PickupMusic.com Online Lesson Review: Hip, Modern, & Fun To Learn With
Pickupmusic.com is dedicated to online guitar lessons - admittedly, a crowded space on the internet right now. From fresh faced Youtubers to industry behemoths like Fender, there's no shortage of guitar lesson providers to connect with. So what makes pickupmusic.com special? Let's take a look. (Teaser: they know what you like.)
Quick Backstory: What is Pickupmusic.com?
Pickup Music is an immersive online platform offering guitar lessons and Master Classes from some of the world's leading musicians. It was originally founded by Sam Blakelock, a musician living in New York City, from his Instagram account @pickupmusic. The channel grew, and a website was launched, and now the platform aims to build a strong musical community beyond what's possible on conventional social media platforms, providing a space for musicians to connect, exchange, learn, and grow together. The platform even offers a members-only forum for discussions, advice, and community engagement.
In terms of straight up educational content, Pickup Music includes a vast array of Learning Pathways, Master Classes, original songs, essential lick packages, and bite-sized lessons. These resources are designed to cater to different learning paces and available practice times, making it suitable for everyone from beginners to advanced players. The Learning Pathways are particularly notable for their structured, step-by-step instruction that takes the guesswork out of practice routines, ensuring steady progress through daily lessons, play-along exercises, and interactive workouts.
Check out Pickupmusic.com's 14-day free trial.
So... Is It Any Good?
Short answer: Yes. I've looked at a LOT of online music courses and platforms, and I was surprised how much I liked Pickup Music. There's a few reasons:
1. Design
I know this doesn't get at the actual guitar instruction, but it sure is nice when a platform just look and feels well built. It makes it fun to use, and invites you to keep coming back. The overall design hipness is a major plus.
2. Course Content is Punchy
A lot of guitar instruction developed in previous decades seems focused on these hour -long masterclasses (I'm looking at you, Hot Licks...), often with meandering or random topics. But who's got time for that anymore? Certainly not your average guitar learner, who's bouncing between alot of other obligations.
Pickup Music seems to better understands their current audience and made the lessons very focused and "bite-sized". You can log on for a few minutes and still come away with some insights. You can go through longer course material as well, of course. So the speed is. upto you.
3. Up and Coming Players
Whereas a lot of other guitar learning sites focus on legends of the industry (and rightly so, I want to know how Tommy Emmanuel does his thing, too!), Pickup Music is bringing in the fresh players who you just discovered on Instagram last week. The styles, techniques, and music they're teaching are very current.
For example, I was personally pumped to see they had lessons from Ruben Wan, an up and coming Gospel and R&B guitarist who a friend had just turned me on to.
4. Development Roadmap
One of the cool, nerdy things that I loved discovering once logged in to the pickupmusic.com site is their public development board. Similar to other modern SaaS companies, Pickup Music gives you a public view of what courses, features, and content they've got lined up for development. And a lot of it looks really cool. (Keep your eyes peeled for the iOS app!)
Conclusion
In one sense, Pickup Music is doing what a lot of the online guitar sites already do - they're offering online lessons. The difference is that they're doing it with a hipper vibe, punchier content, and a ton of cool new guitarists.
The whole thing is an awesome experience and, most importantly - it makes you excited to learn.
14-Day Free Trial
For those considering the platform, Pickup Music offers a 14-day free trial, after which members can continue with a subscription. They emphasize the value of their membership by comparing it to the cost of private lessons or music academy tuition, highlighting the affordability and effectiveness of their learning system.