Cem Köksal
Birth name	Cem Köksal
Born	July 3, 1976, Istanbul, Turkey
Genres	Rock, Neo-classical metal
Instruments	Guitar
Website	http://www.cemkoksal.com/

Cem Köksal (born July 3, 1976) is a Turkish rock guitarist. He plays electric guitar, acoustic guitar and classical guitar.

[edit] Biography

Cem Köksal was born on July 3, 1976 in Istanbul, Turkey. His first encounter with music was in his primary school years, where he started playing the mandolin. His parents made him listen to the music of the 60's during his childhood. He started playing the guitar in 1987.

During 1991-1992, he took music theory classes from Derya Yener, which played significant role in his development as a musician. He practiced music in his basement with his friends, and also attended musical activities in his high school Alman Lisesi in Istanbul. At first he was influenced by the popular rock groups of those times, but after a while he began to search for new directions. Musical pieces such as Air by Bach guided his musical perspective and creativity in a new direction. At this point he started preferring tonal modes in his music. Listening to Odyssey by Yngwie Malmsteen made him search for a new synthesis of classical music elements with contemporary tunes using the advanced guitar techniques, while still preserving the melody.

Koksal was interested in learning how to make a guitar, and read books such as Make Your Own Electric Guitar by Melvyn Hiscock, and Building Electric Guitars by Martin Koch. After months of work, he built a guitar from scratch, and named it Shark.

He worked with musicians such as Murat İlkan, Joe Lynn Turner.

[edit] Albums

• Just Set Me Free - 2003
• Cem Köksal featuring Joe Lynn Turner - LIVE!! - 2007
• Siyah Beyaz Masallar - 2007

[edit] External links

• Official Website
• Official Myspace Page

This article on a guitarist is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e

This article about a Turkish musician is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e