About Ney De Mello Mattos

Ney Mello,  is an internationally-recognized Jazz and classical artist who is also very active in the rock and pop world. He has a professional diploma in Musical Composition and Live Performance from Escola De Musica de Brasilia in Brazil, as well as training in jazz music arrangement from Berklee College of Music, and Bachelors and Masters degrees from The Catholic University of America. He plays electric and acoustic 6-string guitars, bass guitar, Ukulele, as well as drums and piano. Ney began performing publicly in Brazil in 1974 and studied under Brazilian classical guitar legend Eustaquio Grilo. Ney also studied Indian classical music under renowned classical tabla artist Pandit Broto Roy, and is known for his influence in the global guitar community.

Ney has received numerous awards and top peer recognition for his work and has performed on television several times. In 2004, Ney was nominated for the United Nations World Culture Open Award, and in 2005 he received 1st place in a US government competition for Best National Multimedia Soundtrack. He was chosen to represent the country of Brazil in the first Ibero-American Chamber Music Festival in Washington, DC., and has received 6 WAMMIE award nominations. He performed the electric guitar recording and processing for two number 1&2 hit songs in 2006, while two others of Ney’s original songs were commissioned for the soundtrack of the 2008 Hollywood movie Iron Man. Ney has performed solo guitar for both Vice President Al Gore and First Lady Barbara Bush, and  performs in Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Kenya, Brazil, and The  Washington DC area, in venues like the Kennedy Center,  and the Atlas Performing Arts Center.

Along with performing, Ney also possesses a passion for teaching. He has conducted master classes and workshops at institutions like Howard University, American University, Towson State University, and the Duke Ellington School for the Arts. In 2008, he released an international best-selling educational DVD called “Maximum Speed Picking with Ney Mello.” He has been teaching private guitar lessons at Music and Arts in Rockville since 1995, and also teaches at the International School of Music in Bethesda, and Compass Homeschool Classes in Virginia.

Ney's teaching philosophy and method is to keep the students excited about the guitar, bass, ukelele, by customizing the lesson plans to the individual student's needs and preferences. Young children, teen agers, and adult students have their lesson plans tailored to their specific musical needs and goals.