Dave Isaacs

Dave Isaacs has been called a musician's musician, a master player with the command and knowledge of his instrument that can only come from a lifetime of experience. In his adopted hometown of Music City USA he has become known in the music community as the Nashville Guitar Guru for his work as a teacher and coach to professional performers, hit songwriters, and the next generation of Nashvilles rising stars.

Nashville might seem to be an unusual place to land for a classically-trained graduate of the Manhattan School of Music. But Dave Isaacs is about as diverse as a musician can be. As a student he won the Rose Augustine Award for promising young classical guitarists twice, but a serious repetitive strain injury derailed a classical concert career. When he picked up a guitar again, he started writing songs.

Over 15 albums and nearly 30 years, he has explored a stylistic range from literate singer-songwriter folk to foot-stomping swamp blues, soaring harmony-driven country-rock, and jazz-inflected instrumental excursions. He has rocked a muddy crowd at Woodstock and played the blues with Les Paul, and added author to his resume in 2019 with the publication of his acclaimed instructional memoir "The Perpetual Beginner: a musicians' path to lifelong learning".

The book is a look back at the author's formative experiences as a student and young musician, and how those lessons paved the way for a remarkably diverse musical path. Most of all, the book explores how all players get stuck, and how a "beginner's mind" - a return to a sense of eager possibility - leads to an understanding of music in terms of its simplest fundamental elements. This understanding has no relationship to talent or experience, only the recognition that even complicated problems can be broken down to a collection of simple elements that can be resolved one at a time.

Find out more about Dave Isaacs at www.nashvilleguitarguru.com.