Meeting your guitar hero

[Emerald]

Nice video of a Jason Becker fan who is surprised with a visit to meet him:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ti5rWHOkZ0

Emerald

[AdRock]

Very cool. Talk about pressure though. She handled it like a champ. I've always been a little leery about meeting someone like that I am a big fan of or is someone I look up to. There's a;ways the chance that they'll be a complete asshole and shatter it all.

I was nervous the first time I got to meet Eric Johnson. Luckily he is a super nice guy and I've had several chances to sit and talk to him. Back in the 90's got some VIP passes for a show since my uncle was mixing it. It was Presence, Legs Diamond, and Eric Johnson. Anything we wanted to eat or drink was in Erics trailer. I walked to the back of the trailer looking for the bathroom and he had all his guitars sitting out on stands to acclimate to the heat. I was standing there looking at them and he walked in. First thing outta my mouth... "I didn't touch anything". HAHA. He was so cool about it. He picked up a sunburst strat and said that he had just relegated that one to backup duty so I could sit and play it if I wanted to. He then handed me a cable, turned on the amp sitting there, and just looked at me. I was petrified. I played for about 45 seconds and the high E string broke. I was never so happy in my life to have a string break. I unplugged it and took it to his tech.

[straycat]

I have gotten to meet a few and hang out with them
Michael Angelo Batio and George Lynch were both very friendly..

[pianoguyy]

I had the chance to play with Les Paul and Chet Atkins back in ~~~ let's say, '91?
Yeah, I gotta tell ya, you think guys like Vai and Satch know how to play... you don't know shit. Those two old fuddy duddies made me contemplate becoming a bass player, or maybe an accountant. Because I certainly had a lot to learn when put next to those two.


But I will never forget the night I arranged a 3-set dual-headline night at the bar. Peter Criss opened the night. Ace Frehley played the 2nd set. And two of them did a set of KISS songs to close the night.
I am a huge KISS fan. So, for me, that was one of those once in a lifetime events.

[AdRock]

I have gotten to meet a few and hang out with them
Michael Angelo Batio and George Lynch were both very friendly..

Lynch really is a cool guy. A buddy of mine is a big Lynch fan has a Snakes & Skulls ESP that he bought in the early 90's. In the late 90's Dokken was playing at a local club so we decided to bluff our way in that afternoon for their sound check. We managed to get in. When the sound check was done we walked over side stage to say hi. Lynch was nice as could be. My buddy asked him to sign his guitar and Lynch ask to play it because he hadn't played a production model. So he plugged in my buddies guitar and proceeded to rip it up. Then he handed his original to my buddy and they sat there and jammed for about 20 minutes. It was awesome. They put on a great show that night and Don could still sing the songs correctly.

[Big Daddy B]

As far as famous guitarists, I met Kirk Hammett and James Hetfield briefly after the Lollapalooza show in Rockford, IL in 1996. Didn't really get to talk to Kirk (that's OK I own his guitar now!) but Jaymz was cool. We talked about cigars. I met Jason Newsted after a Metallica show in 96 in Chicago and he was also cool and I met Mike Dean from Corrosion of Conformity after the shows in Moline and Chicago bookending that one. He was cool as shit. He was a big fan of the Goodfellas movie at the time so I introduced him to Casino. I also met Dimebag Darrell at the Black Sabbath reunion show in Chicago I think 98 or 99. He was a complete dick. I think Lars Ulrich and Glenn Danzig are the only other famous musicians I have met. Danizg was kinda weird in a creepy way. Lars was Lars.

[Jackson8090s]

I bought James Hetfield 2 beers at the Met/ COC show back in the 90's Charlotte , I met Death on the Symbolic tour Chuck, Gene & Steve. Some club in SC I forget the name of it.... Umm, met Exodus Gary, Paul, Rick was a dick....@ Ground Zeros, Spartanburg, Cannibal Corpse were cool but it was brief, Ground Zeros, Spartanburg, Megadeth Marty @ guitar clinic Haymes Music , Gaffney, SC. It's out of business now.

