John Chapman

I hired John to play for the Peet’s Coffee and Tea VIP party at the Ferry Building. It was a high-​profile night with several senior level executives and key influencers in attendance. He was prompt, set up quickly and played beautifully. I would definitely look to hire John for another performance in the San Francisco and/​or surrounding area.

John played for our wedding last weekend. It was outdoors at the Elizabeth Gamble Garden in Palo Alto. He performed music of his choice for our guests while they strolled the gardens before and then during refreshments after the ceremony. It was a brutally hot day but he was in good spirits and played with artistry and taste throughout. During the ceremony he played music of our choosing. He was good at giving us prompts about how long the pieces might take and how they would best fit the program we had designed. Despite having to play without amplification because of the local rules it was a lovely accompaniment. We credit him with a wonderful creative contribution and helping to make this the wedding about which we had dreamed. I’d think of him for any event that would be enlivened by a thoughtful, playful, and accomplished musical performance.

John just played his guitar for us last night at my Mom’s surprise 60^th birthday party. He was wonderful! He is a very talented musician and played a perfect mix of background music for our event.
I would absolutely recommend using him or any event and, should the opportunity present itself, I will be using him again!
Thanks, John!

If you’re looking for a world-​class guitarist for your event, look no further. John provides excellent music and is a true professional. John has performed multiple events for us, including solo guitar and leading a band. I could not recommend him more highly.

I hired John to perform at my retirement party. He was to provide background and light music that folks may decide to dance to. He seemed easy going and friendly enough during the negotiation and hiring process. John barely got set up and began playing on time. It wasn’t long before he was asking me to have the venue management turn down the music being piped in so it would not interfere with his music. I did so. Then John began complaining about the music coming from the wedding next door. Throughout the night, John made it very clear through his comments and complaints that he was indeed a «Diva» and the people next door were interfering with his performance. He complained so much that my brother-​in-​law finally came over and reminded John that the night was not about him, but about the celebrant (me) and my guests and that John was simply the hired help. We reminded John that he was supposed to be the professional and to simply ignore the music from next door (which by the way was noticable but not intrusive).
Bottom line:
Unless you are planning a John Chapman concert and the event is all about him, do yourself a favor and look elsewhere. This guy is conceited, much more impressed with his musical skills than anyone else is and definitely NOT worth the effort you must go through to hire this amateur. His unprofessional demeanor and continual complaining was embarrassing to me and totally un-​called for.

John was awesome to work with. He drove about 3 hours from his home to play at our family gatherting. He was not just on time, but early, and was well set-​up before we even arrived. He is an extremely talented guitarist, and the music was perfect for a group ranging in age from 1 to 90. I highly recommend John and will book him again without hesitation.

John accompanied me on guitar (I played bass) at Book Passage. He arrived early, was easy going and plain old fun to play with. That boy can rock! I highly recommend him for any event.

I hired John to play at our wedding on July 14. In our first phone call, he immediately put me at ease that I had chosen the right guitarist for the job. He’s very accommodating, easy going, and understanding. Two months before our wedding day, we learned that our venue had been foreclosed and could no longer host our wedding. After a new venue was chosen, I told John about what had happened. John was very understanding of the situation, and our new time frame and venue. His music during the ceremony and cocktail hour was beautiful and set the tone for our day. Our guests raved about how great he was as well. John is a true talent and I would most definitely recommend him to others.

John Chapman is an excellent teacher. He has taught my son the Bass guitar for the last several years. My son now plays very well, reads music and challenges himself to create his own music. I love that John worked with him to play music he was interested in playing and I love listening to it too. He’s learned to play music from the greats in both rock and roll and jazz. John is very generous with his time to helping kids to be their best.

I hired John to play at a charity event for Hospice and he was perfect! His music is absolutely top notch and added so much to the event. He is a super nice gentleman and very easy to work with. He arrived promptly, and handled all of his own set up and tear down efficiently and discreetly so as not to interfere with the flow of the evening. He plays a wide variety of music, each piece was just beautiful and executed perfectly. You really couldn’t ask for a better performer for any kind of event, wedding or celebration where you want beautiful, relaxing and fun music. I highly recommend John. You will enjoy meeting him and I look forward to using him again.

John Chapman was a true blessing at our beautiful Wedding Ceremony. His repertoire, experience, and talent shines through in the most beautiful of ways. He was a great communicator, I always felt confident of his character and professionalism. He was able to play special songs for us as well, what a treat! Thank you so much John for creating an absolutely beautiful ceremony and cocktail hour for us! Your talent is a beautiful thing, and we will always appreciate you with the up most gratitude! I cannot recommend you highly enough!

John recently performed solo guitar for our wedding reception and dinner. I also hired his Redwood Band for the evening entertainment. He is incredibly thorough, professional, responsible, and talented. Most importantly, he and his Redwood Band are composed of TRUE musicians, who make GOOD music (in a variety of genres). Guests repeatedly told me they felt as though they were «watching a performance» rather than a commercialized, cheesy wedding band.
I would recommend him for ANY event: corporate, private, parties, weddings, etc. AS GOOD AS IT GETS!

If you are looking for a great guitarist for an upcoming wedding – John is your guy!
He is a fabulous person and a gifted artist!!! Our wedding ceremony came to life with his talents on the guitar. He was quick to learn a new song and was so kind as he consulted us on our music selections for our special day. He accommodated our every request and was not bothered at all when we asked him to play longer at our reception. John is truly a professional and my new husband and I were very very happy with the service we received from him.

John was the guitarist at our July wedding ceremony and we were so happy with his music! He was great to work with during the months of planning and had great ideas and suggestions for songs. We had him play Bossa Nova for the cocktail hour and his music is beautiful! I completely recommend him!

This guy was a real gem. I give him my highest ratings and recommendations.
He easily learned and mastered some great love songs for our wedding.
He was totally clear and reasonable in coordinating with us by phone, as we were living in Arizona and getting married in the Bay Area (our real home).
On the day of our wedding, the poor guy was really sick, but showed up and performed everything on cue and wonderfully.
Seriously:he put in the shmaltz and sentiment you really do want at your wedding.
It’s too bad you were sick on our wedding day John, I want to shake your hand!

John played the music at our wedding in Berkeley, CA. We wanted two somewhat untraditional songs (The Beach Boys and Bee Gees) for our ceremony, but John was more than willing to accommodate. He gave those two special songs his extra attention – we were so happy! Plus, he had a great repertoire of pop and jazz songs for our reception.
John is the ideal artist: creative and really wonderful to work with!