The following is an interview I did with Guy Daniels of 22nd Century Guitar back in mid-'07.

This interview is unique in that it focuses on someone who is not (yet) a recognized shred-master, yet has, at a young age, made tremendous contributions to the guitar community. Dear reader, meet David Bishea, an 18 year-old Shredologist who has committed much of his time not only to the practice of the Shred, but promotion of the instrumental guitar genre as well. Having recently started InstruMentalCase.com, Dave offers a wealth of Shred info to aspiring guitarists -- in the form of lessons, interviews, and best of all, those unique InstruMental Case videos.

Welcome to Dave’s world. Get a pad and pen and take notes.  You will now be Shreducated...

An Interview with Dave B.

GD: Dave, you’re 18, right? Just like I missed seeing the 60’s in person with all of its musical and social innovations, the same thing happened to you regarding the Shredded 80’s. Does that motivate you to find out what was happening in guitardom right before you were born?

Dave: Well, a part of me really wishes I was born earlier so that I could have caught all of that as it was happening, but at the same time I’m grateful to be young. Basically I’d rather see how the music progresses in the future than relive the past. But to answer the second question, yes, having missed everything that happened in the glory days of shred has inspired me to do a lot of treasure hunting and research. Even people who were actively listening to guitar music back then missed out on lots of great recordings that they’ve since found with the help of the internet and the everlasting guitar community. The more I look into it and listen, the more fantastic music I find. When most people think of guitar in the 80’s and early 90’s, Yngwie and the neo-classical genre is what comes to mind, but - while I do like a lot of J.’s music and a neo-classical element / influence to a lot of the contemporary guitar music I listen to today – there was a lot more than that going on back then. For example: melodic instrumental rock, aggressive hard-rock/metal with only small traces of a neo-classical influence, and plenty of other styles of guitar music that were effected by simply seeing the technical possibilities that were available. There’s one player in particular that I like who demonstrates that, Michael Lee Firkins. If I’m not mistaken, he emerged right around the tail end of the wave of guitar popularity in the 80’s, and he took that same kind of cutting edge technical ability and used it on blues/rock instrumental music – not anything neo-classical or mindless wanking. So what I’m trying to say is that there’s something for everyone from back then, and I think everyone would benefit by looking into it a bit.

GD: Very true. I’d say shred is to guitar and what bebop was to jazz music. The limits were/are being tested.
But why guitar, David? Inspired by a family member? A friend? Any particular guitar player?

Dave: My family wasn’t directly responsible for my guitar obsession, but my father did get me started in a way. The first music I remember actively listening to was Hendrix, which my dad would play on occasion. My life hadn’t even hit double digits at that time, so I was too young to really get it. Fast forward to 13 years-old, my older guitar-playing friend Boz shows me a clip of Steve Vai playing “Tender Surrender” (taken from the Alien Love Secrets video), and that’s really what triggered it. I was really amazed by Vai’s abilities, and even more by the music itself. I couldn’t understand other people’s relative indifference to it, and why I hadn’t seen playing like that sooner. So after watching that video a few hundred times, I went out and bought some of Vai’s stuff, as well as the first G3 CD, which lead me to Satriani. I quickly bought up everything I could of theirs, and by now I have almost all of their albums. One player always led to another, so right away I was buying 50-150 guitar albums a year.  [GD - This guy is serious, people!]

GD: How many guitar CDs do you have to-date?

Dave: Honestly I’ve lost count. It must be nearing 500, as they're not all CD’s - I’ve bought a lot on iTunes and a fair amount on cassette and vinyl. I also have a lot of performance DVD’s and old instructional videos, plus a growing number of live bootlegs on my PC.

GD: Wow! That is quite a lot of listening. You probably have a great ear.

Dave: I have a pretty bad ear in the sense of picking apart songs by ear and then playing them. But purely as a listener I have a well developed ear. It’s very easy for me to connect with most guitar music on the first listen now, whereas before I couldn’t follow along as well, and often wouldn’t understand where the emotion was in certain styles. My musical concept has continued to grow and grow the more I listen, and I’ve come to appreciate and connect with a lot of different genres of music, including some non-guitar stuff like improvisational jazz (John Coltrane / Mats Gustafsson), progressive electronic music (Tom Jenkinson aka “Squarepusher”), and more recently, virtuoso lyricist rap / hip-hop (Germaine Williams aka “Canibus”).

