John Petrucci

Born John Peter Petrucci on July 12, 1967, he grew up in Kings Park, New York, a small suburban town on Long Island where he began playing guitar at age 12. His early influences included Steve Morse, Al Di Meola, Steve Howe, Allan Holdsworth, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Randy

Rhoads, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Alex Lifeson, Yngwie Malmsteen, Rush, Yes, Iron Maiden, The Dregs and Metallica. At age 18 after graduating from high school, he attended the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston along with schoolmate/bassist John Myung where they fatefully met drummer Mike Portnoy and quickly formed the nucleus of what was to become Dream Theater.

Dream Theater

For the last 30+ years John has taken his Grammy Award Winning band on an extremely successful and rewarding musical journey. With upwards of 15 million in gold and platinum CD and DVD sales including the 1992 RIAA certified Gold release Images And Words, Dream Theater continue to be the premier leaders in progressive metal music on an acclaimed, international level. Throughout their career, the band has garnered multiple Billboard 200 Top 10 chart debuts, received 3 Grammy nominations and a Grammy Award for Best Metal

Performance and have earned numerous accolades including their 1999 concept album Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory landing the #1 position in RollingStone.com’s reader’s poll for Your Favorite Prog Rock Albums Of All Time and winning Band Of The Year in the 2014 Progressive Music Awards. Their ambitious 2016 double CD rock opera The Astonishing debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top Rock Albums chart. The band’s 2019 release Distance Over

Time landed at #5 on the Top Current Albums chart and #24 on the

Billboard 200 chart amid worldwide critical acclaim. Distance Over

Time was voted Album Of The Year and Album Cover Of the Year in Japan’s BURRN! magazine 2019 reader’s poll and garnered multiple top 10 positions in Guitar World’s 2019 reader’s polls including #1 Album Of The Decade, #2 Best Riff Of The Decade for Paralyzed and #5 Best Guitar Solo Of The Decade for S2N. In 2019 Dream Theater received the International Band Of The Year award at the

2019 Progressive Music Awards in London. The band’s Fall 2020 live release, Distant Memories, chronicling their Distance Over Time Tour: Celebrating 20 Years Of Scenes From A Memory, was named Live Album Of The Year by The Prog Report.

Since 1992, Dream Theater has performed in front of millions of devoted fans throughout a multitude of expansive world tours in support of the band’s 15 studio albums to date.

Dream Theater’s 15th studio album A View From The Top Of The

World was released in October 2021. In 2022 the album’s lead single,

The Alien took home a Grammy for Best Metal Performance at the 64th annual Grammy Awards in Las Vegas. Dream Theater were awarded Artist of the Year, Album Production of the Year and Song of the Year (for Sleeping Giant) at the 2021 Prog Report Awards.

Awards & Recognition

As a guitar player, John has been featured on the cover of numerous guitar publications throughout the world including the March 2019 and December 2021 issues of Guitar World and the January 2020 issue of

Guitar Player. He’s received many notable awards including the 2007 Guitarist of the Year as named by the readers of Total Guitar magazine and Best Metal Guitarist in the 2010 Reader’s Choice Awards poll in Guitar Player magazine. John was named Best Metal Guitarist again in the 2011 Guitar Player’s Reader’s Choice Awards poll and one of the 20 Greatest Metal Guitarists Ever in a 2011 poll for Total Guitar as well as being voted Best Guitarist in Classic Rock

Presents Prog Magazine’s 2011 readers poll. In 2013 John was voted Best Shredder in Guitar World’s Reader’s Poll and in 2014 John secured his place in the magazine’s Hall Of Fame. In 2019 John was included in Guitar World’s 20 Best Guitarists Of The Decade issue and was voted #1 guitarist in the UK’s Prog magazine reader’s poll. He was also named Guitarist Of The Year in Spain’s Mariskal Rock magazine and voted #1 Prog Guitarist In The World Today by MusicRadar. In 2020 and in 2021, John was voted the #1 Guitarist in Japan’s BURRN! magazine reader’s poll. In 2021 he was named Guitarist Of The Year by the readers of Prog Magazine.

