Guitar Garden

Guitar Garden is an instrumental progressive rock band led by American guitarist and music journalist Pete Prown (b.1963).

Guitar Garden's latest album is Secret Space (2006), inspired by the many progressive rock and jazz-rock bands of the 1970s, such as Yes, ELP, and Mahavishnu Orchestra, as well as contemporary acts like The Flower Kings. It featured Prown on lead guitar, keyboards, guitar synthesizer, and samples, plus former editor-in-chief of Guitar Magazine Rich Maloof (b. 1966) on acoustic-fingerstyle and electric guitars. Guitar Garden's music has also been featured on NPR's Morning Edition radio program.

Guitar Garden's 2005 album, CHINA ROSE, featured a World-pop Progressive rock style. The CD contained a combination of guitars and inventive keyboard parts, with hip-hop grooves and Asian motifs. Prown also released a surf-rock guitar album in 2009 called "Guitar Safari" by Sir Clive & the Raging Cartographers.

In addition to his musical work, Prown was also the editor-in-chief of the international music magazine, Guitar Shop, and still writes for Vintage Guitar magazine. He is also the author of several rock-music reference and guitar-instructional books, such as:

--Shred: The Ultimate Guide to Warp-Speed Guitar (co-written with Rich Maloof, 2006)

--Gear Secrets of the Guitar Legends (co-written with Lisa Sharken, 2003)

--Legends of Rock Guitar (co-written with HP Newquist, 1997)

--Modal Riffs for Rock Guitar (1995)

Of his guitar approach, Prown notes, "Besides the traditional acoustic and electric guitars that Rich Maloof and I play on the album, I sometimes use guitar synthesizers at times to create unique sounds," he adds. "Listen to 'Cloudburst,' where the main solo features acoustic guitar and acoustic piano in perfect unison. That's because I used the guitar synth to double my guitar lines - in real time - with a piano patch."

"There's also a clear distinction between my guitar style and Rich's, which helps broaden our scope. I come from a rock, fusion and blues guitar background, where Rich is fabulous acoustic fingerstyle player--you can hear that in the solos to 'Erhu' and 'China Rose.'"