Electric Guitar:

Finally, that guitar solo sounds right!

Electric Guitar Lessons: Learn how to play like your favourite guitarists while having fun.

The electric guitar is one of the most popular instruments of all time – but are you surprised?

They can be quiet and laid back or wild and loud. From chilled out blues riffs to the huge distorted solos. The electric guitars versatility is apparent from all of the styles that it has helped to shape. Blues, rock and roll, metal, punk, reggae, ska, funk, pop… the list goes on and on.

What is it about the electric guitar that made you want to play it?

Maybe it was the power of the chords throughout your favourite album. The solo that just links the whole song together. Was it seeing a live band and thinking to yourself “I want to do that”.

When I heard the distorted guitar, that was the only instrument I had ever had any interest in playing. I wanted to be able to solo (I had no idea how I was meant to do that… but it sounded cool!)

Cue the weeks and months of clipped strings and buzzing notes…

The chord shapes that seemed impossible at times…

Learning songs that you’ve never even heard of let alone in the style you wanted to play…

(Not the most impressive montage).

Even with the best will in the world – it can make you feel like giving up.

Ways most people try to learn without a guitar teacher

Many of my students started by looking up videos on YouTube. It seems like a good place to start – after all the person in the video makes it look pretty easy! While there is nothing wrong with this method, many people have told me that they just had too much choice. Too many options… and there was just no direction.

How did they know what they were practicing was right?

Did they even need to know about all this theory before they can start to play the guitar?

Another way that people try to learn before finding a guitar teacher is from a book. While this seems to have more of a structure to it than all of YouTube, is it the roadmap to your guitar goals or someone else’s?

A big drawback of both of these methods is what do you when you have a question? Sometimes it can seem as if there is something missing, but what is it? Why doesn’t it sound right? This is when a guitar teacher can save you lots of time as they have been through it before.

Breakthrough in guitar playing

My biggest breakthrough for my guitar playing came after I heard a song by what become my favourite band. I’d just never heard anything like it before. You probably have that song of your own. That song that just made you say “I want to play like that!”. It was like there was no choice, at that point I had to learn how to play the guitar.

To start it was clumsy and I didn’t know how to go about playing some of it. After some trial and error (ok… a lot of trial and error) I took the song to my guitar teacher. She showed me where I was going wrong and how to fix it. It really didn’t seem all that hard once I had someone explain it to me. Plus when I did struggle with parts, I had someone to walk me through it rather than feeling like giving up.

To play the guitar the way you want to be able to you need to know what to focus on. As we talked about before, the electric guitar is such a versatile instrument. It translates to so many different genres, but do all these styles sound the same?

Each genre and style of playing makes use of many different aspects of guitar playing. Which ones are important to you to reach your goals?

Once I could see that there was a way to be able to play the guitar exactly how I wanted to be able to play it, practising wasn’t a chore anymore. It was actually fun! I learnt how to play with other musicians as well as playing along with my favourite songs. Before I knew it I was in a band! I got my Grade 8 from RGT in electric guitar. This helped me to develop skills that meant I could memorise and write my own songs. Even jamming with any musician without any notice wasn’t scary, it was fun. Even if we didn’t know any of the same songs!

This isn’t because I am some sort of guitar prodigy (far from it). When I started, my rhythm was terrible! Honestly I had no concept of timing – it was pretty embarrassing.

I also had no idea how to improvise. Furthermore, I would have never have thought I would be able to play along with my favourite songs.

Why I became a guitar teacher

I want you to be able to play the guitar like your favourite musicians. Not mine. Yours. I became a guitar teacher so I could help other people learn how to play the guitar the way they wanted, not the way the teacher wanted them to play. Through over 10 years of teaching I have been able to show many other students how to play along with their favourite songs. Many have achieved high grades. Some have started bands, others jam with friends for fun.

I want to show you how to play guitar and the songs you love.

WANT TO TAKE YOUR GUITAR PLAYING TO THE NEXT LEVEL?

BUT ARE THESE GUITAR LESSONS REALLY FOR ME?

I don’t have time to practise every night, can I still benefit from lessons?

Absolutely! You don’t have to commit to practice every single day for the next 10 years – but you do need to be able to spend at least a few hours a week at home going through what you learnt in your lesson. I will show you how you can fit your practice around your busy schedule even when you think you don’t have the time.

Do I really need a guitar teacher, can’t I just learn it off YouTube for free?

YouTube has loads of videos about how to play guitar. Even guitar lessons. The problem most of my students have found  is there is no direction. While I’m sure you can learn guitar from YouTube, do you really have time to go through the trial and error of finding what works and what is no use to you? Wouldn’t it be better to speed up the process by having a roadmap to your goal and get rid of all the other stuff that won’t benefit you? Many students have told me that they had questions but they couldn’t ask them. This is just one of the advantages of having a guitar teacher over using YouTube videos as your only way of learning. Sure, they could leave a comment but would they ever get back to them? Would anyone get back to them — and would the answer even be right?

I think I might be told old to learn now… I wish I’d learnt when I was younger…

In many ways you are at an advantage when it comes to learning guitar if you are an adult as you will be able to understand complex ideas such as rhythms more easily. Also your hands will be stronger. Plus you truly want to be able to play the guitar and aren’t forced to go to music lessons just because they are a good idea.

I tried to play guitar/another instrument before and I just didn’t get it, but I really want to play!

It’s true that some people take to an instrument faster than others. That doesn’t mean you can’t learn it. If you really want to play and are willing to put the time in it may have been that you just weren’t practising the right things in the right order. We can fix that. I teach the guitar differently to most guitar teachers and my style of teaching might suit you better than any previous guitar teacher you’ve had in the past.

These guitar lessons are for you if:

These guitar lessons are not for you if:

I want you to be the best guitar player you can be. That is the reason I became a guitar teacher.

While I wish I could help everyone, like most people, I only have limited time. This means I can only work with students who are ready to be challenged, are happy to find time to practice and who truly want their guitar playing to advance.

This doesn’t mean you have to be a naturally talented musician by any means. It just means you are excited about the journey to become a better guitarist.

Due to there being limited time in my schedule, from time to time I have to stop accepting new students. This is because I want to make sure that my guitar students are getting the most out of their lessons.

If you think that these lessons will benefit you, please fill out the form at the bottom of the page.

If there is space then I will happily arrange a time with you for your lessons, otherwise I still recommend that you fill out the form and enjoy the free content on this site until a slot opens up. I will reply to you either way so you won’t be left wondering if there is a slot free or not.

FIRST 30 MINUTE LESSON IS FREE

Your first guitar lesson is a free 30 minute lesson so you can see if these guitar lessons are for you. Come and try out the guitar lesson and see if guitar tuition is right for you – if not, no hard feelings! Of course, you are still welcome to use the free learning material on this website.

LESSON PLANS

Sign up for your FREE 30 minutes guitar lesson

* monthly payments refer to calendar months so each month is the same cost no matter if there is 4 or 5 weeks in the month.
Your first monthly payment will be adjusted if it is not a complete month and to cater for your free half hour lesson.
Full details will be given at your free trial lesson about payments and terms and conditions.