THE STORY

     Rusty King began his classical guitar journey at age 15.  He had been taking piano lessons since age 6 from his father, a musician who worked in churches and at colleges.  Rusty informed his father that he wouldn’t be playing the piano anymore, that he would be playing guitar. His Dad responded by doing three things.

Splitting the cost of a steel-stringed Fender acoustic guitar with his son ($50 each)

Purchasing the album “Christopher Parkening Plays Bach”. Very inspiring!

Purchasing the book “Christopher Parkening Guitar Method: Volume One”

     Rusty embarked on a path that included two approaches to learning the guitar: 

using the ear to listen to and imitate artists like Dan Fogelberg, the Eagles, Chicago and the like

teaching himself from the Parkening method of learning the notes on the fretboard.  

     Rusty learned in his freshman year of college music theory class how valuable it proved to have done those two approaches simultaneously.  He was getting 110 on the tests while his classmates were getting 70’s and a lot lower!  He messed up the curve!     

     Two years later during his junior year in college, Rusty found a classical guitar teacher who played violin in the Shreveport symphony.  Nghe Pham had been the conductor of the Saigon Symphony and moved stateside during the Vietnam war.  Nghe taught Rusty the virtuoso pieces that he plays and became the staple for decades when he would present classical guitar recitals.

     During Rusty’s senior year in college, he gave his voice recital as part of his music degree which was training him to follow in his father’s footsteps and be a music director in Methodist Churches.  What was NOT required was the classical guitar recital he gave his senior year at the music school.  He played solos and also had a guitar quartet as well as a soprano to add to the festivities!

     Rusty had considered the possibility in late high school of going to USC to study classical guitar with Christopher Parkening.  That wasn’t the plan that God had in mind.  Then came two opportunities in the early 1992 and 1993 for Rusty to play in master classes that Parkening was teaching in Shreveport.  At the first one, Rusty played “Prelude in D Minor” by Bach.  He played “”Bouree” by Bach the second time.  Parkening was very affirming and remarked on how musically expressive the pieces were! 

     Jump ahead to the pandemic which started in March of 2022

     By May, Rusty reached out to the head of the guitar department at UT-Dallas, Enric Madriguera to take lessons again.  Rusty sent what turned out to be an audition video of sorts of a recital to Enric.  Rusty had been leading a newly-formed one-year-old classical guitar quartet and presented pieces by the group in addition to many of the pieces he had learned in college.  The lessons then began and are ongoing.  They have included studies of the Segovia scales, of the book “Pumping Nylon” by Scott Tennant (a member of the LA Guitar Quartet), new repertoire for solos, duets and assistance with Rusty’s parts in his guitar quartet.

     In November 2021, a classical guitar recital took place at FUMC Allen which included some of the new solos by Rusty, several duets with Enric and quartet selections.  Check out the videos.