Frank
An exceptionally accomplished guitarist and motivational teacher, Dean consistently manages to inspire my own guitar playing. He showed me how hard work can be very rewarding and I loved being able to witness my own progress. In the beginning, Dean assessed my ability and has ever since given me detailed and concrete feedback to catapult my progress in the right direction. A very well-rounded teacher, he helped me to develop a better understanding of both theory and practicality. In addition to his outstanding musicianship, Dean is a great mentor. He gave me the confidence to perform in public and in a band situation. What is more, he encouraged me to take the Grade 8 Exam, which helped me to channel my ambitions towards a concrete goal. Having learnt so much in the process, I am now preparing for the Diploma Exam with him. Given the immense progress I have made while working with him, I think that anyone would benefit from being Dean’s student.
Ugur
Dean Adams is the alpha and the omega of guitar playing. A very dedicated teacher, a mentor and an active singer/songwriter and performer, Dean has always been able to provide solutions whenever I hit a barrier. While being his student, I’ve broken through a few walls such as technique, and have found ways to process information quicker including identifying keys, modulation, switching between scales, when playing on sight. During lessons, we look at speed building techniques, cross-string picking, legato playing, application of scales and arpeggios over chord progressions, to name a few. We go through sweeping techniques, I’m sweep picking in semi-quavers at 200 bpm now, that’s pretty fast. He has a very good ear for metal, which is the genre I study, and not just mainstream metal, but death and black metal too. He’s able to decipher what’s happening within a song harmonically, and can guide you on which scales/modes are being applied, passing chords, structure and so on. A year ago I wanted to get onto a jazz course, and Dean made it very easy for me to learn about jazz, use of chords, a crash course in jazz improv, and helped me get a feel for the style. I got offered a place but decided to carry on studying with Dean because he’s very versatile and knowledgeable. Dean’s got a good dedicated music room with recording facilities, and a huge selection of learning material. Whether you’re preparing for higher education in music, or want to study towards performance qualifications privately, or need to hone in on something specific, I recommend Dean Adams.
Filipe
I made the decision to broaden my horizons and experiment with a different guitar teacher and hence began my search. I found Dean through Google and via a music teacher’s website. Firstly I was very impressed with a “very old” (according to Dean) video of him playing a cover of Cliffs of Dover. I immediately thought “hell yeah this guy is badass, I just hope he is not cocky or bad teacher” – I could not be further from the truth. I have to say that after my first class I was blown away… Dean has a very unique way to pass on his knowledge and explain theoretical concepts that are very hard to teach! Also he taught me to look at the fretboard in what I think is just a genius and simple way! Without going too much into theory, I started looking at the fretboard as a whole, without being locked into little ‘boxes’ of scales. Seriously, I was and still am blown away with the teaching approach Dean uses. But don’t be fooled, Dean knows his theory very well and explained concepts such as modes and transposing fretboard diagrams in a way I had never seen before. Also, Dean is not just a teacher with a list of titles and guitar school certificates (which he has!); he is also an incredible musician in the disciplines of guitar and singing. I was also blown away with his upcoming single “Drowning” and his vocal range and ability to compose. Having a band of my own, I find Dean very inspiring. To finish I would also like to praise him on his work ethics. I didn’t feel like I was visiting a solicitor with a stopwatch clocking in my arrival and clocking out my departure, nor did I feel that I went for a class and ended up paying for a performance (a common problem with most guitar teachers “Look how awesome I am”). You can really see that Dean takes pride in his teaching. I was also very positively surprised when I got home and had an email with backing tracks for some of the items we covered that day. I truly recommend Dean to everybody and I am sure you will experience the “Dean’s music” as I did!
