Slipknot

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Slipknot (sometimes typeset as SlipKnoT to fit their logo) is a Grammy-winning American nu metal band from Des Moines, Iowa. The nine-piece formed in 1996 and is currently signed to Roadrunner Records/Nuclear Blast. German-based record company Nuclear Blast Records handles the record sales of the band in Scandinavia while Roadrunner handles the sales worldwide.

Their albums and home videos have achieved platinum sales status. The band's Grammy award nominations include Best Metal Performance, which their song, "Before I Forget", won after six successive years of nomination.

Style
Slipknot has an extreme performance style provided by their massive line-up featuring a typical heavily downtuned guitar setup (lead, rhythm, and bass guitars), two percussionists in addition to the primary drummer, and electronics (samplers and turntables). Robert Cherry of Rolling Stone compared the band's sound to "a threshing machine devouring a military drum corps."

Their early work hosted a large range of vocal styles, ranging from rapping to occasional singing to grindcore-esque growling. Death metal growls can also be included.[citation needed] In more recent work, this vocal style remains present, but now includes more melodic singing. The lyrics generally follow a very aggressive tone, "[are] not generally quotable on a family website", and feature themes such as darkness, nihilism, anger, disaffection, love, Misanthropy and psychosis.

BAND MEMBERS
Current members
Corey Taylor — Vocals
Mick Thomson — Guitar
Shawn Crahan — Custom Percussion
Craig Jones — Samples/Media, Keyboards
James "Jim" Root — Guitar
Chris Fehn — Custom Percussion
Paul Gray — Bass
Joey Jordison — Drums
Sid Wilson — Turntables

Former members
Patrick M. Neuwirth - Guitar
Quan "Meld" Nong - Guitar
John Green - Guitar
Donnie Steele - Guitar
Anders Colsefini - Lead Vocals / Percussion, Backing Vocals
Greg "Cuddles" Welts - Percussion
Brandon Darner - Percussion
Josh "Gnar" Brainard - Guitar, Backing Vocals

Korn

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Korn, sometimes typeset as KoЯn, is a band from Bakersfield, California, and are credited with creating and popularizing the nu metal genre. Along with other bands at the time, they have also inspired many nu metal and alternative metal bands throughout the mid 1990s and early 2000s.

The band's catalogue consists of nine consecutive debuts in the top ten of the Billboard 200, including a compilation album, Greatest Hits Vol.1, and their untitled eighth album, released on July 31, 2007. To date, Korn has sold over 30 million albums worldwide, along with earning six Grammy nominations, two of which they have won.

Genre
Korn can be credited for creating the nu metal genre, though the group has often said they don't like to be put in that category themselves.

LINEUP
Current members
Jonathan Davis - vocals, bagpipes
James "Munky" Shaffer - guitar
Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu - bass

Previous members
Brian "Head" Welch - guitar, backing vocals (1993-2005; left the band for religious reasons as well as reasons pertaining to his daughter and his drug addictions)
David Silveria - drums (1993-2006; on hiatus)

My Chemical Romance

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My Chemical Romance (often shortened to MCR or My Chem) is an American Music Award-nominated American rock band that formed in 2001. The current members of the band are Gerard Way, Mikey Way, Frank Iero, Ray Toro and Bob Bryar. Shortly after forming, the band signed to Eyeball Records and released their debut album I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love in 2002. They signed with Reprise Records the next year and released their major label debut Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge in 2004. The album was a major commercial success, selling over one million copies due in part to the success of the singles "Helena", "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)", and "The Ghost of You". The band followed this success with 2006's The Black Parade, featuring their hit singles, "Welcome to the Black Parade", "Famous Last Words", "I Don't Love You", "Teenagers" and upcoming single "Mama". While the band identifies their sound as simply "rock", the subgenre of the band's recordings has been a subject of debate among fans and the media.[citation needed] After a long hiatus, Mikey Way returned to the band in time to support Bon Jovi. The band also recently filmed their October 7 show in Mexico City as The Black Parade. This will be made into a DVD which is due for release next year.

Musical style and influences
My Chemical Romance's music has been described by the media as "pop punk",[23] "emo", "alternative rock", "post-hardcore"[23] and "punk revival".[23] The band themselves described their music as simply "rock" or "violent, dangerous pop" on their official website, as well as rejecting the term "emo" to describe their style, though another source quotes frontman Way stating that they are "What-else-ya-got-emo". Frontman Gerard Way has recently stated in an interview that they were never Emo, as he says emo is "a pile of shit."

