Originally published in Guitar World magazine · August 2022
The Best Solos, Riffs, Shredders N’ More (excerpt)
Article1 min read
A horde of guitar stars muse on the ‘80s’ best stuff
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John Petrucci (Dream Theater)
Solo: My favorite band is Rush, so I think of the solo in ‘YYZ.’ Not only do I love Rush and Alex [Lifeson], and that’s an instrumental, but the solo he did just became very influential to me. It has a kinda exotic sound; he’s using open strings and pull-offs, and it just has this nice slippery, slinky vibe to it. I love the whole vibe.
Riff: Stevie Ray Vaughan’s ‘Scuttle Buttin’.’ That’s such a sick “Stevie Ray on fire” riff. It’s bringing back memories of me trying to learn these things and being like, “What the hell is he doing!” [laughs]
Album: Joe Satriani’s Surfing with the Alien. It just changed things for instrumental guitar music. Not that there weren’t guitar heroes before that, but it ushered in a new type. It’s a great combination of amazing, out-of-this-world playing and incredible songs.
Gear: I don’t know if this was made in the Eighties, but to me, the TC Electronic 2290. When I discovered that, I was like, Oh, that’s how you get that sound. [laughs] That real iconic famous chorusing sound – that was so Eighties in the best of ways.
Guitarist of the decade: Yngwie Malmsteen. He blew the doors wide open as far as neo-classical shred guitar goes.
Shredder: Randy Rhoads
Underappreciated hero: Tom Scholz [of Boston] because of his amazing melodic solos, iconic and unmistakable guitar tone, lush guitar harmonies and orchestrations and incredible songwriting.
Movie: Purple Rain
Hairstyle: The Flock of Seagulls guy always comes to mind. [laughs] Mike Score had a totally unique Eighties look.
Accessory: When I think of myself at that time, hair mousse comes to mind. [laughs] And the Rockman by Tom Scholz!