Zachary's love for creating music began when he first strummed an autoharp in his elementary years. He enjoyed the rich, warm sound it produced and the feel of the strings. His first instrument of choice was the steel string acoustic guitar. After graduating from high school, Zach continued to immerse himself in music during his military career, and began to learn piano at Minot State University.
After discovering his life love for music and continuing to study personally while in guitar lessons, he began full-time study at Illinois State University as a classical guitar major and performed solo and chamber music throughout the midwest. Zachary studied guitar with Dr. Angelo Favis, jazz with Kevin Hart and Charlie Stokes, and music education with Tim Fredstrom.
He has since earned his Bachelor of Music Education degree and holds a certification to teach music K-12; which includes choir, band, orchestra, piano, guitar, music theory, music history, and general music. In 2018, Zach earned his Master of Music degree in classical guitar performance under the tutelage of Lawrence Ferrara in San Francisco.
Zach loves performing jazz, classical, and most genres in between. He also enjoys teaching in the Bay Area and is a member of The Luke Doughty Quartet , a San Francisco based group that released their debut album in December 2018, A Charcoal Colored Sky. In addition to teaching at Inspire Music, Zach heads the guitar department at Contra Costa College as an adjunct professor.