Randy Rhoads on his favourite “classical” guitar players
The story of virtuoso guitar playing has a definitive lineage. Coveted by those who seek to do something dazzling with their fingertips, this technically proficient realm might not be for everyone and be criticised for being too braggadocious, but it has undoubtedly affected the realm of playing as a whole. Many notable names sit in this area, including Eddie Van Halen, Steve Hackett, and Randy Rhoads, to name but a few.
One man who instilled real technical panache into this field of playing was the late Rhoads. While discussions of this style often centre around his Los Angeles rival Van Halen, and other lifelong students of the guitar, such as Steve Vai and Yngwie Malmsteen, it was Rhoads who provided the blueprint for players such as Malmsteen to run off into the sunset with.
While many think of Rhoads solely as the tragic hero taken too young, who produced the titanic riffs underscoring Ozzy Osbourne’s return to form with the likes of ‘Crazy Train’ and ‘Mr. Crowley’, there is simply no way these masterpieces would have come to fruition without his background in classical guitar.
Of course, Osbourne’s debut solo efforts 1980’s Blizzard of Ozz and the following year’s Diary of a Madman are heavy metal staples, but Rhoads’ technical brilliance and dedication to classical guitar pulse throughout them. When fused with the muscle of metal and hard rock, it made for a compelling aural experience, supplementing the power of Osbourne’s delivery.
The pair were a match made in heaven, and it is one of music’s great tragedies that Rhoads died in a plane crash when on tour with Osbourne in Florida in 1982. His two albums with his previous band, Quiet Riot, and the ensuing duo with the former Black Sabbath frontman confirm his elemental talent and how much of a glowing future he had ahead of him. It says it all that for such a young man, he not only gave guitar playing some of its most revered moments but invented the neoclassical subgenre.
A leviathan of guitar playing, Rhoads’ searing speed and technical approach, alongside the efforts of Van Halen, set the scene for how the metal genre would largely play out in the 1980s, from the spectre of hair metal to more intriguing innovations such as speed and black metal. These days, if you encounter a player weaponising dive bombs, complex patterns and two-handed tapping, it is almost certain that they’re a Rhoads aficionado. Even Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello says he was “a peerless talent”.
While Rhoads had a background in classical music and loved the form and its composers, such as Johann Sebastian Bach, he was also an ardent follower of guitarists who instilled cerebral panache into their playing and assembled their own intricate masterworks.
When speaking to John Stix in 1981, Rhoads revealed his favourite “classical” players: Mountain’s Leslie West, Jeff Beck and Scorpions’ Michael Schenker. This discussion clearly outlines the genealogy of players he sought to emulate when conceiving his influential approach.
Rhoads said: “There’s just so much feeling you can put into it. Leslie West was one of my all-time favourite guitar players. I loved his feel. He used a lot of classical. I can feel he’s really into it when he does those little classical lines. It’s melodic but mean. Beck is also one of my favourites. They’re not idols, but I really like their playing. Beck and Michael Schenker – he’s very classical.”
