Nora
Senior Member
JASON BECKER
Jason Becker (born July 22, 1969) is an American heavy metal guitarist and composer. At the age of 16, he became part of the Shrapnel Records-produced duo Cacophony with his friend Marty Friedman. They released the albums Speed Metal Symphony in 1987 and Go Off! in 1988. Cacophony broke up in 1989 and Becker began doing solo work, having released his first album Perpetual Burn in 1988, also through Shrapnel. He later joined David Lee Roth's band and recorded one album with him, A Little Ain't Enough.
Becker graduated from Kennedy High School where he performed Yngwie Malmsteen's "Black Star" with his band at a talent show. While still in high school, Becker was introduced to Marty Friedman. He was exposed to the guitar at an early age because both his father and his uncle were guitar players. He absorbed all kinds of music from around the world and melded different aspects of each style into his playing. He cited Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Van Halen as early influences.Considered a virtuoso guitarist and one of the top players of his time, Jason Becker studied the works of violinist Niccolò Paganini and was a playing partner with Marty Friedman. He later arranged Paganini's 5th Caprice, performing it during an instructional guitar video. Becker's compositions often include high speed scalar and arpeggio passages—trademarks of his 'shred' style of guitar playing. Often incorporating advanced techniques such as sweep picking, alternate picking, artificial harmonic accenting, and tapping; he was among the leaders of the field during the technical 'shred' guitar and Neo-Classical Metal trend of the mid to late eighties and is still respected and honored by his musician peers today. The song Serrana appearing in the album Perspective, is an example of his sweep-picking skills. He demonstrated the arpeggio sequence during a clinic at the Atlanta Institute of Music. A video of this performance first appeared on his Hot Licks guitar instructional video.
Discography
Cacophony
Speed Metal Symphony (1987)
Go Off!(1988)
Marty Friedman
Dragon's Kiss (1988)
Solo
Perpetual Burn (1988)
Perspective (1996)
The Raspeberry Jams (1999)
The Raspeberry Jams (2003)
Collection (2007)
Boy Meets Guitar, Vol. 1 of the Youngster Tapes (2012)
David Lee Roth
A Little Enough (1991)
Joe Becker
Short Stories (2005)
Other works
Richie Kotzen(1989)
Daydream by the Hudson on Steve Hunter's 2013 The Manhattan Blues Project
Compilations
Guitar Masters, 1989, Roadrunner Records
Metal Guitars – High Voltage Instrumentals,1998, Disky Communications
Shrapnel's Super Shredders: Neoclassical,2003, Shrapnel
This is Shredding, Vol. 1, 2007, Shrapnel
This is Shredding, Vol. 2, 2007, Shrapnel
Instructional
Hot Licks – The Legendary Guitar of Jason Becker
Songs & Videos
Concerto
Altitudes
The Ninja
Perpetual Burn
Paganini's 5th Caprice
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