Pier Gonella Bio

He started playing the guitar at 14, while listening to Pink Floyd, Scorpions, and Deep Purple in particular.
Then, he fell in love with instrumental music from various artists like Joe Satriani, Yngwie Malmsteen, Tony Macalpine, Vinnie Moore, etc.
From 1993 to 1997, he studied guitar in many Italian schools. At the time, he couldn't find any rock-metal guitar teachers, so he developed that techniques by himself. He studied music theory and, in June 1998, he received the diploma of "Teoria and Solfeggio" at the Conservatory of Music "Nicolo' Paganini" in Genoa (Italy), where he studied four years of bassoon.
After playing for years in various rock and metal bands, he began recording demos, capturing the attention of several producers and musicians.
In 2003, he became a member of the band Labyrinth. With then I made an Asian tour called "Banzai Tour", playing in Japan (Tokyo , Osaka), Taipei, Taichung, Taiwan, and Beijing, China and also Hong Kong.
With Labyrinth He released 2 albums (Freeman in 2005, 6 Days to Nowhere in 2007)and 1 DVD. On 2007 Labyrinth made a new Japan tour, playing in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya.>br> On 2008 Gonella joined Necrodeath band, releasing 1 DVD and more tan 10 albums, many of which he personally oversaw the recording of (Defragments of Insanity in 2019, Neraka on 2020, Singin' in the Pain in 2023 and Arimortis on 2024).
With Necrodeath Gonella toured in Europe 3 times. In 2008, he founded the band Mastercastle with the singer Giorgia Gueglio. They had a deal with Lion Music record label,releasing the album "The Phoenix" on 2009, "Last Desire" on 2010, "Dangerous Diamonds" on 2022 and "On Fire" on 2013.
Their innovative mix of a powerful female vocal with skilled musicianship of neo-classical metal gave them a deal with Scarlet Records. They released "Enfer" on 2014 and "Winde of Heaven" on 2017, "Still in the flesh" on 2029 and "Lighthouse Pathetic" on 2023.
The excellent feedback from these albums has significantly boosted Pier Gonella's reputation, not only as a guitarist and composer but also as a sound technician and producer
In addition to these bands, Pier Gonella has undertaken an enormous quantity of projects and collaborations.
In 2001 He recorded the guitars for the album "Athlantis," and in 2003, he recorded the guitar and bass parts for the album "Wild Steel." (both released under the label Underground Symphony).
In April 2005, during his tenure in Labyrinth, he released his solo album "Odyssea – Tears in Floods," under the labels Scarlet Records (Europe) and King Records (Japan).
In 2006, Gonella appeared as a guest on the Rezophonic project, recording guitars for one song.
From 2006 to 2009, Gonella played with the big band Metal Gang, performing hysterical heavy metal and hard rock covers featuring Pino Scotto (Vanadium), Roberto Tiranti (Labyrinth), Trevor (Sadist), Olaf Thorsen (Labyrinth), Fabio Lione, and many other musicians.
In the summer of 2008, Gonella was chosen as rhythm guitar player for Timo Tolkki (Stratovarius, Revolution Renaissance) for two Italian gigs.
In 1998, Gonella began teaching guitar lessons, working in many private schools, and organizing guitar clinics in the north of Italy. In 2007, he founded a recording studio for the production of his bands and for his guitar school. In 2011, it was officially opened to all under the name MusicArt. In 2011, together with drummer Marco 'Peso' Pesenti of Necrodeath, and Giorgia Gueglio and Steve Vawamas of Mastercastle, he completely rearranged and recorded the famous album "The Dark Side of the Moon" by Pink Floyd. The project is titled "The Black Side of the Moon" and was released under the Black Tears label. Since 2012, Gonella has collaborated with drummer John Macaluso for guitar and drum clinics called "Rock and Heavy Essentials." In the same year, Pier Gonella joined the hysterical Italian metal band Vanexa, releasing the album "Too Heavy To Fly (2016 Punishment rec) and "Last in Black" (2021 Black Widows rec).
Since August 2014, Gonella has collaborated with Metal Hammer Italy, writing the article "Learn to Play," where he teaches techniques, licks, and advice regarding the electric guitar. In 2014, Gonella started a new "soloist" project with Dick Laurent (Cadaveria), performing live instrumental tracks and neoclassic metal classical (Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and others). In 2019, he started his solo project "Pier Gonella" with Marco 'Peso' Pesenti of Necrodeath on drums and Giulio Belzer on bass. Their debut album "Strategy" was released in January 2020, featuring the singles and videoclips "Strategy" and "Liberland." In April 2023, they released a new album titled "667," preceded by the single "Margarita."
The very positive feedback from the project highlighted Gonella's compositional skill in creating instrumental rock songs where melody and catchy choruses reminiscent of the Satriani school take precedence
Pier Gonella is also known for his YouTube channel, Pier Gonella Jam, which features one of the largest and most popular collections of original "jam tracks" and backing tracks on the internet (more than 1600), as well as his original music, videoclips, improvisations, tour vlogs, and notable band projects such as Mastercastle and Necrodeath.
In December 2023, thanks to the huge amount of musical tracks and original songs, Pier Gonella officially entered the Guinness World Records for the most studio albums digitally released(122)