Nov 7

Michael Angelo Batio is my guitar teacher’s teacher. He is simply one of the best metal guitarists in the world. And if you think I’m exaggerating here are just a few accolades he’s accumulated over the past few years:

2005’s Fastest Guitarist in the World.

He has performed over 500 shows since 2003.

January 2005 issue of Japan’s Younge Guitar Magazine listed Michael as one of the greatest guitarists of ALL TIME!

He invented and was the world’s first player of the twin-necked, left and right-handed Double Guitar.

So those are just to name a few. Simply put, this man is a magician of music. Michael Angelo started playing piano and composing music at age 5 and began playing guitar at age 10. Ever since then he’s had the knack to play and an relentless quench for setting the standards at an entirely different level.

This is from his Metal Method “No Boundaries aka Speed Kills” video series for beyond advanced guitarists. Enjoy and hopefully this will give you an insight into how great people are at guitar as well as give you some inspiration to keep playing so that you can achieve success as well.

Nov 1

“The Air Guitar World Championships have been organized in Oulu, Finland annually since 1996. The once so absurd an idea has bloomed into an international media event that attracts a wide international league of contestants, audience and media representatives to Oulu, Finland. Here is a brief overview of the past championships, contests, the contestants and the special ones among them who are selected to spread the Air Guitar ideology. Dive deep into the breath-taking history of the Air Guitar World Championships, and select a year below.” - AirGuitarWorldChampsionship.com

I thought to myself this was a harebrained idea myself until I actually attended a contest in my hometown of Orlando, Florida. People went nuts over the idea, which baffled me, but as I kept watching I entertained the idea more and came to think it was hilariously genius. This is an entirely new form of expression with rules, schools of thought, theory, and major competitions.

This video is of defending world champion Ochi “Dainoji” Yosuke of Japan who in 2007 gave this immaculate performance of punk band Offspring’s “Keep em Separated.” I had to show you this for sheer amusement but I thought the guy did an outstanding job of emulating many guitarists I know. 

So enjoy this video and you can check out the new defending United States Champion.

Oct 17

Andy started playing guiat at age 15 an quickly became a world renown guitarist to look out for. He has gone on to place second at the 2005 Canadian Guitar Festival’s Fingerstyle Guitar Championship and first place in the 2006 competition.

He is actually known to be compared to other harmonic fingerstyle guitarist such as early blogged about Andy McKee. This video which was added to YouTube just over a year ago has already gained the recognition from over 5 million visitors to the site.

Not only does this classical master guitar fingerpick a catchy riff but is also joined by a world renown fiddler known as Tommy Gauthier who plays bass guitar with on the song. Now you might be thinking well what’s the big deal? Well when you watch the video you’ll see that these two guys meticulously found a way to both play the guitar simultaneously as Antoine plays the melody and Tommy quickly joins in to add the bass line.

The song entitled Four Hands Guitar can be seen at the link below. Have a quick gander at this amazing sub-2 minute video and share it with your friends. Enjoy!

Oct 12

Who is this 29 year old Andy McKee? Recently a craze has broke out in the guitar world with an Internet sensation phenom from Topeka, Kansas that has inundated viewers all over the world on the site YouTube. The guitar style that Andy’s known for specifically: Drifting is its name. So what is drifting you might be asking yourself? 

Drifting can best be described as an American Fingerstyle that is a mixture of finger plucking, tapping, and striking the body or neck of the guitar to create a seemingly transcendental drum beat. 

Andy is simply what we call world-class and inspiring to anyone that’s even attempted to play guitar, or even someone who is a complete novice. To say the least, he is at a different echelon than most people even dream of. 

Currently signed to Candyrat Records, his YouTube and Myspace are currently achieving over 16 million views and quickly closing in on the 17 marker. He has been asked to be on WoodSongs, an old time radio station with 900,000 daily listeners and featured in 491 radio stations around the world as well as the late night talk show: Last Call with Carson Daly.

But don’t just take my word for it because he is something that you will have to see to understand. So check out one of his songs here from 2006 hit simply entitled Drifting:

Oct 10

We all know this song if we’ve ever been to a wedding or seen a romantic comedy of some sorts. Its typical yet its timeless, and now more than ever its been amped up by a young 17 year old South Korean boy by the name of Jeong-Hyun Lim or more popularly known as “funtwo.” This song was first arranged by Taiwanese’s own Jerry Chang or JerryC for short but perfected by our own little guru from Korea.

His video is among the twenty most viewed videos ever and is the fifth most “favorited” video on YouTube’s entire history with over 50 million views and quickly climbing even higher. On the site the-top-tens.com, it is ranked 110th on the list of “All time Greatest Songs.”

Not only does he exude his shredding ability but he also incorporates a cacophany of harmonies as well as his ability to Guitar Tap like the professionals. And lets not forget the sweep picking techniques that he flawlessly incorporates. It is amazing to see this young man in action.

Without further ado here is one of the greatest video’s your eyes will set itself upon: