Truth In Shredding

Dan McAvinchey: Borislav, looking back, when did you first get interested in guitar, and how did you learn and progress as a player?

Borislav Mitic: I started to get into rock music and guitar at the age of 11. Although I grew up in the era of players like Yngwie, Satriani and Vai I approached the instrument almost as if I was coming from the '70s. So first I learned blues and classic rock stuff like Jimi Hendrix, Dire Straits, Deep Purple, AC/DC. Then I got into metal music with bands like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Scorpions and Metallica.

My favorite players in those early days were Van Halen, Gary Moore, Michael Schenker. After hearing Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Vai and Joe Satriani I started to be more methodical about my practicing and also got interested in classical music. I was self taught and I figured out all of the theory stuff (scales, chords, etc.) on my own.

In my late teens, I had already became pretty much the best young player in Serbia. I had a band called "Fantasy" and we had a lot of TV and radio appearances, and due to that fact we got to play gigs and concerts with my instrumental repertoire that later ended up on my solo album, "Fantasy". After that I got the offer to come to the US and make a solo album for Shrapnel Records, who were known for discovering all the big name shred players like Paul Gilbert, Yngwie Malmsteen, Greg Howe, Jason Becker, Tony MacAlpine and Marty Friedman,