Kirkstall is a funny one to describe to people who don't know Leeds, because it's doing about three different things at once. You've got the Abbey itself sitting in its park by the river, genuinely one of the best-preserved Cistercian ruins in the country and a proper picnic spot in summer. You've got the long stretch of Kirkstall Road rattling with buses and vans in and out of the city centre. And then, just off that main drag, you've got Kirkstall Forge — the newest bit, with its own train station now and a steady flow of new-build flats and townhouses filling in what used to be industrial land by the Aire. Three different Kirkstalls, more or less, and I teach guitar and bass across all of them.
I'm Ryan Hawkins, guitar and bass tutor at Phillips Music Tuition. I studied Pop Performance (Guitar) at Leeds Conservatoire and spent my first years on the local scene gigging before building a career playing corporate and wedding sets with the Northern House Band at venues like Grantley Hall, Rudding Park Hotel and Sora at Malmaison — alongside a decade of teaching guitar and bass to students of every age and ability. That mix of performing and teaching is what shapes my lessons: I'd rather a student learn to work a song out by ear, using chord charts and lead sheets, than lean on tab for everything. It means they end up independent musicians, not just people who've memorised someone else's transcription.
Kirkstall students tend to split along the lines of the area itself. There are families in the newer Kirkstall Forge developments, often with a first guitar bought after a birthday or a bit of encouragement from a sibling. There are longer-settled households around Kirkstall Lane, Vesper Road and the terraces nearer Bridge Road, where I've taught more than a few teenagers working steadily towards a Rock School grade. And there's a steady trickle of students just the other side of the river towards Burley and Headingley, close enough that Kirkstall counts as home turf for me as much as anywhere.
Lessons happen at your house in Kirkstall — whether that's near the Abbey, down by the retail park on Kirkstall Road, or up around the Forge — with everything brought to you. If a home visit doesn't suit a particular week, my Cookridge teaching space is a short drive away, and online lessons are available too, which tends to work well during exam terms or when the weather along the river isn't tempting anyone outdoors.
I hold ABRSM Grade 5 Music Theory and know the Rock School syllabus properly, so students wanting a structured route through grades — useful for UCAS points alongside GCSEs or A-Levels — get proper attention to scales, technical work and sight-reading, not just a rush through a set piece. Just as many Kirkstall students have no interest in exams at all and simply want to get better at the songs they already love, and both get exactly the same care from me. Genre-wise it's a broad mix here — indie and rock show up a lot given how close we are to Headingley, but soul, blues and pop come up just as often depending on what's actually on someone's playlist.
Every new student starts with a free consultation lesson — a relaxed first meeting rather than an audition, so you can see if it's a good fit before committing to anything. Lessons are £35 for 60 minutes or £18 for 30 minutes, with travel across Kirkstall included in the price, and a straightforward 48-hour cancellation policy.
If you're in Kirkstall, or nearby in Burley, Headingley or Horsforth, and have been meaning to start guitar or bass lessons, get in touch and I'll find a time that works.