Jeff Schroedl Talks about GuitarInstructor.com

by Rick Landers.

In December 2007 Hal Leonard Corporation added GuitarInstructor.com to it's publishing quiver and Jeff Schroedl took the lead to help launch the company's guitar instruction website. Jeff''s recording and performance experience, along with his background in music publications, serve as solid foundations to help grow the new HLC site. His driving lead guitar work can be found on rock and jazz CDs with The Blue Machine, Tambora, Altered Five and the Ben Hans Trio. He's also released a solo CD named Prevue, where he unwinds a bit to punch out some blistering rock guitar.

Before joining Hal Leonard, Jeff's writing and editing skills were highlighted in Guitar One magazine, where he served as Editor-in-Chief. His FastTrack Guitar Method and Hal Leonard Jazz Guitar Method publications feature well thought out instructional guidance for guitarists.

As the largest music publishing business in the world, Hal Leonard Corporation can dig deep into its catalog of 100,000 artists to build the site's inventory of video classes. Artists represented in their publications include such major acts as: Aerosmith, Nirvana, Jimi Hendrix, U2, the Doors, Miles Davis, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, the Who, as well as the music of Disney, Andrew Lloyd Weber, Motown, Irving Berlin, Rogers and Hammerstein and others.

The current on-board group of guitar instructors at GuitarInstructor.com include tone masters Eric Johnson, Joe Bonamassa, Robin Trower, Albert Lee, Arlen Roth, Duke Robillard, Happy Traum, Stanley Jordan and a growing list of others. And with per lesson costs ranging from 99 cents to $1.99 each, the on-line classes are nearly a giveaway compared to other types of lessons.

Today, Jeff Schroedl is Vice-President of Popular and Standard Publications for Hal Leonard Corporation, overseeing a vast inventory of HLC publications and leading the company's entry into the web-based guitar instructional platform called GuitarInstructor.com.

Modern Guitars connected with Jeff to talk about the emergence of HLC's GuitarInstructor.com web site, the associated artist relations efforts that go along with building the site and the diverse business roles and responsibilities he carries to help ensure it continues to thrive as a high quality Hal Leonard Corporation venture.

Rick Landers: How about a little history on Hal Leonard Corporation and how its new site, GuitarInstructor.com, developed from conception to its arrival on the Internet?

Jeff Schroedl: Hal Leonard publishes more than 500 guitar-related products each year, including songbooks, instructional books, DVDs, and other titles for all styles and levels. We're committed to finding new, effective ways to teach guitar.

In 1997, we launched the first website to offer sheet music by way of digital download, SheetMusicDirect.com. We've had tremendous success with that site and it continues to grow each year.

GuitarInstructor.com is a natural evolution of our guitar publishing activities. We wanted to create a high-quality, easy-to-navigate website specifically for guitarists; a one-stop shop for tab, video lessons, jam tracks, and more. We started three years ago and the site premiered last December.

Rick: How does your background tie into your job with GuitarInstructor.com?

Jeff: I've worked at Hal Leonard for 15 years. I started as a Guitar Editor and am now Vice-President of Popular & Standard Publications. Prior to joining Hal Leonard, I taught guitar full-time in both private and group settings. I was one of the founders of Guitar One magazine and served as Editor-in-Chief from 1998-2000.

Currently, I am also Publisher and Editor of Guitar Edge magazine. Outside of my job, I still play gigs on a regular basis. I'm mainly a blues, jazz, and rock guitarist. But, I enjoy all styles of guitar. I'm always looking for ways to improve my own playing, which is helpful in developing books and websites. You always have to ask yourself, "Would I buy this?"

Rick: Do you have a single team that develops and sets up all the instructional videos?

Jeff: We work with several video production companies. We have about three studios near our headquarters here in Milwaukee and also film quite a bit on the West Coast. Although we've tried to film all of the website's "core" video lessons using the same set and lighting specs, we're very flexible and can travel to almost any location.

Rick: Who handles artist relations and how do you decide which guitarists you'll approach for joining the cadre of celebrity guitarists? Do you meet with them on their turf or do they show up on yours to do the videos?

Jeff: So far, I've handled most of the artist relations. But, the connections can happen in a variety of ways.

We hired Michael Mueller back in May and he now manages the site on a day-to-day basis. Mike is well-known in the guitar industry as an author and journalist, and is very involved with all aspects of the site, including artist relations. There's a lot of synergy between the website and our other activities, including songbooks, DVDs, and Guitar Edge.

For example, we work closely with John 5 to publish his tab books and that relationship led to his involvement with the website. With Eric Johnson, we've represented him in the area of music print since 1995 and that led to our filming his recent video footage at his studio in Austin, Texas.

Rick: Have most of the celebrity guitarists been one-on-one guitar instructors in the earlier part of their careers?

