Guitar Virtuoso Michael Angelo Batio Believes in Intermezzo

By: Robert Cavuoto

Guitar master Michael Angelo Batio is rereleasing his long awaited solo album after years of touring and performing clinics.

Intermezzo features all new original music and is filled with MAB’s signature virtuoso guitar playing of mixed meters, great melodies, superb arrangements and world class production.

For Intermezzo, MAB rounded up some of the most amazingly talented guitar players on the planet to help him out. The list of featured guitarists includes: George Lynch, Guthrie Govan, Michael Romeo, Jeff Loomis, Craig Goldy, Dave Reffett, Chris Poland, Rusty Cooley, Mike Lepond, Elliott Dean Rubinson, Joe Stump, Andrea Martongelli, Alex Stornello, Bill Peck, Max Carlisle, Florent Atem, Annie Grunwald, and Tobias Hurwitz.

I spoke with Michael about Intermezzo and about recording it with his new 7-string Dean MAB 7 “Warrior,” guitar.

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Robert Cavuoto: Tell me about your influences and how you became one of the fastest sherdders of all time?

MAB: Starting guitar at age 10, my influences were the popular rock guitarists like Hendrix, Clapton, and Page.  Soon after that I started listening to jazz which completely changed the way I viewed guitar technique and changed my playing to a jazz style, rather than rock.

I applied jazz picking techniques to rock and it has really helped me over the years.  I have never had a hand, elbow or arm injury, from playing guitar, after touring in 54 countries, thousands of shows and numerous albums and DVDs. That has been the secret to my long career. I take the way I play and practice the guitar extremely seriously and have a great time doing it!

Robert: What led you down the metal path?

MAB: Metal music was so much more popular than jazz when I was growing up and I loved the aggression of metal. I still practice and play many different styles of music, but I like being known in the metal music world.

Robert: At what point in your career did you realize your talents to play lefty, righty and then simultaneously?

MAB: I was born left handed. I used to play air guitar left handed as a young boy. I always had the ability to play that way but started as a right handed guitarist. I saw a jazz concert featuring the blind saxophonist, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, when I was 11. It profoundly changed me. Rahsaan played two saxophones [as well as other instruments] at the same time and that’s where the idea for the double-guitar started.

Robert: When playing the double-guitar, is each guitar plugged into a different amp?

MAB: Yes. Each guitar is a complete single guitar that needs its own amp and pedal board set up.

Robert: I’m intrigued by your patented String Dampener, tell me about the feedback you experienced from the double-guitar and how the product works to eliminate it?

MAB: I needed something to block out the string noise when I played both guitars at the same time, so I re-engineered an earlier String Dampening devise patented in the 1950’s by jazz guitar great George Van Eps. The MAB String Dampener is so different from the Van Eps version that I was awarded a patent for my invention. The MAB String Dampener works great and many guitarists use them. Several years ago Joe Satriani purchased one from my company. Joe Satriani Rocks!

Robert: The new CD, Intermezzo, is awesome; tell me a little about its creation?

MAB: I had several goals for Intermezzo.  I wanted it to have all new original songs. I wanted to have my signature MAB sound, but not rehash or repeat riffs and solo passages from the past. The solos and guitar parts still sound like me, but I used new riffs and new ways of putting solos together that I haven’t used before.

I am known for string skipping, alternate picking passages, and sweep arpeggios. There are only a couple sections on the entire album that I used either of those techniques. I also used my Dean Guitars MAB 7, 7-string signature guitar for the first time. The results are awesome! The new 7-string guitar added a heaviness that isn’t on any of my other records. I also wanted Intermezzo to have the best sound and production of any of my albums.

I recorded more than 200 different song parts and ideas on my iPhone while I was on tour. Then I listened to all of them, took the ones I liked and started writing the music for Intermezzo from those ideas. I just kept refining the music of each song until I liked every part.

I am very proud of this record and believe in every note that is on there.  Finally, I wanted to have a lot of great guest soloists on Intermezzo and I am extremely happy with the way they performed. Everyone did an amazing job!

Robert: What advice would you give to someone who wants to learn how to play a 7-string guitar?

MAB: 7-string guitars are going to stay popular in my opinion. It is really just getting used to the extra size of the neck and realizing that a low B, 7th string, is completely logical to a 6-string player and not a hard melodic or “pattern” challenge to play great once you get used to it.

Robert: You invited many talented guitarists to perform on this CD. Did you give these players the freedom to develop the leads or was there a blueprint that they were asked to follow?

MAB: I wrote the solo sections and each artist had the freedom to play whatever they wanted to play. Once we started hearing what the guest artists were playing, I knew we had something special. Everyone brought their “A” game and the results are spectacular.

Robert: How did you determine who would play on what track?

MAB: I had one of guest guitarists Dave Reffett – who is not only a great player, but a great friend as well, who suggest people. Dave and I brainstormed about who should play what and one by one everything started to come together. It wasn’t all calculated. I had specific ideas for some of the artists like George Lynch, Guthrie Govan, Jeff Loomis and then things just took on a life of their own.

I also had the idea of having the owner and CEO of Dean Guitars, Elliott Dean Rubinson play bass on a track. Elliott is a great bass player and I wrote a song that I felt fit his style perfectly. My engineer sent all of the different artists the tracks and they were sent back to my engineer when finished.

Robert: During the song writing process are you big on improvising?

MAB: Not really. Song writing and improvising are really two different things ,so no, I didn’t improvise when writing the songs. However, I wrote solo sections within each song that I improvised solos to. Many of the solos on most of the songs are improvisations in various sections, but with musical phrases and ideas around the improvisations.

Robert: You talked a little about the goals of this CD and not repeating yourself, after 30 years is that becoming difficult to avoid?

MAB: I always seem to come up with new ideas. That is where my music degree comes in. I have studied, read many books, and articles about how other composers wrote and I find that there is an endless and unlimited amount of ideas for music. You just have to find those ideas and turn them into songs.

Robert: What is your practice regime like now days?

MAB: My practice regime is basically for two different applications. Touring Practice  means – not a lot of practice because of the schedule. This kind of practicing is focused on warming up for shows, doing interviews and being ready for each show. Recording Practice means marathon practice sessions that have gone on as long as 14 hours in a day. That’s my record, 14 hours of practice in one day.

I felt I could play anything after that practice session! I don’t even start to record a note on an album until I feel my fingers and my mind are ready to play at the highest level that I can play.

Robert: How has your style of playing changed from the ’80s to now?

MAB: Experience and years of refining my voice on the instrument. I know what I can do and I feel the notes in a different way than back in the 1980’s. In a word, “maturity.” I feel my playing is complete now.

Robert: Who are some of your favorite new guitarists?

MAB: I like Guthrie Govan and Jeff Loomis. I like Jacky Vincent and many, many more. Too many to name! I feel that guitar playing now is better than it ever has been. Young players are exciting to hear and it keeps the guitar alive, the music alive and moving forward.