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About Us

GuitarLessonsMelbourne
Michael Gumley - Founder & CEO
amyphotomga
Amy Di Giambattista - Director

Our Story

Melbourne Guitar Academy was founded in 2015 in a spare bedroom set up as a teaching space and has since grown into Melbourne's most popular and highest rated guitar school operating out of two professional studios in (Essendon and Wantirna South) with a team of 10 teachers and over 250 students. Melbourne Guitar Academy is the home of Melbourne’s Best Guitar Lessons and is a thriving community of aspiring guitarists and musicians.

Our teaching philosophy goes beyond simple guitar lessons and draws influence from the fields of learning psychology, sports science, martial arts and success principles combined into one super learning method designed to not only help our students turbo charge their progress on guitar, but to also helps them develop into the best versions of themselves possible.

Visit our homepage to book a FREE trial lesson so that you can discover for yourself a guitar lesson experience like no other!

Our Director Amy also rebranded the voice and piano faculty to Songbirds Studios. If you’re looking for voice and piano lessons for children check them out!

Our Mission Statement here at Melbourne Guitar Academy is

  1.  To share our passion for music with all of our students as we guide them on their own musical journey
  2. To offer the highest quality guitar tuition in Melbourne and to get our students
    tremendous results while making lessons both fun and engaging.
  3. To create a strong sense of community around our school and to bring all of our students together through music and a shared appreciation of guitar.

Melbourne Guitar Academy is at the forefront of modern guitar education. Whether it’s
ascending the ranks our Guitar Ninjas Program, learning through our Online Training Dojo,
jamming and performing in our Band Workshops & Student Concerts, or a creating a
successful music career in our Artist Ascension Program, we offer a learning experience
like no other and can help everyone no matter their age or ability level achieve their guitar
playing goals.

Meet Our Awesome Team Of Teachers

essendon guitar teacher

Michael Gumley

Rock, Metal, Blues, Pop/Top40
Chief Finger Wizard

amyphotomga2

Amy Di Giambattista

Piano & Vocal Coach
Children’s Education Specialist

guitar teacher Essendon

Jake Kougi

Rock, Blues, Punk, Pop/Top40
Songwriting & Recording Expert

jazz guitar teacher Melbourne

Joe Zreikat

Jazz, Fingerstyle, Classical
Improvisation Expert

guitar teacher Strathmore

Frank Lo Monaco

Rock, Blues, Pop/Top40
Our Resisdent Blues Guru

Ande

Ande Falko

Rock, Metal, Shred, Jazz Fusion
“Instagram Famous” @andefalko

left handed guitar teacher

Josh Boult

Jazz, Rock, Contemporary
Our token left handed teacher

Acoustic Guitar Lessons In Melbourne

Mia Soligio

Pop/Top 40 & Finger-style Guitar
Mia was such a good student that we gave her a job

Numbers Speak

250+

Students

100%

Exam Pass Rate

5 Star

Google & Facebook

#1 School

For Guitar In Melbourne

What Our Students Have to Say

I have had the pleasure of playing with Michael and learning at the Melbourne Guitar Academy for approximately 18 months now. Within that time, we have improved my playing considerably, and always had a great time in doing so. Michael’s vast knowledge of musical theory makes him an excellent resource to learn from, his keen eye can identify and rectify any problematic playing techniques, and his passion for music and guitar playing lend him his patience, ability to teach and willingness to go above and beyond for his students. Not only that, but Michael is also a great guy, and is always interested in hearing what his students are up outside of the classroom. If you are interested in learning guitar, improving your playing, playing along with others, or pretty much anything else guitar related, I would highly recommend Michael and the Melbourne Guitar Academy.
Adult Guitar Lessons
Jack
Moonee Ponds, Vic
I started here after a motorcycle incident in order to rehabilitate couple of broken fingers on my left hand. Having 'some' but minimal experience I was hesitant at first because my past experiences had kind of stolen my zest for guitar due to stagnation of progress. Well heading towards 3 months at MGA and I can proudly say this is NOT the case here and i'm confidently coming to terms with 3 songs of my choice, understanding multiple aspects of guitar and music in general that all seemed so daunting just a short time ago and very excited even at my age , to be participating in the inaugural student concert. This is all because of the quality of the instructors and the simple methodology they use to impart skills and encouragement not so much for the business but for the students to achieve the goals set by the students themselves. As it happens my first set goals whilst still incomplete are now being added to as a result of the potential I now feel is realistic because of the great personal approach and support here. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED 🙂
Gary
Pascoe Vale, Vic
I can not rate Melbourne guitar academy highly enough. It has been the most positive, rewarding and motivating experience. I had never had guitar lessons before and as an adult I felt nervous and unsure about beginning the journey. Michael took all the apprehension and fear out of the initial process and made me feel so comfortable. I look forward to my weekly lessons. Frank is an absolute gem of a teacher and we always have the best time learning and laughing in our beginners group. I have already come such a long way with my guitar playing in such a short amount of time. Playing with others has given me confidence and I’m feeling more creative as a result. I especially like that we are playing the music we like to play and learning our own favourite songs from the get go. For all things guitar MGA is the place to be, hands down.
Elise
Essendon, Vic
Highly recommended MGA. I've been learning here for 18 months now, and I've really been enjoying it. All of the staff are very friendly and always feel welcome and comfortable during the lessons. Quality of the content is very high and all of the teachers are very knowledgeable, and helpful. Initially i wanted one on one lessons, however after joining and attending a few classes, I've realized that learning in a group environment is much better. The social aspect of the classes is very fun and engaging and I look forward to the lessons every week.
Simon
Strathmore, Vic

