Hey Gang.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the British bank-holiday with beers, bbq, burgers and…

Barbells?

Maybe.

See if you’re into fitness like myself, you rarely take a day off from it.

Same with guitar practice right?

You love it. You get the benefit of doing it…so you wanna do more of it!

I want to take a moment to chat about something that merges my love for guitar and the joys of the gym.

Strap yourselves in (pun intended) as we explore Getting Guitar Gains with a Guitar Gym Session!

First off...Make sure you…

Sorry chaps,

I've just realised that the subject line sounds a bit like a email advertising dodgy Viagra haha!

Here's a challenge for the next couple of weeks

First off, check this video out…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSIceA-v0PM&t=101s

(Try not to get too distracted by the dancing ladies!)

You don’t have to view the whole vid

but pay attention to what the mighty Mick Mars can hear in his In-Ear Monitor Mix.

1. A nice, clear audible click track. (Metronome)
2. A bit of vocal
3. A faint bit of stage mix/ other…

Some weeks you can practice for hours... other weeks you will get sweet FA done.

At some point you may experience periods of no practice at all if you haven't already.

LIFE happens. It is what it is and you can't always plan for it but that should not stop you from having fun playing guitar when you DO get the time.

Plus, when practice time is limited or non-existent, it is normally a temporary thing….

Over the years teaching guitar lessons in Southampton and beyond, I have lost count of how many times…

Can you remember the moment when you first thought about playing the guitar? 

I bet you can vividly picture your first guitar and what you sounded like as you began to experiment with it! 

You were a complete beginner and had no idea how to play anything, 

But it didn't matter…

the feeling of excitement as you embarked on your musical journey was incredible . 

I remember my first guitar. It was summer 1993 and my Dad picked up a second hand 3/4 classical guitar for £20.  

It was hard to play anything at all! You…

At school I wasn’t allowed to take music lessons…

In fact, throughout my whole life I’ve been discouraged from pursuing a career in music from teachers, my family and even some of my friends…

I was the kid in class always daydreaming and distracted, dreaming of being a rockstar

and teaching others to play guitar

I was far from academically gifted…I struggled to learn in conventional ways and muddled my way through music college.

If you’ve met me and known me for more than 2 mins, you’ll know exactly what I’m…

WOAH!

3 years ago, we thought the world was gonna end!

The pandemic hit and I thought for a sec all was lost but my wonderful students made the transition to online lessons no problem and it was hassle free for all of us…

I now teach guitar to guys not only from #southampton but from 3 continents!

Things are looking up and good again and 2023 is shaping up to be a busy year for #guitarlessons and a few other music projects I have on the go with some awesome people.

Please know that I appreciate every single…

Todays email is another

“lesson from the road”

literally a lesson I learned…from the road.

As in laying on the tarmac after a Motorbike crash

back in 2016.

Not gonna lie, it was painful. Physically and mentally.

It was when I was doing my bike training which I didn’t finish due to the aforementioned spill.

It shit me up quite a bit and, whilst I love old bobbers and choppers

I’ll stick with 4 wheels for now

However, it taught me many lessons.

But for today I’ll stick with just this one…

‘Where the head goes, the body…

No one really cares about how fast you can sweep pick arpeggios.  

No one cares about how many BPM you can blaze up and down a scale at. 

No one's jaw's hitting the floor when you play those quick licks...

Those things don't actually impress anyone. 
 

Other than maybe 13 year old boys 
 

How I've managed to land a LOT of gigs in many bands and, more recently, recording work in studios, 
 

All comes down to GREAT TIMING.

By that I mean... literally putting myself in the right place, right time...

Also, in terms of…

Here's a sobering statistic

It's been calculated that across all the main social media platforms...

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and, the big one for us guitar geeks...YOUTUBE!

the average user will spend up to 6 years

just ...

scrolling... 

SIX YEARS!

Not engaging...

just the SCROLLING part! 

Literally looking and thumbing through a news feed or search results! 

Man, I read this and it has really stuck with me since.

Imagine what could you do with SIX years of your life instead of scrolling?

I'm not a doctor or…

If you wanna improve your playing or you’re just starting out on guitar, who better to to go to than the guys that are actually doing it?!

Well, I wish that was the case…but it ain't always so…

I’ve seen “famous” players giving out TERRIBLE advice. 

Some of it is can be so confusing for students and just plain wrong when it comes to learning music.

I think that the distinction needs to made that a great player does NOT mean they’re a great teacher !

There are some really accomplished guitarists, who can…