dave marshall guitar studio

Dave Marshall has spent a lifetime playing and teaching guitar. He began taking lessons at the age of ten, and as a teenager he studied the steel guitar and played in country bands. Later, he played electric guitar in rock and roll bands, formed his own dance band, and began playing for country clubs, dance studios, weddings, and other social events.

Captivated by the sounds of the bosa nova in the 1960s, Dave began to study the classical guitar to play Brazilian jazz. He fell in love with the rich legacy of classical music for the instrument. In time, he incorporated fingerstyle techniques to traditional jazz, blues and folk music.

Dave holds a BSEE degree from Maryland University and an MSTM from American University in Washington, DC. Although his career was in a technical field, his love and passion was his avocation, the guitar. Throughout his engineering years he continued an active involvement with the guitar. In the mid-1990s, he attended master classes with Steve Turley, a gifted student of Manuel Barrueco. Steve asked Dave to teach a class in Brazilian jazz at his Paganini School of Guitar in Baltimore. This experience led to Dave's first book, Learn to Play Brazilian Jazz Guitar, which was published by Mel Bay in September 1999. His second Mel Bay book, Dropped D Guitar: Bach to Blues, was released in August 2003.  His most recent book, The Spirituals—Their Story, Their Song was published in September 2007.

Dave currently teaches guitar classes for the continuing education program at Brevard College near his home in Pisgah Forest, NC. He performs regularly at the local Unitarian Universalist Church in Brevard. In addition, Dave gives private guitar lessons in classical, jazz, blues, Latin, and traditional musical styles. He alternates among three guitars: a Robert Ruck classical (which he uses for most recordings), a vintage Martin 000-18c nylon, and a Huss and Dalton 000-sp steel-string guitar.