Guitar Theory Teacher Bio
Desi Serna

It came as no surprise to Desi Serna's family and friends when he chose to pursue a career as a guitar teacher and professional musician.  Desi exhibited the telltale signs of a talented guitar player at a young age, often spending his afternoons singing into a vacuum cleaner, strumming a tennis racket or pounding out rhythms on pots and pans on the kitchen floor.  It wasn't until the age of fourteen that his true passion revealed itself in the form of an American made, cherry sunburst, Les Paul Standard guitar. It took Desi a full year of washing dirty dishes at a local Chinese restaurant in his hometown of Toledo, Ohio to save the money, but he claims that it was worth the dishpan hands to fire licks off the same guitar of his then idols Ace Frehley and Jimmy Page.

A devoted student of music theory, Desi honed his craft while continuing his musical education. He formally studied rock and pop guitar theory with Toledo instructors Rob Warden and Bryan Rombalski, jazz guitar theory with Bowling Green State University graduate Jason Shapiro, and voice with the University of Toledo's Dr. Stephan Hodge and Detroit's renowned vocal instructor Ray Taylor.  Desi continued to explore the world of guitar music theory by extensively studying the styles of Chet Atkins, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Jerry Garcia, Alex Lifeson, Albert Lee, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Vernon Reid, Joe Satriani, Eric Johnson, Trey Anastasio, and most recently Dave Matthews and John Mayer.

Desi spent years enchanting audiences with his eclectic blend of guitar, vocals and humor.  Having perfected his stage show with such acts as Terry Cooper, Uncle Sandwitch and Michelle Enix, Desi developed a loyal following of guitar fans from all walks of life. Audiences in Toledo have enjoyed Desi's energetic live performance at traditional local events such as Rally by the River, Taste of the Town and The Rib-off where he had the opportunity to share the bill with Kansas and The Knack. Desi's dedicated fan base continued to grow, helped in part by his dynamic guitar driven performances in Toledo, Ann Arbor, Detroit and Put-In-Bay.

Desi's crowd-pleasing appeal is truly multi-media.  His talent can be sampled on the full-length original albums, Sweep Up Sunshine by Uncle Sandwitch and Time and Place by Adrianne Serna. Desi has also recorded promotional tracks for Club Sandwitch, Club Soda, Put-In-Bay Jet Express, country artist Andrew Dean, Deron 5L, Buckeye Cable and the Warner Brothers network TV5. In addition to his radio and TV work, he has also published books and video DVDs on learning and applying guitar music theory to the guitar fretboard.

Clearly, Desi is no longer that young boy strumming on a tennis racket.  His instinctive love of all things musical has evolved into a talent and authorship that continues to please guitar students everywhere!