Frank Gambale (born December 22, 1958) is an Australian jazz fusion guitarist. He is renowned for his use of the sweep picking and economy picking techniques.
He graduated from GIT in Hollywood, with Student of the Year honors. After graduation, he played the jazz club circuit with his own band and published Speed Picking, his first of many instructional videos. In 1985, he released his first studio album entitled Brave New Guitar, having signed a three-album contract with Legato Records (which was owned by Mark Varney, brother of Shrapnel Records founder Mike Varney). In that same year, he toured with Jean-Luc Ponty, and shortly afterwards began a six-year stint with the Chick Corea Elektric Band in 1987. During his time with the latter, he participated in five albums and shared a Grammy award (with two Grammy nominations). Throughout the 1980s, he would release altogether three studio albums.
An endorsement deal with Ibanez guitars came about in 1986, which resulted in the bright yellow-coloured Frank Gambale model guitar (now FGM series), modeled after the Saber Series line; this went on sale in 1987. Yamaha also manufactured a Frank Gambale model guitar after he left Ibanez in the 1990s. In 1989 he signed with JVC Music, and released Thunder from Down Under the following year. Gambale also served as head of the guitar department of the Los Angeles Music Academy during this time.
The 1990s saw four studio albums released, and in the 2000s Gambale started his own record label—Wombat Records—having purchased his entire Legato discography with the intention of reissuing it himself. A live double album, Resident Aliens: Live Bootlegs, was released in 2001, along with Imagery Suite—a duet featuring classical guitarist Maurizio Colonna. He also recorded one album, Coming to Your Senses, on Steve Vai's Favored Nations label in 2000.
Gambale has been a member of the band Vital Information since 1988, with the group consisting of drummer Steve Smith, keyboardist Tom Coster and bassist Baron Browne. He also played on three collaborative albums with Smith and bassist Stu Hamm on Mike Varney's jazz-orientated label, Tone Center Records. In addition to concert recordings, he released an instructional DVD called Concert with Class in 2003.
In 2004, Gambale reunited with Chick Corea and toured with the Chick Corea Elektric Band. On his official blog in mid-2009, he announced a January 2010 release of a new album entitled Natural Selection. (from Wikipedia)
Guthrie Govan (born December 27, 1971 in Chelmsford, Essex, England) is a guitarist known for his work with the bands Asia (2001-2006), GPS, The Young Punx and The Fellowship as well as Erotic Cakes (a vehicle for his own music). He is a noted guitar teacher through his work with the UK magazine Guitar Techniques, Guildford’s Academy of Contemporary Music and currently the Brighton Institute of Modern Music. He is also a former winner of Guitarist magazine's "Guitarist of the Year" competition.
Govan began playing guitar aged three, encouraged by his father but initially learning mainly by ear. At the age of nine he and his brother Seth Govan played guitar on a Thames Television programme called Ace Reports. At secondary school he was exposed, via older classmates, to "shred" guitarists of the time.
After leaving school, Govan read English at the University of Oxford, though he left after a year to pursue a career in music. Around this time (by Govan’s own estimation, 1991) he sent demos of his work to Mike Varney of Shrapnel Records. Varney was impressed and offered him a record deal; ultimately however, Govan declined. Regarding his reasons he has explained: "it was as though all I really wanted to know was that I was good enough […] I found I was getting a bit wary of the shred movement."
In 1993 he won Guitarist magazine’s "Guitarist of the Year" competition with his instrumental piece "Wonderful Slippery Thing" (a version of which would eventually appear on his debut solo album); the demo of the track earned him a place amongst several other entrants in the live final, which he then won. Subsequently, he submitted a sample transcription (of a Shawn Lane piece) to Guitar Techniques magazine; this earned him a job as a contributor to the magazine, ending a spell working in fast food.
Govan’s earliest influences were Jimi Hendrix and Cream-era Eric Clapton; as such he describes himself as coming from a ‘blues rock background’. While he is ‘wary’ of 1980s technique driven guitar music (‘shred’) he cites the imagination of Steve Vai (as well as Frank Zappa, with whom Vai played) and the passion of Yngwie Malmsteen as influences. Jazz and fusion elements are an important part of his style: he cites Joe Pass as a pivotal influence in this respect.
Govan is known for his virtuoso command of the electric guitar, due to both his technical ability and proficiency in various styles. Govan’s MySpace profile lists quotes from various guitarists to this effect; elsewhere, fellow virtuosos Joe Satriani and Paul Gilbert have praised Govan's playing.
Govan mainly uses various Suhr guitars: the Guthrie Govan Signature Model, three custom Standards, a Modern 24-fret model, a Classic and Classic T. Govan also favours Cornford amps: the sleeve notes of Erotic Cakes state he has used an RK100, MK50 and Hellcat. (from Wikipedia)
Rusty received his first equipment (a Peavey T27 guitar and a Peavey Decade amp) on his fifteenth birthday. From that day on Cooley immersed himself in music, practicing upwards of 3 hours a day. Rusty took guitar lessons for a while but became dissatisfied with local guitar instructors and decided to become self-taught. He relied on instructional books and videos like Doug Mark's Metal Method.
After only three years of playing he became a guitar teacher at the music store where he had purchased his first guitar.
After high school Rusty went to the local college and studied Music Theory.
Rusty joined Revolution in 1989 and stayed with them until 1993. During his time with Revolution they became a well-known band in Houston, even opening for bands such as Nitro, Badlands, South Gang, and Every Mother's Nightmare.
Rusty formed a short-lived band called Dominion after he left Revolution. The band broke up in 1995. During this time Rusty won the Guitar Master Series and was named "Best Guitarist" in Houston.
Currently Rusty is endorsed by Dean Guitars, EMG Pickups, Morley Pedals, GHS strings, VHT, Rocktron, Eventide, Maxon [disambiguation needed] and more recently Peavey amplification.
He was previously endorsed by Jackson Guitars and, more recently, Ibanez Guitars.
