Matt Read
Professional
Guitar Tuition
Adults
I teach complete beginners who have never picked up a guitar, to advancing players who would like to develop specific aspects of their playing or musical understanding. All abilities are welcome.
I have many students with busy work and family commitments that use their lessons to help structure some ‘guitar time’ into their busy week. I also teach many retired adults who now have the time to enjoy playing regularly again, or that are trying guitar for the very first time.
If you’e thinking of starting to play the guitar, there’s never been a better time. There is so much inspiration online to help, and an incredible choice of guitar equipment out there now too - it’s an exciting time to be a musician.
Beginners
By its nature the guitar is quite a technical instrument. For a beginner this means needing to develop the coordination in both hands to make something sound musical or a song recognisable.
For beginners, attention naturally goes to the left hand to focus on fingering and fretting. The right hand drives the guitar as it is predominantly creating the rhythm but is interrupted by slow chord changes as the left hand gradually learns the shapes. This is why it takes time to achieve something sounding familiar to the song being learnt.
Once chord changing is confident and the rhythm is uninterrupted by the changes, the guitar can be enjoyed at a basic level with a knowledge of 4-6 chord shapes. Playing can be developed further by learning to strum or finger pick a chord progression in time.
Children &
Students
GCSE & A-level
As well as developing students' playing abilities, Matt can also help students prepare for GCSE and A-level performances, course work and exams; incorporating music theory, composition, arrangement and music technology into his teaching.
Children as young as 8 years old are welcome to start lessons. As well as traditional classical guitar and learning to read music, lessons can also be more loosely structured using songs to develop playing skills and musical understanding.
Older, more experienced students can develop specific aspects of their playing and musical understanding. This might be concentrating on improvisation and arrangement, or just improving timing skills and knowledge of chords and how they transpose.