Tom Rhodes

Shortly before lockdown, I got hooked on blues and jazz when watching a video of Stevie Ray Vaughan play at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1982. It floored me – I was completely obsessed with the amount of emotion produced and I desperately wanted to learn to play like that. This led me onto other artists and styles of music, mainly country, jazz and R&B, which have varied my music taste and my musical vocabulary when playing.
I first performed live when I was 13 in a small bar in Inverurie, was spotted by a manager from BrewDog and I have been playing regularly at their local bars ever since. Playing live so young felt quite daunting but I quickly became used to it and struck up a good rapport with the teams that work there.

I love the connection that music brings.

When I play at BrewDog it’s solo and most of what I perform is blues and jazz, some of which are originals, and some are covers with my own twist.

In addition to playing BrewDog since 2021, I have performed at various weddings, charity events and local pubs. Performing at a wedding is a huge honour. The first one I did was back in June 2023 and I was a little nervous, which is unlike me, but it’s such an important day I wanted everything to go right. Over the years I have learnt to be super organised when performing, bringing spares of everything to help things go smoothly. When I played at the Business Beats Cancer Event this June, I had a few technical issues before I started, but being organised, keeping calm and methodical meant I sorted it all and was able to carry on. That day meant a lot to me because my Grandad passed away in 2021 from cancer and together the team raised over £30,000.

For the last year I have taught guitar privately, it’s pretty fun being able to transfer my skills to young people and reminds me of how far I have come. I am already quite patient, but I have learned how to communicate better and find new ways of helping them learn when the first approach doesn’t work. The student I have taught the longest is now 10 years old – he’s really come on, and it gives me a great feeling of pride when I see what I have helped him achieve.

For a career, I’d love to either teach music in school or perform or do both! As well as teaching privately, I’ve been helping every Tuesday for the whole school day, supporting Mr Gray with the P7s in our junior school. It’s been a really interesting few months, and I’ve been given permission to follow this class into the academy when they move up in June to get some experience with academy teaching too.

I have been the support act for two bands, the Andy Taylor Group and Sandy Mac. The Andy Taylor gig was held at the Blue Lamp in Aberdeen last August. It was my first time speaking to an audience, and it went well, they even laughed at a couple of my jokes. It’s a setting I am familiar with so I think that helped, as I try and go along to their blues jam nights whenever I can. That’s fun too, I love the spontaneity and rush of improvising with other musicians I have never met and reconnecting with those I’ve met before.

By far the biggest highlight of my music career was when I was asked to perform at the Orkney Blues festival this year. That was an incredible weekend. At the last minute I was given the opportunity to play the main stage, and I couldn’t believe it when one of the headline acts Paolo Fuschi asked me back up on stage to play with him. He was so generous with his time; we were jamming for about 20 minutes! I have just signed a contract to play the main stage in April 2026 – I am so excited and honoured to be invited back.

There’s something about playing live with fellow musicians that beats anything else I have experienced, it’s hard to put into words.

Closer to home, in school I was awarded “Young Musician of the Year” last year – that was a real surprise as there was a lot of talent that day. Over the past 2 academic years I have also received the school awards for music and music tech and recently was given the Cynthia Van Loon Award for musical excellence.

I am the lead guitarist in 2 of the school’s bands – country and contemporary, and I sing with them too. I play piano to grade 5 level, am self-taught on drums, have been taking singing lessons for a year and will be sitting my grade 5 theory in early 2026.

Music is a massive part of my life; I love the freedom it gives me to express myself and I am excited about the next steps I am going to take.

I loved my visit to Edinburgh Napier in October; all the staff and students were really approachable and friendly. I know I still have a lot to learn, and you have a huge amount to offer. Your facilities are incredible and when I listened to the talk in the lecture theatre, I was surprised by the breadth of learning possible, impressed by the expertise of the staff and the flexibility for me to develop myself further.

Thank you for reading this far, there is more information for you below and on the other tabs.

I hope very much to meet you all again soon.

Tom