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Adam Cord started playing the guitar at the age of 19, a little over a year
after his high school graduation. He was initially inspired by the electric guitar styles of players such as Mark
Knopfler, Eric Clapton, and Al Di Meola. Further study of the guitar led him into the world of fingerstyle guitar as
he heard the music of Phil Keaggy, Chet Atkins, Billy McLaughlin, Michael Hedges, and Leo Kottke (just to name a few).
Keaggy and McLaughlin, in particular, were strong influences from whom Adam picked up many different techniques as he
sought to realize the rich and diverse range of sounds which the guitar is capable of producing.
After a few years of bouncing around open mike nights at coffee shops all over the Akron, OH area, Adam recorded his first
CD in 2000 following some encouragement by Billy McLaughlin. No One of Consequence consisted primarily
of Adam's original compositions combined with a hymn arrangement done "tapping-style" and a cover of McLaughlin's
"Helms Place." The CD was very well-received and Adam followed it up with 2002's Hymn Heritage.
As the son of a Baptist minister, Adam has always had a deep love for the melodies found in sacred music and
Hymn Heritage featured some of Adam's best guitar arrangements of the old hymns done using more contemporary
styles and techniques. As a result of the success of Hymn Heritage, Adam has performed many sacred music concerts
in churches in Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Minnesota. He also had the honor of opening for world-renowned
jazz guitarist Martin Taylor in 2004. Adam then joined forces with the multi-talented Benjamin Payne for the Christmas
collection Night Light in 2005. Night Light features guitar solos combined with guitar/percussion
duets and a sprinkling of vocals by Payne.
Shortly after the recording of Night Light, Adam
and his wife, Nora, made the momentous decision to quit their jobs and relocate to Milwaukee, Wisconsin so that Adam
could enroll in the Fingerstyle Guitar program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee under the supervision and instruction
of John Stropes. Stropes is the leading scholar, historian, and teacher of American fingerstyle guitar traditions,
which range encompass styles as diverse as Country Blues, Hawaiian Slack-Key, Nashville styles, and more modern
percussive styles such as tapping. The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee offers the only college-level program dedicated
to the study of these branches of guitar playing, and Adam graduated with his degree in American Fingerstyle guitar in 2010.
Now that he has relocated back to Akron, OH, Adam is teaching and performing all over. He is a guitar instructor
at Malone University, a private college in Canton, OH and has many private students besides. When he is not teaching,
he is usually working on guitar transcriptions or performing solo guitar concerts at coffee shops, churches, and anywhere
else that someone needs good guitar music. In addition to his own compositions and arrangements, Adam's performances
include the music of many of the great fingerstyle guitarists in history such as Chet Atkins, Jerry Reed, Pierre Bensusan,
Leo Kottke, Phil Keaggy (with whom Adam has performed onstage), Michael Hedges, Alex DeGrassi, Billy McLaughlin, Pete Huttlinger,
and many other favorites.
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