ABOUT:
Eric began his musical journey with piano lessons starting at the age of five. Shortly after beginning the piano, Eric studied the violin and drumset and at the age of 12 Eric received his first electric guitar and has not put it down since. In the 20+ years since striking those first notes, he has been deeply involved in music and obsessed with the guitar.
As a young guitarist growing up in Olympia, WA, Eric attracted the attention of Scott Cossu, a world music composer and pianist with whom Eric performed in concert as solo guitarist. Eric went on to study jazz and theory with Gloria Swisher, a highly regarded composer at Shoreline Community College in Seattle. His love of guitar led him to the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston where he met a vast array of diverse and unique musicians that helped him establish connections within the music community. To Eric, it wasn’t just about playing guitar; it was about connecting and working with other musicians.
After two years at Berklee, Eric was ready to start his professional career within the music industry. In 2001, he moved with his future wife to her hometown of Harrisburg, PA, where the couple formed the Julie Schreiber Band. Eric developed his reputation as an outstanding rock guitarist very quickly, and his success led to teaching guitar and bass. His calm nature and patience attracted a large number of students, and he quickly established himself as one of the premier guitar/bass instructors in Central Pennsylvania. Following the advice he gives to his students, “always keep evolving”, Eric advanced his own study of the guitar by taking instruction from bebop/jazz guitar legend Pat Martino, as well as world renowned fusion guitarist Greg Howe. Howe later hired him to transcribe and produce the official guitar tab book for his most well known album, Introspection.
Eric’s philosophy to pursue quality as opposed to quantity inspired a guitar student/entrepreneur to approach him with the idea of opening a much-needed musical arts center in the Harrisburg area. In April of 2011, The Perfect 5th Musical Arts Center was born. Eric kicked off the grand opening of by arranging a master class featuring world renowned, Grammy Award winning guitar icon Steve Vai. As the executive director and founder of the Perfect 5th, Eric’s mission was to develop and maintain the highest standards in all aspects of the music industry in a variety of genres. At it’s peak, The Perfect 5th had 22 highly-qualified music instructors giving private lessons on various instruments, classes, workshops, recitals and an array of ensembles ranging from a Celtic Band to a Classic Rock Band to over 300 students.
After being presented with the opportunity to work more closely with a local school district, Eric decided to become a full-time guitar instructor at The Grace Milliman Pollock Center in Camp Hill, PA and performs with the Julie Schreiber Band, TORN (Modern Rock Covers), and Solar Federation (RUSH Tribute) in a variety of local venues.