Ronald Thompson, 6, 7 and 8 String Guitarist, was born and raised in San Francisco. He began playing guitar at the age of 17. After receiving a degree in business from San Francisco State University, he attended the Guitar Institute of Technology in Los Angeles graduating in 1981. While at GIT he was able to study with Ron Eschete, Joe Diorio, Carl Schroeder and Pat Martino. Upon graduation Ron did further study with John Abercrombie and Davis Ramey. His interest in contemporary creative music and classical music was spawned during his time at GIT.
He was a founding member of the Ciya Jazz Quartet which existed from 1982-1985. Ron then concentrated on playing solo guitar for the next 6 years. In 1992 he began holding workshops with other musicians in the Santa Rosa area exploring free improvisation and contemporary composition. Out of these workshops emeged the group Tabula Rasa. Tabula Rasa existed in one form or another until 1996 releasing one album, Tabula Rasa in 1995. Moving to the East Bay in 1995, Ron has continued to develop his ideas in creative music and has recorded two upcoming cd’s. The first “Spirit Park” Vol. 1 will be a disc of solo guitar music. The second, “Spirit Park” Vol. 2, will be a disc of guitar and percussion duets with Karen Stackpole. Upcoming is a session to be recorded in late March which will be “Spirit Park” Vol. 3, which will be trio recordings featuring Ron, with Karen Stackpole on percussion and Larry Ochs on Saxophones. All recordings are produced by Myles Boisen.
Main features in Ron’s work is the use of graphical notational symbols that allow the musician to explore ideas with a minimum of constraints. Ron has composed 20 pieces with this system and is constantly evolving the symbols, notation and cocepts with each piece.
His 7 String Acoustic Guitar, (low A String), and 8 String Electric (low A String and High A string), were made by Luthier Michael Dolan located in Santa Rosa Calif. He also plays a 7 String Electric made by Luthier Tom Holmes located in Nashville, Tennesee. Ron also uses a Roland GR-1 Synthesizer with a Les Paul Recording Guitar as his controller.