About Sandra Sherman, Founder Of GuitarVersum

Born to a US Navy chief officer and a German mother, I grew up in Vienna, Austria.

After taking classes for flute and piano, I started playing the guitar at the age of 11. For three years I basically just learned how to strum on an acoustic guitar. I joined a music project for teenagers then and got taught some Blues basics and the pentatonic. What a revelation that was! I bought my first electric guitar and started a band.

Heavily influenced by Mark Knopfler's Dire Straits, I taught myself all the songs from their 1978 album. I was an autodidact then, until I went to the conservatory.

My time as an audio engineer:

After high school I started to work in a music studio and studied audio engineering at the SAE Institute Wien, Vienna Austria. I then worked as an audio engineer for live events. I had the pleasure to work for Mike Stern, Don Cherry, Archie Shepp, Gil Scott Heron, Eddie Harris, Maceo Parker, John Scofield and several other jazz greats.

I started to dig into jazz. My hero back then was Pat Metheny (still love his music).

I also went on tour with the Mamas & The Papas and had the pleasure to help with the monitor mix.

Jazz Guitar Degrees:

While audio engineering was fascinating, I wasn't able to handle the pressure very well. I had no problem on stage, performing myself and being responsible for myself. But being responsible for others was difficult. So I decided to study Jazz guitar at the Vienna Conservatory. I graduated "summa com laude" and studied Intrumental Education & Pedagogics afterwards, which I also finished "summa cum laude".

My favorite jazz musicians today:

My jazz influences are definitely Charlie Parker and Bebop in general. Today I'm into the Hard Bop era and players like Wes Montgomery, Cedar Waltona and Horace Silver. I also love Cool Jazz from Miles Davis, Stan Getz, and Dave Brubeck and still love my (Bebop) jazz guitar dudes like Joe Pass, Barney Kessel, Grant Green, Kenny Burrell or more modern players like Emily Remler. Also there's a bunch of younger guitarists that I admire, like Julian Lage and Jessie Van Ruler.

I was teaching guitar at local music schools and universities for many years.

How Guitarversum came about:

Since I love working out my own teaching concepts and exploring new ways to explain things easier, I was searching for a way to make these concepts public.

That's how GuitarVersum was born. By the way, "GuitarVersum" is composed of the English word "guitar" and the German word "Universum" (universe).

My goal is to simplify complicated jazz concepts, so everyone will understand them. Music is my passion and it is my pleasure to be able to pass on my knowledge to jazz enthusiasts around the worlde, or as I call you, my "diligent little jazz bees".