LEARN GUITAR AND HAVE FUN PLAYING YOUR FAVORITE SONGS!
...WITHOUT HAVING TO TAKE SEEMINGLY ENDLESS CLASSES OR LEAVING THE COMFORT OF YOUR HOME
Do you secretly wish you could pick up a guitar and be able to play your favorite songs to your friends and family? Or turn those lyrics and tunes in your head into real songs. Or perhaps you would like to have the ability to listen to a song on the radio and transcribe the music you hear so that you can play it on the guitar yourself?
Perhaps:
🎸You've already attempted to learn guitar but now it's just gathering dust.
🎸You’re retired and you’re looking for a fun new hobby.
🎸You have aspirations to join a band.
🎸Your friends all play instruments and you would like to be able to join in the fun.
🎸You already know a few basic chords but your skills aren't improving
NOW COULD BE AN IDEAL TIME TO TURN YOUR DREAM INTO REALITY!
What If I could help you…
🎸Play a song all the way through to a level that those listening to you actually recognize it!
🎸Play at that next campfire for your friends and family, or perhaps help you become a worship leader at your church.
🎸Look forward to your practice sessions now that they are no longer a chore.
🎸Visibly notice your guitar playing skills improving.
🎸Make this guitar-playing thing a reality rather than just being a pipe dream.
🎸De-stress from your day job by playing fun music.
🎸Transcribe songs just by listening to them.
That may seem like a long list but I can help you make this happen!
A QUICK LOOK AT GRADE 1
This first grade is designed to quickstart Your Guitar Journey. You'll learn a great deal of information including:
🎸 How to pick the guitar strings,
🎸Basic strumming patterns,
🎸How to change chords quickly,
🎸How to tune your guitar,
🎸How to use a capo,
🎸How to read guitar tablature
🎸The basics of rhythm,
🎸Scales and arpeggios
🎸Understanding musical notes and time signatures
And most importantly you will learn the essential open chords that beginners need to start playing right away, as well as a whole bunch of classic songs and riffs that you'll have fun playing to friends and family!
Without the basics you'll acquire from this Grade 1 course, your guitar journey will become far more challenging than it needs to be! Don't allow that to happen!
My private one-on-one lessons will help you achieve your musical goals and aspirations, especially as all lessons will progress at your own pace. In-person lessons can be held in the comfort of your own home or at Meredith Library in one of their meeting rooms.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
INDIVIDUAL LESSONS
This offers you even more convenience! With my online lessons you can learn in the comfort of your own home on your own schedule. This is ideal for students who are busy professionals or who prefer the flexibility of virtual learning.
ONLINE LESSONS
This course does include a number of carefully selected songs. But you are not learning the guitar to play the songs that I choose, you are going to want to play the songs that you have always dreamt of being able to play. For this reason, I will do my best to incorporate your favorite songs into this course, customizing it just for you.
LEARN TO PLAY YOUR FAVORITE MUSIC
Pay for each lesson as you wish to take it. Simply go to my booking page to schedule and pay for each lesson. Please take into account though that regular, consistent lessons play a crucial role in maximizing your musical progress as they help you stay motivated to practice from week to week. It also maintains the momentum you need to grow your guitar skills.
🎸If you book a block of four lessons you can unlock the benefits of savings on tuition fees, as the cost of each lesson will be discounted.
🎸If you are booking a personal one-to-one lesson please be aware that an additional travel charge may be added to the cost of the lesson.
🎸 30-minute, 45-minute, and 60-minute online lessons are available. All personal one-to-one lessons are 60-minutes in length.
PAYMENTS
I STARTED OUT JUST LIKE YOU
I can still remember those days when I was learning to play guitar. Or perhaps should I say struggling to learn the guitar! Every lesson involved learning classical guitar techniques, which I absolutely hated! Especially as it also involved having to read standard music notation and study music theory as well. All I wanted to do was play my favorite songs and play them without all the unnecessary mubo jumbo that I was having to learn. Practice sessions were such a chore that I would constantly put them off. In fact it seems a miracle that I'm still playing today...but then that's the lure of the guitar, it's a fantastic instrument.
That's why I decided to teach guitar playing by completely rethinking that approach. Unlike my teachers (yes, there were more than one as I easily became frustrated, but then they all ended up teaching exactly the same way). I don’t start with all that boring music theory And I promise to only use the terminology you need rather than unnecessary mumbo jumbo. Instead, I focus on the information and skills you really need, those skills that will enable you to have fun with your guitar quickly and to play songs quickly.
