I started playing the guitar as a teen, travelling to London each week for lessons from Shaun Baxter in rock/metal techniques at The Guitar Institute (now The Institute of Contemporary Music Performance, or ICMP)). At 17, I moved to London to study a Diploma in popular music at what is now Brunel University in partnership with The Guitar Institute (ICMP) being taught by Shaun Baxter, Alan Limbrick, Ian Scott, Roger Rettig among others and I have run a private music studio ever since teaching students of all ages and abilities in both classical and contemporary styles of guitar.

I also worked for the Lewisham Centre for Young Musicians (CYM) teaching general musicianship to classes of students all playing different instruments and of varying ages as well as teaching the guitarists and leading the guitar ensemble and rock band, taking the young guitarists in orchestral performances at the Barbican, on one occasion, in a world premiere performance. I began working for the Lewisham Music Service in 2001, eventually to become its Key Guitar Tutor, overseeing and mentoring all the guitar teachers for Lewisham. I have taught at prestigious independent schools including Dulwich College and James Allens’ Girls’ School as their peripatetic guitar teacher. In addition to a GCSE and A level in music and a Diploma in Popular Music, I also have grade 8 in classical guitar and an LTCL in instrumental teaching, both from Trinity.

I have performed in many tribute bands, playing music by Duran Duran, Wham and George Michael, Madness and Madonna as well performing as a singer-songwriter in my own right and in a band called The Fans, for which I wrote the songs, performed guitar, sung lead and backing vocals and produced a catalogue of music that can be heard on Spotify (under Pete Booke) and from my Soundcloud account.

I have published two books of classical guitar arrangements of English Folk Songs and British Christmas Carols for the renowned publisher Mel Bay.

I am a composer, arranger and songwriter. I compose for the guitar and piano having compiled a book of guitar compositions called Short Stories for Classical Guitar (which includes Ariel and The Ithaca Suite – see below); I have also transcribed and arranged many pieces for the guitar by artists as wide-ranging as The Kinks, The Beatles, Tears for Fears, Radiohead, Bach and Bartok.

A collection of solo piano preludes, Isolation Preludes, written during lockdown while suffering from Long Covid, can be purchased as a PDF. They are not too difficult and some of which have become favourites at In Treble music school in Belize.

The brilliant Russian guitarist Vladimir Gapontsev has performed, live, and recorded some of my compositions for guitar including Ariel and the entire Ithaca Suite, based on some of the episodes from Homer’s Odyssey. Both of which can be heard from my Soundcloud account.

I have put together an album of music in a folk-rock style called Songs Without Words that is available on Soundcloud and will be released on Spotify (the title track of which has already been released!).

I am able to teach composing, arranging and transcribing including how to use the well-known notation software, Sibelius, and how to write musical notation by hand.

Steven Rekas (Mel Bay):

"I listened to Ithaca Suite and was very impressed with the range of melodies, textures and meters. It’s a good piece.

I am now listening to Songs Without Words and equally impressed, in a slightly different way. Your production values are very high; I appreciate the structure and diversity of the songs and the vocal harmonies too. The songwriting is really solid."

Classical Guitar Tunes - English Folk Songs

This book presents 42 English folk songs arranged for the intermediate classic guitarist in standard notation with phrase and dynamic markings plus light fingering. The collection includes popular melodies like Sprig of Thyme, Seventeen Come Sunday, and Blow the Wind Southerly, but also lesser known but no less beautiful tunes like Cupid the Pretty Ploughboy, Dabbling in the Dew and Saucy Sailor. All the arrangements present the basic tune faithfully and simply before offering more elaborate and sophisticated variations suitable for concert performance. Without compromising their sophistication, these polyphonic arrangements are elegant and idiomatic to the guitar, all but devoid of excessive physical demands; even barré chords are kept to a minimum so the player can relax and focus on tone and interpretation. The primary objective of this collection is to draw attention to these deserving melodies, some of which are now rarely heard. Longtime fans of the genre will recognize a few songs once performed by folk-rock groups like Steeleye Span and The Fairport Convention, here presented anew for the solo classic guitar.

“It’s an excellent collection - good to play for pleasure, good for learning and consolidating rhythm, good for sight-reading. Just marvelous. It should meet a lot of needs."

Gilbert Biberian

“These are very accessible arrangements of 42 English folk tunes, some of which are familiar and many others which deserve to be better known. They are all tuneful and have interesting harmonies and rhythms in arrangements which will be well within the reach of intermediate guitarists. These fine settings would be useful pieces for a teacher looking for supplementary material and also for the performer looking for unhackneyed repertoire. They are thoughtfully presented with good fingering and phrasing, with idiomatic guitar writing and interesting harmonies. Congratulations to Peter Worley for presenting this compendium of gems from a lesser-known tradition.”

Gerald Garcia

Christmas Music in the British Isles for Classic Guitar

This carefully researched anthology presents 42 Christmas carols from England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales arranged for the intermediate classic guitarist in standard notation. Phrase and dynamic markings plus light fingering are provided. The collection includes popular carols such as "Away in a Manger", "Once in Royal David’s City" and "The Holly and the Ivy" plus fine lesser-known carols such as "Down in Yon Forest", "In Those Twelve Days" and "Ye Sons of Men, With Me Rejoice". All of the arrangements present the basic tune faithfully and simply before offering more elaborate and sophisticated variations suitable for holiday gigs and concert performance.