James Shipway is a guitarist, author and course creator with over 25, 000 hours of experience helping students of all ages and abilities reach their guitar-playing goals. He's shared his knowledge with millions of guitarists worldwide via his YouTube channel and his online guitar academy, Total Guitar Lab, as well as in his acclaimed series of guitar books.
James first began playing guitar at 16.
Self-taught and with no prior musical education or experience, he still remembers very well how confusing guitar playing is without any guidance. He brings this personal experience of struggling with adversity and confusion on guitar to everything he does, and his practical, easy-to-use, 'BS free' approach to learning, playing and practicing guitar has gained him a legion of followers around the globe. His book releases include; Music Theory for Guitarists, Volumes 1, 2 & 3, Rock Lick Method for Guitar, The CAGED System for Guitar, Blues Soloing for Guitar, Volumes 1 & 2, Barre Chords for Guitar and Circle of Fifths for Guitar.
All of his books aim to boost a guitar player's ability and confidence by breaking down and simplifying seemingly complex theory, techniques and styles - so that guitar players of all levels can see drastic changes in their standard of playing. His 2023 title Music Theory Book for Beginners, written not for guitarists this time but for any instrumentalists, songwriters, singers and composers, brings his popular, tried and tested music theory teaching method to a much wider audience of musicians.
Self-taught and with no prior musical education or experience, he still remembers very well how confusing guitar playing is without any guidance. He brings this personal experience of struggling with adversity and confusion on guitar to everything he does, and his practical, easy-to-use, 'BS free' approach to learning, playing and practicing guitar has gained him a legion of followers around the globe. His book releases include; Music Theory for Guitarists, Volumes 1, 2 & 3, Rock Lick Method for Guitar, The CAGED System for Guitar, Blues Soloing for Guitar, Volumes 1 & 2, Barre Chords for Guitar and Circle of Fifths for Guitar.
All of his books aim to boost a guitar player's ability and confidence by breaking down and simplifying seemingly complex theory, techniques and styles - so that guitar players of all levels can see drastic changes in their standard of playing. His 2023 title Music Theory Book for Beginners, written not for guitarists this time but for any instrumentalists, songwriters, singers and composers, brings his popular, tried and tested music theory teaching method to a much wider audience of musicians.
