| Matthew Grasso Matthew Grasso, guitarist/composer/arranger/musical instrument innovator and improviser, performs on an extended 7-string guitar built by Gregory Byers and a 25-stringed guitar built by Scott Richter. The 7-string guitar has a lower seventh-string and 22 frets. Matthew began playing guitar at the age of twelve and later attended the San Francisco Conservatory of Music where he studied with Scott Tennant and Lawrence Ferrara. Matthew participated in master classes held by Eliot Fisk, David Russell, and the L.A. Guitar Quartet. He also studied the classical music of North India at the Ali Akbar College of Music with Ali Akbar Khan. Mr. Grasso’s recordings include original compositions, Intimate Settings (1995) and Echoes of a Lake (1999), and Moussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition (2001), and Music for the Extended 7-String Guitar (2006). He has published his own compositions and transcriptions, and the article, “Playing the Extended 7-String Guitar” in Mel Bay’s Guitar Sessions. Matthew is on the faculty at Sacramento City College, U.C. Davis, and also teaches privately. His website is: cambium.com/matthewgrasso O1C Performances: The San Francisco Holiday Guitar Ensemble |
