John P. Martinez Guitarist ExtrordinaireGuitarist from Albuquerque, NM

Music for me is simply a life-long love! My very first gig was when I was 10 years old playing drums in my brothers band jamming out to Ventures and basically surfer music. I started playing guitar when I was 8 years old and eventually moved on from Ventures music to The Beatles, Led Zepplin, CSN, Allman Brothers and then finally to Al Di Meola and Larry Carlton and so many others. I felt compelled to learn more about music and graduated from the University of New Mexico with a Classical Guitar Performance degree in 1986. Classical Guitar music goes back to the 15th & 16th centuries but I really needed to join the 20th century so I moved to Hollywood to attend Musician's Institute and the Guitar Institute of Technology(GIT). I Graduated in 1987. GIT is like a business vocational institute for musicians and it was fantastic. I got to meet and attend performances from many of my guitar idols and in some cases I got to play with them, too. Over the years I have performed at the Tennessee Inaugural Ball in 1998 for Bill Clinton's second inauguation plus TV, radio, studio, night clubs, hotel gigs, private parties, weddings & receptions, arts & crafts fairs, art gallery openings, business functions, etc, etc. My solo guitar and vocal performance includes Contemporary Acoustic Guitar, Core Classical Guitar from Renaissance & Baroque to Spanish Romantic to Contemporary arrangements of Classic Rock tunes( Beatles, Classical Gas, etc.), Jazz & Jazz Fusion plus excellent vocal music including Beatles, Crosby,Stills & Nash, James Taylor to Garth Brookes & Keith Urban plus numerous light romantic tunes, some spanish ballads, some Flamenco Style pieces and some original music. I try very hard to provide a versatile music performance that can be appreciated by most age ranges and musical tastes. From "Bach to Rock" John P Martinez will provide music for all Occasions! GUITAR LESSONS,TOO! Additional Great Reviews, too: Jen Mines's Review Jen Jen Mines , married on 09/22/2018 5.0 View more John was fantastic! John Martinez was the star of our wedding. As recent arrivals to Santa Fe, we decided to opt for a guitarist rather than a dj and it was one of the best decisions we could have made. John played for several hours and a variety of music selections. He also worked closely with us in picking our first dance song. John's experience with playing weddings was obvious after our first meeting and was extremely helpful in helping us in organizing our music selection (a big plus since my wife and I were really unfamiliar with the process). John played at our wedding for several hours and my family/friends were constantly asking how we were able to find such a great guitarist. Hands down, he was a great wedding addition and we were really happy with his performance.