Zoe had her first guitar a ¾ size classical guitar when she was 9 years old and started to learn to play at school. The turning point came when she discovered the music of the Shadows while listening to all the records she could find with guitars on the cover. She knew then that this is how she wanted to play guitar.
On her 11th birthday she had her first electric guitar a red Fender Squire Strat. She then joined a local Shadows Club who introduced her to the UB Hank Backing track cds. Just 5 months later and Zoe was representing the Newcastle Branch of the UB Hank Guitar Club at Shadsfest ’97 in St Donats Castle, South Wales, where she met original Shadows Bruce Welch and Jet Harris. This lead to Zoe being put on a development programme called Youngstars on Guitars.
Before she was 12, Zoe was playing at The Mad About Guitars show at London Dockland Arena where she was introduced to Hank Marvin for the first time. When she was 12 years old Zoe had made her first recording and was playing at Shadows Festivals all over Europe. At 13 Zoe recorded a duet with Jet Harris and her own album of Shadows music called Zoe with Love.
When Zoe was 14 she started to move away from Shadows music and develop her own identity on the guitar. Her ability as a player has been widely recognised by the likes of Jeff Beck, Mark Knopfler, Mason Williams, Tommy Emmanuel, Nokie Edwards (Ventures) and Hank Marvin (Shadows). Jeff Beck told her that when he and Jimmy Paige started to play the guitar they were influenced like her by Hank Marvin.
Zoe has played arenas in front of 20,000 people and had two albums entered for the Grammy Awards. However, something she always wanted to do from an early age was teach the guitar and in 2006 she started to offer lessons at her home in Bridgend, South Wales.
Zoe is a member of The Registry of Guitar Tutors and can offer grade lessons. Many of her students like Zoe and so many of the top guitar players of today have decided to start out learning the music of the Shadows. Several of her younger students are already amazing members of the local Shadows Club.
Not all of Zoe’s guitar students want grades or to play Shadows Music so Zoe offers a free first assessment meeting to talk over what potential students want to learn. Only once she has established that she can help them achieve their goals will she take a student on.
Anybody reading this that would like to play the guitar but has not got a guitar Zoe suggests they speak to her first to ensure they make the best choice within their budget for the style of guitar they want to play.
Tuition Fees
£20.00 per hour 'Pay as you Go'
£150.00 for ten lessons paid in advance
Registry of Guitar Tutors
Grades
£20 per hour 'Pay as you Go'
£180.00 for ten lessons paid in advance
For more information email: zoe@zoemcculloch.com
Zoe is a member of The Registry Of Guitar Tutors
