Ryan Ball is a North New Jersey based guitarist, bassist, composer, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, recording engineer/producer, and music teacher. For over 30 years he has forged a successful career as a performer, session player, and writer.

 

In his formative years, Ryan could be found playing in neighborhood bands and performing in local clubs. He eventually graduated to performing on the New York City circuit by his late teens. After high school, Ryan studied music composition and performance, earning a BFA degree from SUNY Purchase.

 

Ryan's guitar style draws from an eclectic array of players. Heavily influenced by classic rock, blues and metal, his early roots include greats such as Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Ritchie Blackmore, Tony Iommi, Eddie Van Halen, Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen, Slash, Eric Johnson, Mark Knopfler, Alex Lifeson, and David Gilmour. In high school, Ryan briefly studied classical guitar and has an intense appreciation for the mastery of players like Andrés Segovia, Julian Bream and Chris Parkening just to name a few. As time progressed, Ryan soon expanded his musical tastes to incorporate the jazz and fusion stylings of Steve Morse, Pat Metheny, Mike Stern, Bill Frisell, and Alan Holdsworth,  as well as the classic Americana and Jam styles of David Rawlings and Jerry Garcia. 

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For the better part of 25 years, Ryan has been a member of the renowned Pink Floyd Tribute The Machine as both guitarist and bassist. During his tenure with The Machine, Ryan has had the privilege to play alongside many greats in the music world including keys player Vince Welnick (The Tubes/Grateful Dead), guitarist Marc Ford (The Black Crowes), Matt Abts (Gov't Mule), drummer Matt Johnson (Jeff Buckley), and keyboardist T. Lavitz (Dixie Dregs). Currently, Ryan is back on guitar delivering faithful recreations of some of the greatest guitar work of all time and contributing his own style to the many improvisational jams that The Machine is known for. A gear nerd by any standard, Ryan's arsenal of touring gear features a collection of self-modified guitars and an amp rig capable of delivering tones from any era of the Pink Floyd/David Gilmour catalog. 

 

In addition to The Machine, Ryan also plays guitar with the popular Chicago tribute Beginnings, bringing to life both the 1970s guitar stylings of Terry Kath and the 80s era power pop of one of the greatest horn bands of all time. Creatively, Ryan has been a part of numerous original projects through the years including concept indie outfit Sleep Station and American roots rockers Swerling. Ryan also frequently plays private events and solo gigs at many well known clubs, restaurants and pubs in the Northeast.

 

In between performances, Ryan runs his New Jersey based recording studio The Gearbox and teaches at his own Bergen County Guitar Lessons. Throughout the years, Ryan has appeared as a session musician on hundreds of recordings and helped many musicians realize their vision as recording artists or students of the guitar.