Giorgio Serci, long-time Guitar tutor at ACM, has a column in the incredible Guitar Interactive Magazine and is featured alongside names like Steve Vai, Lewis Turner and Mark Knopfler.
Giorgio Serci has been working as a guitar and performance tutor since 2001. He joined ACM after then-Head of Guitar Eric Roche saw him performing at the International Guitar Festival in Belfast in 2000. Since then his career as a guitarist, composer and lecturer has gone from strength to strength. We were very excited to see that Guitar Interactive Magazine have recognised his talents and asked him to contribute a column!
We had a chat with Giorgio to find out about his feature, and to talk guitar inspirations.
Hi Giorgio! What does it mean to you to be featured on Guitar Interactive Magazine?
I am very proud to have been working for Guitar Interactive from nearly its inception. This was a natural progression from working for ‘Lick Library’, filming a wide variety of guitar lessons, along with some outstanding musicians, including my esteemed colleagues Guthrie Govan, Michael Casswell, Jamie Humphries, to name but a few. It’s been wonderful being part of the number one online guitar magazine in the world and to be given carte blanche to write my own column featuring my own compositions for solo guitar. This has been a fantastic opportunity and a rewarding experience, from a personal and professional standpoint.
How did the feature come about?
I guess, columns and roman noses go very well together, ahah! I think the new editor Jonathan Graham was very generous with me in the arrangement of the regular contributors’ photos and columns.
What drew you to the ‘fingerstyle’ of guitar playing?
While I also play guitar with the plectrum, I very much enjoy using the fingertyle technique to play the guitar as it enables me to combine melody, harmony and rhythm at once. In essence, I can do an instrumental version of any tune, including my compositions. I remember the days I could only play a piece from start to finish with an accompanying band…
Who are some of your top guitar inspirations?
Robert Johnson, Hendrix, Gilmour, BBKing, Page, Paco De Lucia, John McLaughlin, Ralph Towner, John Scofield, Bill Frisell… to name but a few.
Can you name some guitar-inspiring tracks that you would recommend young aspiring guitarists check out?
- Canción de Amor – Paco de Lucía
- John Scofield with Metropole Orchestra – Out of the City
- John Scofield, Vince Mendoza, Metropole Orchestra – Honest I Do (below)
What have you got coming up for the rest of 2017, into 2018?
I will be touring with Oli Rockberger in October and November, and promoting the new release from Bansangu Orchestra, a world-music/jazz orchestra I co-founded with the amazing saxophonist and composer Paul Booth (Steve Winwood). I will also be finishing and releasing my new CD and touring with Guitar Journey, a duo project I have co-founded with guitarist/composer Jonny Phillips.
Thanks Giorgio!
Connect to Giorgio on his website.
If you’d like to study at ACM and learn first-hand from world-class musicians like Giorgio Serci, please call our Admissions Team on 01483 500 841 or visit www.acm.ac.uk/open-days/ to book a place on an ACM Open Day today.