His Signature Dean Model was released at NAMM in early 2007. (From Wikipedia)
Doug Aldrich (born February 19, 1964 in Raleigh, North Carolina), is a Los Angeles-based hard rock electric guitarist, since 2003 a member of Whitesnake. He founded the band Burning Rain with Keith St.John in 1998 and has played previously with the bands Dio, Lion, Hurricane, House of Lords, and Bad Moon Rising. He has also released several solo albums.
Doug was previously endorsed by Jackson Guitars. He used their Dinky and Soloist superstrats as well as his own signature model which has bridge and neck position humbucking pickups were "Full-shred" pickups which Seymour Duncan specially wired. More recently though California-based Suhr Guitars came out with Doug Aldrich signature humbucking pickups, which are actually found on their superstrat-style 24-Fret Moderns. Currently, he plays various Gibson Les Pauls and Fender Stratocasters through hot-rodded Marshall JMPs and Vintage Modern amps. (from Wikipedia)
Chris Broderick (born March 6, 1970 in Lakewood, Colorado, USA) is the current lead guitarist for the popular American thrash metal band Megadeth. He currently resides in Sherman Oaks, California. Formerly the lead guitarist/keyboardist for Jag Panzer, he appeared on the last four Jag Panzer albums The Age of Mastery, Thane to the Throne (a concept album about Shakespeare's Macbeth), Mechanized Warfare and Casting the Stones before moving on to Megadeth, replacing Glen Drover. Before joining Megadeth and while still in Jag Panzer, he was also a touring guitarist for Nevermore between 2001 and 2003 and then again between 2006 and 2007.
Broderick started playing guitar when he was 11 years old and his playing styles range from pop to RnB, classical, and jazz. Broderick has been said to have practiced 14 hours a day over summer as a teen. He would wake up early in the morning, practice electric guitar for 5 hours, practice classical guitar for 5 hours, practice piano for 2, and practice violin for 2 hours. But he has said that at that time it seemed more like a "chore" than for entertainment. He was a standout player in the Denver music scene from 1988 on in bands Grey Haven, and Killing Time.
He also has a degree in classical guitar music performance at the University of Denver's Lamont School of Music.
Chris is endorsed by Ibanez guitars and DiMarzio Pickups (A Pair of D Activator 7's neck and bridge models) along with ENGL Powerball amplifiers and uses Ernie Ball Slinky strings, often with a .70 on the low Bb. Before using DiMarzio pickups, he used Bare Knuckle pickups (A Cold Sweat model in the neck, Nail Bomb in the bridge). Before using Ibanez Guitars, he used Schecter Guitars with Seymour Duncan pickups. Recently, there were rumors among fans that Chris's arrival in Megadeth would force him to switch to Dean Guitars, but Chris has continued using his Los Angeles Custom Shop Ibanez RG and RGA Prestige Seven Strings, and later modified production model Ibanez Six Strings, in his gigs with Megadeth, settling the rumors. It is rumored that Ibanez might make a Chris Broderick Signature RGA Seven String based on his Custom Shop RGA. However, due to Mustaine not wanting any sevenstring solos, Chris has begun using the Ibanez S and Prestige series, with which he recorded Endgame with. Despite a ENGL endorsement, both he and Dave used Marshall JVM's to record Endgame. He uses black Dunlop Jazz 3's. Broderick's guitar features a locking tremolo but he uses a graphite nut instead of a standard locking nut, opting instead to use locking tuners. In his posts on the SevenString.org forum, he revealed that this is due to his only subtle use of the tremolo and the straight string pull of the guitar's tuners (Though some customs do have locking nuts).
His most used guitar (picture top right) is constructed of a bolt-on neck with a rosewood fingerboard dyed black, a mahogany RGA body with a quilted maple top, and the entire guitar (body, neck, and headstock) is bound in flame maple. (from Wikipedia)
Richard Hugh "Ritchie" Blackmore (born 14 April 1945 in Weston-super-Mare) is an English guitarist, who was a founding member of hard rock bands Deep Purple and Rainbow. Blackmore left Deep Purple in 1993 due to a growing rift between Blackmore and other members in spite of renewed commercial success. His current band is the Renaissance influenced Blackmore's Night.
Blackmore was ranked #55 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".
With Deep Purple and Rainbow, Blackmore almost exclusively played a Fender Stratocaster. He is also one of the first rock guitarists to use a "scalloped" fretboard where the wood is shaved down between the frets.[citation needed]
One of Blackmore's best-known guitar riffs is from the song "Smoke on the Water". He plays the riff without a pick, using two fingers to pluck the D and G strings in fourths.
In his soloing, Blackmore combines blues scales and phrases with minor scales and ideas from European classical music. While playing he would often put the pick in his mouth to play with his fingers.
He has two guitar solos ranked on Guitar World magazine's "Top 100 Greatest Guitar Solos" ("Highway Star" at #19 and "Lazy" at #74, both from the album Machine Head).
During the 1960s Blackmore played a Gibson ES-335 but switched to a Fender Stratocaster after buying a second hand Stratocaster which included a Telecaster neck from Eric Clapton's roadie. However, the guitar was deemed unplayable by Blackmore due to the fact that the intonation was too off to be fixed. Since then and right up until his Blackmore's Night project Blackmore has used Stratocasters almost exclusively. The middle pickup is screwed down and not used, with only the bass and treble pickup selector set. Blackmore has also occasionally used a Fender Telecaster Thinline during recording sessions.
In the 70s, Blackmore used a number of different Stratocasters. However, around the time of the Long Live Rock 'n' Roll album, Blackmore found one particular Strat that was his main guitar up until Blackmore's Night. Like most of Blackmore's guitars, this Strat had its fingerboard scalloped. The pickups in it have been changed quite a few times, as described below. Blackmore added a strap lock to the headstock of this guitar as a conversation piece to annoy and confuse people[7].
His amplifers were originally 200W Marshall Major stacks which were modified by Marshall with an additional output stage (generated approximately 278W) to make them sound more like Blackmore's favourite Vox AC-30 amp, cranked to full volume. Since 1994 he has used Engl valve amps. One of the reasons he cited was that the Marshall heads did not sound as good as the Engls at low volume.
