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...... GUITAR LESSONS |
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...... GUITAR LESSONS |
Thanks for visiting my website, and if you've done so in search of a guitar teacher, I hope I can help. My name is Julian Garner, and I've been teaching the guitar to students of all ages since 2004. For many years before that I was a gigging musician, and still perform on classical guitar.
I have particular experience of teaching the ABRSM (Associated Board) guitar syllabus from Grades 1 to 5, and have helped students achieve merits or passes at all these grades.
However, many of my students come to me as complete beginners and never take exams, and that's absolutely fine! I devote most weekdays to teaching, and there are currently vacancies for anyone who can get to the Tarrant Valley, a lovely area of North Dorset between Blandford Forum and Wimborne.
Lessons take place in the tranquility of the picturesque village of Tarrant Monkton, and are £21 for an hour, or £13 for half an hour. The price of lessons in the pupil's home (within 10-15 minutes of my home) are £26 (one hour), £20 (45 minutes) and £17 (half an hour). I hope you will find me to be a very dedicated and adaptable teacher who believes that every minute of every lesson is precious - but so is every minute of your practice time, as that's when a guitarist will do most of their work! Ideally, the lessons allow me to assess what you've been able to achieve in practice and to introduce the next stage. Anyone who learns the classical (nylon string) guitar with me can take advantage of occasional opportunities to perform. I will also give all the advice and administrative support necessary should they decide to take Grade exams (for which the Dorset Rural Music School in Blandford Forum is an ABRSM centre).
So please don't hesitate to enquire if you think this could be for you. After an introductory session I'll be able to recommend the type of lessons that will best suit your particular circumstances. My approach will depend to a large extent on how much time you can or want to devote to practice, and whether you have specific or more general goals in learning an instrument. I aim to strike the right atmosphere in my lessons for an activity that can be therapeutic, fun, academic, sociable or rewarding - ideally all at once! But it's important to establish what is realistic and possible right at the start.
Taking up the classical guitar will normally involve learning to read music, which allows you to explore the vast and varied repertoire of guitar music and to play with other guitarists. Steel-string or electric guitar lessons sometimes focus on learning chords and strumming, perhaps taking a favourite song as a starting point and introducing techniques as they become necessary. But I would recommend any guitarist to learn to read from the stave and to learn to play with a 'classical' technique, as this is the best way to develop as a musician and to appreciate the full potential of your instrument.
I have steadily built a reputation in the area as an enthusiastic, encouraging and engaging teacher, drawing on my long and varied experience of composing, arranging, performing and recording, as a guitarist, singer/songwriter and also in duos, classical ensembles and rock bands. I've studied the classical guitar since 1998, passing ABRSM Grade 8 and being taught in masterclasses by two of the very best classical guitarists in the world, Xuefei Yang and Craig Ogden.
Read on if you'd like to know more about the kind of songs and music I've taught, studied or performed:
I am happy to study and teach any piece of classical guitar repertoire suggested by a pupil. Here are some examples of pieces I have worked on, learnt, performed or taught since 2004:
Aguado - Fifty Studies
Songs I have taught (as solo acoustic guitar accompaniment for a vocal): Angels, Another Nail In My Heart (Squeeze), Beautiful Day (U2), Beautiful World (Take That), Before I Fall To Pieces (Razorlight), Bittersweet Symphony (The Verve), Black Dog, Blackbird, Breathe (Pink Floyd), Broken Strings, Brown Eyed Girl, Californication, Champagne Supernova, Come As You Are, Come Together, Comfortably Numb, Country House, Crazy (Seal), Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Desert Rose, Don’t Come The Cowboy with Me Sonny Jim (Kirsty MacColl), Don’t Panic (Coldplay), Driftwood, Eight Days A Week, Everything (Michael Buble), Fast Car, Fool On The Hill, Four Seasons In One Day, Free World (Kirsty McColl), From Me To You, Girl From Mars, Golden Touch, Good People, Hand In My Pocket, Help, Here There and Everywhere, Hotel California, House of the Rising Sun, How You Remind Me, I Am The Walrus, I Can't Stop This Feeling I've Got, I Love Rock n Roll, I Predict A Riot, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, Instant Karma, Is That Love (Squeeze), It’s Only Natural (Crowded House), Lady Madonna, Let It Be, Lithium, Love Me Do, Lucky Man, Message In A Bottle, Newborn (Elbow), Oh My God, Paradise City, Patience (Take That), Pinball Wizard, Plug in Baby, Purple Haze, Roll With It, Roxanne, Rule The World (Take That), Satisfaction, Seven Nation Army, Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Smells Like Teen Spirit, So Long Marianne, Somebody Told Me (Killers), Something, Start! (The Jam), Stop & Stare, Supersonic, Sweet Child o’ Mine, Synchronicity II, Talk Tonight, The Boxer, The Boys Are Back In Town, The Joker, The King Is Half Undressed (Jellyfish), The Riddle (Nik Kershaw), This Is A Low, Time (Pink Floyd), Under the Bridge, Voodoo Chile, Whistling For The Choir, Why Does It Always Rain On Me, Wild Thing, Wild Wood, Won’t Get Fooled Again, Yellow, You’re Beautiful... and probably many, many more!
