Jim Perona began taking guitar lessons at the age of 11 with blues/jazz guitarist Tom Castonzo, a frequent performer, bandleader and teacher in and around the Chicago area.  His studies with Tom lasted for many years, covering various musical and technical aspects of many different styles ranging from jazz to classical and everything in between.  Throughout this time, Jim co-founded the progressive hard rock band Dream Haven, which performed with notable acts such as Mastodon, Fear Factory, Walls of Jericho, & Enuff Z'nuff.  In 2003, Dream Haven released an EP entitled "Nostalgia is Five Frame."  Since 2002, Jim has been performing in pit orchestras for various musicals including Jesus Christ Superstar, Les Miserable, The Wiz, Little Shop of Horrors, and Seussical the Musical.  
 
After high school, Jim attended the College of Dupage (COD) and began studying jazz guitar with Dr. Zvonimir Tot.  Towards the end of his studies at COD, he developed an interest in classical guitar and took lessons from Steve Ramsdell.  After he received his Associate’s Degree in Music from COD he started teaching private guitar lessons at various suburban Chicagoland locations.  In the fall of 2005, he started his Bachelor’s studies in Classical Guitar Performance at Northern Illinois University (NIU) with Fareed Haque.  During his time at NIU, he co-founded the rock/funk/progressive band The Unit Theory and performed a multitude of shows, both solo classical guitar and with The Unit Theory.  The Unit Theory released a full-length album entitled “Seed” in July 2008.  He graduated from NIU in May 2008 with a Bachelor’s degree in Classical Guitar Performance. Jim lived in Boston, Massachusetts from June 2008-June 2010 where he received his master’s degree in classical guitar performance at the New England Conservatory under the tutelage of world-renowned guitarist Eliot Fisk.  As an active performer in the greater Boston area, Jim made it a goal to bring the classical guitar to unorthodox venues such as senior centers, local television tapings, hospitals, dialysis treatment centers, and even juvenile halls and in November 2009, he premiered a new internet video guitar series called the “Weekly Axe Kicking”. His master's recital was a tour-de-force of virtuosic classical, acoustic, and electric guitar pieces. Jim has relocated back to Chicago and looks forward to performing, teaching, and writing original music for the guitar in all styles. http://www.fareed.comhttp://www.fareed.comhttp://www.zacharmusic.com/wak.htmlshapeimage_1_link_0shapeimage_1_link_1shapeimage_1_link_2
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Free instructional videos done by Jim to give you a new technique or concept to implement into your stylewak.html
Weekly Axe Kickingwak.html
Watch the latest WAK video herewak.html