Mike Papapavlou is the Modern Guitar Harmony Guitarist of the Month for October, 2023.
Mike is an NYC based Jazz Guitarist and Guitar Teacher.
Born and raised in Cyprus and with very supportive parents towards music, he first picked up the guitar when he was 10 and took to it instantly.
Starting with Rock and Metal he eventually discovered many other beautiful genres. He did not ‘meet’ jazz until he was nearly 20. The first time he listened to Joe Pass, he knew he could study this music for lifetimes.
After earning a degree in Guitar Performance from Newcastle University, UK, he was fortunate enough to get accepted into the Aaron Copland School of Music in NYC, for a Master’s in Jazz Guitar.
Although he was at the perfect place to grow, learn and really understand this thing called Jazz, he got so discouraged at the level he perceived other players were at, compared to where he thought he was, that he switched to a Master’s in Musicology and quit playing guitar altogether.
Almost 7 years later, it dawned on him. What happened to Mike the Jazz Guitarist that could spend several hours every single day shedding and absolutely loved every second of it? Why did someone who’s whole life was about guitar playing and practicing just quit like that?
From that moment he realized he needed to continue the journey he started and he’s been on it since.
Mike was very blessed to receive the award Guitar Teacher of 2020 by Guitar World Magazine based on the testimonials he got from his students.
He has accrued almost 200 5 star reviews on Google regarding his teaching. (192 to be exact) He’s significantly slowed down working on getting more reviews as he wants to spend every second not teaching towards practice.
Mike has 2 big vices. The first is he’s never quite content enough with how much he’s practiced on any given day and secondly, has an insatiable desire for vintage guitars, especially Gibson ES’s.
He owns a ludicrous 8 ES 225’s, a model that only produced less than 8000 guitars, between 1955 and 59! He just might be the #1 collector of ES 225s in the world haha (See photos below).
Please ask him to seek professional help for his addiction!
Finally, Mike would like to thank his students for being the beautiful human beings they are and his wife Courtland for being the greatest and most supportive partner he could ever ask for!
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Mike Papapavlou’s Gibson ES 225 Collection
Amongst just a few more models, the 225s are pretty much the only hollow body Gibsons from the Golden Era that are still available for under 5 figures. Get ’em while you can.
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