Blackmore frequently used effects during his time with Deep Purple and Rainbow, (despite claims to the opposite). He used a Hornby Skewes Treble Booster in the early days. Around the time of the Burn sessions he experimented with an EMS Synthi Hi Fli guitar synthesizer. He would sometimes use a wah-wah pedal and a variable control treble-booster for sustain. Moog Taurus bass pedals were used during solo parts of concerts. He also had a modified Aiwa TP-1011 tape machine built to supply echo and delay effects. The tape deck was also used as a pre-amp. Other effects that Blackmore used were a Schulte Compact Phasing A, a Unicord Univibe, a Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face and an Octave Divider. In the mid 80s he also experimented with Roland guitar synths. A Roland GR-700 was seen on stage as late as 1995-96, later replaced with the GR-50. Guitar synths are also used quite a bit in Blackmore's Night. As an example, Blackmore plays with a slide over what is probably an organ patch in the beginning of Way to Mandalay.
His strings used during his tenures with Deep Purple and Rainbow were Picato brand (.010, .011, .014, .026, .038, .048) Blackmore has experimented with many different pickups in his Strats. In the early Rainbow era they were still stock Fenders, later Dawk installed overwound, dipped, Fender pickups. He has also used Schecter F-500-Ts, Velvet Hammer "Red Rhodes", DiMarzio "HS-2", OBL "Black Label", Bill Lawrence L-450, XL-250 (bridge), L-250 (neck). He used Seymour Duncan Quarter Pound Flat SSL-4 for several years and since the late 80s he has used Lace Sensor (Gold) "noiseless" pickups.
Nuno Duarte Gil Mendes Bettencourt (born September 20, 1966) is a Portuguese-American guitarist and singer-songwriter best known for his role as the lead guitarist of the Boston hard rock band Extreme whose hits include the acoustic ballads "More Than Words" and "Hole Hearted". The songs reached #1 and #4, respectively, on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1991.
He has since recorded a solo project called Schizophonic as well as with bands he founded including Mourning Widows, Population 1, DramaGods, and more recently with The Satellite Party (headed by Jane's Addiction's former frontman and Lollapalooza co-founder Perry Farrell).
Since 1990, Bettencourt has had his own line of custom guitars designed by Washburn Guitars. His line is known as the N-Series, and is currently promoting the Washburn N4.
As a guitarist and songwriter, Bettencourt draws from an eclectic variety of styles and influences. However, his most prominent work has been in the realm of rock and heavy metal guitar despite his most popular commercial hits being acoustic songs. Bettencourt's technical guitar playing is influenced by many different guitar players who have key attributes in their playing, that have rubbed off on Nuno such as Eddie Van Halen, Al Di Meola and Jimmy Page, while his solos and sense of melody are influenced by Brian May of Queen. He is particularly adept at arpeggios articulated via string-skipping tapping. One of the strongest elements in Nuno's playing is his sense of rhythm, often using a very loose wrist technique to execute fast triplet picking licks to create a funky sound to his rhythm playing and also his use of poly-rhythms to blur bar lines and create a unique sound.
In December 1990, Washburn Guitars unveiled the Washburn N4 Nuno Bettencourt Signature Series - a series of Bettencourt-designed guitars which endures today.
The Nuno Bettencourt models are flagshipped by the American hand-made Washburn N4. The Washburn N4 guitar is a small reverse headstock super-strat which features the unique Stephen's Extended Cutaway neck joint for easy access to the higher frets. It also contains Bill Lawrence and Seymour Duncan pickups, and a Floyd Rose licensed tremolo. The production budget model of this guitar which was machine built in Korea is known as the N2 and features a standard bolt-on neck. The N3 was a short run Korean reproduction of the Washburn N4 using Washburn stock pickups. The original N2 and N3 guitars were prototype guitars built for Nuno. The N2 lacking the Stephen's Extended Cutaway and the N3 using a Bill Lawrence L500-R in the neck rather than the Seymour Duncan 59. Other models include The N5 and N6. Nuno has also endorsed several Washburn acoustic models. (from Wikipedia)
Chris Impellitteri (born September 25, 1964 in Connecticut) is a guitarist. His influences include: Eddie Van Halen, Uli Jon Roth, Randy Rhoads, Yngwie Malmsteen and Al Di Meola. Impellitteri is most well known as one of the fastest shred guitarists in the world.
Impellitteri's first music release was a black EP titled Impellitteri. The Black Ep was filled with music featuring shredding guitar solos, screaming vocals, and a fast rhythm section. The Impellitteri Black EP established the bands sound in the metal world. With the second album, Victim of the System, Impellitteri continued his traditional neo-classical metal style, fusing fast technical guitar soloing with classical phrasing.
In 1996 they recorded Screaming Symphony followed by 1997's successful Eye of the Hurricane. In 2000 Impellitteri recorded Crunch, which was their most experimental musically using drum loops and samples.
In 2009 Impellitteri released their new record titled Wicked Maiden.
In a 5/11/2009 interview, Chris revealed that his parent's suicide when he was nine fueled his obsession with guitar. Guitar became a way to deal with this tragic loss. His grandmother helped him get his first guitar. Chris' music stands as a testament to what dedication and perseverance can accomplish, especially shown on the new album, Wicked Maiden, which cost $1 million to make. (from Wikipedia)
Now that you have nailed the basics of good vocal production in "The Zen of Screaming," you are ready to tackle the finer points of extreme vocals! Vocal instructor Melissa Cross will guide you through the three different kinds of screams with the help of her clients, including the lead singers of Underoath, Unearth, Thursday, Arch Enemy (a GIRL, finally!), Sick of It All, All That Remains, A Life Once Lost, God Forbid and more. Plenty of performance and practice tips are included to help you get that gig and rise above the rest. Also good for those wishing to get the 411 on how to get the rasp in the voice without ripping up the vocal cords. Running time approx 88 minutes.
