Gifted Kenyan Guitarists You Should Know About – Ryan Melomane

So last weekend I met this great fingerstyle guitarist, and I got to know a little more about him. His name is Ryan Melomane.

Ryan Melomane is a fingerstyle guitarist from Kenya. In case you are wondering about his name, well it has a meaning. Ryan is his birth name while Melomane is a self-assigned name which means a music lover in French.

Ryan Melomane, a lover of music, used to play piano but accessing the instrument was quite hard since he did not have his own. This made him want a more portable instrument and that is how he chose the guitar. He not only plays the guitar but also the piano and bass guitar.

Ryan Melomane does cover songs and has also composed his own songs.

He says his inspiration comes from AcouSlyk and Kato Change who are both Kenyan fingerstyle guitarist. Others that inspire him around the world are Sungha Jung, Ahn Jung Jae, Tommy Emmanuel, Andrew Foy and many others.

He uses his music to express past and present experiences that happen in his life. His melodies tell stories about things that he says would be uncomfortable to say with words.

Ryan Melomane is an independent act but he also collaborates with other artists sometimes. He gets hired to accompany other artists on stage mostly bands and vocalists.

His favorite part about being an artist is that he doesn’t get to pay for gigs that he is performing at and he also gets paid to do what he loves.

His advice to anyone who would want to follow in his footsteps is;

“As a fingerstyle guitarist, try to think differently and do things differently from your average guitarist, because fingerstyle guitar is really not popular here in Kenya.  To stand out you have to know that not everyone will appreciate your style of playing and that that’s okay. A lot of people prefer bands with vocalists and they have a hard time understanding the concept of fingerstyle music; where one does not sing. So just focus on improving your skills every day and eventually, the right people who appreciate and enjoy fingerstyle music will notice you. Don’t fit in!”

Check out Ryan Melomane’s music here;

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8DX-0pWQe9oTsRjtO1FBiw

https://twitter.com/ryanmelomane?lang=en

https://www.facebook.com/ryanmelomane/