Happy birthday to the great rock/metal guitarist Tony MacAlpine (born August 29, 1960) an American musician and composer. In a career spanning three decades and eleven studio albums, he is best known as an instrumental rock solo guitarist, although he has worked with many different bands and musicians in guest appearances and collaborations. Having started playing piano at the age of five and guitar at twelve, MacAlpine studied classical music for a number of years at the Springfield Conservatory of Music in Massachusetts, as well as various music programs at the University of Hartford in Connecticut. One of his musical influences is Frédéric Chopin, to whom he pays homage in his interpretations of the latters études, which are featured on the majority of his studio albums. MacAlpine was highly influential in the neo-classical metal genre, becoming known for his instrumental rock style of playing that displays highly advanced shred techniques; one of his most oft-used techniques being sweep tapping, a variation of sweep picking. He has incorporated elements of classical, jazz, fusion, hard rock and heavy metal on both guitar and keyboard, and has been described as a virtuoso by Jason Ankeny at AllMusic
Posted on: Fri, 29 Aug 2014 10:11:00 +0000
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