John has been awarded Best Prog Guitarist by MusicRadar for 2 years in a row, first in 2020 and then in 2021.

In 2019 John was proud and honored to be named the recipient of the SENA Performer’s European Guitar Award and was presented the award at the prestigious annual event held in Bergen Op Zoom in The Netherlands. Past year’s recipients have been Brian May, Joe

Bonamassa, Steve Vai, Slash, Steve Lukather and Joe Satriani. On September 12, 2019, John received the Chris Squire Virtuoso Award at the 2019 Progressive Music Awards held at the famous Underglobe in London.

Solo career

In 1995 John released his first instructional video called Rock Discipline and was also a contributing columnist in Guitar World magazine’s Wild Stringdom monthly lesson series. A book by the same name would later be released as a collection of the lessons featured in the magazine.

In 2005 John released his first and much anticipated solo album titled, Suspended Animation on his Sound Mind Music label. The selfproduced album of all instrumental guitar music featured Dave LaRue on bass and Dave DiCenso on drums. Drummer and re-mixer Tony Verderosa also contributed to the CD and can be heard on the song Tunnel Vision. The album was mixed by friend and long time DT producer/mix engineer Kevin Shirley. Many of the songs John originally debuted live while on tour with G3 would later make up the bulk of the CD.

In August 2020, 15 years since his debut solo album Suspended Animation, John released Terminal Velocity, his greatly anticipated second solo effort featuring Mike Portnoy on drums and Dave LaRue on bass. The album was released on John’s Sound Mind Music record label through The Orchard Music distribution and received glowing reviews from both fans and critics alike. The video for its title track surpassed 2.4 million views on

YouTube and the album won Album Production Of The Year in the 2020 Prog Report Awards.

In Fall of 2022 John embarked on his first-ever headlining solo tour across N. America in support of both Suspended Animation and Terminal Velocity. His trio featuring Mike Portnoy on drums and Dave LaRue on bass performed in 36 cities from October 5th to November 20th with his wife Rena’s band, Meanstreak as support. The tour won Event /Tour Of The Year in the 2022 Prog Report Awards.

Liquid Tension Experiment

In 1998 and 1999 John released Liquid Tension Experiment and Liquid Tension Experiment 2 respectively, along with Jordan Rudess on keyboards, Mike Portnoy on drums and the inimitable Tony Levin on bass. Both albums would not only prove to be worthy and enjoyable side projects, but also favorites among fans worldwide.

In December 2020, John, alongside Tony Levin, Mike Portnoy and

Jordan Rudess, announced the return of Liquid Tension Experiment. Their third studio album entitled LTE3 was released via InsideOut Music on April 16, 2021.

G3

In 2001 John joined the North American run of the popular G3 tour with Joe Satriani and Steve Vai. He performed as a trio with ex-DT band mate Mike Portnoy on drums and bassist Dave LaRue of Dregs/Steve Morse Band fame. John would subsequently continue on with legs in Mexico and Japan with Joe and Steve (G3 Live in Tokyo was released in 2005) South America with Joe and Eric Johnson, Australia with Joe and Steve, in North America in 2007 with Joe and Paul Gilbert and in South America in 2012 (DT bandmate Mike Mangini on drums) with Joe, Steve Morse and Steve Lukather.

From January to May of 2018 John once again joined the G3 tour playing just shy of 80 shows together with Joe Satriani and Phil Collen in N. America and with Joe and Uli Jon Roth in Europe.

