I began learning the guitar when I was ten. My interest in music was heavily inspired by my Dad’s record collection and, as a result, I was convinced that the guitar was the instrument for me. I formed a band with friends before even being able to play a note and, instead of using a guitar, I mimed to songs using a tennis racket. Fortunately, I soon acquired an electric guitar and began weekly lessons.

I loved learning the guitar and practised hard in between lessons. My band performed at school concerts, local music events including the famous ‘Rox on the Prom’ festival and we even won a national battle of the bands competition on Channel 4 judged by John Peel.

It wasn’t until the age of fifteen that I started to seriously contemplate a career in music and I was lucky enough to spend the next few years studying with Richard Chapman, the author of The Complete Guitarist. Studying with Richard changed my life and exposed me to a new approach to guitar playing. He pushed me hard and I studied jazz and music theory in depth. I was regularly practising up to five hours a day on top of my school work.

At eighteen I moved to London and studied for a degree in Music at Goldsmiths College, University of London. Goldsmiths exposed me to classical music and opened my mind to new compositional ideas and approaches. I also continued to work hard at my guitar playing, regularly performing with a ten piece funk band, completing a dissertation exploring the notion that the guitar is undeveloped as a harmonic instrument, and gaining a First in Guitar Performance. After my degree I stayed a further year at Goldsmiths where I completed a Masters degree in Contemporary Music studying the confluence of modern classical music and jazz.

After completing my Masters degree, I took up the position of Guitar Editor at Music Sales Limited. This provided me with first hand experience of the music industry, and the business and commercial side of music. My role as Guitar Editor allowed me to edit and arrange a wide range of music and I was required to liaise with many high profile artists to ensure their work was represented accurately.

I left Music Sales to concentrate more on my own playing and I’ve been working as a freelance guitarist since. I’ve worked on many different projects including working with members of The Cure and Placebo and performing across the UK and abroad playing at Glastonbury and The Secret Garden Party along with venues in Europe and Asia. Other recent work includes presenting a series of guitar tuition DVDs, and freelance editing and arranging for a number of publications.

In 2015 I finished my first solo album titled ‘Two Colours’ comprised of nine instrumental tracks which is now available on iTunes, Spotify and Google Play. Having spent a lot of timing working with other artists on their music it was really rewarding to work on my own compositions and I’m currently working on some acoustic compositions.