Bio: John Francis was born in Kansas City, Missouri. He took up the guitar at the age of eleven. At age 14, he studied classical guitar and arranging for a short time with Fred Konomos, before shifting to the blues. When he moved to the Wichita, Kansas area in 1979, he studied jazz and related styles with David Coffin. He studied with Jerry Hahn, at Wichita State University, throughout 1981. He took Sabbatical and returned in 1993 to complete his degree. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Communication, magna cum laude, in 1997, with a minor in music composition. He has done much graduate work with a focus on the communicative aspects of music. He has been the director of the Wichita Guitar Society since 2002, presenting international artists and has also worked in close association with classical and jazz guitarist Richard Johnson. Today, John divides his time between teaching, composing, producing, and promoting concert artists and their masterclasses as the director of the Wichita Guitar Society. John is also the founding director of Solo Guitarist Network and Composing Musician. John began teaching in 1980. He has developed many of his own pedagogical works. In 2003, Francis formed the Tarrega Guitar School, a system of study based on the principles of Francisco Tarrega. An advocate of multistring guitars. He is pictured here with an eleven- string classical alto-guitar (Altgitarr) made by Georg Bolin of Sweden. The alto-guitar was invented by Bolin. Other instruments include a ten-string classical guitar made by American Luthier Jimmy De Cava. He formerly owned one of only three altos made by Michael Sanden. John endorses the Antonio Aparicio line of classical guitars. He currently performs using a special 22 fret six string with a Fishman calles the "Especial." He is working with Aparicio on a special 7 string cut-away electric which will come with two nuts and have the option of being strung with either an extra high or low string. He currently uses a Lakewood M32 CP Grand Concert steel string from Germany.

John has just finished producing and collaborating on a CD for Philippe Bertaud called "The Finer Things" which features Itallian Bassist Roberto Bernardinello.. It is available on the Heartside Music label. John's own CD, "The Last Leaf" a collection of beautiful tunes written in his own eclectic style, will be released on Heartside soon.