Born and raised near Heidelberg, Germany, Gunnar Eisel has been active in the music community since the late 1960's.  He has developed classical guitar programs at California State University, Los Angeles, Whittier College, Fullerton College, and the Los Angeles High School of the Arts. As chairman of the Classical Guitar Program at Cal State University, Los Angeles for 27 years, Eisel guided many undergraduate and graduate guitar majors to successful careers.

A well-respected teacher and coach, Mr. Eisel's students include Rusty Anderson (lead guitarist for Paul McCartney), Mike Simpson (producer, Beastie Boys, Beck, et al) Nuevo flamenco guitarist Anthony Arizaga, and many of Southern California's finest guitar educators.

Mr. Eisel is currently a full-time faculty member at Citrus College where he has taught electronic music, guitar, music history, and music theory.  Eisel founded several of the major components of the music department at Citrus including the guitar program, the electronic music program, and the applied music program. He has been instrumental in the development and building the Citrus Recording Arts Center, a multi-million dollar audio and video recording complex in the greater Los Angeles area. The facility, the largest of its kind in the United States, opened its doors in 1998.

Mr. Eisel has been active in the Guitar Foundation of America since 1974.  He served as GFA Executive Director from 1986 to 2002.  Mr. Eisel served as National guitar chairman of American String Teachers' Association. 1987-1989. He also served as the Guitar Chairman of the Greater Los Angeles Area ASTA Chapter for 8 years.

Currently, Eisel is involved in a variety of projects, including Worldguitarist.com, a daily internet based classical guitar news magazine for the world classical guitar community. Mr. Eisel has been included in Who's Who in Entertainment and Who's Who in the West.

Professor Eisel has taught Music Appreciation in Austria, Italy, the Czech Republic and Hungary.

Among is other interests, Eisel is an avid collector of rare succulent plants and he currently serves as Business Manager of the Cactus and Succulent Society of America.