Shredders!: The Oral History Of Speed Guitar (And More)

Free Pdf Books Greg Prato

“How fast can you play?”“What guitar do you have?”“Who is better, Van Halen or SteveVai?”For metal fans in the 80s, these were common and important questions. Tune in toMTV, pick up a magazine, or walk into an instrument store, and more often than not you’dbe exposed to what is now known as shredding—the fast, virtuoso soloing popularized bymusicians like Vai and Van Halen, Joe Satriani and Yngwie Malmsteen, Randy Rhoads andDimebag Darrell.Inspired by these pioneering guitarists, thousands of young musicianswould spend hours at home in their bedrooms, perfecting both their playing and theirposes.Though shredding fell out of favor during the grunge/alternative rock era, it hasbecome increasingly popular again in recent years, spurred by the rise in popularity ofbands like Children Of Bodom, DragonForce, and Trivium. Drawing on more than seventyexclusive interviews with key shredders past and present, author and guitarist Greg Pratohas assembled the definitive guide to the fastest players of them all.‘What I would do is, Iwould get up, I would play guitar, I would take a food break—which was breakfast—andthen I would play guitar again, play until the afternoon, take a short break, run someerrands, maybe grab a snack, come back, and play some more.’ KIRK HAMMETT‘I just said,I’m not going to be that longhaired guitar player plugging into a set of Marshalls anymore.I’m just leaving that behind. I’m going to do something di erent and artistic.’JOESATRIANI‘After I had heard Edward and Yngwie, I realized that you could create tone wherethe notes are really clear.’STEVE VAI‘Well, one person’s shred is another person’s slowhand...’GEORGE LYNCH

‘During that time, it was guitar players galore. Every band had a virtuoso guitarplayer.’Mark WoodA Jawbone ebookFirst edition 2017Published in the UK and the USA byJawbone Press3.1D Union Court,20–22 Union Road,London SW46JP,Englandwww.jawbonepress.comVolume copyright © 2017 Outline Press Ltd. Textcopyright © Greg Prato Writer Corp. All rights reserved. No part of this book covered bythe copyrights hereon may be reproduced or copied in any manner whatsoever withoutwritten permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in articles or reviewswhere the source should be made clear. For more information contact the publishers.Thephotographs used in this book are from the following sources: Eddie Van Halen (2), AlexLifeson (2), K.K. Downing, Ace Frehley, Ritchie Blackmore, Randy Rhoads, MichaelSchenker, Ronnie James Dio, Metallica (2) © Richard Galbraith; Billy Sheehan, GeorgeLynch, Paul Gilbert, Ronnie Le Tekro, Billy Corgan, Al Jourgensen, Kim Thayil, Ty Tabor,Dimebag Darrell © Steven J. Messina; Curt Kirkwood © Greg Prato; Mark Wood ©Maryanne Bilham; Uli Roth photo courtesy of UDR Music.Editor: Tom SeabrookJacketDesign: Mark Casecontentsforeword by alex lifesonintroductioncast of characterschapter1 pre-shredchapter 2 eddiechapter 3 randychapter 4 yngwiechapter 5 neoclassicalmetalchapter 6 shrapnel recordschapter 7 racer x & cacophonychapter 8 practice makesperfectchapter 9 modes & scaleschapter 10 stevie raychapter 11 jeffchapter 12garychapter 13 the ozzy gigchapter 14 tappingchapter 15 sweepingchapter 16 trademarks& techniqueschapter 17 soloing vs. songwritingchapter 18 stevechapter 19 joechapter 20ericchapter 21 basschapter 22 floyd rosechapter 23 gitchapter 24 nammchapter 25 mags& tabs, vids & storeschapter 26 the man who sangchapter 27 megadeth’s bassist onmegadeth’s guitaristschapter 28 rex talks dimechapter 29 king of pop = king of rock?chapter 30 big breakchapter 31 not just metalchapter 32 the end of shred?chapter 33modern daychapter 34 standout players, a–mchapter 35 standout players, n–zchapter 36crucial shredchapter 37 tools of the tradechapter 38 ‘shred’afterword by uli jonrothphotographsendnotesabout the authorforewordby alex lifesonOn these pages, GregPrato has delivered a fascinating presentation of not only the history but the personalobservations of all things rock guitar from many of the great guitarists of the past half-century, in their own words.A clear, in-depth chronicle told honestly from the perspectiveof the players who have learned and showcased their skills from a long line of talentedpredecessors and providing an insight that frankly could not come from acasualobserver.In these chapters, the reader will glean a bounty of information regardingindividual players and their impact on the music scene of the time—opinions ontechnique and gear, the value and differing forms of practice, support from the industry,and many other points of interest.For anyone with a deep interest in the role rock guitarand its diverse myriad of players have played, Shredders! will satisfy completely.ALEXLIFESON, NOVEMBER 2016introductionby greg prato‘How fast can you play?’‘What make/model guitar do you have?’‘Who is better, Van Halen or Vai?’All common and seemingly

important questions if you were a guitar-playing teenager living on Long Island, New York,in the mid-to-late 80s—as yours truly was.For much of the decade, if you were to tune intoMTV, flip through the pages of a publication aimed at guitarists, or stroll through yourlocal store that sold musical instruments, you were exposed to what is now called ‘shred’—guitarists who spent many an hour in their bedroom, perfecting their playing … and poses.In fact, for some, being able to show off your skills on the six-string was the most crucialcomponent of their musical expression.And as a result, it was very necessary for grungeand alternative rock to ‘cleanse the pallet’ in the early 90s, and get the focus back to theimportance of songwriting and quality of lyrical content. But throughout my changingmusic listening tastes, I never parted ways with my trusty recordings of Van Halen/DLR,Rush, Thin Lizzy, Queen, King’s X, King Crimson, Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, and Steve Vai’s Flex-Able—and continued to listen/inspect them throughout the years.In fact, if you were toask me, post-grunge, what one of my favorite rock concerts I’ve ever witnessed in my lifewas, I would most definitely have said the David Lee Roth/Eat ’Em And Smile tour stop atNassau Coliseum (on Saturday, January 23 1987, to be exact)—which of course spotlightedthe exceptional talents of both Steve Vai and Billy Sheehan.But over the years, I havealways wondered what a lot of the guitarists that I spent so much time reading about andlistening to way back when were currently up to. And after going on a serious 80s-guitarlistening spree (Not Of This Earth, Surfing With The Alien, Eat ’Em And Smile, DisturbingThe Peace, Master Of Puppets, etc.), I was determined to do what was right, and tell thestory of the shred movement that thrived throughout the 80s, hit hard times in the 90s,and then was seemingly reborn—as nimble-fingered as ever—in the early twenty-firstcentury.After conducting nearly seventy all-new interviews with shredders past andpresent (as well as a few ‘anti-shredders,’ to get both sides of the story), I believe for thefirst time ever, we now have the full story of speed guitar.Prepare for blast off!GREGPRATOQuestions? Comments? Feel free to email me: gregprato@yahoo.comThe authorhard at work, 1986.cast of charactersTrey Azagthoth Morbid Angel guitaristmichael angelobatio Nitro guitarist; solo artistJennifer Batten Michael Jackson, Jeff Beck guitarist; soloartistCorey Beaulieu Trivium guitaristJason Becker Cacophony, David Lee Roth guitarist;solo artistAdrian Belew Frank Zappa, David Bowie, Talking Heads guitarist; King Crimsonsinger-guitarist; solo artistGraham Bonnet Rainbow, Michael Schenker Group, Alcatrazz,Impellitteri singer; solo artistRoss The Boss The Dictators, Manowar, Death DealerguitaristRex Brown Pantera, Down, Kill Devil Hill bassistChris Caffrey Savatage, Trans-Siberian Orchestra guitaristVivian Campbell Dio, Whitesnake, Def Leppard guitaristDavid T.Chastain Chastain, CJSS guitarist; solo artistPhil Collen Girl, Def Leppard guitaristBillyCorgan Smashing Pumpkins singer-guitarist; solo artistRoger Costa Archivist, co-administrator of the estate of Jeff HealeyDuane Denison Jesus Lizard, TomahawkguitaristK.K. Downing Judas Priest guitaristAdam Dutkiewicz Killswitch EngageguitaristDavid Ellefson Megadeth bassistRik Emmett Triumph singer-guitarist; soloartistLita Ford Runaways guitarist; solo artistAce Frehley Kiss guitarist; solo artistMartyFriedman Cacophony, Megadeth guitarist; solo artistFrank Gambale Chick Corea Elektric

Band, Vital Information guitarist; solo artistPaul Gilbert Racer X, Mr. Big guitarist; soloartistCraig Goldy Rough Cutt, Giuffria, Dio guitarist; solo artistGuthrie Govan Asia, TheAristocrats, Steven Wilson guitarist; solo artistSteve Hackett Genesis, GTR guitarist; soloartistStu Hamm Joe Satriani and Steve Vai bassist; solo artistKirk Hammett MetallicaguitaristChris Haskett Rollins Band guitaristWarren Haynes Allman Brothers Bandguitarist; Gov’t Mule, Warren Haynes Band singer-guitaristGary Hoey Solo artistGreg HoweHowe II, Michael Jackson, Enrique Iglesias, ’N Sync, Justin Timberlake guitarist; soloartistRon Jarzombek Watchtower guitaristAl Jourgensen Ministry singer-guitaristCurtKirkwood Meat Puppets singer-guitaristRichie Kotzen Poison, Mr. Big guitarist; The WineryDogs singer-guitarist; solo artistBruce Kulick Kiss, Union, Grand Funk Railroad guitarist;solo artistAlexi Laiho Children Of Bodom singer-guitaristRonni Le Tekrø TNT guitarist; soloartistHerman Li DragonForce guitaristGeorge Lynch Dokken, Lynch Mob guitarist; soloartistSteve Lynch Autograph guitaristTony MacAlpine Solo artistWolf Marshall GuitarWorld, Guitar For The Practicing Musician, Vintage Guitar magazine columnist; WolfMarshall’s GuitarOne magazine editor-in-chief; tablature transcriberJim Matheos FatesWarning, OSI guitarist; solo artistDave Meniketti Y&T singer-guitaristSteve Morse DixieDregs, Kansas, Deep Purple guitarist; solo artistJas Obrecht Guitar Player magazine editor(1978–99)Vernon Reid Living Colour guitarist; ; solo artistKarl Sanders Nile guitarist; ; soloartistBlues Saraceno Poison guitarist; solo artistRudy Sarzo Quiet Riot, Ozzy Osbourne,Whitesnake, Dio bassistJoe Satriani Chickenfoot guitarist, solo artistMichael SchenkerScorpions, UFO, Michael Schenker Group, Temple Of Rock guitaristBilly Sheehan Talas,David Lee Roth, Mr. Big, The Winery Dogs bassist; solo artistHank Shermann Mercyful FateguitaristAlex Skolnick Testament, Alex Skolnick Trio guitaristSteve Stevens Billy Idol,Michael Jackson, Vince Neil, Bozzio Levin Stevens guitarist; solo artistJoe Stump SoloartistTy Tabor King’s X guitarist; solo artistBrian Tatler Diamond Head guitaristRon‘Bumblefoot’ Thal Guns N’ Roses guitarist; solo artistKim Thayil SoundgardenguitaristSteve Vai Frank Zappa, Alcatrazz, David Lee Roth, Whitesnake guitarist; soloartistMike Varney Shrapnel Records founder; magazine columnistJeff Waters AnnihilatorguitaristJeff Watson Night Ranger guitarist; solo artistMark Wood Solo artist; violinist1pre-shredA study of the guitarists who helped pave the way for the shredders of the 80s andbeyond.JOE SATRIANI [Chickenfoot guitarist; solo artist] Y’know, the funny thing aboutdecades is sometimes they don’t start until a few years into them. It’s sort of like the 60sdidn’t really start until the mid 60s. It’s funny how we think in terms of the beginning ofthe decade, but sometimes, it takes a while to get over the previous one. So, when I thinkabout those 80s guitar players, I guess I’m still reeling from what happened in the 70s. VanHalen came along really late in the 70s.TREY AZAGTHOTH [Morbid Angel guitarist] For me,we must include the late 70s, because back then, there were many amazing bands andguitarists that I grew up on, and of course, Eddie Van Halen was one of them. Manycontinued into the 80s and after, but I think the late 70s is a better timeline to start withwhen discussing epic guitarists and innovation. I also really got into people such as FrankMarino, Uli Roth, Robin Trower, and Tony Iommi, to name a few. The late 70s had some

