Ashdown Guitar Lessons

Geography is history.

Great news! You don’t need to live nearby to enjoy all the benefits of one-to-one personal guitar lessons. Thanks to the internet I can offer real-time, one-to-one guitar tuition online using Zoom. That means I can teach you wherever you are (provided your English is good enough).

Platform

Zoom. It’s free, very easy to use and it’s reliable. If you decide to go ahead with online lessons I’ll send you all the necessary links and instructions to get going with it.

All you really need is:

• The latest version of Zoom, which you can get from the link below

• Computer or tablet. A desktop or laptop computer is probably best, but tablets are fine provided they’re going to stay in one position. Smartphones are more tricky and aren’t the best choice
• High-speed Internet connection. Broadband or better preferred
• Webcam/Microphone/Headphones. The first two are pretty much standard parts of any computer these days. Headphones are a real help to avoid any problems like feedback or background noise

You book and pay for lessons through my online booking system. (Please note that all online lessons must be paid for in advance.) When it’s time for the lesson you’ll receive an email asking you to join me. Click on the link and you’re in – it’s that easy!

I’ll email any material such as pdf sheets, backing tracks etc that we might need ahead of time or make it available during the lesson. One of the great advantages with Zoom is that I can also share my screen with you so that we can look at materials together even without a print-out.

Is this right for you?

I aim to make online lessons as close as possible to the experience of a face-to-face lesson. But there are some constraints. Even with the best connection in the world there are tiny delays  between you playing or saying something and me hearing it, and the same thing is true the other way around. For normal communication this is no problem, but it does mean that we can’t play at the same time. So I can’t accompany you, for example.

That means the style of the lesson is more of a cross between teaching and coaching. That’s absolutely fine, but it’s more suited to people who can play to some extent than to absolute beginners. If you can play some basic chords, or perhaps some riffs, you’ll be fine.

Other than that you will of course need to be comfortable with the technology, and to have the self discipline to focus. Although there are always exceptions I’ve found this means it’s not always suitable for young students.

Terms

If you need to cancel a lesson please give me 24 hours’ notice. We can then either reschedule, or I will refund your payment. I will not be able to do this with less than 24 hours notice. If I have to cancel I will let you know in advance and offer you the same options of a reschedule or refund. If technical difficulties like drop-outs, power cuts etc make the lesson impossible then we will reschedule.

For any other questions, please contact me.