The_Scratch ... no longer lurking. HELLO!!!
Posted: Mon May 14, 2012 5:06 am
Been reading the threads for a long time and figured I'd share myself.
Sorry if I get any on ya... it happens sometimes.
I am in Canada.
Born in England... moved to Canada when I was two.
I have a sarcastic, dry sense of humor that often gets mis-translated on forums, so fair warning. I may sound like an ass at times, but I'm really a nice guy.
I have been playing guitar for 25 yrs now.
Currently own a Fender Strat, Fender 6 string acoustic and a fender 12 string acoustic.
I hate my Strat.
Been an ongoing battle with that thing for 25 years... LOL, one day I'll buy that Satriani model. No guitar has ever felt so easy to play for me. But my damn strat seems like a battle... it's beautiful natural woodgrain finish though so I don't want to let it go.
My natural playing style is very bluesy and funky with Stevie Ray Vaughan type leads. Imagine Nuno Bettencourt/Jake E Lee/Stevie Ray Vaughan with a good dose of heavy metal edge thrown in and you'll understand why nobody knows who I am after 25 yrs of playing.
LOL.
But really, why am I here?
I was 11 when Randy died and I still remember the day... I wasn't a guitar enthusiast at the time (I just liked Ozzy) but I was still bumbed out about it.
4 yrs later as a teenager searching out my identity and making my first forays into playing guitar. I swiped some cassettes from my brothers collection... Blizzard & Diary were two of them (Toys in the Attic, Nazareth greatest hits and Screaming for Vengeance being the others) and something happened.
I was captivated in a way I still cannot explain.
No musician had ever connected with me like that.
I got chills... hairs stood out on my arms and 25 yrs later it still happens.
You all know what I am talking about... it happened to some of you too.
At the age of 15 Randy became my hero.
My role model.... my inspiration.
He was, like so many of you on this board... the reason I started playing.
However... Randy became something more to me.
My personality and even the way I looked were uncannilly similar to him, and as a result I felt it important to emulate much of what I learned about him as a person. The way he conducted himself, the kindness he showed people, his patience, his outlook on life and the goals he had for himself.
I felt I knew him.
Randy the person influenced me more than Randy the musician... the music was the connection.
When the tribute album came out I listened to Randy live for the first time... I cried.
I was devastated.
March 19th 1982 had finally happened for me. I was too young and naive of music and Randy when he actually passed, but suddenly it hit me.
I absorbed every iota of information I could about Randy... I spent countless hours hunting used magazine stores, headshops and record stores for anything with even a mention of him in it or on it.
I have amassed quite a collection.
He became a teenage obsession.
Walls were covered in massive collage of Randy pics from magazines and posters. (I will be digging out some of my very rare Randy photos to post here soon... many of which I have not seen on this thread yet)
By 1989 I was a bonifide Randiphile!!!!
At one point I even stepped back and asked "Is this healthy"?
I thought it over an told myself that there really are not many people to choose in life as a better role model than Randy.
My parents even understood.
My friends "got it".
As they read the magazines and articles, watched the interviews and came to learn more of this person they would say to me "We see why you like him so much... you are very much alike... too bad you can't play like him though".
I laughed at that.
it was like a compliment to be told that your not as good as Randy on guitar.
It made me even more proud of him.
I thought of Randy as a good person, and that made me want to be a good person.
As a guitar player I never copied Randy.
To this day I cannot (will not) learn his music.
- (ok, I do know his music, but don't practice it or play it, but I know virtually everything note for note) -
It's a strange show of respect for me to never touch what is already perfect.
My style is so much different... and that style exists because Randy taught me something early in my playing. In reading the Guitar Magazines I learned that Randy grew up playing music, but never copying other peoples songs. He emphatically stated "Be true to yourself.... learn your own style, don't copy someone elses" and this resonated with me enormously.
My playing and style came simply from what I felt.
I like to think that if Randy was aware of all the fingers he helped influence that he'd smile at us all then get all embarrassed.
I like to encourage myself by thinking that Randy is smiling at me for going my own way on the instrument we both love.
My favorite Song by Randy is S.A.T.O. - Incredible fretwork!!!
Favorite isolated piece of music is the acoustic bridge before the solo in Diary of a Madman. Absolutely stunning.
I adore Revelation (Mother Earth) one of the most perfectly composed guitar pieces I have ever heard.
Goodbye to Romance on tribute cuts through me like a knife... gut wrenching.
Children of the Grave from Tribute is astounding to me... to think that Randy hated playing this stuff and yet came up with such a dynamic rendition is a testament to how much he really threw into his work.
The Milwaukee 82 version of Paranoid is jaw dropping.
I don't think Randy is the greatest guitarist... I'll leave that title to Jimi Hendrix.
I also don't think Randy is the best... theres a long line of names who could qualify for that - Segovia, Satriani, Morse, Di Meola, Pettruci to name a few.
But I think If Randy had live he'd stand a good chance of knocking those names off the list... hell with only two albums he's still giving them a run for his money.
He's my favorite... always has been, always will be.
Thanks Randy.