Bob Ferguson began playing guitar more than 25 years ago. He opened his highly acclaimed guitar instruction studio when he was 16 and has been teaching ever since. Bob received his Bachelor’s Degree in Music with distinction from Indiana University, and his Master’s Degree in Guitar Performance from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington.
While at IU, Bob studied with international recording and concert artist Ernesto Bitetti of Spain. Bob’s other teachers included early music specialists Jeffrey Noonan and Thomas Binkley, Bolivian classical virtuoso Javier Calderon, and American recitalist Michael Lorimer, the latter two being proteges of Andres Segovia. Bob also studied jazz with West Coast guitarist Ted Greene and renowned jazz performer and educator David Baker.
In addition to his private studio activities, Bob was director of guitar studies at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne from 1985 to 1992, and a founder and co-director of the Young Guitarists Program at the IU School of Music in Bloomington from 1992 to 1995. He was also Artist-in-Residence at Weisser Park Magnet School in Fort Wayne and director of guitar studies at Grace College, Winona Lake. He is currently adjunct professor of guitar at Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne and director of the guitar program at Trine University, Angola. Bob supplements his teaching schedule with research and writing, broadcasting, and performing. He plays regularly around the Midwest with Dan Heath and the Paradise Jazz Band. His writings appear occasionally in Soundboard (Journal of the Guitar Foundation of America), and on Monday evenings at 9:00 you can hear his radio program Guitar Showcase on Northeast Indiana Public Radio, WBOI 89.1 FM.