If you’ve ever wondered what a guitar performance sounds like without a microphone, amplifier or anything else involving electrical currents, tonight couldn’t be a better chance to find out.

Christopher Parkening, a world famous leader in classical guitar performance, will be performing at Hodgson Hall as part of the Performing Arts Center’s “Music Series II.” Whether you are a self-taught guitarist or took lessons in the past, those first days of practicing may have started with one of Parkening’s many well-known “Guitar Method” books to take you through the basics of the instrument.

“The classical guitar is capable of so many different sounds and colors,” said Parkening. “At one point, it can sound like a voice or a piano, and if you pluck the strings another way it can sound like a harpsichord.”

Parkening, who began studying classical guitar at age 11, holds the classical genre standards as vital in learning any style of guitar playing.

“I feel that every guitarist should at some point learn some of the classical techniques,” he said. “I think it will overall improve their guitar playing and give them an overall good foundation in guitar technique.”

Parkening’s early ambitions were due in large part to the recordings of Andrés Segovia, a Spanish classical guitarist who is largely responsible for first making the instrument popular in concert halls.

“He is the greatest guitarist in the world,” Parkening said of his friend and teacher Segovia, who has in turn hailed Parkening as “one of the most brilliant guitarists in the world.”

Less than a month from turning 60, Parkening’s motivation for continuing to perform goes deeper than a passion for classical music and the guitar itself. In fact, the principle driving force of Parkening’s music also happens to motivate his entire life: the Christian faith.

“I thought 30 would be a good age to retire, but in about a year after I got everything that I thought would make me happy, there was an emptiness and I did not know why,” he said. “It was at that time that I became a Christian and my priorities changed.”

The faith gave Parkening a new perspective on life and music.

“On my music stand at home I have a note that says, ‘Chris, what are you here for?’” he said. “The guitar has given me a joy, peace and fulfillment that I never thought I’d get in my 20s, and I pray that my perfect life would be an instrument in God’s hands.”