As soon as I hear Dave say “terrifying”, I pause the video, make a pot of coffee, take ibuprofen, prep a bag of ice and tell my wife and kid to Ignore daddy’s swearing for the next 4 hours. I believe Mr. Brewster said “terrifying” 4 times on this one. All jokes aside, thank you so much for dissecting some Impelliterri. You truly live without fear.
I remember Impelliterri's 'Stand in Line' with Graham Bonnet playing on Head Bangers Ball. At the time I thought the guitar solo in that song killed rock guitar soloing. However looking back, if that song was released today it would be a hit. I know Japan loves Impelliterri! Great video bro!
Jack MC from comments is correct on Lick # 3. I have his Speed Soloing Lesson and he demonstrates a similar lick using his Middle or Ring Finger for the Upstroke on the High E String. Great Lesson David, Love the Channel!!!
*"I'm not Chris Impellitteri, I'm David Brewster." How humble you are. You could have fooled me. LOL I remember buying his first record which I think was the one with the green cover. It had his version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow. I think I about sliced through that vinyl record lifting and resetting the needle arm, so I recorded it to a cheap blank cassette so I could now rewind the the dang song. I was trying to learn it note for note on my guitar. Then I figured out how to play it at a slower speed on my tape deck. Wow that last lick was crazy good. I'm still loving that loaded pick guard upgrade on your Strat. Great tone.*
Western Mass and central CT produced some major shredders! Chris Impelletteri, Jimi Bell, Tony MacAlpine, Mike Mushok, Doug Blair. Infinity in Springfield, MA was ripping with talent in the 80's!
Thanks for this video. Chris is an amazing guitarist and I have listened to all of his guitar works since the 90s. You have done a great lesson here. I have a request if you may ever do a video on Davis Chastain would be great. I loved Chastain’s guitar playing. He was one of the most versatile shredders of the 80s/90s. Thank you.
Impelliterri probably needs a chord play for people to understand the context of his composition lines. Even at slower tempos, those lines sound fantastic!
Hats off Dave! These are the sort fo things you play on a classical instrument but the difference is you're reading music and don't even think about it. Somehow, staring at the frtboard makes it 10x more difficult. So, yes, these are up there with Eric Johnson in both terms of difficulty and musicalness.
I could never manage to break the picking speed barrier when I was younger. Finally in my late 20's, I found a way to mix in the legato and hybrid picking to kind of break the speed barrier a bit. At some point, you just gotta do things your way and stop trying to be somebody else. Realize the things that you naturally do well, expand of them and make that a signature part of your style.
I forgot about Chris Impellitteri, and today when I played something by coincidence, it reminded me of, one of his licks. So, I searched for Impellitteri SECRET LOVER and found your video :) Thanks for the licks, I'll continue searching for Secret Lover and Goodnight and Goodbye full tabs.
The 3rd lick -you can clearly see Chris is using Hybrid picking to play it. Meaning the notes on the high E string are picked with his right hand finger and not his plectrum. But I’m sure you could play it picking every note.
Great stuff. I loved his first album a lot! And listened to his music over the years. He is an overlooked guitarist for the most part. You did his playing more than justice in this video. Hope this video will get those that don't his work to go check out some of his music. Great job David!
Hi David, as someone else mentioned Mike Slamer. Right from his early days with City Boy he has been original and tasteful. Has written some great riffs and can also shred. An unsung hero (and is also from the Midlands in the UK!) Love the channel Dave. Peace and love
FFS David! You only learned these licks a few hours before making this video?!? How is that even possible? Seriously, that is incredibly impressive. Also, that Arpeggio Madness lick at the end of the video had me on the edge of my seat!! Likening it to a train about to come off the tracks was a good metaphor for what is taking place on that neck. I'm going to be working on that one for a long time. I follow a few "session" players on YT (e.g., Guthrie Trapp, Tim Pierce, Tom Bukovac, Corey Congilio, etc) and you can easily hold your own with any of those guys. I really enjoy your playing amigo! Thanks for putting this together man.
I watch shitloads of guitar channels and while they are all awesome, These Brewster lessons are among the best. This could picture myself jamming with him drinking a Pabst.
In 1992, I asked my dad, I said, "Hey dad... will there ever be a guitar player that can play every single other great guitar player's licks and break them down for us mere mortals learn from?" He told me that would be awesome but also impossible. I just showed my dad David "I can play everything" Brewster here on RU-vid.. He can rest now. Happy Father's Day.
There's definitely a parallel depth to impellitteri's rhythm playing that deserves an equal examination. You make a good point while taking nothing away from the soloing aspect 👍
Loved the last Zappa video. Especially, that is. Truly, I love all the lessons. Would still really love to see an Arthur Rhames lesson because I have no idea what he did.
Dave, you are so great. Please can we have an indepth theory set of lessons. I have a good grasp of modes but feel you could really bring them to life - not only for those of us who 'get modes' but especially the majority who struggle with them.
Great lesson! Who remembers the Ibanez (?) ad "The i's have it" ? p.s. there is a fleeting moment near 4:29 which is similar to an arpeggio in VH's Spanish Fly
I just learned his Screaming Symphony song from that live bootleg. He plays the same harmonic minor "string skipping" lick there. It's hard to play using the hybrid picking like he does but almost impossible without it 😅 I think he sneaks in those hybrid picked notes on other stuff too but it's really hard too see where he is doing it and it sounds picked so can't trust my ears either
Have you considered a Nick Johnson video? He has a very cool approach to writing. He makes a melody and creates chords that follow the melody. He ends up with some really unique chord progressions that I think would be great for a video!
Ok, at 8:17, you can see that he's hybrid picking. He's getting that speed by using his right had middle finger. The pick never has to leave the 3rd string.
Hey David, is it possible to try and tackle some Andy James licks and rhythms? I have learned a few of his licks in the past (the first minute of the song Synergy), but it would be helpful to get a breakdown of a couple licks in the way you present them. There are a lot of tasty licks from the Sacred Mother Tongue CD Out of the Darkness in addition to his solo stuff.
Yes!!! Chris is awesome! Stand in Line is such a great song. Chris just gets a lot of hate because hes a Christian rocker and those guys get such little respect.
Diatonic’s at the speed of light ... some of that alternate picking, played at those bpm’s, isn’t very musical ... Michael Angelo Batio solos in this same style and it never sounds musical, it sounds out of place ... Paul Gilbert seems to be able to mix speed picking with melody ... anyway, David, your guitar playing is exceptional and should not be discounted ... thanks for sharing ... Shawn Lane would be another “terrifying” player for a late night lesson ...
