Birth Date: February 27, 1984 Influences: Jeff Denny, Steve Vai, Michael Angelo, Jason Becker, Yngwie Malmsteen, Joe Satriani and more. Biography Ryan was born in Brooklyn, NY and moved to Mastic, NY at the age of 5. He picked up the guitar at the age of fourteen and seriously became interested after hearing Steve Vai. Ryan has been playing guitar religiously for 10 years and graduated from SUNY Stony Brook. Steve Vai is Ryan's major influence along with Jeff Denny as Jeff Denny has taught him a lot about the guitar from fierce licks to the theory behind chords and music in general. Ryan has competed in the Guitarmageddon competition in 2002 making it all the way to the Regional finals and more recently had competed again in 2004 and won the East Coast Regional Finals in Florida and would later go to Dallas, Texas to play in the National Finals. Ryan made it to the top 6 in the country out of 3,500 contestants and played to a crowd of 15,000 people sharing the stage with many of music's finest players. Ryan Formato has established himself at a young age and is working towards becoming a major player in the guitar industry. His songs are inspired by his family, life, as well as his wife Patricia. Ryan has dedicated much of his life to the instrument practicing hours daily to achieve a high technical ability and a great sense of melody. He will continue to write music to enrich his life as well as the lives of others.