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TORBEN ENEVOLDSEN European Rock Guitar - By Guido Mercati
How about the main influences in your playing right now , Torben ?
I am listen to a lot of different music , but at the moment , i'm especially big on Symphony X and dream Theater ! I am also listening to a lot of instrumental music , both heavy and fusion !
Are you involved in other projects ?
No at the moment , no !
What do you think of the instrumental rock world in 2000 ?
I think that there's a lot of great music around and that the scene is very interesting and exciting !
The 10 albums of your life , please ...
A very very difficult question , but here goes : 1-Boston "Boston" , 2-Saga "Worlds Apart" , 3-Toto "Turn Back" , 4-Van Halen "1" , 5-Jetro Tull "Live:Bursting Out" , 6-Allan Holdsworth "I.O.U." , 7-Joe Satriani "Not Of This earth" , 8-Riot "Fire Down Under" , 9-Dream Theater "Images & Words" , 10-Symphony X "Twilight In Olympus" .
How about Lynch Mob and Badlands in your opinion ?
I like both bands , especially their debut albums ! George lynch and Jake E.Lee are both amazing guitarists !
Do you like the new Mr Big album with Kotzen ? what do you think about him ?
I have only heard the 3 first songs of that album , but they all sound great ! I will definitely buy it sometime ! I think that Mr Big is a really great . Richie Kotzen is another amazing guitarist . Very versatile . The stuff he has done with greg Howe , as well as solo , is really great !
Could you describe your equipment in details , please .
My main guitar is an Ibanez RG-620 which i am very fond of ! The heart in my set-up is definitely my X-99 Soldano Preamp . It's Amazing !!! My Power Amp is the Marshall 9200 . I'm using a Korg DTR-2 for tuning and the Digitech Quadro Verb 2 for effects . I have two Marshall Cabs , each with 4*12 Speakers . I'm using my Morley Bad Horsie for wah effects and that's pretty much it as i like to keep things simple !!!
Thanx so much , Torben for your time !
Thank you ! Take care and all the best ... Torben .
NEAL NAGAOKA Speed Sweep - By Guido Mercati
How about your roots in guitar playing , Neal ?
My root ? Wow i guess i started by listening to bands like Led Zeppelin and a lot of metal bands like Iron Maiden and Ozzy . I was a big Van Halen fan as well . I guess what got me started playing guitar was when i was 12 , i got my first guitar . Since then i have gone through about 100 different teachers . My first song i think i ever learned was Starway To Heaven . LOL but i would have to say the 2 songs that really changed my way of thinking as far as guitar playing would have to be Eruption from Van Halen and Black Star from Yngwie Malmsteen .
Your favorite 10 Cds of the all the time ...
No particular order : Led Zeppelin "Physical Graffiti" , Ozzy Osbourne "Diary Of A Madman" , Yngwie Malmsteen "Rising Force" , Van Halen "1" , Jason Becker "Perpetual Burn" , Greg Howe "Instrospection" , Al DiMeola "Elegant Gypsy" , Steve Morse "High Tension Wire" , Mark Varney Project "Centrifugal Funk" , Steve Vai "Passion & Warfare" .
Could you describe your guitars and the various arsenal ?
Currently . I am using an ESP Horizon . For live i use mainly an old Marshall half stack that i have owned for may years . I run a Marshall JMP-1 Preamp for the distortion tone . My favorite effects would be a little bit of Reverb and Delay .
What do you think about other styles like Rock-Fusion ?
I think it's great . I love it . The musicians that play this kind of style definitly deserves to be more recognized in the music world .
Your personal thoughts concerning these 3 players : Greg Howe , Brett Garsed and Richie Kotzen ...
Greg Howe is probably one of my personal favorites . The guy is a monster . brett Garsed . Could be one of the most underrated guitarist . His legato technique and overal feel is unbelievable . Richie Kotzen i think is a great guitarist . I especially liked Electric Joy .
What is the situation in the U.S. right now about Shred and Hyper-Technical music ?
Well unfortuanelly , the whole shred guitar scene in the U.S. seems non existant . I hope one day it will come back again . in the LA Area , the 2 main music right now seems to be the whole Rock en Espanol and of course , Hip Hop .
Your detailed discography and your current projects please !
Currently i released only one Cd so far entitled The Crossing . I am almost finished the second Cd and hopefully i will release it sometime this year (Out now !!!) . I am also doing a few session work for local artists in the LA Area and at the same time , playing locally with a spanish rock band .
Did you attend the G.I.T or Berklee College ?
