Nick Johnston is a Canadian guitarist and songwriter who records as a solo artist. As of 2019, he has released five solo records. His albums have featured the work of notable artists such as Paul Gilbert,

Marco Minnemann Marco Minnemann (born 24 December 1970) is a German drummer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist. Career Marco Minnemann has released over a dozen solo albums as drummer, multi-instrumentalist, and vocalist, and performed on over 100 studio alb ...

Guthrie Govan Guthrie Govan (; born 27 December 1971) is an English guitarist and guitar teacher, known for his work with the bands the Aristocrats, Asia, GPS, the Young Punx and the Fellowship, as well as his solo project Erotic Cakes. More recently, he ha ...

, and

Bryan Beller Bryan Beller (born May 6, 1971) is an American bass guitarist known for his work with Joe Satriani, The Aristocrats, Dethklok, Mike Keneally, Steve Vai, James LaBrie of Dream Theater and Dweezil Zappa, as well as his four solo album releases, ...

. He has also played on songs by other artists including

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Scale the Summit Scale the Summit is an American instrumental progressive metal band based out of Houston, Texas. It formed in 2004 and signed to Prosthetic Records. The band is influenced by other progressive acts such as Cynic and Dream Theater. The band gain ...

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Polyphia Polyphia is a primarily instrumental progressive rock band based in Plano, Texas, formed in 2010. The group consists of guitarists Tim Henson and Scott LePage, bassist Clay Gober, and drummer Clay Aeschliman. Polyphia's sound is noted for inco ...

, David Maxim Micic, and

Mike Dawes Mike Dawes is an English fingerstyle guitar player known for composing, arranging and performing multiple parts simultaneously on the guitar. Biography Dawes experimented with keyboards before picking up his first electric guitar at age twelve ...

. He has toured extensively with artists including

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and David Maxim Micic. In May 2019 he went on a North American tour with

Between the Buried and Me Between the Buried and Me, often abbreviated as BTBAM, is an American progressive metal band from Raleigh, North Carolina. Formed in 2000, the band consists of Tommy Giles Rogers Jr. (lead vocals, keyboards), Paul Waggoner (lead guitar, backing ...

and

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. Johnston has cited musical influences such as Stevie Ray Vaughan,

Eddie Van Halen Edward Lodewijk Van Halen ( , ; January 26, 1955 – October 6, 2020) was an American musician and songwriter. He was the guitarist, keyboardist, backing vocalist, and primary songwriter of the rock band Van Halen, which he co-founded along ...

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, and

Jeff Beck Geoffrey Arnold Beck (born 24 June 1944) is an English rock guitarist. He rose to prominence with the Yardbirds and after fronted the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, he switched to a mainly instrumental style, with a focus ...

, saying "I sound nothing like those guys, but I’m massively influenced by them". Another influence was

Joe Satriani Joseph Satriani (born July 15, 1956)Prato, Greg"Joe Satriani – Music Biography, Credits and Discography". ''AllMusic''. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved May 28, 2014. is an American guitarist, composer, songwriter, and guitar teacher. Early in his ...

. "Before listening to Joe, I don't think I understood how important a role the melodies played in building compositions", Nick stated in a ''

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'' interview. "I realised he was the guy who'd really figured it out—the balance of technique, tone, melody, and production. While players were learning blues from

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and Clapton, I was learning them from Satriani". The guitarist released his own signature guitar through Schecter in 2016. Schecter has since released additional variants of his signature guitar, splitting them into the USA Signature Series and Traditional Series, with these being premium and affordable versions respectively. He is also passionate about comics and has hired comics illustrators to create his album art.

Discography

Albums * ''Public Display of Infection'' (2011) * ''In a Locked Room on the Moon'' (2013) * ''Atomic Mind'' (2014) * ''Remarkably Human'' (2016) * ''Wide Eyes in the Dark'' (2019) * ''Young Language'' (2021) Singles * "Gemini" (2019) * "A Cure Promised" (2019) * "Young Language" (2021) * "Silver Moon Rising" (2021) Contributions * "The Parade of Ashes" '' Clear'' (

, 2014) * "Champagne" ''Muse'' (

, 2014) * "Disorder" ''Ego'' ( David Maxim Micic, 2015) * "Slight of Hand" ''The Shape of Colour'' (

, 2015) * "Goddess Gate" ''In a World of Fear'' (

, 2017) * "Slow Dancing in a Burning Room" ''Era'' (

, 2017) * "This Is Living" ( Afterwake, 2017) * "Sleep Walker" ''Ontology'' ( Technopath, 2017) * "Ache" ''Divulgence'' (Organized Chaos, 2017) * "Ghost Town" ( Zac Tiessen, 2019) * "Pythoness" ''Reading the Bones'' (Keith Merrow, 2019) * "Fear and Fate" (Archival, 2021)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnston, Nick Living people 1987 births 21st-century Canadian guitarists People from Wellington County, Ontario Canadian male guitarists Musicians from Ontario 21st-century Canadian male musicians Canadian songwriters