Guitar, Bass, Ukulele, Piano
Gavriel Torres-Olivares, known to his students as Gavi (Gah-vee) or Mr. G, grew up in Denver and started playing guitar at the age of 13 and began gigging live at the age of 14. After quickly learning that this was a passion, he contuinued his pursued music throughout his developmental year.
He attended Denver School of the Arts for guitar in high-school, then went to the University of Denver Colorado for music performance and business with a focus in guitar. Gavi has been professionally involved in everything from playing with original bands on tour, solo gigs for private events to cover bands for hire, musical theatre performances and studio work.
He loves to play, and is influenced by, a diverse range of music. This range includes, but is not limited to, Rock, Jazz, Country, Funk, Blues, Metal, Classical, Bluegrass, Hip-hop and Pop. Some of his biggest guitar influences range from rock musucians like Eddie Van Halen, Joe Satriani and Yngwie Malmsteen to blues musucians like Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Josh Smith to jazz musucians like Pat Martino, Wes Montgomery and Julian Lage. As well as composers and artists who play other instruments, such as John Coltrane, Frederic Chopin, Miles Davis, Maurice White, Sting, Victor Wooten and Neil Peart. As a result of his interest in this wide range of styles, he has learned the importance of versatility as an artist.
Gavi has been teaching since he graduated from high school. From young burgeoning musicians to seasoned veterans, he has helped many different ages of people achieve their musical goals. He loves to work with casual musicians who are just trying to learn a few things at a slower pace, as well as extremely strict professional gigging artists/or college students who need to make sure that they can play a certain passage by a deadline. Gavi is also very well versed in music theory and composition which allows him to offer help with any issues that songwriters encounter from chord creativity, writing melodies, developing melodic structure, identifying song form, to simply helping with creating that “catchy” riff that is desired.
Need help with a music theory test? Or to compose a melody for a school project? Maybe you want to learn the newest, sweetest, tastiest guitar riff that your favorite artist just released? Gavi can help with that!