Lee Ritenour's Six String Theory Competition

For the sixth consecutive time, Yamaha is sponsoring the Six String Theory Competition, hosted by Grammy®-winning guitarist and producer, Lee Ritenour.The biennial competition accepts performer applications for guitar, bass, piano/keyboards and drums, and offers winners performance opportunities and scholarships, as well as prizes from sponsors.

Registration is open January 15, 2018 via the contest website, Sixstringtheory.com, and entries are made by submitting two YouTube videos for consideration. Registration closes May 31, 2018 and winners are announced the first week of June 2018.

The Six String Theory Competition is the inspiration of Ritenour, who debuted the International Competition in 2010 with the release of his all-star guitar CD, “6 String Theory.” The guitar-only contest was a great success and the winner, Shon Boublil, recorded a track on “6 String Theory” and won a 4 year scholarship to Berklee College of Music, in which he just graduated in 2015. The guitar contest continued to grow in popularity and scope with another competition in 2011, which guitarist David Murray Browne won. By 2012, the competition expanded to include 3 new instruments: Piano, Bass and Drums and attracted wonderful, diverse talent from over 70 countries. Lee Ritenour’s Six String Theory Competition also became an official non-profit organization with the mission of supporting aspiring musicians towards a professional music career through scholarships, recording, performing, mentoring and prizes.

Advisory judges to Lee Ritenour include Joe Satriani, Brent Mason, Julian Lage, Guthrie Govan, Steve Lukather, Daryl Stuermer, Harvey Mason, John Beasley, Sonny Emory, Will Kennedy, and Dave Grusin, as well as Yamaha Artists Nathan East, John Patitucci, Dave Weckl and Patrice Rushen, who will work with Ritenour to determine the 2018 winners.
Yamaha will fly the winners to Los Angeles for the 2019 NAMM Show. The prize package includes travel, lodging, food/per diem, ground transportation and NAMM passes. During the day, winners will be at the Yamaha booth to demonstrate and perform on Yamaha products. One of the nights, the winners will perform with Lee at a live Yamaha event.
Other prizes include scholarships for Berklee College of Music, 2018 performance opportunities at The Blue Note Tokyo and Festival da Jazz in St. Moritz, Switzerland with Lee Ritenour, recording sessions at Woodshed Recording Studio in Malibu with Lee Ritenour, and music products from several other manufacturers including Monster, Line 6 and D’Addario.
Lee Ritenour’s Six String Theory Competition is an official non-profit organization with the mission of supporting aspiring musicians towards a professional music career through scholarships, recording, performing, mentoring and prizes.