The Zen of Screaming is an instructional DVD by Melissa Cross, a vocal coach whose speciality is extreme vocal techniques used in metal, death metal or metalcore music styles among others. It helps singers learn how to strengthen their bodies so they can growl or scream. On the DVD many guest musicians, such as Randy Blythe of Lamb of God, appear to demonstrate the exercises.
Other pupils of Melissa Cross have been the lead vocalists of bands like Slipknot, Arch Enemy, Madball, All That Remains, UnderOath, God Forbid, and Andrew W.K.
Darrell Lance Abbott, also known as "Diamond Darrell", "Dimebag Darrell", or simply "Dime" (August 20, 1966 – December 8, 2004) was an American guitarist. Best known as a founding member of the heavy metal bands Pantera and Damageplan, he also performed in the country music band Rebel Meets Rebel.
Abbott frequently appeared in guitar magazines and in readers' polls, and wrote a long-running Guitar World magazine column, which was compiled into the book, Riffer Madness. He was praised for his tone and was included in "The 50 Greatest Tones of All Time" by Guitar Player magazine. Remembered for his amiable nature and rapport with fans, Abbot was described by Allmusic as "one of the most influential stylists in modern metal." On December 8, 2004, Abbott was shot and killed onstage during a Damageplan performance at the Alrosa Villa in Columbus, Ohio.
Darrell was born to Carolyn and Jerry Abbott, a country musician and producer. He took up guitar when he was 12, winning a series of local guitar competitions, where in one he was awarded his first Dean ML. Coincidentally, his father had bought him a cherryburst finish Dean ML standard the morning before the competition, so he only had a few hours of playing time on it. These and another contest prize, his first Randall amplifier, are the two staples of his style and sound.
Abbott once said in a Guitar World interview that if there was no Ace Frehley, there would have been no "Dimebag" Darrell - he even had a tattoo of the "KISS" guitarist on his chest (in an interview asking why he chose to become a guitar player Abbott said that when he was young his father asked him if he wanted a BMX bike or a guitar for his birthday and he chose the BMX but after listening to a Black Sabbath album for the first time he went to his father to try to trade the bike for the guitar). Ace signed the tattoo in pen ink upon meeting him, at Dimebag's request, and then the autograph was painstakingly tattooed over soon after, so as never to be washed off.
In the late 1980s, around the time of Power Metal, Abbott often covered songs by guitarist Joe Satriani, such as "Crushing Day". He also incorporated elements of Satriani songs like "Echo" into his live solos as well. Abbott stated, in various interviews, that his riffs were largely influenced by Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath. Iommi also influenced Dimebag's tunings, which often went down to C# or lower. Pantera covered Black Sabbath songs "Planet Caravan", "Hole In the Sky" and "Electric Funeral."
He also cited thrash giants Anthrax, Metallica and, despite a sometimes vicious feud, Megadeth as primary influences. He was also a great fan of Slayer and a good friend of Kerry King. Dimebag mentioned in an interview with Guitar World that the clean chord passages in the intro to Cemetery Gates were influenced by the clean chordal passages found in much of Ty Tabor's (King's X) playing.[citation needed] As with Billy Gibbons, Abbott frequently made use of pentatonic scales and slide guitar in both his leads and rhythms. Both guitarists employ blues scales, start / stop dynamics and pedal tones, as in Dimebag's southern style riff in "The Great Southern Trendkill", and the main riff to ZZ Top's "Tush". Randy Rhoads' style chord arpeggios can be heard in much of Dimebag's playing as well, noted examples being "Floods", "Shedding Skin", "The Sleep", and "This Love". He also stated that "Eddie Van Halen was heavy rock and roll, but Randy was heavy metal". Eddie Van Halen, whom Abbott had recently befriended, placed his original black with yellow stripes guitar (commonly called "bumblebee") into the Kiss Kasket. Abbott had mentioned to van Halen that he liked that color combination the best of the latter's guitars (this guitar appears on the back sleeve of Van Halen's second album "Van Halen II"), and van Halen was going to paint one that way for him. Abbott also credited Vito Rulez of Chauncy for convincing him to try Bill Lawrence pickups. According to an interview with Dino Cazares then of Fear Factory Abbott told him that during the recording of Reinventing the Steel he A/B'd his guitar tone with Dino's (incidentally during the making of Fear Factory's Demanufacture Cazares A/B'd his guitar tone against that of Vulgar Display of Power). Abbott co-designed a guitar with Dean just months before his death. Called the Razorback, it was a modified version of the ML. It is more pointed and has extra barbs on the wings. This design spawned variations, such as a 24-fret version, different paint jobs including a flamed maple top with natural finish, EMG pickups, and also helped with the design of the V-shaped version, the Razorback V (lacking the neck-pointing front wing).
Fans pay tribute at the Alrosa Villa, in Columbus, Ohio, three days after the murder.
Pete Willis of Def Leppard was also seen as another major influence for Darrell. On his Guitar World magazine tribute issue, Abbott was quoted as saying, "Man, that first Leppard album really jams, and their original guitarist, Pete Willis, was a great player. I was inspired by him because I was a small young dude and he was a small young dude, too—and he was out there kickin’ ass. He made me want to get out there and play. Def Leppard used the two-guitar thing much more back then than they do now."
Dean issued a tribute guitar to honor his death, featuring the tribute logo on the neck, a razor inlay on the 12th fret, and hand-painted "rusty-metal"-style graphics. The pickups include a Dimebucker at the Bridge and a DiMarzio Super Distortion at the neck, the tremolo is a Floyd Rose double-locking, and the knobs are the Dimebag Traction knobs. They use all-black hardware, and almost all of them have 22 frets, a Floyd Rose tremolo, Seymour Duncan pickups (including the SH-13 Dimebucker), and set-neck construction.
Dimebag was a major endorser of Dean Guitars since the 1980s, and is best known for playing a Dean ML guitar with Bill Lawrence L500XL pickups, which he would install in a reversed position to have the "hot" blade facing the neck. Dimebag used Dean Guitars from the early days with Pantera, until the company went out of business in 1995.
