Brian Hunsaker: mwe3 in depth interview

mwe3: You were greatly influenced by guitarists such as Eric Johnson and Joe Satriani while growing up. Can you add in some other information about your musical influences while growing up, and what about some other factors that convinced you to go into the rock instrumental music genre?

BH: Yeah, in the beginning Satch was untouchable to me. Later I got into Steve Vai (Passion And Warfare), Eric Johnson, Vinnie Moore, Tony MacAlpine, Andy LaRocque and just about every new shredder that came out. At that time in the early 1990’s when my style was still forming, I hadn’t figured out what made certain melodic virtuosos such as Satriani and Neal Schon so much more popular and more pleasing to the ear than others. It wasn’t the blinding licks, it was the melodies between those and how they blended the two together so seamlessly. I used to be all about speed for the first five or so years I was playing. People said I played like a robot and had no feeling at all. In hindsight, that was pretty much true. But it did really hone my technicality for later when I’d concentrate on using it wisely and in context.

In college I took a lot of music classes including jazz improvisation and music theory. I met some really amazing players during that time, and it really humbled me. I continued to find new influences like Ritchie Blackmore and Trevor Rabin and further refined and expanded my technique by making up songs targeting techniques I wasn’t good at. This worked amazingly and I recommend it! full interview