This UVA second year wants to help you make sweet music

Learning guitar is now easier than Guitar Hero

Taking weekly guitar lessons has major competition, thanks to second year Engineer Jack Ross and and his high school friend, Brian Abod.

Using musical talent, business savvy and coding skills, Jack and his friend Brian turned their focus from playing in a band to expanding their love for music to anyone willing to learn by creating Pickup Guitar Club.

Jack, who plays the drums and guitar, said his note recognition software “listens to your guitar as you play and if you play the right notes it’ll give you some points.

“If you play the wrong ones it lets you know how you can fix them.”

The idea stems from Guitar Hero, which Virginia Tech student Brian used to teach himself the guitar when he was in seventh grade. This is around the same time Jack began to code.

The two of them began to work on the project in junior year of high school after being in a band together for some time.

“Rather than learn these boring scales or these traditional lessons about chords and music theory, you just jump right into songs,” Jack said.

“And all that will come, and you’ll learn scales by playing some of these songs. ‘Sweet Child O’Mine’ has scales right in the solo and that’s a really fun way to learn it.”

Jack Ross

After raising $35,000 through Kickstarter ($15,000 over their original goal), the duo headed to Los Angeles to team up with some YouTube musicians to spread their name.

“Things are going pretty well today,” Jack said.

One of the YouTube stars they’ve worked with is Tiffany Alvord, who partnered with Pickup Guitar Club to help teach lessons of songs, including some of her own.

Working with the musicians is Jack’s favorite part about Pickup Guitar Club.

He said: “Interacting with them, hearing their stories…they all love to teach. They’ve gotten their success by spending so much time with their instrument, and to be able to share that with other people – they love it.”

Jack (left) and Brian (right) with Tiffany (center)

It’s not all work and no play, though. While in LA, Jack got to enjoy the city and beautiful views. A shockingly cheap B&B landed them in the Hollywood Hills, right next to the Hollywood sign.

Although maybe not as glamorous as the beaches of Santa Monica, running a business at UVA still has its perks. Jack credits a first year class called Synthesis of Design with allowing his team to develop the “gamification” of Pickup Guitar Club through the concept of social dependency.

“Being around friends helps you learn,” Jack said.

“If they’re doing better than you, you feel like you’re falling behind and so it makes you kind of learn quicker.”

His team worked with Professor Dana Elzey and the rest of the class to complete design challenges where they “developed this kind of revolutionary system, all thanks to UVA, too.”

Jack estimates about 100 of their 2000+ users are UVA students. Jack and Brian hope their site will revolutionize the way kids learn guitar from the get go.

Head to Pickup Guitar Club to sign up for a free lesson.

More
University of Virginia