Peter Autschbach (born 1961 in

Siegen Siegen () is a city in Germany, in the south Westphalian part of North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly sho ...

, West Germany) is a German composer, guitarist and music teacher.

Biography

Peter Autschbach learned to play the guitar being autodidact, in 1988/89 he was a private student of jazz guitarist

Joe Pass Joe Pass (born Joseph Anthony Jacobi Passalaqua; January 13, 1929 – May 23, 1994) was an American jazz guitarist. Pass is well known for his work stemming from numerous collaborations with pianist Oscar Peterson and vocalist Ella Fitzgerald, an ...

. In 1990, he completed his jazz studies at the Cologne Musikhochschule with highest honors. He joined the band of the rock opera ''Tommy'' written by

Pete Townshend Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend (; born 19 May 1945) is an English musician. He is co-founder, leader, guitarist, second lead vocalist and principal songwriter of the Who, one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s and 1970s. Townsh ...

, he played about 1,000 shows between 1995 and 2005. He also worked for the Dortmund Philharmonic Orchestra being guitarist in various musicals such as ''Cabaret'' (2002) and ''West Side Story'' (2004). Later he was chosen by

Brian May Brian Harold May (born 19 July 1947) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and astrophysicist, who achieved worldwide fame as the lead guitarist of the rock band Queen (band), Queen. May was a co-founder of Queen with lead singer Fredd ...

to be a guitarist in the Queen show "We Will Rock You" in Cologne and Vienna. Since 1998, Autschbach composes for his band Terminal A, touring in Germany and abroad. Autschbach released nine albums with his original compositions. Since 2010, he started a new duo with guitarist Ralf Illenberger, who is living in

Sedona, Arizona Sedona is a city that straddles the county line between Coconino and Yavapai counties in the northern Verde Valley region of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2010 census, its population was 10,031. It is within the Coconino National Fo ...

. So far they released three albums, ''No Boundaries'', ''One Mind'' and ''Zero Gravity''. In 2013, the US guitar manufacturer Larrivée developed a new electric guitar called the "Autschbach Model". Also the German luthier Joe Striebel honored Autschbach with four different signature series. Autschbach is also endorsed by G66, the European distributor of Fractal Audio equipment. As a solo guitarist and interpreter of his fingerstyle compositions, Autschbach was invited to play in Singapore (2011) and Japan (2014). Autschbach's album ''Begin At The End'' was released by Da Vinci Edition, Osaka, Japan in April 2018. Since 2009, Autschbach has been working in a duo with the female singer Samira Saygili. Their first joint album ''Sweeter Than Honey'', was released on 9 November 2018 by Acoustic Music Records. The duo was invited by the German fingerstyle guitarist

Peter Finger Peter Finger (born 11 October 1954) is a German acoustic fingerstyle guitarist, songwriter, composer and record producer. His most notable recordings include "Just Another Day in May", "Vielleicht Im Nächsten Leben", "Fanesca", "For You", "101 S ...

to join the "International Guitar Night" tour in 2011 and 2018. On December 14, 2019, Samira Saygili and Peter Autschbach won the first prize in the "Best Singer" category and an award in the special category "Best Guitarist" with the song "Holobiont" (music: Peter Autschbach, lyrics: Samira Saygili) at the event "Deutscher Rock und Pop Preis" (German Rock and Pop prize). In 2020

Joscho Stephan Joscho Stephan (born 23 June 1979 in Mönchengladbach, West Germany) is a German jazz guitarist who is known for his lightning fast plectrum picking and interpretation of classical, jazz and pop standards in the style of Gypsy jazz. He began play ...

and Autschbach started to perform as a duo. Their joint album "Sundowner" was released March 2021.
In May 2023 the album TA2 by Autschbach's band TA2 was released on CD and on digital platforms. It includes nine originals, a cover of the song "Love Games" by the band

Level 42 Level 42 is an English jazz-funk band formed on the Isle of Wight in 1979. They had a number of UK and worldwide hits during the 1980s and 1990s. Their highest-charting single in the UK was " Lessons in Love", which reached number three on the ...

and a rendition of the

Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

-classic "Little Wing".

Textbook author and music teacher

Since 1990 Autschbach teaches at the music school Lennestadt, conducts guitar workshops in Germany, Europe and Asia and he wrote eighteen guitar teaching books. He developed new didactic approaches that are used by many teachers such as the electric guitar method "Let's Rock" and the two-volume acoustic guitar book "Rock On Wood". The textbook "Gitarre lernen mit Zacky und Bob" for children aged eight and over, published by

Schott Music Schott Music () is one of the oldest German music publishers. It is also one of the largest music publishing houses in Europe, and is the second oldest music publisher after Breitkopf & Härtel. The company headquarters of Schott Music were fou ...

in 2016, teaches playing on the entire fretboard right from the start, so that the guitar can be experienced as a whole. Autschbach composed 90 easy-to-play guitar pieces for this two-volume work. The homepage relating to the books features explanatory videos for each piece. Since 1999, Peter Autschbach writes compositions for the magazine "Akustik Gitarre", which are printed in the column "Fingerstyle Jazz". Since 2011 he conducts video-workshops like "Acoustic Rock" and "Guitar Hero" in the workshop magazine "Acoustic Player".

