Katrina Johansson
// GuitaristKATRINA JOHANSSON is a shred guitarist and musician from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She cites inspirational guitarists such as Gary Moore, Yngwie Malmsteen, Jimi Hendrix, Ritchie Blackmore, and Joe Satriani as her musical influences, plus Opeth, Van Halen, and Soundgarden as some of her favorite bands. Her releases include “Guitarsongs Volume 1 [EP]” (2005), featuring fellow shred guitarist Michael Angelo Batio on bass, and “Love, Surrender, Forgiveness [EP]” (2007), were both independently released and are available from CDBaby.com. Katrina Johansson’s interests also include running, rollerblading, and mountain biking. Katrina is endorsed by Dean Guitars and Luna Guitars, and is a magazine contributor to GuitarGirlMag.com
Website: www.katrinaguitar.com
Photo: Katrina Johansson
Interview:
Throughout history, music has been the unifying force to inspire change, inspiring nations to forgive one another, and transforming our capacity to love, forgive, and unite diverse people. Peaceful protesters during the civil rights movement moved a nation while singing, “We Shall Overcome.” Clinton’s campaign theme song, “Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow” by one of my favorite bands, Fleetwood Mac, challenged people to think about the future. Political movements always seem to use music to move and unite people. Some of you may remember when “We Are the World” united people worldwide, online, millions singing a song about unity, peace, and love. How many times have you heard a song whose lyrics seemed to capture everything you wanted to say to someone or maybe helped you through a difficult time? When we celebrate, music is always present also. Music is in our DNA; even babies who cannot understand lyrics or the complexity of musical passages dance whenever they hear music.
Music teaches us so many important life lessons that we may not ever acknowledge. Becoming a musician, professional or not, takes a lot of hard work and discipline to learn to play an instrument, write music, or play in a band. Hard work and discipline, even humility, are lessons learned from practicing for years and experiencing the end result, the therapeutic joy of playing your instrument well. Even playing in a band you learn to deal with many different personalities and you also learn the importance of diversity. Hard work and discipline, creativity, and the value of diversity are such important life lessons that music teaches us.
My own creative life has taught me so many lessons, including the importance of learning to surrender and forgive. The title of my second CD is Love, Surrender, Forgiveness. There are a million ways you can interpret that and apply it to your own struggles. Haven’t we all experienced some type of rejection or falling out with someone? Forgiveness has the power to heal, and surrendering your struggles to God or a higher power can transform your life.
“Throughout history, music has been the unifying force to inspire change.”
– Katrina Johansson, Guitarist