Endorsements & Gear Collaborations

Throughout his career, John has spearheaded the research and development of numerous signature guitars and guitar related gear with some of the most successful and respected musical instrument manufacturers in the world. Among those include a complete line of signature Ernie Ball Music Man 6-string, 7-string and baritone guitars featuring the critically acclaimed JP Majesty and JP BFR. In a 2015 forbes.com interview, EBMM CEO Brian Ball called John’s signature guitar “the number two selling signature guitar on the planet – and that’s only behind Les Paul, which is still considered a signature guitar.” John is proud to bear his name on the first ever continuous production signature Mesa Boogie JP-2C guitar amplifier as well as the TC Electronic signature JP Dreamscape chorus/flanger pedal. He’s released several signature DiMarzio 6 and 7 string pickups including the Crunch Lab, Liquifire, Illuminator, Sonic Ecstasy, Dreamcatcher and Rainmaker as well as signature DiMarzio JP guitar straps. John’s signature can also be found on his Dunlop JP95 wah pedal and has designed several signature Dunlop JP Jazz III picks including his latest Trinity pick.

In December 2021, John collaborated with highly regarded music software company NeuralDSP on Archetype: Petrucci, a comprehensive guitar plugin and software suite that offers players exacting digital versions of John’s guitar amps, effects, speaker cabinets and host of other tone-shaping features.

John Petrucci’s Guitar Universe

In August of 2017, John hosted his first ever guitar camp at the Glen

Cove Mansion on Long Island, NY called John Petrucci’s Guitar

Universe. Guest teachers included Tony MacAlpine, Rusty Cooley, Andy James, Tosin Abasi, Andy McKee, Jason Richardson and Devin Townsend and it was a tremendous success.

In August of 2018 John hosted JPGU 2.0 at the Glen Cove Mansion on

Long Island, NY. Guest instructors included Al Di Meola, Tony

MacAlpine, Guthrie Govan, Rusty Cooley, Andy James, Tosin Abasi, Jason Richardson and Jon Finn along with Mike Mangini and Dave LaRue.

John’s JPGU 3.0 was held in July of 2021 in Anaheim, California and featured an incredible assemblage of guest instructors including Tosin Abasi, Mateus Asato, Kiko Loureiro, Jason Richardson, Andy Wood, and Rena Petrucci.

Sound Mind Music & ToneMission

The year 2000 brought with it the unveiling of John’s record label, Sound Mind Music. Created and run by his wife Rena, its first release was An Evening With John Petrucci and Jordan Rudess, an acoustic-instrumental live concert of Latin/jazz improvised music for guitar and piano. The concert was recorded in June of that year at the Helen Hayes Performing Arts Center in Nyack, NY. The album was re-released in 2004 on Steve Vai’s Favored Nations record label and featured two additional tracks: The Rena Song and The Bite Of The Mosquito.

In 2015 John started ToneMission, a global initiative dedicated to toneseekers around the world whose goal is to foster greater communication and sharing amongst players and is committed to furthering the reach, development and proliferation of the art of the instrument throughout the worldwide guitar community.

Non-Musical Collaborations

In October of 2020 John launched his very own men’s beard grooming product line, in collaboration with Captain Fawcett, called Nebula. The line includes a beard oil, beard balm and mustache wax and features top notes of exhilarating bergamot & aromatic myrtle riff with a bittersweet tang of grapefruit, rising to an intense heart of earthy, violet orris, dark coffee & tenacious woody cedar.

On May 3rd, 2021, John released Rock The Barrel, a signature smallbatch craft bourbon whiskey, in collaboration with Iron Smoke Distillery. The 120 proof bourbon was hand-picked by John from the thousands of barrels aging at their award winning distillery in Fairport, NY. 2022 Brough the release of Rock The Barrel 2, a 93 proof iteration of the award winning distillery’s signature bourbon in partnership with John. RTB2 garnered a cover story with John in Whiskey Network magazine.

Personal Life

John met his wife Rena Sands in 1989 and the two would later marry in September 1993.

Rena is the guitarist and founding member of the all-female metal band Meanstreak.

Outside of music, John’s passions include bodybuilding, bearding, bbq, and all things Disney. He currently resides on Long Island, New York with his family.

