Music Lessons

Imagine being taught by professional musicians who are also playing for a living.  Sounds good, right? But what if you could go further and get even more out of lessons? What if there was a better way to learn the drums or guitar that prepares you for grades, auditions, gigs and professional work that also puts you one step ahead of the competition?

Whether you’re the casual hobbyist or someone wanting a career as a musician, of course your learning will progress faster being taught by a professional drum/guitar tutor. Unfortunately, there is still something students lack from this traditional teaching method.  Experience.  This crucial element of a musician’s progress is often over-looked by tutors and can leave a student with serious flaws in their playing.  How do we solve this issue?  By recording in a studio!  Whether you’re preparing for an exam grade, an audition or your first gig, recording experience included within your music lessons is what will keep you on top of your game and help you become the best musician you can be.

Regular Recording Time to Track Your Progress

After each recording session you will receive feedback from your tutor and your progress will accelerate far beyond music lessons alone. You will even have the opportunity to record a demo to:

Advertise yourself for professional session work.
Help with applications to music colleges and schools.
Give as a gift to loved ones, or keep for sentimental value.

After a short time, you will have gained the experience and knowledge that would be expensive and difficult to get anywhere else. You will also have a body of work to be proud of and will literally hear the improvement for yourself!  So, when that important audition comes up, you will be able to turn any nerves into adrenaline and shine where others may crumble. You will be fully aware of what will be coming out of your instrument and be in complete control, instead of just taking your tutors word for it. Plus, students are always surprised by how much fun they have!

Exclusive Video Content
Music Lessons, Resources, Advice & More!

Through having access to our private members area you will find videos and music lessons specific to guitar or drums, posted every week. These are exclusive to our students! Included are: instrumental lessons, studio tips, exam preparation and extensive resources (not found anywhere else) for top exam boards including Trinity College London, Rockshool and ABRSM to help you ace any exam.  Guitar solos, drum fills, drum grooves, helpful links and tools, how to overcome stage fright and even what to expect on your first gig! This will not be generic advice that you can find on YouTube, this will be very specific to our students and local music facilities in Brighton & Hove. This will make you stand out when it matters. The best thing?  It`s free!

Latest Blog Posts...

Gig Promoters in Brighton

If you're a local band or artist looking to play a gig in Brighton, it's important to know what gig promoters are relevant to your style/genre of music. I've done a lot of research into finding what promoters are out there (big and small) and it's been much more difficult than I anticipated! So many that come up in search engine results or directories don't seem to exist anymore... With new promoters popping up all the time in an ever-evolving music scene, you need to know where your opportunities are!

This is a follow up to my guide How To Book Your First Gig In Brighton so if you've never approached the idea of getting a gig before, go check that out first. If you're in need of finding a detailed list of various promoters in the city based upon the genres and styles they book, then well, keep reading. 

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Best Rehearsal Rooms in Brighton

One of the great things about living in Brighton is the amount of variety there is for absolutely everything. Whether it’s cafe’s, pubs, venues or shops, Brighton is brimming with variety and it’s offering of rehearsal rooms is no different. The downside of having such variety? Knowing which studios to actually use! I’ve lived in this fair city for about 8 years now and have spent a considerable amount of that time sweating out in almost all of the rehearsal rooms on offer. Some were OK, some were terrible and some were brilliant.

So let’s break down a little bit of what Brighton has to offer. I’ve detailed out what you can get for your money, prices at different times of the day and if you’re a fellow drummer, the rates you can expect to hire a room solely to use the drum kit. This is really useful if you aren’t able to have your drums set up at home. I’ve used this option many times to iron out any kinks on a new song/set before an important gig. Many of these rooms offer discounts too, which I've have added in.

So here are some of my favourites, in no particular order.

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How To Book Your First Gig In Brighton

Trying to book your first gig can be a bit of a headache but luckily in Brighton, we're spoilt with a load of great venues and promoters willing to give you a shot and book your first gig. Knowing who they are however, well that's a different story... You may be thinking:

Who do I contact?
How do I contact them?
What do I need?

In this post I've detailed out some of the venues and promoters who will book you on your first gig, if you fit their criteria. I have contacted the promoters personally and found out what kinds of acts they book (full band, acoustic etc) and what genres they book. The following information saves you from having to do the research and instead, you will know exactly how to contact, in the way they best prefer to be contacted therefore making you look more professional.

On top of this, I’ll detail out some other ways you can secure yourself a gig and what you need to do to make it happen. Let’s start with some venues. All the ones mentioned here are ones I’ve played at many times over the years with either: a new band as support or a more established band as headliners.

This list is regularly updated to include more promoters/venues wanting you to get in touch.

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How To Beat Stage Fright!

The lump in your throat, that sick feeling, those shaky knees and trembling voice.  The sweat you can feel in your cold, pale hands.  That paranoid, anxious feeling, all because you are scared of making mistakes, looking like an idiot or failing the audition that you have worked so hard for.  That voice in your head, either convincing you that you are going to be crap, or so distracting that for the life of you, you cannot concentrate. 

'Am I in tune? Why aren't they dancing?  I can see people talking, are they talking about me? The hard bit is coming up', and a billion more things that poison your mind like some deranged postman constantly delivering bad news into your consciousness.  The quality of your performance is only as good as your potential minus interference, and even knowing this, it doesn't make it any easier to deal with.  The good news is we are in good company.  Here are some performers who suffer really badly from stage fright, it`s a pretty big list!

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Top 6 Most Useful Apps For Guitarists

With so many apps flying around to aid musicians over the last couple of years, I thought it might be useful to include some here that would be useful to have either as part of a practice session, as a learning tool or to help out at a gig/live performance.  I have purposefully left out any gimmicky ones and apps that you might download, open and then delete because you quickly realise they will be of no use to you at all.  I will update this list as and when other useful apps for guitarists become available.

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How Valuable Are You As A Musician?

Most musicians who are at the stage where they are either gigging or about to would probably say 'I'm a good musician, and I'm worth £X per gig.'  Is it that simple? No. You are worth what others perceive you to be worth, and to all intents and purposes perception is reality.  Just because you think you should be paid £300 a gig does not mean you'll get that if your client or band don’t think so.  On the other end of the spectrum, it's important to be aware of exploitation. Most have experienced it.  I have.  But let's talk about your value a little more...

So, you've graduated from a top music school.  Congratulations!  Now what?  Well, for me it was playing gigs that didn't meet my expectations or value as a musician, and constantly chasing an agent for payment for gigs that were months old. This was before the days Google and social media took off as it did.  Now, agents are open to scrutiny far more than they were back then.  Now there are (albeit only a small handful at best) reputable agents who also develop you as an artiste.  You nailed the audition and either got the job of the guitarist/drummer etc in a cool band or impressed an agent enough to go out on your own. Great, so far, so good.  But how do you improve your value?  How do you build a name for yourself?  How do you stand out?  There's a lot of 'noise' out there after all.  

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