About Gary

Gary Saunders was born in Los Angeles, California.  He began studying the guitar at the age of ten.  He first played popular, rock, and folk music, and then graduated to Jazz and classical.

Since the age of fourteen, Gary has been playing and recording with various bands and as a solo performer in various venues.  Very shortly after Gary began playing the guitar, he formed a rock band and started wrote original songs.  His first published song was published in 1977 by arranger Jimmie Haskell.  Gary has written several other songs on which he has collaborated or written by himself. He continues today to write as well as perform his music.

When Gary was in high school, he began studying jazz guitar.  He continued to study jazz guitar for the next several years.  Gary attended the University of California of California at Davis and received a BA in History,  and then he went on to study Music, specializing in Music Education, at  the University California State University at Northridge, which is one of the finest schools of music and teacher education in The United States.  He received  a degree in Music, specializing in Music education.  He studied classical guitar with Jim Smith (USC), Greg Newton, Ron Purcell, and Ron Borczon of Cal. State Northridge.  Gary also studied extensive theory and musicianship and learned methods of teaching different instruments.  He holds a California Teaching Credential in Music.

Gary has taught hundreds of students from age from all over the world, from ages five to adult.  His guitar and general music teaching experience includes teaching at the University of California at Davis, Beverly Hills School District, The Los Angeles Unified School District, and Guitars In The Classroom (where he trained classroom teachers to use the guitar as a tool for their classrooms.  He also created a guitar program through Little Kids Rock for 4th and 5th grade children at the Downtown Value School in Los Angeles, California.

Today, Gary continues to teach groups and privately, and is also available to teach on the internet via Skype.