My Chemical Romance cite their main influences as Queen, Thursday, Iron Maiden, The Misfits, Morrissey/The Smiths and the Beastie Boys. Gerard Way has said, "We love bands like Queen, where it's huge and majestic, but also bands like Black Flag and the Misfits, who would go absolutely crazy." Way has also said that his band patterns their career after that of The Smashing Pumpkins, another band they admire. Geoff Rickly, the lead singer of Thursday, has compared My Chemical Romance to Ink & Dagger. Growing up, they were also very influenced by horror films and comic books, and therefore their music, lyrics, and image all have overt elements of fantasy, storytelling, horror, and theatricality.

BAND MEMBERS
Current members
Gerard Way - vocals
Ray Toro - guitar, vocals
Frank Iero - guitar, vocals (2002-present)
Mikey Way - bass guitar
Bob Bryar - drums, percussion (2004-present) (On hiatus).

Former members
Matt Pelissier - drums (2001-2004)

Trivium

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Trivium is a thrash metal band from Orlando, Florida. They formed in 2000, and after three years, released a demo. The demo helped them to get signed to Lifeforce Records, where they released Ember to Inferno. Following on from this, they were signed to Roadrunner Records and released Ascendancy. Their popularity grew, as their next, and most recent album, The Crusade peaked at #25 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and #7 in the UK. They have toured many countries and played alongside many different bands, including Iron Maiden, Metallica and Machine Head. Originally Trivium were a metalcore band, as is heard on their first two records. Recently, they have developed a more thrash metal sound as heard on their most recent album.

BAND MEMBERS
Current members
Matt Heafy - lead vocals, rhythm/lead guitars (2000–present)
Corey Beaulieu - lead/rhythm guitars, backing vocals (2003–present)
Paolo Gregoletto - bass guitar, backing vocals (2004–present)
Travis Smith - drums, percussion (2000–present)

Former members
Brent Young - bass guitar, rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2001–2004)[35]
Brad Lewter - lead vocals (2000)
Jarred Bonaparte

John Petrucci

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John Petrucci (born July 12, 1967, Kings Park, Long Island, New York) is an American guitarist best known as a founding member of the progressive metal band Dream Theater. He has produced (along with his bandmate Mike Portnoy) all Dream Theater albums since their 1999 release, Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory. He is also one of the band's main lyricists.

Biography
Petrucci first played guitar at the age of eight when he noticed his sister (who was taking organ lessons at the time) was allowed to stay up past her bed time to practice. He soon dropped it when his plan failed. At age 12, he began playing again when he was invited into the band of his friend Kevin Moore, who would later become the first keyboardist of Dream Theater. Petrucci began to practice in earnest whilst exercising physically. He was a largely self-taught guitarist who developed his skills through attempts to match the skill of his idols, who included Steve Morse, Steve Howe, Steve Vai, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Al Di Meola, Alex Lifeson and Allan Holdsworth. He has jokingly referred to his guitar idols as "the Steves and the Als".

Petrucci attended Berklee College of Music in Boston with childhood friend John Myung (bass), where they met future bandmate Mike Portnoy (drums). These three in addition to another childhood friend of Petrucci and Myung, Kevin Moore (Keyboards), formed the band Majesty, which would later become Dream Theater.

While Dream Theater is what Petrucci is most commonly associated with, he is also a part of the project band Liquid Tension Experiment and has appeared as a guest on several records by other artists such as the Age of Impact album by the Explorer's Club.

Petrucci has released a guitar instructional video, "Rock Discipline", which covers warm up exercises, exercises to avoid injury while playing, alternate picking, sweep picking, chords and other techniques for developing one's guitar playing. Petrucci also has a book named "Guitar World presents John Petrucci's Wild Stringdom", which was compiled from columns he wrote for Guitar World magazine, bearing that same title.

In 2001 he was invited by Joe Satriani and Steve Vai to tour with them on the popular G3 guitar tour, which exposed him to a massive number of new fans and inspired him to record a solo album. Suspended Animation was released on March 1, 2005, and made available for order from his web site. He also appeared on the 2005, 2006 and 2007 G3 tours.

