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.
There were no phone videos back then, so much of those young rock star days was lost in time.
What did survive is on paper. Since computer music writing wasn't up to date back then, every piece was written by hand. Those manuscripts are the heart of this book.
Along the way
Videos of THE V shown on Asahi TV
Featured on the YouTube front page in its early days, 2006
America's Got Talent, Season 6
Studio work for the Jonas Brothers
Recording engineer
Performed as a buccaneer in Times Square, Manhattan, 2003–2019
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.
1997–1999
Teaching in Port Jefferson
Ralph meets Michelle and they start a family. He teaches at Jimmy Vals Star Guitar in Port Jefferson Harbor.
2000–2015
The Guitar Shack Ink
His own business, where he works as guitar player, technician, music teacher and businessman to support the family.
2003
THE V
Ralph builds the Giant Flying V Guitar, known as THE V.
2015–2019
Guitar Center, Selden, New York
Full-time teaching and nothing but teaching, while building and setting up guitars for local musicians.
2015–2019
School of Rock, Florida
After moving to Florida, Ralph teaches guitar to students of all ages and specializes in teaching guitar and music to people with disabilities and special needs.
2024–today
Guitar Center, West Palm Beach
Back at Guitar Center, where he teaches today.
Now
Sharing it with the world
Decades of handwritten colored-ink manuscripts become The Classical Fretboard Dance Book for Electric Guitar.