About Andy Mayne

Andy began playing guitar at his high school in Sydney and ironically is totally self taught, having never had a guitar lesson in his life! He had to rely totally on his ears (as there was no internet, TABs, no YouTube tuition, and no Skype lessons) and wits to work out how a song was played.  He wore out several tape cassette players and scratched many a vinyl record in his quest to learn how to play the songs he was listening to.  For those of you under 30, you may want to Google these relics of a by-gone era.  Andy started teaching almost immediately with friends and neighbours who developed an interest in guitar. 

Learning to play in this manner has given Andy two extremely useful tools.  Firstly, it has enabled him to develop his ear to the point where he can work out any given song his students might bring along in minutes (often seconds!) thus saving a lot of time for his students. Secondly, he has learnt through trial and error, the most efficient and practical methods of coming to understand the instrument, again saving the student valuable time and tears by steering them in the right direction. Learning by ear has given Andy the skills to accurately learn and teach a song note for note thus avoiding the pitfalls that can hinder the learning process via poor video tutorials and inaccurate guitar tablature on the internet.

After finishing high school Andy formed his own Sydney based band the 'Accentrics' an original funk band where he wrote and arranged all the music, and performed in some of Sydney's most stylish ( and crummiest ) venues until he joined his first professional band 'Baby Loves To Cha Cha', one of Sydney's most popular bands at the time.  Some years later, with many a gig under his belt, Andy co-founded Jellybean Jam,arguably one of Australia's most successful and enduring cover bands, still performing thirty years on.

All throughout this period, Andy continued learning and teaching and continued his study of Finger-style and Jazz guitar. Listening to the likes of Tommy Emmanuel and Chet Atkins for his interest in Finger-style, Andy developed a keen interest in the techniques employed by these great artists and learnt their musical bag of tricks, while still keeping a keen ear on noted jazz guitarists such as George Benson and Joe Pass.

Since Jellybean Jam, Andy has performed in a multitude of bands and duos, most notably the ever popular 'Hooray For Everything', one of Sydney's most sought-after duos. Along with his exceptional singing partner Nicolette Kenny, 'Hooray For Everything' have played just about every club and pub in and around Sydney and performed countless corporate shows and private functions. They are currently in their fifteenth year and still going as strong as ever. After finishing his term teaching at the Eastern Suburbs Academy of Music, Andy is now tutoring online and face to face from his residence in Rose Bay, Sydney.

Andy’s talents are not just confined to music, he is also a professional photographer specializing in children’s portraiture.