Zakk Wylde

As frontman for Black Label Society, the New Jersey born West Coast transplant has led the band across nine studio albums, two live records, an EP, and countless international tours. Black Label Society songs like Stillborn, My Dying Time, Bleed for Me, and In This River(his tribute to his fallen friend, the late Dimebag Darrell of Pantera) are all certifiable hard rock anthems, in exorably linked to Wylde’s larger-than-life persona. He’s the ultimate embodiment of rowdy rock n’ roll warrior. He’s also father to four children, fiercely devoted to his wife, Barbaranne, and a deeply trusted loyal brother in the heavy metal community.
Zakk Wylde has been immortalized by the Hollywood Rock Walk of Fame, countless rock music publications, and Guitar World’s 2012 Rock N’ Roll Roast, where William Shatner, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Slipknot’s Corey Taylor, Scott Ian from Anthrax, and Guns N’ Roses legend Duff McKagan were among the friends and peers who assembled to good naturedly mock Father Zakk’s beard, muscles, and rowdy demeanor. Sharon Osbourne served as roast master, which made perfect sense–after all, it was her husband who plucked Wylde from obscurity on the strength of a demo tape, helping ensure the
bullseyeguitar design would reach iconic status. One of the modern generation’s few true guitar giants, Wylde served as spiritual successor to the late Randy Rhoads as axeman for Ozzy Osbourne, collaborating and co-writing on Ozzy classics like Mama I’m Coming Home and No More Tears.
His tenure with The Ozzman includes co-writing and recording several studio albums, three live albums, a Grammy for I Don’t Want to Change the World and countless world tours and television appearances. Wylde co-wrote Ozzy’s biggest selling album, No More Tears, as well as the bulk of the double platinum Ozzmosis.
Zakk Wylde’s powerful pipes, mayhem-inducing charisma, mischievous humor, and instantly recognizable pinch-harmonic driven blues based histrionic guitar shredding have made him the world’s most beloved American Guitar Hero.

Tosin Abasi

The Nigerian-American guitarist is the founder of the prog-metal instrumental group Animals as Leaders. Abasi’s use of 7, 8 and 9 string guitars has enabled him to create a unique sound. Guitar World recently named Abasi as one of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of all time.

Fredrik Akesson

Swedish guitarist Fredrik Åkesson first picked up the guitar at the age of 9 after playing the violin for a few years. He started practicing the instrument seriously at the age of 14 after seeing Michael Schenker playing on TV. He grew up listening to hard rock and metal and became inspired by guitar legends such as Ritchie Blackmore, Uli Roth, Gary Moore, Frank Marino, Yngwie Malmsteen, and Eddie Van Halen. As a budding guitarist, he was inspired by everything from Django Reinhardt to extreme metal.

At the age of 19, he got his first gig with Talisman, with members Marcel Jacob and Jeff Scott Soto from Rising Force. It was a great learning experience for Åkesson, touring around Japan and Europe with the band. He was seeking a heavier sound, however, and this led to him forming his solo project Southpaw with whom he released a self-titled album and opened for Dio during several shows in Sweden. After this, he joined doom metal band Krux with members from Candlemass and Entombed.

He then went on to play in Tiamat for a while before being offered a position with Arch Enemy. He was with Arch Enemy only for a year and a half, however, in that time he had his fair share of extensive touring around the world, doing 150 shows. Whilst touring in Megadeth’s Gigantour in 2006, he met the guys in Opeth through frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt and joined them the next year, replacing former guitarist Peter Lindgren. As Åkerfeldt put it, Åkesson was “the only name that popped up thinking about a replacement,” calling him “one of top three guitar players out of Sweden.”

The rest is history. With Opeth, Fredrik has released 5 studio albums and 2 live albums and DVDs. He has since surpassed his record of most shows in a year and a half, playing to fans all over the world with the band since 2007. His reputation in Swedish metal music means that his collaborative vita does not stop there; he has also worked with Biff Byford of Saxon on his 2019 album School of Hard Knocks as co-writer and lead guitarist. Not forgetting furthermore his contribution to Ghost’s critically-acclaimed record Impera, which won them their first American Music Award for Favorite Rock Album 2022. His main dedication is and remains with Opeth.

