Guitar

This major takes a closer look at the skills of a professional guitarist. You will learn how to arrange, research repertoires and perform on stage and in the studio.

You will develop good technique on your instrument, grounding your timing skills and honing your tempo awareness. You will explore blues, groove and soloing. You will also learn to play using your musical imagination, how to tell stories on your guitar and how to be a good and respectful accompanist. Plenty of attention is also paid to reading sheet music, sound, composition and exploring styles and genres.

Alongside the weekly one-on-one classes in your major, you’ll attend a small-scale, weekly group class to train your technique and sight-reading. Your major lessons, bands and theory classes are interconnected: anything you learn in the guitar class can be applied to your band work.

We expect you to be at a decent level by the start of your programme, so that you can successfully achieve the final learning outcomes within the four-year programme. During the admission process, we will assess your level and potential for development.

This is what you will do:

• Perform
  • Play at least two pieces that showcase your skills. The pieces must be from different genres.
• Rhythm test
  • Play along to a drum loop and keep the rhythm going when the loop cuts out for several beats.
• Listen and repeat
  • Play a fragment and ask you to play it by ear as soon as you can. You may also be asked to play on the spot with a play-along.
• Reading music
  • We will test your sight-reading skills of a simple melody.
• Reading chord symbol
  • We will assess your ability to play triads and tetrads and understand symbols relating to rhythm and form. You will perform an accompaniment and solo.