My favorite all time guitarist is Randy Rhoads. There hasn’t been a greater influence on the music I play than him. When I was 8 years old I purchased my very first album. It was on cassette and the album was “Ozzy Osbourne, Randy Rhoads Tribute.” It was a double LP that that was available on one cassette. I remember going through the photos and just being mesmerized. Even at that age, I knew I was one-day going to play the guitar. I would listen to “Tribute” almost every day. I never understood at that age what the “tribute” meant. I can still remember my reaction when I learned that Rhoads had died in a plane crash in March of 1982. I was so devastated. It was like I had lost a family member. I had my Rhoads posters on the wall by this time and I just sat there and stared at them.
I didn’t start playing the guitar until I was 13 years old. Unfortunately for me, my parents just didn’t let me have one until then. By the time I got my first guitar it was during the peak of the early 90’s grunge music scene and being such a young teenager I had temporarily forsaken most metal from the 80’s. It wasn’t until I was 16 years old that I came across my “Tribute “ cassette and remembered how much I loved to hear the guitar playing of Rhoads. Since I had been playing guitar for three years, I was able to understand what he was doing better than I did at the age of eight. I re-purchased the album on CD and started to study it. During my teenage years and into my twenties I have listened and claimed to love many different musical genres. All in an effort to better myself on the guitar, however, I’ve never stopped listening to Randy Rhoads.
Five years ago, I purchased the “Hal Leonard” transcriptions of “Tribute” I still don’t understand why I didn’t purchase it sooner. It has been my bible for guitar playing and I still to this day struggle to play songs note for note. I typically write my own music but I learn songs to further my skills and studying Rhoads has been an inspirational and frustrating journey.
Rhoads’s death was, in my opinion, one of rock musics great tragedies! He was only 25 years old when he died. Rhoads had only begun to scratch the surface of his potential. He only recorded two albums with Ozzy Osbourne and a few others with bands he played with in his teens. All of his early work is out of print. One of the reasons I get so frustrated when studying Rhoads is that he was so young and sounded like a “seasoned guitarist” that should have been playing for years beyond 23-25. When hearing what he accomplished at such a young age, it’s hard not to think about the tragedy of such an amazing talent lost.
I recommend any and all guitarists to check out Randy Rhoads. Even if heavy metal isn’t your thing, his guitar playing transcends all genres.
