Brandon

I have played guitar and studied music for about as long as I can remember. I worked my way through different styles as a self-taught session musician and received a number of commissions as a composer until the technical demands of classical guitar led me into formal study. After completing Grade 8 in both Guitar and Music Theory while studying HND Classical Music at Edinburgh College, I gained third year entry into Edinburgh Napier University's award winning BMus course. After attaining First Class Honours I remained at Napier for my Master's Degree, developing my composition skills through a study of flamenco.

I've travelled a bit, and lived abroad for a few years, but music has been at the centre of everything, all the way. I have many years experience as a gigging musician, having done session work in styles as diverse as Scottish Traditional music, Punk Rock, and Renaissance recreations for Historic Scotland.

Now I live, teach, compose, perform, and study in and around Edinburgh. I am familiar with all styles of technique and interpretation, from Baroque through Classical and Romantic to 20th- and 21st century music, including popular music and rock/alternative. I am comfortable on stage, improvising on electric guitar and remembering my first ever heroes, and I've recently taken to designing and building electric guitars and basses. I am probably even more happy playing my own compositions, or arrangements of pieces, and I write for several local musicians by request. After a while all the different genres don't seem so separate from each other. It's all music, it all delights me, and once felt, it can all be understood using the same tools.#/k#

Tutoring Experience

I've taught for some time in Edinburgh and the Lothians, and further afield when I lived in France and Denmark. I now offer tuition in guitar - electric, acoustic, classical and bass - and music theory, composition, performance, music analysis, and also in academic skills such as essay writing, project work and research, and effective study skills - from Secondary education to Degree level. I have students ranging from age 4 to 74, from 4th year degree students to hobby guitarists.

I learned guitar at first by imitating artists like Jimi Hendrix and Metallica, and had students who were interested in learning styles such as these, but as I have broadened my own experience I have taught bass guitar and electric guitar in a wide range of genres. Now, having studied with Simon Thacker for four years, my understanding of technique and interpretation has deepened, and I can offer all the benefit and insight of classical training, no matter what your interests are.

While studying Instrumental and Vocal Tuition with Bryden Stillie as part of my BMus at Edinburgh Napier University, I received a high distinction in assessment of my teaching abilities and methodology.
I have refined my approach since then.

Tutoring Approach

Would you like to learn to play a favourite song? Would you like to learn lead guitar, or flamenco, or slap bass? Or how to write in the style of a favourite artist? Improve improvisational skills or compositional techniques to develop your ideas?
Do you simply want to learn the tools to master your instrument, and discover your preferences along the way?

You may have a clear idea of what you would like to see in your playing. Maybe there are Trinity/ABRSM graded exams you would like to go for. You might just be curious, enjoy playing guitar, and looking to sharpen up your technique, or you want to write more songs for your band, and you're stuck in a rut.

I do not have a set approach. If you want to take your technique to the next level, we will likely achieve that through a mixture of technical work and repertoire. If you want to learn to compose or improvise in a certain style, we will likely go over some theory, analyse some pieces, and build towards your goal, step by step. Whatever you want to improve about your musicianship, that is what we will work on. And if you change your mind, we'll change our approach.

I ask only that you leave each lesson with a genuine understanding of what we just studied - because you ask questions when you are unsure. I tend to find the more questions a student asks, the quicker they see the improvements they want.