pretty amazing ‘feeling’ bands that we just can’t leave out—Foghat, Blue Öyster Cult, UFO,Scorpions, Judas Priest, Rush, Blackfoot, and the list goes on.WOLF MARSHALL [magazinecolumnist, editor, tablature transcriber] Although the 80s was an explosion—that camealmost out of nowhere—if you look back at the roots, you started to see the underground.Uli Roth, that’s one guy. He was definitely a precursor of Yngwie. Allan Holdsworth.Although he was in jazz-rock, Van Halen was listening to him. So they were there, but theywere just underneath the surface. The Scorpions weren’t as popular back in 1977 as theywere when they were doing ‘No One Like You,’ but if you were into rock guitar, you knewabout them and you knew they had a great guitar player. And before that, MichaelSchenker. And I loved the Michael Schenker Group and I loved him with UFO. So all thosethings were the beginning of that 80s movement.CRAIG GOLDY [Rough Cutt, Giuffria, Dioguitarist; solo artist] Always, in my book, it is going to be Ritchie Blackmore—he set hisfoundation before, in the 70s.TREY AZAGTHOTH Guitarists such as Frank Marino werepresenting guitar playing and tones from a more psychedelic realm of imagination,applied to the use of musical theory and other tools.FRANK GAMBALE [Chick CoreaElektric Band, Vital Information guitarist; solo artist] All those great fusion bands of the 70s—Return To Forever, Frank Zappa to some degree, Jean-Luc Ponty, Weather Report—reallyinspired us. And people like myself were just following in the great tradition of what weknew and loved, in terms of that kind of music.TY TABOR [King’s X guitarist; solo artist] I’llbe honest with you—the 80s were a depressing time for me musically, and for guitar. Irecognized there were some legendary players to come out of the 80s, that I lovedlistening to and that I still listen to. I still put on Satch [Joe Satriani] records from then. Istill listen to the great guitarists of the 80s. But when you take those three or fourguitarists out of the picture, music in general was somewhat a sad state of affairs for guitar—as far as I was concerned—in the 80s, coming out of the 70s.The 70s was all aboutguitar. Every huge band up until disco … and even during disco, there were huge rockbands out there, playing big gigs. But the early-to-mid 70s was just ‘guitar extravaganza.’ Itwas two guitars, bass, and drums in pretty much every rock band. Unless it was LedZeppelin, with one guitar. But it was just in your face, unbelievable, God-like guitar playingthroughout the 70s. Whether it be Humble Pie, Peter Frampton himself, all of the Britishrock bands from that time that we all were listening to.For me, that was a really healthy,amazing time in music for rock guitar. And there were still a lot of independent FMstations all over the countries. It changed during the 70s, but at the start of the 70s, theywere still there, and regions played different music from other regions. There wasn’t anational playlist yet. There was no ‘company’ that was going to buy out all of America’smusic at that time. That happened in the 80s. And that was an incredibly, horriblydepressing time, where I felt rock music was crushed by industry. Crushed by themachine, by conformity, by making it ‘You must sound this way, look this way to get a dealanymore.’ And it was now all calculated. That was how I feel about the 80s, to be honestwith you. Van Halen wasn’t that—they were the real deal that everybody copied.MICHAELSCHENKER [Scorpions, UFO, Michael Schenker Group, Temple Of Rock guitarist] I feel what

original people created in the 70s, it was something used later in the 80s. But it wassimplified. If you listen to drums—the drums went, one bass drum, one snare drum.Keeping it very simple. The snare became very loud and took up a lot of space. Lead guitarplaying wasn’t necessarily simplified, but it lost a lot of feel. It became technical. Drumsbecame very primitive and guitar playing became very technical. It was morecommercial.The Scorpions, they basically copied everything UFO did. So whenever UFOwould release an album, one year later, the Scorpions would release an album withsimilar stuff on it. They used to come to my home and listen to my latest compositions,and I didn’t think much of it. But I guess in the 70s, my contribution was important for the80s. Bands like the Scorpions simplified it and made it more acceptable for the wide mass—the people who really cannot get that deep, but with a good packaging for the eye andplaying it in a simple way that makes the people who watch them [think], ‘Oh … maybe Ican do this, too!’ It made it more accessible.BRUCE KULICK [Kiss, Union, Grand FunkRailroad guitarist; solo artist] The guitar is an extremely personal instrument that hasevery element of how you finger the chords or notes, and the vibrato and the intentionthat you play it how well next to the fret, and how you pick the guitar, where you chooseto pick it—is it an up-stroke, down-stroke, pull-off, hammer-on. The amount of techniquesis why I think it’s such a popular instrument. You go back enough years in history, it was adifferent instrument—with Benny Goodman, it was with wind instruments. The guitarwasn’t huge—it was just becoming popular once they could amplify it and strings gotlighter. And then, by the 60s, it took over. And it’s continued to take over … especially inthe 80s.STEVE LYNCH [Autograph guitarist] Our predecessors in the 60s and the 70s—without them, the 80s players would have never happened.2eddieThe man who usheredin the shredder craze of the 80s … Eddie Van Halen.STEVE VAI [Frank Zappa, Alcatrazz,David Lee Roth, Whitesnake guitarist; solo artist] When I look back at it, there’s really a fewguitar players that just came and created a paradigm shift on the instrument. And in mylife, it was Jimi Hendrix and Edward Van Halen. I was in college when I heard Edward, andit was a revelation. He had definitely raised the bar with innovation and sound and tone—that was unprecedented at the time. And it was a form of ‘shredding,’ so to speak.JOESATRIANI The first time I heard him, I thought, ‘That’s exactly what I want to be doing. Andthat sounds like what I’ve been doing with my friends for a couple of years, but no one letus do it.’ [Laughs] I was so happy when the world accepted Van Halen’s guitar sound as anew paradigm.ADRIAN BELEW [Frank Zappa, David Bowie, Talking Heads, King Crimsonguitarist; solo artist] I saw Eddie Van Halen right before Van Halen made it big. I was stillrehearsing with Frank [Zappa] in LA, and one night, I went to the Whisky A Go-Go, and VanHalen was playing there. And I was already doing what they call right-handed fretting,where you put your finger on the neck with your right hand and do trills and things. I wasalready doing that, and I didn’t know that anyone else in the world was doing it. So when Isaw him do it, it kind of astounded me—that he was doing it better than I was.DAVEMENIKETTI [Y&T singer-guitarist] I remember when they opened for us in LA a couple oftimes, I sat out there in the audience and watched them each time, and thought, ‘This is

completely different. I have not seen anybody else do stuff like this before.’ And that’s howit was for everybody—it was a shock.STEVE STEVENS [Billy Idol, Michael Jackson, VinceNeil, Bozzio Levin Stevens guitarist; solo artist] I was at a raging party the first timesomeone put on the first Van Halen record. And it got to ‘Eruption,’ and I literally ranacross the room—this is the days of turntables—lifted up the needle and put it back on,and asked the person whose party it was, ‘Who the fuck is this?!’Eddie was a total,complete assault. Not only technically, but the sound of his guitar was astounding at thatpoint. It’s funny, because the band that I was in before Billy Idol, we were called The FineMalibus, and I was in a loft on 30th Street in Manhattan with them, and I had access to allthe best ‘amp tweakers’ at that time, and I had kind of run a parallel path of wanting to useoriginal, old Plexi Marshalls and doctoring the amps. I had an ‘amp guru’ named HenryYee, and we came upon very similar thoughts about guitar sounds. And as I learned whatEd was doing, there was a lot of similarities. I just thought, ‘This guy really nailed it—exactly what I thought rock guitar should sound like.’K.K. DOWNING [Judas Priest guitarist]Extremely influential. Guitar players come along every now and again and set thebenchmark—and I think Eddie did that. Actually, I’m in my office now, and I’ve got a reallygreat picture of me and Eddie—just the two of us—drinking a bottle of beer. I think it’s inSeattle, somewhere. We look like just a couple of young, snot-face kids! We got to hangout quite a bit—in their early days, they would come to Priest shows. But I think the firsttime I saw Eddie play live was supporting Black Sabbath in my hometown, Birmingham,with their first album. And they certainly packed a punch—that’s for sure. But the thingthat I liked about Eddie’s playing more than anything else was how absolutely precise he isas a guitar player. A very clean and precise player. Really tight. And he certainly had hisown style and technique. And that’s what all the great players have.JEFF WATSON [NightRanger guitarist; solo artist] Eddie was out early. I heard that right as I was leaving myband to start Ranger.* And we were just blown away by Ed. He really changed thelandscape for guitar players—with his tone and approach to rhythm guitar I think wasreally monumentally different than everybody else’s approach. Y’know, sliding notes inbetween and not just doing barre chords and strumming—he was really using it as arhythmic/melodic instrument at the same time. Which was really counterpoint to thevocals, and I thought really made the band fly.JAS OBRECHT [Guitar Player editor, 1978–99] When I first saw Eddie Van Halen play in 1978, I thought that if musicians were ratedlike light bulbs, this guy would be 160 watts. His playing was incandescent. Onstage and[on] record, he was uninhibited and absolutely fearless. He not only played brilliantrhythm parts and wonderfully melodic solos, he expanded the boundaries of rock guitarin a way no one had done since Jimi Hendrix. His playing, especially on the instrumental,‘Eruption,’ upped the game for everyone.The technique of tapping the fingerboard hadbeen around for decades, but it was sparsely practiced, and almost always as a novelty.Eddie brought finger tapping into mainstream rock’n’roll. He spread the gospel of tappingeven further with his solo on Michael Jackson’s ‘Beat It,’ which was heard by millions ofpeople around the world. And credit where credit is due: the distinctive rhythm guitar on

that song was played by Steve Lukather.Eddie did all this with a Strat-style guitar that he’d‘slapped together’ himself from various parts, and decorated with black electrician’s tapeand Schwinn bicycle paint. His outfitting the guitar with a single humbucking P-90 pickuphelped him create a unique sound on his early albums.His impact was enormous. Withinsix months of the release of the first Van Halen album, young guitarists all across thecountry and in Europe—and especially Japan—were sporting copycat guitars and playingpale versions of ‘Eruption.’ But no one surpassed the original, because the real genius ofEddie Van Halen has always been in his hands and his imagination. I saw this myself oneday in 1980, when Eddie showed me how he plays ‘Eruption.’ He did this with anunplugged Strat, and you know what? The whole song was there.TONY MACALPINE [soloartist] I remember the first Van Halen record when it came out, I was eighteen years oldand I was really way into that—that whole thing, that whole energy, and Eddie with thehand-built guitars and everything. I was really into the whole persona. It was reallyinfluential for me.GREG HOWE [Howe II, Michael Jackson, Enrique Iglesias, ’N Sync, JustinTimberlake guitarist; solo artist] He was probably my biggest influence, because prior tothat, I had played guitar, but really never took official lessons. I took three guitar lessons inmy life. Didn’t learn anything, so I kind of learned on my own, and eventually discoveredpentatonic scales and found as a teenager that it was pretty easy for me to play along withLed Zeppelin records, and play along with Jimmy Page. I figured, ‘Well, this isn’t verydifficult, so I guess there’s not much to this.’And then I heard Van Halen, and it was acompletely different level of guitar playing—in terms of technique, at least. And therewere so many things that I heard him doing that I had just not heard prior to that. It reallyinspired me and got me really interested. I was the young kid who wanted to ‘crack thecode.’ In a certain way, even though there probably wasn’t as much a musical quest withmy trying to transcribe his licks at first, it eventually led down that path. So I got veryinterested in guitar for probably the wrong reasons at first—because of wanting to figureout what Van Halen was doing. And then through that, I became a much better player, andbecame much more interested in music. He was probably my biggest influence.PAULGILBERT [Racer X, Mr. Big guitarist; solo artist] I was lucky enough to hear Eddie Van Halenafter I played guitar for a couple of years—with Jimmy Page as my idol, and with TheBeatles as some of my musical foundation. Eddie Van Halen is 100 percent great, and heunintentionally really messed up a lot of guitar players—because everybody was soenamored with the flashy parts that it knocked a lot of people off balance. It’s funny to seethe repercussions of it. The ‘Eddie Van Halen bomb’ went off and it destroyed a lot ofpeople’s rhythm. [Laughs] Which is funny, because he has such good rhythm. But it’s nothis fault—it’s the listener’s fault for just listening to ‘Eruption’ and nothing else.At thatguitar stage of my life, to me, the thing that made a guitar player a professional/listenable/awesome guitar player was their vibrato. And all those guys had stunning vibrato—in thesame way that you would listen to Mick Ralphs, early Ace Frehley solos on Kiss records,Gary Moore, Michael Schenker, and Brian May. Their vibrato was ‘the signature.’ And tothis day, Yngwie, man, his vibrato is one of the most beautiful things. My impression is it

