Alex Skolnick - Influences

[assasinator1980]

The most unique guitar player in Thrash Metal. Lots of Respect.

[bassmanjoe]

3 dislikes??WTF!!!!!!!!!

[svenzia]

i always liked him - great allround player

[schieti74]

what a guitar player........great melodies, great technique, great vibrato......my hero !!!

[funnymanify]

in my opinion truly an underated guitarist

[PossessedDonutz]

seein TESTAMENT tonight!!

[MartyrOfMetal]

That silver lock of hair defines him.

[taildragger53]

Being a Blues/Jazz freak I never rated many metal guitarists UNTIL i heard Alex Skolnicks superb CD "Goodbye To Romance". On it he plays in Pat Metheny mode..pure hard bop jazz..he skates through each song. It has to be one of the finest guitar based CD's i've ever heard.

[Bssm1]

One of my favourite soloists EVER.

His style is just immense.

Peterson aswell.

[LeakFreak]

I dabbled at guitar for about 15 years after I was placed in a HS class. The teacher sucked and expected me to just "know" the music. I couldn't even read scales! After trying to teach myself I gave up. If I had a teacher like Mr. Skolnick. I, um, wouldn't learn a damn thing either. 'Cause lets face it. The man is hot! I got a chance to met him Friday night after the TSO concert and I'll I could do was take a pic and shutter. =~D Thanx for the vid!

[BetoHNA]

Hey Skolnick no thanks to Joe S? lol

[smokedaddyo]

he studied under Satch?

[mansiaslib]

@smokedaddyo Yes, he did at the time when he was in Testament in the 90' s.

[MasterOtogi]

I met skolnick while he was still in testamt on the ritual tour.

I asked about his influences.

He mentioned jeff beck & hendrix, al dimeola, louis armstrong & then mentioned he could go on forever that he loved alot of musicians across many genres & instuments & they all influeanced him.

He also mentioned he had been playing for 8 years before the 1st testament record.

He left testament in less than 2 weeks of that day.

I was stunned.

I'm so glad hes back 8)

[Bssm1]

8 years!!! wow!

[RockandRoller918]

This guy is awesome.He helped give Testament its great sound!!!.

[xtop23]

This guy is immense -

IMO the best metal guitarist ever .

[trexatron7]

agreed

[Hertsman50]

Good metal also=Diminished scales.

[elbuenodemi]

Yeah his teacher was Joe Satriani

[Clebertj]

Skolnick my MASTER!!!!

[waylander1978]

Is it just me or the greatest guitarists usally have the most wide ranging influences?

I find that Guitarists who are influenced by just metal just become very generic Guitarists.

[Timex105]

Metal = pentatonic, musicians who go around multiple styles of music will usually end up being awesome

[HeavyThrashGuitar]

Metal = Harmonic minor scales, Melodic minor scales, Major scales, arpeggios!

[elvisPTpor]

its not just you lol its the truth.. and the obvious!

guys like kerry king who just hate someone cause that certain person isnt metal enough for them suck at music and not only at guitar playing. because metal is music u need to know theory and u need to teach your ears to accept other musical styles lik classical and jazz music for example, not mtv rap and hip hop of course. then u can have ur own style of playing and ur personal melodic taste in ur own music.

[6672rock]

@waylander1978 There is a profound truth to that. The more varied your influences are, the more you can bring to the table as a player.

[cody1088]

@waylander1978 I'll even pull up pop songs like Jessie J or Rihanna and put some bad ass rifts in thos. just for kicks

[lipeguitars]

@waylander1978 Real Players are in love with music not just a style of music , That's why Alex , Dime, and Marty Friedman were so much better than the all the rest as far as heavy music is concern.

[Giltindor]

He don't say the name of her teacher : Satriani !

[StephenAnthonyMusic]

I sure am glad that I took a chance at age 11 in 1990 when, after hearing The Legacy playing in the background of a TestAmenT interview, I decided to buy "Souls of Black." That album has my favorite metal solos ever recorded! So glad he's back doing metal, but it's cool that he branched out too.

[testamentfan]

there is more to this interview as well, go to the TESTAMENTLegions YouTube Group and they are in there

[juliouus]

Know someone the name of the scale in the solo of the song The Legacy of Testament?

[J58319]

part of it seems like a g lydian, but it definitely isn't that the whole time.

[juliouus]

Thank you very much, ... and I will practice that part...several months ago that someone was trying to reply me, i dont speak english too good... excuse me and really tanks.

[yankeesfan571]

His Heritage is cool

[theZodiacDigital]

id like to know when he got into jazz...

[streetwarrior31]

in 92 or 93 when he went to NY

[theZodiacDigital]

woah, thats pretty late, isnt it? i mean, relatively speaking. not that there's anything wrong with that, ust surprising.

[streetwarrior31]

it was when i whatch the video...and an friendly answer is allways to respond becouse i like that you´l do the same.

Is that in time ??

[candohlt]

I read in his interviews in one of my mags that he got into Jazz right before the Ritual Album.

Eric said Chuck, Louie and himself sat in the front crankin some Slayer up while Alex was in the back of the bus sipping tea and listening to Jazz.

[faggotsmutilator666]

Correct. And then Alex and Louie, because of their increasing mainstream influence, got kicked out of Testament after The Ritual album, and were replaced by Paul Bostaph and Glen Avelais.

[yavartoghrol]

wtf are you talkin about??? Alex left to New York to study jazz music in New School University...

[doritoskickass]

fuckin amazing player! big big respect

[DarkMaelstrom]

@doritoskickass Damn right! My favourite thrash act. . . so much so that I can't care about The Big Four.