When Dean Guitars went out of business he switched to Washburn. He used them from 1996 until 2004, endorsing various signature models such as the Dime 333 and the Stealth.
Seymour Duncan manufactures a signature pickup co-designed by Dimebag, the SH-13 Dimebucker. He proudly endorsed the pickup manufacture, but continued to use Bill Lawrence pickups in most of his personal guitars.
Several months before his death, Darrell ended his long relationship with Washburn, and became a Dean endorser once again, coinciding with founder Dean Zelinsky's return. Dean built him a brand new signature guitar; the Dime O' Flame, which he began using live.
As a tribute to him, in 2005 Dean Guitars released the new Dime Tribute line of ML guitars. These guitars come in various models, ranging from lower price models to higher end models with SH-13 Dimebucker's, a Floyd Rose bridge, and set neck construction. In his last few weeks with Dean, Dime help design a guitar he called the Razorback. After his death, Dean continued with the Razorback project and dedicated them to the memory of him. During the height of Dimebag's fame, he also worked together with MXR and Dunlop to produce the MXR Dime Distortion and the Dimebag "Crybaby from Hell" Wah respectively. (from Wikipedia)
Saul Hudson (born 23 July 1965), better known by his stage name Slash, is an American musician. Originally from Stoke-on-Trent, England, he moved to Los Angeles, California as a child, where he began his career in the music industry. Slash is best-known as the former lead guitarist of hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he performed and recorded between 1985 and 1996. He later formed the eponymous Slash's Snakepit and co-founded Velvet Revolver with his former bandmates Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum. His debut solo album, Slash & Friends, is due to be released in 2010. In August 2009, Time Magazine named him #2 on its list of the 10 Best Electric Guitar Players of All-Time.
His mother, Ola Hudson, was born in Tennessee of African-American descent. She worked as a costume designer for David Bowie among many other actors and musicians, and his English father, Anthony Hudson, was an artist who created album covers for musicians such as Neil Young and Joni Mitchell.
Slash was raised in the city of Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, until the age of 11, when his parents relocated the family to Los Angeles, California. His parents separated and he lived primarily with his mother. He was given the nickname "Slash" by family friend Seymour Cassel because he was "always in a hurry, zipping around from one thing to another".
Slash owns more than 100 guitars. The guitar he recorded Appetite For Destruction with was a hand made flame-top 1959 Les Paul replica with no pick guard and two Seymour Duncan pickups. His main live guitar is a 1987 Les Paul Standard with three piece top (Factory Second). It has a cracked neck in two places, but he has had it repaired and continues to use it. Most of Slash's electric guitars have Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro pickups which are low output pickups.
His guitars include:
* B.C. Rich Mockingbird * Fender Stratocaster * Fender Telecaster * B.C. Rich Double neck * Gibson EDS-1275 * Gibson Flying V * Gibson Explorer * Gibson Melody Maker (used for slide during "Bad Obsession") * Slash Custom Les Paul Gold Top Guitar
One of Slash's favorite guitar is the aforementioned hand-made Gibson Les Paul Copy. He received it during the recording sessions for Guns N' Roses debut album, "Appetite for Destruction". When he couldn't get the right sound he was looking for, the band's manager found a 1959 Les Paul Standard copy. He has used that guitar on every album he has recorded with Guns N' Roses and Velvet Revolver. The guitar was also the basis of the instrument his doppelgänger used in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. (from Wikioedia)
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)
Gregory "Greg" Howe (born December 8, 1963) is an American guitarist and composer. As an active musician for over twenty years, he has released nine studio albums in addition to collaborating with a wide variety of artists.
Howe began his solo career during the 1980s shred era, joining Mike Varney's Shrapnel Records label and releasing his self-titled debut album, Greg Howe, in 1988. His next album, Introspection, was released five years later in 1993. At this point, he began to demonstrate a significant stylistic change which remains prevalent to this day; incorporating elements of jazz fusion into his playing, as well as borrowing heavily from the legato-based technique of fellow guitarist Allan Holdsworth, all whilst mixing in a bluesy, groove-laden vibe and the frequent use of odd time signatures.
With the release of altogether five solo albums during the 1990s, he also participated in two collaborations with Richie Kotzen: Tilt and Project, in 1995 and 1997 respectively. At the end of the millennium, he briefly adopted a heavier, neo-classical approach for his 1999 release, Ascend, which featured Ukrainian keyboardist Vitalij Kuprij.
He once again changed his musical style in 2000, with Hyperacuity—an experimental album which displayed almost none of the instrumental rock elements of his debut. Following an extended hiatus after the 2003 release of Extraction (which featured bassist Victor Wooten and drummer Dennis Chambers), he returned with a new studio album entitled Sound Proof in 2008, which has since indicated a subtle shift to a style more reminiscent of his 1990s work.
Apart from his solo career, Howe is also a session musician and has worked and toured with well-known artists such as Michael Jackson, Enrique Iglesias, *NSYNC and Justin Timberlake. He currently resides in Long Beach, California (having previously lived in Easton, Pennsylvania until around 2006), and is working as a producer, session musician, and guitar instructor. (from Wikipedia)
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942 – September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is often considered to be the greatest electric guitarist in the history of rock music by other musicians and commentators in the industry, and one of the most important and influential musicians of his era across a range of genres. After initial success in Europe, he achieved fame in the United States following his 1967 performance at the Monterey Pop Festival. Later, Hendrix headlined the iconic 1969 Woodstock Festival and the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival. Hendrix often favored raw overdriven amplifiers with high gain and treble and helped develop the previously undesirable technique of guitar amplifier feedback. Hendrix was one of the musicians who popularized the wah-wah pedal in mainstream rock which he often used to deliver an exaggerated pitch in his solos, particularly with high bends and use of legato based around the pentatonic scale. He was influenced by blues artists such as B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Albert King, and Elmore James, rhythm and blues and soul guitarists Curtis Mayfield, Steve Cropper, as well as by some modern jazz. In 1966, Hendrix, who played and recorded with Little Richard's band from 1964 to 1965, was quoted as saying, "I want to do with my guitar what Little Richard does with his voice.