just gets completely ignored, because of the flashy parts. So like everybody else, I wasdrawn to the flash, but hopefully, in my own playing, I managed to not be seduced by onlythat. And I think so much of the guitar community just forgot about rhythm and vibratoand a lot of essential, beautiful, musical things, that again, was all there in Eddie, Yngwie,and Randy’s playing. For some reason, they were so exciting ‘athletically,’ that it justknocked everybody off their feet. And when they picked themselves up, all they could seewith that was the athleticism.DAVE MENIKETTI He was one of a kind—especially how hewas using his picking hand, as well. I won’t say that no one else was doing it, but with histone, he was doing a lot of semi-muting picking stuff, that was really distinctive for thestyle of songs that they were doing—such as ‘Ain’t Takin’ ‘Bout Love,’ where it’s obvious he’snot just picking the strings in a standard way. He is, but he’s using his palm to ‘mute pick’ alot, as well. That’s part of what he was doing, as well. Again, not unusual, but given withthat and all the other things he was doing, it made for a distinctive sound for him.MARTYFRIEDMAN [Cacophony, Megadeth guitarist; solo artist] I fell in love with Eddie Van Halen’sguitar tone, and believe it or not, I think the best thing about his playing is the stuff that hedoes when he’s not doing that finger tapping stuff. That never appealed to me, although itprobably influenced more young guitarists than any other thing in the history of guitar. Iwould suggest listening to what he does between all that finger tapping and you’ll findsome fantastic, juicy-ass phrasing. Man, that guy is a natural. Love it.ALEX SKOLNICK[Testament, Alex Skolnick Trio guitarist] Van Halen the group, the music crossed over tothe mainstream in a way that Yngwie’s didn’t, and even Ozzy, for as popular as his musicwas. Van Halen had mainstream hits, guest appearances with Michael Jackson. Across theboard inspired guitar playing—way beyond the hard rock genre. I think he got unfairlyovershadowed by his own innovations. His two-handed technique and speed just becameso identified with him, yet, there were many great musical innovations that he did, that Ithink were not appreciated enough. Such as his sense of rhythm, his timing, hispersonality in his playing, his innovations with certain unique phrases … I could go on andon. So I think Eddie Van Halen is just in another whole category by himself.TY TABORWhen I heard Eddie Van Halen, my jaw hit the ground. I just thought, ‘I might as well quit.This is the most amazing thing I’ve ever heard.’ And different from what other people wereplaying at the time. The same thing happened when I heard Satriani and several reallygreat players in the 80s. But it was a different kind of thing. It was like, technical excellencewith heart. And I had not heard those two put together in a long time. In the 70s, you hadguys that played from the heart, but weren’t necessarily technically awesome. And thenyou had technical players who were from the other side of the brain, and just left metotally cold. Well, the 80s brought the first group of guitarists I remember that put thosetwo together. Eddie Van Halen is a good example of it—he was technically amazing, andyet he played from the heart. Yngwie, as much as I totally recognize his impact andinfluence, I personally wasn’t really listening to him at all back then. But Eddie Van Halen,for sure. I mean, you couldn’t get away from it.Eddie Van Halen would have a big impacton metal guitarists in Britain, too …BRIAN TATLER [Diamond Head guitarist] I guess it was

similar—everyone was blown away by ‘Eruption,’ we all had to have a go at that. I wasamazed at how he could get such a great sound with one guitar. There is very little or nodouble tracking on the first six Van Halen albums—he could perform in the studio, which Ifound really difficult to do. He would throw little licks in as he went through the track. Icould not do that—I would have to concentrate on getting a rhythm track down, then adda solo. But Eddie seemed to be able to do it all in one, giving it a very loose feel. Incrediblestuff. How did he manage to get such a brilliant riff out of just an A-minor chord in ‘Ain’tTalkin’ ’Bout Love’? I probably picked up on the speed of ‘I’m The One’ and ‘Atomic Punk’ forearly Diamond Head. One of my favorite middle eights of all time is ‘Panama.’BILLYSHEEHAN [Talas, David Lee Roth, Mr. Big, The Winery Dogs bassist; solo artist] We had satdown a couple of times and he showed me some cool stuff. He’s a wonderful guy and verygenerous with his knowledge. Touring with them in 1980 [when Billy was in Talas] was agreat revelation—in many ways. Our first meeting with Eddie, Talas was in a dressing room—on the first night of the first show. The room was an L-shaped room, so I was sitting atone part where I could see the door. No one else in the room could see the door. Thedoor opened and Ed walked in. I remember later on, the guys said, ‘You should have seenthe look on your face,’ because here comes Ed, he walks in, and goes, ‘Which one of youguys is Billy Sheehan?’I gathered where he had heard of me from—from Denny Carmassi,because I did a thing with Denny Carmassi and Michael Schenker. So we shook hands andtalked a little bit, and we watched the band from the side of the stage a few times. Theywere really nice to us—they let us do encores and all that stuff. And at the end of the tour,Ed gave me his phone number, and said, ‘I’m going to give you my phone number … butdon’t tell Michael I gave it to you.’ And I thought, ‘Oh. That’s intriguing.’So time went on,and sure enough, I saw him on the next tour. They played a show in Buffalo and he said,‘Come up to the hotel room, I’ve got some music to play you.’ The guys in Talas wereactually sitting downstairs at a table with David Lee Roth, and I went upstairs to Ed’s room,and we’re talking. He says, ‘What would you do if I asked you to join Van Halen?’ And I said,‘I’d say, What plane do you want me on?’ And we shook hands, and I thought, ‘Did I just getasked to join Van Halen?’ Sure enough, I went to another show of theirs, and Dave wasthere walking past, and he said, ‘Hey, I heard that you had a little talk with Ed. I guess we’llsee you when the tour is done and we’ll see what happens.’ I said, ‘Wow. Great!’ And thatwas that.Unfortunately, it fell through at the time. They said, ‘We didn’t want to make achange,’ and I’m glad they did, because I like Michael, and as much as I wanted to be inVan Halen, I felt terrible about popping him out of his gig. And as a fan, I hate to see whenbands change. But yeah, they did ask me. And then another time it came again—it wasbefore Dave got back in the band just recently.* I went up to Ed and Al’s studio—it’s not farfrom my house. We jammed for a while and thought about doing something again. It’sbeen an ongoing thing, and like I said, it was a great honor that they even thought of me. Itdidn’t work out, but that’s OK.BRUCE KULICK The first time I heard Eddie Van Halen, I wasabsolutely floored. I was also petrified. Here’s a guy who clearly understood very, verypassionate lyrical lead playing. I didn’t know immediately that he was a fan of Eric Clapton

—who is one of my biggest influences. But I guess that’s kind of why I responded to hisplaying, and it didn’t really matter if he was going to play very fast—which he could, andthat was the intimidating part of his talent. And of course, some of the tricks—betweenthe divebombs or the Floyd Rose whammy bar things and then all the finger tapping. Sohe really turbocharged the kind of rock lead guitar playing that I loved, and he made mehave to ‘up my game.’But I was really, really freaked out when I heard it, because it was sogood, and yet so different and unique to me. Certainly, by the time I got the opportunity towork with Kiss [in 1984], and especially, I remember the conversation when Paul Stanleysaid, ‘We’re sending Mark St. John home. You’re the new lead guitarist.’ Which I kind of feltwas headed in that direction, after about eight weeks on the road with them. He said, ‘Iwant you to be competitive with all the guitar players, and do all the things that arepopular now with guitar.’ Which is great. It was a good thing from the time that I heardEddie and from the time I actually had the opportunity to work with Kiss, I did bravelymove into that territory. In other words, find a guitar that could have a Floyd Rose on it,see what it would be like to finger tap something, try to play flashy but still with a goodmelody and emotion—which is something that I always felt people like Eric Clapton, JeffBeck, and Jimi Hendrix did.Out of those three guitarists that you mentioned,* for me,Eddie absolutely came from the kind of style of guitar playing that really resonated for me.Once I got over the fear and I started to embrace some of the stuff, and I was actuallyreally influenced by the trickery that I would do with Kiss, when I had a solo on CrazyNights [at the beginning of the song ‘No No No’] and I’m doing a whole little hammer-onpiece. And no, it wasn’t ‘Eruption,’ but it had elements of Eddie’s fancy guitar playing, thattook lead playing to another level. I’m still a huge fan, and everything I said about the EricClapton connection, I was kind of aware of, but recently in one of the guitar magazines,they shared some audio of Eddie being interviewed and playing note-for-note‘Crossroads.’ And it was unbelievable to hear it, because you could still hear that fiery kindof guitar player Eddie is, but he’s still playing it ‘Eddie-style’ but he had all the phrasing ofClapton and all the vibrato down, and that’s why he’s still at the top of the game.He wasone of the guys that all the lead guitar and approach that I want to use came from—guyslike Clapton, Beck, and Hendrix. I always need to mention those guys, because they weresuch a big influence for me growing up. And of course, there’s Leslie West, and the solothat Paul Kossoff does in ‘All Right Now’—these are all things that are so important forlead guitar playing. But when it came to going further in time, Eddie Van Halen was theone to take it to the next level, and turbo-charged it.RONNI LE TEKRØ [TNT guitarist; soloartist] He influenced everybody. For me, it was about his sound—that crunch anddefinition, that transparent guitar sound of his I’ve been trying to get through the years.So he was a big inspiration sound-wise, and his way of playing rhythm guitar and hissoloing. He reinvented soloing, you could say.HANK SHERMANN [Mercyful Fate guitarist]We were used to more old school type of playing from 70s guitar players at that time.Certainly, this guy—bursting with energy, totally in control with all the notes he’s playing—to this day, I’m still amazed by the first album, which is still my favorite. It’s really amazing

