Erik Mongrain

Erik Mongrain was born in Montreal on April 12, 1980. When he was young, he was more into sports than music. Growing up to the sounds of Metallica, Jimi Hendrix and mostly Kurt Cobain from Nirvana, Erik discovered an interest in guitar. At 14, he received a classical guitar as a gift and learnt by ear his favourite songs. A year later, he bought his very first electric guitar which allowed him to learn and play Nirvana songs to his delight.

Over the following four years, he learned guitar on his own, composed his own music and discovered Jean-Sebastian Bach’s classical guitar melodies, which he learned by heart. Around the age of 18, he discovered a Canadian guitar giant who goes by the name of Don Ross. It was during this period in his life that Erik chose acoustic guitar as his favourite musical instrument through which he wished to share his passion with others around him. Nowadays he uses a unique acoustic style including a two-handed lap tapping technique on the acoustic guitar.