Fret Chat: Nicholas Veinoglou

Amidst the critical mass of Instagram guitarists competing for attention with hashtags and high hopes of a PickUp feature, Nicholas Veinoglou knows how to stand out from the crowd.

First of all, he isn’t afraid to get creative or embrace his unique sense of humor on social media – you might have seen him serenading cows, playing half-naked in the snow, and even dressing up as a Bob Ross painting. He’s known as “The Donut Doctor”, which, if you were wondering, is due to his affinity for circular pastries and his tendency to give them as gifts.

However, you should know that there’s much more to Nicholas Veinoglou than Instagram gimmicks and unique personal branding – he’s a powerful guitarist.

Nicholas graduated Magna Cum Laude from Berklee in 2015 with a degree in Jazz guitar performance and a minor in harmony. Since he left Berklee, he has released an EP titled Love Languages, toured with artists like Jordan Fisher, and worked as a session guitarist, arranger, and songwriter. He’s also currently on tour with Atlantic Records artist Bazzi.

In this installment of our Fret Chat series, we sat down with Nicholas to chat about his philosophy on guitar…

Nicholas’s guitar influences and players to watch

Nicholas’s playing style features a unique blend of blues, classical, and jazz guitar. He can shred high-gain lead licks, serenade you with solo jazz playing, or bust out bluesy folk grooves on an acoustic guitar. At Berklee, he studied under the likes of Mick Goodrick, Tim Miller, Tomo Fujita, and Jetro De Silva, but the guitar players who most inspire him are Lenny Breau, Ted Greene, Derek Trucks, and Julian Lage.

“[Lenny Breau and Ted Greene are] both brilliant, brilliant solo jazz guitar players,” he said, “really innovative arrangements, crazy sense of harmony— they’re basically doing what Bill Evans was doing, but on the fretboard. Lenny Breau pioneered the right hand harmonic waterfall technique, which is one of my favorite sounds on the instrument. They’re both also super influenced by classical music, which is really inspiring.”

“Julian Lage is more of a contemporary jazz player, like a jazz-folk kind of master— probably the most prolific player of our time currently…in terms of skill, capacity, and overall knowledge of music,” Nicholas said, “He studies Alexander Technique too, which is a really interesting thing. If you watch Julian Lage play, it’s like watching a butterfly just effortlessly pounce from flower to flower. He’s almost using no energy, and it’s incredible.”

On the blues side of things, Nicholas admires Derek Trucks for his no frills approach to guitar.

“Derek Trucks is able to emulate the human voice on the guitar,” he explained, “[Slide guitar is] the most beautiful sound that the guitar can produce in the right hands [like Derek’s]. He uses his SG directly into an amp that’s all the way cranked. He doesn’t use any pedals— there’s no bullshit, it’s just a straight love injection.”

When Nicholas was at NAMM this year, he met a young guitarist by the name of Brandon Niederauer. Brandon, who at the ripe age of fifteen has shared the stage with some of the most prolific guitarists in the world, is definitely a player to keep an eye on.

“This kid is just so on top of it,” Nicholas said, “he just rips, absolutely insane, super inspiring. I transcribe his solos, they’re beautiful.”