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I found my love for the guitar when I took GCSE Music. I chose Music as one of my options simply because I thought it was all about simply making lots of noise and banging drums wildly! How wrong I was, haha!
I realised that I had to actually be able to play an instrument - when asked what I play, I frantically looked around the classroom for ideas. My eyes took noticed of an old battered up guitar resting awkwardly against the wall. There was my answer, and when I got home I explained to my parents why it was so important that I needed to learn how to play the thing by NEXT LESSON!
Off we went to the local music shop and bought my first guitar - and wow! I was off, learning these chords and was so amazed at the different sounds I could make (no doubt slightly out of tune!) G major, to D major, C major, then A minor (F major came later!). What fun I was having - to the point where school homework was left so I could cram in as many hours sitting with my guitar.
18 months later and I was taking my grade 6 exam and by 3 years later I had got my grade 8 and was up to 9-10 hours practice a day (into the night!).
While gaining my A level music qualification, I had decided that Uni wasn't for me and was really looking into doing something with the guitar. My luck was in when my old music teacher offered me the chance to teach for a couple of days a week in the school once I had left Yr 13. Slowly and surely, I built up a good set of youngsters who were hooked on trying to play their favourite song. They were all great kids and I found that I knew most of them through being at school and remembering them in years below me. It's funny really, when I think about how they found me as a teacher - the other guitar teacher was a well dressed man in shirt who was a bit traditional. I came in wearing my normal 'Got Riffs??' t-shirt, jeans, trainers and my guitar slung on my back - I was suddenly labelled as the cool guitar teacher, haha!
When teaching at 19, I realised how much teachers can learn from their students. I realised it isn't a case of 'open the kids head and pour in your knowledge' - it really is a two way journey with one thing in common, to have fun making noise!
