San Diego Reader

Since 1967, guitarist Wayne Riker has played just about every musical style, and in an array of musical settings — house parties, coffeehouses, nightclubs, musical theater, cruise ships, arena rock concerts, and stadium festivals.

As a member of the Guitar Institute of Technology, Riker cohosted workshops around the world with A-list jazz and blues cats such as Larry Carlton, Robben Ford, Marty Friedman, Dave Grissom, and Duke Robillard.

“Nowadays, I’m reinventing myself in the solo acoustic world,” says Riker, “after many decades of primarily electric-guitar gigs and projects. It gets me out of the house more often.” He’s also taken to telling stories between and during his instrumental performances, such as the time he met Jimi Hendrix cohort Randy California of Spirit or how he almost went to Woodstock in 1969 but instead ended up at a jazz fest featuring a brand-new group calling themselves Led Zeppelin.

“You rack up a lot of living when you play music for this long,” says Riker. “Though I may not be as famous as guys like Jimi and Randy, sometimes the best success is just surviving.”

“Fans of great guitar playing would do well to check out Wayne’s current stint with singer Shelle Blue,” said Shambles frontman Bart Mendoza in 2009. “It’s clear to me he has become a master of the instrument in all genres.”

Riker’s 2010 album Penumbral Sky was released as the Wayne Riker Quintet, a group that also includes Chris Klich (horns), Fred Lanuza (keys), Steve Araujo (bass), and Tyler Buckley (drums). Also released in 2010 was his instructional book Putting Chords In Their Place.

In 2011, he helped launch a new Facebook page called San Diego Gives Me the Blues, with local band histories, performance videos, and blues lessons. Around the same time, he began recording a new CD, Guitar Decathlon. The album features “Ten tracks, ten styles, and ten top-shelf guest guitarists from the greater San Diego area,” according to Riker.

Riker plays on all the Guitar Decathlon tracks, as well as producing. “They’re all my original compositions.” He likens his recording process to an Alfred Hitchcock production, meaning, for the most part, unscripted. The roots of the decathlon stem from Riker’s respect for the level of local talent.

“All of these players I’ve either heard of over the years or I’ve played with, and they’re all guitarists that have a high musical IQ. If I go see any of these players, they’re gonna be right on the mark with the right chord voicings and hip solos and,” he says, “unique styles. I’d love to see them get the recognition.”