John Metras began playing the accordion at age 7, later took up the guitar at age 12, and became a classical guitar major at Lone Mountain College - an affiliate of the University of San Francisco. There he graduated as a guitar major, got a teaching credential at San Francisco State College, and a Master's degree at Holy Names College in Oakland. He then proceeded to teach music (choral, band, guitar classes, and class-room music) in Sonoma County public schools for 31 years. Upon retiring he has continued to perform and give workshops around the country on guitar and cross-strung harp. He has published a number of books for the harp, which are listed on this website. He has also played classical guitar in the Gravenstein Mandolin Ensemble and has arranged many pieces for mandolin orchestra (also available on this website). Currently he has two cds recorded: "Path's Crossing" - a cd played entirely on the cross-strung harp and "Guitar Transitions" - a cd of popular tunes played on the classical guitar. John won 1st prize at the Lyon & Healy International Jazz and Pop Harpfest in 2004 and has performed and taught at numerous harp festivals around the country including the Big Sky Harpfests and the Somerset Harp festivals.