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We currently provide guitar tuition at a number of Primary and Secondary schools throughout County Clare. The following is a list of schools where we presently teach.
- Holy Family Primary
- Gaelscoil Mhícíl Cíosóg
- CBS Primary Ennis
- Ennis National School
- Sixmilebridge National School
- Barefield Primary
- Newmarket Primary
- St. Flannans College
If your child is at a school where we do teach already and you would like to enrol them for lessons, you can either pick up more info from the school office or contact us directly. If we do not currently provide tuition at your child's school please contact us for more information about how to get things started. We are always happy to forge new relationships with schools and new schools are being added to the list every year.
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Course Content
and why something sounds good
The biggest advantage to studying with EGS is simply that everything you need to know is laid out in one course... step-by-step, start to finish. No more searching the web or buying books while trying to piece together your own training program. The concepts on our courses build upon each other in a logical, step-by-step format so that you never feel lost. On our courses you will:
If you already have the basics down, just sign up for one of our more advanced courses , then get down to the good stuff.
If you already play isn't it time to get serious about learning to play guitar?
Haven't you messed around long enough? Invest in yourself. Invest in your music. Imagine, in less than a year you can go from where you are now to being a serious player, jamming like a true pro in any musical genre. You just provide the guitar and the practice time. Everything else you need is right here!
At the Ennis Guitar School (EGS) our focus of teaching guitar is based on our unique modular and fun approach to learning. We also recognise the importance of external validation. As a member of the Registry of Guitar School (RGT) we are able to afford our students the opportunity to receive an internationally recognised qualification in guitar, in partnership with the London College of Music Exams at our school in Ennis.
Benefits of Taking an RGT (Registry of Guitar Schools) Exam
•Gain an internationally recognised qualification.
•All RGT graded exams are accredited by the Qualifications & Curriculum Authority (QCA), and UCAS points are available for grades 6-8.
•Achieve your playing potential by setting yourself a clear target to aspire to.
•Preparing for the exam will improve all aspects of your playing, increase your knowledge of guitar techniques and music theory.
Exams take place annually at Ennis Guitar School at dates to be decided by RGT.
LIVE YOUR ROCK DREAM
Have you ever dreamed of playing in a band? Are you a lapsed singer, guitarist, bassist or drummer? Are you ready to rediscover the passion and pleasures of playing and performing live, with other like-minded musicians and players? Then this is the programme you have been waiting for!
Weekend Warriors is an adventure that begins with a jam and ends with a gig.
How does it work? Following a short induction, participants are grouped into bands and provided with equipment, rehearsal space and tutors. The bands then jam together at 5 rehearsal sessions at the EGS facilities, under the guidance of expert EGS tutors. During each session you will be working on well known, popular songs.
Your age, musical interest and skill level will all be considered before you are assigned to a group.
Each assigned part will fit the skill level of each player. Beginners will have easier parts. More experienced players will be able to fully expand upon their playing abilities.
After this youll rehearse one day a week for five weeks and then finish off with a gig in a local club/pub for your friends, family and fellow Warriors. Again its all arranged, the Weekend Warrior program provides the staging, the sound, the lighting and even the roadies. All you have to do is show up, have fun and be a star!!
Weekend Warriors is a once in a lifetime opportunity for musicians to develop and rediscover their skills and create new and lasting musical partnerships. In many cases, Warriors continue to play with their new band long after the programme has finished.
Weekend Warriors is all about having a great time, hanging out with friends and forgetting about the mortgage for a few hours every week.
Interested? Then contact us now to register your place and prepare to rock!
weekend warriors enrolment form.pdf
Rock band enrolment form.pdf
FEES
Classes from as little as €30.00 per class!
Places limited
Enrol by clicking book now or download enrolment form (left) or call 065-6822516
OPEN TO EVERY ONE
Classes are scheduled for Saturdays 9.00am to 11.00am and 11.00am to1:00pm or 2pm to 4.00pm and 4pm to 6.00pm
THESE CLASSES ARE HELD ONCE A WEEK FOR 4 WEEKS.
120 Minutes each class!
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Enrolment form 2011.pdf
SUMMER CAMP enrolment form.pdf
Guitar Course
Summer Camp
Rock Band
Weekend Warrior
Tip: Use buttons to navigate through Course Dates & Times
This is a great opportunity for prospective students to see our new school and fantastic facilities first hand,talk to tutors and get a feel for the lessons they may be taking with us in the future. The day will be very relaxed and informal so you will be assured a warm and friendly welcome.
On the day you will have an opportunity to:
You are invited to bring your friends, family or colleagues
and avail of our current "REFER A FRIEND SCHEME".
Mark the date in your calendar Wednesday & Thursday 4TH / 5TH January FROM 10AM TO 4PM...
Enquiries to info_ennisguitarschool.ie or Telephone 065 6822516
other people, I became hooked and the desire to play these sounds became a motivator for me. However, it was impossible to learn guitar in a structured way.
