A graduate of Birmingham Conservatoire, Rik studied with international classical guitarists Craig Ogden and Simon Dinnigan along with composers Andrew Downes and John Mayor.

He has also received one-off tuition, guidance and advice from some of the biggest names in the guitar world in masterclasses, at festivals and on courses, including: flamenco guitarist Paco Pena, classical guitarists Alirio Diaz, Leo Brouwer, Carlos Bonell, John Mills, Benjamin Verdery, Paul Gregory and jazz guitarists Fred Thelonious Baker, Deirdre Cartwright and Dave Cliff.

He performs for both events and the concert stage and is well known for being a truly versatile musician and multi-instrumentalist. Along with classical guitar, Rik is also a top acoustic fingerstyle guitarist, a soulful electric pop/rock/blues guitarist, a 5 string banjo player, a keen ukulele player, a blues/jazz pianist and a bass guitarist. 

Rik has over 30 years instrumental teaching experience and he has also worked in other areas of education, including as a secondary school classroom music teacher and as a language teacher overseas for the British Council and similar organisations.

He is an active composer with a string of international radio, TV and online credits to his name for his music in advertisements, documentaries and short films. Previous clients include Nokia and Western Union. 

In his solo concert performances, he covers a whole range of styles from baroque to blues, classical, Spanish, jazz, folk, world music and popular. He also features a number of his own compositions. In recent years, he has added banjo and ukulele to some of his concerts.

A former 'Young Musician of the Year' contestant, Rik has performed across the country and overseas, and he is one of the few British musicians to have been invited to perform in Belarus where he played in Rechitsa in 2010.

An early pioneer in the field of live online webcam teaching, he appeared on a Channel 5 tech program in 2009 for his guitar teaching via skype.

In 2011, Rik returned to the UK after many years living and working overseas. He has since established himself as the go-to fretted strings teacher in the Stockport/East Cheshire area, teaching many hundreds of students in both 1-to-1 lessons and group classes/workshops.