Petrucci also wrote and recorded two instrumental soundtrack songs for a Sega Saturn game titled Digital Pinball: Necronomicon. Each track is roughly two minutes long and they are simply titled "Prologue" and "Epilogue". Petrucci is an avid Sega Saturn gamer, and has revealed in interviews that he never tours without one.

In 2007, John Petrucci went on G3 tour again, this time with Joe Satriani and Paul Gilbert.

Dream Theater bandmate Jordan Rudess revealed in an interview that Petrucci is a practicing Catholic. Petrucci is married to Rena Sands, a guitarist in the all-female heavy metal band Meanstreak, and they have 3 children, SamiJo and Reny (who are twins), and Kiara.

Musical style
Petrucci is respected for his variety of guitar styles and skills. He has performed alongside Joe Satriani and Steve Vai on their annual G3 tour 6 times. Guitar magazines and fans worldwide consistently vote Petrucci as one of the world's finest guitar players. He has been labeled as a virtuoso on some fansites and webzines, including Sputnikmusic, and TheFunkyGibbons, among others.

Paul Gilbert

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Paul Brandon Gilbert (November 6, 1966) is a guitarist best known for his work with Racer X and Mr. Big. Following his departure from Mr. Big in 1996, Gilbert pursued a solo career.

Early history
Born in Carbondale, Illinois, into a middle class family, Paul started playing guitar at the age of 5, but soon gave up, becoming frustrated with just learning simple nursery rhymes. Around age 11, he took up the guitar again, but with a skewed memory of the technique. Paul revealed at an Ibanez sponsored guitar clinic August 12, 2005 in Concord, CA at Spitzer's Music, that he "played only with upstrokes, used only the low 'E' string and only used [his] middle finger on the fretboard." Frustrated after trying to play the intro to "Barracuda" by Heart, he took lessons and his teacher explained the error of his ways. His technique corrected, Gilbert continued practicing and by the age of 14 he developed a local band in Greensburg, PA named Missing Lynx. They played together for approximately two years and wrote their own material. After Missing Lynx he then went on to join another local band called Tau Zero, but left shortly after, and headed for California. He was spotlighted in Guitar Player Magazine alongside fellow up-and-comer Yngwie Malmsteen.

Racer X
Formed in Los Angeles, Racer X originally comprised Paul Gilbert (guitar), John Alderete (bass), Harry Gschoesser (drums) and Jeff Martin (vocals). They were heavily influenced by Judas Priest and Gilbert's playing was reminiscent of Yngwie Malmsteen, displaying fast-driven solos with extreme-level technique. Gschoesser was replaced by Scott Travis in 1986, and Bruce Bouillet was added as a second guitar player. Bouillet was a very skilled player, as he had to play over Gilbert's always difficult and challenging phrases. Scott Travis was later known for being the Judas Priest drummer. Paul Gilbert gained recognition as one of the fastest guitar players in the world due to incredibly technical pieces like "Frenzy", "Scarified", "Technical Difficulties" and "Scit Scat Wah". Gilbert left Racer X in 1988, but he eventually would rejoin the band in 1999. Currently the band is inactive, but Gilbert hasn't issued any statements that he has left the band.

Mr. Big
When Billy Sheehan left David Lee Roth's band in 1988, he joined with Paul Gilbert, who had left his former band, Racer X. They founded Mr. Big, with Pat Torpey on drums and singer Eric Martin. The band was a huge success in Japan, and became famous in 1991, with Lean Into It, their second album, which featured the ballad "To Be With You", which received strong media play and reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Gilbert continued playing in Mr. Big until the late 90s. He left the band in 1997 to pursue a solo career, and was replaced by Richie Kotzen.

Influences and Style
Talking about his influences, Paul mentions many different artists, including Jimmy Page, Judas Priest, Yngwie Malmsteen, Akira Takasaki, Kiss, Van Halen, Randy Rhoads and The Ramones. He is also a great fan of The Beach Boys and The Beatles. He states on the Space Ship Live DVD that George Harrison is one of his favorite guitar players.

Gilbert composes music in a wide variety of styles including pop, rock, metal, blues, jazz, funk and classical, but is perhaps best known for his versatility and speed, which helped him be named as one of the "Top 10 Shredders Of All Time" by Guitar One Magazine. He is also considered to be one of the best proponents of alternate picking, tapping and string skipping.

