Guitar Sessions 2025: Guy Van Duser Nashville Fingerstyle Welcome Concert
Guy Van Duser
Image courtesy of Berklee College of Music
Guy Van Duser will perform several original fingerstyle arrangements, illustrating his three-finger style improvisation techniques. He will then be joined by his clarinetist, Billy Novick, for some duos based on the Great American Songbook and early classic jazz.
Van Duser is the legendary guitarist who set the bar for virtuoso fingerstyle with his astonishing arrangement of "The Stars and Stripes Forever." His playing echoes Chet Atkins and Jerry Reed (both of whom he knew personally and worked with), and his instrumental technique is second to none. He is currently a professor of guitar at Berklee College of Music, and has been soundtrack composer for the Disney's World of English video series and PBS programs such as Nova and American Experience (that's Van Duser playing guitar on the Antiques Roadshow theme). He scored the music for Hellfire: A Journey from Hiroshima, which nominated for an Academy Award. Van Duser has performed as a swing jazz duo with clarinetist Billy Novick for the last forty years. He has eighteen LPs and CDs on Rounder, Daring, and Poor Jack Records, including his most recent release, A String of Pearls.