Music Courses
Plectrum Guitar
Steel-strung, played with a pick. Lead and rhythm playing across Bollywood, rock, pop and blues, with the technique to back it up.
- Ages
- From age 6, no upper limit
- Format
- One to one
- Available
- In person · Online · Hybrid
- Examinations
- All four boards
Plays both the lead line and the accompaniment: the steel-strung, pick-played guitar you hear on most records.
The plectrum guitar is the steel-strung, pick-played instrument most people picture when they hear the word guitar. It does two jobs, and a good player can do both: carry the lead line, and provide the chordal accompaniment underneath someone else's.
How we teach it
Most people arrive wanting to play specific songs, and there is no reason to pretend otherwise. We start from what you want to play and work backwards to the technique it requires, which turns out to be an efficient way to learn, because the reason for every exercise is obvious.
That said, the technical foundation is not optional. Clean chord changes, reliable strumming patterns, a plectrum grip that does not fight you, and a left hand that can move without looking: these are what separate someone who can play four songs from someone who can play anything put in front of them.
What you will learn
- Chords: open, barré, movable shapes, and how to voice them for the song
- Rhythm playing: strumming patterns, muting, dynamics, playing in time with others
- Lead playing: scales, pentatonics, bends, slides, vibrato, phrasing
- Improvisation: soloing over a chord progression with something to say
- Reading: tablature and standard notation
Examinations
Graded examinations in rock and pop guitar and in classical-track guitar are available through Trinity College London, ABRSM, London College of Music and MTB.
Trial lessons by appointment
Try a plectrum guitar lesson first.
Trial lessons are by appointment, with no obligation. Tell us who is learning and what they want from it, and we will tell you honestly whether we are the right school.