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About my teaching

Here you'll find some more detailed information on what I teach and if its what your looking for.

BEGINNERS

All beginners will start off at pretty much the same place, regardless of musical tastes. It's important to learn a few basic chords, how to strum, the names of some of the notes on the guitar, so as to lay a good foundation to proceed.

I always try to get a student playing a simple song by the end of the first lesson, even if it only requires learning one or two chords. Hopefully, this will encourage students that it is very achievable to be playing some recognisable music on the guitar pretty quickly.

Most beginners will want to learn a whole song or two pretty soon. There are plenty of good tunes that this can be achieved with. Day Tripper by The Beatles is a good example of this, with a cool, recognisable riff, some chords and a short solo, it represents the perfect improver's study piece. There are a load of other songs that fall into this category, if there's any you're interested in then just let me know and I'll try have them for you to play by the next lesson (depending on how hard the song is to work out!).

IMPROVING PLAYERS

If you've already been playing for a while, or if you've come to me as a beginner and are now moving onto some more complex material, then I'll be able to help.

The Blues is the perfect place for any guitarist to start learning to solo. Players like Eric Clapton or B.B King give some great examples of how to play lead guitar without having to know a ton of theory. A few scales, a basic knowledge of chords and your'e away!

Other more advanced ideas, such as barre chords, arpeggios, picking techniques and major and minor scales can be introduced here too. Hopefully, all this will enable a player to go off and follow their own preferences with the guitar a little bit more, as well as starting to de-mystify the daunting subject of music theory a little too.

There's plenty more songs to be learnt here as well. Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, Bon Jovi, the Foo Fighters, Greenday, My Chemical Romance, the Kaiser Chiefs - whatever your tastes, let me know and I'll prepare something from that band or genre for you to learn.

ADVANCED

If you're keen to learn at a more advanced level then there's still plenty more to get stuck into! Admittedly, at this stage, a lot more theory and more detailed technique come into play, but taken little by little this can be both rewarding and fun, and of course gives you the tools to become a truly "independent musician"!

Study pieces like Paganini's Caprice No 24, advanced rock guitarists like Steve Vai and Joe Satriani, bands like Metallica and Trivium, all these offer masterclasses in technical ability and are guaranteed to help any guitarist improve their playing. More than enough to be getting on with! Again, if there's anything you particularly want to achieve, just let me know.

Theory and technique wise, there's an unlimited amount to learn (I'm still learning every day!). Harmonics, sweep picked arpeggios, harmonisation, two handed tapping, legato techniques - all offer to plenty to be studying. And advanced theory ideas such as the major scale modes will take your creativity to another level, plus letting you show off to your friends with some impressive latin words!

Anyone interested in jazz guitar is now equipped to start learning the in's and out's of this demanding genre!

Hope that's whetted you appetite! There's a lot there, but taken bit by bit, none of it needs to be a problem.