GUITAR HEROES: MICHAEL ANGELO BATIO

Michael Angelo Batio (pronounced /ˈbeɪtioʊ/, also known as Mike Batio or MAB) (born in 1956) is an American heavy metal guitarist and columnist from Chicago, Illinois. Batio was voted the "No. 1 Shredder of All Time" by Guitar One Magazine in 2003. He was also listed as one of the "Top 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists of All Time" by Guitar World Magazine, for which he writes the column Time to Burn, and one of the "20 Greatest Shredders of All Time" by Total Guitar Magazine, both in April 2008.

MAB started playing the piano and composing music at the age of five, and first played guitar at the age of ten, reportedly playing faster than his teacher within two years.[citation needed] At the age of fourteen he started playing jazz guitar, and within two years he had won the Chicago-based "All-State Jazz Solo Award". He attended Northeastern Illinois University and achieved a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Theory and Composition. After he had graduated, Batio looked to become a session guitarist in his hometown. When he asked for a job at a nearby studio, he was given a piece of music and simply asked to play it. Naturally, he managed to play it and added in some of his own improvisations and fills, making him the studio's primary call-out guitarist. As a session player, Batio recorded music for such companies as Burger King, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, KFC, United Airlines, United Way, McDonalds, Beatrice Corp. and the Chicago Wolves hockey team.

Batio is (self-taught) ambidextrous, able to play two guitars at the same time either in synchronization or using separate harmonies, as shown when he plays his famous Double-Guitar. Though naturally left-handed, he plays as right-handed when playing one guitar. Batio invented the "Over-Under" technique[citation needed], which involves flipping his fretting hand over and under the neck, playing the guitar both regularly and like a piano.

Batio taught guitarist Tom Morello (of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave fame) while at college. Morello has credited MAB with teaching him in a feature article in Guitar World Magazine in 2005. Michael also gave lessons to guitarist Mark Tremonti after Creed broke up and Tremonti wanted to learn more techniques. Batio is also widely known for his rather unusual picking technique: He sweeps, using his thumb and pointing finger, with his three other fingers planted at the bottom of all six strings on the body of the guitar.

Guitars

Batio has an extensive collection of guitars, which he has collected since the 1980s including a Dave Bunker "Touch guitar" (double neck with both bass and guitar), a mint condition 1968 Fender Mustang, a 1986 Fender Stratocaster 1962 re-issue and several other vintage and custombuilt guitars. For live performances Batio is an exclusive user of Dean Guitars, both electric and acoustic. In 2007 he designed and developed a signature guitar with Dean, known as the MAB1 Armorflame. Another signature piece of equipment Batio developed is the "MAB Hands Without Shadows" pickup, which he uses in his Double Guitar when touring. The pickup is specially designed for shred guitar, and provides the clean tone Batio is accustomed to. The Armorflame, Batio's signature guitar, uses EMG 81, 85 and SA pickups.

Earlier on in his career when he was first endorsed by Dean guitars he also embraced Dean's tradition of popularising Dimarzio pickups and had used Dimarzios in his guitars. These include the Dimarzio PAF, Super Distortion (sometimes using the Super Distortion both in the neck and bridge position, as he did in his Gibson Charvel Circuit Board double guitar. This was the main setup during the recording of No Boundaries). Batio has also used pickups of other brands including Seymour Duncan, namely the Pearly Gates and JB models and also Bill Lawrence pickups. Currently other than using EMGs in his signature guitar he also has a collection of the other brand pickups in his Dean limited edition collectors' models, such as Dimarzio Custom Super Distortions (based on the Super 2 and Super Distortion) in his USA Dean Time capsule Blue Burst ML and the Seymour Duncan pair he used (refer to above) in his USA Dean Collectors edition Hardtail.

Batio was the inventor of the Double-Guitar, a V-shaped, twin-neck guitar which can be played both right- and left-handed. The first version of this instrument was actually two separate guitars simply played together, as opposed to being one entity. A Flying V was fastened to a snare drum in a left-handed position, while another one was strapped around his shoulder. The next version of the guitar, as designed by Batio and guitar technician Kenny Breit, featured a flight case latch attached to the back of each guitar, which could reportedly be assembled in five seconds. In October 2003, Dean designed and built the "Mach 7 Jet", and on March 6, 2007, the newest version was delivered to Batio. The original Double went on display at the Chicago Hard Rock Cafe 'wall of fame' before it was relocated to a HRC in Egypt. Its whereabouts are currently unknown.

When the Double-Guitar was first used in concert, Batio noticed that the guitars created a lot of feedback when played together. He decided that he needed to invent a way to 'dampen' the strings when both guitars were played at the same time, hence the invention of the "MAB String Dampener", which is now available to buy from M.A.C.E. Music.

The Double-Guitar was recently named as the 8th "coolest guitar in rock" by online music magazine Gigwise.

As well as the Double Guitar, Michael Angelo also invented and designed the Quad Guitar. The guitar was originally built in conjunction with Gibson, and built by Wayne Charvel in California. The top two guitars have seven strings, while the bottom two have the regular six. The first Quad, as used in the video for Nitro's "Freight Train", was stolen in El Paso, Texas after the second show of Nitro's O.F.R. tour. When Batio was performing in November 2004, a young fan named Simon Jones and his father turned up with a guitar case which held inside the two top guitars of the Quad, as found by Mick Seymour. Dean designed and built a new Quad Guitar in 2007.

The Quad Guitar was recently named as the 2nd "coolest guitar in rock" by online music magazine Gigwise. (from Wikipedia)



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