Our venue – The Guitar Social

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Guitar Lessons in London

Jams | Holidays | Events
Meet new people. Learn new skills.

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IN ASSOCIATION

Hello. We’re The Guitar Social. We’ve taken the traditional guitar class and turned it on its head with a range of beginners, group and one-to-one lessons and courses, jams and events that have entertained and developed thousands of guitar players, just like you.

We aren’t just about scales, theory and solitary practice (although we do encourage all of those things), we’re about the magic that happens when musicians meet.

Everything we do is done from our bar/music venue in Hackney, smack bang in the middle of Shoreditch, Dalston, Tower Hamlets, and Bow in East London. All our learners get to know each other. Our purpose-built venue in East London is our hub where we host classes, run events, serve food and drinks and make musical connections. View our venue.

See you in a session soon.

We won! We are officially The best Guitar Tuition business in London.

Read more here.

Connecting people through music

All our learners get to know each other.

We meet in the pub, we jam in the park, many of us have holidayed together and plenty of us have formed bands. We’ve put beginners centre stage in pubs in Camden, we’ve had entire bars singing with us in countries across the world, we’ve played songs of adventure as we’ve sailed the Mediterranean and we’ve brought seasoned players out of their rut and onto better things.

We’re a multifaceted rock and roll secret society that will take you wherever you want to go, whether that be from the bedroom to the studio or from the class room to the other side of the world.

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Rocking in the Real World

Experience tells us that learning is more fun when it’s enjoyed alongside other people. Learning in a group also increases the likelihood of you continuing to play past your first year by a wide margin.

All of our learning is based around practical application, so we don’t just learn a scale; we learn a scale and then get a group jam going based around that scale. We don’t just learn a chord-group; we learn that chord group and then jam songs that use those chords.

Learning is nothing without practical application. Every riff needs to be heard, every song needs to be shared.

We also do online

If you don’t live in London you can still get involved by attending our online program of live classes with our lead tutor Thomas Binns.

It costs just £20 a month and is accessed by taking our tier two Patreon membership. Aside from the classes, you’ll also be given access to loads of video tutorials like this one.

To deliver the best online experience we have invested in huge monitors so we can see what your hands are doing along with some of the very best technology to deliver an online class that doesn’t feel like an online class.

It’s not quite the same as attending in person, but that’s why it’s a lot cheaper and for our many friends across the country this has worked perfectly.

Holidays & Events

There’s nothing better than playing guitar, apart from maybe going on holiday so we’ve combined these two cornerstones of good living in The Guitar Social retreat’s schedule. We do holidays overseas and we do holidays at home. It’s Rock and Roll but with sun screen on.

Of course, unless you have the budget of Mick Jagger you can’t be on holiday all the time, so in the down months we do guitar events. These are jams, open mics, themed parties, talks and quizzes, all in place to link you with the many musicians around you who, just like you, want to meet, jam and play.

Real world jams, musical experiences, adventure and connection. These are the founding principles of The Guitar Social.

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We’re on Patreon

Patreon

Access to classes, podcasts, videos, tabs all events and the inside track for £10

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Purchase your £75/ month membership

Purchase your £75/ month membership Membership can be cancelled at any time and you will be billed monthly on the...

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March term second half payment

For those who opted to pay the March term in 2 halves, here is where you can pay the second...

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March term one off session pass

March term one off session pass If you’d like to join some classes but can’t commit to the same day...

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Choose and book onto your Membership courses

You can choose up to five workshops a week plus one joy of the jam class which you’ll join every...

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A guide to membership. What is it and how to book

A guide to membership. What is it and how to book Hey Rock StarThank you for taking out or looking...

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Some of the people who support us:

It is really important to make music accessible to all. This ground breaking World record guitar lesson attempt is a great initiative, and is a small stepping stone on the way to enabling visually impaired people to learning an instrument.

Stevie Wonder

The Guitar Social’s world record breaking attempt is all about spreading the joy of Music to communities that are forgotten in the arts world. Good luck, keep doing the good work.

