Wigan musician helps people improve their guitar skills during lockdown

Mike Smith, who lives in Ashton, has been providing guitar lessons online to help budding musicians during the lockdown.

He has been playing guitar for 25 years and is a guitarist in Black Zeppelin - a tribute band to both Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin - as well as Viper Kings and Bandoliers.

Known as Ginge The Mericless on YouTube, Mike offers a range of lessons on playing the guitar, from “lockdown legato lessons” to “finger busting string skipping arpeggios”.

There are slowed down guides for people to see exactly what is going on and a tutorial on a guitar solo each day.

Mike is also offering one-to-one guitar lessons via Skype, where he can take people back to basics.

He said: “Quite a lot of people will have time at the minute during lockdown and I’m kind of one of them, so I wanted to give something to the people and help them either pick up a new skill or fall back in love with playing the guitar.

“Practice is key to mastering the guitar, but sometimes you just need someone to be a guiding light and show you a few little hints and tricks here and there and that’s hopefully what I can be for some people.”

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