Christopher Parkening (born 14 December 1947) is an American classical guitarist. Parkening was born in Los Angeles, California, and pursued music in part because of his cousin Jack Marshall, a studio musician in the 1960s. Marshall first introduced Parkening to the recordings of Andrés Segovia when he was 11, and encouraged Parkening to begin his guitar studies with classical guitar. By the time he was 19, he had won a number of competitions and was touring and recording extensively.