Developing out of a successful professional playing career, North East drummer David Green is looking to give back to a new generation of musicians by helping them to learn and grow in a way which best suits their needs.  Damian Robinson caught up with David to find out more about online music academy, RockAcad, and David’s ambition to make music playing not just accessible but also interesting. 

Hi David, before we talk about RockAcad, some of our readers in the North East may remember your name from various impressive bands – can you refresh our memory please.

Certainly, I was raised in Newcastle and was part of the North East music scene for a long time playing drums in bands like Detroit Social Club, Little Comets and VANT.  I spent a lot of time playing in venues like the Cluny before moving into some session work, work as a touring musician, and developing my music teaching skills. 

And RockAcad is an extension to those skills?

In a way, yes.  I have been teaching on and off for quite a long time now, and some of that became more and more on-line depending where people were based.  The on-line work was probably at the centre of RockAcad.

And RockAcad then took music lessons and development and built out a larger community?

Yeah, what we wanted to do with RockAcad is to create a learning environment that would have been the best place to go to when you were either starting to learn an instrument or wanted to spend time with other likeminded players. 

So RockAcad is available to any level of musician?

Absolutely, whether someone is starting out or is wanting to get serious about their playing, we have a number of musicians who are perfect for their development.  And it’s not just about playing, we also provide development in music production and parts of the music aligned to the playing side.  What makes us different from other online music academies is that our lessons are provided by people who’ve worked in the industry and have experience of playing live and live production.  They’re the sorts of experts that can really help accelerate the learning and understanding of people interested in playing or  building a career in the music industry.  We work, for example, with Pete Friesen who’s played guitar for Alice Cooper and Bruce Dickinson and he’s a sensational player and teacher – his insight can really help someone understand their instrument and it’s capabilities.

And for those who’ve not heard of RockAcad what would you recommend?

I’d say if you play an instrument, or you’re thinking of playing, take a look at our website and the materials available and see what a difference these lessons could make to your career or overall playing style.  Even if you’re curious you can sign up for free trials so it’s well worth giving it a try, you have nothing to lose. 

You can find out more about rockacad, including details of their free trials, here https://www.rockacad.com/