I have always wanted to play guitar, but I never thought I could do it. So I'm HUGE into Metallica during my junior high, high school years, and even now...although it's the older type of Metallica. Metallica, Alice In Chains, and Megadeth were the people who made me want to start playing. Anyway, I'm 19 years old, and friend of mine says, "Dude, I have never met another person who loves music with the feeling that you love it." Why don't you play an instrument? I played trumpet and farted around with a guitar in school, but never really thought I would be any good at it. You know what I said to him? I said, "I'm too old to play. Everyone who's good has started playing when they were like 10." What a fool I was. So when I was 20, I decided to buy my first guitar. A friend of mine taught me how to play Metallica's cover of Am I Evil as my first song in about an hour and a half. He saw that I could pick it up pretty quickly. So, for the first time in my life, after an hour of doing it over and over, we're playing the entire Am I Evil song...I realized that this was where my life was headed. I'm currently in the Air Force, and it's actually a great thing, because I meet all different kinds of musicians, and get to play with so many different people. So I started when I was 20, and have been playing nonstop since. I'm 23 now and this is my life. I'm still in the Air Force, but mainly staying in and going to use it as a stepping stone to be where I want to be later in life. I'm playing thrash and doom now, but still like to play alot of old school stuff. Been practicing Raining Blood by Slayer lately, the fingering is kind of easy as well as the picking, but it gets progressively harder. If I can play a song right off the bat, then I know it's below me and I have to constantly challenge myself. For the first time in my life, I think I've found something that I'm pseudo naturally good at. I'm not a natural, per se, but I catch on really quickly. It took me a week to learn how to play speed metal. It took me an hour to learn a solo...it's just repetition for me, and mind over matter. I have to break it down into the physics of things. I tell myself, "Just make your fingers do this, and it will work." And it works. I'm kicking myself in the ass for not starting sooner than 20, but I guess I'm still young.
Personally, I think I still suck. Alot of people think I'm pretty good for my experience, but I don' t think so. I watch all these great guitarists and say, "That's where I want to be in two years." It's worked so far...and I'm slowly getting there. Music is my life, and I have to constantly challenge myself or else I'll get bored and stop. I also keep one thing in the back of my mind that Zakk Wylde said one time. He said, "Play every single day, even if it's just for ten minutes...play what you can. Also, if anyone tells you not to play the music you love, tell them to go fucking die." Great advice, and believe me it works. I play if only for a few minutes each day and it greatly increases your stamina, flexion, and picking speed. Usually, I try to play for at least an hour at a time, but if I don't have time, I'll just pick up my acoustic and play Love Song by Tesla. I'm no one to give advice, but what has helped me tremendously is that you should get an acoustic and leave it sitting out on a stand. So when you're sitting around, pulling your pud, you can just grab it and play and not have to wrestle with the thoughts of, "Oh hell, now I have to plug in my electric, get everything set up....I don't feel like it." With an acoustic, you are helping out in two ways: Instant practice and satisfaction, and increasing finger strength. I worked late midnight shifts all last week, so I would sleep all day, work all night, and only have a little time before I had to go to work to play. This is when I played my acoustic, and now that I have more free time, I plugged in my electric and was ripping shit up. I didn't have time to fiddle with my electric and was easier to just grab the acoustic.
My influences began as more of Hetfield than Hammett, although Hammett was fucking amazing. I have always been more of a rhythm player, or wannabe that is. I think that the best frontman has been Hetfield in all metal bands. His energy and stage presence is amazing, and that's what influenced me the most. As I got older and a bit more experienced, I began to see the wonders of solos, over just riffs. I used to physically stop and rewind concert footage of some of their songs to see finger placement and see if I could mimic that...and sometimes it worked. That was my first few months of learning with tabs as well. As I began to get more experience, little by little I gravitated towards Megadeth. Keep in mind, that Korn and Limp Bizkit are popular at this time, and I'm listening to things like Master of Puppets and Rust in Peace. No one was playing the things that I liked, so I was all alone in my playing. So I'm gravitating towards songs like Hangar 18 and stuff like that, and began to realize how much of an amazing player that Dave Mustaine is. No one really gives him his due credit for guitar work. The solo in Holy Wars is his, not Friedman. Marty was awesome, but I think Dave is better. As Metallica began to shift into three chord type songs like "I Disappear", I began to shift over to Holy Wars, Black Friday, and Hangar 18. At this time I had been listening to death/black/doom metal only a few months and was still ready to delve into the unknown. Then I discovered Opeth and In Flames. I had been listening to Dimmu and Cradle, and realized that black metal wasn't the direction I wanted, although I like the speed. Hell, those two aren't really black metal anyway. As I discovered Opeth and In Flames, I also discovered bands like Hypocrisy and Soilwork. I realized that thrash and intensity was only dead in the mainstream; Gothenberg was where it's at! Now I'm influenced by all kinds of different music. Anathema fuels my melancholy side, Megadeth and Metallica fuel my classic thrash and speed side, and death fuels my intensity. The band I'm trying to create will sound something like melodic death metal, but with cleaner vocals....very much like Soilwork. I want it to infuse the melody of solos with intensity of thrash and speed metal and the feeling of death metal. In other words, a melting pot of Soilwork, In Flames, Arch Enemy, Metallica, Megadeth, Anathema, and even Alice in Chains. I think AIC did the best out of all of the above in creating the best atmostphere for their music. Their vocals followed the music and instead of being something stand-offish, it blended perfectly in creating a sound as a whole. Songs like Would? and Rooster are what I'm talking about. I prefer cleaner vocals, but not too clean. Hetfield has a perfect medium. Soilwork's frontman does well also. But Staley's haunting vocal stylings provide the best atmosphere. I have no problem with death growls, but I don't want every song to sound like I'm constipated.
Wow, didn't know I had so much to say about this. Now I'm kind of following my own way, using what I've learned and what has influenced me over the years. The three bands that have influenced me the most are Metallica, Megadeth, and Alice in Chains.
