John G. Lewis

About John G. Lewis

John G. Lewis is a guitarist, singer, song writer, and bit of a mad-scientist. John was raised in South Bend, IN and began studying guitar while in high school. After graduating from high school he moved to Southern California and began his professional music career as a soloist, singing and accompanying himself on guitar in a variety of venues in and around San Diego. Jealous of the keyboard players who could play left handed bass, he tinkered with and explored various approaches to incorporating a low bottom-end on the guitar. By integrating the guitar/synthesizer, John ultimately developed an innovative approach to the guitar to create an unbelievably full sound. Combing these elements with his silky smooth voice and an eclectic repertoire of Jazz, R&B, and Brazilian grooves - which he performs in English, French, and Portuguese - John’s sound is described as Soulful, Jazzy and Cool.

While completing his degree in French at San Diego State University, John worked part time as an entertainer and part time as a Sign Language Interpreter (he’s a language geek). John moved to France for a year and spent his time improving his French, learning to appreciate good wine and deepening his understanding of international genres of music. Shortly after returning to the States, John relocated to the Washington, DC area, where he completed his MA degree in Linguistics. He has spent the past few decades working in the field of Applied Linguistics while simultaneously performing both as a soloist and with his group, the Electrokoustic band.

About my CD Electrokousitc:
Electrokoustic is a contrived alternative rendering of the term electro-acoustic, which loosely defined is a genre of music that attempts to push musical instruments beyond their normal limitations. John G. has developed a technique for playing the guitar/synthesizer that greatly expands the guitar’s tonal palate, allowing him to create lush musical arrangements on guitar. John layers bass patches on the guitar’s two lowest strings and blends synthesizer patches with the guitar’s four higher strings. This allows him to play bass and chord arrangements that are typically only possible on a keyboard. The CD’s rhythm section consists of the drummer and John simultaneously playing the bass, keyboard, and guitar sounds on the guitar synthesizer. With the exception of the song “Say it” -on which a second guitar part was overdubbed - all rhythm tracks were performed and recorded live in the studio.