Jeff: Some teachers such as Beth Marlis, who is the head of G.I.T., and jazz-expert Jack Grassel, have taught thousands of students over the years. Other teachers like Greg Koch and Alex de Grassi give workshops regularly. I'm sure even regular-performing guitarists like Joe Bonamassa and Dave Navarro have taught at one point or another through the years. The bottom line is they all have amazing information to share. Having such a broad perspective of learning options is what really makes the site appealing.

Rick: Do you have a standard template or format that you use for each video?

Jeff: Our core video lessons are carefully scripted using a standard template. However, for our master class video lessons, we don't have a formula of any kind. We work closely with the artists to find the best way to convey their unique teaching ideas.

Rick: I suppose the thought occurred to you at some point that Hal Leonard may be competing against its own set of other instructional products. How did that conversation go and will you migrate away from hard copy guitar instruction or DVDs?

Jeff: Hard good sales of books and DVDs are very strong and we don't anticipate that will change. Each format is compelling in its own way. We have more than 100,000 titles in our warehouse, so selling similar products is not new to us.

Each product seems to set itself apart in some way and find its own sales niche. We have to be fluid and make sure our content is available in every format that makes sense. Also, we have a great relationship with our brick and mortar dealers and have setup hundreds as digital retailers. They can download, print, and sell the same guitar transcriptions at their stores. This is an amazing program, especially considering all of the rights involved.

Rick:Did you find setting up GuitarInstructor.com relatively easy, since you obviously have pre-established relationships with many great guitarists, who have Hal Leonard instructional DVDs?

Jeff: The site is growing rapidly and continues to be large project for us. From design and programming to rights and royalties, there are a lot of components to pull together.

The website currently offers more than 7,000 songs for digital download. Most of the song transcriptions existed digitally before GuitarInstructor.com was started, so from that standpoint we had a good headstart.

On the other hand, because we have pre-established relationships, we're often expected to pay larger advances and are held to more stringent approvals than other upstart websites. From a production standpoint, the most challenging piece of content we developed was the Video Songs format. The combination of widescreen video, clear on-screen tab, full-band audio, and famous songs was not as easy as it looks, on many levels. It was worth it, though. I think Video Songs is the most engaging format on the site.

Rick: How would you compare on-line guitar instruction with one-on-one instructor and the pros and cons to both?

Jeff: There's probably no substitute for one-on-one instruction. This interaction will always be important, especially for beginning and intermediate guitarists. However, there are advantages to on-line instruction. The freedom to choose what you want to learn, when you want it, and in the comfort of your own home, is hard to beat. It's also hard to beat the price, which is 99 cents for song transcriptions and $1.99 for videos.

Rick: Who are the key players on your management team and how did you find them – in-house at Hal Leonard or outside the company walls?

Jeff: We are a vertically integrated company. That is, we create, arrange, license, engrave, print, film, promote, sell, and distribute our own products. We outsource a few parts, but we handle most aspects inside. We're fortunate to have a lot of experts in-house to lead us in terms of systems design, creative design, guitar editing, and so on.

Many of our key people, such as Richard Slater, who's Vice-President of our Creative Services and Joe Buzinski, who manages Systems design, have been with the company for many years.

Rick: I was particularly surprised at the pricing and at how reasonable it was and figured your business model was based on sales' volume. Do you expect pricing to remain stable for the foreseeable future?

Jeff: We haven't discussed the idea of raising prices. A few songs are currently more than 99 cents and a few lessons are more than $1.99. But, in general, we expect our prices to stay the same. Apple set the bar with 99-cent song downloads and that model has been very successful for the music business. We think it can also be successful for the guitar business. Rick: Does the site include interviews with the performers?

Jeff: We have no plans for interviews. But, we're very excited about our regular guitar blog that will start this Fall. It will keep guitar players up-to-date on news and notes from the world of guitar.

Rick: Are there any plans to expand the music coverage or add other sites to include piano, banjo, mandolin, percussion and other instruments?

Jeff: Nothing is imminent. But, we own the urls www.pianoinstructor.com, www.banjoinstructor.com ,etcetera. So you never know.

Rick: Can GuitarsInstructor.com students move from novice to advanced players using the site?

Jeff: Yes, and I think this is an important part of the experience that is often overlooked. Guitarists travel different paths to learn guitar depending on stylistic preferences, musical background, and learning abilities. Guitarists can customize their path on GuitarInstructor.com. To help with this, we've assigned a level number to each video lesson. Beginners should start with lessons marked "level 1" and then segue to lessons marked "level 2."

Rick: What do you think is the site’s strong selling point?

Jeff: One selling point we always try to focus on is "quality and quantity." The internet offers a tremendous amount of free content for guitarists. However, it takes a long time to find what you want. Then, when you finally find it, the quality is subpar.

Time is money. For less than a couple dollars, GuitarInstructor.com allows guitarists to find what they want quickly and have confidence the content will be helpful.

Related Links
GuitarInstructor.com
Hal Leonard Corporation
Guitar Edge Magazine

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