Hendrix was born on November 27, 1942, in Seattle, Washington, while his father was stationed at an Army base in Oklahoma. He was named Johnny Allen Hendrix at birth by his mother, 17-year-old Lucille Hendrix née Jeter. She had put him in the temporary care of friends in California (a holiday). On his release from the Army his father, James Allen "Al" Hendrix (1919–2002), took him, and changed his name to James Marshall Hendrix in memory of his deceased brother, Leon Marshall Hendrix. He was known as "Buster" to friends and family, from birth.Shortly after, Al reunited with Lucille. He found it hard to gain steady employment after the Second World War, and the family experienced financial hardship. Hendrix had two brothers, Leon and Joseph, and two sisters, Kathy and Pamela. Joseph was born with physical difficulties and at the age of three was given up to state care. His two sisters were both given up at a relatively early age, for care and later adoption, Kathy was born blind and Pamela had some lesser physical difficulties.
Hendrix's parents divorced when he was nine years old; his mother, who had cirrhosis of the liver, died in 1958 when the state of her liver caused her spleen to rupture. On occasion, he was sent to live with his grandmother in Vancouver, British Columbia because of the unstable household, and his brother Leon was put into temporary welfare care for a period. Hendrix grew up as a shy and sensitive boy, deeply affected by the conditions of poverty and neglect he experienced. In a relatively unusual experience for African Americans of his era, Hendrix's high school had a relatively equitable ethnic mix of African, European (including Jews), and Asian (Japanese, Filipino and Chinese) Americans. At age 15, around the time his mother died, he acquired his first acoustic guitar for $5 from an acquaintance of his father. This guitar replaced both the broomstick he had been strumming in imitation, and the ukulele which his father had found while cleaning out a garage Hendrix learned to play by practicing almost constantly, watching others play, through tips from more experienced players, and by listening to records. In the summer of 1959, his father bought Hendrix a white Supro Ozark, his first electric guitar, but there was no available amplifier. According to fellow Seattle bandmates, he learned most of his acrobatic stage moves, a major part of the blues/R&B tradition, including playing with his teeth and behind his back, from a fellow young musician, Raleigh "Butch" Snipes, guitarist with local band The Sharps. Hendrix himself performed Chuck Berry's trademark "duck walk" on occasion. Hendrix played in a couple of local bands, occasionally playing outlying gigs in Washington State and at least once over the border in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Hendrix was particularly fond of Elvis Presley, whom he saw perform in Seattle, in 1957. Leon Hendrix claimed, in an early interview, that Little Richard appeared in his Central District neighborhood and shook hands with his brother, Jimi. This is unattested elsewhere and vehemently denied by his father. Hendrix's early exposure to blues music came from listening to records by Muddy Waters and B.B. King which his father owned. Another early impression came from the 1954 western Johnny Guitar, in which the hero carries no gun but instead wears a guitar slung behind his back.
Hendrix's first gig was with an unnamed band in the basement of a synagogue, Seattle's Temple De Hirsch. After too much wild playing and showing off, he was fired between sets. The first formal band he played in was The Velvetones, who performed regularly at the Yesler Terrace Neighborhood House without pay. His flashy style and left-handed playing of a right-handed guitar already made him a standout. He later joined the Rocking Kings, who played professionally at such venues as the Birdland. When his guitar was stolen (after he left it backstage overnight), Al bought him a white Silvertone Danelectro. He painted it red and had "Betty Jean" emblazoned on it - the name of his high school girlfriend.
Hendrix completed junior high at Washington Junior High School with little trouble but did not graduate from Garfield High School. Later he was awarded an honorary diploma, and in the 1990s a bust of Hendrix was placed in the school library. After he became famous in the late 1960s, Hendrix told reporters that he had been expelled from Garfield by racist faculty for holding hands with a white girlfriend in study hall. However, Principal Frank Hanawalt says that it was simply due to poor grades and attendance problems.
EQUIPMENTS:
Fender Stratocaster
Hendrix owned and used a variety of guitars during his career. His guitar of choice however, and the instrument that became most associated with him, was the Fender Stratocaster, or "Strat". He started playing Stratocasters in 1966 and thereafter used it almost exclusively for his stage performances and recordings.
Many other leading guitarists, including Jeff Beck, Ritchie Blackmore and Eric Clapton, also played Stratocasters. Hendrix bought many Strats and gave some away as gifts. The original sunburst Stratocaster that Hendrix burnt at the Astoria in 1967, and that he kept as a souvenir, was given to Frank Zappa by a Hendrix roadie at the 1968 Miami Pop Festival. Zappa assumed it was the one Hendrix had played there.
Hendrix used right-handed guitars, turned upside-down for left-hand playing, and re-strung so that the heavier strings were in their standard position at the top of the neck. This had an important effect on his guitar sound: because of the slant of the Strat's bridge pickup, his lowest string had a bright sound while his highest string had a mellow sound, the opposite of the Stratocaster's intended design.
Heavy use of the tremolo bar throughout his career caused the drawback of frequent losses in tuning; Hendrix would often ask the audience for a "minute to tune up" several times during the same concert.
In addition to Fender Stratocasters, Hendrix was also photographed playing Jazzmasters, Duosonics, two different Gibson Flying Vs, a Gibson Les Paul, three Gibson SGs, a Gretsch Corvette he used at the 1967 Curtis Knight sessions and miming with a right strung Fender Jaguar on the "Top Of The Pop's" TV show, as well as several other brands. Hendrix borrowed a Fender Telecaster from Noel Redding to record "Hey Joe" and "Purple Haze", used a white Gibson SG Custom for his performances on the Dick Cavett show in the summer of 1969, and the Isle of Wight film shows him playing his second Gibson Flying V. While Jimi had previously owned a Flying V that he'd painted with a psychedelic design, the Flying V used at the Isle of Wight was a unique custom left-handed guitar with gold plated hardware, a bound fingerboard and "split-diamond" fret markers that were not found on other 60s-era Flying Vs.
