Mike
Campese is a New York born guitarist starting at the age of 13,
the youngest of the family, exposed to music around the household,
his Father was a Virtuoso violinist and brother played guitar.
Mike was heavily into Black Sabbath, Learning their music and
began lessons with a Jazz guitarist. Mike was also heavily into
Jimi Hendrix and other artists like Ozzy, AL Di Meola and Van
Halen.
Mike
was very obsessed with the guitar, he played it day and night,
hours on end. When he was very young his Dad encouraged him to
listen to Classical music and all types of music. He said, "if
you want to be a great guitarist you music you must be open to
all types of music". Mike began listening to Virtuoso violinist
Niccolo Paganini, admiring his incredible speed and techniques.
He was also listening to Beethoven, Mozart, Yngwie and Vivaldi.
Mike
was in bands playing clubs, writing and performing at a very young
age. After high school Mike packed up and moved to Hollywood,
California to attend one of the worlds top guitar school Musicians
institute (GIT). Studying with many great players such as Paul
Gilbert, Scott Henderson, Norman Brown, Keith Wyatt and many others.
Attending this school opened up many new doors and exposed Mike
to many styles of music. Mike graduated with top Honors.
Mike returned to New York to hone his skills, he began playing
in one of the areas top band Mister Strange, which was formed
when Mike returned from California. The band was touring the northeast
playing in many known clubs, CBGB's, Lomoure's etc and releasing
CDs and opening for many National acts. After Mike leaving the
band he formed the group Jeckyl and Hyde, an all original project
playing the northeast clubs.
Mike has been featured in many national guitar magazines such
as Guitar World, Guitar One and writes lessons for Guitar Player
magazine. Check out the July issue of the Guitar Player Magazine,
Mike has a full page guitar lesson. Also, check out the April
issue of the Guitar World mag, for Mike's feature lesson. Mike
teaches over 70 students a week and is one of the top teachers
in the NY area. With a constant waiting list, some of Mike's students
are from or went to successful bands. Mike has released 2 instructional
DVDs, "Virtuoso Rock Fusion Concepts" and "Creative
Speed-Building Picking Techniques". Mike also writes lessons
for several online sites.
Mike is a all-around music performer, session artist competent
in many musical styles, electric and acoustic.
