Are guitar lessons taboo in your musical ambition? Have you already spent a fortune on books, videos & cds which were supposed to create miracles for your guitar technique. Are you wondering what your guitar technique could have been like under the right guidance? You are not alone.

I went through this nightmare myself, resigned from private guitar tuition and decided to learn how to play the guitar totally by myself. I was young and nieve and I didn’t want to accept the simple fact that I need some outside help to progress at the speed I wanted to. This attitude predominated all aspects of my guitar development which I now regret, as just a few guitar lessons from a guitarist with experience saved literally years of wasted money and time.

Books, videos & cds are great once you actually understand how music structures are held together. You can then analyse information and assimilate the important principles because you understand the language of music! Spending hours in various music book shops around London was more useful once I understood music theory. Browsing through the riches of our educational system with no real order to what I was in need of meant, random choice of material which may or may not have been complimentary to my immediate progress. I had never taken any guitar tuition and I wanted to learn everything by myself, believing that all would eventually fall into place if I just put in enough time. So after hours in music book shops, I would come back home and start these new courses which were supposed to change my guitar life for good. My enthusiasm was usually drained and jaded after the first or second chapter. I just didn't have the technique or muscle stamina to interpret & process the information to my fingertips fast enough.

I don’t know if it was my own inconsistency and lack of motivation or whether those books were simply not well written. Lets leave it at that, as it’s hard to judge after all those years. The bottom line is that private guitar tuition was non-existent and I was buying more and more books, videos, cassettes & cds to find something new which would give me more hope and better results. No matter what courses I tried the results were embarrasing compared to the amazing progress I got from just a few serious guitar lessons. I was close to resigning from all guitar study forever. I was disappointed with myself and all those written and recorded guitar lessons gave me no confidence as a player. Everytime I was asked to play in front of people my nerves & fingers would go haywire! After only 12 lessons with John I started to realise how important 'correct' practise procedure was. Yes, some of the exercises are extremely boring but my confidence, quality of sound and co-ordination are light years ahead! I broke the 10 year cycle of frustration and now continue to study with John.