Rick Peckham

Rick Peckham is an internationally known jazz guitarist and educator. He has presented performances and clinics on six continents and specializes in a unique blend of styles, including jazz, rock, blues, fusion, and country fingerstyle performance. Currently a full-time professor in Berklee’s Guitar Department, Peckham has been a faculty member since 1986. He served as department assistant chair from 1992 to 2013. Peckham’s internationally released album Left End, with drummer Jim Black and bassist Tony Scherr, was named one of the best releases of 2005 by DownBeat magazine. He organized the college’s honorary doctoral tributes to Roy Haynes, Joe Zawinul, Jack DeJohnette, and John Scofield, featuring then-Berklee students Kurt Rosenwinkel, Matthew Garrison, Antonio Hart, Abe Laboriel Jr., Melvin Butler, and Seamus Blake. Berklee students he has coached include Lionel Loueke, Lage Lund, Frank Möbus, Jeff Parker, Matt Stevens, and Nir Felder. In 2018, he served as musical director and producer for Timeless: A Tribute to John Abercrombie, that featured Joe Lovano, Joey Baron, Lage Lund, and many Berklee faculty members. Some of his published works are two twelve-week college courses for Berklee Online: Berklee Guitar Chords 101 (2007 UCEA award for best online class) and Berklee Guitar Chords 201, as well as Berklee Press books Berklee Jazz Guitar Dictionary, Berklee Rock Chord Dictionary and the soon to be published Modal Voicings for Guitar.