Home » Member Page

Gustavo Assis-Brasil

About Me

Gustavo Assis-Brasil is a Brazilian American jazz guitarist. Based in Boston, he is considered a major pioneer in organizing the study and development of the hybrid picking technique for guitar. In 1999 he received a full scholarship to get his Master's degree at Berklee College of Music and The Boston Conservatory. His main teachers were Mick Goodrick, Wayne Krantz, Ed Tomassi, Dave Fiuczynski, Rick Peckham, and Larry Baione. He has also studied with Charlie Banacos, and Prasanna. In 2005, Gustavo released the book Hybrid Picking for Guitar.

He is the director of the Jazz and Contemporary Music Ensembles of The Cambridge School of Weston and he teaches at Berklee College of Music during the Guitar Sessions. Also as a teacher, Gustavo taught clinics at GIT, Guitar Institute of Technology, Los Angeles, CA; University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA; Berklee College of Music, Boston, MA; UFRGS, Brazil; Federal University of Santa Maria, Brazil; University of Passo Fundo, Brazil.

Gustavo also had master-classes/lessons with Pat Metheny, Frank Gambale, Mike Stern, Dave Liebman and John Scofield. Gustavo also studied improvisation and composition privately with the late jazz-guru Charlie Banacos.

From 2001 until 2006, Gustavo played/toured with the renowned group the Dig Trio.

In 2005, Gustavo released the book “Hybrid Picking for Guitar”. This book is the first method entirely dedicated to the art of combining pick and fingers to play the guitar. The book is in its 3rd edition and it has been receiving praise worldwide.

In 2008, he released the follow up book “Hybrid Picking Exercises: Single Note Permutations”, with more than 1,400 different exercises based entirely on math permutations. Also in 2008, Gustavo released a live DVD/CD combo called “In Concert” where he features original compositions. On that same year, he was invited by ESC Records (Germany) to write and record an arrangement of Steely Dan’s “Aja”, to be part of a tribute CD called “Maestros of Cool”.

In 2009, Gustavo was invited to participate in the project “Mahavishnu Re-Defined – a Tribute to John Mclaughlin & the Mahavishnu Orchestra” along with other important jazz artists.

In 2010 was featured as the soundtrack composer for the feature Brazilian movie “Manhã Transfigurada”. The movie is also available on DVD with his full soundtrack, which is also being released at the same time.

In 2011, Gustavo released his third book, “Hybrid Picking Lines and Licks”. British guitar virtuoso Guthrie Govan wrote the foreword for it.

He has performed and recorded with artists and groups like Mozik, John Stowell, Tim Pascoal, Frank Potenza, Richard Smith, Mauricio Zottarelli, Hiromi, Tony Grey (John McLaughlin), Prasanna, Greg Hopkins, Esperanza Spalding, Brett Wilmott, Bob Mintzer, Richard Bona, Matthew Nicholl, Tim Ries (The Rolling Stones, Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder), Nelson Faria, Jose Pienasola (Elis Regina, Romero Lubambo, Leny Andrade), Michael Farquharson, Hiroaki Honshuku, Oriente Lopez, Dough Johnson, Natalie Dietrich, Fernando Huergo, Mark Walker (Oregon), among others.