Ignazio Di Salvo

Ignazio Di Salvo is an italian guitar player and composer based in Belgium. He began to study music by the age of 9, studying classical guitar at the Conservatory with the Master Francesco Buzzurro. At the age of 16 he composed his first instrumental demo “Where do the thoughts come from?” and he was awarded with the title of young talent by many music Magazines (Top Demo on Metal Shock, Chitarre, Raw&Wild, Metal Hammer, Rockeggiando.it ). During the same year, he attended Siena Jazz Clinics and he obtained the First Level Classical Guitar Diploma at the Conservatory. In 2008 he graduated in Business Economics at the “Luigi Bocconi” University of Milan (Title of his dissertation: Development strategies for niche artistic product. The EGEA case and Italian Jazz). In the meantime he graduated at the Milan Modern Music Academy (“Corsi Civici di Jazz”) after five years of studying. In 2009 he attended the Berklee College of Music seminars and he has been selected as the best jazz guitarist by Giovanni Tommaso and he joined the Berklee Umbria Jazz Award Band at Umbria Jazz Winter 2010. In the same year, he joined the competition “Ziua Chitarelor 3” in Bucharest and he won the first prize which has been assigned by a prestigious jury (Jennifer Batten, Andreas Oberg, Michael Lee Feerkins, Stu Hamm, Dave Martone, William Stravato, Damjan Pejcinosky and Fabrizio Dadò, Axemagazine). He has been chosen as one of the 12 finalists in Guitar Idol 2011 among more than 1030 guitar players all over the world. He received a great response from both judges and public, and his song “A night of change” was acclaimed as the best in the competition by the audience. He joined seminars held by Jennifer Batten, Steve Trovato, Richard Smith, Dave Liebman, Guthrie Govan, Dave Martone, Michael Lee Feerkins, Andreas Oberg, Stu Hamm, Tomaso Lama, Umberto Fiorentino. Furthermore he studied Jazz Guitar with Bebo Ferra and Umberto Fiorentino. In 2011 he opened the Reb Beach (Whitesnake, Winger) and the Guthrie Govan concerts. He attended the Nuoro Jazz seminars held by the famous Italian trumpet player Paolo Fresu and he won the prestigious scholarship for the best students. He also gained the Jazz Master Degree at the Italian Conservatory of Music "Vivaldi". His playing style has been transcribed by Jamtrackcentral.com, where he collaborates as artist and composer. He studied Fusion-Jazz guitar with Alex Stornello and he's been founder and director of the Modern Music Institute in Milan from 2010 to 2013. He wrote didactical articles for the Guitar Club Magazine and he introduced in the market his signature "Gnazz tap-pick", an innovative guitar pick to play eight-finger tapping. His first album “A gift to the World” came out in 2014 with a great response of public and critics. In the year 2013 he moved to Brussels where he gained a Master for Didactics at the "Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles". He's playing in diffent projects, from Metal to Jazz, Pop and Fusion. He's working as Live/Studio session man, he's teaching Jazz Music in the Belgian National Academies and doing Masterclasses and Clinics. He's endorser for the brands DVMark, Ibanez Guitars, Gruvgear, TRex pedals, IQS, Essetipicks and M-picks.