INTRO FOOD FOR THOUGHT

The founder of justinguitar.com lends GT his insight as one of the world’s most successful guitar teachers. This month: The Band.

I’ve been running week-long residential guitar workshops for over 15 years now. They have evolved into something really special since the early days where I tried to cram a music degree into a week. Intense eight-hour days that nearly killed the students and myself. I soon realised that many of the students really needed to play with a band. So I created a jam workshop, where we’d teach a song in the morning and all the students would get up and play it with a professional drummer and bassist in the afternoon. It was incredible, so many wide smiles and it really ignited the students to continue their guitar journey.

When I think back to my own adventure with guitar - the times I learned the most were in bands, usually with older and more experienced musicians. In Tasmania in the 90s there was a thriving live music scene and many of us were able to gig five or six nights a week for years.