Guitar Lessons

Guitar lessons from The Guitar Den in Petersfield, Hampshire

Guitar lessons with Joe Summerfield are available in and around Petersfield, Hampshire, or globally via Zoom.

As well as being an experienced real-life musician, Joe has been teaching the guitar since 2004. He has taught privately, in schools, and in assessing degree level students for the Academy of Contemporary Music (ACM). 

Having lived in London and played sessions for many artists and bands over the years, Joe now resides in Hampshire and works as a psychotherapist and couples therapist. With a strong passion for the value of music, particularly in the development of young people, Joe still offers guitar lessons to a limited number of students.

Joe takes a student-led approach to teaching: lessons are completely tailored to your tastes, aims, and inspirations. He is well equipped to tutor you in guitar playing, theory, songwriting, improvisation, performance, and more.

Joe specialises in blues, rock, rock'n'roll and rockabilly; but lessons are suitable for any age, any level, and any style. For your peace of mind, he has a current Enhanced Certificate of Criminal Record.

Get in touch to find out about availability, discuss your aims, or book your first lesson.

What Do Students Say?

Ben, Whitehill

Joe has taught me for a long time and at the end I no longer thought of him as a teacher but also a great friend. He is great with kids, I know because he taught me from the age of ten and I was horrible and never practiced, yet he still made it a fun thing to do, something that other teachers never did. He was always quick to inspire me when I was getting bored with it by introducing new music and techniques that I enjoyed to play. Joe is the only guitar teacher I have had that has taught me what I wanted to learn and whilst helping me to understand how the music that I like is played and teaching me the techniques I need to try create my own music.

Robin, Midhurst

I am eternally grateful for everything you have done for me for these past 2.5 years. You have helped change my life.

Hannah, Petersfield

Joe taught me to play the guitar for 6 years, taking me from being an absolute beginner to becoming a competent guitarist. Friendly and polite, he always took time to listen to what I wanted to do during the lessons and what direction I wanted to take my guitar playing, and with a huge amount of knowledge on hand, Joe was always able to teach me something new to help further my playing, introducing me to a great range of genres and techniques that helped fuel my enjoyment of guitar. With every lesson you could feel the passion he held for playing, listening to, and creating music, making Joe a truly fantastic teacher!

Jules T-S, Petersfield

Joe has been an exceptional guitar teacher for my son G for 3 years. In that time he's gone from not even knowing how to hold a guitar to a really confident player who feels comfortable enough to start writing his own music. More importantly through joes method of inspirational teaching he's developed a passionate and deep rooted interest in music which I'm pretty sure will last him a lifetime. The whole experience has really developed his confidence outside of music too. Thank you Joe!

Donna M, Petersfield

Joe has been teaching me an integrated approach to guitar and music for over three years, during which, I evolved from being a very shaky beginner with no confidence, astonishingly, into a songwriter with a large song portfolio. I wrote and recorded many of my songs together with Joe. He is a world-class guitarist, and his musical prowess is intuitive, diverse and holistic with deep sensitivity. Joe’s influence has completely changed my perspective on music and on life, far beyond my wildest expectations and for which I am deeply grateful.

More about Joe

Joe's journey with the guitar began at age four. His performing career began ten years later, when as part of a trio he performed each week in a trio employed on Sunday afternoons as a house band.

An instinctive player with an organic, blues-influenced style, Joe’s guitar playing is as much at home in Chicago, where he had the opportunity to play alongside blues legends such as Buddy Guy and John Primer, as it is on the European rock scene, where he has played alongside bands such as The Misfits, Thin Lizzy, Twisted Sister, New York Dolls, and LA Guns.

He has writing and recording experience albums on worldwide release. He has collaborated with a wide range of artists and bands on a number of projects – from blues to contemporary rock to folk to audio design – and is an active session musician.

“KKKK”
– Kerrang! Magazine Live Review

“One minute I think that's a Marilyn Manson drum beat but then I hear a bitchin' axe bleed through my speakers, and that's something that someone like Manson just doesn't have.”
– Uber Rock Magazine

“One of the important factors about this album is the stand out guitar playing that is displayed on the release. The guitar riffs cut like a knife and stab you in the heart.”
– Hard Rock Haven