Guthrie Govan

(Taken from the Suhr Guitars Website)

Guthrie Govan, hailing from Chelmsford, UK, is arguably the most exciting and significant new guitarist to emerge in the virtuosic rock/fusion guitar scene in many years. A brilliant virtuoso who is at home in a variety of musical genres and styles, Guthrie combines astonishing technique with vast theoretical knowledge, down-to-earth feel, sophisticated harmonic vocabulary, superb improvisation abilities with a penchant for memorable melodies, and woody organic tone. Whether it's mainstream shred rock a la G3 or fusion jazz or chicken-picking country or groove-driven funk or down-home blues or whatever other style you could think of, Guthrie does 'em all and does so extremely well.


Guthrie started playing at the age of 3 and was on national British TV for his guitar prowess by the time he was 8. The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, and Eric Clapton were his earliest influences. Soon Yngwie hit the scene and Guthrie immersed himself in the shred mania of the 80's, taking in everyone from Satch to Vai to Racer X to Cacophony, quickly developing his technique that could easily keep up with anything from that era. Later influences include fusion legends such as Scott Henderson, Shawn Lane, and Allan Holdsworth as well as jazz players such as Pat Metheny and John Scofield.


In 1993, Guthrie won the Guitarist of the Year contest sponsored by UK's Guitarist magazine and he started teaching at UK's prestigious Academy of Contemporary Music and also doing transcribing work and writing instructional columns for the Guitar Techniques magazine.

Guthrie's talents were soon discovered by the prog rock band Asia and Guthrie started out recording on some tracks of their album, 'Aura'. Guthrie soon became Asia's full-time guitarist and went on various world tours with the legendary prog-rock band.

Guthrie's stunning versatility requires guitars that can quickly change sounds and adapt to Guthrie's all-encompassing style. Whether it's heavy fusion with a searing overdriven lead tone or a clean country tone or a warm jazz tone, Guthrie relies on his Suhr guitars to cover various styles and sounds just by changing pickups, rolling back on the guitar's volume pot, and varying the attack and touch of his hands.

Since early-2004, Guthrie has been exclusively playing his various Suhr guitars for both recording and live use - from the smoky jazz bars in his hometown to the halls and arenas around the world during tours with prog-rock legend Asia, UK techno outfit The Young Punx, and UK's top rap artist Dizzee Rascal. Guthrie released his long-awaited debut solo album titled 'Erotic Cakes' in 2006 and is currently keeping busy with product clinics, educational workshops, and local live shows while working on the follow-up album to the successful debut of his instrumental album 'Erotic Cakes.'

In January, 2009, Suhr Guitars introduced the Guthrie Govan Signature Model, which is essentially a custom version of the 24-fret Modern built to Guthrie's specs incorporating the features of his favorite Suhr instruments. Possibly the most versatile Suhr guitar ever conceived, this fabulous instrument provides everything Guthrie needs to get his distinctively cutting yet warm organic tone and cover all of his stylistic bases and sonic needs without compromise. In January, 2010, the Guthrie Govan Set-Neck Signature Model was introduced to great fanfare, combining the best features of the original Signature Model with new set-neck construction.