A Brief Biography

Joel started playing guitar at the ripe old age of three and has now been playing for more than 35 years. At the age of eight he began five years of classical guitar training before deciding to concentrate on the electric.

By the age of 14, while still at school, he was playing the club scene and it was here that he started to gain his experience of playing many different styles of music.

He started his professional career in 1988 while working with a band signed to a subsidiary of the Red Rhino indi label. This band toured the country extensively and enjoyed a good popularity in Europe. During his time with the band Joel appeared on one album and a single. Since leaving the band in 1989 he has worked as a studio session player, a theatre pit musician and a freelance live guitarist. His live work includes performances at the Marquee, The Mean Fiddler, The Rock Garden and many more. Theatre productions include Little Shop of Horrors, Rocky Horror Picture show, West side Story, A Slice of Saturday Night, variety galas and pantomimes. He has worked along side bands such as Clannad, The Ground Hogs and Jools Holland. Studio work has seen Joel playing on anything from demos for up and coming singer/song writers to library music, jingles and film scores. In amongst this Joel has also gigged with his own bands which include ‘The Jazz Bandits’ and ‘Jute’ and is at present working on material for a new band project.

His many musical styles, ranging from pop to rock to jazz (jazz-fusion being his biggest musical influence), have made him a very adaptable player and have allowed him to become a versatile teacher.

In the eighteen years that he has been teaching professionally, he has had a 100% pass rate for students taking exams across four exam boards. He has had students attend the Royal Academy of Music, Leeds college of Music and Bretton Hall to name but a few and several ex students are now professional players. Joel has also been a featured tutor in the magazine ‘Guitar Techniques’ and a featured tutor on the 'Guitar.com' web site. Through the power of the web and e-mail Joel has taught students in the U.S.A., South America and Australia and hopes to eventually expand this site to offer some sort of on-line tuition.