Past Guitar Students

Below are photos and comments from some of the students I taught in Surrey, Hampshire and Oxfordshire, before I moved to Plymouth:

Guillame Guillame was my youngest student when he started aged 6. Age 8 he entered his Level One examination for classical guitar and achieved a distinction! At the same time he has worked on electric guitar also.

Yves Guillame's father, Yves, couldn't resist joining his son in learning to play guitar. He is now playing quite advanced Jazz and Fingerstyle guitar.

Michael Michael is looking to follow in his grandfather's footsteps by playing mandolin. He has learned a mix of folk mandolin as well as music from contemporary bands such as REM.

Henry Henry has been a big fan of Led Zepellin and Queen from an early age. In 2003, he came 4th in the Oxfordshire heat of the National Riffathon Competition for the ABC Charity. And this year, 2005, he got through to the grand final of the competition at the Hammersmith Palais and came 3rd. This competition was judged by Jimmy Page, Brian May, and Juston Hawkins from the Darkness. For more info and pictures, click on the Riffathon link above.

Alexandra Alexandra has mastered the guitar now and her best and favourite piece to date was Mike Oldfield's 'Moonlight Shadow'.

Tyler Tyler mastered chords and melodies, and enjoys playing Bob Marley classics.

Cara Cara is one of my quickest learners to date, but she had got a head start on an old guitar that some friends had restored at school.

Simon Simon has been learning Flamenco guitar from his first lesson, showing that Flamenco is not just for the advanced student. We started with the 'Farruca' which is a progression of E7, Am, and Dm.

Sophie Sophie had lessons with me for about 18 months and learned a huge amount. She says that the lessons enabled her to learn loads really quickly, which she certainly did. Sophie has been tackling some of the more difficult fingerstyle pieces as well as lead guitar.

Mike Mike learned guitar in just 3 weeks so that he could play Elton John's 'Our Song' to his girlfriend, Lisa, before he proposed!

Alex Alex plays all styles of guitar now, an eclectic mix of rock, punk, rap and cheesy eightees classics.

Sarah, William, Fran, Sophie and Danielle This musical bunch all live in the same cul-de-sac and have had group lessons which have proved very successful. Danielle missed the photo shoot this week. Everyone progressed quickly, keeping up with each other and practicing lots.

Ben Ben had played guitar for a year already before coming to me, and so we quickly moved on to intermediate techniques such as finger picking and lead guitar improvisation.

Laura Laura particularly enjoyed playing Spanish Guitar along with more mainstream music such as Coldplay and Eric Clapton. Laura comments - 'During the lessons you are always given a good variety of songs and are encouraged a lot by Andy'.

Amber Amber learned quickly and had lessons for over a year, playing all styles and improvising solos. Amber comments: 'I didn't know anything about guitar when I started, only that I wanted to play. Now, after only a few weeks I am able to play in the school orchestra and audition for musical performances singing with my guitar as accompaniment. I would definately recommend Andy'. Amber recently won house points at school for her performance of Enrique Iglesias' 'Hero', and is now setting her sights on forming a Rock Band.

David David's son Michael is also learning and they have a joint lesson, but Michael was currently away travelling Europe at the time of the photo, meanwhile David was trying to get ahead before he returned!

Oded Oded has played guitar for years, but he is now learning spanish guitar with ambitions of playing Flamenco. He says that my teaching is 'well organised'.

Alison Alison came to me with lots of experience, but was looking to learn some new techniques, particularly folk guitar and fingerstyle guitar. We had a few months of lessons which were just what she needed to get her on track to finding new music, techniques and ideas.

Alexander and Roland Alexander and Roland have a shared lessons, learning chords, and some finger picking. They are really keen on Blues Brother tracks which lend themselves very well to beginners guitar.