Guitar World 9-87

by: Steven Rosen

Former Alcatrazz keyboardist Jimmy Waldo remembers checking out Chris Impellitteri as a possible replacement for their current guitarist. "He was not quite mature enough musically,"(Ed; Yea, sure Jimmy) recalls Waldo. But, in the past three years, Impellitteri has grown up. His playing has taken on a real direction and on an independently released EP, IMPELLITTERI(Polytour Records), Chris demonstrates his fiery technique. The music focuses on his playing, which has speed at it's core.
"The solos are usually extremely fast and sometimes maybe too fast. But I feel that if you can play extra fast, you can play slow too. I can play slow and I can play with feeling."
Whether he's soaring over the neck or crawling over it, Chris' guitar of choice is a Fender Stratocaster. He prefers the sound of Dimarzio single-coil stack pickups, and opts to run the guitar through Marshall 50 Watt and 100 Watt amplifiers(preferably the former). Though the world has had more than it's share of Guitar albums, Chris Impellitteri says it is ready for one more.