Guitar Jams: Turn Up The Light!

A Word From Pastor Brad
First--"Thank you" to all of you who have supported me through the years. It's sort of hard to believe the April of 2009 marks 5 years for the whole Guitar Jams/Pastor Brad thing. God has been good! TURN UP THE LIGHT will mark my 11th release--God has been generouse with His inspiration!

I also need to say a BIG THANK YOU to all of the many guest artists who have shared their abilities so wonderfully and freely on past efforts. You all know who you are--and you are awesome! As a matter of fact--let me enourage you--while you're hear--take a few minutes and surf around the site--check out the Shred, Reshredded, Shredded Sweet, Shredomatic, and Heavenly Shred pages (all of them can be accessed from THE MUSIC page). All of those discs have some stellar guest talents on them! There are interviews and plenty of links so you can listen to everybody's music!

Now, about TURN UP THE LIGHT. Man--I LOVE this project--for several reasons:
1) It was yet another chance to show off the AWESOME sound of my Line 6 amp!
2) The guests musicians are mind "bogglingly" awesome! And there are some "first-timers on this one--scroll down and get to know them!
3) I got back to singing a little bit on this one---which means I got to write some lyrics and share some thoughts that I hope will inspire and encourage your faith!

There are lots more cool things I could say about this project--but I'll just let the music speak for itself from here... and I'm sure you wont' be disapointed.

Where�s home for you Mario?
Dalmatia / Croatia / Europe

Favorite Guitarists?
Gary Moore, Brian May, Billy Gibbons, Ritchie Blackmore, Joe Satriani, Vlatko Stefanovski, Guthrie Govan, Frank Gambale, Jimmy Page... and many more.

How would you describe your playing style?
My preferred style is improvisation. Any type of music where there's room to improvise over some groove or chords. Most of the time I like to play fast using alternate or economy picking but on other hand i enjoyed in slow blues tunes too.

What/who inspired you to play the guitar?Outside of this project with Pastor Brad, have you released other music people can check out?
You can check my music on myspace: http://www.myspace.com/mariobarisic

What/who inspired you to play the guitar?
It was more need than free will.

Where's home for you Art?
I live in buffaol, ny.

What inspired you to play the guitar?
There are many insprirations--jimi hendrix, michael schenker, randy rhaods, malmsteen, gilbert, satch and of course God.

What's your favorite guitar?
My fave axe is my jackson slsmg soloist and my esp eclipse great axe.

How would you describe your music?
My music is a mix of heavy and hard rock in the stlye of joe satriani. i always try to strive for melody.

Where can people learn more about you and your music?
I have a spot on myspace -- myspace.com/monkeyshred, and @ SoundClick -- soundclick.com/soulrelease I'm also on purevoloume -- purevolume.com/spiralfear.

Where's home for you?
I currently live in Silver Springs Nevada!

When and why did you begin playing guitar?
I've been playing guitar since 1978 when I showed a lot of interest in music so my parents bought me a classical guitar and signed me up for classical guitar lessons. Learning classical music definitely has contributed to the style of music I now play.

What impact has music had on you--and how do you hope your music will impact others?
Music has had a huge impact on my life. While my peers were at baseball practice I was practicing guitar. I hope my music will give aspiring musicians a hunger to be a part of one of the greatest gifts God has created. I have passed on my musical gift to my teenage daughter. It's a joy to see her getting excited to learn songs and licks that took me 3 times as long to learn.

Favorite guitar(s)?
I love Fender Strats and Ibanez RG series guitars. I also prefer to have the neck scalloped as that gives the guitar better sustain and feel.

Out side of your projects with Pastor Brad--what other bands, projects or cds have you been part of -- and where can people go to learn more?
I currently have an instructional shred guitar dvd you can preview @ http://www.amazinglicks.com. I've performed on many studio projects since the early 90's as well as TV, radio & interviews in the western U.S.

Where�s home for you?
Home is Anderson IN but I am originally from Muncie IN, hometown of Jim Davis (Garfield) and David Letterman ( BSU)..

Favorite Guitar(s)?
Most definitely Peavey Wolfgang guitars. I have played Fender Strats, Ibanez and by far, my favorite is the Wolfgang. It has great tone and great sustain.

How would you describe your playing style?
I am a huge fan of the old school metal players such as George Lynch, Eddie Van Halen, Ace Frehley, Michael Sweet, Oz Fox, Rex Carroll ,Jake E Lee and Warren Di Martini. That was the first style I started playing when I first picked up a guitar in 1985. It was bands like that who got me interested in playing guitar! My current playing style now is melodic rock and blues. I enjoy players like Eric Johnson and Johnny Highland. I have played jazz , R&B styles as well. I enjoy many styles but rock soloing is my forte.

What/who inspired you to play the guitar?
I used to see this kid in high school who played guitar and thought it was so cool. I decided to buy a guitar at Rocky's Pawnshop and paid like $20 for an old Harmony guitar. I got a small amp with it, but it did not have the "crunchy" sound as I thought it was called back then.lol. The crunch was the coolest sound and I had to learn it. The first band that inspired me to play was The Scorpions. The first little riff I ever learned was some 50's thing and then the cool Rock you like a hurricane riff. From there it was all playing by ear. I never took a lesson and music just came natural to me. I took a couple guitar chord classes in college but I never took lessons to play. God definitely placed the ability in my heart to play.

Outside of this project with Pastor Brad, have you released other music people can check out?

Yes, I played all the lead guitars and heavy drop D guitars on the Beyond 12 *Taking Flight CD*. I am also writing backing music (keyboards/guitar) for independent films. I also have another project that I am working on which is a very heavy industrial rock thing.

Any additional comments?
Practice, practice practice! I also thank the Lord for his blessing in my life. Don't just try one style of playing. Experiment with all style's and it will make you a better player.
I have a testimony which I nearly lost my hand in an accident.
I have two sites where you can hear my music
www.myspace.com/misterwolfgang
www.myspace.com/beyond12