Lari Basilio

Lari Basilio is a world-renowned guitar player and one of the most exciting names in the instrumental music.

She was born into a musical household in São Paulo, Brazil.

At the age of 4 she started studying organ and later, at the age of 8 her father taught her first chords on an acoustic guitar. That’s when she fell in love with the guitar.

In 2011, Lari started working on her instrumental five-song Extended Play (EP), named, simply, Lari Basilio, which features Felipe Andreoli, bass player of Angra. The EP was produced by five-time Latin Grammy winner Lampadinha.

Her second original work, the CD and DVD “The Sound of My Room”, was released in August 2015 and it was premiered at the iconic brazilian movie theather Cine Belas Artes in São Paulo. “The idea of taking instrumental guitar music to a movie theater proved (to be) a creative initiative (equal to) the compositions of Lari Basilio,” said Guitar Player Brazil magazine in its October , 2015 issue. The 10-song package includes a mini-documentary and behind-the-scenes footage on the DVD.

Lari won the instrumental category of the Samsung E-Festival in 2014 and performed for a crowd of 15,000 alongside Keb’ Mo’ and Quinn Sullivan at the Samsung Best of Blues Festival in Brazil.

She was also invited by Joe Satriani to be part of the G4 Experience 2019.

Always pursuing her own music, Lari released her third original work, “Far More” album, recorded at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles with an all-star band: Vinnie Colaiuta (drums) Nathan East (bass) and Greg Phillinganes (keys/piano). Also bringing two very special guests: Joe Satriani (on the track Glimpse of Light ) and Siedah Garrett (on the track Man in The Mirror, for which Lari created a new arrangement ).

In January 2021 Lari Basilio released, in partnership with Ibanez Guitars, her f irst signature guitar, the Ibanez LB1, which is already one of Ibanez’s best-selling signature models alongside Steve Vai and Joe Satriani ‘s. The guitar also features the Lari Basilio signature pickups developed in partnership with Seymour Duncan.

Lari Basilio’s most recent album ” Your Love” was released on August 5th, 2022 and debuted at high posit ions on iTunes Rock Charts around the world. The album features once again Vinnie Colaiuta (drums), and also the bass players Leland Sklar and Sean Hurley, and Ester Na (keys and piano), recorded at United Recording Studios in Los Angeles.

Doug Doppler

Doug Doppler is a San Francisco Bay Area based guitar player. Doug is currently in production on two six-song EPs, one instrumental and one vocal, the latter featuring American Idol winner Caleb Johnson.

In his teens he studied with Joe Satriani, who later asked Doug to take over his teaching duties when life on the road called. Thanks to an invitation from Satch, Doug is also a staff instructor for Dreamcatcher Events at Satriani’s G4 Experience, as well as guitar camps for Steve Vai, John Petrucci, and Paul Gilbert.

Doppler’s career includes a disc on Steve Vai’s Favored Nations label, for which he toured the U.S. opening for Michael Schenker, and Europe opening for Gilby Clarke. He was also one of the session player on the famed Guitar Hero video game franchise, and has over 1,000,000 YouTube plays as a gear demonstrator for brands including Audio-Technica, Brainworx, Ernie Ball Music Man, Gretsch, Ibanez Line 6, Orange Amps, Roswell Pro Audio, Tech 21, and Universal Audio.

Doug is endorsed by Gibson, DiMarzio, Floyd Rose, Orange Amplification, and Jim Dunlop.

Ola Englund

Guthrie Govan

Guthrie Govan (born December 27, 1971) is an English guitarist and guitar teacher, known for his work with the bands The Aristocrats, Asia, GPS, The Young Punx and The Fellowship, as well as his solo project Erotic Cakes. More recently, he has collaborated with Steven Wilson and Hans Zimmer. He is a noted guitar teacher, working with the UK magazine Guitar Techniques, Guildford’s Academy of Contemporary Music, Lick Library, and formerly the Brighton Institute of Modern Music. He is the 1993 winner of Guitarist magazine’s “Guitarist of the Year” competition.