GD: Tell me about InstruMentalCase.com. It is quite impressive for such a young site.

Dave: Well, I created the website back in February… kind of on a whim actually. I’d never really done a website before, so when I found out that Microsoft was offering free websites with a domain name I decided I’d give it a shot. I put the site together that Sunday, and did my first interview with Dave Martone that same night. I was very happy to have my pressing questions answered by one of my musical idols, so within the first week of launching the site I’d already done like five more interviews. I'd already tapped into the online guitar community and my “Guitars Suck” series was pretty well known, so getting the interviews was surprisingly easy. Since then I’ve expanded the site to 16 interviews, 6 reviews, 5 videos, and 5 lessons in just three months! I’m going to be able to produce interviews much faster now, too.

GD: That's awesome. And the great thing about what you’re doing is that you're giving the spotlight to the underground guitar hero; the guy (or girl) that will might or might not get any play from the big name magazines.  These are the players who are pushing the envelope.

You know a lot about contemporary players. How do you research the players shown on your site and your videos?

Dave: Up to this point I’ve mostly done interviews with guitarists that I already knew a lot about and followed the careers of quite closely. Typically I already have a lot of questions for them in my mind before I even start work on the interview, but I always do more research regardless. The artist’s official site, Myspace, and other interviews they’ve done are all great resources for information. I try to ask questions that are specific to the guitarist I’m interviewing (instead of asking really generalized questions). I always want to know more about the projects they’re working on, details about their history, etc… but at the same time I often need to ask some more generic type questions so that readers who are unfamiliar with the artist can understand what they’re about. Anyway, as far as how I discover some of these guys to begin with… mostly it’s through sites like Guitar9, Myspace, TruthInShredding.blogspot.com, YouTube, other guitar websites, and word of mouth on forums. I’ve been interested in the Underground scene since I got into guitar music, so I’m always on the lookout for exciting new players.

GD: Is there a method for your videos, such as putting similar styles together? Or is it random--whoever is “happening” gets the exposure? 

Dave: I basically only feature videos that I personally really like. Sometimes I’ll get submissions from players who are pretty good but I’m just not feeling it as far as the music is concerned. There are other things that factor in as well, such as video and audio quality… that can actually make or break a submission. But most of the videos I feature are ones that I’ve found myself, not ones that were submitted to me. I try to include a lot of better known players along with the unknowns. I don’t really do a ton in the way of grouping similar styles together, but I do try and sequence the clips in a way that flows fairly well. I think I’m still getting better at that though… although the evidence may suggest otherwise when a Holdsworth video comes up right after Reb Beach. But my most recent video, Guitars Suck 7, did have a consistent theme; it was all fingerstyle acoustic.

(Guitars Suck 7)

Everyone gets tired of non-stop electric shredding, so I thought it was important that I change it up a bit for that one. Guitars Suck 8 will get back to featuring electric players, but hopefully I’ll be able to strike a better balance than before, by featuring a larger variety of styles.

GD: Good idea. Do you have a favorite IC video?

Dave: Hmmm… picking a favorite would be tough. I always like featuring friends though, so videos with guys like Paco Hernández, Jean-Do Leonelli, Rusty Cooley, etc… are always fun for me. I think my favorite video to make was the Shawn Lane Tribute. Unfortunately Shawn passed away before I ever discovered his music, but I feel as though I’ve gotten to know him through reading stories, talking with his close friends, watching his videos and most of all by listening to the music. His music has influenced me in a major way, so it felt good to try to give something back by putting that tribute together. The response to it has been really good as well… I don’t know if I’ve ever seen so many kind and heartfelt comments on YouTube before. I even got a message from the Lane family, which was very nice.

GD: Any long-term plans for the site?

