James Bennett

I was the full-time resident guitar teaching for Westside Music School in Weston-Super-Mare (in association with Westside Music Shop) up until they closed their Weston branch.

During this period I taught students of all ages and abilities and helped them to achieve whatever goals they were aiming towards, wether they wanted to write songs on acoustic guitar, play electric guitar with bands, or achieve classical and rock grading qualifications.

Many of my students have gone on to pursue sucessful careers in music or perform at festivals including Glastonbury and a good number of my current students have been having lessons with me since I first started this teaching post at Westide (back in 2004).

Whilst teaching guitar at Westside Music I gained a large amount of teaching experience by teaching 6 days a week (with up to 60+ students per week). I also started to use guitar tablature and notation software (i.e. Sibelius & Guitar Pro) to put together many of my teaching resources.

I have found my database of music and teaching and resources to save a lot of lesson time for both myself and my students. Pre-printing music and other resources has meant that I have cut out the time previously spent writing music and notes in lessons; resulting in me getting more done in half an hour than other teachers can cover in an hour.

Over the past 15 years I have been actively performing with a diverse range of bands, doing gigs at a variety of venues around the U.K. and Europe.

As a guitarist I have recently been busy playing with a Sting & The Police tribute band ('The Police Cover-Up'), a Disco/Funk function band ('Get Down') and a Classic Rock & Metal covers band ('Oblivion'), as well as solo Spanish & Classical guitar performances at weddings and restaurants.

As an upright bassist I frequently been performing with my Swing & Latin Jazz band ('The Mojo Cats'), as well as a popular Skiffle/Irish/Blugrass band ('The Fallen Apples').

As an electric bassist I have previously been busy with a local bands 'Re-Offender' (Indie Rock covers) and 'Ryan Inglis Band' (acoustic pop-rock originals), as well as depping for various bands including popular Ska & Reggae band 'Skank Tank'.

As a singer I have been busy doing acoustic solo/duo gigs, as well as being the frontman for 'The Mojo Cats' (Swing & Latin Jazz).