Peter Sprague was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1955. His family moved frequently, settling in 1961 in Del Mar, California, where he fell in love with surfing. Although his parents were jazz fans, he was more interested in the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, and Crosby, Stills, and Nash when he picked up the guitar at age twelve. Three years later, he paid more attention to his parents’ jazz collection and began taking guitar lessons. He formed the Minor Jazz Quintet with his brother Tripp and three other musicians. He attended San Dieguito High School in Encinitas and Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan.

In 1976, he moved to Boston to study with classical guitarist Albin Czak. He received some lessons from Pat Metheny, who he considers his hero. He returned home to Del Mar in 1978 and formed the Dance of the Universe Orchestra with Tripp, John Leftwich, Kelly Jacoy, and Kevyn Lettau. They recorded the album You Make Me Want to Sing.

In 1985 Sprague accepted teaching positions at both the Musicians Institute (Hollywood) and the California Institute of the Arts (Los Angeles) and for three years taught students from all over the world. Connections at those schools landed him a two-year job where he would fly to Buenos Aires, Argentina, play concerts for a couple of weeks, then teach at a music camp in Las Lenas. Compiling the material he’d created and accumulated for his teaching, he published a theory book, The Sprague Technique. He then drew on the many transcriptions he’d made for himself over the years to publish several songbooks of both his own solos and the solos of some of his favorite other jazz musicians.

He married Stefanie Flory in 1991. When their daughter was born two years later, he left the Benoit band to stay closer to home. For some time he had been interested in composing, recording, and producing, and—inspired by Jimi Hendrix’s (another of his heroes) Electric Lady Land Studios in Greenwich Village, New York—he created SpragueLand Studios, a recording and production studio at his home. Aside from his work, he records, engineers, and produces albums for musicians in several genres.

In 2010 he won a Chamber Music America grant to compose a new major piece; he chose to compose it for the String Consort and completed it in 2011, titling it “Dr. Einstein’s Spin.” On December 2, 2011, the group gave its premiere performance in San Diego where local jazz critic Robert Bush rated it third among his top fifteen favorite concerts of the year. The same critic gave the album the top spot in the Top 10 SD Jazz Releases of 2013. His album Dream Walkin’ (2015) with vocalist Leonard Patton was nominated for 2015 Best Jazz Album by San Diego Music Awards.