Musician · Teacher · Creator of a Unique Fretboard Technique
The Technique
Two hands. Two colors of ink.
From the cover of The Classical Fretboard Dance Book
Ralph has been writing music on paper since 1989. His first colored piece was Prelude No. 1 in C major, with the notes for each hand written in a different color.
Many guitar players don't read standard notation. So Ralph brought the idea to tablature, or TAB, the number system guitarists already use. Each hand gets its own ink, red or blue, so the page shows you which hand plays which note.
Over the years, the colored ink became the real invention. It makes the music easier to read and easier to put on the instrument, even if you have never read a score.
Written in TAB
No need to read standard sheet music
Two ink colors
One color for each hand, so the parts never blur together
Hand written
Manuscripts from Ralph's own daily repertoire
“These pieces were not created to make this book. They were my daily repertoire that I wanted to keep on file.”
Ralph Ciociano
The Story
A life with a guitar in hand
Born on August 27, 1968, and raised in Commack, Long Island, New York, Ralph taught himself guitar as a kid and never put it down.
He has been a player, a builder, a technician, a performer and a business owner. But teaching is where he feels most at home. In his words: practice what you preach.
Ralph and his wife, Michelle “Flannery” Ciociano, raised four children who are now successful adults, and spent more than 20 years in Port Jefferson, Long Island, before moving to Florida.
1980–1988
Self-taught
Ralph teaches himself to play guitar.
1986
Music becomes the career
He decides to make music his career and starts at Suffolk County Community College.
1987–1992
Five Towns College
Earns his bachelor's degree in Jazz/Commercial Performance, while playing with local rock bands and musicians around town.
1988
A turning point
A traumatic brain injury in 1988 became a life-changing moment for Ralph and his family. What followed was a remarkable recovery that he would come to see as a miracle from God. In the months that followed, music continued to take shape in his life in a new and meaningful way.
1989
The first colored manuscript
Prelude No. 1 in C major, written with colored notes for the right hand and the left hand.
Coming soon
The Classical Fretboard Dance Book
For Electric Guitar
Playing Baroque piano music on guitar using two-hand technique. Compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach.
Written by a guitar instructor who teaches two-hand technique and plays classical music. Every piece is laid out in Ralph's colored-ink tablature, so you can learn the music even if you don't read standard notation.