Michael Angelo Batio

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Michael Angelo Batio (IPA: [bæ: ti o]) is an American instrumental rock/heavy metal guitarist and columnist from Chicago, Illinois. He attended Northeastern Illinois University and received a bachelor's degree in music theory and composition. Guitar One Magazine named him the fastest guitar player of all time.

Career
Batio began his recording career in the band Holland with vocalist Tommy Holland. Their Atlantic Records album, Little Monsters, met with moderate success in the mid-1980s. He later joined Jim Gillette on Gillette's solo album, Proud to Be Loud. The two metal stars, as well as bassist T.J. Racer and drummer Bobby Rock went on to found the metal band Nitro, releasing two albums. Nitro also filmed a music video for their song Freight Train among others which received air time on MTV.

Batio has been playing guitar since the age of ten, and could play faster than his teacher within two years. He plays as a right-handed person even though he is left-handed. He has stated at guitar clinics that he is ambidextrous teaching himself to play two guitars at the same time — either in synchronized or separate harmonies. He also invented and successfully played the very first 'quad' guitar. However, the instrument was stolen during a Nitro show in El Paso, Texas, and only two of the four parts required for its assembly have ever been recovered. It is because of this that he has not played the quad guitar in many years. However, Dean Guitars recently finished production on a new quad guitar for Batio. [2] The Double Guitar [3] is another of his innovations, which he commonly uses live, but never in studio recordings. Another innovation of his is a type of string dampener (specifically "The MAB String Dampener"), a guitar accessory attachable behind the nut of the guitar and flipped into active position during performance. The string dampener eliminates unnecessary buzz and noise from the guitar's strings, allowing the player to easily use legato techniques and finger-tapping techniques without any unwanted sounds. He is also noted for his "MAB Over-Under technique", which he invented, where he flips his hand over and under the neck, approaching the strings from above, then below, instead of from under the neck like other guitar players.

He has also had a long-term relationship with Dean Guitars, promoting their equipment and leading Dean-sponsored guitar clinics around the world to teach his techniques. Batio has released two popular instructional DVDs, entitled Speed Lives and Speed Kills. The other one was intended to teach fellow guitarists how to play his pieces of music. Furthermore, he is releasing a DVD featuring his Double Guitar Solo, which can now be seen on the Dean Guitars website[4]. It features tribute covers of Deep Purple's Smoke on the Water, Jimi Hendrix's Purple Haze and Ozzy Osbourne's Crazy Train, with Batio's full backing band.

Batio mentions on his official website ,"I am left handed so my right or "picking" hand was overall, the weakest part of my playing. I worked for 2 years in my early teens to master alternate picking while later working on tapping. Basically, anything and everything I could to strengthen my right hand. I started out being a purely legato player. You would never know that now. I concentrated on my 2 weakest areas- Alternate picking and tapping and perfected those. I am a firm believer in working on something you are deficient in. Once you master a technique that gives you "trouble", other areas of your playing improve dramatically."

Batio taught guitarist Tom Morello (of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave fame) while Batio was attending college. Tom has credited MAB with teaching him in a feature article in Guitar World Magazine in 2005.

Batio currently writes "Time To Burn," a monthly column for Guitar World Magazine.

Batio has a Dean signature 6 string model tentatively due for release in Winter 2008 and has released a signature overdrive pedal from T-Rex of Denmark seen here.

Eddie Van Halen

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Edward Lodewijk "Eddie" Van Halen (born January 26, 1955)[1], is a Dutch guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter and producer most famous for being the lead guitarist and a co-founder of the hard rock band, Van Halen.
He is widely considered to be one of the greatest guitarists of all time.

Technique
Edward Van Halen's approach to the guitar involves several distinctive components. His innovative use of two-handed tapping, natural and artificial harmonics, vibrato, and tremolo picking - combined with rhythmic sensibility and a melodic approach - have influenced an entire generation of guitarists.
Whilst relatively commonplace today, Van Halen's ground-breaking techniques were originally a closely guarded secret; before the release of the band's eponymous first album, the guitarist would often play solos and more complex riffs with his back to the live audience. This was done at the advice of his bandmates to prevent any guitar players from stealing his style and technique before the album came out in 1978.

Tapping
Van Halen has claimed he developed his signature tapping approach after studying the guitar solo from the Led Zeppelin song "Heartbreaker" (played by Jimmy Page)