John Wheatcroft: Head of Guitar at BIMM London

Not only has John toured the world, he is also a regular contributor to Guitar Techniques, Guitarist and Guitar World magazines. So both as a performer and as a educator, he's ready to share his extensive experience of the music industry...

BIMM, The British and Irish Modern Music Institute, has colleges in eight cities where music matters most – London, Berlin, Dublin, Manchester, Bristol, Birmingham ,Hamburg, and Brighton – and is proud to be the largest and leading provider of contemporary music education in the UK, Ireland and Europe.

[umarganai]

I graduated from BIMM in 2018 and i'm only just starting to appreciate how lucky we were to have classes with this guy. I was more into songwriting / composition and typically switched off when it came to the more technical stuff, but versatility is extremely important and I've since learnt that sometimes as a guitarist you need skills that are going to turn peoples heads (lots of competition in london, so many guitarists), and this guy right here knows just about every way that can be done!

[wcj]

Thanks for your lovely comments. I absolutely love blues and rock, you're right… Thin Lizzy and Free are as valuable to me as anyone that played with Miles… I love them all… Paul Kossoff is one of my all time faves, along with Gary Moore and a million others, before we even start on Django, Bireli, Sco and Holdsworth!!! Martin, my Django guitars are all made by Rob Aylward.. I've got two at home and a nylon-string on the way… They're amazing! I got the first one over 20 years ago, so I don't think there was much else available for us lefties… I've also got a Manouche Guitars oval-hole that sounds ace too… I think there is much more choice now, so depending upon your budget and how much you might use this type of guitar, there are Gitanes and the like, right up to bespoke posh models by loads and loads of amazing builders, but they're all good… I'd have no problem at all using a stock Squier Strat these days, with a nice amp, and Gypsy guitars are the same… Every time I go to Samois and try anything left handed, I love them all!!! JWC guitars are very very good for the money, I'd say… I'm sticking with my Alywards, as much because they're amazing and we're friends too, so he'll fix anything that I might ridiculously do to my guitars when I feebly attempt to repair something, haha… J

[Ronno]

Any of John's guitar study pieces in magazines like Guitar Technique are master classes in their own right and he's still a kick arse Blues Rock guy! I'd need to win the lottery to pay for guitar lessons with this chap :(

[DevelopingNL]

Hey John. Where did you buy your left handed gypsy

[williamrobinson]

John is a legend. I am interested in opinion support if necessary for asserting, in a possibly hostile academic environment, that violin students should take guitar as Second Study, NOT piano.. EEK!. and the gypsy jazz music as well as Paganini et al say guitar is the business for getting the creative violin student all clued up.. Rock on, John! 👍🎶❤️

[cocoygranada]

He plays left, he talks about guitar playing the other way.