Since the start of the pandemic I have used something called Soundslice this has been the best learmig tool I have ever seen for guitar. I send my students a link to what we are working on and then the student can see a video of myself playing the piece, the music and tablature. The student can then slow down the piece of music, loop sections that they may want to practise and also make the video larger to be able to see techniques not only close up but with the ability to slow the video down. This has been very popular with all my students....
read morePaul McCartney Lyrics Book Let me start by saying that reviewing books is not normally something I would do on my website. The fact that this book contains not one note of music in it, or any chords makes it an even more peculiar. The reason I have decided to review this book is, the fact that it is written by one the most successful song writers of our time. I have read many “Rockstar” biographies over the years. This one though stands out from the crowd. The book covers his lyrics from 1956 to now. So that includes The Beatles,...
read moreChristmas Gifts For Guitarists Its that time of year again and you could be looking to buy Christmas gifts for guitarists in your life. So I am her to give you some ideas I will also include links to Amazon so you do not have to go hunting around specialist music shops to find them. Tuner First up is a guitar tuner. They will always sound better after using a guitar tuner. They are a great stocking filler and easy to use. This can be kept with a guitar or in a gig bag. very portable and can be used for beginners and advanced guitarists. A...
read moreGuitar Tutor Of The Year 2021 A J Green award winning Guitar Tutor. A J Green has been awarded the Midlands Enterprise Award for guitar tutor of the year 2021. Midlands Enterprise Awards Scheme aims to be a thorough, robust representation of the ‘crème de la crème’ of business throughout the Midlands. As they say, ‘the cream rises to the top’ and when faced with the challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought, this saying has never been truer. When the pandemic hit in March 2020 it literally threw the music industry into turmoil. Face...
read moreJan Burton Scores 100% With London College Of Music Examination Congratulations are in order for Jan Burton for scoring 100% in London College of Music guitar exam. Jan started taking online guitar lessons with me back in February 2021 Jan has lessons on electric and acoustic guitar. Since 2004 I have given my students the option to take guitar exams to gain recognised qualifications. The majority of my students pass with either merit or distinction. However Jan is the first student I have ever known to have passed with a mark of 100% in a...
read moreOnline Guitar Lessons Online Guitar Lessons I have now been doing online guitar lessons for over a year. When the pandemic lockdown began I had to think quickly to keep things moving. The music business ground to a halt in terms of live performances. I did not want to do substandard lessons. So I had to do some research as this was completely new to me, and to most of my students. I looked at as many online teaching / meeting platforms as possible. I found Zoom to be the best of the bunch as this enables screen sharing a feature many of the...
read moreAcoustic Guitar Exam Changes Acoustic Guitar Exam Changes There have been a few acoustic guitar changes. Registry of Guitar Tutors (R.G.T) have now merged with London College of Music. (LCM) this has been rebranded ‘RGT@LCM’ The RGT syllabus for acoustic guitar ended at the end of 2020. RGT@LCM. In this post I will only be concentrating on acoustic guitar performance awards as this has always been popular with my students over the years. As most of you may know London College of Music offer graded examinations on most instruments....
read moreEVH Striped Frankie Review Review of EVH Striped Series Frankie Eddie Van Halen signature guitar I purchased this guitar November 2020. This was just after Eddie Van Halen passed away. I have always admired Eddie as a player and guitar pioneer. So decided to purchase this guitar and set about learning all the tracks off Van Halen 1. Setting a tough challenge for myself. Arguably Eddie changed the way guitar is played more than any other guitarist. I have waited until now to review the guitar. This is due to when you have something new...
read moreHow To Take Guitar Exams 2021 The way we take guitar exams has changed since COVID-19 has arrived. This post should give you all you need to know on how to take guitar exams in 2021. In March 2020 face to face guitar exams were cancelled due to Coronavirus. My students at the time were given the opportunity to have a refund, or do what is called a Digital Assessment. I am glad to say all of my students took and passed the Digital Assessment. In this post I will go through electric guitar exams with Trinity College Rock And Pop This is also...
read more2020 Review 2020 Review Here is a review of 2020. What an extraordinary year in every sense of the word. We all remember around this Christmas time last year we started to get news of a deadly flu like strain emerging in China. I don’t think many of us ever thought it was going to reach British shores or travel the globe the way it has. Kick up the 80’s had a full diary for the year. We also had a flight to Guernsey booked. It was going to be our first gigs off the mainland. Everything was going great until March. Kick up the 80’s played...
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