Kyle Horn, an eastern Long Island native, has been playing the guitar for almost 12 years. He began by teaching himself electric guitar licks from his favorite bands, such as Metallica and Tool. Soon enough, he started writing his own power-chord-infused riffs, recording them onto CDs and playing them back through a stereo in the basement while he jammed on his less-than-maintained drum kit.
As his playing progressed, he discovered players like Andy McKee and Mike Dawes and he became enthralled with the acoustic guitar. The fingerstyle genre fused Kyle’s passions for instrumental guitar and percussion. He knew then and there that he had found a home for his music and began diving deeper into the genre, looking for inspiration.
Soon he found himself altering the tuning of his guitar regularly and incorporating percussion into his playing. He felt an incredible jump in difficulty, compared to his previous self-directed study, so he started to look around for lessons.
“Kyle is a fantastic guitar player with a great groove and musicality often lacking in young fingerstyle players. Be sure to check him out!”
He came across the Thomas Leeb Bootcamp in late 2012, which is a week-long workshop in Austria where 40 or so students congregate on a mountain to study with some of the world’s greatest guitarists. In 2012, Mike Dawes happened to be one of the guest teachers. It seemed surreal and Kyle knew he had to attend the next workshop in July of 2013. This was the true beginning of his playing, and itopened his ears, eyes, and mind in so many beneficial ways.
“Kyle is a great guitarist who has developed his own sense of timing and compositional style. He is the Bruce Hornsby of guitar and he is worth listening to! “
He got home from the Bootcamp, filled with inspiration, and released his first song “Concrete Shuffle.” He also finally, after 10 years of playing, started playing live in public. Needless to say, the experience was life changing and he was in search for more like it. He began writing more music and involving himself in the community in any way he could, including creating graphics, web pages, and other promotional materials for artists.
“Kyle rocks! Now get to the choppahararhgh!”
Today, Kyle is paving his way as one of the up and coming young modern fingerstyle guitarists. In 2014, he opened a private gig for Thomas Leeb and he also opened a show for Mike Dawes at the renowned Iridium Jazz Club in NYC. He was also a finalist in two international songwriting competitions for two of his original compositions. In early 2015, he received his first full endorsement from K & K Sound, which also endorses some of his favorite players.