Tim Henson

Dave LaRue

Dave LaRue is best known as the bass player with the virtuoso pop group, Flying Colors, long-time member of the Steve Morse Band and Dixie Dregs, as well as also recording and touring extensively with Dream Theater guitarist, John Petrucci. LaRue’s technical prowess is admired among other jazz-fusionists, but his unique talent is the projection of his virtuosity with remarkable soul and feel.

LaRue continues to be the go-to bassist for many of today’s genre-leading guitarists, having worked with Joe Satriani, John Petrucci, Vinnie Moore, The Hellecasters, Pat Travers, Steve Lukather, Mike Stern, Eric Johnson, Andy Timmons, Albert Lee, Paul Gilbert, Tony MacAlpine, Rik Emmett, Ace Frehley, Steve Vai and more.

Education is a big part of Dave’s career, beginning with an instructional column for Bass Player magazine (for whom he also served as a member of the Advisory Board). LaRue also does clinics internationally for Ernie Ball Music Man, and was an adjunct professor at Stetson University in Florida. When not on the road, he teaches privately at Bass Central in Orlando, and does lessons via Skype with students from all over the world.

In 2019, Dave recorded the new Flying Colors studio record, ‘Third Degree’, and the band soon followed up with the release of “Live In London”, in 2020. That same year, LaRue and long-time playing partner Glenn Alexander released LaRue-Alexander (L.A.X.), a unique project that saw the duo recording and performing live with drummer Van Romaine. Recently, Dave also performed on John Petrucci’s eagerly anticipated second solo release, ‘Terminal Velocity’. When not actively touring, Dave is working on his own second solo CD, playing with the Dave LaRue Band, teaching, and doing session work.

Scott LePage

Mike Mangini

Mike Mangini, Dream Theater’s drummer extraordinaire, JPGU veteran, and touring member of John’s Petrucci’s solo band, will once again be appearing at this year’s JPGU 3.0 in Anaheim, CA. Mike’s extensive touring and recording history includes albums and tours with Extreme, Annihiliator, Steve Vai and more. As Steve Vai’s drummer, Mike was also on the very first editions of the G3 tour, from 1996-2000.

Mike’s background and resume as an educator ranges from being a long-time camp instructor and drum clinician, to being a full-time professor at Berklee College of Music from 2000-2010. His career, teaching history, performance history, as well as teaching and band awards can be viewed on www.mikemangini.com. Between Dream Theater and clinic responsibilities, Mike supports his Rhythm Knowledge video courses with online classes from his studio.

Aaron Marshall

Rena Petrucci

Rena Sands Petrucci, the wife of guitar legend John Petrucci, is the guitarist and founding member of the all-female thrash band Meanstreak who recently reunited and supported John on his US solo tour. She is also a past member of Judas Priestess, Sabbath Witch, and Long Island’s Mixxed Company. Rena attended Berklee online and received her Advanced Professional Guitar Certificate. Her influences include Joe Satriani, Stevie Ray Vaughn, David Gilmour, Neal Schon, John Petrucci, and she listens to everything from metal and blues to jazz and classical music.

Plini

PLINI is an independent solo artist from Sydney, Australia. He composes, plays guitar, records, produces and manages his unique brand of instrumental progressive rock all from a home studio.

His critically-acclaimed debut album “HANDMADE CITIES” was voted #5 in Guitar World Magazine’s “20 best guitar albums of the decade,” and described by STEVE VAI as “one of the finest, forward thinking, melodic, rhythmically and harmonically deep, evolution of rock/metal instrumental guitar records I have ever heard.” Routinely mentioned in “best guitarist” lists, PLINI was named #4 in the “Top 10 best prog guitarists in the world today” by Music Radar in early 2020. His latest album “IMPULSE VOICES” was recorded and released in late 2020 during the uncertainty of the pandemic and received a multitude of rave reviews, and has already been streamed millions of times.

