Monte Pittman

Monte Lee Pittman (born November 19, 1975) is an American musician and studio musician based in Los Angeles, known largely as Madonna's long-time guitarist and for playing for heavy metal band Prong.

He has also worked as a solo artist.

Pittman was born in Longview, Texas.

He started playing guitar as a teenager when he received his first guitar at age 13.

His guitar teacher was Robert Browning.

He also took music theory and piano lessons from Delores Rhoads at the Musonia School of Music in North Hollywood.

Pittman's early musical influences came from bands and artists such as Kiss, Metallica, Slayer, Steve Vai, Jimmy Page, Pantera, The Beach Boys, Pink Floyd, and Radiohead, to name a few.

Pittman's first band was called Insanity.

Eventually Pittman and the singer from Insanity, Chris Sheehan, started the 4-piece Myra Mains which was much more successful, releasing 2 demo tapes and 2 full album CDs.

Headquartered in Longview, TX, Myra Mains Had fans from Dallas to Shreveport and all over East Texas and truly blossomed under the unrelenting rhythm section of drummer Kevin Blalock and bassist TJ Carlson.

Pittman moved to Los Angeles in 1999 and worked at a guitar store as a salesman.

He eventually quit to start teaching guitar lessons.

Pittman's third student was British film director Guy Ritchie, who had just received a guitar as a gift from his girlfriend, Madonna.

Ritchie later returned the favor, buying Madonna her own guitar—and she began to take lessons from Pittman as well.

A month after Pittman started giving guitar lessons to Madonna, he was invited to join her on stage at the Late Show with David Letterman to promote her album Music.

The pair played guitar together on an acoustic version of the hit song Don't Tell Me.

Pittman was introduced to Prong's Tommy Victor by White Zombie drummer Ivan de Prume; the two hit it off, and Pittman joined Prong in 2000.

Subsequently, Pittman was invited to join the band for Madonna's Drowned World Tour (2001).

He has played in every incarnation of Madonna's live band since then.

He played guitar on their 2002 tour that spawned the live album 100% Live.

Pittman shares writing credits with Madonna on the tracks "Easy Ride" from American Life (2003) and "It's So Cool" from Celebration (2009).

Pittman handled guitar and bass duties for the 2003 album Scorpio Rising.

Additionally, Pittman has contributed performances to Madonna's studio recordings, appearing on 2005's Confessions on a Dance Floor (Like It Or Not) and 2008's Hard Candy (Spanish Lesson & Ring My Bell).

Apart from world tours Pittman has joined Madonna on stage in many special events, most notably at Live 8 where he played for thousands of people at Hyde Park in 2005 and at the 2007 Live Earth where he had the chance to jam "Big Bottom" with Spinal Tap, James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett among a dozen of other bass players on stage.

On Prong's 2007 release Power of the Damager, Pittman wrote 5 of the 13 songs and provided backing vocals alongside bass duties.

He is also credited as an associate producer for both Power of the Damager and the remixed version Power of the Damn Mixxxer which was released in May 2009.

Previous to Adam Lambert's audition on American Idol, Pittman, Lambert, Tommy Victor from Prong and Steve Sidelnyk formed a band titled The Citizen Vein.

For the tour of Adam Lambert's debut album, Lambert hired Pittman as his guitarist and musical director.

His debut solo album, The Deepest Dark, was released in November 2009 and features 11 songs all written by Pittman, except for "The Circle" which was co-written with Tommy Victor and Adam Lambert.

All the songs are acoustic.

Lambert and the band appeared on several TV shows as well as at the Gridlock New Year's Eve 2010 festival.

Canada's Rock Star Weekly reviewed that "Pittman has a rock-god presence of his own, arising from his well-honed, skilled riffs that come from a connection of love and devotion to his instrument over a long and distinguished musical career" Pittman also appears on the 'Beg for Mercy' album, the material of which was recorded before Lambert went on American Idol and is co-written by Pittman and Lambert.

He has also worked in the studio with Melanie C and Sophie Ellis-Bextor

Pittman has been known to perform solo acoustic shows in between his responsibilities with Prong and Madonna.

He has developed into a fiercely capable musician—equally able to hold his own in a giant pop stadium tour as in a dark and smoky club belting out brutal metal tunes.

Pittman's solo work takes a giant detour from both of those avenues, venturing into melodic acoustic territory on his debut, and branching out into rock anthems.

In 2012, he played at the Super Bowl XLVI halftime show where he debuted his new signature Jarrell MPS Guitar

Pittman started his 5th world tour with the Queen of Pop, the MDNA Tour, on May 31, 2012, in Tel Aviv, Israel and stops in Europe, North & South America till the end of 2012.

Paul Oakenfold who opened for Madonna in several US shows, invited Pittman on stage to jam together in the last N.American shows of the tour.

Between September 2015 and March 2016, Pittman toured with Madonna on her Rebel Heart tour.