Lesson Pricing

For complete beginners we start with a one-off hour session. There’s quite a lot of foundational information here but I aim to get you playing music you’ll recognise and enjoy straight away. There’s no obligation to sign up on the lesson plan - this hour is for seeing if we’re a good fit going forward. After that, 30 minute lessons once a week are all you need - Each week I’ll review how you’ve gotten on and assign you new material when needed. Beginners just need to be able to commit to a few 10-15 minute practice sessions in between lessons (see below for more info on practice).

If you already play, please get in touch to organise a free 30 minute consultation. In this casual session we’ll play a bit so I can see where you’re at, chat about your musical background, music taste, and work out any goals you may have. I’ll then put together a roadmap to help you achieve these goals. It’s very common for self-taught players to have gaps in their knowledge that might have been skipped - please be prepared that there will probably be some basics in there that need work and attention before moving on to more advanced material.

Once signed up for lessons and the first Direct Debit comes through, I’ll give you access to your own Student Portal. Here you’ll find notes from each lesson + any supplemental materials, videos, downloads etc etc. We’ve all got busy lives, so it can be easy to forget what we’ve covered and what you’re supposed to be working on, so it helps to have online for reference. The portal also has a practice diary - a super useful journal to fill out to keep track of your practice sessions. I have kept practice journals for many years and can attest to how helpful they are for progress.

Lessons are held at my home studio in St Ives & I have free parking directly outside the property. All you need to bring is your guitar, a clip-on tuner (although if you haven’t got a tuner yet, you’re welcome to use one of mine for the lesson), a guitar pick (I recommend purchasing a variety pack of different shapes and sizes) and a project folder - I will be providing lesson materials each week to take home, and the folder is essential for keeping organised.

This is up to you and the kind of music you’d like to play. It’s a common misconception that you have to start on acoustic - I believe you should choose the one that makes you want to play. Personally, I started on electric as I was an 11 year old who just wanted to play loud rock music and make a lot of noise! I started to move into more acoustic based playing a few years later.

Acoustics and electrics both have advantages/disadvantages at the start:

• Ease of playing: Electric is easier to play at first due to the thinner strings, neck and lower action (distance between strings and neck), so much easier to progress. Acoustic is tougher to start with but builds your strength and calluses quicker. Generally I’ve found the best results at the start tend to come from those starting on electric.

• Budget: It’s easier to find a good lower budget beginner acoustic (around £100), whereas there’s more of an outlay for a good starter electric (as you need the guitar, cable and amp). However, you can save a lot of money going secondhand if you know what you’re looking for. I’m always happy to help students find equipment for their budget :)

It’s a bit of a minefield at the lower budgets (£100-250). You can get a lot more bang for your buck on the used market, but you need to know what you’re looking for (feel free to reach out to me for guidance).

For acoustic guitar, brands like Yamaha, Fender, Sigma, Tanglewood and Aria are good starting points.

For electric guitar, you can’t go wrong with a Yamaha Pacifica - a timeless, solid choice for beginners! You also generally can’t go wrong with brands such as Fender, Squier or Epiphone. For amplifiers, a small practice amp with some built-in effects (and ideally a headphone socket) would be a great choice, e.g. a Blackstar ID Core, Positive Grid Spark, Yamaha THR or Boss Katana. Please note, practice amps are usually a lot cheaper secondhand.

I highly recommend checking out the fantastic local store Music Street in Huntingdon for help selecting your first guitar. It’s important when picking out a guitar to see and try a selection, as each one is different! They will walk you through your options, check it out the box and set it up to how you’d like it - an option you wouldn’t get shopping online - we must support our local music shops as we’ve now sadly lost most of them.

If looking online or at the used market, please consult with me before purchasing something, I’m happy to help! It’s fairly common that when buying used, the guitar might need a setup to get it playing as well as it can, so you might need to factor this cost into any purchases.

Every student is different, but I generally recommend 30 minute lessons per week for most, especially those in the beginner phase.

For the more dedicated and advanced players (e.g. working on the higher grades and beyond), 1 hour lessons could be a better fit to work through specialised material.

Please note, the lesson is guidance and coaching for what you need to work on at home. Think of it like a north star guiding and helping you to get where you want to go. It is not in place of practice - the daily playing and the quality of your practice is vital for good progress.

When learning an instrument, you will generally get out of it what you put into it. Consistency and frequency is crucial for good progress. E.g. 4-5 practice sessions a week (not including the lesson). However, these don’t need to be long sessions! The quality of what you do in these practice sessions is much more important for results.

The amount of practice time needed depends upon the student's level and goals. Parents, please keep in mind that children are rarely self-motivated and more often-than-not lack the maturity, self-discipline, and long-term perspective to put in that all-important practice session, especially at the start when the instrument is particularly challenging. Please set up a practice time for your child that is part of the daily routine.

You’d be surprised at what you can achieve with regular short bursts of playing at the start. ‘Practice’ is a bit of a scary word - I much prefer ‘playing’! Generally at the start, I just want students to get into the habit of picking up the guitar and playing. This can be achieved with something so simple like setting up your environment for success. Keep the guitar out of your case, on a stand and always within sight of where you hang out the most and just try and get in the habit of picking it up regularly. Once you’re in the habit, you can start to refine your practice sessions and make them gradually more and more focused.

Once we’re in the habit of picking up the guitar and playing regularly, we can then optimise our practice sessions for success by learning some basics about how the brain learns. This is a big topic in our lessons: there has been a lot of development & research in the field of neuroscience and how to effectively & efficiently learn new skills, and I have a few simple tips and tricks on how I use this to my advantage every day in my own practising.

Sorry, I can only accommodate for weekly lessons. In my experience, fortnightly lessons are generally not particularly useful and are likely to hinder progress, especially in the early stages - The regular feedback loop between student and teacher is essential to make sure no bad habits creep in, and it’s also important to keep momentum and energy going.

This is totally up to you and your own personal goals. A lot of students love that exams provide a clear structure and offer official certificates. One other great benefit is that grades 6, 7 and 8 provide UCAS points for getting into University.

However, they can also add stress and turn a fun hobby into a chore. I recommend checking out Rockschool exam boards - the choice of repertoire to learn per grade is fantastic (with songs from bands such as AC/DC, Metallica, Oasis, Foo Fighters etc to modern artists such as Ed Sheeran and Olivia Rodrigo) + they offer the much less stressful option of submitting pre-recorded video exams (a big hit since introduced).

Personally, I went through them to help me get into Music college. They are much more pleasant these days!

I do not pressure students into taking exams but I’ll gladly help if those are your goals. Currently I hold a 100% Merit + Distinction pass rate for students since I first started teaching 15 years ago.