Dave: Nothing set in stone yet. I think there’s a ton of potential there to have it turn into more of a community type of thing, get more contributors and stuff. I’d like to have more lessons on there, but getting them is difficult sometimes. To be honest I wouldn’t mind making some money off the site, but I have no plans at the moment, nor do I have any intention of charging for the content or infecting the pages with ads. So I guess my long-term plans are the same as my short-term ones: keep doing interviews, reviews, videos, and lessons for the visitors to enjoy. I’d also like to start including a free downloadable song with every interview, so that the readers can get a taste of the artist's music.  I also have plans for an instrumental guitar podcast.   

GD: Sounds like InstruMentalCase.com just keeps getting better!

Besides mastery of the guitar, do you see yourself as a future editor, magazine owner, or record label owner? For example, could you see yourself down the line doing what Mike Varney (owner of legendary shredder-farm, Shrapnel Records) or John Stix (Editor for Guitar For the Practicing Musician) do? By the way, I don’t know about John, but Mike can play, too. He guest-starred on Greg Howe’s debut CD along with Jason Becker (“Greg Howe”, 1988, Shrapnel Records product SH-1037).

Dave: Wow, I never knew that about Varney. I better go listen to that Howe album again! Anyway, I’d love to start my own label at some point, like Matt Williams did with Liquid Note Records, but at the moment I’m an 18 year-old with no real business experience. I’ll continue developing connections though, so doing something like that later down the line is a possibility for sure. As far as magazines go… I’m not so sure I’d want to own one, but I will look into getting some of my future interviews published. I’d love to write for one someday. I especially like Guitar Techniques magazine, because they tend to cover more lesser-known players, plus Guthrie Govan writes for them – ya can’t beat that! Most of all I just want to be a musician myself. Making a living as a guitarist is difficult for most, but it’s obviously possible, and I want to try. I’d love to teach, gig, release albums and instructional material, and write for a living. Right now my options are completely open, so I’m just practicing guitar and working on finishing high school. I’d love to attend a music school such as the Musicians Institute in the coming years and continue on from there.

GD: Speaking of Mike Varney, let’s talk about the impact he’s had on guitardom. Any thoughts on this?

Dave: I own more than my fair share of Shrapnel-released albums. I don’t really know much about Mike, other than the handful of fairly unflattering stories I’ve read, but I think he had a positive impact in many ways. He discovered a lot of great players and gave them the opportunity to release their music and make a name for themselves. In fact, the highlight of a lot of those guitarists’ careers was releasing an album on Shrapnel when that was an extremely prestigious accomplishment. I’m not sure that all of Varney’s intentions were very noble, or his creative input very good, but what can ya do?

GD: Very true. I might have a somewhat idealistic view of Mr. Varney, but in my opinion, Mike Varney has had the most non-playing influence on the guitar world out of any individual. Through his legendary Spotlight column in Guitar Player magazine, Mike had access to tens of thousands of able-fingered guitarists worldwide, and In the 80’s he had a near-monopoly on raw talent. To me, Mike Varney is to guitar playing what Miles Davis was to jazz music. As many of the current big names in jazz (Mike Stern, John McLaughlin, John Scofield, Herbie Hancock, etc.) owe part or all of their careers to Miles Davis, the same can be said about big-name guitarists and Mike Varney. Let’s name some: Yngwie Malmsteen, Jason Becker, Shawn Lane, Greg Howe, Paul Gilbert, Vinnie Moore, Tony MacAlpine, and Ritchie Kotzen… I’m talking sheer quantity of raw, unique, jaw-dropping, cutting-edge shredders. Through his label, Shrapnel Records, Mike exposed this talent to the world. In doing so, he not only raised the standard for guitar playing--he created a new one! He could have let mediocre players in the door and that would have been OK, but his high standard of axemanship wouldn’t allow for it. So, his standard became the new standard for guitarists, and not just rock players. Mike played a huge part in putting Shred on the map.

Another thing that’s had a big impact on guitardom is the internet, and you’re on the forefront of this, Dave. What are your thoughts on The World Wide Web and guitarists?

Dave: To be frank, I think it’s f***ing great! The availability of information and interesting music is virtually unbeatable. I think there really has been a virtuoso guitar comeback more recently, but it’s happened on websites like YouTube and Google Video instead of on MTV and the radio. Some of the most frequently viewed videos on YouTube are instrumental guitar performances. Take Andy McKee as an example… his videos were featured on the YouTube front page late last year, and the popularity and word of mouth generated by that alone literally transformed his life and career.

