Christopher Patrick Maloney is an American singer-songwriter, bass guitarist and music educator. He is widely known for his work with instrumental hard rock band Cosmosquad, his stints in Hardline and with Dweezil Zappa, as an independent solo artist, an instructor at the Musicians Institute, the co-owner of Absolute Music Studios and the co-creator of the online music education site Practice Warriors. Biography Early life and education Christopher Maloney was born in Syracuse, New York on March 22, 1969. Both his father and mother were from families of Irish descent, the former from Limerick and the latter from Kilkenny. After failed attempts at the recorder and drums, Christopher discovered the bass guitar at age 13 and began performing in local bars and clubs. While attending East Syracuse-Minoa High School, he won a citation from the International Association of Jazz Educators (IAJE), the Louis Armstrong Jazz Award, and performed for then-Vice President George H. W. Bush. He attended Oswego State University from 1987 until 1991 graduating with a double major in Music and Broadcasting. It was here that he was mentored by jazz composer Stan Gosek, who helped shape Maloney's skills in composition, odd meter, reading, performing and music business. Maloney relocated to Los Angeles in 1993 to attend the Musicians Institute. He studied with many notable musicians, including Jeff Berlin, Steve Bailey, Scott Henderson, Joe Diorio and visiting artists Victor Wooten, Gary Willis and many others. He graduated with Vocational Honors in 1994 as the bass program's Outstanding Student of the Year. Bass career Maloney spent much of the mid to late 1990s working as a freelance bass player in Los Angeles. His first major label recording was with drum prodigy Jacob Armen on his Drum Fever CD, which was released on Prince's NPG Records/Warner Bros. label. In 1996, after a lengthy audition process, he was asked to join brothers Dweezil Zappa and Ahmet Zappa in their band "Z" to promote the album Music For Pets. Maloney spent much of 1997 recording dozens of songs for a Dweezil solo album. From those sessions, only "Automatic" (featuring Blues Saraceno) and "Dick Cinnamon's Office" (featuring Lisa Loeb) were included on the Favored Nations release, Automatic. He concluded the 90's by doing recording and performing with Jon Stevens (INXS), Donnie Vie (Enuff Z'Nuff), and jazz keyboardist Lao Tizer. Maloney's recording and performing career continued to rise in the 2000s. He performed or recorded with