Happy New Year, everybody! It's starting out a bright clean white at the Lessonface offices in Brooklyn, NY.
This photo is outside the founders' apartment, as we're working from home this weekend for hopefully understandable reasons! I'm going to be finishing up an awesome new ukulele course, which you should be seeing on the site in the next week or two, while Ashford does some outreach, possibly plays his banjo, and works on a new song entitled, I kid you not, "Bowl of Macaroni."
We are thrilled to have Steve Stine's Three Steps to Shred in Guitar World today! This master teacher knows how to get students to be really effective with their time, in three simple exercises a day. Lessonface co-founder Ashford Tucker worked closely with Steve in putting this piece together, and I can testify that he was immediately hooked on these techniques.
Music lessons benefit kids greatly - be it in terms of academics, social development, fostering a good work ethic, or just for the fun of it. There’s no reason to eschew music lessons as you age - they also benefit adults, but if you’re a parent, the question isn’t whether your kids will benefit from music lessons, it’s when should my child start music lessons?
While tabs are a great way to get started playing music, oftentimes you’ll need sheet music to truly learn a song. This is especially true for classical music, as well as some popular music.
Learning to play a cover song is a great way to become tight as a band or to add fun to an album or live show. It breaks up the monotony, allows you to showcase your personality and tastes, and takes away the stress of having to write the perfect song.
Billy Norris is a 25-year-old professional musician who tours the world as the guitarist and musical director for superstar Gavin DeGraw, and we are extremely excited that Billy also offers live online guitar lessons through Lessonface. Since 2008, Billy has toured and recorded both in the U.S. and abroad as the guitarist and musical director for DeGraw, as well as S-Curve artist Andy Grammer, and Universal Republic artist Colbie Caillat.
Thomas West teaches 17 instruments on Lessonface, as well as voice, beatboxing, and theory lessons. That’s right, he teaches over 20 categories. Thomas is an experienced director of marching bands, concert bands, choral groups, and orchestras, a jazz improvisation and private instructor, as well as a marching drill writer.
In most pursuits, the better you are at something, the more you enjoy doing it. This is true no matter whether you’re in elementary school or navigating retirement. Then, because you enjoy what you’re doing, you get better at it, and this virtuous cycle continues on and on.
