Grammy-winning guitarist/producer Lee Ritenour hosts the Six String Theory Competition for the 4th year with applications accepted in Guitar, Bass, Piano/Keyboards or Drums. Registration is open from January 15, 2014 through May 15, 2014 by submitting 2 YouTube videos at the website. For Guitar, applicants may register in the genres of rock, blues, jazz/fusion, acoustic, classical/flamenco and country. For Rhythm Players, any contemporary music style will be accepted such as jazz, fusion, R & B, rock, blues, etc.
Partnering with Yamaha, Berklee College of Music, Montreux Jazz Festival, Blue Note Tokyo, Crown of the Continents Guitar Workshop & Festival, Monster, Premier Guitar, Jazziz, Music Connection and D’Addario, the 2014 competition offers a total prize package value of over $600,000. Lee Ritenour discusses the 2014 Six String Theory Competition
The goal of the competition is to provide aspiring musicians with professional performing and recording opportunities, educational scholarships, mentoring and prizes. Highlights include: the 4 grand prize winners (one in each instrument) will perform at a venue at the 2014 Montreux Jazz Festival as well as the SST guitar grand prize winner to perform with Lee Ritenour and other guitar legends at the “Legends of Guitar” concert at Montreux, to be filmed in HD. Other prizes included are 4 Berklee College of Music scholarships, Guitar finalist to record on Ritenour’s forthcoming 2014 Concord album, Yamaha Instruments & Endorsements, Professional Mentoring with Lee Ritenour, Crown of the Continent Guitar Workshop Scholarships & Performing Opportunities plus more.
The Six String Theory Competition is the inspiration of Ritenour, who debuted the International Competition in 2010 with the release of his all-star guitar CD, “6 String Theory.” The contest was a great success and the guitar winner recorded a track on Ritenour’s “6 String Theory” and won a 4 year scholarship to Berklee College of Music, Yamaha endorsement & guitar plus many other prizes and performance opportunities. In the second year, the guitar contest continued to grow in popularity and scope, so by 2012, the contest opened to 3 new instruments: Piano, Bass and Drums. This expanded the pool bringing a wonderfully diverse range of players to the competition and giving them incredible professional exposure. For example, the three 2012 rhythm player winners recorded a track on Lee Ritenour’s 2012 Concord Records release “Rhythm Sessions” starring musicians Chick Corea, George Duke, Stanley Clarke, Patrice Rushen and more. The guitar winner is currently attending Berklee College of Music on a full, four year scholarship.
Advisory Board Judges will work with Lee Ritenour to evaluate and determine the 4 winners. Those judges include Academy® award-winning Dave Grusin, John Patitucci, Dave Weckl, Harvey Mason, Patrice Rushen, John Beasley, Sonny Emory, Will Kennedy, Daniel Jobim, Alan Pasqua, Melvin Lee Davis, Tom Kennedy, Nathan East, Simon Phillips, Chris Coleman and Gary Novak.
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