scott brought with him a deep network of musical friends, bandmates, and fellow players, many of whom became the first instructors on Peghead Nation. Scott’s role in building Peghead Nation will be an important part of his multi-faceted legacy, and I’m grateful that he’ll continue to be part of Peghead Nation in this next chapter.

On a personal note, it’s been one of the greatest pleasures of my life to build this company alongside Scott and Teja. This month marks 30 years since I stepped into the Acoustic Guitar magazine offices, and both Scott and Teja followed shortly thereafter. We’ve had a close working relationship ever since. When we left the magazine 13 years ago and decided to keep this trio together, we deepened that relationship from co-workers to co-founders of Peghead Nation, something for which I’ll always be grateful. But perhaps more importantly, we’ve remained dear friends.

I’m excited about where we’re headed, happy for Scott, and very thankful to you for being a part of Peghead Nation. Here’s to the future!

Thank you,
Dan Gabel
President and Co-founder, Peghead Nation