 (Andy McKee - Drifting)

Now he has all these new fans and fantastic opportunities for touring and recording. That’s a rare occurrence I suppose, but the internet and specifically websites like Myspace are really helping people connect and get their music heard. On a more personal level, the online guitar scene is how I get almost all of my information about music. I can’t imagine the world without it!

GD: Let’s talk specifically about MySpace. As you’ve said elsewhere, everyone is there (guitarists and otherwise). I’ve found that to be true myself. Some artists even have two working sites, like Frank Gambale and Alex Masi. Within the discussion of the internet, MySpace has a special place. One of the reasons, I think, is accessibility. Plus, you don’t have to look for everyone… often they’ll come looking for you. What’s your perception of the benefits MySpace has for the modern guitarist?

Dave: I think there are almost too many benefits to list. First of all, it’s completely free, you get your own customizable website, blog, videos and pictures pages, and if you’re a musician you can upload and share your music and keep your entire online fan base informed about your every action. It’s easy to search for people with similar interests and influences, and like you said, most of the time they end up finding you first! My biggest problem with Myspace is that I simply don’t have the time to explore all the players I’d like to, and - with bots and auto-messaging - sometimes getting a friend request is about the most impersonal thing that can happen to you! Seriously though, I think it’s great, and hopefully it’ll only get better for the musicians on there. But in a sea of names it can be hard to get noticed, and in the end, if you want to be on the G3 tour or something like that someday, then it’s probably more about who you know and what you do in person than who you chat with online.
GD: Very insightful comments. And you’re absolutely right--it is a tremendous vehicle. The feature that's so attractive to me about MySpace is how it's so easy for artists to support each other. Needless to say, many artists are struggling to make ends meet. But it's a great feeling to contact one of your favorite artists directly and buy their CD or DVD.

Dave, you’re an aspiring player yourself. Who has had the biggest impact on you so far?

Dave: Wow, that’s really though to say. As I talked about before, Steve Vai and Joe Satriani were my introduction to the music, and I’ve since met both of them on separate occasions (great guys for sure), but they’re not really on my top favorites list these days. So I guess the player that really had the greatest impact on me, opened my eyes to what can really be done technically with the instrument, and who got me to truly listen to and understand shred, was Rusty Cooley. A couple years ago I discovered a video of him playing the solo to the Outworld (Rusty’s vocal metal band) song “Riders”, and was truly blown away by it.

By that time I sort of thought I’d seen the height of technicality on the instrument, but boy was I wrong! Rusty’s playing amazed me because it went beyond just the ultra fast alternate picking – he could really do it all at an extreme level. So I bought his album but I didn’t really like it much at first, because at that time I didn’t really get players like Michael Angelo Batio and Rusty. I liked some neo-classical, but that wasn’t really what they were all about. I mean, sure they had that influence, but their music was more what I’d label “shred” – a mix of a lot of styles presented in a pretty aggressive way. So instead of giving up on it, I continued to listen to Rusty’s solo CD over and over, and pretty quickly it just clicked, and I started to REALLY like it. Somehow I just got familiar with the phrasing and started to be able to flow with the music instead of it being “too many notes to process” or “unmelodic”. Now I can hear a ton of emotion and intensity in it, and the music really appeals to me.

Anyway, as it turned out, Rusty lives and teaches about thirty minutes away from my house, and after a series of strange coincidences I ended up taking lessons with him last year, seeing him live, and filming a couple videos with him.  [GD - Tell me that’s not AWESOME!]

At the moment I’m taking lessons from a top student of his named Jason Black, who is more of a progressive legato shred-fusion / blues oriented player. But I still keep in touch with Rusty, and I recently interviewed him for my website. So yeah, he had a profound impact on me as a listener, but I don’t necessarily want to only make shred/metal music like he does.

GD: What axe do you wield? OK, I’ll come down to earth…what are you playing these days?

Dave: Oooh, the dreaded gear question! Let’s see… my main electric is an Ibanez Prestige 7-string (I think it’s called the RG1527RB), but I replaced the stock pick-ups with EMG 707’s. I don’t have a decent amp yet, so I mostly play through my BOSS DR-880 rhythm machine, which has a bunch of amp modeling stuff and actually sounds okay for my practicing purposes. As far as the acoustic side of things goes, I got an absolutely fantastic Larrivee LSV-11 steel-string fingerstyle acoustic back in March, which really plays, sounds and looks like a dream.

