A classically-trained musician has plugged into a new skill.

Twenty-year-old Ben Lee, from Eastbourne, has played the violin since he was five, when he was given a guitar but handed it back insisting he wanted a violin.

His instincts proved right as Ben now studies at the Royal College of Music in London where he is specialising in classical violin, having beat off 200 applicants for the coveted place.

For more than four years, Ben has also been developing off-syllabus music skills using an electric violin.

He said: "The head of music at Ratton School in Eastbourne, Mr Cane-Hardy, encouraged us to try new ways of playing music.

"The school bought me my first electric pick-up which was added to my standard violin to make it sound like an electric instrument.

"I was hooked. Very few musicians play electric violin. It is not like moving to an electric guitar after learning on a classical one. People were telling me I could play well and this offered the edge I was looking for."

Pupils at the school formed a music group which Ben led on his adapted violin. The group recorded two albums under the name of the Ratton World Music Group and Ben produced the second release.

In summer holidays of 1997, he worked in a fast- food restaurant to save enough money to buy a fully-electric violin.

He said: "It was a horrid job but it was worth it when I had raised the £800 I needed.

"The feel of the electric violin is exactly the same as a classical one, so I was able to learn all its quirks myself by practising. It gives amazing sound, a lot more thin, clean and metallic.

"I bought a guitar effects box to use with the violin. I had to tweak the settings until it was compatible. There was no way to do this other than by ear because it was not what the box was designed for.

"Once I had it right, I was able to start using all sorts of effects, such as distortion, wah wah, chorus and reverb to improve the music."

After college, Ben practises for about four hours a day.

He has been writing music since he was ten and tasted success in national youth song-

writing competitions, including the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.

Now he uses his writing talents to contribute original material to his band, All Jigged Out, and showcase the electric instrument he fronts the group with.

He said: "We play a Celtic funk-jazz style with a rock influence. It is mostly upbeat tracks and the kind of thing people want to get up and dance to.

"We have performed all over the North and are regulars at the Komedia in Brighton. On New Year's Eve, we did a set in the open air near Brighton Pavilion for an audience of a couple of thousand revellers.

"It was great. The next step is to put an album together."