The Acoustic Asylum

Happy New Year! Today’s episode is all about how to get the most out of your guitar playing in 2025. I offer some advice on how you can improve your guitar playing by being consistent. It’s about staying persistent and seeing incremental improvements.   It can be tough to stick with it and do the hard work. You might ask yourself, is it worth it? Of course it’s worth it, being able to play an inst...

Today’s episode is all about the joy of Christmas and that warm and fuzzy feeling of the holidays. In the episode, I talk about guitar Christmas gifts, motivation for 2025, and the struggle we all might face in finding motivation to practise.   If you struggle, it’s important to remember that it’s temporary. It’s important to think of it as a test that you can overcome. I talk about the Krampus an...

In today’s episode, I talk about the last few weeks of this year and how to get the most out of them when it comes to your guitar playing. The main thing is to pick a manageable goal, one that isn’t too demanding and that you can actually manage in the time there is. It’s important to pick something that is a challenge, but one that you can achieve.   In the episode, I offer advice on how to break...

The other day I sent out an email on the A to Z of Strumming, with a series of tips for improving your strumming. In today’s episode, I cover some of those tips, going into depth looking at them. Some of these include the way you attack the strings when strumming, chords, improvisation, listening to music, patterns, and more.   When it comes to mastering chord changes, pick just one set of chords...

It may seem early, but today we’re talking about Christmas and brushing up on your Christmas songs. Every year you can enjoy learning Christmas songs and take the opportunity to refresh the songs you’ve already learnt and improve them so that they get better.   A fun way to learn several Christmas songs at once is through a medley, so in the episode, I also share a fun Christmas medley with you th...

Today we’re talking about when negativity smacks you around the head and how to overcome it. I discuss a student’s experience of wanting to quit, and how, frequently, we’re being too hard on ourselves.   The important thing is perseverence. You just have to keep going and try not to be too hard on yourself. Sometimes sharing some tips you have learnt with beginners can help you feel great about ho...

In today’s podcast, I’m talking about the peaks and troughs of learning guitar. Often life gets in the way, but it’s normal and natural to have moments when your progress accelerates and when it slows down a little bit. It’s important to enjoy the journey.   One thing that I discuss that is very useful is the “growth mindset”. It’s all about believing in your ability to develop through hard work a...

In today’s podcast, I’m talking about my new course, The Fingerpicking Bootcamp, which is a clear, actionable, fun course designed to give you something for the short term and the long term. Long term, you don’t want to burn out or injure yourself, but short term you want to see results and that’s what this course is all about.   I talk a bit about all the things we cover in the 21 days of the cou...

In today’s podcast, we’re looking at three things that can improve your guitar playing. First off, I talk about the importance of sleep. I talk about the three stages of sleep, sleep hygiene and the importance of getting a good night’s sleep. Maximising your sleep is certainly going to make you feel more focused when practising.   In the second part of the episode, I talk about expanding your dyna...

Today’s episode is all about the bad habit of relying on your sense of sight too much. I use an example that Billy Joel brings up about a wrong notation for one of his songs. It often happens that people rely on their eyes over their ears. Sometimes you might be misreading some notation, but it’s important to trust your ears so as not to make mistakes.   In the second part of the episode, I give y...

Today’s episode is all about the nitty-gritty specifics of guitar playing. When learning songs on guitar, you really have to go into the details. Guitar tuition these days unfortunately can be a bit too broad and it can make it challenging for guitar players looking for specific tips.   It’s not just enough to learn the song, you need to look at all the details. Instead of doing the whole song, br...

As a dad, I have spent a fair bit of time building Lego with my so Archie. Recently we went to the Legoland Discovery centre and had a great time… And the cool thing is, there are two strong comparisons between Lego and the guitar, and that is what we are talking about today.   When it comes to Lego, there are two main ways to use it, I find. Number one is to follow the instructions precisely and...

