We were lucky to catch up with Brett Blakemore recently and have shared our conversation below.

Brett, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a time you helped a customer really get an amazing result through their work with you.

When I started my online school I had no idea how to get students. I saw guitar teachers everywhere posting lesson videos. I knew they were doing this to help people out and to hopefully get traffic to their website. So of course, I decided to do the same thing.

When I started posting content I was teaching popular songs and other things that I was sure people wanted to learn. Some of my videos got some views and some tanked. Then one day I posted a quick lesson on something that I thought was cool and suddenly the video took off. I started to realized that it was silly to try to guess what people wanted to learn. It turns out that posting things that I thought were cool and interesting was the key to getting some traction in the online world. I guess other people thought what I was posting was cool as well because I started to get emails and direct messages.

One of my first online coaching clients was Eric Lovgren (found me through YouTube). He is a gigging guitar player from Waukesha, WI. When he reached out to me he was struggling with learning to improvise over blues progressions and really wanted to gain more knowledge of the fretboard. He also wanted to feel more confident playing electric guitar. I could tell he was generally hungry to learn more so I took him on as a weekly student. In our first sessions he told me what he was looking to accomplish and that he was ready to get to work. I worked out a lesson plan and we got down to business quickly. I found out that Eric was a hard worker and he was really digging into our lesson content each week. He also had two places to play guitar live that were very helpful in giving him the opportunity to put what we were working on in class to practical use.

At the beginning Eric didn’t really have any blues licks or solos that he could play. We started with the most basic blues riffs, scales, and simple music theory. Once he had a basic knowledge of those topics we started working on famous guitar solos and songs so that he would have licks and riffs to pull from in a live band setting. As Eric’s skills improved each week, his excitement became palpable. Because Eric was digesting everything I gave him each week it helped me improve as a teacher. He really kept me on the ball.

Eric can now confidently play blues lead guitar and has way more confidence every time he picks up his instrument. In his own words, “This new-found superpower allows me to learn a new song almost instantly when playing live at a jam and play a solo with confidence – even on a song I’ve never played before!”

Eric and I still work together, he is a member of my online guitar school. To say that Eric is a success story is an understatement. He went from only playing acoustic open mics to sitting in with live bands playing electric lead guitar on a regular basis. Here is what Eric had to say about my new online guitar school.

“From my very first live meet-up in the community, it was clear that Brett is deeply invested in each of his members success as a guitar player. What better way to help, than to make himself available for small-group meet-ups?” Eric Lovgren

Since Eric started as a student I have helped hundreds of students reach their full potential and goals as guitar players.

Brett, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Playing guitar has always been a passion of mine and I knew from an early age that I was going to do it the rest of my life. I went to school to major in music and while I was there I began to play professional gigs on a regular basis. When I graduated I quickly learned that gigs come and go so I started to teach on the side. I quickly discovered that I enjoyed teaching and sharing my love the guitar to students on every week. I continued to play gigs and teach on the side for years. Once I got married and had kids I decided to take teaching a little bit more seriously so I wouldn’t have to be out so late gigging on the weekends. So I started Summit Guitar School! I had always taught for private schools or community colleges but they were never going to fulfill me like I was sure my own business would. I wanted to be in charge and to do that I had to take control of my own destiny. I told everyone I knew I was starting a guitar teaching business. After a few years I had gained success in my local market but I found that I wanted to help more intermediate guitar players. I know what it feels like to hit that dreaded plateau as a guitarist and it isn’t fun. When you are stuck, you feel like you are never going to improve and that isn’t fun. It feels like nothing you do or try helps you get over that dreaded intermediate hump. That is why I have made it my mission in life to help those specific students have their lightbulb moments. The moments that make you realize that you can get over your plateau and reach your guitar playing goals.

After teaching over 20,000 guitar lessons I developed a curriculum to help all intermediate guitar players reach their next level. I think what sets me apart is that I generally care about my students success and will do everything I possibly can to help them. I think my ability to relate to each student’s individual stories helps me connect with them. With so many online guitar teachers and schools out there it’s hard to know who to trust. I do my best to listen to each student and provide real feedback so they can rest assured that I am the right teacher for their needs.

In October of 2023 I started my online guitar membership for intermediate guitar players. In the membership students get access to all the classes they need to reach their next level. I also provide real time feedback in the included online community. Students post videos of themselves playing and ask questions. I am very active in the community and when students sign up, I truly become their guitar teacher. I also go live 2x a month with lessons and Q&A sessions so students can learn and ask questions in real time.

I am most proud of the Summit Guitar School membership community. I know this is the future for Summit Guitar and I am sure that students will love the program. I have already had a great response and we have only just begun.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I started teaching guitar because I needed extra money. I quickly learned that money cannot be your only motivator when it comes to starting a business and helping people. Money and clients will always come and go. I turned a corner in my business when I realized that I loved helping students reach their next level. More than money, it was the results my students were getting that was the most fulfilling. When I started to focus on getting students results the money started to follow. I am a long ways from reaching my goals but everyday I take steps to get a little closer.

How did you build your audience on social media?

When I decided to build my online audience I went straight to youtube. It seems like the obvious choice. It still is the obvious choice but I went about it the wrong way. I knew nothing. I just started teaching songs on my acoustic guitar to see if I could get any traction whatsoever. I did have some initial success but my videos weren’t attracting my ideal clients. Sure, I had gained a few thousand subscribers and I was getting some people on my email list but I wasn’t getting students or making any real money. One day instead of posting another song lesson I posted a video of a lick that I thought was fun to play. To my amazement, the video took off. It turns out that other people thought the lesson was as cool as I did. So I started to do more of that. Instead of posting countless song lessons I started to post things that I thought sounded good and that were fun to play. Once I started regularly posting this type of content my audience began to grow. I then made it a point to try to answer and respond to every comment. I ended up asking my wife to help so that I could keep up. I would say if you are trying to build your ideal audience, you have to stay true to yourself and post things that are both cool and that actually provide value for your ideal customer.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.summitguitarschool.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/summitguitarschool
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/summitguitarschool/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-blakemore-b323451a/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/summitguitar
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/SummitGuitarSchool
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@summitguitarschool

Image Credits
tintype pictures for only the one picture