We are very excited to announce a new addition to our brilliant Stagestars team! Max McPherson is joining us for both guitar tuition and our band session classes. He comes with a wealth of experience both as a musician and a tutor.
Max was lead guitar in Glasgow based rock band Logan, touring and playing with bands including Alterbridge, Mark Tremonti, Gun, the Answer, Thin Lizzy, Skindread and UFO. He also played lead guitar with London based rock group Lost in Wonderland and has played guitar on countless recordings as a session musician in and around London. Along with this, he has been fronting his own blues/rock group, The Max McPherson Trio for many years and regularly plays solo acoustic shows.
Max has been teaching guitar since he was 14 and has has taught consistently across the UK in community centres and music tuition schools. He is experienced teaching both one to one and in groups, and covers all styles and levels, from beginner to degree level and beyond.
A graduate of the Academy of Contemporary Music (ACM) in Guildford, Max has a BA(Hons) in contemporary popular music. ACM is renowned as a world leader in music industry education with previous students including Newton Faulkner, Ed Sheeran and Sugababes member Amelle Barrabah.
We are really looking forward to what Max will bring to Stagestars and we can’t wait for you to meet him! To get to know Max even better, we put a few questions to him. Here he shares the musicians he would like to have round for dinner and advice for aspiring band musicians.
How old where you when you first started playing the guitar and what inspired you?
I started playing guitar when I was seven years old after being obsessed with the Wayne’s World movies. Through these movies I discovered bands like Aerosmith and Led Zeppelin which sent me down a rabbit hole to uncovering more music like Eric Clapton and Van Halen.
What do you enjoy most about being part of a band?
If I had to chose a favourite thing about playing in band it would be interacting with other musicians. I love playing with musicians who can adapt and improvise based on what they are hearing from other musicians. Playing with people like this means that songs never get boring, they are constantly evolving. I also love being out of my comfort zone and playing with musicians from different stylistic backgrounds.
Which five famous people (living or dead) would you like to invite to your house for dinner?
I’m not the most exciting cook in the world so it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to cook for my heroes! I’d probably invite some old school session musicians that few people have heard of. People like Tommy Tedesco, the most recorded guitar player in history. Session drummer Hal Blaine, Carol Kay and other people from the 60’s session musician wrecking crew scene in Los Angeles. Throw in a couple of 80’s session players like Steve Lukather and Mike Landau for good measure. Just to sit and hear them share stories would be amazing.
What is the best piece of advice you have ever heard?
Over the years I have had lots of good advice so it’s hard to choose the ‘best’ piece. I got countless lessons and tips from tutors at the ACM and guest lecturers that I pass on to my pupils every day. Everything is goal specific but if your goal is to play in a band, you want to make sure that your ego doesn’t get the better of you and that you are a good person to be around. There are plenty of amazing musicians in the world with no gigs because no one wants to be around them.
Guitar lessons and band sessions
- Guitar lessons are taught in small groups of 6-8 students on Tuesdays. For more information and to sign up, just click here.
- Band sessions cover a range of skills including stage performance, getting the best sounds out of your instrument or voice, and amplifier set up and use of effects pedals. For more information and to register your interest, click here.