G-TARanaki Guitar Festival

G-TARanaki
Genre	Rock, Blues, Jazz, Classical, instrumental
Dates	July 14–19 (2008) September 28–October 4 (2009) August 11–15 (2010)
Location(s)	New Plymouth, New Zealand
Years active	2008 – present
Founded by	Garry Sharpe-Young
Website
www.gtaranaki.co.nz

GTaranaki, also known as G-TARanaki, was New Zealand's first international guitar festival held in New Plymouth, Taranaki, New Zealand annually from July 2008. The week-long festival brings some of worlds best guitarists to Taranaki to perform, educate and inspire Kiwi guitarists and music fans around New Zealand. G-TARanaki features a celebration of all things guitar with guitarists and bands from a range of genres including Rock, Funk, Classical, Jazz, Blues and Metal.

The event was launched by an auction to benefit the cancer society. Items auctioned included guitars autographed by Pink Floyd, Bon Jovi, AC/DC and U2.

Guitar clinics and discussion forums were held throughout the week. Special midnight sessions included performances from Vernon Reid, from Living Colour, and Gilby Clarke, from Guns n' Roses, who were also joined by major artists on the bill such as Alex Skolnick (Testament / Alex Skolnick Trio) and Uli Jon Roth (Ex-Scorpions). These midnight sessions were held at Puke Ariki. Sky Academy, the music school founded by Uli Jon Roth, offered tuition classes at three Taranaki towns, Waitara, Inglewood and Opunake and included guests Vernon Reid and Gilby Clarke. Classical and Jazz performances were given by the New Zealand School of Music led by Matthew Marshall and Nick Granville.

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