Tomo Fujita possesses all the elements of great musicianship: astounding technical ability, flawless rhythm skills, and a total command of his instrument. But if asked, Tomo would tell you that music is not just about playing. It’s about feeling. He has a remarkable ability to inject emotion into every phrase he plays, whether the style is blues, jazz, funk or rock.
Tomo earned a degree at Berklee College of Music and has been a faculty member at Berklee since 1993. Perhaps the most famous of his former Berklee students are Soulive guitarist Eric Krasno (Kraz) and John Mayer. Tomo is also affiliated with the major music schools in his native Japan. His articles have been published in the Japanese magazines Jazz Life and Jazz Guitar, and he is a regular contributor to the Japanese edition of Guitar magazine. His instructional materials are especially popular in Japan, where guitar players have bought more than 100,000 copies of his videos and books.
Tomo has performed with some of the best, including Phil Collins, John Mayer, James Genus (Saturday Night Live), Will Lee (Late Show with David Letterman), Kenwood Dennard (Jaco Pastorious, Dizzy Gillespie, Jimmy Smith), Darryl Jones (Miles Davis, Sting, Rolling Stones), Paul Jackson (Herbie Hancock, Headhunters), Ronnie Earl, Steve Gadd, Bernard Purdie, Steve Jordan and Susan Tedeschi. Tomo also enjoyed a guitar-playing gig in a Boston production of the musical Rent.
Influences: B.B. King, Jimi Hendrix, Joe Pass, Larry Carlton, Ray Charles, James Brown, Jeff Beck, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and many others.
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