Pickup Music is a community of musicians, creators, and music lovers

Our story

At Pickup Music, we’re on a mission to create the world's best experience for learning music online. With over 20,000 members and growing, we specialize in providing a structured, step-by-step approach that helps players of all levels make real progress.

Pickup Music started in 2015 as an Instagram community run by our co-founder and jazz guitarist, Sam Blakelock. The community grew into one of the largest online communities of musicians connecting through lessons, live shows, meet-ups, and challenges.

Today we're based in LA and supported by a global team of educators and partner musicians to bring the highest level of instruction to your fingertips. We’re proud to be fully bootstrapped and continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible in online music education.

Our Learning Pathways guide you through a personalized journey to fretboard mastery, ensuring you know exactly what to focus on each week to take your playing to the next level. Our unique system combines detailed lessons with hands-on learning, giving you the structure and support you need to reach your guitar goals.
Alongside our video lessons, we offer 1:1 personalized feedback on your playing and weekly live lessons, creating a learning experience that feels as close as possible to in-person lessons - at a fraction of the cost.

The world's a better place with music. We love helping people get better at making it.

2015

Founded by independent musicians

20K +

Members

100 %

Independently owned

Our Team

We're a small-but-mighty team of musicians who love helping people get better at guitar and develop their unique musical voice.

Sam Blakelock

Co-founder, CEO

Cam Nolan

Co-founder

Kyle Sparkman

Head of Community

Leigh Collins

Head of Notation

Sarah Riddle

Web Team

Jonathan Colman

Lessons Team

Harry Nicholson

Web Team

Julia Mahncke

Writer Team

Miguel Mendes

Lessons Team

Jack Handyside

Lessons Team

Dom Meyer

Head of Growth Marketing

Karl Kerfoot

Head of Education

Júlio Mendoza

Production Director

Ben Thomas

Guitar mentor

Dan Kalisher

Guitar mentor

Brandon Bae

Guitar mentor

Michael Isacs

Guitar mentor

Tom Harden

Customer Success Manager

Leticia Filizzola

Guitar mentor

Our Artists

Here’s just a few of the incredible instructors we work with.