Frequently Asked Questions

You are never too old to learn guitar, in fact starting as an adult is often better because you are more mature, are choosing to play guitar because you want to do it and because you are able to process information quicker. Age is a number, not a limitation and we’ve had wonderful success with students of all ages. Our eldest student Barry came to us at the age of 72 having never played guitar and performed a rendition of Folsom Prison Blues at our students concert 4 months later! It was the highlight of the concert!

Every child is different and progresses at a different rate. Some children are ready for guitar lessons by the age of 6, others need a little longer to develop. This is why we offer a FREE Introduction To Guitar session so that we can meet your child and assess whether they are ready for guitar lessons and recommend which program will best suit their educational needs.

Our standard Adult Guitar Lessons and Children’s Guitar Lessons are 60 minutes in duration. This allows us enough time to learn new material, revise old material and to cover the content in enough detail to help you progress with your playing without making lessons feel rushed or running out of time. We also run a special Keynotes Program for younger learners aged 5-7 years old. This program features two x 30m lessons each week and is much better suited to kids in their early developmental years.

If you want to lose weight but you are only going to the gym once a week for 30 minutes, you’re probably not going to be very successful. If you train several times aweek and eat right between sessions you’re going to see your likelihood of success skyrocket, and with this success comes more motivation which makes the whole process enjoyable. Learning guitar is much the same and we insist that a weekly lesson is the minimum if you are serious about learning and getting results. We even encourage our students to do multiple sessions a week so that we can train and hold you accountable every few days. We understand that not everyone has the means to attend a regular weekly lesson and are happy to take students who can’t make this commitment provided they understand that results will come slower and that they need to be proactive in their practice at home.

The duration of your guitar playing journey is determined by a lot of factors including the style of music you like, the kind of guitar player you wish to be and whether you want to be a hobby player or a professional player. You will be able to learn to play a collection of Ed Sheeran songs on acoustic guitar much quicker than you will be able learn the solos to your favourite AC/DC tracks. It is all relative to your goals and what you are trying to achieve. Expect to be learning for around 2 years to be able to comfortably play the chords, riffs and solos to basic radio level pop/rock/top 40 songs. Some people get to this level in 6 months, others take a bit longer but the vast majority of our students progress faster than average and achieve their goals sooner than they thought possible.

You can learn lots of good stuff on Youtube, but for every good video and teacher there are a hundred bad lessons and as a beginner you don’t yet know the difference. You could fumble around on your own for months or years and end up getting nowhere, or you could pay us to teach you the right way from the beginning and save a lot of time, energy and frustration. You generally get what you pay for so choose wisely.

We have created our own internal grading system called the Guitar Ninjas Program which we originally made because we found that traditional exam programs focused too much on dated classical music and didn’t resonate with contemporary guitar students. Having said that we’ve had great success taking our students through AMEB, Rockschool, and VCE exams and can arrange to take students through exam programs upon request.

We often hear students express “my hands are too big” or “my hands are too small”and it couldn’t be farther from the truth.Many famous guitarists have giant hands and many great players have small hands but with enough practice all of them were able to play well. The truth is that the size of your hands has no effect on your ability to play guitar, and once you get over the beginner difficulties and development some dexterity you will be able to play well regardless of your hand size.

We have a number of different programs on offer starting at $50 for a 60 minute lesson, We do however recommend you come in for a FREE Introduction to Guitar session so that we can get to know you, assess your learning style and talk about your
goals before making our recommendation on the best suited program to helping you moving forward.

Our studio is open from 2:00pm to 9:00pm Monday to Friday and 9am to 3:00pm on Saturday. We also run morning and early afternoon sessions on appointment. We have very flexible hours and can accomodate any schedule including shift workers and people who travel a lot.

We have plenty of guitars on-hand in our studio for you to use however you will need a guitar to practice on at home between your lessons. We can arrange a rental for you or send you to our friends at Macron Music who will help you choose a new guitar. See the Free Resources section onour webpage for more info on how tochoose your first guitar.

The majority of our lesson programs are run as group sessions (just like primary & secondary schools, universities, sports teams and martial arts clubs train their students) however we can organise private lessons as needed.

We recommend that you choose a guitar based on the styles of music you want to learn and the kind of guitarist you wish to be. If you want to learn primarily acoustic guitar songs, start on an acoustic, if you want to be a rock guitar god, it’s best to go straight to electric. We recommend children start on a 3/4 size electric guitar when budget allows, otherwise a 1/2 or 3/4 size acoustic will do. See the Free Resources section on our webpage for a whole article on this question.

We do gift cards for all of our lesson programs. Use the contact form on the contact page to get in touch regarding pricing and to organise your voucher.

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