The Cure

From the Guitar Social Community

The class is run by a group who really understand the principles of learning and the reasons for doing it! Also we are given sensible and realistic targets and outcomes coupled with very helpful practice schedules.

Lindsay, London

Thanks to The Guitar Social , I am living my dream after years of longing to play the guitar but feeling too scared to go for it. I am loving it. The classes are so enjoyable.

Beverley, Birmingham

The lessons are great fun, the resources are excellent and I’m learning more than ever before. On top of that, there are loads of opportunities to get together and play with other students. Best guitar lessons I’ve ever had.

Stevie, London

The Guitar Social is unique, vibrant, edgy, always fun and uplifting. Where else could I get top quality guitar teaching alongside a jam in the park, fun Zoom guitar based games or an inspiring and sociable camping trip.

Helen, Devon

Nicola Cortese

03/02/2022

I started a course in Jan as a beginner with Thomas and I can already play 5 songs!.. with simple chords :) both Thomas and Fiona are really lovely and they really know how to teach whilst having fun! I'd highly recommend dropping at one of their Thursday's open mic! Tons of fun and talent for free!!!

Jonny Pollard

02/02/2022

Very friendly learning environment, was a bit nervous to play with a group having not played socially for many years, but it was super relaxed, and I learnt a lot in the first session. Looking forward to the next session!

Adam J

01/02/2022

Had a great time tonight! I joined on to the beginners course a couple weeks late, but Fiona was great at running me up to speed before the class. Tom was a great instructor, and managed to get us to cover lots of ground in a short space of time. The group was super freindly and relaxed, and im looking forward to going back next week!

Jakub Špaček

01/02/2022

Having played guitar in my past within academic environment I have to say The Guitar Social club opened my eyes with their amazing and vibrant atmosphere with company of great people. Lessons are really fun and easy to follow. Feel really motivate just after few classes and my connection to the instrument greatly improved!

Paula Smith

31/01/2022

Unbelievably great, not kidding.

Marcella Puppini

31/01/2022

This exactly what I was hoping it would be. A fun and engaging way of learning a new instrument at a lovely venue, with great people and great teaching. Thoroughly recommended.

hashtagobi

31/01/2022

Only been going 2 weeks but it's a great environment with good pacing throughout the lessons. The community is quite helpful + open to learn so it's really a great space for anyone wanting to hone their guitar chops!

Kevin S.

27/01/2022

Is it a guitar school? A social events group? A music workshop for all ages and abilities? An open, non-judgemental route to performing? A holiday club that includes jamming on guitars around the campfire? Well–it's all these and more. The Guitar Social is built around founder & lead tutor Thomas (plus TGS Business Director, Fiona, originally one of its earliest students). Patient and passionate, Thomas and his relaxed, friendly temperament get the best from beginners to improvers and beyond. Personally for me, one core strength of The Guitar Social is that Thomas realises what most tutors and courses never do – we can all learn fast and well when we play whole songs together and discover as a group how to make them work. Thomas and TGS guest tutors will always tend to teach music theory for guitar, and focus too on scales, chord voicings, correct rhythm, licks, riffs, parts, soloing etc, but with a tendency to make it about the fun and learning gains when students jam together on great songs instead of staring at a white board and not playing much music. Jamming songs in similar or mixed ability groups helps TGS students become functioning musicians who have built useful real world skills and experience across many sessions similar to how working musicians rehearse and workshop songs. And you will have the opportunity to build live experience too if you wish – solo or with your term group or with others of your choice, in a safe, positive environment, with friendly fellow students as your audience. Never any pressure and just one example of where TGS delivers extra value. They are really worth trying. I haven't even done full justice here to all the different activities they do.

stu smith

25/01/2022

The coolest club in London!

Colin Taylor

25/01/2022

I'm back for my second series of the Joy of the Jam. After not playing with others for over 30 years, these sessions are reminding me just how inspiring and enjoyable jamming can be. Thomas leads the sessions with huge enthusiasm and a great deal of humour. The support of his impressive musical knowledge is ever present - but this never gets in the way of our desire just have fun and be playing.

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