Guitar Gift Vouchers!

I am now offering Guitar Lessons Gift Vouchers, these make an ideal and unusual gift. They are available in blocks of 4 or 8 lessons, a block of 4 lessons is £40 and a block of 8 lessons is £80.

Ring now to order your gift voucher on:
               
            01257 483540

EXAMS A BONUS!

Exams are a great way to monitor your progress and when you enter for an exam it can bring your playing on in leaps and bounds as the very thought of doing an exam provides impetus to your practicing and enables you to become a better guitarist.

BEGINNERS

I specialise in teaching the basics to beginners and laying a good foundation, which will enable further progress to be made in the future:

ELECTRIC/ACOUSTIC GUITAR:  Once the basic first position notes are learnt and the open position chords, then the next step is to work through grades 1-3 of the Rockschool syllabus (Level1) or grades 1-3 of the Trinity Guildhall plectrum guitar syllabus. For acoustic guitar I use grades 1-3 of the RGT syllabus.

CLASSICAL/FINGERSTYLE GUITAR: As above once the basic notes are learnt then further progress is made doing grades 1-3 of the  ABRSM Classical Guitar syllabus or grades 1-3 of the Trinity Guildhall Classical Guitar syllabus.

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INTERMEDIATE

Once the basic notes/chords are learnt the next logical step is to slowly introduce bar chords (moveable chords) and position playing.

ELECTRIC/ACOUSTIC GUITAR: For the intermediate student I teach them using grades 4-5 of the Rockschool syllabus (Level 2) or grades 4-5 of the Trinity Guildhall plectrum guitar syllabus. For acoustic guitar I use grades 4-5 of the RGT syllabus.

CLASSICAL/FINGERSTYLE GUITAR: As above bar chords and position playing are slowly introduced and further progress is made using grades 4-5 of the ABRSM Classical Guitar syllabus or grades 4-5 of the Trinity Guildhall Classical Guitar syllabus.

ADVANCED

Now the basic and intermediate stages are complete then we move into more advances styles and techniques of playing.

ELECTRIC/ACOUSTIC GUITAR: At this stage I teach my students using grades 6-8 of the Rockschool syllabus (Level 3) or grades 6-8 of the Trinity Guildhall plectrum guitar syllabus. For acoustic guitar I use grades 6-8 of the RGT syllabus. 

CLASSICAL/FINGERSTYLE GUITAR: Again more advanced styles and techniques are introduced as the student progresses through grades 6-8 of the  ABRSM Classical Guitar syllabus or grades 6-8 of the Trinity Guildhall Classical Guitar syllabus.

CLASSICAL GUITAR

Classical guitar playing is a very rewarding style to play in and I give my students a good grounding in reading music and playing classical guitar music.
My students work through the grades and I enter them for exams if they wish. This is entirely optional and there is no pressure to take an exam. I use the popular ABRSM guitar syllabus and also the Trinity Guildhall guitar syllabus which is gaining in popularity.

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FINGERSTYLE GUITAR

Fingerstyle guitar uses similar techniques to classical playing. I teach Fingerstyle Blues, Pop, Celtic, Jazz and Folk, and ragtime guitar.

For folk guitar I recommend and use Mike Ravens books which are unique and absolutely brilliant!

ROCK/BLUES/ACOUSTIC GUITAR

I teach Rock Guitar using the Rockschool guitar syllabus, a graded syllabus with opportunities to take exams as you progress through the grades. This is a very popular syllabus and covers all the styles of guitar music that you would associate with the electric guitar: rock, blues, pop, jazz etc.

I also use the Trinity Guildhall Plectrum Guitar syllabus which concentrates more on blues and jazz, styles.

For acoustic guitar the RGT syllabus is very good as it majors on acoustic guitar styles, using plectrum or fingerpicking techniques. 

Alternatively, you can concentrate on any style of playing, without the pressure of going through the grades, or taking any exams.

• Lessons are £10.00 for ½ an hour

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LEARNING AIDS

Here are some useful aids to assist you with your studies. For example I find Jammer very useful when learning new pieces.

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Practice Spot
Lots of really useful stuff to help with your sight reading etc.

http://www.practicespot.com/

Theory
Here are a couple of interesting sites to get you knowledge of musical theory.

http://www.musictheory.net/index.html
http://www.zentao.com/guitar/theory/

Jammer
This is a an essential software programme that you can use to create backing tracks. Try the free demo.

http://www.soundtrek.com

Music Ease
A fine software programme which creates music notation, free demo available

http://www.musicease.com/

Fun Way to Sight Read
A free software programme to make learning to sight read a fun activity

http://www.jaydemusica.com/

Ear Training
Train your ear for free, a musicians best friend is a good ear.

http://www.good-ear.com/servlet/EarTrainer

Guitar Noise
Superb guitar site with masses of tutorials covering both theory and practical skills.
A great resource whatever your style of playing.

http://www.guitarnoise.com

Jazzclass
Great site with lots of useful information on jazz theory and improvisation

http://www.jazclass.aust.com

CLASSICAL SHEET MUSIC

Some really useful classical guitar
links where you can download free sheet music.

Creative Guitar
This is a very useful site for classical guitarists with lots of free PDF files of music scores.

http://www.creativeguitar.org/sheet-music