On December 4, 2006, one of Hendrix's 1968 Fender Stratocaster guitars with a sunburst design was sold at a Christie's auction for USD$168,000. (FROM wIKIPEDIA)
Brian Patrick Carroll, better known as Buckethead, is an American musician and songwriter. He has released 28 solo albums and performed on over 50 more. His music spans such diverse areas as progressive metal, thrash metal, funk, electronica, jazz, bluegrass, and avant-garde music.
When performing in his theatrical persona, Buckethead used to wear a KFC bucket on his head, emblazoned with an orange bumper sticker that read "funeral" in capital black block letters, and an expressionless plain white costume mask. More recently, he has switched to a plain white bucket no longer bearing the KFC logo. He also incorporates nunchaku, robot dancing, and toy trading into his stage performances. Buckethead's persona represents a character who was "raised by chickens" and has made it his "mission in life to alert the world to the ongoing chicken holocaust in fast-food joints around the globe."
Although a multi-instrumentalist, Buckethead is best known for his electric guitar playing. He has been voted number 8 on a list in GuitarOne magazine of the "Top 20 Greatest Guitar Shredders of All Time" as well as been included in Guitar World's lists of the "25 all-time weirdest guitarists" also known for being in the "50 fastest guitarists of all time list".
Buckethead performs primarily as a solo artist. He has collaborated extensively with a wide variety of high profile artists such as Bill Laswell, Bootsy Collins, Bernie Worrell, Iggy Pop, Les Claypool, Serj Tankian, Mike Patton, Viggo Mortensen, and was a member of Guns N' Roses from 2000 to 2004. Buckethead has also written and performed music for major motion pictures, including: Saw II, Ghosts of Mars, Beverly Hills Ninja, Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, Last Action Hero, and the soundtrack of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie. (from Wikipedia)
GUITARS
* Custom built Gibson Les Paul * Steinberger GS (AKA "Kaiser’s Gift") * Custom built ESP MV * ESP MII * Gibson Chet Atkins * Ibanez X-Series Flying V * Ibanez X Series Rocket Roll II * Takamine Acoustic * Yamaha AES920 * Gibson 1959 Les Paul Custom * Gibson SG * Gibson SST * Gibson 1969 Les Paul Custom * Custom built Jackson Y2KV * Custom built Jackson KV2 * Custom built Jackson Doubleneck * Fender Telecaster * Vigier Excess Indus 4-String Bass * Heartfield Talon model (by Fender) with pink DiMarzio X2Ns * Parker Fly
EFFECTS
* Digitech Whammy II * Digitech Whammy IV * Dunlop Cry Baby 535Q * Alesis MidiVerb II * BOSS NS-2 Noise Suppressor * BOSS RC-20 Loop Station * BOSS OS-2 Overdrive/Distortion * BOSS TU-2 Chromatic Tuner * Electro-Harmonix Micro Synthesizer * Snarling Dogs Mold Spore Wah Pedal * Roger Mayer Octavia * DOD Electronics FX-25B envelope filter * AnalogMan Bicomprossor * MXR EVH Phase 90 * MXR Phase 100 * Line 6 FM4 Filter Effects Pedal
Jason Becker, (born July 22, 1969) is an American neo-classical metal guitarist and composer. At the age of 16, he became part of the Mike Varney-produced duo Cacophony with his friend Marty Friedman. They released Speed Metal Symphony in 1987 and Go Off! in 1988. Cacophony broke up in 1989 and Becker began doing solo work, having released his first album Perpetual Burn in 1988. He later joined David Lee Roth's band and recorded one album with him. However, Becker's success was hampered by his then-diagnosed amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's Disease) and was given three to five years to live. In 1996, Becker eventually lost the ability to speak and now communicates with his eyes via a system developed by his father. Despite his disability, he continues composing by using a computer.
Jason Becker studied the works of violinist Niccolò Paganini and was a playing partner with Marty Friedman. He later arranged Paganini's 5th Caprice, performing it during an instructional guitar video. Becker's compositions often include high speed scalar and arpeggio passages, both of which are trademarks of his 'shred' style of guitar playing. He demonstrated the arpeggio sequence during a clinic at the Atlanta Institute of Music. A video of this performance first appeared on his Hot Licks guitar instructional video.
Becker started out playing alongside Marty Friedman in the Mike Varney produced-duo, Cacophony. Becker and Friedman toured together with Cacophony in Japan and across the United States. In 1989 Becker left to pursue a solo career, having released his first solo album titled 'Perpetual Burn' in 1988, and has since released 'Perspective' and 'Collection' , as well as two albums of demos, entitled 'The Raspberry Jams' and 'The Blackberry Jams'.
In the early days of Cacophony, Jason used Hurricane Guitars. The first Cacophony album was recorded with a white Hurricane EX Series model [apparently a Limited Edition] with a DiMarzio Steve Morse model humbucker pickup in the bridge position and a maple neck with a rosewood fretboard with 22 frets. For Perpetual Burn he used another Hurricane EX Series model with unknown model DiMarzio pickups, maple neck with maple fretboard and 24 frets. For the 2nd Cacophony album, Jason switched over to Carvin gear, utilizing 2 DC200 models, one in a trans blue finish and maple body, one in a burgundy finish. Both have double cutaway bodies, Kahler locking tremolo systems, 6 in line headstocks and 2 active Carvin humbucker pickups. He used these up until he was diagnosed with ALS in 1989. During the period of 1989-1991, Jason used various guitars, most notably a Peavey custom model with the numbered fretboard markers. There are a few of these around. Also used were an Ibanez unknown model [probably an RG], a custom from Performance Guitars, a couple of unknown Strat style guitars and a black Hurricane EX Series with 3 pickups. As of very recently, Jason has allowed Paradise Guitars USA to release a Jason Becker signature guitar. It is similar in appearance to the numbered Peavey but with a different headstock shape. In his earliest days of playing, Jason used an unknown model acoustic and a black stratocaster type guitar [possibly a MIJ Fender]. Amp wise, Jason used various pieces. In his pre Cacophony days, he used a small Peavey practice amp [possibly a backstage or an audition with the older style Peavey stripes]. For the first Cacophony album, Jason used an ADAMP1 preamp. Perpetual Burn was a 70s Marshall half stack and a BOSS Super Overdrive and Cacophony second album was a Carvin X100B stack. He also used the SX300H head at some point during that era. After Cacophony Jason used various amps, including a "Fender M80", an unknown Marshall amp, an ADA Preamp and possibly the aforementioned Peavey combo.
