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Searching for fresh inspiration? Looking to uncover higher levels of technique, expression, and creative purpose? Get in touch for lessons: intensify your imagination with global musical ideas…

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(Currently accepting Zoom students! Book in a free taster session)

How I teach • Online • Raga lessons • CV • Contact

I love helping others find joy in the instrument that has given me so much: and firmly believe that ‘talent’ mostly equates to ‘enjoying the feeling of improvement’. If learning energises, nothing is a struggle.

 

Above all, I aim to ‘teach you how to teach yourself‘ – with lessons based around the music that fascinates you most, and detailed followup notes provided for each session (see examples). I draw on my experience as a writer for Guitar World magazine, and my recent musicology research, as well as past immersions spanning session work and schoolteaching work to jazz journalism and study in India under Pandit Shivnath Mishra.

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In the past couple of years I’ve taught lessons exploring…

• Various guitar genres (Jimi Hendrix, D’Angelo, Derek Trucks, The Beatles, Jeff Buckley, Curtis Mayfield, Stevie Wonder, John Mayer, Radiohead, Robert Johnson, Django Reinhardt, John Martyn, Nick Drake, Joni Mitchell, Michael Hedges)
• Hindustani raga (e.g. Ravi Shankar, Ali Akbar Khan, Shivkumar Sharma, Kishori Amonkar, Nikhil Banerjee, Vilayat Khan, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Zakir Hussain, Amir Khan, Niladri Kumar, Malini Rajurkar, Zia Mohiuddin Dagar, Shahid Parvez)
• Jazz (Shakti/John McLaughlin, Miles Davis, John & Alice Coltrane, Pharaoh Sanders, Sonny Rollins, Charles Mingus, Sun Ra)
• Filmi (A.R. Rahman, Lata Mangeshkar, Mohammed Rafi, Shankar-Jaikishan, Shankar Mahadevan)
• Electronic & sampled genres (ATCQ, J Dilla, Squarepusher, Goldie, Boards of Canada, Flying Lotus, Aphex Twin)
• Western classical (Bach’s Goldberg Variations, Satie’s Gnossiennes, Elgar’s Cello Concerto, Pärt’s Fratres)
• Other global traditions (e.g. Ali Farka Touré, Fela Kuti, Toumani Diabaté, Tinariwen, Mulatu Astatke, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Tito Puente, Katsuya Yokoyama, Dhafer Youssef, BVSC)

(Send me the music that inspires you, and I’ll help you break it down!)

• Showreel | Rāga Junglism •

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—Get in touch to organise a free taster session!—

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• Online Lessons •

Nowadays, learning online is far more effective – and enjoyable – than ever. Recent tech advances have made the experience clearer and more human than even just a few years ago. Try it!

• Tech-optimised setup: for Zoom, etc – HQ mic & camera, external sound card, fast internet, an easy ‘setup guide’ for your end – and you can WhatsApp me with questions anytime!
• Lesson summary pages: You also get your own private ‘zone’ on my site, with lesson tabs, video demos, explanations, listening links, etc – like these (click to enlarge):

(examples from my ‘lesson pages’)

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—Get in touch to organise a free taster session!—

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Global sampler menu: See what might get you going…some topics I’ve previously focused on (taster selection):

• North Indian raga: the many colours of Hindustani melody
• Indian classical tala: tabla, mridangam, & kanjira grooves
• West African rhythm: Ewe polyrhythms, Saharan kora harps
• Global altered tunings: slide blues to Joni Mitchell via Peru
• Percussive acoustic: organising the different drum sounds
• Odd-time songwriting: how to break down any groove
• Jazz walking basslines: catalysing low-end inspiration
• Advanced legato: multi-step bends, fast fingernail slides, etc
• Natural harmonics: resonances of the ‘fretless fretboard’
• Microtonality: quarter-tones, ‘nudge’ tunings, JI, gamelan
• Fresh ear tools: melodic sargam, rhythmic languages
• Singing for guitarists: cross-rhythms, harmonising lines

 

Ask me anything: I love adapting ‘non-guitaristic’ music – electronic, classical, percussion, etc. Always up for new challenges…tell me what you might want to get stuck into. See my full writings list for more.

• How I teach •

At the core, music is about human expression – we learn best when we love what we do. I believe learning the guitar should be:

• Empowering: Attitude outweighs talent – I aim to ‘teach you to teach yourself’ in a collaborative, fun environment
• Personalised: We’ll focus on your goals, and cover new concepts too – helping you take charge of your musical path
• Efficient: Every guitarist can feel exhilarated by the sheer pace of progress – we‘ll unlock the methods that work best

I draw from my own broad experiences as a performer, teacher, writer, and musicologist – my mission is to immerse fully into what I do, and spread the joys of musical learning as best I can (…nobody gets into this line of work for the cash).

 

 

Every teacher has their own ideas, preferences, and stylistic biases. Naturally, mine have been shaped by my immersions into the ear-based, improvisatory methods of jazz, blues, and Indian classical – here are a few core ‘guiding principles’, very much used in my own learning too:

• Train the ear: this gives you the ‘toolbox’ to teach yourself any style
• Listen widely: feed the brain with quality, variety, and new sounds
• ‘Sing inside’ as you play: music is about emotions, not muscles
• Experiment freely: constantly create your own fresh patterns
• Enjoy it: Find fun in improvement, then mastery is no struggle

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• Shakti’s La Danse De Bonheur •

—Global music: the ‘other 99%’—

Typically, a record store has aisle after aisle each dedicated to various sub-genres of pop, rock, indie, classical, etc – with ‘world music’ given a solitary shelf somewhere in the back room. But this category – essentially, ‘the other 99%+ of the earth’s musical variety‘ – contains an inexhaustible wealth of fresh sounds and ideas. Delving in will enrich you!

 

Apart from opening our ears as listeners, going global allows us to find super-effective learning methods, typically missed in Western music curriculums. Why wouldn’t I want to pass on the percussion syllables, melody games, and cyclic visualisations I picked up from my sitar gurus? And why not try internalising polyrhythms the Ghanaian way?

 

Similarly, new sounds make more sense when connected the human voices, cultures, and passions that created them – music is more powerful when its context is felt along with it. (For a broader illustration of my own pedagogic inclinations, check out a few of the educators I find inspiration in: e.g. Victor Wooten, Hal Galper – and outside music, Douglas Hofstadter, Oliver Sacks, Fred Rogers…). Start with Wooten:

 

• Teaching Experience •

I’ve always sought out a varied spread of musical experiences, becoming familiar with many different learning methods along the way as both a student and an instructor. Educational work has included:

• 10+ yrs private teaching: one-on-one, schools, workshops, etc
• Online Guitar World instructor: see Fresh Repertoire series
• Indian classical musicology: see the Hindustani Raga Index
• Mixed-age classroom groups: from 4-11, in South London
• Special Educational Needs: teaching electronic music classes
• A Kichwa shaman: seeking guitaristic connection with nature
• Hindustani school demos: on sitar, santoor, tabla, etc
• ‘World of Tuning’ research: my project on global guitar tuning