Michael Angelo Batio
has been frequently
described as the best
shredder of all time.
He produced the first, and still best-selling,
shred instructional video, and invented both
his signature double guitar and MAB string
dampeners. He’s performed in 45 countries
around the world and even has his own record
label – M.A.C.E. Music.
Michael has been playing guitar since age ten.
Naturally left-handed, he plays the guitar righthanded,
which at least partially explains his
incredible ability to play two guitars at the same
time. He’s played as many as four guitars at once;
his performance playing his four-necked “quad”
guitar with the band Nitro in their “Freight Train”
video is one of the most over-the-top performances
of all time.
His style developed out of the early weakness of
his picking hand. He worked for years as a teen
to master alternate picking and two-hand tapping
techniques. Michael explains, “I’m a firm believer
in working on your deficiencies. Once you master
a technique that gives you trouble, other areas of
your playing improve dramatically.”
Now one of the fastest shredders on the planet,
Michael is known for his MAB Over-Under
Technique, where he flips his hand over and
under the guitar neck,
approaching the
strings from above
and below at incredible
speed – all without
missing a note.
I first saw Michael
Angelo Batio in 1987
at a Gibson Guitar
clinic. We were all
anxious to meet him
and see him perform
with his double guitar.
He explained how it
was constructed and then he played the living
hell out of it. I couldn’t believe it was humanly
possible to pull it off, but he did and still does.
I’ve been fortunate enough to see him perform
a number of times since, and even traded licks
with him in 2007 onstage at a Dean Guitar clinic.
Since then, Michael and I have become friends
and I’ve found he’s a very humble, yet extremely
driven guy.
Michael’s distinct tone comes primarily
from his fingers, but he does use specific
guitars, amps and effects to achieve his
signature sound. He’s known for using
Gibson, Charvel, Ritz and Dean Guitars
and BOSS overdrive pedals, all run into
Marshall amplifiers. It’s smooth, fiercely
overdriven and punchy synth-esque
sound, as heard during Michael’s earlier
years, is actually a combination of the
BOSS SD-1 pedal into modded Marshall
JCM800 amps set at medium gain and a
slightly high volume. In the mid-nineties,
Michael acquired an original Ibanez TS-
9, which he used on the album,
Hands
Without Shadows.
He uses custom designed DiMarzio pickups
– a PAF Pro and/or PAF in the neck
position and a Super Distortion and/or
Double Whammy in the bridge position
– along with EMGs (in his Dean signature
series guitars) and Seymour Duncan
JBs (in some of his double guitars). For
amps, Michael now prefers to use the
new line of Marshall Valve amplifiers,
specifically the JCM2000 DSL, along
with Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifiers for his
rhythm parts.
In 2007, Michael, in conjunction with T.
Rex Engineering, launched an overdrive
pedal designed especially for him. The
pedal is simply called the Michael Angelo
Batio Overdrive, and features more gain
to satisfy Michael’s taste for heavily overdriven
sounds.
This month Michael has been cool enough to
show off five of his favorite exercises – double
guitar not required.
Exercise 1
This example features 16th note triplets diatonically ascending and “back tracking” up the fretboard. For me, the key is to take the riffs and go in unexpected directions rather than just ascending or descending in a predictable way. |
Exercise 2
Exercise 2 is an example of one of my riffs in the key of Bb. Again, I like to use chromatic passing tones, but in a rock and metal guitar context. These exercises are good examples of how I take what could be standard melodic choices and twist and turn the notes around to create my own style. |
Exercise 3
Here we look at using asymmetrical note groupings – it’s one thing to use triplets and another to use groups of odd numbers of notes in a count or beat. This is a good example of how I use rhythm and melody to create interesting lead guitar lines that are not stock or standard. |
Exercise 4
This exercise makes up a complete section from my song, “The Finish Line.” It is in the key of C major, and again utilizes a lot of passing tones. I made this in the style of Charlie Christian, who is one of my inspirations as a guitar player. When I perform it, I add a dotted rhythm to give the
notes a “swing” feel. |
Exercise 5
This riff is in the key of G major and is from the studio version of my song, “No Boundaries.” I use this kind of pattern because I like the flow of the notes; instead of just straight ascending or descending, I use a technique that I call “back tracking,” where I actually use descending passages of notes while ascending up the fretboard and vice versa. |