I've never met anyone who met DIMEBAG who said he was a dick. YOU must have caught him on a off night

I've lost the Marlboro cig pack that the entire band (DEATH) signed for me. Cannibal Corpse signed my Blood thirst T shirt , wore it to work one day under my uniform shirt, we got to horsing around with pump guns and I got an 80/90 bath , ruined.

[straycat]

I have met Roy Clark and Grandpa Jones in Pigeon Forge Tenn and actually played Old Rugged Cross out in the center of Hee Haw Village with them.
Met Dave Mustaine at the Nashville NAMM show in 2004 drank coffee with him for 30 min or so.Really nice guy.
Met Vince Gill and Shelby Lynn and a guitar show in Smyrna Tenn, they played a few of my builds and hung out at my booth for a while.Super nice both of them.
Met Stevie D and Keith Nelson of Buckcherry,Jon Shaffer of Iced Earth at rsguitarworks.
Got to roadie one night for Greg Martin of the Ky Headhunters and Rufus Huff.
Friends with Craig Bell one of the founders of the 70's punk band Rocket From The Tombs. Done some shows with his other bands Deezen and Down Fi.
Its a perk being on the road sometimes because you never know who you may meet at a show.

[Jackson8090s]

I have gotten to meet a few and hang out with them
Michael Angelo Batio and George Lynch were both very friendly..

I'm still waiting for my "keys to the Lamborghini"

Pigeon Forge Tenn

We've vacationed there a couple times, indoor skydiving is Awesome

[Emerald]

The first time I lived in London had a beer with Peter Frampton at the bar of a music pub. This was just before he joined Humble Pie. I have met Yngwie Malmsteen in Tuscon, Az. Yngwie was very cool! I have met Tom Keifer of Cinderella back in the ninties at George's Music in Springfield, Pa. near where he is from. Finally met Steve Stevens back in 2011 at the Phoenix State Fair show with Idol, I was his and Josie's VIP guest along with my wife. Steve was very nice and thanked me for all I had done to help with his career from all my Internet writings! Of course him lending me the Charvel Glow was just beyond anything an artist could do for a fan!
Emerald

[eakinj]

The Worst - I met Jeff Watson back in 1993 at a Hamer Fest where I also got to meet Joel, Dr. Joel, what did he go by? I can't remember. Watson was a complete and utter tool, and I think it really pissed him off when a 13 year old kid did a bunch of two handed stuff that sounded a hell of a lot better then his stuff on the Night Ranger albums. I think it also pissed him off no one was interested in his "lone ranger" cd, we were all interested in the guitars. Over all he was a fucking douche.

The coolest - Met Gary Holt briefly at Casa De Fruta, he pointed at me and screamed Cannibal Corpse in a gutteral tone (I was wearing a CC shirt) dude is fucking tall. nice guy, I didn't really say too much because I was tired and didn't realize it was Gary fucking Holt.

Did hang out with the guitarist from Papa Roach before they were signed. not sure that's something to brag about though (lol) actually pretty nice guy.

(and for extra credit, non guitarists) Met Vince Neil in 1986 at a Stryper concert in San Jose. all the other guys hung in the balcony a were diva's, Vince came out on the floor and was joking with and hanging with the kids at the show.
Chuck Billy, hung out at a party with him on a couch watching Head Bangers Ball and making fun of the "aryan woodstock" think that had recently happen where some idiot skin heads got beat down with rocks. good times. Funny the people you get to meet at *record stores

*record stores for you kiddies are building outside where you would have to actually go and browse physical media and purchase it and put in one for of audio player or another.

[pianoguyy]

Jesse James Dupree (Jackyl) owes me $40 from '95.

He was playing at the bar, had his kids for the weekend, and needed a babysitter.
So I hooked him up and took care of the bill outside of the nights receipts since it wasn't part of the billables.
I expected him to pay me but the bus was gone.

