Mark Newstetter was born in 1957and grew up on New York City’s Lower East Side. At 9 he began playing guitar and piano, and by his late teens was performing regularly in Greenwich Village coffee houses.
“As a 17 year old I lied about my age to get gigs in Greenwich Village. I learned from the many great musicians I had a chance to observe and to know … that combined with my New York public school music education, where I learned to read music and play viola. Guitar was something I was drawn to like a magnet. I took two lessons at a neighborhood center, learned to tune the instrument and play a few chords.
When I began gigging it was a mixture of rock songs, folk, and originals. Playing two solo club gigs a week and busking was my life for a few years.
Living in L.A. late ‘70s … demo work, in a couple of bands, writing and pitching songs … resulting in airplay for one of my songs … I studied music theory at UCLA and took a record production lecture course taught there by producer Nik Venet.”
In San Francisco since 1981 … Steady solo gigs around town playing solo, small groups, several rock bands … ‘81 was also the year I became a bass player, which opened up more gigging opportunities.
Teaching began in earnest in the late ‘90s. When I committed myself to teaching guitar I felt strongly that I had to adopt a clear and concise method and completely re-evaluated my own understanding of the guitar fretboard, so I developed the Fretography® method, which maps out the musical symmetries on the fretboard, enabling guitarists to not only better find and identify notes and chords, etc., but also to think of the fretboard as a terrain — a musical geography — where each key has the same basic identifiable geometry. This method has been very successful for hundreds of my students … beginners and experienced players alike.
In 2009 when I opened my shop —Balboa Guitars — in San Francisco, I was already giving between twenty and thirty one-on-one lessons per week and it’s been that way since then. I estimate I’ve given over 20,000 personal lessons.
Even though I’ve had so many students and given so many lessons, I treat each lesson as a unique experience. I cover certain essential ideas and techniques, but each student comes with different interests and abilities. I address the individual and find what will help them best to find their music.
As a working musician I’ve found myself crossing some boundaries. I’ve played guitar and bass with rock and blues bands, folk groups, accompanied jazz singers and dance companies.
Some highlights of my life as a performer have been working with Patrick Haggerty’s Lavender Country band since 2015 including the Lavender Country Ballet at Z Space in San Francisco … I was an original member of Elliot Schneider’s “Banned” and have done studio work as a vocalist and guitarist with him over the years … Regular collaborator with Cherie Lebow of Bond Girl and The Minks.
Repair work was something I learned to do by fixing my own instruments at first, applying skills I learned from my father, who was an aeronautical engineer, and my art school education. As a kid I was always building model kits and I later worked as a carpenter for an architect/builder in L.A., I built some instruments in the ‘80s and that got me started. I’m not building instruments now, doing repairs steadily since I opened the shop and giving 25 lessons a week keeps me pretty busy."