Scott Nygaard is one of the most inventive and original guitarists in the bluegrass/acoustic music scene. His solos, a seamless amalgam of bluegrass, folk, and jazz influences, shift easily from breathtaking virtuosity to soulful melodic musings and his accompaniment is always intriguing, supportive, and propulsive. Initially influenced by Doc Watson, Clarence White, Django Reinhardt and Riley Puckett, Scott spent many years wandering the sea of American music that includes bluegrass, jazz, Cajun, old-time, western swing and rock and roll, and has since expanded his musical world to include traditional Brazilian, Swedish, and Irish music.

"As adept at creating magnetic rhythms as he is knocking off stunning solos, Nygaard is possibly the best acoustic guitarist to come along in bluegrass music since Tony Rice."
--Edmonton (Alberta) Journal

Scott was the guitarist with Tim O'Brien's band, the O'Boys, from 1992 to 1997, and currently performs with a variety of groups: Darol Anger's Republic of Strings, the Anonymous 4, Bill Evans String Summit, the Matt Flinner Trio, the Websters and Scott Nygaard, and others. He has also performed and recorded with such acoustic music stars as Jerry Douglas, Chris Thile, Tony Furtado, Laurie Lewis, Todd Phillips, and David Grisman, receiving numerous Grammy nominations for his stellar sidemanship.

"Nygaard’s flatpicking is so fluid and clever the crowd keeps squinting at his hands, checking to make sure there are only two."--Oakland Tribune

Scott has released two solo albums on Rounder Records, the second of which, Dreamer's Waltz, an intriguing mix of original and traditional tunes, was nominated for an Indie award by the Association for Independent Music. He is currently working on a solo album of traditional American music and a duo album with Swedish folk guitarist Roger Tallroth.

"Scott is one of the absolute cutting-edge players in today’s acoustic music scene."
--Flatpicking Guitar

A former editor at Acoustic Guitar magazine, Scott has written more than 200 articles on music, musicians, guitars, and guitarists for Acoustic Guitar, Strings, Play Guitar!, and Guitar World Acoustic; authored two instruction books, Bluegrass Guitar Essentials and Fiddle Tunes and Folk Songs for Beginning Guitar (both String Letter Publishing/Hal Leonard); produced an instructional video, Bluegrass Lead Guitar (Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop), and taught at music workshops from Fairbanks to Finland. He lives in San Francisco with his wife, photographer Anne Hamersky, and their son, Josef.

"Nygaard is a truly gifted guitarist, both in his breathtaking solos, and in his perfectly designed backup."--Albany (NY) Daily Gazette

BANDS

Scott is increasingly in demand at guitar workshops and clinics, and for solo shows, for which he often recruits a mandolinist, fiddler, or singer, but his primary performing outlet is with ensembles, of which there are a few.

DAROL ANGER'S REPUBLIC OF STRINGS Scott is co-founder of Darol Anger’s Republic of Strings, whose second CD, Generation Nation, was released by Compass Records in April 2006. The Republic of Strings is Darol and Scott's genre-stretching, multi-generational string workshop and features a rotating cast of young virtuosos, including violinists Brittany Haas, Tashina Clarridge, Jeremy Kittel, and Alex Hargreaves; vioinist/cellist Tristan Clarridge; and bassist Bryn Davies.

THE ANONYMOUS 4 Scott has been touring with the acclaimed classical vocal quartet the Anonymous 4, performing music from the A4's album Gloryland, which features early American shape-note hymns and gospel music.

THE BILL EVANS STRING SUMMIT Scott is the guitarist with Bill Evans String Summit, a progressive instrumental bluegrass group featuring the twin fiddles of Tashina and Tristan Clarridge, Dobro phenom Michael Witcher, and bassist Cindy Browne.

THE WEBSTERS AND SCOTT NYGAARD features the sublime sister harmony of Chris and Cassie Webster on a variety of traditional and sounds-like-traditional material arranged by Scott. The group released a self-produced debut, Ten Thousand Miles, on Lots of Rabbits Records in February 2004.

You may also catch Scott with mando whiz Matt Flinner, Eric Thompson's Psychograss, singer-songwriter Brigitte DeMeyer, Laurie Lewis and the Right Hands, and others.

GUITARS AND GEAR

Scott's main stage guitar is a 2004 Bourgeois Country Boy Deluxe (cocobolo and bearclaw Adirondack spruce). At local Bay Area gigs, you may see him with his 1956 Martin D-28 (this beauty has been retired from the road), and he sometimes brings along a 1997 Martin D-18V when he needs two guitars onstage. In the studio, he often plays a 1999 Schoenberg Standard (Indian rosewood and spruce), in addtion to the Bourgeois or D-28.

Scott uses Dunlop Jazztone 207 flatpicks (very heavy and stiff) and strings his guitars with D’Addario medium-gauge phosphor bronze (the Martins and Bourgeois) or light-gauge 80/20 bronze (the Schoenberg).

Onstage, Scott occasionally just uses a standing mic, but he usually augments it with other electronic assistants. The Bourgeois has an LR Baggs iMix system, the D-18V has a Baggs iBeam, and the D-28 a McIntyre pickup. He runs the signal from them into a Greg Raskin Volume Switcher (preamp) and a Baggs Para Acoustic DI and then into the board and often an AER Compact 60 acoustic guitar amp. For electric gigs, Scott runs his red 10-year-old Fender Tele into a Fender Deluxe amp.