[Emerald]

Speaking of non-players that we've met the most notable was Ted McCarty the famous president of Gibson through their golden years. What a great man and inventor he was. I shook his hand and thanked him for all the incredible guitars he was responsible for, the Les Paul, Flying V, the Explorer, Firebird and many others!
I met Eric Bazilian of the Hooters, who wrote If God Was One of Us for Joan Osborne, he gave me a cassette of his demo for that song. I met Jol Danzig of Hamer. I famously asked him what had happened for Steve Stevens to leave them, that was a mistake..lol. I have emails from Paul Hamer, Rudy Schlager the CEO of Washburn guitars during the 1993 period of the Steve Stevens models, I actually did a telephone interview with him for my article.
Harry Shapiro co-author Of Electric Gypsy about Jimi Hendrix. I actually contributed to his biography of Gary Moore which is coming out in February. I met Tom Murphy and Edwin Wilson of the Gibson Custom Shop in Chicago in 1993 just before the first Gibson Historics came out. Got to play a prototype R7. '57 reissue and saw a bare body in wood of the R9, 59 reissue which was cool. I met a lot of famous people in the vintage guitar world in the late eighties early nineties.
My good friend of many years, Paul Hammond is a guitarist and founding member of Get The Led Out the American Led Zeppelin who are very successful these days.
I have met George Metropoulos of Metro amps at a show and Dave Friedman of Friedman amps at his North Hollywood shop when I picked up the Charvel Glow. My Internet I interviewed Neil Carter of the Gary Moore band.
Just a few that come to mind.
Emerald

[lefty]

My buddy used to sell vintage guitars and he has balls of brass. He can get backstage to talk to anyone, usually to my utter embarrassment!
One time we got to meet John Lee Hooker and Dave got us thrown out because he asked Hook how old he was!
Another time we got to talk to Ronnie Montrose. Way cool guy and very intense person. He thrust his guitar into
Dave's hands and said: 'Find me a guitar with a neck like this!' Made us both play it. It was a highly-modified Gretsch,
no less, not the kind of guitar you'd associate with Ronnie.
Coolest player I met was Robin Trower. Late at night after a bar gig, Robin was obviously beat, but came out of
the tour bus to shoot the shit with us a good long time.
Met Craig Chaquico [sp?] who was truly amazing. My buddy helped him sell a bunch of his guitars, and to thank
him he gave Dave, me and my wife VIP passes to Madison Square Garden for a Starship gig, including the after
party with about a hundred NYC socialites. Craig spent the entire time chatting up us three nobodies while
the rest of the band pressed flesh with NYC's elite. What a class act!

[VoiceX3]

I've met quite a few and First have to apologize to Scott Ian, we were in the Rainbow one night hanging at the back bar (where Lemmy sat every night....such a cool dude, but DON'T CALL HIM GOD.....he hates that!) and in walks Scott Ian and his entourage including Pearl who I had no idea who she was at the time and me, being hammered and 6'5" I somehow got Scott cornered for quite a while talking about shows at City Gardens in Trenton (which he remembers) and I just wouldn't let him leave. My friends said Pearl was behind me laughing because I had him held up so long, but he was awesome! Great guy and anyone who says otherwise never really met him.

The best was meeting Dave Mustaine. When I went up to them at the Meet and Greet Ellefson was unbelievably friendly and cool, but I didn't spend too much time with him because, well I was 3 feet from DAVE f'n MUSTAINE!!!! I walked over between Dave and Chris, said hi to Chris then kinda clammed up because....well, it was DAVE MUSTAINE! lol Then my wife came up and ran to Chris because she loves him and I said to Dave that she would do that and he laughed. He told me he'd have no problem seeing me from the stage as big as I am and I told him I'd be right up front. Talked for a minute about getting older at shows and not getting into the pit anymore. When the Megadeth set started the floor went nuts and thru the set I had crowd surfing shoes all right at about throat level. Each time another came towards me you could see Dave cringe a little....... Hope he remembers, probably won't but It was pretty funny looking back....