Crossroads Gutiar Festival

His fascination with the guitar started in the third grade, when Greg started making Fender Stratocasters cut out of cardboard, using his sister’s sewing machine pedal as a makeshift wah-wah. He would pretend to rock along to Jimi Hendrix, whose music had become his obsession. When he finally got his first guitar at age twelve after failing to duplicate Mr. Hendrix on the cello, Greg quickly advanced by watching, listening and copying what he heard on records. Early on, his own hybrid style of blues, rock and country began to take form and was able to develop further by playing in everything from show bands to Elvis impersonators, polka groups and blues-rock ensembles of his own creation.

After studying jazz guitar for four years at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Greg’s musical maturity led to national attention as a fiery instrumentalist, winning 1st Prize in the Bluesbreaker Guitar Showdown judged by legendary bluesman, Buddy Guy, in 1989.

He started his own band, Greg Koch and the Tone Controls in his hometown of Milwaukee, and soon found himself in one of the most renowned groups of the region. The band went on to win five Wisconsin Area Music Awards for Blues Artist of the Year (‘93, ‘95 through ‘98), and Greg personally took in seven as Guitarist of the Year (‘92, ‘94 through ‘99). Putting out five independent releases, Greg and the band had acquired an increasingly growing base of fans who craved music “outside of the box”.

As the result of a grass roots effort by friends at Fender, who passed around tapes and CDs of Greg’s playing, he found himself as the premier clinician for the world’s largest and most prestigious guitar and amplifier manufacturer. Bringing together world-class chops and a humorous ability to articulate sounds and techniques with a genuine devotion to all things guitar, Greg has developed an exceptionally effective clinic. With his own tunes as a backdrop and various Fender instruments as the tools, a variety of tones, tricks and anecdotes are willingly shared with those in attendance.

After performances at the NAMM shows in Anaheim and Nashville in 2001, Greg turned enough heads to secure a writing deal with Hal Leonard, the world’s largest music publisher, as an author of instructional books and DVDs (including two covering the style of Stevie Ray Vaughan). Greg is also a contributing writer for Guitar One magazine, and has signed a record deal with guitar legend Steve Vai’s label, Favored Nations.

Greg’s first internationally acclaimed CD on Steve Vai's Favored Nations label, The Grip, was an aromatic smorgasbord of pungent guitar morsels culled from his five independent releases. Greg has committed his distinctive brand of musical mayhem to his second Favored Nations release, Radio Free Gristle. It’s cleverly packaged as a radio show, with Koch’s airwave-ready baritone providing hilarious segues between cuts. The deranged cast of speaking characters includes a spinsterly nun from Greg’s parochial school days and even a performer who suffers from a rare form of Tourette’s Syndrome — uncontrollably, he hollers random phrases made famous by Robert Plant on Led Zeppelin songs.

The patter is so funny that in the hands of a lesser musician the laughs would overwhelm the licks. But for every minute you spend giggling at the bits, you’ll spend many more marveling at the chops, the artistry, and the vision of this eclectic virtuoso.

	*Greg Koch* Greg Koch’s virtuosity, sense of humor and ability to articulate his thoughts through music, has led to a successful career as leader of his own band, a studio musician (heard on dozens of national T.V. and radio advertisements), author, magazine contributor and artist/clinician for Fender Musical Instruments Corporation.
	His fascination with the guitar started in the third grade, when Greg started making Fender Stratocasters cut out of cardboard, using his sister’s sewing machine pedal as a makeshift wah-wah. He would pretend to rock along to Jimi Hendrix, whose music had become his obsession. When he finally got his first guitar at age twelve after failing to duplicate Mr. Hendrix on the cello, Greg quickly advanced by watching, listening and copying what he heard on records. Early on, his own hybrid style of blues, rock and country began to take form and was able to develop further by playing in everything from show bands to Elvis impersonators, polka groups and blues-rock ensembles of his own creation. After studying jazz guitar for four years at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Greg’s musical maturity led to national attention as a fiery instrumentalist, winning 1st Prize in the Bluesbreaker Guitar Showdown judged by legendary bluesman, Buddy Guy, in 1989. He started his own band, Greg Koch and the Tone Controls in his hometown of Milwaukee, and soon found himself in one of the most renowned groups of the region. The band went on to win five Wisconsin Area Music Awards for Blues Artist of the Year (‘93, ‘95 through ‘98), and Greg personally took in seven as Guitarist of the Year (‘92, ‘94 through ‘99). Putting out five independent releases, Greg and the band had acquired an increasingly growing base of fans who craved music “outside of the box”. As the result of a grass roots effort by friends at Fender, who passed around tapes and CDs of Greg’s playing, he found himself as the premier clinician for the world’s largest and most prestigious guitar and amplifier manufacturer. Bringing together world-class chops and a humorous ability to articulate sounds and techniques with a genuine devotion to all things guitar, Greg has developed an exceptionally effective clinic. With his own tunes as a backdrop and various Fender instruments as the tools, a variety of tones, tricks and anecdotes are willingly shared with those in attendance. After performances at the NAMM shows in Anaheim and Nashville in 2001, Greg turned enough heads to secure a writing deal with Hal Leonard, the world’s largest music publisher, as an author of instructional books and DVDs (including two covering the style of Stevie Ray Vaughan). Greg is also a contributing writer for Guitar One magazine, and has signed a record deal with guitar legend Steve Vai’s label, Favored Nations. Greg’s first internationally acclaimed CD on Steve Vai's Favored Nations label, The Grip, was an aromatic smorgasbord of pungent guitar morsels culled from his five independent releases. Greg has committed his distinctive brand of musical mayhem to his second Favored Nations release, Radio Free Gristle. It’s cleverly packaged as a radio show, with Koch’s airwave-ready baritone providing hilarious segues between cuts. The deranged cast of speaking characters includes a spinsterly nun from Greg’s parochial school days and even a performer who suffers from a rare form of Tourette’s Syndrome — uncontrollably, he hollers random phrases made famous by Robert Plant on Led Zeppelin songs. The patter is so funny that in the hands of a lesser musician the laughs would overwhelm the licks. But for every minute you spend giggling at the bits, you’ll spend many more marveling at the chops, the artistry, and the vision of this eclectic virtuoso.