BUT ARE ANY OF THESE SIX FALSE BELIEFS KEEPING YOU FROM LEARNING TO PLAY GUITAR?
I’M TOO OLD TO LEARN TO PLAY THE GUITAR
No, you’re not! Playing songs is fun, and everyone deserves to have a little fun, especially so if you have any form of stress in your life. Guitar playing is a great way to de-stress!
You might think the ship has sailed when it comes to playing along with your favorite songs, but there is no age limit on guitar. Here’s a (sad) piece of advice. I was once leaving an airport in the UK and got talking to another person who asked where I was headed, to which I informed her that I was headed to Cambridge. She promptly asked if I was going to college there, but I replied that of course not, I was too old! I was decades away from retirement so of course I was not too old. I’ll never forgot the look of sadness on her face to my silly reply. So please, do not limit yourself in the same way that I did that day. Even if your fingers feel stiff right now and don’t move as fast as they once did, there is a solution to every problem, so never give up on a dream.
I DON’T POSSESS ENOUGH TALENT
There are very few guitarists that have talent. I once had a friend who could listen to a piece of music just once and play it immediately, even though he never had a single guitar lesson. That’s talent! But the rest of us, and that includes most of the Guitar Gods that we admire don’t possess any magical natural talent. And that’s great news for most of us as we really do not need natural talent to be able to play guitar. What we instead need is a love of music, a determination to push through those frustrating moments that we all experience from time to time (and yes, I still do), and a willingness to practice regularly to become a good guitarist. And talking of practice….
I’VE TRIED LEARNING IN THE PAST BUT PRACTICE DOESN’T HELP ME IMPROVE
Regular practice is crucial to learning the guitar. And by that, I do mean ‘regular’! It is far better to practice consistently over multiple days rather than have one long marathon practice session every few days, every week, or every few weeks (be honest!). 20 minutes of daily practice 4 days a week yields far better results than one long 2-hour practice session once a week.
But as well as regularity, how you practice is equally as important. I will show you a Holistic Practice Routine, which is a system that breaks your guitar practice down into six areas. It also considers that we all have different needs and that our practice routine should reflect them. Understanding how guitar playing works and how each area of practice interacts with each other is the biggest deal here. But the bottom line here is that guitar playing relies on muscle memory, which means you need to practice the right way and regularly.
I’VE TRIED LEARNING TO PLAY IN THE PAST BUT I COULDN’T PLAY BARRE CHORDS
Maybe you attempted to play barre chords too early in your guitar education. The key to playing barre chords is to build the muscles up in your fretting hand, especially the one between your thumb and your index finger. To do that, I recommend you keep your thumb on the back of your guitar neck when playing open chords!
Now, having said that, I don’t expect beginners to play barre chords straight away. In fact, I don’t really teach them until the intermediate level, although on saying that there is a quick introduction to simple barre chords towards the end of Grade 3. The reason behind this is that it takes time to build up those muscles up, which you can be doing throughout most of the beginner course. Don’t worry, I can help you with barre chords, but you won’t be playing them straight away.
I DON’T NEED A TEACHER, I CAN JUST LEARN FROM YOUTUBE VIDEOS
There are some great videos on YouTube, and for the record, I love YouTube. But if you aren’t careful, you’ll bounce from one video to video, learning a little here and there, but in a non-structured way that prevents you from really progressing to a higher level. There are some great videos on YouTube, especially the song videos presented by some reputable guitar teachers, and yes, definitely use those to supplement your tuition. But aside from that, I really advise you to follow a structured well thought out course of study that is right for you and which will take you to where you want to go.
I DON’T NEED A TEACHER, I CAN JUST LEARN ON MY OWN
This is very similar to the belief I discussed above. And yes, I absolutely believe and agree that you can learn to play the guitar on your own. It will very likely takes a lot longer than learning with a teacher though. There are many books out there that you can use, but they will not motivate you in the same way that a teacher can. Or as I discussed above, you could rely on YouTube videos, which may lack the structure you really need to progress, so eventually, you’ll hit a plateau that you find impossible to progress further from. From my own experience, I can confidently say that you are far wiser to follow a structured program offered by a teacher who knows what they’re talking about, as that will definitely accelerate your progress.