World renowned guitarist Luca Stricagnoli will be making his way to San Juan Island, Orcas and Lopez this June to wow audiences with his innovative style. Classically trained and specializing in fingerstyle and percussive techniques, Stricagnoli will make his San Juan Islands’ debut, although the accomplished musician has already performed in over 30 countries. The performances will feature a variety of different genres, ensuring an entertaining and enjoyable experience for all who attend.
Stricagnoli will perform on Lopez Island on June 14 at 7:30 p.m. at the Lopez Center; Friday Harbor on June 15 at 7:30 p.m. at the San Juan Island Community Theater; Orcas Island on June 16 at 5 p.m. at the Village Green. He will also offer a guitar workshop on June 14 at 3 p.m. at the Lopez Center. Admission is free; send an RSVP to office@lopezcenter.org.
Born and raised in the Varese province of Italy, Stricagnoli first became interested in playing the guitar after seeing a guitarist performing in the street. He began learning classical guitar at 10 years old, and played for six years before turning his attention to competing in judo. However, three years later, one of his judo friends learned of his former hobby of playing guitar and showed him a video of someone playing guitar using different finger techniques.
“My mind was blown. [I did not realize] people could play guitar like that, you know, do percussion on the guitar. And so [this] was kind of like the beginning of the next phase where I started teaching myself techniques,” said Sticagnoli.
At 19, Stricagnoli picked up guitar again and began to teach himself these techniques through YouTube videos. This style, as described by Stricagnoli, incorporates percussive elements such as tapping the guitar with his thumb and elbow while weaving the melody and bassline together, sometimes playing four or five bars at the same time.
“Essentially, fingerstyle is making the guitar sound like a band, kind of like what people will do with a loop station when they record with a paddle and then they play on top of it, and then they play on top of it again. So it’s kind of a similar concept, except that you do it all at the same time [and without] electronics,” said Stricagnoli.
Stricagnoli often learned from YouTube videos posted by CandyRat Records, a music label which represents many different artists who specialize in this unique acoustic guitar style. On a whim, he submitted a video to the label of himself playing the theme from the Last of the Mohicans on three separate guitars using a violin bow. Being relatively new to the style, he did not expect to receive a response, however, the label reached out and asked to publish the video on their channel. After the video received a million views in under a week, they asked Stricagnoli to submit another video.
His following video, a cover of AC DC’s Thunderstruck, garnered an impressive 14 million views in under one week. Stricagnoli’s career took off from there, receiving invitations to perform around the world, with his first solo tour in the UK in 2015. He made his US debut in 2017 when he performed at the International Guitar Night, the world’s premier acoustic guitar festival, where he met his agent.
After living in Germany for seven years, Stricagnoli and his wife, Meg Pfeiffer, moved to Nashville last year to be closer to the US music scene, which has offered the most opportunities and interest in Stricagnolis music. Pfeiffer herself is an accomplished singer/songwriter, and has performed together with her husband, although these days she works mostly on her own music while taking all of Stricagnoli’s professional photos and videos, of which he is incredibly grateful.
In addition to fingerstyle, Stricagnoli is widely recognized for playing a reverse triple neck guitar, an invention of his own imagination. The idea came from Stricagnoli’s desire to have both his hands play independently from each other as opposed to a traditional guitar that requires both hands to work together to make the same sound, ie; the left hand pressing the frets and the right strumming to play chords.
“If we want to kind of sum up my style, the hands play very independently from each other. I want the right hand to play by itself without needing the left. Essentially it is like the piano: you can go all the way to the right with the right hand and all the way to the left with the left. They’re independent. I wanted to do this on the guitar and so that’s why I started exploring in that direction,” said Stricagnoli.
Italian guitar maker Davide Serracini crafted Stricagnoli’s vision from a sketch he gave him. The first neck of the guitar is a regular guitar neck that Stricagnoli uses to play harmonies with his left hand, while the second neck is tuned on a higher pitch, which he uses his right hand to play the melody. The third neck is a reverse neck, meaning rather than the first fret starting on the far left of the guitar, it starts on the far right, like a left-handed guitar. Stricagnoli uses this neck to play the bassline. Lastly, he incorporates percussive elements by tapping the guitar with his elbow or thumb to create the full-band sound.
Besides his background in classical guitar and his viral recognition with rock and roll covers, Stricagnoli plays a wide range of genres, including country and pop. In addition to covers, audiences of his San Juan Islands performances can anticipate original songs as well. Stricagnoli described his concerts as a fun and inviting atmosphere, taking time to explain to the audience what he is doing and sharing some laughs. Those who attend can expect a lively and enjoyable experience.
