Pritesh Walia is a jazz guitarist, composer and educator born and raised in New Delhi, India. With an Associates of Arts Degree from the Musicians Institute College of Contemporary Music, a Bachelor’s Degree from Berklee College of Music in Contemporary Jazz Performance and Professional Music, and a Master’s Degree in Jazz Performance from the New England Conservatory, Pritesh Walia has had countless opportunities to learn from and perform with some of the best Jazz musicians in the United States.

 

Pritesh first picked up the guitar at the age of 13 when he was first exposed to Indian Classical Music. As a young musician in India, this was the only music education available to him.  In later years, he became more drawn towards Western styles of music and approached any and all Western music instructors in his locality to cure his thirst and curiosity.

 

At the age of 17, Pritesh was already the lead guitar player for his school’s band. He had taken part in many inter-school competitions where he won “Best Guitarist” and “Best Band” awards, and was gaining exposure in the Delhi music scene.

 

Pritesh applied and was accepted to the Musicians Institute in Los Angeles with the "Steve Vai Scholarship." He focused on contemporary styles including jazz, fusion, funk, blues, country, rock, etc. He had the honor and privilege of studying under Scott Henderson, Allen Hinds, Dave Hill, Russel Ferrante, Dan Gilbert, Carl Shroerder, Carl Verheyen, Dean Brown, David Gilmore, David Fuze, Tomo Fujita, Tim Miller, and many more. 

 

Pritesh has been in collaboration with several brands over the years. He has represented many companies in his past tours of India back in 2015 to 2017. Sponsored by one of the biggest musical instrument retail company, "Furtado’s Music," he gave multiple master classes and clinics all over India. Pritesh also has lessons and instructional packages available at Monsterguitarist.com.  He filmed his first guitar instruction package in London with the world renowned "licklibrary," which was released and made available for purchase on the Licklibrary website in January of 2017. Pritesh was also one of 7 finalists in the largest guitar competition in the world, "Guitar Idol," in 2016. Pritesh is currently endorsing multiple products from companies like Gruvgear, Chicken Picks, Collings Guitars, and Antelope Audio.

 

Pritesh has a profound connection with music education. Cultivating interest and curiosity for musical understanding is one of his greatest passions. He currently resides in Boston, Massachusetts and teaches at several institutes including Bunker Hill Community College, Brookline Music School, and Excelsia College on top of his private catalogue of students.

 

Pritesh’s unfathomable love of Jazz performance and composition also translates to the genre’s harmony, theory, language, history, and voice. Every day, he strives to more deeply understand the music he has dedicated his life to. Pritesh is preparing the release of his debut album titled “Hope Town,” to be released this fall on all streaming platforms.