Titles by: KEIJO PENNANEN
KEIJO PENNANEN
Keijo Pennanen's musical journey began with the classical songs and hymns he was exposed to in grade school in Finland. As a young rock music fan, he learned to play drums and guitar. Playing the guitar, songwriting and performing with a pop band were the primary musical activities of his teen years.
In his twenties, after becoming interested in jazz, Pennanen enrolled at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. Berklee provided an invaluable learning experience in harmony, composition, arranging, solo guitar performance, and ensemble playing- among other things. He graduated from Berklee in 1986, with honors.
Pennanen has worked as a guitar and ensemble teacher at The Pop & Jazz Conservatory in Helsinki, Finland since 1988. Besides teaching, he has been an active composer and performer, mainly with his own groups. He has released two CD's of original music. Other published works include the guitar lessons he penned for Guitar Player Magazine in the late 90's and early 2000s.
Today, he finds inspiration in classical music and specializes in composing solo guitar pieces for plectrum guitar. Contemporary Picking Etudes for Guitar (Mel Bay Publications, Inc., 2017) and Lyrical Etudes (Mel Bay Publications, Inc., 2019) are the direct result of these influences and efforts.