Over the last few years, PLINI has toured the world supporting bands like ANIMALS AS LEADERS, PERIPHERY, TESSERACT and INTERVALS, as well as playing festivals and headlining his own tours all over North America, Europe, Australia, Asia and India. In 2018, PLINI was the first instrumental act ever to play the legendary Download Festival in the UK.

Post-pandemic, PLINI sprang back into action, with back-to-back sold out headline tours of Australia, India and Scandinavia, festival appearances in Australia, UK, Germany and Portugal, and performing in some of Australia’s finest theatres supporting NORTHLANE. 2023 will see PLINI and his impeccable live collective embark on their biggest headline tours yet, of Australia, New Zealand, UK, Europe and North America.

PLINI was also a special guest instructor at “Vai Academy” in 2019, alongside STEVE VAI, JOE SATRIANI and DEVIN TOWNSEND, and despite being entirely self-taught, he has been invited to give masterclasses at some of the most prestigious contemporary music colleges in the world, including Berklee College of Music, Musician’s Institute (USA), BIMM (UK), and JMC Academy (Australia).

PLINI has a signature guitar with Strandberg Guitars, signature guitar amp software with Neural DSP, and endorsement deals with Yahama Music, Dunlop, D’Addario and Fractal Audio.

Jason Richardson

Jason Richardson is a young, accomplished shredder, who is a solo artist after making a name for himself in such metal bands as All Shall Perish, Born of Osiris and Chelsea Grin. Richardson has released an initial solo release, “I,’ which debuted at #1 on Billboard new artists/Heat Seekers charts and was #2 on iTunes rock #11 on all of iTunes. Richardson is currently writing the sophomore follow up for his solo material with drummer Luke Holland. He is now a full time member of rock/metal band All That Remains who have a gold single for the song “Two Weeks” and many chart topping radio songs. 2019 marked the release of his 1st signature guitar model with Ernie Ball Musicman as well. Richardson has made his mark as a guitarist, who is an extremely fast and technical player.

Joscho Stephan

Like no other, Joscho Stephan shapes modern gypsy swing with his authentic tone, harmonic refinement, and rhythmic flair, but above all with breathtaking solo technique, Stephan has earned an outstanding reputation in the international guitar scene. He knows like no other how to stand out from the multitude of current gypsy swing adaptations by combining gypsy swing with Latin, classic, and rock in addition to the many interpretations of the well-known classics of the genre. This is where Stephan’s strength as a creative visionary shows and that inspires young and old concert audiences alike. Joscho’s YouTube version of “Hey Joe” has now passed the 3 million mark.
His debut “Swinging Strings” was voted CD of the month by the American specialist magazine “Guitar Player” in 1999. The renowned “Acoustic Guitar Magazine” celebrated Joscho Stephan in 2004 as a guarantor for the future of gypsy jazz guitar. In 2015, he was able to win guitar greats such as Biréli Lagrène, Stochelo Rosenberg, and Tommy Emmanuel as guests for the CD “Guitar Heroes.” A total of 4 of Joscho’s albums were nominated for the German Record Critics’ Award. The production “Paris – Berlin” (2018) was recorded as a direct to disc record production in the Hansa Studios Berlin, where many recordings by David Bowie were made. In 2022 he is a guest on the current CDs by Daniel Hope (America.).
Musicians such as Paquito D’Rivera, James Carter, Charlie Mariano, and Grady Tate were enthusiastic after joint performances. On the Australian continent, Joscho Stephan was on a concert tour with Martin Taylor and Tommy Emmanuel. With his own ensembles, he has played at many important festivals throughout Europe. He was also able to inspire enthusiasm in the USA with concerts in Nashville, Chicago, San Francisco, Detroit, or in the legendary jazz club Birdland and the Lincoln Center in New York.