Fret Board Stories

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Fretboard StoriesFrom his home overlooking the marina in Lagos, Tony Skinner is writing enchanting acoustic guitar melodies that are receiving more than half a million YouTube views. Sophie Sadler meets the guitar legend who developed the first qualification programmes for electric and acoustic guitar players.

It is strange serendipity that his fantastic story begins and ends with Portugal. Tony started playing the guitar as a seven-year-old and by 14 was gigging with school and local rock bands. As a teenager in London, he lived next door to a Portuguese family. They had a professional group which had a residency in a Portuguese nightclub in central London and toured Portuguese social clubs across the south of England.

They heard the young Tony strumming through the walls of their house and were impressed with his sound. Aged just 15, Tony was invited to join their group. “We played a strange mix of traditional Portuguese music for the older generation then would put some of the latest pop music into the set for the younger ones. I played lead guitar. I led an extraordinary double life touring with a professional band and often not getting home until 4 a.m and then turning up at 9 a.m for school the next day. But playing live music was such a buzz for me, I never felt tired.”

“During and after university I performed with various bands, gigging and recording covering a wide range of styles.” After deputising for a guitar teacher at an evening class, Tony discovered an innate talent for teaching the guitar. He was soon in hot demand and was invited to teach in many educational institutions and later began training other guitar teachers.

“I met lots of music students who wanted a qualification for the electric guitar, but as it did not exist, I had to teach them the classical guitar in order for them to gain a qualification.” Many people would have just got on with it, but not Tony. He started to write the first-ever syllabus for the electric guitar, based on his experience of what it took to become a working musician.

When finished, he needed to find a way to enable other guitar teachers to access the syllabus. There was no organisation for contemporary guitar teachers, so he formed his own called RGT (Registry of Guitar Tutors).

Next, the guitar guru placed an announcement in a guitar magazine and within two weeks had gained 250 guitar teachers as members of his newly formed organisation. Encouraged by this response, he approached the London College of Music (LCM) to accredit his exams. This they duly did, and so if anyone took the exams written by Tony, they would receive a recognised qualification and certificate issued by LCM, the world’s longest-established music examination board, formed in 1887.

“It took off in a way I could never have dreamt of. Large numbers of guitar teachers and their students from all over the world started taking these guitar exams.”

Rather than sit back and enjoy his success, Tony then wrote exam syllabuses for the bass guitar and then the acoustic guitar. The problem was that at this time, the only music theory that existed was for classical music. It took him four to five years to research and write a comprehensive series of nine handbooks for popular music theory, to give teachers the educational material to work from. His final challenge was compiling the world’s first-ever accredited exams for the ukulele.

Playing all the right chords, Tony´s courses were then accredited by Ofqual and UCAS. Universities recognised his qualifications and students would acquire points from passing them to gain entry to higher education.

It was an incredible achievement, and Tony went on to write courses for diplomas up to masters degree level in guitar and guitar teaching. He ran his organisation for 25 years, and it became the largest specialist organisation for guitar teachers in the world, which also engaged 85 examiners flying all over the world to conduct the exams. Tony has written and edited 120 music education books.

The success of his organisation has been recognised by guitar legends such as Paul McCartney, David Gilmour, Ronnie Wood and Hank Marvin all who became patrons of Tony’s organisation.

Tony also contributed articles and music to over 250 issues of Total Guitar, Europe’s best-selling guitar magazine, with sales in excess of 10 million magazines and CDs. He has appeared on all the major UK TV channels, from BBC1 to Channel 4, demonstrating guitar playing.

Not surprisingly after all his hard work, Tony decided he would like to retire from the education world and his organisation was taken over by London College of Music. It is now part of the University of West London and called RGT@LCM. “It has found a safe home,” Tony reflects.

Since his days playing with his Portuguese bands, Tony always felt an affinity with the country and had travelled all over before he arrived on the train in Lagos six years ago. He crossed the road into the marina, “I felt immediately at peace.” Before long he bought a property in Lagos and turned his attention to composing.

First, he had a massive hurdle to overcome. “Now, I was free to compose music outside an educational framework, I needed to break away from my music theory background and write from my heart.”

Never one to back away from a challenge Tony re-tuned all of his guitars away from standard tuning so that any chord or melody he played would sound different. “In this way, I compose with my soul and not my academic knowledge of music. This allows me to compose more intuitively and less analytically.”

It has certainly worked. As I listen to his beautiful instrumentals which range from vibrant upbeat numbers to heart-wrenching laments, I concur that he has achieved his dream of composing from the soul.

In 2018 Highpoint Records released his album The Acoustic Composer to wide acclaim, with Acoustic Guitar magazine calling it “A solo guitar showcase of virtuosity with memorable instrumentals”.  His latest CD Fretboard Stories is currently being pressed and will be available very soon. The recordings were mastered in the famous Abbey Road Studios with the help of legendary engineer Andy Walter, who has worked with David Bowie, U2, Robbie Williams and Coldplay. 

Tony´s favourite guitars are vintage Martin acoustic guitars, and his albums feature him drawing the most wonderful tones out of some of these unique instruments, dating back to 1927.

Take some time out today to listen to some of his music on YouTube, Living The Highlife was written from his home in Lagos and The Sun Won´t Always Shine will truly move you. They will give you an insight into the amazing talents of this inspirational musician and music educator.

You can find out more about Tony Skinner’s music and obtain his CDs from www.TonySkinnerMusic.com

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