Craig Chaquico left Jefferson Starship five years ago and ended up joining another starship, literally. The NASA Spark Ark Project, a satellite carrying Earth’s global messages to other star systems, contains Chaquico’s (pronounced Cha-KEY-so) “Just One World,” from his Acoustic Planet CD.

“It’s a trip, man,” Chaquico said. “My dad used to say ‘Can you play far, far away?’ When they launched it, I had my dad over and said ‘See that? Is that far enough away?'”

Chaquico will bring his interplanetary acoustic music to Ames for a guitar clinic at The Octagon Center for the Arts, located at 427 Douglas Ave. in downtown Ames. Showtime is 7 p.m. in the third floor auditorium and is sponsored by Rieman Music.

Chaquico uses Washburn acoustic guitars, and they’re endorsing his clinic tours. “I designed a guitar with Washburn. I took their version and tried to improve on it,” Chaquico said.

“I make them plant a tree for every guitar they make.”

The clinic is as much technique and teaching as it is entertaining. “I don’t make people play. I answer questions and explain,” Chaquico said. “I try to have as much fun as possible and make it entertaining and informative.

“It’s intimate to the max; it’s just a music store. People can see what I’m doing; it’s a lot of fun and more up-close and personal.”

The road from Starship to acoustic fame was a natural progression for Chaquico. “I definitely like the idea of getting off on a new musical kind of evolution for me,” he said. “It’s not elevator music. I still have the fire.

“Artistically it’s very rewarding. It’s a whole new territory. If I was in another rock band, if I ever was in a rut I’d wonder, ‘Why isn’t this as popular as Starship?'”

From electric guitar rock god to newfound fame in the “adult contemporary” field, Chaquico has a proven formula for success. It’s obviously a winner: his CD knocked off Yanni from the number-one position on Billboard’s New Age Album chart.

“My only criteria is, ‘Did it touch you in some sort of emotional way? Did it make you smile?” Chaquico said. “No matter what studio I went to, there was no one knob with ‘feeling.'”

Well, Chaquico found the feeling knob in his own studio and has put together an award-winning CD. Acoustic Planet has earned Chaquico his first Grammy nomination, as well as his second BAMMIE (Bay Area Music) award for Best Independent Album of the Year. And he did all this without a vocalist.

“Grace Slick pointed out that in a band the singer gets a chance to tell a story. You’re still doing the same thing, but you get to do it on the guitar,” Chaquico said. “Each song has a melody, the only thing is I don’t have to wait for the 10 seconds in the middle of the song.

“I’m thinking of adding a singer for 10 seconds in the middle, and then have him really start singing at the end and fade him out,” Chaquico laughed. The perfect payback for all the years of shredding that no one got to hear.

To experience and hear Chaquico shred his acoustic Washburn, head on down to The Octagon Thursday night in the third floor auditorium. The clinic is free and open to all music enthusiasts.