Ben Youngblood is a sophomore at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music. He is a principal guitar player who studies privately under Dr. Brian Russell, a songwriter in the Bruce Hornsby Creative American Music Program, and a Media Writing and Production major. He started playing guitar when he was 9 years old and began taking lessons from Ken Demery when he was 10 until he went to Miami to further his education in guitar and music in general. Ben has played all styles of music, ranging from playing in pit orchestras for musicals, being the lead guitar player for his former pop/rock band Milhouse, playing rhythm guitar for the Triangle Youth Jazz Ensemble and the Broughton High School Jazz Band, to strumming along with Big City Folk Band at the University of Miami. He has also recently played with the Outskirts at the Peak City Pig Fest and with his experimental jam band Confluence in Pittsburgh at the New Bohemian. His passion for music is what drives him to continue to improve as a guitar player, songwriter, and musician, and to also share his knowledge and love for music with as many people as possible.