Janet Noguera is a Mexican-American modern fingerstyle guitarist and composer. With an energetic approach that blends a wide variety of styles, concepts, and advanced techniques, Janet creates an innovative, imaginative, and unexpected soundscape with the acoustic guitar.

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Janet was raised in a large, multi-generational, deeply musical and spiritual household in Mexico.  Her family’s life pulsed with constant rehearsals, worship gatherings, and musical missions—traveling to rural communities to share music, prayer, and hope. The air in her home was filled with hymns and the warmth of community spirit, which Janet recalls as a beautiful childhood. Her grandfather and uncles were celebrated requinto players in the bolero trio tradition, while her mother—a classically trained pianist—introduced her to the foundations of music. Though guitar was traditionally encouraged for men (but not forbidden to women) in her family, it was her older brother’s early lessons that sparked a quiet defiance and deep passion for the instrument. Supported by the Noguera family, Janet began playing guitar at age 13, learning both by ear and through formal study in USA.

A turning point came when Janet attended a live performance by Kaki King—an experience that unveiled an entirely new world of guitar language, full of introspective textures and extended techniques. Captivated, she soon immersed herself in the works of modern fingerstyle pioneers like Thomas Leeb and Andy McKee, who quickly became guiding lights on her musical path. Inspired by their use of alternate tunings, percussive textures, and intricate rhythms, Janet began crafting her own compositions, translating emotion into sound. Unbeknownst to her, this early exploration would soon ripple outward: her first YouTube video caught the attention of Thomas Leeb, who shared it—sparking a chain of discovery that led Kaki King, Andy McKee, and other admired artists to her work. What began as reverent admiration evolved into artistic kinship, opening the door to future collaborations and placing Janet among the very voices that once shaped her own.

By age 19, she was featured in Acoustic Guitar Magazine as one of the “30 Great Acoustic Guitarists Under the Age of 30.” That same year, she won the international Lowden Young Guitarist of the Year competition, traveling to Northern Ireland to receive a custom Richard Thompson signature guitar and perform alongside Jon Gomm and Thomas Leeb at the Lowden 40th Anniversary Concert.

Janet studied classical guitar performance with Bill Coulter at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she also received masterclasses from renowned guitarists such as Andrew York, Benjamin Verdery, and Grisha Goryachev. During this time, she expanded her musical language by training with fingerstyle pioneers like Alex de Grassi and Thomas Leeb.Though immersed in her studies, Janet remained deeply connected to her roots—eager to return to Mexico during school breaks to reunite with family and stay grounded in her culture. There, she composed prolifically and, with the support of her mother, joined the Ensamble de Guitarras del Estado de Hidalgo under the direction of Maestro Martín Candelaria. She also began organizing fingerstyle guitar clinics at her family’s church, fostering community and sharing her evolving style.

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In 2015, she received the Plantronics Creativity & Innovation Scholars Award from UCSC’s Arts Division. Two years later, her original composition “Endless Journey” earned both the UCSC Chancellor’s Award and the Dean’s Award. The piece, written for guitar ensemble, now appears on her debut album Myriad Worlds (2022) in an arrangement for four guitars and bass. Later in 2017, Janet won the Fretmonkey Guitar Solo Contest, an international competition hosted by Fretmonkey Records, a label dedicated to progressive fingerstyle music. That same year, her life was shaken by the illness and eventual loss of her mother. Though Janet completed her undergraduate degree, her extended academic plans shifted. Grief redirected her toward a healing path—one where music, performance, and composition became not only her career but also her personal sanctuary.

Janet has performed extensively across the U.S., Mexico, and Europe. She has appeared at events such as the NAMM Show in Anaheim, California, and Musikmesse in Germany, collaborating with companies like Elite Acoustics, Lowden Guitars, and Baton Rouge Guitars. She has opened for guitar legends such as Andy McKee, Andrew York, and Laurence Juber, and has shared stages with players like Kaki King, Muriel Anderson, Vicki Genfan, and Christie Lenée at the Women of Fingerstyle concert in Anaheim.

In 2020, Janet performed in the Fingerstyle Festival of Colombia, alongside guitar greats like Andrés Godoy and Rafael Flores."In 2022, she toured across North America with the acclaimed guitar showcase International Guitar Night, sharing the stage with virtuosos Luca Stricagnoli, Thu Le, Lulo Reinhardt and Jim Kimo West.

Her debut album Myriad Worlds was released in 2022 to strong international acclaim, earning praise from Acoustic Guitar Magazine, Akustik Gitarre (Germany), Guitar Séquence (France), Fingerstyle Journal, and more. The album highlights her boundary-pushing compositions and unique voice in the modern fingerstyle world. Myriad Worlds is a journey through guitar dreamscapes—original solo, duo, and ensemble compositions blending plucked instruments, electric textures, ambient layers, and nature field recordings. Inspired by the natural world and inner healing, all sounds were performed by Janet, including acoustic guitar, electric guitar, harp guitar, and electric bass. Her music has also been featured by Candyrat Records, the leading international label for fingerstyle guitar, Neue Meister (Berlin), a label dedicated to classical and contemporary experimental music, and Myndstream, a label focused on wellness and ambient sound.

In 2023, Janet toured six European countries as part of the MusiSHEans 2023 Tour with Karlijn Langendijk, Judith Beckedorf, and Noa Drezner—an initiative celebrating women in composition. During the tour, they premiered her original quartet piece Moons of Jupiter, written specifically for the ensemble, filmed and recorded at Siccas Guitars, Baton Rouge and Akustik Guitarre studios. She also organized her own solo tour in Italy that year.

In 2024, Janet was invited by Kaki King to perform as part of her project SEI, an innovative and experimental full-length performance show exploring the boundaries of guitar music. SEI (Italian for “six” and “you are”) acknowledges the guitar’s six strings while symbolizing the exploration of relationships and presence between performers. In this project, guitarists move across the stage, blending choreography and composition as multiple guitars—tuned to open tunings—are strategically arranged to create a dynamic musical and physical dialogue. Janet performed alongside Kaki King, Tamar Eisenman, and Kat Grüvs, in venues including Stanford University and Sacramento’s Crest Theatre, contributing to a groundbreaking work that pushes the guitar’s expressive limits.

In summer 2024, Janet returned to Europe for another Italian solo tour and performed at the Festival di Chitarra e Arpa in Verona alongside Alberto Lombardi and Kyran Daniel, Bruskers Guitar Trio, and Vincenzo Zitello, further expanding her presence in the European acoustic scene. That same year, she was invited by Fresno City College as a special guest artist to give a guitar concert at the Central Valley Guitar Summit. She was also invited to perform at the Ethnomusicology Forum Festival at Universidad Veracruzana and also gave a solo concert at the Museo de Antropología de Xalapa in Mexico. In 2024, Janet was a finalist in the NPR Tiny Desk Contest, the only instrumentalist selected among the finalists. She was also featured in Acoustic Guitar Magazine’s major article, “The Future of Fingerstyle.” Alongside her performance career, Janet has taught Orff music methods and has worked with music therapy programs serving people with special needs, highlighting her commitment to inclusive music education.

In 2025, she performed at the Festival Internacional de Guitarra de Zihuatanejo and was accepted into the prestigious California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) to pursue a master’s degree in Composition and Experimental Sound Practices, marking a new chapter in her creative and academic journey.