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Mike Riff From Riff Intereactive- Learning from the best and passing on his wisdom. |
This Month we profile Mike Riff
That teacher, Michael Johnson,
presides over and orchestrates this controlled pandemonium from his home on Alki Beach. His partner, Steve Roeder, makes sure things flow smoothly from his computer in Redmond.
For the past year and a half, this duo (one a veteran musician, the other a software developer) has
hosted interactive guitar lessons on the Internet using software and a teaching method they created.
Calling their company Riff Interactive, they offer real-time guitar
classes every Monday and Thursday, covering blues, rock, jazz and country. They also bring in guest celebrities to talk about and teach their music.
Anyone with a computer and an Internet connection is welcome to
join the lessons and chat with the stars for free. So far, the response has been overwhelming. Classes draw anywhere from 20 to 40 students a night. The crowd often leaps to 70 or so when
famous guitar slingers show up. Thousands more have visited the archive where all the lessons are made available 24 hours a day. Altogether, 150,000 unique users have visited the site.
"This is the greatest guitar site on the whole WWW!" raves Paul
Hennessy, a Norwegian guitarist who has attended two classes.
Thurman Williams Jr., a 33-year-old strummer from Stafford, Va.,
first tried learning guitar from books, CDs and a few videotapes. Then he found Riff. "I have got more out of Riff Interactive than all my books and VHS tapes put together."
And now Paul Allen's Experience Music Project has joined forces
with the Riff team to bring free guitar lessons to its Web site. In these techno times, computers are plugging their cords deeper and
deeper into our lives. And musicians and music lovers have proven more than game to jack in.
The Internet now provides a bounty of CD-quality songs free for
the downloading, turning home computers into high-tech stereos. SmartLight guitars teach wannabe rock stars how to play a song by lighting up the places on the neck where fingers should go.
There's even a new instrument that melds the power and interactivity of a PC with a real piano.
The cyber-savvy world is embracing Riff Interactive's online lessons
as well, and for good reason. For starters, both the classes and the software are free (at least for now). Also, the lessons are convenient -- students can show up or walk out whenever they
want and they never have to leave the comforts of home. Most importantly, the system works.
Johnson, formerly the music editor for the Official Jimi Hendrix
Magazine, has decorated his office with images of the guitar god. It's from here that he conducts classes, sending his advice and know-how -- complete with video, audio and pictures -- to
students waiting in all corners of the Net.
Read Complete article at Riffinteractive.
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