what they created on that album. The impact is he changed the way that you could playon the guitar. His solos are pretty harmonic and bluesy, but the way he performed it, isexceptionally fantastic. I started to play guitar in 1977, but I was highly into Ace Frehley ofKiss, who had a much old school approach to the guitar playing. I didn’t get into Eddie VanHalen and the first album until much later, though. But I was blown away.TREYAZAGTHOTH Eddie Van Halen was the one who did the most for helping create the kind ofmusic and guitar playing that mostly had the big impact for me, out of those threeguitarists you mention. Eddie was absolutely brilliant and a real visionary. Not just hissoloing, but also just how he would pick up a guitar and play. He was one that even if youplayed on his rig, you can’t sound like him, unless you actually play like him—meaningusing a similar picking and fretting attack. His playing was so full of dynamics and his flowwith the solos, and his rhythms were quite unique and unusual for that time in myopinion.RICHIE KOTZEN [Poison, Mr. Big guitarist; The Winery Dogs singer-guitarist; soloartist] Back then, I was very young and I was learning a lot, and the first guitar player that Ireally became obsessed with trying to figure out what he was doing was Eddie Van Halen.Because up until that point, I was playing and I never really thought about guitar players. Ithought about playing guitar to play a song—to play a Rolling Stones song or a Beatlessong or whatever it was—but I never really got into guitar players for guitar playing sake.And it wasn’t until I heard the ‘Beat It’ solo that I discovered Eddie Van Halen. So it waspretty late in the game—I had been playing for quite a few years, and then suddenly, Idiscovered Eddie. And that changed everything.GEORGE LYNCH [Dokken, Lynch Mobguitarist; solo artist] Eddie was just … I think when a person like that big of a talent andyou have the responsibility and having that giant ‘voice,’ I think sometimes it can do badthings to the rest of your life. You’re going to be a slave to the weight of this gift you have.He never seemed to be particularly happy for some reason … I think now he’s probablyhappier. Difficult to talk to, but probably had things on his mind—like being the world’smost famous guitar player!Autograph were the opening act on Van Halen’s 1984 Tour, butthe band’s members found few opportunities to hang out with the headliners …STEVELYNCH [Eddie] was actually very private. He knew who I was, and he wasn’t happy aboutme being on the tour.* He kind of just avoided me, actually. I hung out a little bit withDavid Lee Roth—we went to the Cheetah in Atlanta, the strip club. That was kind of fun!But the main person that really hung out with us was Michael Anthony. He would comebackstage and hang out with us right after the show—almost every show. Just the nicest,down-to-earth guy. He liked hanging out with us—he thought the vibe was really goodback in our dressing room. He even hung out on our tour bus. That’s the main person Ihung out with. Eddie stayed to himself—I didn’t bother him and he didn’t bother me. Imaybe talked to him three times the whole tour.BRUCE KULICK For me, the Sammy Hagarversion of Van Halen really gave the band an opportunity to stretch out in ways I don’tthink they ever could have done with David Lee Roth. I’m actually a fan of both versions ofthe band, but where I’ll hear many people just want to know about the David Lee Roth era,I don’t agree with that. In fact, in some ways, I think some of the stuff they accomplished

with Sammy gave more facets of styles of music and let them explore more musicalterritory. I don’t think Eddie’s playing changed, it just put him now in another landscape,that was even bigger and broader. But again, I don’t want to take away from what they didinitially, because his guitar was huge, the songs were amazing—I still get off on hearing‘Panama.’But when I think of some of the material that I love from the Hagar version ofVan Halen, you had a singer who could really reach high notes—and powerfully. Sammy isjust an incredible singer. I had a chance to jam with him at the Fantasy Camp, and I’ve gotso much respect for him. But I thought that the songwriting was able then to be moremature. It wasn’t always tongue-in-cheek, even though they’d have fun with some songs.The element of keyboards—which I had no problem with, even though some people mayhave thought it was crazy—obviously, they experimented with ‘Jump’ already, but I thinkthey developed incorporating that in their sound much more so during the Sammy Hagartime.But Eddie’s guitar was huge, the playing was great, the songwriting was terrific,there’s so many amazing songs. I thought they sounded incredible. There was nodownside. Some bands, you change the singer, the whole dynamic gets ruined. And here,it became a whole other animal, that was pretty incredible. I remember seeing them live—going with Eric Carr to see them—and backstage after the show, they’re sitting thereeating lobster and steak. [Laughs] They were always very cool with us. I have a lot ofrespect for those guys.BILLY CORGAN [Smashing Pumpkins singer-guitarist; solo artist]Van Halen ushered in this virtuosity—that the virtuosity on the guitar can be‘pop.’JENNIFER BATTEN [Michael Jackson, Jeff Beck guitarist; solo artist] Number one wasVan Halen. He was one of the most inventive, innovative guys out there. He’s personallyresponsible for selling half a million guitars for guys that wanted to play like him.JASOBRECHT Eddie showed that you could spend fifty bucks on a guitar body, eighty bucks ona neck, and as he put it, ‘Slap it together’—rout the body, stick in a pickup, paint it, andhave a beautiful, unique-sounding instrument. Eddie Van Halen opened the door to thatwhole industry. And all of a sudden, it wasn’t that essential to have a ’59 Les Paul, pre-CBSFender Stratocaster, or some other spectacular vintage guitar—you could play somethingyou made yourself and sound good. That’s an extraordinary leap, and I think Eddie waslargely responsible for the success of those companies. He brought in a whole new spiritof inventiveness.3randyOzzy Osbourne guitarist Randy Rhoads shows that classical andmetal can coexist.RUDY SARZO [Quiet Riot, Ozzy Osbourne, Whitesnake, Dio bassist] I firstmet Randy when I auditioned for Quiet Riot in 1978 and joined the band. I had actuallywatched him play before, but I did not meet him—so I was aware of his unique style ofplaying. Especially in Los Angeles, where a lot of guitar players were a little derivative.Randy—because of his musical education that he had, because his family had beenmusically educated—had a whole different musical background than most of the guysthat were playing around town.* And it really showed. Not only in his articulation, but alsohis choice of notes. Quiet Riot was influenced by the sound of the day—glam/British pop,with a little bit of British R&B, like Humble Pie—Randy did stay within the boundaries ofthat style of music, even though he had a larger musical vocabulary than what was being

displayed onstage.When I started teaching at Musonia, I’d hear him not only going throughhis lessons, but he would be practicing on his own—in between students—going into theclassical territory, that he did not go to when we were rehearsing with Quiet Riot. Hestarted to display more of his musical vocabulary than what I was actually aware of. Theonly time that I ever heard any reference to Van Halen coming from Randy was when hewas teaching, and a student might request to learn a Van Halen song—then he would goand learn it and show the student how it’s played. But I never heard it in his own music,outside of a teaching role. What Randy would do—which is something that I learned fromhim when I taught at Musonia—was when you’re teaching a student, to split your lesson intwo halves. One half, teach the student what they want, and the other half, teach thestudent what they need.I heard about [Randy’s Ozzy tryout] when he went to audition,because he didn’t know if he was going to get the gig. He basically went to auditionbecause Dana Strum—who recommended Randy to Ozzy—had been calling him multipletimes, and he just wanted Dana to stop calling him. [Laughs] So he went to just get it overwith. And he got the gig basically when he was just tuning up and noodling on his guitar.Then for a few days, Randy did not really know what it meant to actually get the Ozzy gig,because there was really no band. There was no master plan—it was just kind of like, ‘Well… now that I’ve got a guitar player, I’ve got to put together the rest of the band.’ So Ozzyflew back to England, he had Randy join him, and then they put the band together there.Randy was just taking it a day at a time. Quiet Riot was actually breaking up, anyways,because we had just hit a wall—about trying to get a record deal. The bands of our genre—Dokken; there was another incarnation of Mötley Crüe called London, Ratt—nobody wasgetting signed. Nobody really cared in the music industry for that type of music. They werefocusing on new wave and punk. So everybody was really disappointed, and that was thereason why Mrs. Rhoads told Randy, ‘Listen, if you want to make something of yourselfmusically, you’re going to have to leave and go to where what you do is actuallyacceptable.’Before Blizzard Of Ozz was released in the United States, during a break thathe had come back from England to visit his family, I got together with him, he played methe record, and I said, ‘Wow. This is not he guy I’ve been playing with in Quiet Riot—this isa whole new level here.’ I knew that even before I got to play with him in Ozzy. When wewere in Quiet Riot, there were certain musical parameters. He was in a box. We weredoing a certain style of music. And Ozzy gave him the opportunity to invent a new style.Something that he had never had the creative freedom to do. Quiet Riot was trying to geta record deal—so we were trying to not only follow a trend, but be in a mold. But withOzzy, he already had a record deal, and Ozzy told him, ‘Listen … just be yourself. Writewhat you want to write.’ And that’s what came out. There’s a unique progression—I say‘unique’ because very few artists can make records back-to-back within months of eachother. Because remember, Blizzard and Diary were recorded within months. But if youlisten to the first batch of songs—which are very diatonic-based in composition—by thetime you go to Diary Of A Madman, he had shifted his gear in composition to expand it.Incredible. He was playing songs with multiple key changes and going into a more mature

songwriting style—while keeping it ‘metal’ and heavy. It was like opening up a huge funnelof creativity.ALEX SKOLNICK Randy was very much a pioneer of the classical feel in hardrock. Taking a classical melodicism and combining that with virtuosity. I guess you couldsay Ritchie Blackmore had done it, but Randy Rhoads did it in a sort of ‘post–Van Halen’way. And he was admittedly inspired by Van Halen—as far as tone and some of the two-handed technique. But he definitely did his own thing with it. I think he had a big impactfor a lot of us at that time.CRAIG GOLDY Randy Rhoads was just so special. It was alsomore creative than it was dynamically with the tone. He re-revolutionized guitar in adifferent way—it was more in the songwriting and more of his contribution as a teamplayer and as an individual. Randy’s creativity is what stood out the most to me, because itwasn’t like he was playing something that was way over my head and way over my skillset.I was able to learn most of what Eddie played, I was able to learn most of what Yngwieplayed, and I was able to learn everything that Randy did. But what Randy did was unique—as far as how it was created and how it was presented.JEFF WATSON Randy was such anice writer. Most of his strength—to me—are within his writing skills. Writing lines andlicks and really working solos out beforehand—which is something I do. When I wasdeveloping, I stopped listening to guitar players altogether. So I wasn’t as aware of Randyuntil Brad went off to do the Ozzy thing.* And I’d heard a couple of things on the radio, butI didn’t buy albums at that point. Randy would incorporate really neat note choices in hisrhythms to the songs and would use them as intros.RUDY SARZO I can give you my pointof view as somebody who actually got to play those songs with the band* and my point ofview as a fan, because I was not involved in the recording process of the albums. Blizzardwas a perfect end of the 70s/beginning of the 80s record. To me, that record really seguesfrom one era into the other, because it kind of nudges it forward—not as much as Diary.Diary was much more of a statement of the new generation. And I’ve been misunderstoodin what I’m about to tell you—I was sitting in the bus next to Ozzy when they brought inthe final mastering of Diary, and he hated the mix! The mix has nothing to do with thesongwriting or the performance—it just has to do with the way one person, a mixer ormastering person, envisions what the record sounds like. And 99.9 percent of the time, it’snot related to any of the members of the band—it’s an engineer. It was such a departuresonically from Blizzard—he was expecting Blizzard Part Two, as far as the sound goes—not the composition or the performance or the arrangements, but the way it sounded.And it took him a while to really embrace it and actually realize that is the seminal recordof what 80s metal was going to sound like.There’s not a bad Randy solo, because he wouldalways compose sections that were different. His solos stood alone. For example, whenyou’re going into ‘Believer,’ it’s a whole different section of the song—it’s not like he’ssoloing over the chorus or a verse or anything like that. Every song, it’s somethingdifferent. ‘Steal Away,’ the section is a solo section. Even in ‘Mr. Crowley,’ there is themiddle one, where it is kind of like the verse itself, and then it goes into the outro—andthat to me is the big solo section. And then he starts doing the circle of fifths, diatonically,to F major. That in itself was another piece, that I think made the song climax. I love

