Guitar Tutor Profile

My story — my groove to your groove.

I’m a music tutor based in Southwark, London. Born and educated mostly in Malta, I was pulled into heavy metal at 13 and picked up my 1st guitar at 16 — and never looked back.

Like any rock ‘n’ roller I love to break the rules, so from day one I promised myself to learn the rules first. Eight years with Mro. Tony Pace built my technical and theoretical foundation on the instrument — and, ironically, gave me the insight to break the very rules my own tutor didn’t want broken. That’s exactly what I look for in students today: challenge me. The best way to learn is to question.

I went on to deepen my theory with Mro. Carmelo Schembri and Mro. Gordon Zammit — who taught me to hear and appreciate music from an aural and compositional angle — and sharpened my lead playing with Jean Pierre Zammit, who’d hand me a flashy new exercise one day and a simple acoustic tune the next.

Berklee, and the groove.

In 1998 I put together a demo for Berklee College of Music. The tape earned me a sponsorship in the form of a fee discount, and there — tutored by shred guitarist Joe Stump among others — I graduated with Honours and was chosen to perform at the Blow Out Concert to a packed house. Back then I was predominantly a death-metal guitarist, so I owe a lot to tutor Joe Galeota, whose “Drumming for non-Drummers” poured a multitude of African rhythms into the class and pushed everyone’s creativity beyond their own style.

Why mention all this? Because of the groove. Next time someone drags you somewhere you’d never choose, or you land somewhere alien to your musical comfort zone, don’t scorn it — keep an open ear. Clap the pulse. Understand what makes the technoheads rush, the metalheads raise their horns, the Andalucians stamp their heels, the punks kick into a pogo, the Latins dance the salsa. That one thing that puts you and everyone around you in the groove — that’s the essence of music. As an educator it’s always been at the front of my method: play in time, so people have fun to your music.

The best way to learn is to question.— Malcolm Callus

From Malta to London.

Back in Malta I pushed to introduce the RGT (Registry of Guitar Tutors) electric-guitar exams and handbooks. The books took off and RGT even came over to examine candidates; it was only some years later — to the credit of Mark Galea of the Euro Institute of Music — that the exams became an annual reality. I’m grateful to Mark for chasing that dream with me. Meanwhile I became the main guitar tutor at the Euro Academy of Music & Arts in B’Kara, a post I held from January 2000 to December 2002.

Then I travelled — to Australia, then Germany — before settling in London in 2007, where I’ve built my career as a private guitar, bass, ukulele and theory tutor and a member of the RGT. If you want a tutor who helps you see your instrument as the tool to find the music within you, get in touch or call +44 7983 868507 (please don’t Whatsapp).

In numbers: 34 years as a live and studio guitarist, 29 years as a tutor registered with the Registry of Guitar Tutors, and teaching in London since 2007 — these days from the Cool Gool studio in Rotherhithe, SE16, and at students’ homes across Southwark, Lewisham and Tower Hamlets. I graduated from Berklee College of Music with Honours and was chosen to perform at its Blow Out Concert; I am enhanced DBS-checked, so parents booking guitar, bass or ukulele lessons for younger players are covered. I teach in English, Italian, German and Maltese, to graded and examinable standards wherever a student wants them — RGT and LCM for guitar and bass, ABRSM or LCM for music theory and ear training.

Session work & my own music.

If you’re a band or artist needing live or studio session guitar, I’m open to many styles — send me your ideas and the final word stays yours, not mine. As a composer, though, I’m the opposite: given free rein I’m an adversary of comfort zones. My past and present projects include EthnaMorte (world music with a dark twist), Sceptocrypt (avant-garde metal), Weeping Silence (doom/death), Achiral (thrash), Dysmenorrhea (extreme metal) and Wound (dark trip-hop). Alongside the bands I’ve run a magazine and radio show (Rancid Soup), organised live events (Bisoul Promotions / Rancid Soup) and written for the likes of Brutalism.com and Black Death — there’s more on my activities page.