Paul Brandon Gilbert (born November 6, 1966 in Illinois, USA) is an American musician. He is well known for his guitar work with Racer X and Mr. Big, as well as many solo albums. He also joined Joe Satriani and John Petrucci on the 2007 G3 tour.
He has been voted number 4 on a list in GuitarOne magazine of the "Top 10 Greatest Guitar Shredders of All Time", as well as a spot in Guitar World's 50 Fastest Guitarists of All Time list.
Talking about his influences, Paul mentions many different artists, including: Randy Rhoads, Eddie Van Halen, Yngwie Malmsteen, Tony Iommi, Alex Lifeson, Jimmy Page, Robin Trower, Judas Priest, Akira Takasaki, Jimi Hendrix, Kiss, Van Halen and The Ramones. Paul has stated many times that he was heavily influenced by his uncle Jimi Kidd who was instrumental in getting Paul interested in playing the guitar. He is also a great fan of The Beach Boys and The Beatles. He states on the Space Ship Live DVD that George Harrison is one of his favorite guitar players. Guitar World magazine declared him one of 50 of the world's fastest guitarists of all time, along with Buckethead, Eddie Van Halen, and Yngwie Malmsteen.
Gilbert composes music in a wide variety of styles including pop, rock, metal, blues, funk and european classical music, but is perhaps best known for his versatility and speed, which helped him be named as one of the "Top 10 Shredders Of All Time" by Guitar One Magazine.
Paul Gilbert primarily uses his Ibanez PGM signature series guitars, identified by their unique painted "f-holes". Although earlier PGM models featured the Ibanez Lo-Pro/Edge double locking tremolo system, many of his guitars (such as his main PGM300) have since been modified to accommodate a fixed bridge, hence the Ibanez PGM301 series. Along with his signature guitars, Gilbert often uses his sticker-covered "Dino" Ibanez RG750, in addition to a wide variety of Ibanez solidbody and semi-hollow electric guitars. Recently, Gilbert has been using Ibanez "Fireman" (a reversed-body Ibanez Iceman with single-coil pickups and an extra cutaway) guitars, which he designed himself.
Regarding amps, Gilbert used ADA preamps and rack effects units early in his career prior to switching to Laney amplifiers. He praised the Laney amps as having "the best natural distortion of any tube amp ever heard".[citation needed] Since the G3 2007 tour however, Gilbert stated that playing with Joe Satriani and John Petrucci inspired him to take a closer look at his own guitar sound. As a result of his search he found the Marshall Vintage Modern series. He currently uses the Marshall Vintage Modern 2266c combo amps. Paul uses Jim Dunlop Tortex picks, of which he prefers the orange (.60mm) picks.
Paul used the following effects as of his tour of Europe in 2008 (he used 12 effects in total):
Homebrew Electronics Bajo Mos
Homebrew Electronics Detox EQ
Tc electronics nova delay
Homebrew Electronics compressor retro
MXR phase 100
BOSS Digital Delay DD-3
Ibanez Airplane Flanger
MXR Blue box
Homebrew Electronics THC chorus
Robert Keeley Nova Wah LE
Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Electric Mistress
Korg Pitchblack tuner
Paul also used a modified vintage ADA Flanger from the 1980s (source: Berlin VIP session interview). You can hear it on tracks like 'Bucket of Rocks', and he also uses it on the 'Snowball of Doom' DVD. Paul stated the flanger had been modified. He uses it to change the pitch from high to low to create a sound similar to a dive bomb. Unfortunately, during Paul's 2008 European tour, his trusty ADA Flanger broke. Thankfully, before the pedal broke, he and Ibanez collaborated to make a similar pedal, with both a regular flanger mode and a mode which can be set to create a close approximation of the ADA pedal's sound, and the pedal has been released as the Ibanez Paul Gilbert AF-2 Airplane Flanger. He also uses the Psilocybe phaser and THC chorus pedals from Home Brew Electronics.
In the intro to "Get Out Of My Yard" Paul uses a Boss DD-3 Delay pedal to achieve the altered pitch looped effect at the beginning of the track. This was also demonstrated by Paul on the instructional DVD of the same name.
In 2009, Ibanez released a new PGM model, the Ibanez PGM401, which is rather different from most of Paul's previous models, with an ash body (most of his previous models were made of basswood, although his PGM800 guitar was made of lightweight ash (a similar but different wood than that used in the PGM401), Trifade Burst finish, Cosmo Black hardware and a regular headstock replacing the reversed one of the previous models. Also, rather than the DiMarzio PAF Pro, Tone Zone and Super Distortion pickups used in his previous models, the PGM401 comes with Paul's favorite humbucker model for the past five years, the DiMarzio Air Classics, arranged in a dual humbucker arrangement. Paul has stated that he had the bridge pickup moved 1 mm closer to the neck, which he said results in a warmer and thicker sound, particularly for the high notes he often uses in soloing. The F-holes are 3% smaller, to make the look more balanced with the pickup mounting rings. But perhaps the biggest difference from other current Ibanez guitar models, is that the PGM401 uses the old late-1980s neckjoint, which is thicker than the current neckjoints on other Ibanez guitars. (from Wikipedia)
Frank Gambale (born December 22, 1958) is an Australian jazz fusion guitarist. He is renowned for his use of the sweep picking and economy picking techniques.