If there is any song you particularly want to learn, let me know - these are just examples of the sort of songs people ask me to arrange for them, or those I have chosen to arrange myself.
Anon - Romanza
Bach – Bourree (from Lute Suite in E minor)
Bach - Cello Suite No. 1 Prelude (Bream version)
Bach – Gavotte in A minor
Bach – Gavottes I & II (from 6th cello suite)
Bach – Lute Prelude BWV999
Bach – Sarabande (from 6th cello suite)
Bach – Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring
Barrios – La Catedral – Andante Religioso
Barrios – La Catedral – Preludio “Saudade”
Beatles - Norwegian Wood (arr. Washington)
Berkeley, L - Sonatina
Carcassi - Etude No. 3
Carcassi - Etude No. 7
Carulli Duos (various)
Giuliani studies (various)
Lauro - El Negrito; Natalia
Pernambuco – Sons de Carilhoes (Sounds of Bells)
Ponce – Scherzino Mexicano
Ryan, Gary – Across the Plain; Rondo Rodeo
Sor – Study in B minor Op35 No.22
Tarrega - Adelita
Tarrega - Lagrima
Tarrega – Capricho Arabe
Tarrega - Gran Vals in A
Tarrega - Recuerdos de la Alhambra
Villa-Lobos – Etude No. 1
Villa-Lobos - Etude No. 8
Villa-Lobos – Prelude No. 1
Villa-Lobos – Prelude No. 2
Villa-Lobos – Prelude No. 3
Villa-Lobos – Prelude No. 4
Villa-Lobos – Prelude No. 5
Walton – Five Bagatelles
and many pieces from the ABRSM guitar syllabus, Grades 1 to 5.
Songs I have arranged and performed (singing, usually with solo acoustic guitar accompaniment): Can't Stand Losing You, Days (Kinks), Dear God (XTC), Don’t Dream It’s Over, Every Breath You Take, Fall At Your Feet, Fields of Gold, From Me To You, Glutton of Sympathy (Jellyfish), God Only Knows, Here Comes the Flood (Peter Gabriel), Hey Jude, I Heard It Through the Grapevine, I Saw Her Standing There, If I Ever Lose My Faith In You, In My Life, Jumping Jack Flash, Money (Pink Floyd), Moving (Supergrass), No Matter What (Badfinger), Norwegian Wood, Nowhere Man, Pulling Mussels, Real Love (David Gray), Senses Working Overtime (XTC), Shape of my Heart, Should I Stay Or Should I Go, Still Too Young to Remember (It Bites), Streets of London, Stupidly Happy (XTC), Tempted (Squeeze), The Long And Winding Road, This Town Ain't Big Enough For Both of Us (Sparks), Three of A Perfect Pair (King Crimson), Waterloo Sunset, Weather With You, When You’re Near Me I Have Difficulty (XTC), While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Wish You Were Here, Yesterday, You Were Right (Badly Drawn Boy), You Won't See Me.