Guitar

I’ve been playing guitar for a long time now. The first time i heard Eric Clapton that was it for me. Guitar all the way! I became totally obsessed with learning how to play. My dad borrowed an Epiphone 355 off a friend of his and i played it non stop. Soon after i progressed to a Tokia Tele. Had i not scalloped the fretboard whilst going through an Yngwie Malmsteen phase it might be worth something now!

Anyway, after about four years of teaching myself from Beatles songbooks and off records i started lessons with Mick Hutchinson in Eastbourne. Mick is a great guitarist and really got me to understand the importance of timing and feel. At the time I was into a lot of rockabilly and my favorite guitarist was Paul Fenech from the Meteors. Then i heard Gary Moore! The solo from “Out in the Fields” totally blew my mind. It was the first time I’d heard someone play so fast!

I was now officially ROCK!!! Over the next 4 years I went through every guitar hero like butter. Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Yngwie Malmsteen, Paul Gilbert, George Lynch and my all time favorite Eddie Van Halen. I was also listening to lots of blues. SRV, BB King and the like. My technique had advanced to a pretty high level through sheer volume of practice hours. It was at this point Mick suggested I go to GIT as he didn’t feel i could go any further with him. So off i went. I was 17.

While I was there I studied with Scott Henderson, TJ Helmeric, Jennifer Batten, Norman Brown and my private counsellor was Steve Travato. Steve really opened my mind to other music especially country guitar which I’m a big fan of. It was a great experience and enviroment for a young guitarist.

I’m still playing the guitar now. I’ve played for some pretty cool people, in all sorts of styles and my playing has been heard all over the world on TV and radio. My tastes have broadened and so has my playing. I’m fluent in a wide varity of styles both electric an acoustic. I also play a bit of pedal steel (I made my own, but that’s another story!)

I also believe it’s important to pass your knowledge along. I’ve taught privately for a while now and for the last 3 years have tutored at the Brighton Institute of Modern Music doing the Session Styles and Technical Development modules. I also teach on courses for the International Guitar Foundation.

I’ll be posting some free guitar tutorials up on the blog so grab that RSS feed to keep up to date.

I’ll hopefully get some demos up soon so you can see what I’m on about!

For enquiries about sessions send me a message using the contact form.