Students at the University of the West of Scotland got a unique opportunity to learn from a rock superstar at a special lecture.

Former Deep Purple keyboard player Jon Lord held a masterclass for music students of the university's commercial music degree course, and a lecture on musicianship at the institution's Paisley campus on Thursday.

Jon Lord played with the band from when they were formed in 1968 until they spit in 75, and when they reformed in 1984 until he retired from the band in 2002.

The band is widely thought of as one of the greatest rock bands of the 1970s, and enjoyed huge international success. Their albums In Rock, Machine Head and Made in Japan are amongst the biggest-selling rock albums ever, and remain a considerable influence on the genre.

Between periods with Deep Purple Jon Lord was a member of Whitesnake, another seminal rock band that continues to enjoy international success.

Speaking to STV news, Jon Lord said: "I was asked a couple of months back if I would come up to UWS and - i think the word they used was 'lecture' - but basically what this is is a chat with knobs on, I don't do lectures, but what I'm basically going to talk about - if I can put more than three or four words together - is a bit about improvisation and the role it plays in my music and its role in rock music and just really if I can enlighten anyone through questions and answers over what it means to be a travelling performing musician in this day and age."

Asked for a particular piece of advice for aspiring musicians, he said: "The best piece of advice I can give anyone is to practice until you're good enough, and then practice some more."

Although retired from Deep Purple, Jon Lord continues to be active as a musician, and works with orchestras performing his Concerto for Rock Group and Orchestra, a piece he originally created for Deep Purple in 1969. The work was recently performed by students from Stevenson College in Edinburgh and musicians from the RSAMD.

Jon Lord spoke about this experience saying: "I went up over a period of 18 months to two years and did some workshops. We had a group of young rock musicians at the college...and then put them together with the orchestra from the RSAMD and payed the Concerto for Rock group and Orchestra in Edinburgh at the Usher Hall.

"What the idea of the experience was to give the classical musicians from the orchestra their first bite at a major concert and what it's like to work with rock musicians, and what give and take has to take place in that process, likewise with the rock musicians what give and take has to take place working with musicians of an orchestra.

"It was a learning experience and hopefully a fun experience and we got five star reviews, so we must have done something right!"