Ibanez is a Japanese guitar brand owned by Hoshino Gakki. Based in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan, Hoshino Gakki were one of the first Japanese musical instrument companies to gain a significant foothold in import guitar sales in the United States and Europe, as well as the first brand of guitars to mass-produce seven-string and eight-string guitars. Ibanez manufactures effects, accessories, amps, and instruments in Japan, China, Indonesia, and the United States. As of 2017 they marketed nearly 165 models of bass guitar, 130 acoustic guitars, and more than 300 electric guitars. After Gibson and Fender, Ibanez is considered the third biggest guitar brand.
Joseph Satriani is an American rock guitarist, composer, and songwriter. Early in his career he worked as a guitar instructor, with many of his former students achieving fame, including Steve Vai, Larry LaLonde, Rick Hunolt, Kirk Hammett, Andy Timmons, Charlie Hunter, Kevin Cadogan, and Alex Skolnick. Satriani went on to have a successful solo music career, starting in the mid-1980s. He is a 15-time Grammy Award nominee and has sold over ten million albums, making him the bestselling instrumental rock guitarist of all time.
John Scofield is an American guitarist and composer. His music over a long career has blended jazz, jazz fusion, funk, blues, soul and rock. He first came to mainstream attention as part of the band of Miles Davis; he has toured and recorded with many prominent jazz artists including saxophonists Eddie Harris, Dave Liebman, Joe Henderson, and Joe Lovano; keyboardists George Duke, Joey DeFrancesco, Herbie Hancock, Larry Goldings, and Robert Glasper; fellow guitarists Pat Metheny, John Abercrombie, Pat Martino, and Bill Frisell; bassists Marc Johnson and Jaco Pastorius; and drummers Billy Cobham and Dennis Chambers. Outside the world of jazz, he has collaborated with Phil Lesh, Mavis Staples, John Mayer, Medeski Martin & Wood, and Gov't Mule.
Steven Siro Vai is an American guitarist, songwriter, and producer. A three-time Grammy Award winner and fifteen-time nominee, Vai started his music career in 1978 at the age of eighteen as a transcriptionist for Frank Zappa, and played in Zappa's band from 1980 to 1983. He embarked on a solo career in 1983 and has released eight solo albums to date. He has recorded and toured with Alcatrazz, David Lee Roth, and Whitesnake, as well as recording with artists such as Public Image Ltd, Mary J. Blige, Spinal Tap, Alice Cooper, Motörhead, and Polyphia. Additionally, Vai has toured with live-only acts G3, Zappa Plays Zappa, the Beat Tour, and the Experience Hendrix Tour, as well as headlining international tours.
Patrick Bruce Metheny is an American jazz guitarist and composer.
John Peter Petrucci is an American guitarist, best known as a founding member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater. He produced or co-produced all of Dream Theater's albums from Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory (1999), and has been the sole producer of the band's albums released since A Dramatic Turn of Events (2011). Petrucci has also released two solo albums: Suspended Animation (2005) and Terminal Velocity (2020).
Steve J. Morse is an American guitarist and songwriter. A seven-time Grammy nominee, he is best known as the founder of the Dixie Dregs and as the longest serving guitarist for Deep Purple. Morse also enjoyed a successful solo career and was a member of the group Kansas in the mid-1980s. Most recently, Morse became a member of the supergroup Flying Colors.
The baritone guitar is a guitar with a longer scale length, typically a larger body, and heavier internal bracing, so it can be tuned to a lower pitch. Gretsch, Fender, Gibson, Ibanez, ESP Guitars, PRS Guitars, Music Man, Danelectro, Schecter, Burns London and many other companies have produced electric baritone guitars since the 1960s, although always in small numbers due to low popularity. Tacoma, Santa Cruz, Taylor, Martin, Alvarez Guitars and others have made acoustic baritone guitars.
Herman Li is a Hong-Kong-born British musician who is one of two lead guitarists for the power metal band DragonForce. Li has played with the band based in England since it was formed in 1999 by Li along with Sam Totman, both of whom are also the remaining original members of the band. Before DragonForce he was in the black metal band Demoniac.
Michael Anthony Mangini is an American musician, primarily known as the former drummer of progressive metal band Dream Theater, with whom he played between 2010 and 2023. He has also played for bands and artists such as Annihilator, Extreme, James LaBrie, and Steve Vai. Before joining Dream Theater, Mangini was a faculty member at Berklee College of Music. Between 2002 and 2005, he set five World's Fastest Drummer records. Mangini appeared on the Discovery Channel show Time Warp, displaying his drum skills for high-speed cameras.
Between the Buried and Me is the debut studio album by American progressive metalcore band Between the Buried and Me. It was produced by Jamie King and was released on April 30, 2002 through Lifeforce Records.
The Silent Circus is the second studio album by American progressive metalcore band Between the Buried and Me. Released October 21, 2003, through Victory Records. It was their first album to be released through Victory Records after their departure from Lifeforce Records. It was re-released in 2006 with a bonus DVD included. The album includes 10 tracks with a hidden song titled "The Man Land" hidden at the end of "The Need for Repetition". It is notable for being the band's only album not to be produced by Jamie King. The album was remixed and remastered in 2020.
Robert Dustie Waring is an American guitarist. He is known for playing rhythm and additional lead parts for the progressive metalcore band Between the Buried and Me from 2005-2024. He is also a guitarist for the deathcore band Glass Casket. Waring joined Between the Buried and Me along with Glass Casket bandmate Blake Richardson, replacing Shane Blay as rhythm guitarist.
Christian Münzner is a German guitarist who played for the bands Obscura and Alkaloid. He is also known for playing for the technical death metal band Necrophagist from 2002 until 2006, appearing on their 2004 release Epitaph. As well as Necrophagist, Münzner played in Defeated Sanity from 1999 to 2002 and Obscura from 2008 to 2014, after which he left to co-found the extreme progressive metal supergroup Alkaloid. He rejoined Obscura in 2020 and left again in 2024.
Elias "E.Vil" Einari Johannes Viljanen is a Finnish musician from Tampere, Finland, known for being the guitarist for Sonata Arctica since 2007. Viljanen joined Sonata Arctica in spring 2007 in order to replace Jani Liimatainen, who left the band in August 2007 to fulfill his civil duties in Finland. The decision was only made official on 8 August 2007, but Elias Viljanen had been known to replace Liimatainen in concerts during the spring and summer tour. Viljanen cites Kiss, Metallica, Slayer, and Whitesnake as his musical influences.
Prayer for Cleansing is an American metalcore band from Raleigh, North Carolina. The band is noted for their extreme metal influence that was a little more prominent in their music than other metalcore bands at the time. They are also notable for being an early musical starting point for three members of Between the Buried and Me who played in the band.
Oluwatosin Ayoyinka OlumideAbasi, is an American musician, best known as the founder and lead guitarist of the instrumental progressive metal band Animals as Leaders. He has recorded and released five albums with Animals as Leaders: a self-titled debut, Weightless, The Joy of Motion, The Madness of Many, and their most recent album, Parrhesia.
Polyphia is a primarily instrumental progressive rock band based in Plano, Texas, formed in 2010. The group consists of guitarists Tim Henson and Scott LePage, bassist Clay Gober, and drummer Clay Aeschliman.
