We're pleased to announce the 2018 dates for our Professional Guitar Setup Course.  We look forward to seeing you in 2018! Many Thanks, James. https://www.guitartechcourses.com/product/professional-guitar-setup-course/  

Due to popular demand, we have added a couple more dates for the Pro Guitar Setup Course; 1 additional Saturday in March and 1 Thursday in April. Saturday 18th March  Thursday 13th April  We will be adding more mid week dates, please let us know if you're interested in attending any mid week sessions if they're not yet visible on the booking form.   Thanks very much, James.

Today, guitars are one of the most popular instruments in the world, dominating popular musical culture and defining most modern music. The oldest depictions of instruments that resemble guitars come from Babylonia and the Hittite Empire circa 1600 BC. Since prehistoric times, humans have built stringed resonator instruments, initially bowl harps and tanburs, made from tortoise shells with bent sticks as necks and gut/silk strings. Around 2500 BC more advanced harps like the intricate 11-stringed instruments found with Sumerian queens began to emerge. The oldest surviving guitar-like instrument belonged to an Egyptian singer named Har-Mose, buried with his tanbur near Queen Hatshepsut, Queen of Egypt in 1503 BC. The instrument had three strings and a plectrum attached to the neck by a cord, and was made of cedar wood with a rawhide soundboard. The modern word guitar comes from the Spanish guitarra, itself a development of Andalusian Arabic from the Moorish occupation of Spain (qitara, sometimes spelt as cithara). Qitara, in turn, developed from the Greek kithara and the Latin cithara. By 1200 records show that there were two instruments called variants of ‘guitar’ in Spain, the guitarra latina and the guitarra moresca. The moresca, associated with the Moors, had a rounded back, a wide fingerboard and several sound holes, while the latina had a single hole and a narrower neck. These designs gradually blended together and by the fourteenth century they were simply guitars. From the 15th and 16th centuries there are records of vihuela, (viola da mano in Italian), guitar-like instruments that influenced the development of modern guitars. A vihuela has six courses, lute-like tuning in fourths and a sharply cut waist, although it still superficially resembles a guitar. Despite the influences this

Guitar Tech Courses are very proud to be one of the many Exhibitors at the new South of England Guitar Show, Sunday  23rd October 2016.  If you're attending then please drop by and say Hello! Come try out one the 3 Day Build Course Strats or Tele's and sign up for Professional Setup Course or build course. "A NEW GUITAR SHOW FOR LONDON & THE SOUTH. The South of England Guitar Show. Kempton Park Racecourse Exhibition Centre, Sunbury on Thames, TW16 5AQ. 10am to 4.30pm. Admission £10 on the door. (Under 12's free.) Free parking.  Licensed bar; food and drink available. BUY, SELL AND TRADE. New, vintage and second-hand guitars, amps and accessories. Sensational LIVE MUSIC all day with bands and solo acts This will be the UK's biggest Show dedicated to guitars. More than 130 exhibitors, collectors and dealers confirmed. Many national and independent stores, luthiers and dealers are attending. Free prize draw for all visitors - win a guitar! A great day out for any guitar enthusiast."

We have changed the days on which the 3 Day guitar build courses fall, they will now be taken on Thursday, Friday & completing Saturday. Many "students" have to work on the Monday so have no break after the weekend as well as quite a few people have the flexibility in the week but have family commitments etc on the weekend, so with that and other things in mind the courses for 2017 will reflect this change. The dates are below:- "Thursday - 26th Jan 2017 to Saturday - 28st Jan 2017" "Thursday – 23rd Feb 2017 to Saturday – 25th Feb 2017" "Thursday – 23rd March 2017 to Saturday – 25th March 2017" "Thursday – 27th April 2017 to Saturday – 29th April 2017" "Thursday – 25th May 2017 to Saturday – 27th May 2017" "Thursday – 22nd June 2017 to Saturday – 24th June 2017" "Thursday – 27th July 2017 to Saturday – 29th July 2017" "Thursday – 24th August 2017 to Saturday – 29th August 2017" "Thursday – 28th September 2017 to Saturday – 29th September 2017" "Thursday – 26th October 2017 to Saturday – 28th October 2017" "Thursday – 30th November 2017 to Saturday – 2nd December 2017 We also now have a custom build configurator with all the available options for you, once booked we'll send you the link so you can choose all your options. These dates will be added to the booking form once November/December courses are fully booked, both booking now... Hope to see you in 2017 building some more fantastic guitars.. James.

We are continuing with our 1 Day Professional Guitar Setup Course usually held middle of the month on a Saturday for 2017. Available for beginners, intermediates & the more experienced. Dates below.. "Saturday - 14th January 2017" "Saturday - 11th February 2017" "Saturday - 11th March 2017" "Saturday - 8th April 2017" "Saturday - 13th May 2017" "Saturday - 10th June 2017" "Saturday - 8th July 2017" "Saturday - 12th August 2017" "Saturday - 9th September 2017" "Saturday – 14th October 2017" "Saturday – 4th November 2017" "Saturday – 16th December 2017" These dates will be added to our online booking form in the next few weeks once November & December Setup course are full (bookings being taken now). Many Thanks, James.

We're really looking forward to teaming up with Your Guitar Academy to bring you our new Guitar Tech Maintenance Videos. Coming Soon... Your Guitar Academy is the UK’s central hub for learning guitar. They offer an online subscription-based range guitar lessons called “YGA Pro”, as well as private guitar tuition in several parts of the UK including London. They welcome students of all ages and abilities looking to learn and improve, from complete beginners to experienced players. They’d love to hear from you.  

Due to high demand as well as requests for another mid week 3 Day Guitar Building Course (Strat or Tele) we have added another 3 day course beginning Monday 21st November 2016 - Wednesday 23rd November 2016. Please feel free to email or call if you're interested in starting your week building a custom Strat or Tele! 2017 Dates (tbc) will include week-day build courses and the last weekend of the month. Thanks, James.

Brushing up on your skills, learning new techniques and creating something the bottom up is both rewarding and satisfying. Guitars are fascinatingly versatile instruments, included in many genres of music, which all require slightly different guitar setups. Whatever the genre you play, it is possible to make a guitar perfectly suited to the style of music. Learning or relearning the basics and the complexities of technically setting up a guitar can help make playing much more enjoyable, and improve the quality of your sound. Learning the technicalities can improve your playing, but an in depth knowledge of your guitar can boost your abilities even further. We offer guitar building courses that start with the very bare bones of a body, and build up from there to create the ideal custom guitar. Custom guitars are one-of-kind, often modified from standard models. However, building a guitar from scratch gives the finished guitar even more original flair, and a completely unique finish. Not only is the guitar completely personal to you, but making it will give you in depth knowledge of the inner workings of a guitar, help you repair your own model faster, and better inform you on how to improve the sound while you play. Professional technicians and amateur hobbyists can build custom guitars on our guitar building course. Our courses are aimed at those of all abilities and run over a weekend, Friday to Sunday. Take a look at our gallery to see guitars built on previous courses.