Sergio R.Klein

Sergio R. Klein (b. 1980) is a successful professional guitar player, international performer and instructor, composer, and author of “How to Master Chord Changes and Harmony” currently based in Berlin, Germany. His passion for helping music students in all aspects of music creation and performance in evident in the expert methods he teaches. From direct counseling and instruction, to writing, seminars and masterclasses, his goal is – and always has been – giving his students the most effective way to overcome any and all difficulties they encounter in their musical and artistic development. From the pure, technical aspects of musical language, physical-mechanical and self-awareness challenges of instrumental interpretation, to the psychological issues a developing musician encounters throughout their life, Sergio acknowledges and understands and synthesizes all of these components as part of one discipline: being and becoming a truly complete musical artist. Sergio began his studies at age seven with classical piano training at the conservatory in his native Chile. At age eight, he gave his first live performances which included music from J.S.Bach, W.A.Mozart and his favorite musician of all time, Ludwig Van Beethoven. When he was twelve years old he began teaching himself guitar. After a few short weeks he was already mimicing some of the music of his new musical heroes. Metallica, Criminal, Alice in Chains, Pantera and much more could be heard at his parents house after the daily piano practice routine. He started to take classical guitar lessons at the same conservatory when his parents realized how serious he was about learning this new instrument. When he was fourteen years old he decided to commit himself entirely to creating his own music and to the electric guitar specifically. He joined local tribute bands dedicated to his heroes and started to perform at parties and small venues. In 1996, his family moved to a big city. There he formed his own band and almost right away they started performing original music live in many cities near his hometown. It was in the city of Viña del Mar that Sergio was first exposed to jazz music. His guitar teacher, Ismael Cortéz, explained to him that all the mind-blowing solos he was hearing were actually improvised, and that to reach this level in this kind of music was very difficult, because it changed keys constantly. It was at this point that young Sergio R. Klein then decided to devote himself to learning how to improvise over chord changes. At just sixteen years old, he was already filling in for his guitar teacher at a local university. He also began to teach his first private students. He payed for his strings with the meager fee he charged and also managed to save money for his first EP. During this time, he discovered that he had a different way to approach the instrument and its learning, and that this was the key to his rapid development, despite some of his students having played up to ten years longer than he had. At age eighteen, Sergio was awarded a scholarship to study composition in the renowned Universidad Católica University. He finished at the top of his class and then moved to the Instituto profesional Escuela Moderna de Música – a challenging, high performance music college in Santiago de Chile where he studied a Latin American, Jazz and Pop guitar interpretation major. He finished the five-year program in three and left to pursue his career in Germany. Since moving to Berlin in 2006, Sergio has been working as a guitar instructor, touring Europe and South America with various bands playing Pop, Latin, Rock, Ska, Jazz, Heavy Metal and more, recorded many L.Ps, and founded a composition company dedicated to the writing and producing of music for movies, commercials and multimedia formats (www.artshock-studios.com). He has also realized three major dreams from his childhood, receiving a full endorsement deal with a guitar company (Aristides Instruments, http://aristidesinstruments.com/artist/sergio-klein) in 2010, joining one of his favorite bands (Criminal) in 2015 and, in 2016, finishing his first instructional book, How to Master Chord Changes and Harmony. In this complete method, he teaches beginning Jazz improvisation students how to best overcome the harmonic challenges which Jazz improvisation presents. Leaving routines and methods based on senseless practice behind, How to Master Chord Changes and Harmony is a compendium of the most effective daily practice routines proven throughout decades of musical performance and development and used as a foundation by the masters of music. Currently Sergio is preparing on several new guitar methods and other music-related instruction books for publication, including one on his favorite topic: outside harmony improvisation.