Choose Your Course

Guitar Courses

Beginners

Mon-Tues-Wed evenings

18:00 pm - 21:00 pm

For the beginners learn the basics from the first steps through to building a repertoire of easy songs, strumming patterns and fingerpicking. 

Blues

MOn-Tues-Wed Evenings

18:00 am - 21:30 pm

Love the blues? This is the course for you as we will explore the early styles from acoustic to Chicago electric and west coast swing. Develop the basic improvised approach and journey towards the modern styles.

Jazz Guitar

Jazz

 Tues-Wed Evenings

18:00 pm - 21:30 pm

For the more experienced player that would like to dive deep into their understanding of the fretboard, diatonic chords, secondary dominants, scales and improvisation techniques.

The Rhythm Method book 1

Fine tune your rhythm pattern recognition across the basic subdivisions. Based on pattern recognition.

Crotchets, Minims and Semi-breves. (1/4, ½ and whole notes)

Quavers. (1/8th notes)

Semi-quavers. (1/16th notes)

Rests Crotchets, Minims and Semi-breves. (1/4, ½ and whole notes)

Rests Quavers

Rests Semi-Quavers

Different Strings Workshop coming soon

 Enquire via the contact form below

13:00 pm - 15:00 pm

Explore the concepts of alternative tunings, take your songwriting to a new level, learn some classic folk tunes and a little bit of theory to expand the possibilities.












Jazz Guitar

Jazz Guitar Book1

For the more experienced player that would like to dive deep into their understanding of the fretboard, diatonic chords, secondary dominants, scales and improvisation techniques. A complete Major Key, diatonic chords workout of the CAGED system with Chord analysis, scales and finger exercises.

Book 1 free with the Guitar Jazz course.




 

Get diatonic chords theory Course for free

Sign up now and receive the diatonic chords theory workbook free.

35

Days

21

Hours

19

Minutes

49

Seconds

Testimonials

Ross MacLeod

Can’t thank you enough for the lessons completely reignited my love for the instrument and changed the way I think about and approach the fretboard.

I’m easily twice the player I was – and I’d been what I thought was a decent standard for 20+ years! Brilliant mix of theory and practical and completely tailored to my needs! A+



K MacDonald

I've learnt more about playing guitar in the last month than I have in the last 20 years.

I always wanted to develop the technique of Travis style finger picking and I'm improving with every lesson.

Got some great tunes to work on.




Guitar School

ABOUT TOM ANDERSON

As a lifelong guitarist with 50 years in the game, playing everything from jazz and blues to rock, folk, and slide guitar. I’ve been lucky enough to perform across the UK, Europe, and the USA, Nashville's Basement, Mercy Lounge and Two Old Hippies with a major career highlight being a gig at The Royal Albert Hall in London—one for the memory books! I have had some very complimentary feedback from some great guitar players such as Tommy Emmanuel “Beautiful player” Jerry Donahue, “Tom can really play that guitar.” Bruce Welch. “Proper guitar player!”

Beyond performing, I’ve spent over two decades as a college lecturer, sharing my love for music performance, songwriting, and Western musical theory. I’ve also taught A-Level music technology, covering sequencing, studio recording, and production, working with software like Sibelius, Cubase, Logic, ProTools, and Ableton.

Now, I’m based in Edinburgh, the Borders, and Lanarkshire, where I teach guitar across all levels and styles while keeping busy with gigs and concerts around Scotland. Whether it's on stage or in the classroom, I love helping others find their sound and grow as musicians.

learn from profesionals

 Teachers

Throughout my teaching career (CFET Oxford Brookes) I have planned, coordinated and delivered high-quality teaching in guitar, music performance, western music theory, music technology and creative media. Subjects covered a range of levels using flexible delivery methods for level 3 A levels including BTEC Nationals, Level 1 and 2 City and Guilds and Level 1 and 2 NCFE.


Learning guitar is a journey that should be both enjoyable and rewarding, and my approach to teaching is designed to help students of all levels develop their skills with confidence. Whether you’re a complete beginner looking to master the fundamentals or an experienced player aiming to refine your technique and expand your repertoire, I offer structured, tailored lessons that cater to your individual goals. Lessons cover everything from basic chord progressions and strumming patterns to advanced techniques such as fingerpicking, improvisation, and jazz harmony. I also incorporate music theory in a practical, easy-to-understand way, helping students connect what they play to a deeper understanding of musical structure. My teaching emphasises creativity, ear training, and developing a solid sense of rhythm, ensuring that students not only learn to play but also to express themselves musically. Whether you prefer acoustic or electric guitar, blues, jazz, folk, or rock, I provide a friendly and encouraging learning environment where you can grow at your own pace. Lessons are available in person in Edinburgh, Biggar, South Lanarkshire, or online, giving you the flexibility to learn in a way that suits your schedule.


