Tomo Fujita

Name: Tomo Fujita
Born: Unknown

Profile: He is a Japanese guitarist and an assistant professor in Berklee College of Music (Guitar Department). He is also a columnist for Japanese guitar magazines.

History: His love in music started when he was young, and determined to be a musician ever since. He went to Berklee College of Music, where he met and studied with Jazz-guitarist Joe Pass. Tomo earned a degree at Berklee College of Music and has been a faculty member at Berklee since 1993. Perhaps the most famous of his former Berklee students are "Soulive" guitarist Eric Krasno (Kraz) and John Mayer.

After he graduated from Berklee College, Tomo was interested in discovering more about the blues. He listened to all the records of legendary BB King and T-Bone Walker, and started playing with blues bands. He could play blues technically, but emotionally he could not connect himself to the music, he then started (experimenting) playing gospel music at church every Sunday, to capture the 'feel'.

He possesses all the elements of great musicianship; astounding technical ability, flawless rhythm skills, and a total command of his instrument. In his private lessons, he teach fundamental techniques for playing good music — by getting a good tone from the guitar and keeping a good rhythm. He discovered in playing blues songs, it was very difficult to achieve quality and the details, that is why he teach a lot of grooves and rhythm. It is very important for him, to emphasize expression, tone and time.

Tomo has performed with some of the best artists in the world, including Phil Collins, John Mayer, James Genus (Saturday Night Live), Will Lee (Late Show with David Letterman), Kenwood Dennard, bassist Jaco Pastorious, Dizzy Gillespie, Jimmy Smith, Darryl Jones, Miles Davis, Sting, the "Rolling Stones", Paul Jackson, Ronnie Earl, Steve Gadd, Bernard Purdie, Steve Jordan and Susan Tedeschi.

Tomo is also affiliated with the major music schools in his native Japan. His articles have been published in the Japanese magazines 'Jazz Life' and 'Jazz Guitar', and he is a regular contributor to the Japanese edition of 'Guitar magazine'. His instructional materials are especially popular in Japan, where guitar players have bought more than 100,000 copies of his videos and books.
Tomo also enjoyed a guitar-playing gig in a Boston production of the musical 'Rent'. And, currently, Tomo is touring to promote his newly released album 'Pure', and he usually presents clinics annually in Japan.

Influences: BB King, T-Bone Walker, Jimi Hendrix, Joe Pass, Larry Carlton, Ray Charles, James Brown, Jeff Beck and Stevie Ray Vaughan

Axology: Fender guitars, Fender amplifiers and Fuchs amplifiers

Signature song(s): Tomo Fujita (Right Place, Right Time, 2007) and (Pure, 2010)

Link(s):

http://www.tomofujita.com/ (Official website)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hP-alOw-ALw