Learn the guitar, and discover your musicality

It's the question I'm asked most, and I completely understand why. In my experience they are — but I'd rather you heard it from students. Colin has had both from me: “Apart from providing direct 121 tuition, he also delivers lesson online via zoom which remain as effective.” Nikki's son moved across from an in-person teacher: “I was curious to see how well lessons would work online but Matthew has successfully established a good rapport, and has really reinvigorated my son's interest in guitar.” Jason puts it more simply: “it feels like you are still in person with him.” The difference is the setup — three cameras, a proper microphone, your music on screen and annotated as we go, and video clips of the tricky bits sent over afterwards. There are things I can do this way that I couldn't do in person. The one real limitation is a tiny audio delay when we play together, and I've explained above how I work around it. And if you'd like to see for yourself, that's exactly what the free online trial lesson is for.

Three cameras, switched with a foot pedal so I never have to take my hands off the guitar — you always get the angle that shows what you need to see. My iPad on screen, showing your music, which I can zoom into or highlight with the Apple Pencil in a second and send to you annotated afterwards. A Shure SM7B microphone through an Apollo X4 interface, with my guitar plugged straight in, so you hear the instrument properly. Headphones at my end, so no noise suppression touches what you're listening to. And a wired internet connection, so dropouts are rare.

A laptop or computer with Zoom (an iPad from 2019 or later works too — it needs the wide-spectrum audio setting). A second device — a phone or tablet — to access your music folder during the lesson; it has to be separate from the Zoom device, otherwise the audio gets suppressed. Headphones, ideally. Internet of roughly 30Mb download and 10Mb upload or better. A camera position where I can see you and the whole guitar at once, and somewhere reasonably quiet. If that list looks like a faff, please don't worry — it's about twenty minutes of setting up, once, and I'll walk you through all of it in the first lesson.

I do, in Skipton, though places are limited and it depends on availability. Do ask and we'll see what's possible. (The free trial lesson applies to online lessons only.)

Seven and upwards. Sometimes six, if I think they're ready — just ask and we'll have a chat about it. Lessons with younger children are more interactive, with extra visual material and things to handle, and they're often 30 minutes rather than 40.

Around an hour a week for the lessons to really be worth it, and an hour and a half to two and a half hours if you'd like to move along quickly. I won't set you targets, and I won't tell you off.

I teach acoustic, electric and classical guitar, but not other instruments such as bass and ukulele. And I don't think any one teacher is the right fit for everyone. If what excites you is technical speed — shredding, sweep picking — or jazz beyond intermediate level, or one specific tradition like flamenco or tango, a specialist teacher will serve you better than I would. Drop me a line anyway and I'll point you in the right direction if I can.

Almost everybody is! It's usually one of two things — playing in front of someone for the first time, or worrying you're not good enough to be there. On that second one: I've taught every level there is, and I have no expectation of what you should be able to do. The lesson is for you. Whatever level you're at, and however quickly you learn, is absolutely fine by me. The most useful thing you can do is be honest about how you're feeling and what you're finding tricky — then I'm in the best position to help.