Our Strugglers course take us back to ‘basics’. It is our entry level course for acoustic and electric guitar players who can already play a little or have played for a while but who are stuck in a rut. The focus is about instilling good technique and correcting bad habits. It’ll set you on a path for solid ongoing self-improvement. Your set-up, chords, technique, strumming, fingerpicking, theory, etc. all come into focus. We cover most genres and you’ll learn a number of great songs along the way.
We regularly get players of higher standards on this course as well for both the group playing as well as honing techniques.
There are two basic ways to go about learning to play guitar:
Option (1) is by far the best but it’s an uncommon route for most guitarists. The problem is that the guitar allows us to very quickly get a reasonable sound with just a few chords and so we continue with option (2). Unfortunately, this approach often leads to bad techniques and acquiring inaccurate knowledge; this makes it incredibly difficult to improve at the same initial rate.
This course is about option (1). If you’re relatively new to the guitar, the course will set you off in the right direction. If you’re already on the journey but are really struggling, the course aims to check and correct any issues and establish a solid platform for ongoing improvement.
This is a non-residential teaching day at the tutors home, involving non-stop playing. You’ll add a number of great songs and practice exercises to your repertoire (10am to 5pm with lunch and morning/afternoon breaks).
We’ll look at posture and set-up, forming and changing chords, techniques, strumming, fingerpicking and rhythmic playing. We’ll also maybe look at the Blues and some essential practical theory that will help your overall knowledge and playing options.
The overall aims are to:
If you’re already a player but feel like you’re stuck in a rut or you’re just not enjoying your playing or getting anywhere, this is the course for you.
It goes without saying, our tutor might need to tweak the contents and/or flow of the course to reflect the overall standard and objectives of the group.
High Beginner to low intermediate levels of acoustic, electric and bass guitarists
The course caters for relative beginners up to struggling intermediate players. It’s probably not for raw beginners.
Over the years, this course has earned the reputation of being a safe, entry-level for most players (acoustic and electric). Its over-riding aim is to sort out the ‘basics’ i.e. the techniques and know-how that fundamentally affect your ability to play properly.
The content and flow have been layered to allow experienced and less-experienced players alike to play together throughout the course. If you have attempted a few open chord songs, can strum with fingers or, ideally, a plectrum, and want to sort out the ‘basics’ then this is the course for you.
For context setting, the Strugglers course sits between our Beginners course and the Improvers course.
The fee is all-inclusive:
Please bring your own packed lunch
As this course caters to a small number of players it means we can be more focused and players can get more attention than on our larger hotel based courses.
As we are working in a residential environment it’s advised to just bring an acoustic guitar. There is no need to bring amps and electric guitars. If you would prefer an electric then please let us know when making the booking and we can discuss the option with you.
We advise driving as that is the easiest way. However if you decide to come by public transport, the closest mainline station is Purley.
If coming by car then there are two junctions off the M25 you could use, junction 6 which is the A22 and junction 7 which is the A23.
Parking is free on all surrounding roads. We request that you try not to park on the tutors small private road as parking is limited even for residents.
Unlike our online sessions these are small group Day-Only courses at the tutors home so can only accommodate limited numbers – book early to avoid disappointment.
If you wish to stay locally then suggestions for hotels, B&B etc can be supplied.