Jon Chappell

Jon Chappell is an author, editor, writer, and guitarist. He started professional life as multi-style guitarist, transcriber and arranger, attending Carnegie-Mellon University where he studied with guitarist Carlos Barbosa-Lima, and then earning his master’s degree in composition from DePaul University.

Jon served as editor-in-chief of Guitar Magazine, and is founder and the first editor-in-chief of Home Recording Magazine. He has played guitar and recorded with Pat Benatar, Judy Collins, Graham Nash, and Robert Cray, and has contributed numerous musical pieces to film and TV. Some of these include Northern Exposure, Walker, Texas Ranger, Guiding Light, and the feature film Bleeding Hearts, directed by actor-dancer Gregory Hines. He is the author of six highly successful books and three videos in the “For Dummies” series (Wiley Publishing), including Rock Guitar For Dummies and Blues Guitar For Dummies, and has written several books on recording, including The Recording Guitarist: A Guide for Home and Studio, published by Hal Leonard; Build Your Own PC Recording Studio (McGraw-Hill); and Digital Recording (BackBeat Books). Jon has published articles in Rolling Stone, Men’s Health, Entertainment Weekly, PC Magazine, Mac World, and many other publications.

In 2006, he became senior editor of Harmony Central, the leading online community for musicians, where he writes, edits, and produces multimedia content, including artist interviews, lessons, how-to articles, and products reviews.

Visit Jon at jonchappell.com.