Steve Coyne
GUITARIST * COMPOSER * MUSICIAN
I was born in Massachusetts in a town 20 minutes away from Boston. Ever since I can remember, music is my passion all my life. We had this family video of me at age 2 with my father jamming together; he's playing his "real" guitar and I was shredding on my "toy" guitar. I was still in diapers. My brothers said I was humming even while I was sleeping. I loved to sing as a child and my mom sensing this innate ability of mine, enrolled me in piano lessons when I was 8. My teacher then was Mrs. Toombs. I learned quickly and like a little pianio virtuoso, family and friends would gather around me watching me play many, many songs from Ragtime, Classical, Jazz, Rock and Popular tunes. I loved playing the piano and I practiced and practiced enough to excel at it. When I was 10, I started playing my father's acoustic guitar. I loved the feel of the strings and realized then what it meant to love music. A year later, I took formal guitar lessons with a guy named Michael Robbins. Later on, I grew to idolize Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin. One of my first solos was "Stairway to Heaven" which I still can play these days. I remember arguing with some friends at school over who is better; Jimmy Page or Eddie Van Halen. Of course, I was for Jimmy Page. I approached my guitar teacher and told him in outrage about the Van Halen-Page debate. Mr. Robbins said, "Man, Van Halen is wayyyyyy better than Jimmy Page." I was a little miffed but I was open about it. So he taught me "Eruption." One week later, I could play it by heart. The guys who used to work in the store where Robbins held his lessons used to give him a hard time because I could play it better than he could. Oooops, sorry dude, though I don't want to brag.
Hard times fell and as my mom's way of teaching us the value of hard work and money, I found myself self-teaching. I had an old reel-to-reel tape recorder (which I still have) that would let me slow down solo tracks to half speed or quarter speed. Really, anything I liked to play was fair game. All sorts of solos from Jeff Beck, Randy Rhoades, Jake E. Lee, Brad Gillis, Steve Morse, Jeff Watson, and many others. That continued for years and I think I did a pretty good job at teaching myself. I could play a lot of landmark guitar solos those days so I took myself a notch higher. I found a Berklee College guitar grad, Ron Tyler, who was willing to teach me. I started learning a lot---music theories, scales, jazz standards and improvisation techniques. After more than 2 years of his mentorship, I was ready for the Berklee College of Music program. Tyler gave me a good recommendation and soon enough I was in. You may not know this , but in the 80's and early 90's , you've got to have massive chops in order to last through Berklee. So I did what every self-respecting guitarist would do---practice, practice and practice...practiced for 8 to 12 hours a day. At that point, Steve Vai was my favorite guitar player. I can play all his great solos like; Crossroads Suite, For the Love of God, Animals, Erotic Nightmares, among others. I also got into some Yngwie Malmsteen, Paul Gilbert, and Frank Gambale. My stay in Berklee was a "life itself" for me. I had a grand time there. All music all the time. Just the way it should be. During those student days, I was already gigging with some metal and rock bands while learning Jazz theories, classical theories, sight reading, songwriting and composition classes in the academe.
Upon graduation, I was hired to teach General Music and Band to elementary students in public schools. I also earned a Masters Degree in Music Education in WestConn University. In between a job and higher studies, I gigged around having perfomed for theater musicals like The Wiz, Purlie, and Dreamgirls. I also performed with Atlantic Record's jazz recording artist, Ragan Whiteside in NY-NJ performances where she won the Capitol Jazz Challenge . Shortly after, I played guitar and sequenced for keyboards for a New Haven party rock band called "The Radio Cats" for almost 2 years. Currently, I am composing and recording in my home studio in a variety of styles ranging from Bubble-Gum Pop, to Country, to Latin Jazz Fusion, to Instrumental Rock. As far as performing goes, I am now a free agent, so check out my pre-production demos here;
Don't hesitate to give me a note or contact me.
Upon graduation, I was hired to teach General Music and Band to elementary students in public schools. I also earned a Masters Degree in Music Education in WestConn University. In between a job and higher studies, I gigged around having perfomed for theater musicals like The Wiz, Purlie, and Dreamgirls. I also performed with Atlantic Record's jazz recording artist, Ragan Whiteside in NY-NJ performances where she won the Capitol Jazz Challenge . Shortly after, I played guitar and sequenced for keyboards for a New Haven party rock band called "The Radio Cats" for almost 2 years. Currently, I am composing and recording in my home studio in a variety of styles ranging from Bubble-Gum Pop, to Country, to Latin Jazz Fusion, to Instrumental Rock. As far as performing goes, I am now a free agent, so check out my pre-production demos here;
Don't hesitate to give me a note or contact me.
JAZZ * ROCK * METAL * BLUES * COUNTRY
Copyright 2008 by Stephen Coyne * Built by VMCoyne
