“Turn on the TV, you'll find him.“ So says Norman's Rare Guitars proprietor Norman Harris of session electric guitar A-lister Rob Gueringer – and not without good reason.
Last year, Gueringer – armed with a one-of-a-kind chrome PRS Silver Sky guitar – played on the biggest stage of them all, the Super Bowl halftime show, with Eminem, Mary J. Blige, Dr. Dre, Kendrick Lamar, and Snoop Dogg.
That's not to mention Gueringer's stage and studio work with Rihanna, Steve Lacy, Megan Thee Stallion, SZA, ScHoolboy Q, Cardi B, Usher, and the late Mac Miller, to highlight just a few of the other big names he's worked with.
Bottom line is, Gueringer is one of today's top-tier session players, someone whose flexible style has perfectly serviced hard-hitting hip-hop, slow-burning R&B jams, soul, and everything in between.
If you're still skeptical, though, allow us to point you to this superb, recently posted video of Gueringer demoing a stunning sunburst 1967 Gibson ES-175 at Norman's Rare Guitars.
Playing through a Fender Super Reverb guitar amp, Gueringer initially goes all-in on his jazzier side, spontaneously concocting up a skillful instrumental highlighted by blazing picking displays that slot immaculately into his equally sublime chord work.
If you're someone who wonders what on Earth people mean when they describe a guitar tone as “warm,“ this video is about as good an example of warm tone as any. With his decidedly Django Reinhardt-esque passages in the video, Gueringer conjures cinematic images of smoke-filled Parisian cafes.
Indeed, in a 2020 interview with Guitar World, Gueringer spoke of the tremendous influence classic jazz had on his playing, describing himself as a “super-old soul“ whose playing was shaped by some of jazz guitar's most prominent names.
“My grandfather was my best friend, so I had a natural ear for jazz and soul,“ Gueringer explained. “Django Reinhardt is one of my favorite players of all-time. Then there’s Larry Carlton and even saxophone players like Cannonball [Adderley].“
