Sweep picking is a guitar playing technique. When sweep picking, the guitarist plays single notes on consecutive strings with a 'sweeping' motion of the pick, while using the fretting hand to produce a specific series of notes that are fast and fluid in sound. Both hands essentially perform an integral motion in unison to achieve the desired effect.
Chris Poland is an American guitarist, best known as the former guitarist of the thrash metal band Megadeth. Since 2002, Poland has been the guitarist of the instrumental rock/jazz fusion bands OHM and OHMphrey, among others, and has appeared on several projects and albums from a variety of different genres.
Michael Angelo Batio, also known as Michael Angelo, Mike Batio or MAB, is an American heavy metal guitarist and columnist from Chicago, Illinois. He was the lead guitarist for the Los Angeles-based glam metal band Nitro in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Alter Bridge is an American rock band from Orlando, Florida. The band was formed in 2004 by vocalist/rhythm guitarist Myles Kennedy, lead guitarist Mark Tremonti, bassist Brian Marshall and drummer Scott Phillips. After their former band Creed became inactive in 2003, Tremonti and Phillips formed a new band with former bandmate Marshall and new member Kennedy; Alter Bridge was formally unveiled in January 2004, months before Creed's official breakup in June.
Dean Guitars, commonly referred to simply as Dean, is an American importer and maker of stringed instruments and musical products with its headquarters in Tampa, Florida.
Mark Thomas Tremonti is an American guitarist and singer best known for his tenures with the rock bands Creed and Alter Bridge. He is a founding member of both bands, and has also collaborated with many other artists over the years. He formed his own band Tremonti in 2011 and has released five albums with them, including A Dying Machine, which was adapted by Tremonti and science fiction novelist John Shirley.
Shred guitar or shredding is a virtuoso lead guitar solo playing style for the guitar, based on various advanced and complex playing techniques, particularly rapid passages and advanced performance effects. Shred guitar includes "fast alternate picking, sweep-picked arpeggios, diminished and harmonic scales, finger-tapping and whammy-bar abuse", It is commonly used in heavy metal guitar playing, where guitarists use the electric guitar with a guitar amplifier and a range of electronic effects such as distortion, which create a more sustained guitar tone and facilitate guitar feedback effects.
Nitro was an American heavy metal band from Hollywood, California. Formed in 1988, the group originally featured vocalist Jim Gillette, guitarist Michael Angelo Batio, bassist T. J. Racer and drummer Bobby Rock. Nitro released its debut album O.F.R. in 1989, which reached number 140 on the US Billboard 200. Rock was replaced by K. C. Comet for the album's tour and Racer would leave the band thereafter. Nitro II: H.W.D.W.S., released in 1992, featured Ralph Carter on bass and Johnny Thunder on drums. The group broke up in 1993, with a number of previously unreleased demo recordings issued on the 1999 album Gunnin' for Glory.
Rusty Cooley is an American guitarist, known for his highly refined guitar technique. He is regarded as one of the fastest guitarists in the United States and a master of the shredding technique of guitar. Guitar Player magazine called him "the leading light of the post-Malmsteen shred-volution."
Hands Without Shadows is the fifth studio album by American shred guitarist Michael Angelo Batio. The album consists of four covers, two 'tributes' and two original compositions by Batio. The name refers to the speed at which his hands move when playing guitar, leaving "no shadows".
No Boundaries is the debut solo studio album by American heavy metal musician Michael Angelo Batio. Recorded at M.A.C.E. Studios in Chicago, Illinois, it was released on September 1, 1995 by his own label M.A.C.E. Music. Batio performed the majority of instruments on the release, as well as producing, engineering and mixing the album.
Tradition is the third studio album by American heavy metal musician Michael Angelo Batio. Recorded at Monster Mix Studio in Chicago, Illinois, it was released in 1998 by his own label M.A.C.E. Music as a companion to the video release Jam with Angelo. Batio performed all instruments on the release, as well as producing, engineering and mixing the album.
The Dean ML is an electric guitar made by Dean Guitars in 1977 along with its counterparts, the Dean V, Dean Cadillac and Dean Z. It has an unusual design, with a V-shaped headstock and V-shaped tailpiece. It was popularised by the guitarist Dimebag Darrell of Pantera.
Lucid Intervals and Moments of Clarity Part 2 is the first compilation album by American heavy metal musician Michael Angelo Batio. It contains remastered tracks from Batio's third and fourth studio albums, Tradition (1998) and Lucid Intervals and Moments of Clarity (2000), and was released in 2004 by M.A.C.E. Music. Three songs from Lucid Intervals and Moments of Clarity 2 have also been included on instructional video albums released by Metal Method – "China" on Performance (2006), "Prog" on Speed Kills 3 (2007), and "The Finish Line" on Performance (2006) and Speed Lives 3: The Neo Classical Zone (2009).
Guitarsongs Volume 1 is the debut EP by American shred guitarist Katrina Johansson, released in December 2005 by M.A.C.E. Music. The record is notable for featuring Michael Angelo Batio on bass.
Shock 'Em Dead, also known as Rock ‘Em Dead, is a 1991 comedic horror film written by Mark Freed, David Tedder and Andrew Cross, and directed by Mark Freed. It stars Stephen Quadros and Traci Lords in one of her first post-adult film roles. The film is a thriller with a music comedy twist, a self-aware take on metal guitarists from the 1980s, and is also notable for featuring Nitro guitarist Michael Angelo Batio as a guitar double. It was Aldo Ray's last film.
Dave Reffett is an American hard rock and heavy metal guitarist, singer, producer and bassist from Blue River, Kentucky.
Jacky Vincent is a British musician who was the lead guitarist and backing vocalist of the rock band Falling in Reverse from its formation until his departure in 2015 and was the guitarist of the power metal band Cry Venom. Since then, he has concentrated on his solo career and teaching. Vincent has two solo albums: Star X Speed Story, released in 2013 through Shrapnel Records that came third in the Guitar World 2013 readers poll for Best Shred album, and Life Imitating Art released in 2018. Vincent won the Alternative Press Guitarist of the Year award in 2012 and came third in the Guitar World "Best Shredder" readers pool awards in 2013.
Maxxxwell Carlisle is an American Heavy Metal guitarist, songwriter, producer, YouTube host, and bodybuilder from Los Angeles, California. He was a guitarist in the American Heavy Metal bands Hellion and Society 1. He is also known for his work as a solo artist, as the keyboardist/guitarist of Raptor Command, as a former member of the American Thrash band Deathriders, as the host of the weekly Maxed-Out Metal Hour Show on internet radio station Metal Express Radio, and for his collaborations with other notable musicians such as Michael Angelo Batio, Tina Guo, Nita Strauss, and Ethan Brosh. Carlisle also is the host of two YouTube channels: Guitar Max, devoted to music gear and related topics, and Heavy Metal Horizons, which chronicles Carlisle's training as a pilot and explores other topics including airplanes and automobiles.
Shred Force 1: The Essential MAB is a compilation album by American heavy metal musician Michael Angelo Batio. Released on April 14, 2015, by Rat Pak Records, it is a career retrospective featuring songs from many of Batio's previously released studio albums. Shred Force 1 was produced by Batio and features a wide range of guest musicians. The album registered on several Billboard charts.
