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Artist
Matthew Grasso
8+ albums
about
Matthew Grasso, classical guitarist, composer, arranger, musical instrument innovator and improviser, performs on an extended 7-string guitar built by luthier Gregory Byers and a 25-stringed guitar built by Scott Richter. The extended 7-string guitar has an additional bass string and 22 frets on the first-string. This instrument has one octave more melodic range and greater harmonic/contrapuntal possibilities than the traditional 6-string guitar. The 25-stringed guitar called “Raga Guitar” is a unique innovation of Matthew’s. This instrument is a hybrid of an extended 7-string guitar and the Sarod, an Indian instrument. There are 7-playing strings, 12-sympathetic strings, 2 chikari and 4 jawari strings. This instrument utilizes a just intonation (5-limit) fingerboard. These instruments provide Matthew with myriad possibilities for transcription, composing and improvising. These instruments provide Matthew with myriad possibilities for transcription, composing and improvising. Born in 1972 of Chinese and Italian ancestry, Matthew began playing guitar at the age of twelve. He attended the San Francisco Conservatory of Music where he studied with Scott Tennant and Lawrence Ferrara. Matthew participated in master classes held by artists including Eliot Fisk, David Russell, and the L.A. Guitar Quartet. Matthew complemented this training by studying the classical music of North India at the Ali Akbar College of Music with the late Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. Matthew has contributed