 (If only all first dates went as smooth as this...)

GD: What songs or techniques are you working on now?

Dave: I’m working on learning a fingerstyle piece called “Tribute to Andrew York” by a little known composer named Mathew Joseph, who I discovered very recently. Anyone can listen to the song in its entirety on Mathew’s Myspace.  Aside from that I’m working on all of the common electric techniques, such as: alternate picking, sweeps, tapping and legato, hybrid picking, vibrato, and so on… I just got a bunch of Andy James’ Lick Library instructional stuff, so I’ll be going through all of that over the coming weeks and months.

GD: If you were to create a “Frankenstein” player, whose chops would your creation have? For example, Shawn Lane’s speed, Allan Holdworth’s legato, etc. But try to use newer guys if you can…

Dave: Even more than Shawn’s speed I admire his perfect touch, so I’ll start with that. Next up would have to be Garsed’s phrasing, hybrid picking and slide. Derek Trucks for slide, too. Michael Lee Firkin’s touch of blues and use of the vibrato bar. Mattias IA Eklundh’s unique harmonic approach and his wonderful tapping. Maybe throw in two-handed tapper Adam Fulara or Enver Izmailovfor their crazy approaches to the instrument. Cooley’s progressive metal rhythms, sweeps and general intensity. Zakk Wydle’s ballsy wah pedal madness. Buckethead’s dreamy clean tones and creativity. Acoustic fingerstyle master Don Ross’ funky groove-oriented playing. Also Antoine DuFour for his fingerstyle innovations. Conrad Simon’s inhumanly accurate picking. Gonçalo Pereira’s… everything. Same goes for Guthrie Govan – I couldn’t pick one thing about his style – everything is amazing about him. Contemporary classical guitarist / professional genius, Andrew York, for his skills as a fingerstyle player and composer. José de Castro for his tone and ballads. Also, Dave Martone for his fantastic tone, production skills, and songwriting. Michael Angelo Batio – simply because I want my dream guitarist to be able to play a quad guitar! Marty Friedman’s exotic scales/leads. Neil Zaza’s general melodic approach to songwriting. Paco Hernández’s fantastic energy, technique, and skills as a composer. Richie Kotzen’s interesting funk rhythms and ability to incorporate great guitar into vocal-driven music. Paul Gilbert’s alternate picking, string skipping, creativity, and humor. Scott Stine’s extra strings. Stefan Joubert’s lap style virtuosity (same goes for Erik Mongrain). Petteri Sariola and Justin King for their percussive “slam” style. Ted Greene’s chordal knowledge and note choice. Bumblefoot’s fretless insanity. Thomas Blug’s dynamics, along with Satriani and Vai’s. Yngwie’s deep knee bends.  [Laughs]  And Vinnie Moore’s… well, Vinman just rules in general! I think I’ll end it there, because my guess is that’s more than anyone bargained for!

GD: THAT was awesome! You really delivered there (told you, didn’t I? He’s quite the Shred-expert). Let’s talk technique, focusing again on the newer generation. Who’s got the best legato and why?

Dave: I couldn’t give a definitive best. Most of my favorite legato players are from the 80’s/90’s generation, not the new crop. But I guess I would just pick Derryl Gabel as my general legato god. His instructional stuff is beyond insane to me.

   ("Cool Legato Phrases" DVD)

GD: Current generation again--who gets the “Broom Award” (has the best sweeps) and why?

Dave: I’d have to say my personal favorite sweeper is Rusty. All you need is one look at him to see why. I like the sound of his sweep picking and how he incorporates it into his music - that’s why I picked him. He’s also still innovating in that area and taking it to the next level.

GD: Who has the best alternate picking of today’s players and why?

Dave: When it comes to great alternate picking tone, I have to go with Paul Gilbert. My favorite new discovery in that field would have to be Conrad Simon though. His picking is cleaner than a baby’s behind… Okay, that’s some bad imagery. The point is – go buy The Wrath of Con on iTunes right now, or just stop breathing.

