Testimonials
Thanks for all the great guitar lessons over the years. I’ve learned an awesome skill, so thanks for being such a good teacher! I’ll keep in touch, Sam
My 11 year old son thoroughly enjoys his lessons with Jon. Within a short period of time, he managed to successfully tutor him through his Grade 4 Rockshool exam. Jon’s lessons are varied and include a good mix of student led music choice, guitar theory and exam preparation.
I have always found him to be very patient and focused on helping me to develop each stage and thus create a bespoke course for my individual needs. Often our lessons would run into overtime and he would continue without hesitation and no extra charge.
He is always well prepared in advance before each lesson, polite, friendly and incredibly supportive. You can tell he has such great passion for the guitar and with so much experience, it really shows in his enthusiasm and the encouragement he always gives.
He is also very flexible, if I need to cancel a lesson at short notice, he is happy to change dates with no extra charge.
I would, therefore, recommend John 100%, if you want an honest, reliable and incredibly supportive teacher who offers a very clean, comfortable, non-smoking and relaxed environment to learn in.
I have had the pleasure and privilege of being a student of John’s throughout my teenage years. There is no doubt in my mind that my Guitar lessons were instrumental in shaping my eventual emergence as a composer of classical, jazz and avantgarde music, which I currently practice at the Guildhall School in London.
Throughout the years with John I indulged in perfecting fiddly solos by Metallica, discussing the specific rhythmic articulation of Steve Vai pieces and, perhaps the best skill of all, learning to enjoy the art of music and guitar playing. It says something that my knowledge of all the guitar fundamentals (scales, arpeggios etc.) and essential theory such as modal playing was of a standard whereby I could compete with the actual conservatoire players!
John has an extensive knowledge of all these things and more, which means that one learns an incredible amount no matter how many lessons one takes with him.
This is John Parkin…. a guitar teacher extraordinaire. He is able to connect with pupils and teach them how to play the music THEY want as well as teach them all the building blocks required to be a competent and eventually great guitarist.
He does this by taking the (pupil selected) music track and de-constructing it into all its basic parts and then explaining them all individually, plus demonstrating them. Each of these components is then taught, supplemented by the appropriate scales, arpeggios, exercises etc to build sufficient skill to play that component part well. These are then reconstructed by the pupil and John playing various parts between them.
He teaches my older son & I have sat in the background listening to music tracks that I have heard many times before and hearing them with a completely new perspective, and heard my son’s progression to playing the piece correctly.
The scales, arpeggios & exercises all build general competence, plus the student remains motivated because they are playing music that appeals to them. Occasionally John adds additional pieces to broaden the students learning & appreciation.
This deconstruction & reconstruction is an extra skill that is learned throughout this process….. Although my son not currently in a band, when he has, he has been the person using these same skills to work out who should play what and how the music needs to be adapted so that it is within the playing capability of the various players.
So where does the innovation come in…. John is currently in the process of constructing a set of interactive DVDs that someone can follow to gain the same skills and building blocks for their guitar playing. By Jim Shields.
