Dave Simpson Guitar World: The $35 Skool Room Reviewed

Dave's Guitar World is a $35 a month Skool community built around the teaching of Dave Simpson, and on 6 September 2026 it held 120 members and earned $3,076.42 in monthly recurring revenue, ranked 42nd in Music. An annual plan is offered at $335, which works out at $27.92 a month, a 20.2% saving on twelve monthly payments.

The unusual part is on the header. The teacher named all the way through the copy is Dave Simpson. The owner Skool displays under the title is Richard Deyn.

Who runs Dave's Guitar World?

Skool displays the community as "By Richard Deyn". The about page links two Skool profiles, richard-deyn-4071 and andy-knight-5603, and the first of those is the one Skool names as the owner. That profile's bio reads "Q4 Skool Games Winner | Gibson UK | BBC | 30 years on real stages | Founder of Gig Proof" and gives Suffolk in the United Kingdom. The teaching content, by contrast, is attributed throughout the copy to Dave Simpson, who is named in the third sentence and again in the promise about making complex ideas simple.

We report both because both are displayed. What we cannot see from outside is the relationship between them, and we do not assert one; a working name or a stage name is not excluded either. What is observable is that the name Skool prints as owner and the name the copy puts on the lessons are two different names. It is unusual in our fifteen-room guitar set, where the two are normally the same, and the Barry Harris Method room run by Chris Parks is the other case in the set where they are not.

Richard Deyn

Listed owner of Dave's Guitar World, opened on Skool on 17 August 2025 and run with four other admins. The Skool profile gives Suffolk in the UK and a bio reading "Q4 Skool Games Winner | Gibson UK | BBC | 30 years on real stages | Founder of Gig Proof"; those are the profile's own published statements and we have not checked any of them. The teaching in the community is attributed to Dave Simpson throughout the about copy. The member count, prices, review score, post count and revenue in this piece were read off the live about page and the public Skool Games board on 6 September 2026.

What does the about page say?

It opens on the confusion the reader already feels, names the teacher rather than the curriculum, and then lists the deliverables with two unattributed member quotes underneath. Below is that copy as published, with emoji replaced by plain markers, curly apostrophes set straight, and the section heading set in bold where the source has it as plain text. No words were added, removed or altered. Hover a number for our reading.

What does it mean that the owner and the teacher have different names?

We cannot see why, only that they do. Skool shows Richard Deyn as the owner and five admins in total, which is one admin for every 24 members, the richest staffing of the four rooms we read today. The copy, meanwhile, sells access to Dave Simpson. Both are displayed; the relationship between them is not.

Separating the operator from the teacher is a familiar structure in education businesses and it is rare on the Skool Music board, where the founder and the face are usually the same person. If that is what is happening here, it matters for a buyer, because the continuity of the room would then depend on an arrangement you cannot see rather than on one person's continued interest in it.

It also changes what the room can do. Five admins across 120 members is enough staffing to run live sessions, moderate a feed at two posts a day and handle onboarding without the teacher touching any of it. That is the argument for the structure. The argument against it is that the strongest asset on the page, the name Dave Simpson, is not the name on the door.

What does $25.64 a member tell you about the annual plan?

It tells you some of the roster is on it, and not much more. $3,076.42 across 120 members is $25.64 each, or 73.2% of the $35 monthly price. An annual member at $335 contributes $27.92 a month to that average, so a roster made entirely of annual payers would still sit at 79.8% of the monthly sticker.

That is the quiet cost of an annual plan and it is worth stating plainly: every annual seat permanently lowers your revenue per member as it appears on Skool's board, even though it raises your cash certainty. A room selling only annually looks cheaper per head than a room selling only monthly at the same headline price, and neither the board nor the about page explains the difference.

The rest of the gap is the usual mix of cancelled profiles and any discounted seats, which are indistinguishable from outside. What we can rule out is a hidden expensive tier: Skool's metadata lists no tier structure for this room, and a room collecting 73.2% of its sticker gives no evidence of one anyway.

The formula you can copy

Sell the teacher, then staff the room so the teacher does not have to run it. Five admins for 120 members is heavy staffing by Skool standards and it is what allows a room to promise live sessions and a two-a-day feed while keeping the named teacher on teaching. Compare it with Alex's Acoustic Club, where one person owes 310 members both the Q&As and the DMs.

Put gear content next to technique content. The Katana Dojo and the tone deep dives target amp and tone searches that have nothing to do with scales, and they cost nothing extra to make for a teacher who already owns the equipment. It is the same widening move that Worship Guitar Mastery makes with amp patches for a completely different audience.

Print both prices and let the reader do the arithmetic. $35 a month or $335 a year, with no "save 20%" banner, reads as information rather than as a pitch. The saving is real at 20.2% and a buyer who works it out believes it more than one who is told it.

Attribute your testimonials. Two quotes with no names attached are the weakest part of an otherwise plain-spoken page, and they sit directly above the price. See Skool membership tiers for what this room chose not to build, and how much Skool costs for what the platform takes out of the $35 before it reaches the owner.

Frequently asked questions

Who is Dave Simpson?

Dave Simpson is the guitarist named as the teacher throughout the Dave's Guitar World about page, which describes members learning directly from him and credits him with a gift for making complex ideas simple. That is not the profile Skool lists as the community's owner; Skool names Richard Deyn, whose profile gives Suffolk in the UK. Everything we report about either person comes from what Skool displays.

How much does Dave's Guitar World cost?

$35 a month or $335 a year as displayed on 6 September 2026. The annual plan works out at $27.92 a month, a 20.2% saving on twelve monthly payments. No free trial was advertised on the page and Skool's metadata lists no additional membership tiers, so $35 is the price rather than an entry price.

What is included in Dave's Guitar World?

Seven courses across 124 modules, including Dave's Solo Course with all future updates, the Katana Dojo with tone tips and presets, Dave's Practice Guide, live sessions and Q&A, Frusciante style and tone deep dives, and downloadable resources. The room carried 773 posts on 6 September 2026, about two a day, and is run by five admins.

Is Dave's Guitar World worth $35 a month?

That depends on whether you want gear and tone content alongside theory, because that combination is what distinguishes this room from cheaper guitar communities. At $35 it sits above the $25 to $29 band where several Skool guitar rooms cluster, below the $49 to $69 cluster, and well below the $127 to $260 coaching rooms. The single published review, a 5.0 from one member, is too small a sample to lean on, so the live sessions and the course list are the evidence to judge.

How much does Dave's Guitar World earn?

$3,076.42 in monthly recurring revenue according to Skool's public leaderboard on 6 September 2026, ranked 42nd in Music and 2,140th globally, with a thirty day change of minus $127.42, or minus 3.98%. Across the 120 listed accounts that is $25.64 each, or 73.2% of the $35 monthly price, which is consistent with a roster that mixes monthly and annual payers.

Why does the owner of a Skool community sometimes differ from the teacher?

Because Skool lists whoever created and administers the group, which does not have to be the person whose content fills it. Splitting the roles lets a teacher teach while an operator runs onboarding, moderation and live logistics. It is worth noticing as a buyer, because the room's continuity may then rest on an arrangement between two parties rather than on one person's ongoing commitment to it. A different display name can also simply be a working name, and Skool does not tell you which.