It was a real hit-and-miss affair. No one, in the West of Ireland at least, knew how to play or teach these sounds. Guitar lessons were non-existent and an older friend of mine used to travel to Limerick on the bus once a week for a lesson and show me what he learned when he returned. After that, I had many teachers and unfortunately I didnt learn very much.
Except for classical players, most teachers had no formal training and for long periods I would not play guitar because I was stuck in a rut and couldnt move forward, he recalled.
It was only years later, when Mike decided to study at the Guitar Institute in London that all the pieces of the guitar jigsaw puzzle began to fit together.
My vision or goal then became to set up a learning centre in Clare, modelled on the Institute, where students of all ages and particularly from a young age would have access to learning techniques and facilities to learn to play guitar properly and, just as importantly, to use or get to play what they learn with other musicians.
Mike trained to be a teacher and combined his love of teaching and his passion for guitar by setting up the school in 2003, opening a new teaching facility at Elevation Business Park, Clonroad, Ennis this year.
This year, we have opened a new modern spacious, fully equipped guitar teaching facility in Ennis town centre. Most guitar players end up learning riffs or songs off their favourite players from the internet or books or their friends and this is often all that they know and very often their playing experience remains confined to their bedroom. Our courses teach
SITTING in his bedroom in Newmarket-on-Fergus listening to the songs on the radio, a young Mike Varden had only one thing on his mind, a desire to play the guitar just like his musical heroes.
Years later, Mike is now passing on that very same passion to a new generation of budding young musicians. Mike decided to set up the Ennis Guitar School back in 2003 because, as he says, he wanted people to have the opportunities to learn that he didn’t have growing up.
“When I was growing up in Clare there was so many new and exciting guitar sounds and bands coming over on the radio and coming out on record and I suppose, like many
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popular instrument in western culture. It has defined generations of sounds and created many musical styles. From a beautiful, classical piece of music plucked on a nylon-string guitar to a to a shattering rock or metal solo, it is incredible that the same instrument can produce this and all the sounds in between such as jigs and reels, folk music, ragtime, rock, blues, funk, jazz, pop and heavy metal.
Just think of some of the great exponents of the instrument and their diverse styles from Jonn Williams, Arty McGlynn, John Renbourn, Rory Gallagher, Carlos Santana, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix to more modern players such as Joe Satriani, Eddie Van Halen to jazz greats such as Joe Pass, Django Reinhardt, Al Di Meola. The list goes on and on. The one thing all these great players have in common is that they play the same instrument and use the same chords and scales, albeit in a different way, to create such an array of music. At the school, we aim to give the students the tools and skills to understand and be able to play
whatever styles the student has a preference for or develops an interest in.
According to Mike, his aim is to create musicians first and guitar players second. I believe in adopting a very holistic approach to learning guitar, where students get to learn all aspects of playing at the same time such as songs, fretboard knowledge, theory, reading, technical skills, song writing, live performance and so on.
Traditionally, most guitar courses are centered around learning the instrument using outdated songs and musical pieces from books, which often lead to frustration and boredom amongst students and the give-up or drop-out rate was often very high.
What we do here is teach guitar using contemporary musical pieces and songs that students can relate to. So they learn to play their favourite songs quickly while learning all aspects of guitar playing in a structured and comprehensive way. We make use of all the modern teaching aids such as CD, DVD and internet as well as written and audio material. We encourage students to be creative at all times.
students the fundamentals of music and good, solid technique right from the start. This opens up a whole new world of music to them.
I believe that everyone can learn music and we do everything possible to ensure that students learn to play correctly in the shortest possible time. So I suppose my mission statement, to use a modern term, would be to provide a step-by-step, easy-to-do method of studying and playing the guitar using accelerated learning techniques and support systems and a practical and fun approach.
An example of this would be the recent introduction of web watch, which allows students to view all guitar lessons online by logging onto a password-protected website. The ability to watch lessons online means that our students can access lessons from anywhere and watch lessons whenever they want. This greatly speeds up the learning process, he adds.
Speaking to Mike, you cant help but be struck with his enthusiasm for the guitar. The guitar is a fantastic instrument and arguably the most
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qualification. We also teach in the main primary schools in Ennis and some county schools, the aim being to stimulate interest in the guitar at a young age. This option can be very convenient for parents and children and parents should check with their school.
The school also teaches drums, keyboards and bass guitar. You will often find families where one member of the family plays drums and another guitar or piano or we have quite a few students who are learning both guitar and drums.
When asked what he hopes to achieve he said, County Clare has always been synonymous with quality music and hopefully I have created a centre where students can learn contemporary and traditional music styles on guitar to a high standard and help to enhance that reputation. I hope to do this by implementing the techniques and teaching methods I learned at guitar school, all our courses (which include summer workshops) and teaching techniques are constantly being updated and improved as a result of regular monitoring by our teachers
and feedback from our students and their parents and all of our tutors have music qualifications and undergo induction training to ensure school standards are maintained.
For more information or to get some free guitar-playing tips and other articles, visit www.ennisguitarschool.ie or call 6822516.
The school has a purpose-built live band performance space where students get to play with other musicians such as drummers and bass players and learn to perform at a very young age. This, together with group lessons, really builds self-confidence and social skills. Learning then becomes fun and students are motivated and excited and practice, which is the key to becoming a good player, it becomes regular and not a chore, Mike outlined.
