Guitar Classes at IAHC

Chris began to play guitar at the age of four and at fourteen played his first paid gig in a folk club. A prolific composer, arranger and record producer, he's played with luminaries of many musical worlds: folk (harper Máire Ní Chathasaigh and Boys of the Lough), jazz (Stéphane Grappelli and Diz Disley) and comedy (Fred Wedlock) - receiving a silver disc for producing Fred's international hit Oldest Swinger in Town, to which he also composed the tune and which reached No 6 in the charts in the UK and No 1 in several other countries. As Fred’s Musical Director and bandleader, appearances on such iconic national TV progammes as BBC’s Top of the Pops followed. One day in 1985 he decided he'd really rather play interesting music than pursue interesting paychecks, so turned his back on the commercial world and returned to his folk roots.

Chris has been principal guitar tutor for Newcastle University’s Folk B.Mus course since its inception and many of his alumni form the new wave of British acoustic guitarists currently to be seen gracing festivals around Europe. In addition, has been a visiting tutor at the University of Limerick, the University of Ulster and the Carl Nielsen Academy of Music in Odense, Denmark. He has been an instructor and performer at many acoustic, folk and guitar camps, including Folkworks (UK), Sore Fingers (UK), Milwaukee Irish Fest Summer School, Gaelic Roots (Boston), Beppe Gambetta's guitar camp in Slovenia, Roberto Dalla Vecchia's guitar camp in Vicenza (Italy), the Wrigley Sisters' Fiddle & Guitar Festival (Orkney), Tony McManus's Elora Guitar Festival (Canada) and has been a flatpick guitar instructor and performer at Steve Kaufman's Acoustic Kamp, held annually in Maryville, TN, on eight occasions. 

During the pandemic lockdowns, Chris took the opportunity to dig into a different sort of project altogether. His fifth solo album, Breaking Bach, featuring his arrangements for steel-strung flatpicked guitar of sonatas and partitas written by JS Bach for solo instruments, was released on 23 July, 2021. The project is quite ground-breaking - a recording of this music on steel-strung flatpicked guitar has not been attempted until now. It's been quite well-received: "Audacious and eminently enjoyable" * * * * THE SCOTSMAN "A ground-breaking project... a magnificent tour-de-force... a toweringly-impressive achievement" THE LIVING TRADITION "Life-affirming... (Newman's) achievement is colossal... Elegant, stylish and unmistakeably from the heart."