benhelm

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ABOUT

Session Guitarist, Bassist & Teacher.

Ben has a varied background in live performance, studio recording and directing ensembles. His session work in Manchester and Newcastle helped solidify his love of jazz and fingerstyle playing.

He also performs and records with a pop trio, Tessera Skies. The band's most notable achievements include working with Nick Mason (Pink Floyd), performing at the BBC 6Music Festival and headlining the Sage Gateshead in the North East.
The band have featured in many local and national publications such as Q and CLASH and have recieved airplay on Radio 1, BBC Radio 2, 6Music, BBC Newcastle, and Amazing Radio.

Ben has been playing the guitar for approximately 20 years and teaching for 9 years. He has an 100% pass rate for all his students who have undertaken instrumental grades. As well as having a background in music and performance, Ben also trained to be a Speech and Language Therapist. He is fascinated about the relationship between music and communication, and continues to explore and reflect upon this in his teaching work and personal life.

In his ongoing role as visiting guitar tutor at St Cuthbert’s Catholic Primary School, Kenton, Newcastle, Ben has been delivering guitar lessons to over 35 students in the school from 2015 – present. Ben has also supported the school in several musical productions and his contributions have enabled the school to excel in this area.

Ben also currently teaches 20 private students. Their ability ranges from absolute beginner to grade 7 standard.

Ben's teaching specialties often focus on classical, jazz and associated styles, but he has also been known to teach a little rock!

www.benhelmguitar

Screen name:: benhelm
Member since:: Mar 07 2016; Active over 1 month ago
Level of commitment:: Very Committed
Years playing music:: 20
Gigs played:: Over 100
Available to gig:: 6-7 nights a week

Influences

Ben is greatly inspired by the music of Django Reinhardt, George Benson, Martin Taylor, Chet Atkins, Claude Debussy, Frédéric Chopin and Steely Dan, to name but a few.

EQUIPMENT

Guitar: Fender Starcaster
Amp: Fender Hot Rod Deluxe
Pedals: Boss TU-3 Tuner, Boss FV-500 Volume Pedal, Boss Digital Delay DD6, Red Panda Context Reverb, Effectrode PC-2A Compressor, Boss CE-2 Chorus