Randy Ellefson
The Firebard
© 2004 The Firebard Publishing (825346243825)
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Crunching riffs and melodic lead guitar like they used to do, with big solos and enough energy to power your day, this is hard rock and metal like you probably haven't heard in a long time.
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"Randy Ellefson is a remarkable guitar virtuoso." - Brave Words and Bloody Knuckles.
"Randy Ellefson is a dazzling and nimble-fingered axe wielder." - Guitar Nine Records.
Randy Ellefson has played guitar since age 13 after being mesmerized by the first live guitar performance he saw. He built his first electric guitar for a 9th grade science project, then built another two years later and hasn't played another electric guitar since. In fact, years later, a severe case of tendonitis in both arms rendered him unable to play guitar at all for over a year. Even a year later, his fingers would shake on the strings, and he could barely play once a week. Another four years passed before he could perform again, and today he is still restricted to playing guitar only three hours, every other day. "I'm used to the limitation," Ellefson says, "but one result is that it took 2 years to record the album."
To perform The Firebard, Ellefson had to make some adjustments, such as rigging his drum machine with letter openers to play it with his feet. He also engineered it at home so he could record whenever he was able to per-form the guitars and bass.The injury was caused partly by a Bachelors of Music in classical guitar, where he had accomplished four years of playing requirements in only two years. Now, his ordeal largely behind him, Ellefson has risen from his ashes to launch his career with his debut instrumental guitar album, The Firebard, released June 29, 2004.
Ellefson is endorsed by Peavey and has recently published articles at several sites, including Guitar9.com and Guitarapalooza.com. Great reviews of Rand's playing can be found in BW&BK (issue #83) and at Metal-Rules.com.
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Randy Ellefson - The Firebard
author: Department of Virtuosity (Poland)From the very start I'd like to stress that Randy isn't related to David Ellefson of Megadeth. Many fans mix them up because of the same last names, so I hope that my clarification is enough. Randy is a musician with a magna cum laude Bachelors of Music degree in classical guitar, although their interests go beyond the music and are focused on fantasy stories writing and a programming as well. Moreover, he is a multi-instrumentalist who was able to handle all guitars, bass guitar and drum programming on his debut CD. Aforementioned stuff is very special for me, since the diagnosis of tendonitis for its composer didn't interfere him with recording "The Firebard"! The album is also distinguished by a wonderful cover painted by Mattias Noren. His picture looks like a real paradise there! Even though there is cloudy, Randy plays cheerful and sunny tunes. Here are some fast solos, however most of them are subdued and feeling-oriented. Yep, most compositions are performed at mid tempos, and technical aspects along with the melodiousness of tracks are well-balanced. "The Firebard" is listener-friendly stuff and easy enough to be asorbed. An American guitar ace's music is an instrumental rock with melodic solo parts reminding me of Andy Roudny's solo works. But the most important thing is that Mr. Ellefson defeated the disease with the help of God and, as another virtuoso Jason Becker, deserved the title "a great virtuoso of the life"!