GUITAR WORLD INTERVIEW 6-89

CI: "I started playing when I was eleven," says Chris Impellitteri. "What inspired me to take this thing seriously was my grandmother buying me an electric guitar, a Cameo, some kind of Les Paul copy, with strings ten miles off the neck. But I think I actually progressed really quickly. I took lessons for four years with a guy in Connecticut, Mark McDowell, who was into players like (Richie) Blackmore and some of the fusion players. He was actually one of the big inspirations for me. I'd listen to and watch certain things he'd play, then I'd get a pat on the back when I could finally play them myself."

GW: Through this system of positive reinforcement, Chris kept finding new obstacles to conquer--scales, speed right-hand picking technique--and soon leaped to new levels.
He played in a series of bar bands, doing covers of tunes by Ozzy Osbourne, Van Halen and Deep Purple. in 1984 he moved to Los Angles, where one of his first calls for an Alcatrazz audition. "They called me and Steve Vai at the same time to replace Yngiwe. Guess who got the gig? Anyway, that was my first experience with L.A. and I liked some of it. The part I didn't like was there's so many posers--a lot of makeup, all that garbage. No one wanted to be a true musician. So I went home, played in another cover band for two years, came back to L.A., got a record deal, got recognition--there you have it."

Impellitteri's 1988 debut, Stand In Line, was released with a load of hype from the record company: "Dominated by the superlative talents of Eddie Van Halen, Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Vai and symbolized by the incredible success story in 1988 of Joe Satriani, the New Generation of Guitar Gods has arrived. It's newest member--Chris Impellitteri."

Quite a claim for a debut album. But the fact is, Chris is equipped with astonishing technique along with the discipline of a perfectionist. Already a killer, he's bound to get better. Hear his incredible speed on "Playing With Fire"; his uncanny precision on "White and Perfect" and "Leviathan"; and his soaring sextuplets on "Secret Lovers."

But this very gifted guitarist is not buying all the hype; his self-critical nature won't allow him to. "Hey, I'm not gonna pat myself on the back unless I deserve it. The only things on the album I'm really pleased with are 'Tonight I Fly' and 'Stand In Line'. The playing on the rest is clean and pretty fast, but the vibrato can stand to sing more. The whole thing needs to be more lyrical, and I'm working on that. so I feel like I haven't truly made my mark yet. The first album, the guitar is blatantly fast. That's my style. And I'm gonna play fast on the second one. I don't think I'll ever stop playing fast thing my whole life, but my writing and phrasing will improve."

Another speedburner is his greatest inspiration: "Al Di Meola really concentrated on playing fast when he was young, I think his main prerogative was to burn. He even openly admitted it in his early stages. He said, 'I wanna be the fastest player in the world.' And that's the same attitude I have right now, 'cause I'm still young. I have years to color my playing. I know I hear certain things now that I will eventually color it with. But for now, I'll burn."