I grew up in Vinhais, a small town in the mountains of north-east Portugal. I started playing guitar at 14 — jazz, blues, rock, fado, whatever was in front of me. Over 25 years I have played in bands, in sessions, in living rooms and on stages, across styles that share one thing: harmony that moves you.

Along the way I studied biomedical engineering at university — which tells you something about how my mind works. I like systems. I like understanding why something works before I try to use it. That instinct shaped how I teach harmony: mechanism first, shape second.

I also build software. I created four guitar practice apps — riffroutine.com — because the tools I wanted for my own practice did not exist. A scale trainer, an ear-training app, a progression generator, a polyrhythmic metronome.

Right now I am publicly learning manouche guitar — and publishing the journey on YouTube. La pompe, the repertoire, the Django vocabulary. That is not what I teach. That is what I am learning.

The distinction matters. My 25 years of harmonic knowledge is real. My manouche rhythm is a work in progress. I share both honestly because I think the journey is as useful to watch as the destination.