[This post was reblogged from the original by Brenna Ehrlich on May 10 2011]

Guitar TV, created by Grammy Award-winning music artist Steve Vai and musician/and tech guy Andy Alt, was designed to inspire and educate everyone who has ever wielded or wanted to wield an ax.

“When I was a kid, the first time I saw a guitar it held this great mystique,” says Vai. “I was instantly attracted to it. I loved watching people play it.”

For years, Vai dreamed of creating a TV channel entirely devoted to the guitar, but seeing as how that would be a costly endeavor, the idea was tabled until he met Alt, who, in the past, had worked for Sun Microsystems, Paypal, Intel and Belkin (in addition to playing in bands).

Alt shared Vai’s dream of creating a station devoted to guitar players, to inspire musicians — “To move from the bedroom as a guitar player to a stage takes a lot,” he says. “I think there are a lot of amazing talents yet to be seen and I want to be a part of it as a big movement.”

Alt and Vai plan to have no shortage of content curated for aspiring musicians on the site; it will feature both on-demand videos (show footage, lessons, etc) ad well as live video events (via a partnership with Livestream).

While the content promises to be interesting enough, the format of the site is pretty slick. Designed to look like a guitar, you can click on any of the six strings next to the video to bring up even more content: 1). Artist info (via Wikipedia), 2). Links to buy tracks Amazon and iTunes, 2). The tablature of whatever song is playing (via Songster.com), 3). A link to buy concert tickets (via Ticketmaster), 4). Info about what guitar and amp s/he is playing, and a link to buy them (via MusiciansFriend.com). All of these features are made possible using an advertising platform called InEVO, and Guitar TV will take a cut of all sales executed through the site.

In addition, the site is also integrated with Facebook and Twitter, allowing users to chat about the videos and share them via social networks. Livestreams will feature that platform’s chat module as well. Users can’t comment on videos yet, but Vai and Alt plan to add these features. Bands can also submit their own videos for possible inclusion in the programming.

The site just launched, so there’s not a lot of content to play around with as of yet. Still, Steve Vai recently set the Guinness World Record for most massive online guitar lesson, so we already know he has pull in the online music realm. We’re interested to see how the site grows and changes as more videos are added.

“It fulfills that original dream that I had to watch one amazing guitar performance after another,” says Vai. “For a guitar player, that’s a really exciting thing.”

[This post was originally part of a series called Spark of Genius.]

[from the original on Mashable by Brenna Ehrlich on March 24]

At the beginning of March, Berkleemusic — the online division of the Berklee College of Music — and Grammy-winning guitar player Steve Vai set out to reach the Guinness World Record for most massive online guitar lesson. The whole deal went down at Livestream Studios in New York City and was streamed using that service.

Well, the numbers are in: With 4,455 students tuning in during the first 15 minutes, and 7,000 students in all, Berkleemusic and Vai are now honored in the same sphere as Charlie Sheen and his illustrious Twitter account.

But, seriously, this undertaking was rather impressive — Berkleemusic also donated $7,000 (a dollar for every attendee) to the Steve Vai Online Scholarship Fund at Berkleemusic. Check out the video above in case you missed the lesson.

BOSTON, March 24, 2011 /PRNewswire/ – Berkleemusic, the online continuing education division of Boston’s renowned Berklee College of Music, and Grammy®-award winning guitar virtuoso Steve Vai, have set the Guinness® World Record for the world’s largest online guitar lesson. Held at leading streaming media platform Livestream Studios in New York City on March 3rd, Vai brought together nearly 7,000 members of the international guitar community in a celebration of online music education.  Guinness certified the record based on Berklee having recruited 4,455 students over the first 15 minutes to the lesson. Berkleemusic also announced a donation of $7,000—one dollar for each student certified as taking part in the lesson—to the Steve Vai Online Scholarship Fund at Berkleemusic, which rewards and assists outstanding students.

“I’m very happy and proud to announce that Berklee College of Music was officially awarded the Guinness World Record for the world’s largest online guitar lesson,” said Berkleemusic Chief Marketing Officer Stefanie Henning.  ”This was an amazing collaboration of all the teams here at Berkleemusic with tremendous support from Berklee College of Music President Roger Brown, the College faculty and students, and the day’s guest of honor, Steve Vai.”

Berkleemusic and Steve Vai have also co-authored a new twelve-week online course: Steve Vai Guitar Techniques. The course helps students gain a deep understanding of Vai’s playing styles, repertoire, techniques, and musical concepts from anywhere in the world, and to incorporate their learnings into their own playing. The next course begins on April 4th, 2011. For more information regarding enrollment information, and sample instructions, visit Berkleemusic.com.

Vai, a Berklee alumnus and passionate advocate for music education and exploration, is finishing a new solo album and preparing for a world tour to coincide with its fall release.

“I hope this record encourages players to continue to cultivate their own unique style and spirit on the guitar,” Vai says. “I think this record really showcases the interest that exists in guitar education worldwide. It was a true pleasure working with an institution like Berkleemusic, who shares my interest in helping to bring more skilled musicians into the world.”

Watch the Steve Vai guitar lesson below:

For event owners looking to create a maximum production value broadcast, check this out the video below. Livestream produced and distributed a seven-camera HD show for Paramount Pictures’ purple carpet premiere event for the movie “Justin Bieber: Never Say Never.”  The team from Livestream handled every element of the production including the creative rundown for the show, the casting, the equipment, the camera work, the direction, the graphics, and the encoding. The stream was watched by millions of fans online on Livestream.com, watched on Justin’s Facebook page, streamed live from an embedded feed on Twitter and on Paramount’s official movie sites worldwide. On-site production took place in the Livestream truck which includes both a production control room and client lounge.

Have you got an event you need produced? Send your inquiry to services@livestream.com now.  Production packages can be custom built depending on the level of complexity and the available budget.  Prices range from $5K-$200K.

Many thanks go to Paramount Pictures for partnering with us on this event. Livestream is looking forward to producing many more full-production live shows in the future.