How I Got My Job At Fender Play | Abby Lyons

00:20 - If you don’t know Fender, they’re a really big guitar company and they have a platform called Fender Play where people sign up and they learn how to play guitar and bass and ukulele and I’m one of the ukulele instructors for their platform.

00:35 - So I thought I’d talk a little bit about how I actually got the job ‘cause it’s kind of like an obscure sort of job.

00:41 - I never had in mind that I would like be a ukulele instructor on the internet.

00:46 - [laughs] So, um, yeah here we go! If you’re new here please subscribe also.

00:51 - [laughs] So I went to a school called CalArts and there is somebody at the school on the faculty who sends out job listings to all the students and all the alumni and so one day there was a job listing for an online ukulele instructor for a non-disclosed music company but in the email they said “I guarantee you’ve heard of this company.

01:16 - If you go into a music store you would definitely see this brand in the music store. “ So I was like “hmm that is a very interesting description. ” [laughs] And I was just partly curious what this company even was so that was partly why I wanted to audition for the job.

01:32 - At the same time I was working at a music store and I had just started my youtube channel.

01:38 - I had posted maybe three videos so far and I was like really uncomfortable with being on camera.

01:44 - But because I had posted just a few videos I was starting to feel more comfortable.

01:49 - And also I had actually just started playing ukulele more too so it seemed like a really good fit for me.

01:56 - So I sat on it for a little while. I wasn’t sure if I was going to audition and after about a week I emailed them just to see if the job was still available and they said yes so I decided to actually audition.

02:07 - So the audition was you had to record yourself.

02:11 - teaching and performing this song that I’d never heard of before and the song was Riptide.

02:17 - [laughs] Which is like the pinnacle ukulele song.

02:20 - But I didn’t know the name of it. I looked it up and was like “oh yeah I’ve heard this all over. ” So I learned the song, I learned the lyrics and like the chords, and then i set up my little iphone…

02:32 - or well, it wasn’t even an iphone, like my little phone. It was a Samsung.

02:36 - I spent all day filming it. I recorded it like several times.

02:39 - They said in the email that they wanted someone with like a lot of personality.

02:43 - I took that to mean like um really goofy and like silly.

02:47 - So I sent in something that in retrospect I thought was like pretty funny and if I had known that it was for Fender I definitely would have been like a lot more serious but I didn’t know what it was so I was like ‘whatever!‘ [laughs] If you’re curious to see the video I actually have the full one posted on youtube and I can link it up here.

03:07 - It was the first tutorial I’ve ever done. I remember too that I like skipped a party so that I could edit the video ‘cause I wanted to get it done and like send it in.

03:18 - I sent them a private link by accident so they were like ‘Hey we can’t see it. Can you send it again?” And I was like “oh yeah. ” I didn’t know how to do youtube back then. [laughs] So then I think it was the same day or the next day I got an email from Fender guitars and I was like, ‘oh my goodness!’ And they wanted me to sign an NDA and then I had a phone call with one of the producers and he told me what the job was kind of going to be about.

03:42 - He said that they would have me like come on set and that I would work with a makeup artist, they would have a wardrobe stylist for me, and that the day rate was like really good pay, especially since I was just working at a music store.

03:55 - I wasn’t making much money at the time. So…

03:58 - I really wanted the job. And I just had to go in and audition in person in their studio and then they would try to get that audition tape approved.

04:08 - So they sent me an example script and set up an audition time with me for like a week or two later.

04:14 - So I remembered that, like I said, I was like pretty uncomfortable with being on camera still, especially like talking to the camera because I thought it was a really weird feeling.

04:25 - Um even now I feel a little weird still. [laughs] I also like didn’t want my roommates to overhear me like talking to myself in the room but I remember that I practiced the script every single day I think at least two times, just talking to myself in the mirror over and over again, um because I just really really wanted the job. [laughs] So I also got a new outfit and I remember like it was the day of the audition.

04:51 - I was in my car. I was so nervous and about to drive to the audition and I remember thinking like “I know that I can do this but I would never want to relive this moment. ” [laughs] ‘Cause there was like a lot of pressure, especially I felt like I wasn’t really doing anything in LA that I couldn’t do elsewhere at the time so I was like pretty hard on myself.

05:13 - Like I really wanted to do something in LA that was music related and this was a really good opportunity.

05:20 - So I got to the studio, I waited in the lobby, and then the producer came out and he was actually really good at calming me down ‘cause he told me like “everybody already loved your audition tape, all we need to do is have you do the same thing that you did already, just with our equipment and in our studio. ” So i was like “okay cool, they already like me, that’s great! I can do that!” [laughs] So I went into the studio.

05:46 - If you’ve been on Fender Play you’ve seen like the iconic couch.

05:51 - I’ll put a little picture here of the couch.

05:53 - So it was the whole studio set up. They had like three giant lights.

05:57 - There were like three cameras. I think it was the director and three camera people and the producer and there might have been one other person in the room, so like a small size of the crew.

06:08 - Everyone was super friendly. I remember the director was like “Hi, I’m Janda, it’s like panda but with a J. ” I sat down on the couch, I did the audition.

06:18 - I remember they had like a teleprompter for me but I practiced it so much that I had everything memorized. [laughs] The only snag was like with the playalong.

06:27 - I was supposed to play through the song like a short version of it and I kept like starting and stopping.

06:33 - I thought I was supposed to kind of like teach at the same time and they were like “no no, just like play it through without stopping. ” And I was like “okay cool” like that’s even better.

06:41 - [laughs] Yeah at the end of the audition they were all like “you did a great job,” like “we’ll let you know” and the producer walked me out and he was like “Yeah you did as best as you could.

06:51 - Now we’re gonna send it to the upper executives and who knows what they’ll say.

06:55 - Like hopefully they approve it, you never know, but you can feel like you did a good job. “ So I felt like I did the best that I could and like that’s all that you can do really.

07:06 - And then I think it was like a week or two later they let me know that I got the job and they wanted to schedule more um you know shoots with me then.

07:14 - So it was a really really cool experience and I’ve learned a whole lot from working with them as well.

07:20 - Really it was like that first month we did a whole bunch of shoots and then ever since then it’s been a shoot here and there for the past few years.

07:28 - It’s been a great opportunity. [laughs] If you’re interested in learning ukulele I’ll leave a little link actually down below to Fender Play ‘cause they’re a great platform for learning.

07:38 - And if you’re interested in watching more videos on this channel I have tutorials here as well and covers and original songs.

07:47 - So that is the story. I hope you found it interesting.

07:50 - If you liked this video please give it a like and let me know if you want more vlogs.

07:54 - I would love to do more and hopefully I’ll get better at doing them as I go along. [laughs] So thank you for watching and I’ll see you again really soon for another video.

08:04 - Have a great Wednesday. No. Thursday. Have a great Thursday.

08:09 - Bye! [laughs].