As a guitarist I have worked with many artists for over 40 years including Starmaker Production – for a diverse range of musicals, Support for jazz legend Martin Taylor, Peter James Orchestra, Anthony England Big Band, Bonny Langford, Jerry Donahue, Llimal, Steven Triffit (Frank Sinatra) Matt Holland (Van Morrison) Matt Condon (Katie Melua) King Cats, Rhythm Bro, Fat Chance, Richard O’Brien, BBC Radio Oxford, BBC Radio Solent, Performances at The Royal Albert Hall, Cafe Royal, 100 Club, Reading Jazz festival, Twyford Festival, Seven consecutive years at the Wallingford Blues festival and Bunkfest, Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival, Edinburgh Fringe, Leith Jazz n Blues Festival. Televised BBC Film Critics Awards, composition for Edinburgh Green Belt Trust and Hands on MIDI. David and Victoria Beckham, Sarah Jane-Buckley (Eva Cassidy tour). Walk Like a Man tour.

Overcome stage fright with tried and tested techniques to play the way you play at home live on stage.

The inner game of music
Timothy Gallwey,
Barry Green

FAQ

When harmonizing a major scale, we follow a simple pattern to form the scale: Tone, Tone, Semi-tone, Tone, Tone, Tone, Semi-tone. This pattern is consistent for every major scale, with the root note serving as the starting point.

For example, starting with the note C, the notes of the C major scale would be:

C → D → E → F → G → A → B → C

Here, the intervals between the notes follow the standard pattern: Tone, Tone, Semi-tone, Tone, Tone, Tone, Semi-tone. This is essential to creating a proper major scale, and it's crucial to use each note only once in order. No notes should be skipped or repeated.

To make sure you're constructing the scale correctly, always refer to the chromatic scale diagram, especially when starting out.

Example: Key of E Major

Let's look at the key of E major. Starting from the note E, the notes in the E major scale are:

E → F# → G# → A → B → C# → D# → E

In this scale, each interval follows the pattern: Tone, Tone, Semi-tone, Tone, Tone, Tone, Semi-tone. For example, from E to F# is a tone, and from G# to A is a semi-tone.

It's important to note that when forming the E major scale, F must become F#, not Gb, because the tone above E is F# (not Gb). Likewise, G# is correct and not Ab because the major scale requires a sharp in this case.

Summary of Key Concepts

  • Diatonic refers to scales or melodies that use only the notes specific to the prevailing key, with no chromatic alterations.
  • Chromatic scale includes all the notes in Western music and can be represented circularly. Enharmonic equivalents (like C# and Db) are notes that sound the same but are written differently.
  • Intervals define the distance between notes. A semi-tone is the smallest interval, while a tone consists of two semi-tones.
  • Major scale construction follows a set pattern: Tone, Tone, Semi-tone, Tone, Tone, Tone, Semi-tone. When harmonizing a scale, you create chords by stacking thirds on each note.

By mastering these basics, you'll be able to build and understand chords and harmonies based on the major scale, and eventually explore more advanced scales and intervals.

  • Secondary dominants are dominant seventh chords that resolve to a chord other than the tonic (I). They can be viewed as the dominant (V7) of chords other than the tonic.
  • In C major, the V7/ii (secondary dominant of the ii chord) is D7, resolving to G.
  • The V7/vi (secondary dominant of the vi chord) is A7, resolving to D minor.
  • The V7/iii (secondary dominant of the iii chord) is E7, resolving to A minor.

Major, Harmonic minor and Melodic minor. The modes of these scales create many of the hybrid scales you encounter such as lydian dominant seventh, a mode of the melodic minor.

The turnaround is a common chord progression that composers use to send us back to the beginning of the A section or head of the melody, used at the 1st time ending and the end of the tune to take us back to the head/top. Often during the 1st time ending where the A section repeats we do not play the tonic I chord as this would create resolution too early,

You could describe the turnaround as a 2-bar sequence that maintains motion, avoiding a sense of finish or resolution to prepare for a repeat.