GD: Who has the best two-handed taps (including multi-fingered picking hand taps) and why?

Dave: I’d have to say once again that Adam Fulara is an amazing talent – check out his two-handed tapping classical videos on YouTube.

(Adam Fulara plays J.S. Bach)

There’s also a guy named Don Lappin who is completely insane at that – I think he’s a teacher at Berklee, and he’s working on a two-handed instructional video right now. … And then there’s always T.J. [Helmerich]. Oh, and I really like Andy James and Cooley for that, too. But with Andy and Rusty it’s more of just an element to their technique, instead of the foundation of their playing style.

GD: Out of this generation’s top players, who is the best composer and why?

Dave: I couldn’t really name a best for composing. Some of my favorites are Shawn Lane (Powers of Ten), Andrew York (Hauser Sessions), and Paco Hernández (Second Opinion).

GD: Who is the best rising new talent and why?

Dave: Paco Hernández and Andy James are two of my favorite players to emerge in recent years (watch their videos on YouTube to see why). Mattias IA Eklundh, Bumblefoot, Buckethead and Guthrie Govan are great talents who are moving up in the world, too.

GD: Guitar girls. There are some players out there now, more so than before, I’m sure. Any thoughts on this?

Dave: Yeah, I guess there are more, that’d be pretty fair to say. Although, within the virtuoso world there are only a few I listen to right now… Jennifer Batten, Katrina Johansson, and Nori Bucci. I know there are more out there though, some of whom I’ve heard but don’t really listen to. There should be even more though, and I think that’s slowly happening.

GD: What’s the future of shred in your mind? Will there be a mainstream renaissance, or will it stay underground?

Dave: I think there has been a comeback in the mainstream via these popular metal bands that have some virtuoso elements to the guitar playing (even though I don’t particularly like most of them). There are cool bands like Dream Theather, Nevermore, Alter Bridge, etc… that seem to be doing pretty well popularity-wise. That’s probably the best we can hope for. Instrumental music has never done well in the mainstream, so I’m not counting on that happening to any large degree. There will always be instrumental guitarists out there like Vai and Satch – guys who can make an above average living at it, but they’ll probably always be rare examples. Hopefully the underground scene will just continue to get better and better and be able to sustain the careers of more instrumental guitarists who want to make great music but not always get rich off it.

GD: Young players today have a huge quantity of quality learning material available to them. This makes it possible for the aspiring guitarist to progress at a very fast rate. To give an example, I’m seeing more and more awesome players who have been at it for only 3-6 years! Any comments on this?

Dave: I think that’s very true, and I hope it’ll be true for my playing! You do see some players who get really good at a fast rate, but that’s a combination of crazy amounts of practicing, intelligence, and the ability to tap into these great new resources. There are also a lot of newer instructional books and DVD’s that cover specific techniques, and work really well for improving in one area at a really fast rate. The other more unfortunate thing I see a lot is young guitarists who idolize these new metal bands with fast guitar playing, so these young guys want to shred and play their songs but they push it too quick and their playing becomes totally unsynchronized and a real pain for me to watch and listen to. In the words of Troy Grady, “if you can’t play it clean, you can’t play it”.

GD: Wise words indeed. Turn down the gain and hear the pain! 

Okay, so I think the guitar should be made the official instrument of the U.S. What do you think?

Dave: I think it is. The official instrument of the world in fact! Piano / keyboard or drums are probably the only competition there, but my guess is that guitars are significantly more popular by now.

GD: Dave, thanks for your time--I know you must have a ton of stuff to do back at InstruMentalCase.com, aside from practicing, of course. I look forward to when you’ll be on the other side of the “microphone” for your playing abilities! I have had a great Shreducation listening to you, and I’m sure the readers have too. As a matter of fact, I doubt that anyone reading this can name more contemporary shredders than you. And people thought “Yngwie” was a hard name to pronounce!

Dave: Thanks a lot, Guy!

About the interviewer:

Guy Daniels is a six-stringer as well as husband and father. He believes strongly in cultivating creativity and artists supporting each other, as the life of an artist is, well... not easy!

(Guy Daniels' "6-String Reign")