Apple rolls out star-studded music tutorials

Last year, we featured two ventures offering online music tutorials by professional and famous artists: Now Play It—with tutorials by artists including Paul McCartney, Au Revoir Simone and The Dandy Warhols—and Mucony, which focuses on classical music and features tutorials by musicians from the New York Philharmonic, faculty members of the Juilliard School, and other esteemed musicians and teachers. Smart concepts, since they give (aspiring) musicians easy access to a level of teaching they could otherwise only dream of. So we were pleased to see that Apple is now offering something similar: earlier this week, Apple announced that it has added Artist Lessons to its popular GarageBand application (part of the iLife software suite). Lessons are sold separately through GarageBand’s Lesson Store, for USD 4.99 a piece, and participating artists at launch include Sting, Norah Jones and Sarah McLachlan. Like Now Play It, the tutorials include step-by-step instructions for chords, finger positions, and techniques. Artist Lessons also allow students to slow down playback for easier learning, and let them control a song’s mix and instrumentation, enabling them to tune out Sting and play with his band, for example.