My Life In Music

Here are some classic guitar songs you can learn, complete with beginner guitar chords.

Hallelujah by Cohen

House of the Rising Sun

Play One by Metallica

Smoke On The Water

Learn how to play Stairway to Heaven

Play Highway to Hell by AC/DC

How To Play 20th Century Boy

Jimi Hendrix - Hey Joe Chords

How To Play Perfect Day

Play Bryan Adams Summer of 69

A Music Lensography For Guitar Songs

How do you become a guitar tutor? Well, I started teaching when I was sixteen years old. Although I am now much more versatile, I played almost exclusively classical guitar at that age and I was actually very good for my age. My teacher was oversubscribed and although I was still at school he persuaded me to take on some pupils to earn a little pocket money. I studied music and drama at College and went on to become a class music teacher at a time when full time jobs were hard to come by. Naturally I had some students for private lessons to help make ends meet. I enjoyed that and I also played in a variety of bands, none of whom seemed that keen to let me sing so I was content to stay in the background and played acoustic guitar, electric guitar and even bass. Playing live was nothing like the ordeal of classical recitals so I really enjoyed these gigs. Eventually I took a job with the local authority as a visiting guitar teacher which is pretty much where I am now. I have not taught privately for years, because my evenings are spent with composing and my weekends with recording and promoting music I have written and arranged. It was in the course of promotion that I found Squidoo and decided I could share some skills here with free guitar lessons and advice and promote some of the books I have written.

My First Very Easy Christmas Carol Book [Spiral-Bound]
Carols for beginners to play. Single note melodies with chord letters. Very easy large font notes with notename noteheads.

Traditional Christmas Carols For Guitar Solo [Paperback]
Easy and intermediate arrangements of well loved Christmas carols for fingerstyle guitar. Includes TAB as well as music.

Traditional Christmas Carols for Guitar Ensemble [Paperback]
Arrangements of well loved Carols for flexible sized guitar ensembles, these are full scores, not separate parts.

There are 14 tracks on my CD, these are all songs I have composed myself. You could listen to samples if you like to see if my bandmates were right! ;) I recorded my CD to showcase songs I hoped others might also ask to record, but I have had excellent feedback about the singing so I am happy. I enjoyed singing, orchestrating and playing the guitars on this album. Oliver always says he could not understand why the bands I played in did not want to record more of my singing, but I guess we all have an agenda and semi-pro bands more so than most. The singer DID tend to be the leaders girlfriend or a guy with a loud voice.

It is a little hard to remember now whether it was Julian Bream or Segovia I first heard playing the guitar. I was having classical guitar lessons back then as they were the only lessons available and my parents followed the Hank Marvin maxim "learn classical first, then you can do anything" The first LP record I bought (remember LP vinyls?) was Julian Bream plays Villa Lobos. The cover was unlike any classical record cover I had seen with its colourful hummingbird illustration and the music was out of this world. I spent so many hours learning those Villa Lobos Preludes and desperately trying to run up the scales accelerating as I did, just like Julian Bream. For a long while Julian Bream was like a God to me, he played so well and yet was so emotional in his playing. Others were mechanical in comparison. I did few guitar recitals though, as classical concerts made me unbelievably nervous. It was only many years later that I discovered my hero had the same problem.

If you want to learn the guitar fast you might want to visit these pages. They will help with guitar technique, choosing a beginner guitar and avoiding problems with guitar tuition or carpal tunnel and wrist injury.

How to use a guitar pick

Harley Davidson Guitar Gear

Best Beginner Guitars

Finding a Good Music Teacher

Avoiding Bad Music Teachers

Free Guitar Sheet Music and TABS

A free site that will help with guitar theory too

New Guitar Music for Fingerstyle Guitar

Putting the guitar into a school band - my project

My music books on line

Hand Injury - Musician's Nightmare

How to play really fast

20 Reasons to Love Opera
Anitra's Dance by Edvard Grieg
Apres Un Reve And Pavane by Faure
Cantique de Noel - O Holy Night
Jingle Maria
Liebestraum - Dreams of Love
Musical Arrangements and Compositions
The Music of Charlie Chaplin
Russian Composers in Pop Music
Vaughan Williams Songs