Tomo Fujita: Guitarist and Teacher
Tomo Fujita has been a professional guitarist for over thirty years and a faculty member at Berklee College of Music since 1993.
Tomo’s philosophy, distilled into a one-liner, is that music is not just about playing; it’s about emotional expression. He teaches students to inject emotion into every phrase, whether the style is blues, jazz, funk or rock.
Although he has resided in the United States for three decades, Tomo remains closely connected with musicians and the music business in his native Japan. He visits for a quick tour two or three times each year. Japanese guitar players have bought more than 160,000 copies of his (Japanese language) instructional books and videos.
Tomo has performed with some of the best, including Will Lee, Steve Gadd, Bernard Purdie, Steve Jordan, Susan Tedeschi, Phil Collins, John Mayer, James Gadson, Travis Carlton, James Genus, Kenwood Dennard, Darryl Jones, Lemar Carter, Paul Jackson and Janek Gwizdala. When he is not performing on his own, Tomo likes to sit in with others, like Ronnie Earl, Coco Montoya, Eric Gales, Josh Smith, Kirk Fletcher, and Matt Schofield.
Tomo has been an instructor to many great players over the years. The most famous of his former students is John Mayer. Tomo and John stay in touch to this day. Pictured above is a guitar that John signed for Tomo, next to the factory signature. Check out the video of these guys playing together during John’s 2008 visit to Berklee, at Tomo’s YouTube channel.
Tomo also taught Eric Krasno of “Soulive” and Adam (“Shmeeans”) Smirnoff of “Lettuce” at Berklee. And there are some entertaining videos on this site featuring Tomo’s former Berklee students Tyler Larson and Michael Lemmo. Tomo has even provided some master-class style lessons to multiple Grammy-Award winner Juanes . . . an artist who has inspired a Fender signature Stratocaster.
Tomo has been a user of Eminence speakers for many years. In 2012, Tomo teamed up with Eminence to create the TF-1250, thereby joining a club that includes Eric Johnson, who has also collaborated with Eminence to create a signature speaker.
The TF-1250 speaker became standard gear in the TF Signature amplifier that Two-Rock later developed with Tomo for distribution in Japan.
Tomo Fujita Wisdom Picks express Tomo’s philosophy, in guitar-playing and in life. Which one is your favorite? These are 1 mm picks made to Tomo’s specifications. They are the only picks he uses!
On October 2, 2009, at the invitation of the Boston Red Sox, Tomo performed a guitar-solo version of “The Star Spangled Banner” before the start of a game at Fenway Park. This was the largest audience for which Tomo has ever performed and, of course, the shortest live performance of his career. And no . . . it was not a Jimi Hendrix performance, but the fans loved it!
Noteworthy Recent Performances:
- Performance with Will Lee and Shawn Pelton at The Bitter End
on October 30, 2018. - Performances with Shawn Pelton and Richard Hammond at The Bitter End on August 21 and December 4, 2018.
- Performance with Mikarimba (Mika Stoltzman, Steve Gadd) in Rockport, Massachusetts on August 22, 2019.
- Performances with Pigeons Playing Ping-Pong in 2019: July 14 at Levitate Music and Arts Festival, Marshfield, Massachusetts; and October 31 at House of Blues, Boston.
- Performance with Jorge Perez (Patax) at Berklee Performance Center on November 5, 2019.
- Performance with Pigeons Playing Ping-Pong: State Theatre, Portland (ME), October 9, 2021.
- Performances with Will Lee, Shawn Pelton and Oz Noy at The Bitter End on August 10, 2023 and December 7, 2023.
- Performance with Pigeons Playing Ping Pong at House of Blues, Boston on December 31, 2023.
Recent Jazz Festival Performances:
- Takayama, Japan May 2018
- Busan, South Korea, September 2015
- Springfield Jazz Festival, August 2018
- Hartford Jazz Festival, July 2018
- Onset Jazz Festival, July 2018
Endorsements
D’Addario Strings/Planet Wave, Pickboy/NAKANO, Eminence Speaker, Two-Rock, Vemuram effects, Kanji guitars, Xotic effects, BOSS effects, Fender, D’Angelico, Musicman guitars, John Page guitars, D’Pergo guitars, PRS, Reunion Blues guitar cases, and Providence Cables.
