Hi to all you fellow players and a slightly belated Happy New Year!

    Judging by our most popular weekend it would seem that most of you at home there are 'Strugglers'. Mind you I can quite understand this having been a struggling guitar player myself over many years. One thing that 'Guitar Weekends' has shown me though is that it's not always talent that gets you playing better but persistence and the ability to stick with it. Over the years that Guitar Weekends has been going, 12 at the last count,  we have developed a teaching style that really helps you to learn.

     Now let's face it music is not rocket science. An ability to count into double figures and a knowledge of the alphabet up to G helps with the theory. The rest is getting your fingers to do strange things and develop a connection with your ears and your brain. The trouble is a lot of the initial work can be very tiresome and not sound too good for other listeners. As youngsters we accept this quite easily as do others listening to us. However as we get older and more successful in our other endeavours we don't like to hear the bad parts and the mistakes and we certainly don't want others to hear it. So we look for the quick fix, the instant great sound, copy a lot of great licks and use a fair amount of distortion. We just lock ourselves away on our own and don't get to play with others. We also turn into avid collectors of gear, magazines and how to play better videos and CDs. I think you know where I'm coming from. This is not to say everyone follows this path but I know a lot do. Of course when you are learning on your own at home there is no one to put you right; just put you down. Notice how all the doors close when you go off to practice with comments like " When are you going to play a proper tune".

     When you come on a guitar weekend you meet 7 other people with many of the same problems. Over the course of the weekend we will take you on a journey of learning to play the guitar. Rhythm, soloing, technique and how to practice. With enough theory to support  the level of the weekend your on. We will answer as many of your questions as we can and point you in the right direction to carry on learning when you leave us. We currently have six playing weekends, 'Strugglers', 'Improvers', 'Blues', 'Country', 'Bass' and 'Django Gypsy Jazz'. With 2nd levels of each of the weekends, except Django for players who have already been on a basic weekend.