Randy Ellefson

A composer and guitarist since age thirteen, Randy Ellefson was equally influenced by the acoustic guitar work and all-out riffing and soloing found on many rock albums of the 1980s. Not satisfied with store bought guitars, he built two electric guitars himself as a teenager and hasn't played another one since. Practicing as much as 10 hours a day, he earned a Bachelors of Music in classical guitar, Magna Cum Laude, 1995.

In May of 1993, he succeeded in merging classical theory into his rock guitar playing, and the resulting instrumental guitar music utilized variation and other techniques to create songs from one small idea, or motif, much like classical composers. Ellefson's debut instrumental guitar album, The Firebard, was recorded at home, with the guitarist doing all the writing, performing, engineering, and production duties - it features many songs that were started before losing his playing to tendonitis in 1996, and finished after recovering it. The CD includes nearly an hour of crunching riffs and the somewhat abandoned art of lead guitar, with a focus on melody and variation. Instrumental Guitar (Electric (Heavy)/Hard Rock/Heavy Metal) Info: Guitar9.com