‘Tonight,’ because it is not your typical metal song—it’s very melodic, but it’s heavy as hell.‘Little Dolls’ is very different, ‘Flying High Again,’ that’s another one that followed thetritone changes during the solo, but it doesn’t sound like anything else in the rest of thesong. It’s related to, but it’s very different.PAUL GILBERT Randy’s tone had so muchdistortion that it was always over the edge. You can hear it if you listen to ‘Flying HighAgain,’ he uses all these extra noises, that he’s constantly ‘battling the fire-breathingdragon,’ and the fire is leaking out the edges. That’s something you had to deal with then,because everybody used gobs of distortion. And to this day, when I teach, the thing that Ihave to spend so much time with—that anybody who plays with distortion does—if youplay one note, you’ve got to somehow control those other five strings. And it’s not reallythat much of an issue if you play with a clean sound or play an acoustic guitar, because it’sjust not as sensitive—the guitar is not taking off on its own.But with a distorted rock guitar—like everybody was playing back then—you really had to alter your technique to dealwith that. You had to learn to mute all the other strings and be quick with your volumeknob on your guitar, and your pedals. It was not easy to stop. It was fun to hear when alldidn’t go well and you would get that little feedback. One of my favorite moments is thevery first thing you hear on the live Ramones album,* and you just hear this shriek comeout of the Marshall stacks—before they even start to play. And you go, ‘Man, this is goingto be good!’ All he did was like, look at the guitar, and it went, ‘WAAAAAAH!’ It wasscreaming already before he even starts playing.GEORGE LYNCH Randy was very, veryquiet. He was an impressive player—listening to him play classical guitar and electricguitar, he evolved very quickly in the context of playing with Ozzy. I didn’t particularly carefor him that much when he was in Quiet Riot. Like a lot of us, he dug Eddie a lot, which ispretty hard not to do when you’re living in LA at that time, when Eddie was on therise.RON ‘BUMBLEFOOT’ THAL [Guns N’ Roses guitarist; solo artist] A person that was ahuge impact in the 80s for me was Randy Rhoads. He would put a lot of classical piecesright into the songs.RONNI LE TEKRØ His classical approach, I think he was definitely ‘inthere,’ like Ritchie Blackmore, in a sense. You could tell he came from some European kindof inspiration. But for being an American guitar player, he wasn’t bad at all. [Laughs]RONJARZOMBEK [Watchtower guitarist] What I really like most about Randy is his phrasing.While other guitarists did bring a classical influence into their own music, Randy seemedto incorporate it into a metal framework. He also brought harmonic minor to the forefront—with songs like ‘Revelation’ and ‘Mr. Crowley.’RUDY SARZO It wasn’t like we discussed[classical guitar]—he just did it. All of a sudden, he’s gravitating more toward playingclassical guitar right before the show, and after soundcheck. And Randy was solely—toward the end—playing classical guitar. So there wasn’t much discussion as to ‘why you’redoing that’ or not. I could hear the shift from Blizzard Of Ozz to Diary Of A Madman—where he wanted to go musically. And there was no question about it—it was just like, ‘OhOK, so I guess the next record is going to be even more in that direction.’His personalitywas very laid back. He never really fit the mold of what people would think a rock starwould be, because I think he had such a strong foundation in education. I think he

behaved more like a teacher than an actual rock star. Although when he got up onstage,he kicked butt, and it shows in every single photo. But then if you look at every picture ofRandy performing live, there is a clarity to what he’s doing. It’s almost like he’s facing theguitar’s fretboard toward the camera and the audience—so they can watch what he’splaying and learn from that.PAUL GILBERT I lived in a really small, almost rural town. Andof all the places for Randy Rhoads to do a clinic, to have him do it there* … if you wait longenough, weird coincidences will happen. And that’s one of them. But I was a huge Randyfan at the time, so of course, I went. My impression of it was he was a super nice, down-to-earth guy, and really willing to share anything that he knew, and just really generous,friendly, and cool. And of course, seeing him live a couple of times, the ‘ferocious guitargod/axe-wielding giant’ was also apparent and very inspiring.If anything, remember, thiswas early 80s, so the gear that was available back then was really different than whatyou’d find if you walk into a music store now. And the main thing in guitar being that backthen, having a Marshall with a master volume wasn’t that common. So the only way youcould get distortion was by actually cranking it up to stadium rock volume. So when Randydid this clinic, he had a 100-watt Marshall stack—one of the white stacks was there—andhe couldn’t really play it, because he knew he would kill everybody with the volume! So theonly disappointing thing was that I really wish he played more in the clinic—he mostlytalked.And I completely understand why, because if he had played, we would have allsuffered severe hearing loss right then and there. And his rock style really relied a lot onthat sound—that was a big part of it—and it was impossible for him to play with thatsound in that situation, of a little music store with that 100-watt amp. It looked great, buteverything he played … it might as well have been an acoustic guitar, because it was soclean, because there was just no way he could crank up. It was amazing to see him, butthe whole time, I’m going, ‘Man, I wish he could play!’ And then that night, I went to theOzzy show, and he blew my socks off—because he could crank it up, and playedamazing.MARTY FRIEDMAN I saw Randy Rhoads when he was on tour with Ozzy—hisenthusiasm was absolutely fantastic. Just a ‘guitar star,’ y’know?TREY AZAGTHOTH Iactually saw Ozzy live with Randy on the Blizzard Of Ozz tour, and Randy was excellent.One of my fav songs by Randy was ‘Believer,’ which they actually played at thisconcert.KARL SANDERS [Nile guitarist; solo artist] I was in high school when I got theBlizzard Of Ozz record. I remember bringing it home, putting it on, and going, ‘Holy fuckingshit! Listen to that tone … listen to what that guy’s playing … listen to the fire contained inthese tracks!’ And I was lucky enough to get to see Randy Rhoads play. I remember meand a schoolmate, we went down to Atlanta on a school night—it was a Wednesday night.It was during the Diary Of A Madman tour. And then two or three days later, Randy waskilled.*RUDY SARZO I’ve had passings in my life, but they had been expected—everythinghas been expected as ‘the circle of life.’ But I’ve never had anything like Randy. Like, he’sthere one moment, and then I wake up, and he’s gone. That is something else. Once Iwrote the book,* it gave me closure, because I was able to talk about it. And it also gaveme the hope that I didn’t have to talk about it again. Every time I talk about it, in my mind,

I go there, and it’s not a good place to go.PAUL GILBERT My dad heard it on the radio, andhe knew that I was a big fan. So he just came in, and said, ‘Hey Paul, I heard some badnews on the radio. That guitar player you’re into, Randy Rhoads, just died in a plane crash.’Everything that Randy did was otherworldly. It was great to see him in that clinic—comingdown to earth for a moment. But his life and his passing were really beyond myexperiences as a fourteen-year-old kid going to high school and playing in garage bands.So it was shocking and it was sad, but it was also real. I think that kind of thing is hard foranybody to take, but especially being that young, there’s not much you can do to deal withit—other than learning the music and being inspired by it.MARK WOOD [solo artist,violinist] Randy Rhoads and I were going to be doing a project—believe it or not—becauseas you know, Randy was leaving Ozzy at some point. He was not pleased with that. Andmy producer was good friends with Randy Rhoads, and he was like, ‘I just played yourstuff for Randy—he loves it. He wants to collaborate.’ But unfortunately, he died. So thatwas a really fascinating moment for my career looking back.BRUCE KULICK Randy Rhoads,I was first turned on to him with Ozzy, and then of course, his tragic passing. I eventhought, ‘Maybe I can get an audition to be in Ozzy?’ I was also kind of freaked out by that,because I knew what Randy did on the guitar, and again, here is a guy … as much asYngwie had the violin/classical/Paganini influence, I’m not sure who Randy’s influence was.But clearly, here is a guy who played with classical chops, and he was able to superchargeit. And there is no mystery to me how he influenced so many players. But again, beingyounger than me, I don’t know if he was ever a Clapton fan or something like that. But histriple tracking of solos was also a bit alien to me, and not something that is my ‘go-tocomfort zone.’So I didn’t feel bad not getting the audition with Ozzy, because I didn’t thinkthat I was the right guy for it. I mean, fate had something else in store for me that I wasabsolutely the right guy for. I was never under-qualified, over-qualified … Steve Vai wouldnot fit in Kiss, OK? Yeah, he fit in David Lee Roth because how are you going to top anEddie Van Halen? And that made sense, even though you knew that wasn’t going to last.Steve Vai is an alien on the guitar, and working with David Lee Roth is probably … well, it’skind of like working with some sort of alien kind of person! David Lee Roth is all over themap, from what I read. But getting back to those three guitar players who certainlychanged the course of lead guitar, Eddie resounded the closest to me, Randy probablybeing second, and Yngwie third.At one point, there were plans afoot for the Ozzy/Randy/Rudy/Tommy Aldridge lineup to record a studio album …RUDY SARZO It was going tofollow the release of Speak Of The Devil. Speak Of The Devil was going to be the BlackSabbath re-recordings, with Randy playing guitar—even though he was against it. He satdown with Ozzy and Sharon and they came to terms about it. Speak Of The Devil wassupposed to be done while we were still touring. It was a hefty touring schedule thatactually got cut down because of Randy’s passing. So basically, what we actually got toperform were the dates that were booked prior to March 19.He had a very clear vision,and everybody within our circle knew about it—he wanted to go back to school and get hisdegree. He had already made connections with some of the people in the New York studio

scene. But that doesn’t mean that he was not going to continue with Ozzy—he just wantedto expand his musical vocabulary. Which was not the norm thirty-five years ago, but it isthe norm today—for musicians to be in multiple projects. I won’t go as far as saying hewas going to all of a sudden solely become a classical guitar player. I think classical music—even before he started to play with Ozzy—was part of his musical vocabulary, becausehe grew up playing classical guitar. It’s just that now, he could actually find a place to putthe classical guitar skills that he had into this own music. He couldn’t really do that inQuiet Riot when we were playing on the Strip. But I would go as far as saying I don’t thinkhe would solely become a classical guitar player, because he loved playing electric toomuch.In two years—or less than two years—he recorded two albums, extensive touring …he was exhausted. Not only exhausted from the traveling and performing—he wasexhausted mentally of playing the same songs every night. He found himself in a rut. Hejust needed to take a break, expand, do something else, and come back to it. Because thatwas as much a part of him as anything else—he wrote those songs. He just needed to takea break musically, creatively stretch out, and then come back to it. The reason why hewanted to get into the New York studio scene was basically so he could just show up andplay different styles of music—get that out of the way, and then go back to what he wasdoing. The easiest way for anybody to be creative with their instrument—not as acomposer, but as a musician, to be able to approach different musical styles—is to do asession. You just show up and play. They give you the music, you perform it, you get somecreative fulfillment from doing it and the challenge of it all, and then you go back to yourband, and keep doing what you were doing. But boy, that’s refreshing. It’s a brand newchallenge—you do it and you have fun. And then you might even pick up something froma session that you can bring back to what you’ve been doing all along, and approach itfrom a different direction. And getting a degree in music was definitely at the top of hislist.BILLY CORGAN Rhoads is interesting that he’s coming in after Van Halen, and we don’tknow where he would have gone. So it’s a tragic story in the sense that we only have thatone flash of time to really gauge him, where he’s at his best. As much as I love RandyRhoads, I still see him as following Eddie Van Halen.GEORGE LYNCH I know Randy wasinfluential, but I don’t think he had the magnitude that Eddie and Yngwie had. That’s justfrom my perspective, I’m not sure if I’m reading it wrong or not, but I don’t hear hisinfluence across the board in the guitar lexicon, as much as I do Yngwie or Eddie—especially Eddie. But yeah, he’s one of the big, top-of-the-pile guys, for sure.DAVEMENIKETTI Any one of these guys—the way that they pick and the way that they have theirtone that comes off of their fingers and everything else, it’s distinctive enough to whereyou go, ‘That sounds like … ’ and that’s certainly what Randy had going for him in his shortperiod of time on this earth as a guitar player.ALEXI LAIHO [Children Of Bodom singer-guitarist] Randy Rhoads, it’s funny—I had already heard Steve Vai and Yngwie Malmsteenand all those crazy fuckers, before I ever heard any of the Ozzy stuff, really. When I heardthe Tribute live album with Randy Rhoads, that was the first Ozzy thing I ever heard. Andhe really did change … I wouldn’t say everything, but he really made a huge difference in

