Bio
Experience:
Joseph Brenna has been a professional guitarist, composer and teacher since 1987, a recording artist on the What Are Records? label since 1992, and a Naropa University faculty member since 2000. As an artist he has played solo and with a wide variety of musicians in genres including rock, pop, jazz, folk, blues, classical, and world music. He has toured extensively in the US and received critical acclaim for both his performances and recordings.
Joseph has taught guitar lessons to nearly a thousand students in Boston, Dallas, Philadelphia, and Boulder & Longmont, CO. Through extensive experience with a wide variety of students he has developed a flexible and unique approach to learning that he tailors to fit each new student’s goals, level of proficiency, and style of learning.
If you are in the Boulder/Longmont area, please feel free to contact Joseph to arrange for an introductory guitar lesson to establish the appropriate training for your unique situation.
Training:
Originally self-taught on guitar, Joseph Brenna’s formal training began at Brown University where he studied music history, theory, and composition, along with music production and engineering. He went on to advanced studies in jazz guitar, composition, and arranging at Berklee College of Music, and training in West African rhythms with Ghanaian master dancer and drummer Freeman Donkor. Joseph has toured and performed professionally for over 25 years.
What the Critics Say:
Brenna’s compositional gift and love of the guitar is obvious and his playing is superb.
- 20th Century guitar
While multitudes of guitarists struggle to distinguish themselves as solo instrumentalists by unfurling overly complicated musical structures, Joseph Brenna transcends that striving through the triumph of feeling over technical wizardry. There’s no shortage of jaw-dropping facility in Brenna’s playing, but the technical brilliance rarely draws attention to itself. The end result is a kind of world music-Americana fusion from a humble and gentle-spirited master.
- Derek Richardson (writer for Acoustic Guitar and Yoga Journal)
