From In-Person Lessons to a Thriving Online Platform

Just Rijna, the creator of StringKick, started as an in-person guitar teacher before transitioning to online courses. He wanted to teach musicians how to train their ears, recognize chords, and develop musical intuition—not just follow sheet music. But finding the right platform to bring his vision to life was a challenge.

Choosing LearnDash Over SaaS Platforms

Before settling on LearnDash, Just explored platforms like Udemy and Teachable. However, these SaaS solutions came with limitations that didn’t align with his long-term vision.

“If I build on SaaS, I’m building on borrowed land.”

Not owning his customer list and not having control over his content was a dealbreaker. He needed a flexible, customizable platform that integrates seamlessly with his website. WordPress was the obvious choice for him, and LearnDash was one of the first plugins he picked—one that has powered his courses for the last nine years.

Turning an Experiment into a Full-Time Business

What started as a small project has grown into a full-time career. StringKick now attracts tens of thousands of monthly visitors, and students have completed over 100,000 LearnDash lessons.

Just built a custom ear-training module within LearnDash that allows students to listen to a song, chord, or riff and interactively identify what they hear. This unique approach helps musicians internalize music in the same way they would learn a language.

A Streamlined Learning Experience with Gamification & Automation

To keep students engaged, StringKick uses GamiPress to track progress and achievements. Students earn experience points for each lesson completed, and key milestones trigger pop-up achievements—small but effective reminders of their progress.

Additionally, Just leverages WP Fusion to manage course access based on membership levels. Initially, he sold courses individually, but later transitioned to an All Access membership model with monthly and annual plans.

“With enough persistence and grit, you can make anything happen.”

Just’s latest development is StringKick Games: a Duolingo-like set of interactive, gamified exercises that help guitarists with fretboard fluency, ear training and music theory. It features a custom “learning path” interface that visualises progress through levels and sections, showing how flexible LearnDash can be with a bit of creativity.

A Lean & Reliable System

Just values reliability above all. He runs a lean and clean system, only keeping plugins that work seamlessly together.

“When plugins break things, I stop using them. When I click the update button, I trust it won’t break things.”

LearnDash has consistently met his needs, working reliably without requiring constant attention. His favorite part of running StringKick? Hearing from students who say his courses have completely changed how they experience music.

Advice for Those Considering LearnDash

For anyone on the fence about LearnDash, Just’s advice is simple:

“It’s the go-to solution for a WordPress LMS. It’s been reliable for me for nine years, and it integrates easily with other key plugins like WooCommerce, WP Fusion, and GamiPress.”

Explore StringKick

Just’s courses are designed for a wide range of musicians, from beginners to professionals looking to sharpen their ear training. If you’re curious, check out his in-depth guide on guitar music theory or explore the All Access membership.