John Reid Instructor of Music

My name is John Reid. In addition to my duties here at South Plains College, I am also a professional musician. I have been active in the local Lubbock, TX. music scene since 1988. I have played all kinds of gigs with most of the prominent local bands and musicians.

I have taught bass guitar for the National Guitar Workshop in the summers at various locations throughout the country. I am the former editor for Mel Bay Publishing’s bass webzine, “Bass Sessions”, and the author of an electric bass instructional book published by Mel Bay called “Mel Bay’s Modern Electric Bass Method, Grade 1”.  I also play bass for several churches in the area.

I studied Sound Technology at SPC before becoming a full-time instructor here. I have an Associates of Arts and Sciences from Illinois Central College where I studied music. I have a Bachelor or Arts degree from Western Illinois University in liberal arts. I earned a master’s in music education in 2013 from Texas Tech University.

In addition to these, I attended Jeff Berlin’s Player’s School of Music in 1999. I also attended Gerald Veasley’s Bass Bootcamp in 2005. I have attended many additional bass clinics, seminars, and private lessons with several internationally known bassists. I studied upright bass with Dr. Mark Morton and Dwight Shambley at Texas Tech and I studied upright with David Murray for several years when he was at West Texas A&M.

I’ve been a member of the Alma Quartet in Lubbock since 2003, playing jazz, Brazilian, and ballads at countless venues and events throughout the area. We released our self-produced CD, “Solitude” in 2015, recorded at Texas Tech.

During my years here in the Lubbock area I have played bass for countless musicals at SPC, Texas Tech, Wayland Baptist, (Lubbock) Moonlight Musicals, The Cactus Theater, Lubbock Christian University, and Lubbock Community Theater.

At South Plains College, I’m a Professor in Commercial Music. I teach bass guitar, upright bass and a music business class called Survey of Music Business. I previously also taught popular music history, guitar, and music ensembles. During my 36 years here, I have also served the department as Commercial Music Program Coordinator and Departmental Coordinator under former Chairman, John Hartin.