A Grantham guitar instructor thinks online lessons could be permanent part of his teaching.

Joe Atkinson has started offering lessons using Skype following the lockdown, saying they have been "working fantastically."

Joe has lived in Grantham since he was nine and attended National School and King's School, Grantham, before a music career that saw him perform with top stars including One Direction, McFly and Peter Andre.

The 26-year-old told Nub News: "I started playing guitar when I was eight. I did the whole band route and played at a lot of Grantham venues."

Joe then spent five years touring in the music industry, playing in his own band and sessioning on the first One Direction tour. This saw him play at the Manchester MEN Arena before 14,000 people. In 2011, the McFly tour also saw Joe perform before 12,000 at the Wembley Arena.

For the past few years, Joe's company JA Music has operated from the premises of Melody Music in Westgate.

Peter Coppin and David Stephens have run the music school and recording studio since the site also contained Simmons Music. Joe also did home visits until the lockdown.

Then, because of social-distancing measures, two weeks ago Joe started offering his tuition online, and all his clients moved over to the new system.

Joe continued: "It has benefits as you can hear the instruments more clearly. I feel the lessons are more intense because there is no setting up time. Everybody is good to go. You get more focus. It's being really good."

He added: "But this has given me the opportunity to branch out and do online lessons, especially for those further afield. I think it will give people the option, especially for those who are busy. It only takes a second to jump on a computer."

Joe can be found on Facebook at 'Joe Atkinson Guitar Tuition'.