Guitar & Bass Lessons in Horsforth
Home visits across Horsforth, Town Street to New Road Side, with Leeds' guitar and bass tutor
Horsforth is one of those Leeds suburbs that manages to feel like its own town while still being ten minutes from the city centre — and it's exactly the kind of place I enjoy teaching in. Town Street has enough independent cafés and shops to give it a proper high-street feel, Leeds Trinity University sits right on the doorstep, and there's a strong mix of families who've settled here for the schools alongside students and young professionals renting nearer the station. That variety shows up in who I teach: primary-age kids picking up their first guitar, teenagers working towards Rock School grades for UCAS points, and adults — some coming back to bass after years in a wardrobe, others starting from absolute scratch.
I'm Ryan Hawkins, guitar and bass tutor at Phillips Music Tuition, and I studied Pop Performance (Guitar) at Leeds Conservatoire before spending the past decade gigging and teaching around the North. I still perform regularly, including corporate and wedding sets with the Northern House Band at venues like Grantley Hall and Rudding Park, and that stage time shapes how I teach — less about memorising tab, more about ear training and reading chord charts properly, so a student can eventually work a song out for themselves.
Lessons happen at your home in Horsforth — whether that's up near Hall Park, over towards New Road Side, or down by the station — with no amp-hauling required on your end. I also teach from the Lawnswood studio just down the road in a few minutes by car, and online lessons are available too, which tends to suit exam season or the darker winter months when a home visit is less appealing.
I hold ABRSM Grade 5 Music Theory and know the Rock School syllabus in detail, so if a student wants a structured route through grades, we can build towards that properly — sight-reading, technical exercises and all. Equally, plenty of my Horsforth students have no interest in exams and just want to get better at the songs they actually listen to. Genre-wise I lean towards pop, rock and soul, but indie, blues and anything in between is fair game.
Every new student, child or adult, starts with a free consultation lesson — a relaxed first meeting rather than an audition, so you can decide if it's the right fit before committing to anything. Lessons are £35 for 60 minutes or £18 for 30 minutes, with travel across Horsforth included in the price, and we run a straightforward 48-hour cancellation policy.
If you're in Horsforth, or nearby in Rawdon, Bramhope, Kirkstall or Headingley, get in touch and I'll find a time that works for you.