Renzo Staiano is a musician of extraordinary versatility. He performs professionally on six- and eight-string acoustic and electric guitars, Cuban tres, Andean charango, and other Latin American guitars. As a performer and scholar, his career has thus far taken him to five continents.
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This film recently won "Best Documentary" at the Yosemite International Film Festival and "Honorable Mention" at the Blue Ocean Film Festival. We invited the editors of Juxtapoz - a leading voice in the art world - to chat with Alynn-Mags on the enormity of their SF mural and the effect of public art.
Renzo offers private classes in guitar performance (all styles), songwriting, music theory, and music production. Lessons take place in a state-of-the-art music production studio in Oakland Ca (by Laney College in the Merritt Area, or in Santa Cruz California (on the West Side by Santa Cruz High). Most required materials will be provided: sheet music, recordings and jam tracks such as those found on Renzo's YouTube channel "Now YOU Shred".
Reviews (5)
Jafar B.
Feb 28, 2018
Found Renzo on YouTube performing a guitar cover. As a producer he was exactly the local musician I was looking for. Before working with him, I went to see him perform live at The Chapel. As the lead guitar player for Le Vice. Once working on full productions, I ended up being really impressed with his bass guitar and drum grooves. We put some really good shimmer on our recordings with some basic EQ and compression, using Ableton Live on Day 1.
From recording a single demo in Berkeley, to having a full EP streaming on Apple Music took about 9 months once Renzo joined the project. Give yourself about a month to really lock-in a full production when collaborating with Renzo. As he is pretty busy with corporate gigs. Bottom line he knows his way around the studio and will point you in the right direction if you really want to dive deeper into post production effects yourself as a mixing engineer.
From recording a single demo in Berkeley, to having a full EP streaming on Apple Music took about 9 months once Renzo joined the project. Give yourself about a month to really lock-in a full production when collaborating with Renzo. As he is pretty busy with corporate gigs. Bottom line he knows his way around the studio and will point you in the right direction if you really want to dive deeper into post production effects yourself as a mixing engineer.
Roberto R.
Jun 10, 2015
Renzo's teaching style has given my guitar playing a renewed sense of energy and purpose that's been missing since my high school days. After playing for 18 years, I was nervous about taking lessons because of how diverse (I thought) my musical background and interests were. Renzo is extremely knowledgeable in a broad range of styles and techniques, and I'm still impressed with how fluidly he's able to handle my wild curiosities after studying with him for two years. His comfortable and intelligent approach to teaching guitar and recording techniques keeps me motivated week after week.
Daniel M.
Jun 07, 2015
Renzo is an exceptional guitar teacher. My 1.5 years (so far!) working with him have been pivotal in my development as a guitar player. Renzo helped me make the leap beyond knowledge of scales to playing over chords and beginning to compose music. He's been incredibly positive, encouraging, and also uncompromising in helping me to improve, and he's great at showing how all aspects of great guitar playing integrate: touch on the fretboard, playing in the pocket, phrasing, tone, arranging, recording and production. Highest possible recommendation.
Valentine H.
May 09, 2013
Renzo is an engaging, supportive, charming teacher. It's refreshing to find someone so well-rounded (theory, improvisation, technique, reading). He's extremely skilled as a player in a wide range of styles, but what really matters as a teacher is Renzo's ability to listen, adapt, and engage his students. Lessons are exciting and entertaining - an hour often doesn't seem long enough! Renzo makes learning music fun, without sugar-coating the challenges involved. He'll push you if you need pushing.
Eugene C.
Nov 14, 2012
I've been playing guitar for about 3 years now (self-taught). After only several sessions with Renzo, I already wish I had studied under him from the start. As the other reviews point out, Renzo has the rare quality of being both an amazing musician and an amazing teacher. He's organized and thorough. If you're considering getting guitar lessons, I highly recommend Renzo.
