Firm offers chance for guitar masterclass with rock greats
A NEW online music tutorial firm is offering lessons with some of the world’s most acclaimed musicians who have worked with the likes of Michael Jackson and Ellie Goulding.
LessonWith, founded by Doug Ward, enables budding musicians to connect with instructors for a private, one-to-one music lesson via the website’s livestreaming function.
Among the instructors signed up by the Digbeth company are Jennifer Batten, who worked with Michael Jackson for over a decade, Jeff Beck, Madonna’s guitar teacher Monte Pittman, and Ellie Goulding ’s guitarist Chris Ketley.
Mr Ward is a graduate of Birmingham City University’s Conservatoire and began working as tour manager for Cream drummer Ginger Baker while studying.
While he was touring, Mr Ward saw an opportunity to bring together the worlds of education and music as he knew that conservatoires and universities were always looking to book masterclasses with world-class musicians.
He then started using his contacts to set up such sessions, primarily in the US, and the idea for LessonWith grew from there.
Mr Ward said: “It’s a very exciting time. Until now, there was absolutely no way the public could get in touch with these musicians. If you’re not in the industry, you have had to settle for a local teacher which is always going to be limiting if you are not based somewhere like LA.”
John Greenwood, LessonWith’s chief technical officer, added: “In creating LessonWith, we have built a powerful, modern web application, capable of delivering a very high-quality service to our global user base. We have made sure that every aspect of the platform – from the design to the live streaming – is robust, responsive, and reliable, in order to give our students and teachers the best experience possible.”