This was an amazing album for me to produce and perform on… already one of my top favorites of recent times! ~ Lee Ritenour

As you look back and explore through close to three years worth of material featured on The Blues Blogger, you’ll discover the vast majority of the articles are guitar influenced. Of course it has a lot to do with growing up surrounded by lots of music. I also heard my brother practice guitar continuously every night for the first nine years of my life. So that just may have a little something to do with it too… 🙂

When I heard about the 6 String Theory project, a celebration of the world’s most popular instrument, I thought I would be remiss if I didn’t mention a little something about the upcoming release on Tuesday June 29th. This is a serious guitar based album and one that should not be overlooked…

Lee Ritenour’s 6 String Theory

The album is the vision of legendary jazz guitarist Lee Ritenour who is also celebrating his 5oth year of playing guitar professionally. Lee got his start at 16 years of age with some session work with The Mama’s and Papa’s. Over the last fifty years he has played on more than 3000 recording sessions. Ritenour has worked with artists such as Pink Floyd, Steely Dan, Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins, Simon & Garfunkel and Frank Sinatra just to name a few. He also has an extensive solo discography.

To celebrate his love of guitar, Ritenour has brought together an incredible range of guest players from different genres. Throughout the album you’ll find a stylish mix of rock, blues, jazz, acoustic, country and classical. It’s a unique album that will take the listener on a musical exploration of the six string instrument.

In total there are 20 incredible guitarists on the album!

Here’s the complete list:

1 Lee Ritenour
2 BB King
3 George Benson
4 John Scofield
5 Steve Lukather
6 Vince Gill
7 Slash
8 Pat Martino
9 Mike Stern
10 Neal Schon
11 Robert Cray
12 Keb Mo
13 Taj Majal
14 Jonny Lang
15 Joe Bonamassa
16 Andy Mckee
17 Guthrie Govan
18 Joe Robinson
19 Tomoyasu Hotei
20 Shon Boublil (Winner of Yamaha Six String Theory Competition)

Contributing vocals by B.B. King, Robert Cray, Vince Gill, Keb’ Mo’, Taj Majal, Joe Bonamassa and Jonny Lang, assist in giving this diverse album a cool blues feeling on selected tunes.

Yamaha Six String Theory Guitar Competition

Ritenour also made it his musical mission to help launch a new star of the guitar. In association with the Yamaha Corporation, Concord Records, Berklee College of Music, Monster Cable, D’Addario Strings and the Broad Stage, Ritenour announced “The Yamaha Six String Theory Guitar Competition.” The contest ran from Oct 1st, 2009 to Feb 25th 2010. Contestants submitted their videos online in one of six categories: Rock, Blues, Jazz/Fusion, Country, Acoustic, or Classical/Flamenco. Top performers were chosen by a panel of online judges which included Captain Fingers himself Lee Ritenour.

On March 22, 2010 they all competed in a live performance at The Broad Stage in Los Angeles to determine the grand prize winner. The winner received a guest spot on the Concord Records Six String Theory album and a four-year full tuition scholarship to the prestigious Berklee College of Music. In addition the winner will be asked to participate at various clinics sponsored by Yamaha along with Ritenour and join in at a few key concerts.

As well the winner received: a Yamaha guitar (acoustic, classical, or electric), a guitar endorsement from Yamaha Corporation, a 2 year string endorsement worth $1,000 from D’Addario String Company and become a Monster Cable “Famous Monster.”

A belated congratulations goes out to sixteen year-old guitarist Shon Boublil of Montreal who came out on top and was the grand prize winner.

You can see an example of his entry video below.

Have you heard about the 6 String Theory project in your travels? Are any of your favorite guitar players listed above? Please be sure to ad your comments below. Your input enhances the post and creates a forum to share your thoughts…

The Blues Blogger