I’ve learnt a massive amount over the years about playing and teaching guitar. In this episode, I’m sharing some of those key lessons with you …And specifically, the 9 things I wish I knew when I started learning guitar!   This includes the importance of strumming patterns, a story about how my best friend helped me massively in the early days (and why you shouldn’t learn on your own)… Plus, the p...

I’ve just come home from an amazing family holiday in Cornwall. While there, me and my son, Archie (who is 8) were in the sea, at a waterpark, and we had an afternoon on a giant inflatable water slide. I was very much out of my comfort zone.   One thing I urge guitarists to do is get out of their comfort zone every now and then. It’s not easy, but jamming with others, recording yourself, performin...

In this episode, we are talking about the crazy world of guitar tuition. In particular, I am sharing a little story from Katherine about her experience of learning guitar with an in-person tutor.   Not only are we covering Katherine’s story but I talk about the problem with a lot of guitar tuition, why the “surface level” information many people teach is a waste of time and money, and how a good g...

Today we are talking about the two big issues that most people struggle with when it comes to strumming, the hurdles that many people face, and of course, solutions to help you have more fun strumming your guitar today!   That’s because this week, I am releasing my brand-new course called, Superhuman Strumming – it’s a lot of fun and it’s all about giving you the tools and techniques to play real...

As it’s the Olympics at the moment, I want to share with you a powerful little story from one of Great Britain’s greatest-ever Olympians – the legendary Daley Thompson.   After struggling on his path to defending his gold medal in the 1984 Olympics, Daley had a pivotal moment during the discus event… and that moment is one that will live long in the memory of anyone watching. There are two key tak...

Is songwriting an art? Is it a science? Well, you tell me. Personally, I see it as both. In this episode, I’m sharing a simple process with you on how to create some lovely music of your own. Everyone should write a song in their lifetime and anyone can do it!   Big thanks to my student, Larry, for inspiring this episode with the brilliant song he wrote for his wife on their 50th wedding anniversa...

If you’ve ever got to the point where you can play a song on your guitar to near perfection, but you make frequent errors at various points… this episode is for you. Inside we are taking a look at the TWO key things that could be the cause of your issues. Not only that, I also give you some bits of advice to help you play your songs better. Plus, I even share one of the potentially most embarrassi...

A lot of guitarists find it extremely frustrating when they pluck the wrong strings! I know I used to. In this short episode, I’m giving you a few tips to help. One thing you must remember is that you need good technique and muscle memory. Without the technique, you’ll just build bad guitar playing habits… but if you use precise technique, you’ll find it far easier to end this frustrating feeling…...

My studio room is full of books. Not all of them are great, but in each, there is something I’ve learnt, even from the books that aren’t that great!   Well, today, I’m talking about three books I’ve used a lot over the years. They’re not perfect, but they are great and they’ve had a big influence on me. The books range from classical guitar to advanced guitar and songwriting!   For more help from...

I get asked a LOT of questions when it comes to learning guitar. I love to answer them but don’t always get the time to answer everyone’s questions. So today, I thought I’d share some of the most commonly asked questions I get and give you… my answers.   We’re talking about how many scales you should learn on guitar, how to move around the fretboard, which guitar teachers I recommend, and if peopl...

I quickly realised when I started teaching guitar that not many students would ask me to teach them to play the blues… but pretty much all of them would LOVE it when I would introduce them to blues guitar – especially the sounds of Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, and Stevie Ray Vaughan (and the first blues song I ever loved, which was by Led Zeppelin).   In this episode, I’m playing a whole variety of bl...

One of the most important things you can do on the guitar is to get absolute clarity on what it is you want to achieve.   Well, in this episode I’m going over a four-step system to help you make massive progress on the guitar.   These have been inspired by author Brian Tracy and adapted as well as simplified for you to use right away. It’s powerful stuff and I highly recommend you apply this today...

One piece of advice I like to share with students is this… beware of learning too many chords.   Instead of using those old chord books that are full of 10,000s of guitar chords, you can get a lot more mileage instead from playing just one chord such as C Major… And then learning all the variations of this chord.   This is fun and a lot of the time you only need to add or remove a finger to get lo...