my playing, because just the way he carried himself playing live—all the riffs, fills, andsolos.RUDY SARZO Randy, at his worst, was outstanding. At his best, he was RandyRhoads.4yngwieSwedish guitarist Yngwie J. Malmsteen takes the classical-meets-metalmerger into the stratosphere.ALEX SKOLNICK Yngwie also had the classical feel, but heupped the technique level significantly. With Randy Rhoads, you could hear the Bachinfluence, as well as hard rock, he listened to a lot of the standard hard rock—somebodygrowing up in the 60s and 70s. But Yngwie Malmsteen brought this mystique, as well as aPaganini or Liszt—one of these classical virtuosos that is rumored to have ‘sold theirsoul.’ [Laughs] He brought that to guitar, which was very different at the time.RONNI LETEKRØ He came out the same time as me. I was playing fast in Scandinavia—at the sametime he was around. I like Yngwie, I’ve met him a few times. We just come from a differentapproach—I come from Queen and songwriting, he comes from Paganini and Bach.BILLYCORGAN Malmsteen is different in that he came from the Ritchie Blackmore School ofDiminished Minor. [Laughs] Even Malmsteen, he benefitted from a generation that hadalready grown up on … for me, it’s hard, because if you’re starting from the point of the80s, Van Halen is already three, four, five years in. To me, I don’t put those guys [Eddie,Randy, and Yngwie] as equals in the sense that I think it’s always easier to come aftersomebody.I’m sure Yngwie Malmsteen would say he didn’t give a shit about Eddie VanHalen. And maybe he did and maybe he didn’t. And you can make an argument that helived in a bubble and only listened to the guys that he listened to, starting with Blackmore,and obviously Uli Jon Roth, and maybe some Michael Schenker. That’s tough for me,because when somebody follows five or seven years later, the game of figuring it out isinfinitely easier.CRAIG GOLDY Yngwie Malmsteen re-revolutionized guitar as far as thatwhole melodic minor thing—it sounded like a violin player on rock guitar, if you didn’tknow any better. Which I didn’t at the time. I didn’t know what he was doing and how hewas doing it. I was just like, ‘What the hell is that? And how is he doing that?’KIRKHAMMETT [Metallica guitarist] You have to understand, with Yngwie, it was a very uniquesituation. I don’t think a lot of people know this, but I first heard Yngwie on the same tape-trading circuit as No Life ’Til Leather* and the Exodus demo and all these different types oftapes that were being traded on. I heard Yngwie’s first demo—before he was signed—andI couldn’t believe it. I thought, ‘Oh my God … this guy sounds like Ulrich Roth!’ I rememberbringing that very tape to Joe Satriani, and playing it for Joe, and he said, ‘Wow! This guy’sreally something. He has a lot of technique and he really knows what he’s doing.’*Andthen there was also a guy in the store—someone’s who kind of infamous—his name isGary Brawer, who used to work at the same store. He sets up all my guitars and a lot ofguitars for a lot of musicians—he works in San Francisco. Anyway, Gary piped in with, ‘Ishe speeding up the tape?’ And Joe said, ‘No, no, he’s not speeding up the tape. He’s playingthat in real time.’ The only other person I knew who could play like Yngwie at the time …was Joe! And I think Joe prided himself on being one of the only people who could playthat way. But when Joe heard Yngwie, I think awareness came of there was this guy namedYngwie and it was like, ‘We’re going to be hearing a lot from this guy in the future.’Also,

Yngwie’s influence on me was that he sounded like Ulrich Roth. And I loved the fact that hesounded like Ulrich Roth. He also sounded like Ritchie Blackmore to a certain extent. Andwhat blew me away is it was public knowledge that he was only nineteen years old at thetime. So for me, to hear someone my age playing that way—completely influenced by thesame people I was influenced by—really blew me away. Again, just really inspired me toplay much more. I was always very, very careful—like I was with a lot of other influences—not to consciously play like him. Not to start playing tons of arpeggios and thirty-secondnotes—a neoclassical style. I mean, a lot of guys just jumped on that and sponged off hisstyle. But I consciously did not go there.It’s like the conscious decision I made when I firstheard Van Halen. I knew that it was only going to be a matter of time before everyone wasgoing to be using their right hands to be hammering a note—just like Eddie Van Halen—allover the fretboard. And while I can appreciate the technique, I wasn’t going to sponge itoff and use it all the time. It was a very conscious effort. It’s difficult for me to not soundtoo much like … Michael Schenker. It’s difficult for me not to play a bunch of Hendrix licksall over the place. I can certainly do it. And when I played with Michael Schenker,* I wasbasically throwing a bunch of his licks back at him, trying to just sound like I could keep upwith him. [Laughs]HANK SHERMANN Me and Michael were in Mercyful Fate, drivingaround, and there was this guy who had a demo tape [of Yngwie], and put the cassette onin the car. We heard it and … what?! We couldn’t believe it.MICHAEL ANGELO BATIO [Nitroguitarist; solo artist] I was at Yngwie’s very first show in the United States—with MikeVarney. I’m a little older than Yngwie, and I didn’t move to LA until ’83. But I was onShrapnel Records in 1982, with an album called US Metal. He did three US Metal albums—I was on the second one.* So I was completely unknown then. But I had a really goodpromo shot—I was cool looking for the time! So when I moved to LA, Varney and I werefriends, and he had actually set up some auditions for me. He got me to audition for Kiss. Ididn’t obviously get the gig, but I got to be friends with Gene Simmons. And I learned veryearly on not to be starstruck. Because I was totally starstruck with Kiss, and that’s one ofthe main reasons why I think I didn’t get it. I was a fan—I wasn’t coming in as being apossible bandmate.But when I went to see Yngwie, I had already had my style down. Ihave a degree in music, so I studied orchestral music and when they called him‘neoclassical,’ I always used to think that term was wrong. He’s more of a Baroque-styledguitarist—in the style of Bach and Vivaldi. Whereas classical music is more in the style ofMozart. The classical era is Mozart and Haydn. So I always thought that term wasincorrect. But seeing Yngwie for the first time was really incredible. I saw him with Steeler,I was backstage, and it was great. There was such a huge buzz, because he took thatRandy Rhoads kind of classical influence and put this technique to it that I was playing—the kind of really serious violin style technique. I always had great technique on guitar,and I studied jazz and fusion and things like that. So it was a fantastic time.JAS OBRECHT Iwas an editor for Guitar Player magazine when one of Yngwie’s friends sent us a demotape he’d made while still living at home in Malmö, Sweden. To this day, it’s the mostexciting Yngwie recording I’ve heard. It had ‘Black Star’ and several other songs on it, just a

brilliant demo tape. It was immediately clear that Yngwie had tremendous chops and amind-boggling facility with what soon became known as ‘neoclassical’ music. He reallystood out.The first time I saw Yngwie play, he had just been brought over to the UnitedStates by Mike Varney, owner of Shrapnel Records. Yngwie was making his debut witheither Steeler or Alcatrazz. As I watched, I thought it was a clear case of a ten-dollar bandwith a million-dollar guitarist. After the show, Yngwie, who was all of about eighteen yearsold, came right up to me backstage and said, ‘I know you. You’re Jas Obrecht. Back inSweden, I learned English by reading your magazine.’ I kind of gave him a ‘yeah, sure’ look.Yngwie continued, adamant. ‘No bullshit, man. In the September 1980 B.B. King issue,you’re the guy in the T-shirt on page 71.’ The magazine’s photographer, Jon Sievert, and Istood there with our mouths agape when Yngwie said this. When we went back to theoffice, we checked. Sure enough, he was right, right down to the page number.JOE STUMP[solo artist] I remember reading about him in the ‘Spotlight’ column in Guitar Player. I wasreading his influences—he loved Blackmore, Uli Jon Roth, Bach, and Al Di Meola. And I’mlike, ‘This guy sounds like he’d be right up my alley, because I like all the same stuff!’ Andthen sure enough, I heard him—I had the early Steeler and Alcatrazz records, and then Istarted to learn a lot of the stuff, because it was a lot of those sensibilities that Blackmoreand Uli had that I loved, combined with Al Di Meola’s pick hand, and an even moreextreme classical influence. I started to learn lots of solos off those early records, and Ihad the Rising Force record as an import—before Yngwie became much more popular.And some of the stuff on the debut Rising Force record—granted, the production of therecord maybe doesn’t hold up as well—Yngwie’s tone and playing is still abenchmark.MIKE VARNEY [founder of Shrapnel Records; magazine columnist] My friend,Bill Burhard, owned the Record Exchange, which was one of the top distribution centersfor heavy metal imports in the United States. And some exchange student from Swedenwas a metal-head, and he went into Bill’s store, bought some records, and said, ‘Here is acassette of some local guy that I think is great.’ Bill listened to it, and said, ‘Man, this guy isexactly what you’re looking for!’ I went over to Walnut Creek and listened to this thing, andI said, ‘Yeah, this guy Yngwie is great.’ Or ‘Ing-wee’—I don’t think we knew how topronounce it for quite a while. [Laughs] So anyway, I had that in my mind for a fewmonths, but I thought, ‘I’m in my early/mid twenties. Am I really ready to bring a guy overfrom Sweden and go through all that?’ It just seemed like an arduous process, and I was alittle new in the game at that point in time—I had only released six albums orsomething.Anyway, Yngwie himself sent me his own material, and a nice recording thathad him talking to me about his influences and what style he was playing and his music. Itwas pretty cool. I wrote about him in Guitar Player, and I think before I wrote about him,Ron Keel and the band Steeler—later on, the band Keel—came up to me, and said, ‘I’mlooking for a guitar player for Steeler.’ So Ron Keel flew up to San Francisco, sat down, andwent through my stuff, and Yngwie’s music seemed like the most compatible with whatthey were doing. So I invited Yngwie out to join Steeler. At the time, he was extremelyexcited. But I think it was more a vehicle for him in his mind to get out of Sweden and

make a name for himself. He wasn’t in the band very long. And because I was so young,the thought of signing somebody to a long contract didn’t seem right, because I was newin the game. So anyway, I was happy to be a conduit, and produce his first record withSteeler.*I’ve maintained a pretty good relationship with him through the years. A very niceguy, and misunderstood in many ways. A lot of the things that Yngwie would say thatpeople would get all up in arms about … he’s very smart, it was just deliberate—he washaving fun, being as outrageous as he could be, and enjoying it with a sense of humor.One time, he called me, and said, ‘Man, I just did a Guitar World interview. They askedwhat I thought of Jeff Beck, and I said, I never really listened to him!’ [Laughs] Somethinglike that—he said it just for fun. He loved to create controversy, and thought it was funny.I’ve always enjoyed him and he is quite a talent.And what he told me years ago was, ‘Whenyou buy a Malmsteen album, you’re going to know what to expect. I’m not going to followa fad and become something else—I’m going to do my music.’ And he’s been consistent atthat, and still has a really good following. I think that’s a lesson for a lot of people who tryto change with the times, and then they lose whatever they’ve built up. I think his fan baseis still strong because he has always been true to what he does.Ron had written thematerial—Yngwie’s main contribution was he’d create these amazing guitar solos. He wasvery confident in the studio, and he laid down some incredible stuff. He played like a guythat had an incredible amount of intention—he didn’t just plug in and meander around.He went out there to kick ass and take names. You could feel the power coming off thetracks. He played with such aggression, and he was there to make a statement. I thinkthat’s what really set him apart, too—he really knew what he wanted and had a good ideaof his concept and what he wanted to present, and he could go out there and materializeit. It didn’t take very long for people like Ronnie Dio and other people to come sniffingaround, looking to add Yngwie to their group. When Steeler would play, there would be alot of celebrities down there, checking them out—other players and people looking forguitar players.He made a huge splash. And part of it is because kind of the way Metallicabroke—I was in touch with a lot of metal magazines and a lot of guitar fans around theworld. The word got out on Yngwie pretty quickly, when we started spreading it out therethrough the underground. It was kind of funny, but the word of mouth thing … likeMetallica had a huge tape-trading fan base, that they kind of built up. And there’s amagazine called Metal Mania in San Francisco, that was one of the first to really help getMetallica solidified in the underground. And they also put Yngwie on the cover of theirmagazine I think, before he even got going, when I’d just started working with him. Theyjumped on it right away, and said, ‘This is the new guy.’JEFF WATSON Regarding Yngwie, hecame on like a fucking lightning thunderstorm. He really hit hard. I remember Alcatrazzopened a show for us right when Yngwie came to America. It was ’83, maybe. We played aSacramento show and I remember talking to Yngwie after soundcheck—he was prettyaloof at the time. He was pretty cocky. But I didn’t get a chance to hear him soundcheck,because I went out to dinner and came back after their show. Night Ranger went on, wedid our silly pop songs, and I think Brad and I each took a standalone solo in the middle of

