Byron Foley

Hey I’m Byron - a guitar teacher originally from the Rangitikei region of New Zealand (you may need to look that up) but now located in Munich, Germany.

Outside of my family, my biggest passions are music and teaching the guitar.

My passion for music has been with me for as long as I can remember. I knew of the band The Police - thanks to the video for ‘Walking On The Moon’ - before I’d ever heard of their law enforcing namesakes.

My mum worked in radio from the mid 1980s and each day after High School I would go there to cut mixtapes from the Radio Stations extensive LP/Vinyl library. My Dad was also a really good guitar player having grown up in the 60s with bands like Cream, Led Zeppelin and later Rush and Van Halen who he turned me on to.

As a 5 year old I can still clearly remember being a kid in my parents car and loving when ‘Werewolves Of London’ would come on the AM Radio or ‘My Life’ by Bily Joel.

However, my first instrument was not the guitar. It was the piano which I learnt as a 9 year old for a couple of years in the mid 1980’s . In 1985, I would return home after school and listen to a few albums that had just come out -’Born in the USA’ by Bruce Springsteen’, ‘Reckless’ by Bryan Adams, ‘Brothers in Arms’ by Dire Straits, ‘ No Jacket Required ‘ by Phil Collins. and ‘Little Creatures’ by Talking Heads. ….But my childhood cricket and rugby dreams took up too much time to continue with piano. Then in 1991, at the ripe old age of 16 I woke up one day with an urge to play piano again so I bought myself a keyboard and taught myself a couple of songs. After 3-4 months though the thrill wasn’t really there…and then Bryan Adams released ‘Waking Up The Neighbours’ and all I wanted to do from that moment on was learn the guitar.

Along with taking lessons with one of New Zealand’s best guitar teachers in 1992, Kevin Downing, who help me conquer the fundamentals of guitar playing and reading music notation, I supplemented his teachings with the Sheet music book for Def Leppard’s entire ‘Hysteria’ album - which ironically was the precursor for ‘Waking Up The Neighbours’ . I learnt the whole album before trying to do the same with Joe Satriani’s ‘Surfing With The Alien’ which in terms of guitar playing was in another universe to anything I had previously learnt. I even managed to meet Joe Satriani in 1996 which was very inspiring. I’ll never forget him telling me that even he found certain things he played difficult to reproduce nightly on stage.

Without wanting to name drop I also met Bryan Adams in 1997 and got to watch his soundcheck pretty much without too many others around. Again this confirmed music was all I ever wanted to do.

Aged 21, I was so inspired, I put my Marketing Degree to one side and went into a local recording studio to record my own CD of original songs called ‘8000 Days’.

Whilst it didn’t set the world on fire and I may cringe a little at it now, I’m still proud of laying down these songs - songs which the studio owner Te Heke Mackinnon said were good songs but he predicted I’d re-record and make better versions of them sometime in the future. How right he was.

In 1998, I got to meet one of the greatest guitar players who ever lived - Eddie Van Halen and the rest of Van Halen who at that point had recruited Extreme’s lead singer Gary Cherone to cover vocal duites.

By this point I was living and breathing everything Van Halen. Ordering Sheet Music from America just so I could learn ‘how on earth did he play that part?’…I have a good musical ear but sometimes life is too short to sit there for days, weeks, months, maybe never trying to figure out how a complex song is played.. In my view there have only been three guitar players who have revolutionised guitar - Chuck Berry, Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Van Halen. I’ll be forever grateful I got to meet one of them.

And then…the Real world came calling…from 1998 until 2017 I travelled the world, working for some of the biggest companies out there in various roles - Associated Press Television in London, Red Bull in New Zealand and Icebreaker in Munich, Germany eventually settling back in my hometown in New Zealand where I decided to leap off the Corporate Train and do something I really am passionate about - teaching guitar.

In 2017, I set up Home Run Guitar and after seven incredibly ‘happy teaching’ years later (including releasing a new album of original songs and building up close to 500,000 views for my Youtube music videos), here I am in Munich again ready to continue doing what I love.

From the hundreds of students I have taught in the past seven years, I can say that only about 2% drop out after a few months. Normally this is because music is not their passion and that is of course completely understandable. We don’t all have the same passions and what a boring world that would be if we did.. But this does confirm that if you want to learn how to play guitar then you need to have a passion for music. My philosophy is you will only be as good as the music you like listening to. Listening to music is vital to keeping the flame for playing alight.

Ultimately, my teaching method is proven for fast track learning, combining understanding the timing of traditional music notation with guitar tab.

If you don’t know what any of that means – do not fear – I’ll explain all as we go.

Needless to say - becoming a good guitar player takes dedication and regular practice. But know also it can ultimately be one of the most enjoyable and rewarding things you’ll ever do not to mention being great for your overall wellness.

Now are you ready to step up to the plate? (You may have figured by now I love Major League Baseball)

Book your FREE trial lesson now

Byron Foley

HOME RUN GUITAR