Our Story. Our Mission.

Our Story And Our Mission

Back in 2007 when we first started up, we looked at various curriculums to teach from and to be honest we weren’t impressed. There were all sorts of problems – many started too difficult (especially for young beginners), didn’t focus on specific areas per grade, excluded certain music genres and most had compulsory songs that were super old school. Songs like Autumn Leaves are great, but let’s be honest, anyone under the age of 18 really doesn’t know or care about it.

The bottom line is that just about every guitar course lacked logic. So we decided to make a guitar school that included everything. One that teaches all music genres, all styles of guitar playing and everything there is to do with guitar. Things that are commonly overlooked by guitar teachers like how to hold a guitar, music technology, guitar effects and band skills. Most of all we wanted our students to be inspired to play, which is best achieved by teaching people music they know and love. That’s why we focus on teaching modern music that kids know and enjoy, by artists like Katy Perry, Bruno Mars, Ed Sheeran and Shawn Mendes. But we also teach a lot of the classics – Metallica, The Eagles, The Beatles and so much more.

We also noticed that many guitarists can play bits and pieces of many things, but rarely excel at once particular aspect. They also learn random areas that aren’t relevant to their current ability level or songs they’re learning. I distinctly remember seeing a student’s notes from their previous guitar tutor. It was labelled “Lead Guitar Work” and was really just small excerpts of the G major scale. This student would have been far better off learning a larger shape for the scale that they could then learn how to actually use on the guitar by playing melodies, solos and licks in the key of G major. Once again I noticed a clear lack of logical progression.

But guitar is more than just songs and scales. We looked at all areas of guitar playing & knowledge and put them into five categories called the Five Fundamental Techniques; Chords, Picking, Reading, Aural, Songs. Each of these topics have many subcategories that include areas like sweeping, arpeggios, alternate picking and fingerpicking.

Hence The Ultimate Guitar Method was born. One course that includes everything and will take someone from complete zero, to guitar hero.

The Ultimate Guitar Method includes everything. All guitar skills, techniques and knowledge. It starts from a complete beginner level and increases difficulty to “crazy extreme” (that’s what I like to call it).

One of the best things about The Ultimate Guitar Method is it’s flexibility. Students can learn just about any song in any grade. The main requirement is that the level of playing should suit the grade’s ability level and content. So if the G Major chord is in the grade, then it should be in the song. It’s amazing how many guitar courses divide songs into grades but many of the chords in the song aren’t in the grade’s list of chords to learn. Ridiculous.

We also teach some really bizarre pieces (usually at the student’s request) like the Windows XP startup noise. Check out more weird songs here.

Students are also able to leave aspects out of grades. So if they don’t want to learn one area, like Sight Reading, then they don’t have to. Of course, they don’t officially pass any grades until competency is achieved in all areas.

Aside from teaching all aspects of guitar, we strive to offer all aspects of lessons – group, private, Skype, our studio location and even primary & high school lessons.

Back in the early 2010’s, we noticed that young students were having a tough time with Step One (the first grade in Ultimate Guitar Method). So we made a junior course, specifically designed to make learning even easier for young beginners and those who really struggle with the guitar. The junior course is Steps A, B, C and D.

Since making The Ultimate Guitar Method, we’ve branched out a little and now have smaller curriculums for niche areas like fingerpicking, blues and music theory. The idea here is that you can follow through these courses and just focus on that one particular area of interest.

Our Mission

We are determined to make people into guitarists and guitarists into musicians. To teach guitar, music theory, music technology with a holistic approach. We want to make learning fun and develop well rounded guitarists who truly know their content. Above all, it’s our goal to be a positive influence in the lives of our students and their families.

Our beliefs

Learning the guitar is not about age. It’s about the right approach from the right teacher and the student’s willingness to learn.

You can do anything with the right approach and dedication.

You have to get it wrong before you can get it right.

The only “failure” is giving up.

Attitude determines outcome.

Don’t start from scratch. Start from winning.