While for many students they are learning to play just for fun, others can take grades.
Traditionally, grades were only available for classical music students but in recent years a whole range of both acoustic and electric guitar grades in contemporary music styles have been developed and introduced. Grading is very useful for students who might wish to teach music later on or become professional musicians. They also give students something to aim for and a sense of achievement. Grades are awarded by the London College of Music and these grades are an internationally recognised
As a result, children often experience two distinct musical curriculam. If these two paths could be brought together, it is highly probable that more effective learning would take place.
"The aim of this initiative is to try to bridge that gap by bringing lessons to the classroom, complementing the material being taught at school and providing a structured and progressive syllabus often not available outside school, whilst offering students the opportunity to attain internationally recognised grades at all levels of tuition. Teachers and parents alike look favourably upon this approach."
Principal of Barefield National School,
John Burns praised the work of the
school's young musicians throughout the year.
"They learned all genres of music and this was a great opportunity for them to learn the guitar, which I regard to be a very social instrument, you can bring it everywhere you go. We have a lot of interest in music in the school and I believe learning an instrument will be of benefit to them for the rest of their lives. They all performed at the assembly and they all did very well," he said.
For details of how to take part in the programme, contact the Ennis Guitar School on 065 6822516 or 086 1731031.
Mike said that, so far, grading in the
guitar was only available for those who
play the classical style. However, this
programme aims to train youngsters in all styles of music, from the traditional to the contemporary, including folk, classical, country, rock, blues, pop and jazz.
"The idea for this project is a result of
many years of playing, teaching and study and I feel it will be of huge benefit to students who are given the opportunity to avail of it, as graded exams in contemporary guitar music were non-existent until very recently in Ireland," he said.
Mike went on, "The guitar has become
arguably the single most recognised instrument in popular culture and is often the preferred instrument of schoolchildren. However, guitar teaching has functioned by and large in isolation to the school music curriculum.
"Generally, children have music lessons at school that are class-based but to progress on the guitar, students take music lessons privately.
THE children of Barefield National
School showcased their newly acquired guitar skills at their last assembly of the year. The pupils were among the first in the county to take part in a new internationally
recognised graded programme
of specialist guitar instruction.
The young musicians in Barefield were among those taking part in a pilot project launched last September in a number of different schools throughout Clare.
And according to Mike Varden, director of the Ennis Guitar School, the pilot project did so well that plans are now underway to launch the programme in primaryand secondary schools all over thecounty this September.
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Level 1
This course is for the absolute beginner who has never played guitar before.. You will build up all of the basic techniques that are required to play the guitar, such as strumming, picking and fretting, whilst also learning basic chord shapes and an understanding of timekeeping. By the end of the course you will be able to confidently play a number of songs in a few different styles, and will have developed the foundation skills and technique necessary for further development of your playing.
Term 1
will cover basic topics such as guitar tuning, open position chords, rhythm, fingerstyle, scales , improvising, theory, simple melodies and riffs. You will learn how to play Major, Minor and Dominant 7th chords, whilst also gaining an understanding of strumming patterns and timekeeping. This will lead to you learning songs in a variety of styles, featuring examples from current popular songs and artists such as Bob Dylan , Leonard Cohen and The Beatles.
Finally, in week ten of the course we provide a student backing band for the class so that everyone can get their first taste of playing in a band, all within an encouraging and supportive environment.
Guitar Tuning
Chords in the open position (Major, Minor, Dominant 7)
Learning the notes on the guitar and playing simple melodies
Develop time keeping skills and strumming patterns
The pentatonic and major scales
Understanding guitar tablature and how to read a chord chart
Play in a band
Term 2
Term II expands on the basic skills from Term I such as open chords and strumming, and further develops your playing.
In this term you will continue to develop timekeeping and more complex strumming patterns and increase your repertoire by learning several new songs. You will learn more scales and how to use these in a musical setting. 12 Bar Blues in E is introduced and choice of scales to use.
Finally, one week of the course is an LPW (Live Performance Workshop), where we provide a backing band for the class to workshop a song and have the opportunity to apply some of the material studied!
Term 3
If as a guitarist you have a solid understanding and ability to play the simple movable chords and the odd scale, but are unsure of your next step, then this course is for you. It is designed to not only continue to build solid technical skills, but also to start developing some simple music theory, and hence your musical understanding. In level three you will continue to expand your chord vocabulary and the implementation of scales in your improvising.
At level three, we also introduce two units that are 'style specific', giving you the chance to start investigating a musical genre in greater depth. In Electric Guitar III the styles studied are 'Blues' and 'Funk'.
Finally, as in the other levels one unit is an LPW where you will be backed by an Institute 'House Band' and perform in a real band environment.
— Pentatonic scales in five positions on the guitar
— Enhancing your chord vocabulary with chords such as Sus chords and 9th chords
— The major pentatonic scale
— Triads on different sets of strings on the guitar
— The minor scale
— Play in a band environment