Composer

Autschbach's compositions make up a large part of his work. He developed his musical language over decades, picking up elements of

Jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

, Rock and Latin American music. Unexpected modulations and changes in rhythm cause surprises, yet the music with its singable melodies always stays tonal, thus allowing less experienced listeners to be able to understand and appreciate his music. Autschbach's interpretations of well-known songs are integrated in this recognizable style of composition by using reharmonization and often a new rhythmic approach. Peter Autschbach introducing Zacky and Bob with illustrator Selina Peterson

Teaching books for guitar

* 2001 ''Gitarre Pur Band 1'', stilübergreifendes Lehrmaterial, Lehrbuch mit CD, Acoustic Music Books * 2003 ''Gitarre Pur Band 2'', stilübergreifendes Lehrmaterial, Lehrbuch mit CD, Acoustic Music Books * 2008 ''Let's Rock'', E-Gitarrenschule, Lehrbuch mit CD, Acoustic Music Books * 2009 ''Improvisation Vol. 1'', Lehrbuch mit DVD, Fingerprint * 2009 ''Improvisation Vol. 2'', Lehrbuch mit DVD, Fingerprint * 2010 ''On Stage'', Autschbach original compositions with CD, Acoustic Music Books * 2011 ''Rock on Wood Band 1'', Lehrbuch für Akustik-Rock mit CD, Acoustic Music Books * 2011 ''Best of Martin Kolbe + Ralf Illenberger'', Compositions for 2 guitars, Acoustic Music Books * 2011 ''Theorie-Basics für Gitarristen Vol.1'', Harmonielehre ohne Noten, Fingerprint * 2011 ''Theorie-Basics für Gitarristen Vol.2'', Harmonielehre ohne Noten, Fingerprint * 2012 ''All in One – Rock Guitar Solos'', Acoustic Music Books * 2013 ''All in One – Blues Guitar Solos'', Acoustic Music Books * 2015 ''Rock on Wood Band 2'', Lehrbuch für Akustik-Rock mit CD, Acoustic Music Books * 2016 ''Gitarre lernen mit Zacky und Bob Band 1'', Gitarrenlehrbuch für Kinder,

* 2017 ''Gitarre lernen mit Zacky und Bob Band 2'', Gitarrenlehrbuch für Kinder,

* 2018 ''Meine Lieblingsstücke'', Autschbach original compositions with CD, Fingerprint * 2019 ''Das Songbuch von Zacky und Bob'',

* 2020 ''Ü40'', 20 Killersongs for guitar

* 2021 ''Jazzgitarrenbu.ch'', Jazz guitar teaching method

* 2023 ''E-Gitarre lernen mit Zacky und Bob'', Video-Guitar-Method for teaching children from the age of 6 years,

Discography (excerpt)

* 1998 ''Chasing the Beat'' (CD) * 2000 ''Under The Surface'' (CD) * 2002 ''Feelin' Dunk'' (CD) feat.

Barbara Dennerlein Barbara Dennerlein (born 25 September 1964 in Munich) is a German jazz organist. She has achieved particular critical acclaim for using the bass pedalboard on a Hammond organ and for integrating synthesizer sounds onto the instrument, and was de ...

- Hammond Organ * 2004 ''Pass It on'' (CD) (A Tribute to Joe Pass) * 2006 ''Transcontinental'' (CD) Peter Autschbach's Terminal A * 2009 ''Summer Breeze'' (CD) * 2012 ''No Boundaries'' (CD) Peter Autschbach & Ralf Illenberger * 2014 ''You and Me'' (CD) * 2014 ''Songs From the Inside'' (CD) with Martin Kolbe * 2014 ''One Mind'' (CD) Peter Autschbach & Ralf Illenberger * 2017 ''Slow Motion'' (CD) * 2017 ''Wir sind Demokratie'' (CD) Peter Autschbach * 2017 ''Zero Gravity'' (CD) Peter Autschbach & Ralf Illenberger * 2018 ''Begin At The End'' (CD) Peter Autschbach * 2018 ''Sweeter Than Honey'' (CD) Samira Saygili & Peter Autschbach * 2021 ''Sundowner'' (CD and Vinyl-LP)

& Peter Autschbach * 2021 ''Sing!'' (CD) Samira Saygili & Peter Autschbach

References

External links

Official website

Interview with Peter Autschbach

Homepage of the duo Autschbach/Illenberger

Peter Autschbach and Ralf Illenberger live on TV, October 2018

All works by Peter Autschbach in the German National Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Autschbach, Peter 1961 births Living people German jazz guitarists German male guitarists German rock guitarists German male songwriters German male classical composers German classical composers Fingerstyle guitarists Acoustic guitarists People from Siegen German male jazz musicians