the show, and I wasn’t getting the reaction I normally got when I did my stuff. I don’t evenknow if I was tapping then—it was before the eight-finger stuff I came up with for ‘Rock InAmerica.’But afterward, a friend of mine who had been at the show in the crowd hadrecorded on a cassette player Yngwie’s solo in the middle of Alcatrazz’s set. He gave methe cassette tape, and I was on a tour bus with Steve Morse—he rode with us, becausehe’s one of my best friends. We stick it in the cassette player, and we just looked at eachother, and went, ‘Fuck. What the hell is this?!’ That was just jaw-dropping for us. If you readhis book,* you get kind of an idea of where that came from—his practice regimen. He wasnever without his guitar—even as a little kid at school, he would miss classes, in betweenclasses, at lunch, no matter what, he was at it. So many hours a day it’s incalculable now toadd that up.JAS OBRECHT After paying his dues in Alcatrazz, Yngwie made his enduringmark on music with his brilliant debut album, Rising Force. His shows in support of thealbum, at least in San Francisco, were sheer pandemonium—guys were stage diving, themosh pit was as intense as any I’d seen, and his manager had a semi-automatic pistolstrapped on underneath his sports jacket. The vibe was intense. It didn’t take long forYngwie to fall prey to some of the excesses of big-time rock’n’roll, though. Ultimately, heinjured himself in a car crash [in 1987], which slowed his career for a year or two.BRUCEKULICK Yngwie is a guy who is clearly influenced by violin and classical guys. It was a littleoverwhelming for me, the way he played. Yet, I thought the guy had the most incrediblevibrato and a very, very powerful tone came out of his Strats with the Marshalls. So I had ahuge respect for the guy. I remember Eric Carr and I one time going to see him in the city,and I remember hearing a lot of things about him being pretty ‘rough around the edges’and rude with people. And he was really a total gentleman with Eric and me. That meant alot to me. But I could never play in his style. I could never pull that off. And he does it sointensely and so perfectly—it’s pretty remarkable. But I always tend to favor the guitariststhat were influenced by my influences. In other words, I can relate to an Ace Frehley—even though I think he plays different from me—much more than I can relate to an YngwieMalmsteen. Because you know that Ace listened to Jimmy Page.TONY MACALPINE As faras Yngwie goes, I think we touched on the same influences—I was really way into Al DiMeola, as he was too. So it wasn’t really new to me. The differences were I think that I wasreally concentrating on instrumental music, and he was doing stuff with a band.MARTYFRIEDMAN Yngwie is the guy I know the least about, believe it or not. I just never was a bigBach/mixing classical with rock type of guy. I never was a Deep Purple/Jimi Hendrix guy.But I was blown away by Yngwie’s enthusiasm on the instrument and the aggression onthe instrument—it was just super appealing to me. And his unapologetic, sticking to hisguns style, I really think is a fantastic thing. So nothing but good things to say, although Ihaven’t heard a whole lot of his work.TREY AZAGTHOTH I didn’t listen much to YngwieMalmsteen. It wasn’t really the style I was so into, even though he certainly was amazing atit. For me, his blues playing was more of my taste compared to what most peopleassociate to him and his work.KARL SANDERS Some of the Malmsteen stuff is still validtoday—as guitar exercises to build technique. Like one of the things in my regular practice

routine is the solo to ‘I’ll See The Light Tonight.’ It’s a really challenging pattern it starts offwith, and it works its way around—it’s quite an exercise.RON ‘BUMBLEFOOT’ THAL He wasthe one that just turned up the ‘intensity knob’ physically. You had guys like Eddie that hadfantastic technique, but as far as someone that turned it into shred—which is not a dirtyword. Shred really was something that all the guitar players of the 80s aspired to be. Wemeasured our skill level on, ‘How fast can you play, and how clean?’ Yngwie really uppedthe bar. He raised it. He made it where everyone really started to practice. It was like, ‘Holyshit. There is a new level to the game we have to try and beat, or at least meet.’ A hugeimpact—it made everybody feel like they needed to get their hands in shape even more.And it also made a lot of people pay attention to classical music, and how to implement itin rock and metal.Back in the day, it was rumored that Yngwie had declared VivianCampbell the fastest soloist on the scene …VIVIAN CAMPBELL [Dio, Whitesnake, DefLeppard guitarist] I don’t think he ever told me that directly, but I have heard other peoplemention it. He might have said it at some stage to someone. But I don’t get how.Sometimes, you can’t see the forest from the trees—maybe I am, or maybe I was. Butthat’s not what I was meaning. I think when Yngwie plays fast, he’s in control—he knowswhere the brake pedal is. I usually drive off the edge of a cliff! It’s entirely impulsive andI’ve never really felt that when I’m playing like that, that I have much control. I really feellike you’re riding a motorcycle and one of those chambers goes around and around, and ifI stop moving, I’m going to fall off.STEVE VAI It wasn’t until Yngwie hit the scene thatshredding—the concept of deep, masterful, virtuosic control on the instrument—reacheda new level. As far as electric guitar playing goes, it was Yngwie. Like the music or not, youhave to pay honor to what he did, because he showed us what was capable. So I think asfar as ‘shredding guitars’ go, [Eddie and Yngwie] are very different players, but they bothmade a major contribution to the virtuosic bar, in guitar playing. That’s my feeling. Randyhad an impact, but I think as far as sheer, terrorizing speed … Yngwie.5neoclassical metalAlegion of guitarists follow the lead of Rhoads and Malmsteen.DAVID T. CHASTAIN[Chastain, CJSS guitarist; solo artist] I would say Ritchie Blackmore, Uli Roth, and YngwieMalmsteen—in that order—were the early faces of that style. That style of guitar has tohave some sort of classical music influences within it. You can’t just play ‘the rock scale.’You need to play some of the more exotic scales such as harmonic, melodic, Phrygian, andHungarian minor scales to create that classical aura. I don’t consider players like Steve Vai,John Petrucci, and Satch to be neoclassical guitarists.HANK SHERMANN Obviously, YngwieMalmsteen comes to mind. As I mentioned earlier, we heard that tape in 1981 or 1982 ona Mercyful Fate tour. Me and Michael thought we were pretty cool, and then we heard thistape, and our jaws dropped. We were speechless. He was so good on those tapes, and hewas maybe eighteen or nineteen years old. It was insane. But personally, the cool thingabout Malmsteen is his tone, he’s using a Marshall, he’s using a Stratocaster—I like thatvery ‘guitar’ sound approach. Very much like Blackmore. And also his slower notes arewhere he really shines.All the arpeggios are fine enough, but personally, I don’t get a kickout of it. If he pulls a note and hangs on to it—that’s where he shines. All his slow solos are

phenomenal. He’s really covering it all. But personally, I’m not too much into theneoclassical, because I can’t really tell the difference—when you’ve heard ten of thosesolos, it could be kind of the same solo rearranged. It’s a little too sophisticated. I havetried to compose that—just to challenge myself—but not to the extent that Malmsteenand some of the other guys out there can do it. They have an intelligent music brain, forsure. You have to be intelligent to pull that off and understand all the harmonics and howthat works together.DAVID T. CHASTAIN I never considered myself neoclassical most of thetime. My favorite players were guys like Allan Holdsworth, Al Di Meola, or the more ‘fusionguys.’ While I did play a lot of harmonic minor and exotic scales, I still approached themmore from a fusion influence than classical. In other words, not so rigid and more freeflowing, with chromatics. Unfortunately, when people hear guitarists that play a lot ofnotes, they tend to shove all of the players in the same boat.TONY MACALPINE I would sayI was a fan of classical music, which is always prevalent in everything that I’m doing.PAULGILBERT The guys that were the founders of that were really qualified to do it—TonyMacAlpine, he was a genuine classical pianist. Because to me, the thing with neoclassical isI think a lot of people that get into it don’t realize it’s not just playing, it’s actually writing.So writing with the authority of a classical composer, you’ve got to put in some time—youreally have to have some depth. I don’t know if I ever got that ‘depth’ myself, because Inever learned to sight-read. I did listen to an enormous amount of classical music, and Ithink hopefully any steps that I took into that style were informed by the listening that Idid, and by the amount of figuring out cello pieces and figuring out harpsichord pieces. Ireally got into the actual stuff—it wasn’t just learning a harmonic minor scale and try toplay that.And I think if you listen to Yngwie, he’s got depth—he listened to Bach, Paganini,Mozart, and Beethoven, and you can also tell he listened to Hendrix, Blackmore, and UliJon Roth. But he really put in the hours of listening. There’s no way to fake that. A lot ofstudents now that have been playing a couple of years, they’ll go, ‘I want to playneoclassical.’ It’s like, ‘Man, that’s a tall mountain to climb. I’ll help you out, but don’t listento guitar players if you want to get there. All the guitar players who are genuine artists orthe guys to take seriously in that style are people that have done a lot of listening to violin,cello…the traditional instruments of classical music. There’s no short cut around that.RONJARZOMBEK That’s just how we wrote. I don’t think we said, ‘We want to be this realtechnical band, that’s the most technical of everybody.’ We just had a lot of Rushinfluences, we had Metallica influences. I don’t think I’ve ever tried to ‘out-tech’ anybody. Ijust wrote what my brain came up with, and that’s how it came out. Actually, for me, it’sharder to write things that are in 4/4 or 8/4, just because you have a set number of countsthat you have to write within. If you just write what’s in your head, you write a couple ofnotes, and at the end of the phrase, it starts over again. If it’s five counts, then it’s ameasure of 5/4. If it’s seven counts, then it’s a measure of 7/4.HERMAN LI [DragonForceguitarist] I really liked that kind of music—Yngwie, and then Shrapnel had Vinnie Mooreand Tony MacAlpine. The way I see it, I love that kind of music, but when I was growing upand learning the guitar, I purposely did not use too much of that style. The reason is

neoclassical music is very…when you play it in a rock way, it can be very distinctive. Andthe way that Malmsteen put it across, I didn’t want to sound like Malmsteen—becauseMalmsteen is Malmsteen. So I purposely did not use too many of those scales in a waythat most of the shredders did in the 80s. Which of course, inspired and influenced me—we do have that kind of neoclassical stuff now and then. But it’s really light—the chordprogression doesn’t work in the same way they were doing it. It’s such a distinctive scale—the harmonic minor and diminished stuff. If you played it the way they did it, you justsound like them.

