When it comes to guitar heroes the same names always fuckin pop up: Slash, Joe Perry, Slash, Dimebag Darrell, Slash, Ace Frehley and Slash. Of course, those aren’t the only names and I recognize that Slash, Perry, Frehley and Darrell are all legends and great players. But there’s a name that gets overlooked all the fucking time in the Rock and metal world. And it bugs the hell out of me. And that name is Alex Lifeson. By far the least talked about member of Rush, this man’s contributions to the guitar exceed any musical genre. It goes straight into undeniable innovation and invention. The guy invented musical chords. The opening chord to Rush’s prog opus ‘Hemisphere’s’ is what’s known as the ‘Alex Lifeson chord’. It’s an F sharp major with a flat seventh and a sustained 4th. Who thinks of that!!?? And it doesn’t stop there. The man gets at least an 8 out of ten on all three of the modern musician standards. 8.5 out of 10 on technical ability. 9 out of 10 on songwriting. And a major 10 out of 10 on innovation. So why is he so overlooked? It’s a combination of the time Rush became a commercial entity and critics having the I.Q. of a rock. Lifeson’s contemporaries: Page, Frehley, Perry and Iommi, are all come from a blues back round. And that’s what was most popular during the 70’s. The world wasn’t really ready to embrace a guitarist who’s more influenced by say, George Bizet and Franz Liszt. But that’s okay because Lifeson has gotten the last laugh. First off, Rush did explode commercially in the 70’s, but they were not deemed ‘cool’. Eventually though, progressive metal would grow a gigantic, dedicated fan base that’s a huge tent of heavy metal acceptance. The guitarists that have eclipsed all the blues players of the 70’s: John Petrucci, Paul Gilbert, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Jim Matheos have all cited Alex Lifeson as the primary influence. Without Lifeson we wouldn’t have progressive metal!! And we may not have the idea of classically trained musicians becoming rock and metal guitarists. Which has particularly allowed heavy metal to grow and become a reputable source of music. Time has caught up with Lifeson and he’s now starting to get the credit he truly deserves. It just took 40 years for people to catch up.
Skip to 3:25…
Holy mother of God!! No Lifeson. No Rush. No prog metal. Know Lifeson. Know Rush. Know prog metal!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-sYj_1lADo
