Welcome!
Want to improve your guitar playing?
Let me inspire you!
About me
I record and play with some of the best musicians in the world, I have released fourteen albums and play all over the globe from New York City to Jakarta. I have given workshops, lectures or written teaching material for The Royal College of Music, Goldsmiths, Trinity Laban and many others. I love teaching and I have been helping people improve their guitar playing for over 20 years.
You don’t have to be an accomplished guitarist to benefit form lessons with me! Yes I teach pros, but I also teach players at all levels.
I teach students all over the world from all walks of life. From high end consultants who play guitar as a serious hobby, to airplane engineers who play in a band on weekends, to people who picked up the guitar again after putting it down a decade ago to professional players looking to improve in a specific area. I don’t take on absolute beginners but if you’ve gotten as far as learning your basic chords and pentatonic scales I can help you move forward.
Let me help you get more enjoyment out of your playing and show you how to make your guitar sing.
What do you get?
1. One-to-one guitar tuition in my studio or via Skype.
People all over the world have lessons with me using Skype. Wherever you are located, I can work with you to help you improve your playing and get more out of the guitar. If you live in the South of England or the Midlands, my studio is five minutes from the A1 or 40 minutes from Kings Cross by train.
2. A logical, clear teaching system which draws on over 20 years of experience.
I have experimented over the years with numerous ways of teaching every aspect of the guitar. It was clear that certain ways of teaching just simply work better and students progress faster. The system I teach is based on all the most effective methods I’ve found over the years. But that’s not the only thing you’ll benefit from. Over my years of recording and playing with some of the best musicians in the world, I have learned many crucial tips that have allowed me to speed up my progress and play more creatively. You will be able to take advantage of all these tips in your own playing.
3. Great results
All my students see improvement and get more enjoyment out of playing after having lessons with me. See what students are saying below. Part of my student’s success comes from the fact that I design exercises specifically for each individual. It’s often the case that one weak or missing area in a person’s playing or practicing is holding back everything for them. Students tell me that on their own or trying to learn by watching youtube, it’s very difficult to see what these areas are. However they find that once I’ve given them the right things to work on, they see an immediate improvement. Many students also find things really take off once I help them grasp some key concepts which they found difficult or impossible to get from books or youtube. If you are someone who needs help in several areas, we can work together on improving each of those step by step.
4. A friendly, supportive, confidence building teaching atmosphere.
Lessons with me are about you getting more out of playing the guitar and reaching your goals. My experience has shown me that confidence building is important not only to enjoyment and creativity, but also to better progress on an instrument. I have fun with my students, we all share a love for the guitar and guitar music and of course guitar gear!
Get in touch now
If you’re read this far, you probably feel you could benefit from lessons with me. So take action now and contact me. You’ll be glad you did when you look back and are playing better and getting more fulfilment out of the guitar. Get yourself on the road to being a better player now, go here.
What are students saying?
“Mark has the quality that all the best teachers have: making a confusing topic accessible and understanding. His depth of musical knowledge allows him to explain it in much simpler terms than any other teacher i have learned from, which means you learn so much more in a shorter space of time. Best of all, what Mark teaches is rooted in physical application, so you come away from every Skype lesson already feeling like a better guitarist than you were an hour earlier.” Richard White, Kent UK
“Lessons on Skype with Mark was a great learning experience for me. It helped me a lot! Mark was able to quickly zero in on my next steps as a guitarist. His instructions gave me a lot of fuel for my practice. I was able to drop a lot of the complicated stuff I thought I had to go through and started to use my ear. I find Mark’s explanations of modes and how to play over chord changes fantastic – simple and yet very practical. As well as that, Mark is a very friendly person who’s presence will make you feel comfortable and open to new ways of playing guitar.” Kavi Eremenko, Germany
“Mark’s guidance has been very helpful. Every explanation very clear, and the approach always matches my needs. As well as this, Mark’s generosity in sharing tips about gear and furnishing sources for researching deeper into my areas of interest. Carlo Estolano, Brazil
“Mark helped me develop a more effortless playing style… A valuable experience that focused on music rather than just guitar technique.” Joe Ledsam, Leeds UK
“Fantastic. Mark taught me to approach the guitar in a different way… an excellent teacher and in just a short space of time, taught me a whole new harmonic approach to playing. A truly worthwhile experience.” Jack Losh, Bristol UK
“I’m an intermediate guitarist that was looking for clarification on some theory, so I set up a Skype lesson. Mark was very pleasant to work with, is very knowledgeable and was able to provide me with all the answers I was looking for. Mark gave me great examples that made things clear for me and he didn’t rush through anything. Teaching went at my pace. I would definitely recommend Mark to anyone seeking to improve their guitar skills.” Paul Stauskas Florida, USA
“I found Mark explains basic things that have always been looked over, I’ve definitely learnt a lot.” Matt Gill, UK
“Mark takes the down-to-earth approach… at no point am I left confused.” Matt Vahdani, UK
Why wait? Contact me now and get on the road to being a better guitar player!
Let me help you understand music theory the easy way.
Many people find music theory confusing and frustrating, and feel that even if they learned it all, they wouldn’t know how to put it into practice. The good news is that for most styles of music you don’t need to understand huge tomes of theory to play really well. But there are a few nuggets of theory which can really make your life easier and open up a lot of creative avenues. I’ll show you these few, easy to understand concepts that really open things up. You can fit them all on one side of a piece of paper.
What can you get from lessons with me that you can’t get watching youtube?
Youtube is useful and there are a lot of free teaching videos out there. But what youtube can’t give you is an expert working with you. There’s a world of difference there in terms of helping you improve. What a one-one-one lesson can do is design a course of lessons around exactly what you need to improve and reach your goals.
Also there is so much out there on youtube it can be mind boggling. But the fact is, most of it either doesn’t apply to you or isn’t quite the right thing you personally need to work on in order to get better. Students often find it difficult to know what the most important things to learn are. A good teacher can watch you play, talk through what you know, and then tell you exactly what to work on to get you from A to B in the quickest way. Youtube simply can’t do that.
Still not ready to start one-to-one lessons?
If you’re not ready to start one-on-one lessons, I’d like to offer you a free video lesson to be going on with.