GUITAR: BEGINNER & SOCIAL PLAYING
The key to teaching and learning is to have fun. No one is motivated to take up a leisure activity that promises to be hard work, boring, and uninspiring.
I try to make it fun and enjoyable, and give you a good grounding in the basics.
I generally focus on social playing skills when people first start playing. After just a few short months you’ll be able to play along with well known pop and rock tunes; and be able to play along with other players at a similar level.
Tunes include selected songs by: Green Day, Nirvana, Guns and Roses, Kid Rock, Matchbox 20, Metallica, Pearl Jam, Smashmouth, Police, Nickleback, Santana, The Beatles, Crowded House, Oasis, The Eagles, CCR, and many more.
For social players who want to progress to band level playing it’s really a matter of continuing your tuition. All the things that you have learnt as a social player apply to playing in a band as well. The main difference is that you with need to master bar chords, more advanced strum patterns and understand the different stylistic techniques for a variety of different kinds of music.
BASS GUITAR
Bass is really a band instrument and needs to be taught as such. No one takes up bass to sit around a camp fire and sing Kum-by-Yah.
Good bass players are hard to find and can always get a paying gig.
For that reason I generally teach Bass players to read music right from the 1st lesson. This makes it’s easier to teach CORRECT bass fingering as opposed to guitar fingering. Learning to read also aids a player to learn the names of the notes on their instrument; something guitarists often don’t do very well.
A good bass player needs a higher level of theory than a guitarist playing the same material, especially if the bassist has to make up their own parts. For this reason I generally start practical music theory at a much earlier stage of the learning process.
I teach pick, finger style, and slap and pop. A career minded bass player in this day and age should be able to use all of these picking styles.
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LEAD GUITAR
I help you learn all of the scales licks and tricks that will allow you to play a wide variety of styles i.e. Blues, Classic Rock, Metal/Hard Rock, Southern Rock, Latin Rock, Jazz Fusion, and a wide variety of other styles. The emphasis for players at this level will be learning the correct techniques and skills needed to achieve virtuoso level playing; High level Theory, Pentatonic and Modal scales, and Ear training.
Some of the guitarists/styles I'm familiar with include:
SRV, JOE BONAMASSA, GARRY MORE, SANTANA, DAVID GILMORE, YNGIE MALMSTEEN, JOE SATRIANI, ROBBEN FORD, LARRY CARLTON, DUKE ROBILLIARD, AL DIMEOLA, JOHN McLAUGHLIN, FRANK GAMBALE, ALVIN LEE, ERIC CLAPTON, JOHNNY WINTER, BB KING, SCOTT HENDERSON, DICKIE BETTS, RORY GALLAGER, BUDDY GUY, DUANE ALLMAN , RITCHIE BLACKMORE, MICHAEL SCHENKER, PAUL GILBERT, ANGUS YOUNG, JIMMY PAGE, STEVE VAI, ANDY TIMMONS, ERIC JOHNSON and many more.