Yes i attended both . I taught at GIT for about a year as well .
What do you think of the new Dream theater album ?
I like it . I like most of the stuff they do and i think John Petrucci is an amazing guitarist !!!
THOMAS BLUG The Beauty Of Simplicity - By Emiliano Mammini
Well , of course , could you tell me more about how you kept in contact with music , the guitar (schools ...) and your early influencies ?
Before i picked up the guitar i was doing electronic as my first hobby . My first musical influences were quite different on the hand it was The Stones and on the other hand Jean Michelle Jarre . I built myself an guitaramp and got my first Strat copy . After learning from a german instructor book i took a few lessons at a Jazz Guitarist . He thought that i was talented abd so he told me some scales , chords , theory etc ... He wanted me to play Jazz . I followed him for a fwe lessons but than we got into a conflict because i loved to play harder (i played him Deep Purple) and hr didn't like this kind of music ... So i stopped taking lessons ! But with his basics i could listen to the records and pick up the licks bit by bit myself . It was hard work , but also a very good training . So i formed my first band . As we started to play in local clubs and youth houses some other guitar players asked me to give them lessons . I got more and more students over the time and everybody was into something else . From Beatles to Police . Heavy Rock and Funk , so i listend to all kinds of music , which was very interesting and i had to learn it first before i could show it to my students . Again hard work , good training and lots of fun ! With the band we played a mixture of styles from rock to pop to "fake jazz" funk ... i was listening to Deep Purple , The Stones , the who , pink Floyd , Toto , return To Forever and all of this late 80's pop on the radio .
I saw you playing in Rimini (Italy) and i was quite surprised from the fact that you are German and you play that incredibly melodic music , full of good taste and perfect sounds ... you know , it seems that Germany is very attracted from Metal , Power-Prog music and not in instrumental rock ... what do you think is the situation in Europe for musicians like you ?
You know German Musik has different faces . There is the harder side like Scorpions , Accept , Doro Pesch , Nina Hagen and now Ramstein , on the other side there is this bizarre stuff like Kraftwerk , Tangerine Dream ... but even before i played the guitar i liked melodies from songs of the Beatles and the music i was listening on the radio . I think this was always in my head and whwn i was listening to what i was playing , i always liked the more melodic bits . Later i listened also Santana , Neil schon , Gary Moore and my hero Jeff Beck . To find out what makes the guitar really "speak" . I'm doing studio work for many artists like Hazel O'Connor , Culter Beat ... and many German Artists that are not released outside Germany and i was also touring with some German bands like Tic Tac Toe , Purple Schulz , Rainbirds ... but at the moment the electronic dance music is very strong in Germany , that's why i do an instrumental album once in a while to show that the guitar is a beautiful instrument to express myself that can do more than just riffs and noise ! I think after this cold electronic periode there will be some "warm hearted" music again !!! I think we will listening more of this in the future . Besides my work for other people i will work on my own projects and mayby you'll never know you might hear something from me on the radio or on television ...
You have done lots of co-productions with different bands and have realized two solo albums until 1997 . What are doing at the moment , are you planning a new release ?
Yeah ! There are two things i'm doing right now . 1-Working on some pop songs this will be only released when it's finished ... But there is no dead line (maybe never ... ah ah ...) and 2-I think i'm going for my third instrumental album . If you want to get the news please check on my website . I planned to do it the next winter .
How did your collaboration and your recent tour-clinic with Hughes & Kettner come up ?
Since my first hobby was electronics i'm not only a guitar player i can also talk to a technician in a way that he accepts me . So H&K asked me to be involved in your designs to give them my experience . I know H&K for many years i also work on some productions with them . I'm part of their designers team . For me it is good to play on some trade shows to see what's going on (likr Rimini for example !) !
I would like to know what you usually use in studio and what in a live context .
In the studio i use "everything that sound good" . It depends on the music . I have a collection of guitars : Gibson ES 335 , Tele , Les Paul , A Custom Maple Strat and my main Guitar , my 61 strat . Some classic Amps Vintage Fenders , Marshall Plexi 50/100 watt (without Mastervolume) , a H&K Triamp and many footpedals+wah like Old Vox/George Dennis Switch Wah , Small Stone , H&K Replex Delay ... Live i use my Triamp with EL 34 , a 4*12 Cabinet , an old Quadroverb , my Wha and an all access Midi Switcher . My Guitar is mostly my 61 strat a spare strat , sometimes a Guild Acoustic .
What are the three songs of everytime that you would have been written ??!!
