About Justin

I first picked up a guitar properly when I was 13 — it was my older brother's guitar. At first, it was just childish strumming, but that strumming quickly turned into something much bigger. With more gain and more distortion. From then on, my days consisted mainly of going to school and playing guitar.

Like most guitarists of my generation, my first big idol was Metallica's Kirk Hammett. But my "idols for eternity" – as anyone who follows my YouTube videos will know – are John Petrucci, Yngwie Malmsteen, and Paul Gilbert. So after school, there was no question for me about what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to get better at guitar — and that hasn't changed to this day.

I began studying at the "Frankfurter Musikwerkstatt" and trained there to become a state-certified instrumental musician and teacher in the field of jazz and popular music for the subject "electric guitar" (that's the official title LOL).

I never wanted to do anything else.

In Germany, becoming a full-time musician is frowned upon. Behind closed doors, the first thought that comes to mind is that sooner or later you'll end up as a taxi driver or something like that.

But two things were crystal clear to me from a relatively early age: I couldn't do anything else but playing guitar. And I didn't want to do anything else but playing guitar.

So the question of finding another job didn't even arise. Ever.

To earn a living, I started teaching at an early age. And since then, I've really enjoyed seeing my students make progress and get better at playing the guitar — at a much faster pace than I did back then. I often think to myself, "I wish I had known all this and been taught it earlier." But what I particularly enjoyed was developing individual concepts, designing practice plans and routines, and continuing to plan — individually for each student.

Today, my teaching activities are divided between face-to-face and online lessons, as I eventually started receiving requests from guitarists abroad who wanted to improve their speed picking. Speedpicking in metal has emerged as my favorite topic in recent years, and it's where I've spent most of my practice time. I feel very honored and privileged that others want to learn from me in this niche topic. By the way, I have also recorded the knowledge I have built up over many years on this topic in my online courses.

As much as I love and enjoy teaching, I wouldn't want to miss being on stage either. Because, in my opinion, music is ultimately there to be played to other people, and nowhere else do I feel such an electrifying sense of togetherness as when I'm on stage interacting with the audience together with my band.