EMIL WERSTLER ON HIS BIGGEST NON-METAL INFLUENCES

Quite often I get a lot of questions about musical influences. Since this is the LEVI/WERSTLER take over, I figured, what better time to hopefully turn some of you on to a new player than now? So here are a few guys outside of the metal genre that are virtuosic and very extreme with their actual playing.  I think these guitarists are among the best in the world.

It really bums me out when people get so hung up on The Mars Volta, as if it is some original thing from another planet.  Without taking anything away from that band, I think anyone that has ever heard The Mahavishnu Orchestra knows exactly what is up.  John McLaughlin was quite the innovator.  Here he is with Billy Cobham –

I grew up listening to mainly the live records Shawn put out in the mid- to late-nineties.  The most notable thing about his playing was his abillity to really interpret harmonic direction at such warp speeds while keeping things tasteful and melodic.  Even if I could figure out one of his licks, the fact that quite a bit of his genius was improvised will always be beyond me.  In his later years, he expanded outside of a traditional band context and started performing Indian and Pakistani influenced music.  Shawn unforunately passed away in 2003.  Apparently he was a live recording enthusiast, so a lot of his best moments are floating around out there.

This dude has been bringing it on guitar and bass for decades.  He is a traditional Gypsy Jazz player, but hones some pretty abnormal qualities, as you can see below.  Another master at improvising, he does not always “play it safe” harmonically like most of the players in his genre.  Because of that, Bireli has one of the most recognizable approaches to the instrument.  The fact that he was Jaco Pastorias’ guitarist speaks for itself as well.

Jimmy Herring is an Atlanta/Athens area local.  He plays and has played with quite a few bands.  He’s kind of like an A-list hired gun for huge jam bands. Even if I’m not the biggest fan of some of the bands he has played in, it doesn’t really matter.  This dude makes the band he’s playing for that night.  His sound is one of a kind.  One thing to keep an ear open for his “outside” intervalic playing.  Hearing it come through a loud ass Marshall with such fluidity is quite the experience.

The most hired guy in Nashville, Brent Mason is a guitar monstrosity.  He’s primarily an A-list session musician who performs on a large percentage of anything that comes out of nashville. It’s obvious the guy is a very accomplished guitar player.  It just so happens he has one of the most impeccable approaches to country guitar ever.  This is the guy that all badass country shredders look up to for he is in a catergory of his own.

Jimmy Rosenberg was an ex-child prodigy from Netherlands.  I saw him back in the day on some show and was immediately intrigued with his style.  I never really heard anything from him after that for quite some time.  It turns out that he encountered substance issues that eventually prevented him from achieving international acclaim.  To me, above Rosenberg’s technical ability is the fact that he does such a great job at giving the instrument mystique, which is something I think has been missing for quite some time. Jimmy is like the Bobby Fisher of guitar.  He lives a traditional Gypsy lifestyle – in a caravan with no address.

One really amazing characteristic these players all share is the abillity to create such a lyrical solo on command.  The fact that the majority of people in a “band” work endlessly to write and record a solo should be a testament to just how killer these players are live.  I feel that musicians of this caliber have the ability to go beyond just reproducing what they’ve recorded.  For that reason, seeing them play in person is much more of a spectacle.

-EW