Presented by TOC

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7pm doors | All Ages (please see Covid policies) | Bar w/ID | All sales are final.

You're in for a treat when you gather round Brazil’s Gustavo Fofão's guitar. His fingerstyle music is made for one purpose: to increase the amount of joy and beauty in the world.

Fofão fell in love with his big brother’s guitar at age 9. Within a year, his brother lost interest, but for Fofão the instrument was a playground to explore. He wouldn’t just strum it, he would twist the knobs, thump it, play it “wrong.” For Fofão it was an organic process, not learning how to play, but learning how to be one with the guitar.

Then YouTube came along and Fofão found kindred spirits in Justin King, Andy McKee, and Don Ross. He learned that his natural technique had a name – Fingerstyle – and he began composing and playing in bands with his friends.

Fofão entered college to study engineering, but in class, while his friends were taking notes, he was counting the minutes until he could get back to his guitar. His friends played sports, too, but he just went home to play guitar. Fofão did join in when they went to parties… because he always ended up playing guitar. It was obvious he was in the wrong place.

A month after leaving school, Fofão heard about an opportunity at Cifra Club, a Brazilian music website that had just decided to offer online lessons. Out of hundreds of applicants, four were chosen to create the online lesson program—and Fofão was one of them. A kid who had never had a formal guitar lesson in his life.

Fofão stayed with Cifra Club for 12 years, and his lessons have millions of views worldwide. He formed a Celtic band there in Brazil, which has toured on other continents. This year, he signed with the Sonasterio label, to finally record his original innovative tunes for the world to enjoy.

Portland Based Fingerstyle guitarist Amber Russell, has had a diverse platform of musical outlets during her 20 years of composing music. She grew up in her midwest hometown of Elkhart, Indiana. At age 13 she picked up the guitar after regularly watching her older brother Joe play bass in his band. In the summer of 2012 she relocated to Los Angele and continued her journey as a singer songwriter with her band Seropola. Soon after that, she found a profound interest in Fingerstyle guitar. Admiring Fingerstyle guitarists such as Antoine Dufour, Andy Mckee, Erik Mongrain, Kaki King, Preston Reed and many more.

Amber has remained relevant and active in the Fingerstyle community since 2014 by participating in functions such as the Canadian Guitar festival, Thomas Leeb (Astrian Fingerstyle guitarist) Percussive guitar bootcamp, Fretmonkey Guitar Collective and attends the NAMM Show convention every year. Her solo acoustic music didn't take off until she relocated to Portland, Oregon. A city calm and collect, yet outrageous and weird enough to find the appropriate audience for her unique and eclectic sound.Amber has a 30 lesson guitar course available through Jamplay.com that was released November 1st and has reached an even larger audience of students. She currently resides in Portland and is a Percussive fingerstyle teacher and Co-Founder at Rose City Guitar Company with her partner Samantha Holmes

Contact the host of Cancelled: Gustavo Fofão, Amber Russell