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Neoclassical Speed Strategies for Guitar: Master Speed Picking for Shred Guitar & PlayFast - The Yng Way! (Learn Rock Guitar Technique), The Melodic Jazz Guitar ChordDictionary: A New Approach to Organizing Chord Voicings for the Modern Jazz Guitarist,Rock Guitar Tapping Technique: Learn The Two-Handed Tapping Techniques of RockGuitar Mastery (Learn Rock Guitar Technique), Alice in Chains: The Untold Story, Play ItLoud: An Epic History of the Style, Sound, and Revolution of the Electric Guitar, GermanMetal Machine: Scorpions in the '70s, The Randy Rhoads That I Knew: Stories fromBandmates, Family and Friends, Guitar Fretboard Fluency: Master Creative Guitar Soloing,Intervals Scale Patterns and Sequences (Learn Guitar Theory and Technique), Survival ofthe Fittest: Heavy Metal in the 1990's, King's X: The Oral History, The Yacht Rock Book: Theoral history of the soft, smooth sounds of the 70s and 80s, The Rise, Fall and Rebirth ofHair Metal, Van Halen Rising: How a Southern California Backyard Party Band Saved HeavyMetal, Ted Templeman: A Platinum Producer’s Life in Music, Runnin' with the Devil: ABackstage Pass to the Wild Times, Loud Rock, and the Down and Dirty Truth Behind theMaking of Van Halen, Fathers, Brothers, and Sons: Surviving Anguish, Abandonment, andAnthrax, Limelight: Rush in the ’80s (Rush Across the Decades Book 2), Avatar Of TheElectric Guitar: The Genius Of Jimi Hendrix, Tinderbox: HBO's Ruthless Pursuit of NewFrontiers, Sweep Picking Speed Strategies for Guitar: Essential Guitar Techniques,Arpeggios and Licks for Total Fretboard Mastery (Learn Rock Guitar Technique), Rocks: MyLife in and out of Aerosmith

Christopher Fryer, “A very good book for guitarists and fans of guitar.. The first time I reada book "written" by Greg Prato, I thought that the guy is either clever or lazy. He basically

gets a cast of musicians and other music-industry-related people together, and then asksthem questions or presents topics. Greg then puts their replies together in a book. Butwhen I think about it, I often don't care about the author's opinions and just want to readwhat my favorite musicians have to say, especially if the author is not very knowledgeableand/or does not seem to care for the artist/band they are writing about. As a guitarist whostarted playing in 1983 this book is right up my alley! I loved reading what some of myfavorite guitarists had to say about shredding, Shrapnel Records, guitar magazines &tablature, and many more topics. The book is almost 400 hundred pages so it is a bargainand a good read. There are also some cool pictures. The only thing I did not like about thebook is that there are a few guitarists that I'm not interested in, but that is to be expected.Anyways, it is worth getting, 4 1/2 stars!!!!”

Deborah, “A Fascinating and Informative Oral History of Guitar Gods and Shredding!. I amstill reading this book and really enjoying it! I am 72 and discovered speed guitar/shredding through a friend, who has been immersed in metal music for the past 40 years -writing songs, singing, shredding himself, when he was performing! I am so fascinated andexcited by this music genre and am inspired to learn to play electric guitar myself. This is awonderful book containing many interviews with the Guitar Gods, who made musichistory and shredding an art form!”

Tegan, “Packages. Having been a fan of this writers previous oral skills I found thispresentation to be drop to your knees worthy. The writer clearly has a skill in getting eachshredder to show there full package. None of the interviewees seem shy in opening upand letting it all hang out which definitely shows how comfortable they are with Prato's nononsense ability to let them be as open with him as they want to be. All in Prato has againshown every other schlock just how rock hard his taste for the perfect oral history can go.Buy this but beware, Prato will soon have you shredding down to pure rock status.”

victor j. hannemann, “\m/ all the way!!. This book is outstanding!!! Brought me back to thedays when metal ruled. Could not put this book down and especially loved the sectionwhere the artists themselves talk about their gear. Great book for players and fans alike.Now I must check out other books from this author. I see he has many!”

Ebook Tops Reader, “Four Stars. Good pictures, would like more! Cool chapter on Dime”

forgottenglory, “An Engrossing Read For Guitar Players, Music Fans and History Buffs.Imagine being in a queue three hours before the doors open at either a G3 or aMalmsteen gig. Imagine also that your gig buddies in that queue are the likes of say, MikeVarney (Shrapnel Records founder), Jason Becker, Steve Stevens, Vinnie Moore, JenniferBatten and Jas Obrecht (Guitar Player magazine editor). What would you be talking aboutto kill time? Shred of course! This is exactly what "Shredders!: The Oral History of Speed

Guitar" feels like: a conversation among like-minded people passionate about an esotericsubject of which you happen to be a silent witness."Shredding" in musical circles refers tothe ability to play an instrument, in this case, the guitar, at high speed and with surgicalprecision. This is the general consensus albeit playing fast all the time is not aprerequisite.In Greg Prato's distinctive "writing" style, he has collated interviews from animpressive and diverse array of guitar players, bass players, guitar magazine editors andcolumnists on the subject at hand. The interviews have been spliced and organised bychapters to flow into one coherent whole that covers the whole spectrum of the Shredworld.The book delves in depth and in considerable detail on the subject by looking atRock and Metal in the pre-Shred era; dissecting the works of the trail blazers (Eddie VanHalen, Randy Rhoads, Yngwie Malmsteen, etc) and standard bearers (Steve Vai, JoeSatriani, etc) of Shred; analysing various techniques and methods of practice; discussingguitar magazines, tabs, tools of the trade, instructional videos and stores that have beeninstrumental in the growth of the Shred movement. Notable institutions such as ShrapnelRecords, the home of Shred, Guitar Institute of Technology (GIT) and North AmericanMusic Merchants (NAMM) are all discussed at length.Finally, Greg Prato wraps it up bylooking at the end of the movement, how it has survived in the modern day and queriesstand out guitar players of various eras about their own favouritecompositions."Shredders!: The Oral History of Speed Guitar" is an engrossing book thatwill appeal to guitar players, pique the interest of fans of the genre and enlighten musichistory buffs.The only shortcoming of this compendium is the lack of a non exhaustivenomenclature of recommended albums to listen to. Whilst this might end up being asubjective exercise, it would at least provide the uninitiated a starting point. To attend tothis oversight, I have included, in no particular order, my own list of favourite Shredalbums below:- Van Halen - I- Ozzy Osbourne - Blizzard Of Ozz (and Diary Of A Madman)-Yngwie Malmsteen - Rising Force- Vinnie Vincent Invasion - S/T (and All Systems Go)- SteveVai - Passion and Warfare- Joe Satriani - Surfing With The Alien- Michael Angelo - NoBoundaries- Vinnie Moore - Mind's Eye ( and every other VM album really)- Mark Wood -Voodoo Violince- Shaun Baxter - Jazz Metal- Michael Lee Firkins - S/T- CPR - Coven PitrelliReilly- Lanny Cordola - Electric Warrior Acoustic Saint- Guy Mann-Dude - Sleight Of Hand-Ethan Brosh - Out Of Oblivion- Bruce Bouillet - The Order Of Control”

forgottenglory, “An Engrossing Read For Guitar Players, Music Fans and History Buffs.Imagine being in a queue three hours before the doors open at either a G3 or aMalmsteen gig. Imagine also that your gig buddies in that queue are the likes of say, MikeVarney (Shrapnel Records founder), Jason Becker, Steve Stevens, Vinnie Moore, JenniferBatten and Jas Obrecht (Guitar Player magazine editor). What would you be talking aboutto kill time? Shred of course! This is exactly what "Shredders!: The Oral History of SpeedGuitar" feels like: a conversation among like-minded people passionate about an esotericsubject of which you happen to be a silent witness."Shredding" in musical circles refers tothe ability to play an instrument, in this case, the guitar, at high speed and with surgical

precision. This is the general consensus albeit playing fast all the time is not aprerequisite.In Greg Prato's distinctive "writing" style, he has collated interviews from animpressive and diverse array of guitar players, bass players, guitar magazine editors andcolumnists on the subject at hand. The interviews have been spliced and organised bychapters to flow into one coherent whole that covers the whole spectrum of the Shredworld.The book delves in depth and in considerable detail on the subject by looking atRock and Metal in the pre-Shred era; dissecting the works of the trail blazers (Eddie VanHalen, Randy Rhoads, Yngwie Malmsteen, etc) and standard bearers (Steve Vai, JoeSatriani, etc) of Shred; analysing various techniques and methods of practice; discussingguitar magazines, tabs, tools of the trade, instructional videos and stores that have beeninstrumental in the growth of the Shred movement. Notable institutions such as ShrapnelRecords, the home of Shred, Guitar Institute of Technology (GIT) and North AmericanMusic Merchants (NAMM) are all discussed at length.Finally, Greg Prato wraps it up bylooking at the end of the movement, how it has survived in the modern day and queriesstand out guitar players of various eras about their own favouritecompositions."Shredders!: The Oral History of Speed Guitar" is an engrossing book thatwill appeal to guitar players, pique the interest of fans of the genre and enlighten musichistory buffs.The only shortcoming of this compendium is the lack of a non exhaustivenomenclature of recommended albums to listen to. Whilst this might end up being asubjective exercise, it would at least provide the uninitiated a starting point. To attend tothis oversight, I have included, in no particular order, my own list of favourite Shredalbums below:- Van Halen - I- Ozzy Osbourne - Blizzard Of Ozz (and Diary Of A Madman)-Yngwie Malmsteen - Rising Force- Vinnie Vincent Invasion - S/T (and All Systems Go)- SteveVai - Passion and Warfare- Joe Satriani - Surfing With The Alien- Michael Angelo - NoBoundaries- Vinnie Moore - Mind's Eye ( and every other VM album really)- Mark Wood -Voodoo Violince- Shaun Baxter - Jazz Metal- Michael Lee Firkins - S/T- CPR - Coven PitrelliReilly- Lanny Cordola - Electric Warrior Acoustic Saint- Guy Mann-Dude - Sleight Of Hand-Ethan Brosh - Out Of Oblivion- Bruce Bouillet - The Order Of Control”

mr pinch, “Awesome !. This is an amazing book , I have not finished reading it at the timeof this review as there is so much in it ! A great read for someone like me who learnt guitarin that era or for someone younger wishing to research the origins of the shred guitarera .”

Paulo Micheli, “Os melhores Guitarristas, a era dos virtuosos 80'. About The Best to TheBest Guitarrists, The Gold era 80' of virtuosos.História da guitarra Leitura indispensável.recomendo 100%”

Ebook Tops Reader, “Shred Love. I love shred and when this came in my in box, had to buyit, new interviews with players past and present, A++++”

The book by Greg Prato has a rating of 5 out of 4.4. 39 people have provided feedback.

foreword by alex lifeson introduction cast of characters chapter 1 pre-shred chapter 2eddie chapter 3 randy chapter 4 yngwie chapter 5 neoclassical metal chapter 6 shrapnelrecords chapter 7 racer x & cacophony chapter 8 practice makes perfect chapter 9 modes& scales chapter 10 stevie ray chapter 11 jeff chapter 12 gary chapter 13 the ozzy gigchapter 14 tapping chapter 15 sweeping chapter 16 trademarks & techniques chapter 17soloing vs. songwriting chapter 18 steve chapter 19 joe chapter 20 eric chapter 21 basschapter 22 floyd rose chapter 23 git chapter 24 namm chapter 25 mags & tabs, vids &stores chapter 26 the man who sang chapter 27 megadeth’s bassist on megadeth’sguitarists chapter 28 rex talks dime chapter 29 king of pop = king of rock? chapter 30 bigbreak chapter 31 not just metal chapter 32 the end of shred? chapter 33 modern daychapter 34 standout players, A–M chapter 35 standout players, N–Z chapter 36 crucialshred chapter 37 tools of the trade chapter 38 ‘shred’ afterword by uli jon rothphotographs endnotes about the author

Language: EnglishFile size: 3512 KBText-to-Speech: EnabledEnhanced typesetting: EnabledX-Ray: Not EnabledWord Wise: EnabledLending: EnabledScreen Reader: SupportedPrint length: 453 pages