One of the most respected jazz guitarists of his age, Frank Gambale was born in Canberra, Australia on December 22, 1958. He started playing guitar as a teenager, aping the popular rock and blues guitarists of the era. In the late 70s he turned his focus to the piano, and devoted himself to it for a couple of years before settling back on the guitar as his primary instrument. After a move to Hollywood he enrolled at the Guitar Institute of Technology where he established himself by winning Student of the Year. He promptly began teaching there as well as writing instructional books. In 1986 he issued his debut LP, Brave New Guitar, and then went on tour as the guitarist for Chick Corea’s Elektric Band. His reputation among guitarists worldwide quickly escalated, and he won a Grammy for his work on a 1988 live album with Corea, who has called Gambale the best guitarist he’s ever worked with. He worked regularly with the jazz outfit Vital Information, and made a series of albums as a trio with two members of that act, Stuart Hamm and Steve Smith. He made two major contributions to the world of guitar playing. First was mastery of sweep picking, a technique that allows for faster play of more notes, and second was his Gambale Tuning System, a guitar tuning that allows the instrument to more resemble piano and other instruments.
