Founder Of Learn Music Inc. Now Powering Sam Ash Music Institute (SAMI)

Growing up I loved nothing more than to listen to music. While everyone else was watching Television, I had my record player going. When I was around 9 years old my family bought me my first guitar for Christmas, and that was it. I was hooked. I would sit in my room for hours and try to figure out what my guitar hero's were playing on the album. I was very lucky to have a good ear for music, and after a while I would start to pick up the riffs faster and faster. When I was in high school I joined my first of many bands. Through the years I have been in many bands playing up and down the East coast. With a little time, I know you will enjoy the guitar as much I do. Have patience, take your time, and have fun!

A guitarist since age seven, Don began playing professionally at age 11 with an original rock group located in northeastern Ohio. The "Destroyers" gigged continuously and in 1980, were voted into the top 10 original acts in the state. After moving to New England in 1981, Don spent his teenage years with various teachers and bands before attending Berklee College of Music in January of 1990. After four semesters Don left school and took a teaching gig at "Music Tech" of Minneapolis in the fall of 1993 as a full time guitar instructor. Don taught and gigged extensively in the Minneapolis area for one year, then moved back to the Boston area and started his own teaching practice while finishing his degree at Berklee, graduating "summa cum laude" with a Bachelor's degree in performance.

Don has been featured in "Guitar Player Magazine" and "Guitar For the Practicing Musician", has appeared on CNN news and has written instructional columns for "In Tune Magazine" and the Berklee guitar department news letter "In Position".

Don's EP CD "Fine Lines" is a four-song release (progressive instrumental rock) featuring Joe Santerre (Jon Finn Group) on bass.
 

Don's awards include the prestigious "William Leavitt Memorial Scholarship" and "Stephen D. Holland Award". These two awards are among the highest a guitarist can receive at Berklee. Don also took grand prize in a 1993 guitar competition sponsored by "Guitar for the practicing Musician". Don's composition was selected out of nearly 1,000 entries. In addition to his own teaching practice, Don has also been a faculty member at Berklee since 1994 (Guitar Summer Sessions and 5-week program) and now teaches guitar for the guitar department year round.

Adam Ross
Boston-based guitarist Adam Ross is currently busy as a solo artist, session guitarist, and a member of the band KingSize. He has performed at the NAMM show in Los Angeles and the NEMO showcase in Boston. Adam is an instructor at the National Guitar Workshop, where he has performed with John Petrucci and Vinnie Moore. He is currently attending the Berklee College of Music on scholarship, and has twice been invited to guest lecture by the Berklee Guitar Department.

Adam's solo group exploded onto the Boston scene in January 2001. Combining his trademark guitar pyrotechnics, a keen melodic songwriting style, and animated live performances, his group quickly amassed a huge following of devout guitar enthusiasts.

As his reputation grew, he quickly became an in-demand session player. He has played on countless Berklee sessions, including 2 CDs for the Music Production and Engineering department. He is currently recording and co-producing tracks for Cambridge-based band Second Act.
In the fall of 2001, Adam successfully auditioned for the Boston-based band KingSize. He was picked out of more than 50 guitarists, in auditions that lasted more than 3 weeks. KingSize features Adrian Hierholzer and David Spreng, whose previous band (My Favorite Relative) won "Best New Band" and "Best Independent Album" among its 9 nominations at the 2000 Boston Music Awards. Kingsize is currently gigging at some of Boston's top venues, including The Middle East, Bill's Bar, and T.T. The Bears. Their debut CD has received airplay throughout the Northeast, including Boston's FNX 101.7 and Providence's WXIN 90.7. Kingsize was recently a featured act at Boston's annual NEMO music showcase, a nationwide music industry conference.

Bill began his studies at the age of eleven with rock guitar, but very soon after he began to study Jazz as well as the drums and the piano. He started his first band at twelve and has been performing as a bandleader ever since.
Currently Bill is in his final year at Berklee College of Music, planning to earn a degree in Professional Music. While his studies continue he is also playing with his band Trinity Test, and he has been working part time as an engineer and a producer at Saucer Sound Recording Studio in Norton, Massachusetts.

In the future Bill plans on continuing his musical endeavors. First and foremost he wants to teach, perform and record with his bands. He also wants to continue his career as a studio musician, and as a producer.

Jeremy has been studying the guitar for 7 years now. His early interests were mainly in the style of John McLauglhin, Phish, John Scofield, Jerry Garcia and Dickey Betts.

Jarrod Taylor
NH based guitarist Jarrod Taylor first began learning music from playing piano from the time he was 6. While he is primarily a blues/rock player, he studies and plays Jazz, Classical and Bluegrass styles and has many diverse influences and elements in his style. He regularly plays with a NH based cover band and has recently started working on an original release.

Boston-based guitarist Sonya Perricone is currently a third year student at Berklee College of Music, majoring in both Guitar Performance and Film Scoring. In addition to teaching privately throughout the Boston area, she is an active session guitarist and performer.
She has been playing guitar for seven years, and has since studied privately under guitarists Tim Miller, Scotty Johnson, Tomo Fujita, and Joe Stump.

In her fourth semester at Berklee, Sonya was chosen to perform in one of the most competitive guitar concerts at Berklee: Jazz-Blues Guitar Night. She was one of six guitarists featured in the concert, chosen from hundreds of entries.

In addition to performing, recording, and teaching, Sonya is also an active composer/songwriter. In 2006, she won first place in the Blink Music Studios Songwriting Competition. She continues to write songs, fusion instrumentals, and music for film.
Her primary influences range from a variety of blues, rock, and jazz-fusion greats including Stevie Ray Vaughan, Robben Ford, Scott Henderson, Jeff Beck, John Scofield, Mike Stern, and Pat Metheny.