Ha ... ha ... "Yesterday" by The Beatles , than i wouldn't have to work anymore ! "Hotel California" by Eagles , "Roxanne" by The police , "Whole Lotta love" by Led Zep .
Tha last one ... What's music for you and what seggestions could you give to our Italian guitarists in order to become better musicians ?
Music is an international language that everybody can understand . Just express yourself ! Don't imitate to much it's good to learn some musical vocabulary/technique , but i think every person has it's own little story to tell in music . You shouldn't get too confused by all this technique and licks . Be yourself and play it from bottom of your heart !!! Ciao !!!
CARL ROA Elf Guitar - By Matt Cafissi
Carl , how did you get interested in music and guitarists influences ?
When i was very young i started piano lessons and learned the basics of music . Also , must everybody in my family is a musician . So perhaps the music was in my blood ! The guitar came a little later on , when i was 15 or so . Many of my friends played guitar and i decided i also wanted to learn too . I saved up $75 and bought my friends Yamaha Acoustic after he gave it up . I was pretty obsessed with playing from the beginning and progressed quickly . Some of my most early guitar influences were Alex Lifeson , Eddie Van Halen , Randy Rhoads , Jimmy Page , Robert Fripp , Steve Howe and many more ... But definite turning point was getting a chance to see Steve Morse play with the Dixie Dregs . A friend of mine had gotten tickets to the show and we managed to get in even thought we were under age ! I had never heard musician of that caliber before and that night really opened up the world of fusion and jazz music . I had a similar experience a few years later when i saw Pat Metheny play at a Jaco Pastorius benefit concert .
What guitars and other equipment do you favor to get your great sound ?
My main guitar is a Brian Moore Custom C-90 PM . It has a peizo saddle and a 13 Pin Midi Out . It's loaded with Seymour Duncan Pick Ups and a Custom switching system that allows for great variants in tones . I use GHS Boomers Strings as i have found that they give me the best durability and tone (gauage 10/46) . I use Mesa Boogie Amps and am always experimenting with different set ups . For effects i like the Rocktron Intellifex and Lexicon Units .
What is your most recently completed projects and what are you currently working on ?
The Magic Elf has just released a new live EP , all ordering information is available at the Magic Elf WebSite . It was very challenging to try and pull off the tunes from Elf Tales as a Trio . In the studio version of tunes , i had layered many guitar parts . But playing live , i have faced the challenge of modifying parts to cover the multi-layered parts from the records . I would also say The Live recording as more of an edge to it . I am currently writing new material for a new solo Cd that i hope to have out in the fall . My solo Cd will have a mix of styles on it and will include acoustic pieces as well as some heavy rock fusion tunes .
You are the Axe of The Magic elf , well , why the name of The Magic Elf ?
Well , meny years ago we used to play under the name of The Wayne Foundation . Which was based on Bruce Wayne , the characters from BatMan . After the series of BatMan movies came out it became a bit to cliche' , plus we were worried about legal complication , so we tried to come up with a new name . One day i was driving with Elf drummer Dave Miranda when he slammed on the brakes and yelled , "... give me a name ... right now ... the first name that comes into your head !!!" and for some unknown reason i blurted out "... The Magic Elf !!!" well , we were both laughing and agreed that would be the name . That's how it happened !
What about Shred music and on Guitar scene today ?
There are many talented players out there and i think we are hearing more about them trough the Internet . It's pretty amazing how many musicians i've heard about and listened to throught the Web . I've always been a fan of good guitar music and think there is a large percentage of the population that appreciates good musicianship ! Hopefully we'll be getting a little more guitar in our Rock 'N roll , as people are ready for a change .
We would like to know what are three songs that you would have written ?
This is an impossible question to answer ! There is so much great music and so many great composers that it is very difficoult to name only three . But since this is a guitar magazine , i will pick three from modern day guitarists , but by no means is this only three . How about : "Are you going with me" by Pat Metheny , "Hereafter" by Steve Morse and "The Things You See" by Allan Holdsworth .
The guitar future (advertising , to buy , to sale etc ...) it's on ... Internet ?
I wouls say the Internet is the single biggest sourch for fueling the new guitar oriented progressive movement . It allows the indipendent artists to reach people throughtout the world . The Web is an amazing tool and is the main way we sell our Cds now . As i mentioned earlier , there is a definite market for guitar hungry fans and the Web has been the primary resource for rearching them .
THANKS TO MATT AND GUITARCHEF FOR THE INTERVIEW , PLEASE STOP BY MY WEBSITE AND SAY HELLO !!!
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