Suitable for beginners through to more advanced guitarists, this site will introduce you to a range of study areas that I believe are essential to you growing as a musician. If you are enjoying the material then I would encourage you to check out my ‘BEYOND TABS’ guitar course where I’m creating exclusive video lessons and supporting material.
- the majority of aspiring guitarists never move beyond learning a handful of chords!
- learning the guitar can be a slow and frustrating experience!
Based on my experience of playing gigs – whether solo, duo, trio, or quartet, working in big bands, busking in the Paris Metro, playing on cruise liners, being mentored by world famous Jazz Guitarist Martin Taylor – no shame in name dropping – and many many years of teaching, I have found the ideal solution!
I’ve put all the experience and knowledge I’ve gathered over the years into this “BEYOND TABS” guitar course and know that I can help you grow as a guitarist.
Everyone understands that you can’t build anything of greatness without a solid foundation – once you have a strong base all things are possible and creativity grows naturally at its own pace.
So how can I take you “BEYOND TABS” to a place where your own creativity is at last set free?
- I will help you build the core skills as a foundation to your playing, training not just your hands but of course your ears as well!!
- “BEYOND TABS”will build your knowledge and confidence across a range of playing styles - As your understanding of melody and harmony grows you will increasingly want to improvise and even create your own songs…and I’m here to guide and direct you through that process.
Learning the guitar is an exciting journey and “BEYOND TABS” is here to support you all the way
…directing…educating…inspiring…
Resources
Video lessons
There are video lessons which take you step by step through the lesson material…
The ‘In Detail’ song videos are filmed overhead from the perspective of the guitarist…you see exactly what I see when I’m playing. The phrases of the tunes are repeated at a reduced tempo allowing you to watch, listen and copy. I arrange many classic songs that are under copyright, all of my arrangements are available to legally download through sheetmusicplus.com with links provided
First two measures of Moon River…
Interactive “Ear to Hand” Training videos
Ever wanted to learn to play by ear and improvise? We don’t just tell you how to develop your ears musically and learn how to improvise…..we work with you to train your ears and develop your improvisation skills. Try out this interactive “ear to hand” training video. Based on the principles of “Call and Response”, listen and watch while the notes are being played and sang and then it’s your turn to sing / play when when the video goes silent….
Lessons on technique
The technique lessons in the “BEYOND TABS” guitar course take you from basic to advanced technique with great tips and exercises along the way…
Downloadable TAB and ebooklets
To enable you to look over everything that the lessons cover when you’re not at your computer; the lessons come with supporting TAB, standard musical notation and printable PDFs
LET’S PLAY and go BEYOND TABS……….this is a musical journey…so come and join me..
The Beyond Tabs study areas
Learning Songs
Learning songs is the centre point for everything. Grow your repertoire as I add more and more classic songs to the ‘BEYOND TABS’ guitar course
Melody
For many people melody is the most important element of music, it’s melodies that move our hearts! Understanding melody is a prerequisite to improvisation. On the ‘BEYOND TABS’ guitar course I look at some of the basic principles of melody.
Chords
Playing left hand chord shapes is a large part of guitar playing and a player can stamp their own style on a piece of music by the shapes he/she chooses to use. To kick off the chord section of the Beyond Tabs guitar course I show you some of the chord shapes I use in my arrangements.
Reading Tab and standard notation
There are different ways to communicate music, I layout the basics of both TAB and Standard musical notation investigating their strengths and weaknesses.
Guitar Technique
I take you through some basic guitar techniques; sitting positions, left hand technique and right hand fingerpicking and provide on going exercises helping you to grow your technique to handle all situations.
“Ear to Hand” Interactive Videos
Learning to play by ear and to improvise is a dream of many guitarists. I introduce the interactive ear to hand training videos that will lay the foundations for your future artistic outpourings!