Aaron Berg: recalls his GIT days back in 89-90 part 2

Laurie Monk: Did you think about Berklee at that point with the Steve Vai connection or were you drawn more to the LA lifestyle Paul Gilbert connection?



Aaron Berg: I remember seeing Steve Vai in a guitar mag for the first time. He had on white, tiger(black) striped pants, and a sleeveless shirt, I believe. The green Charvel ( stolen later ) was the guitar, and it was an add for Carvin Amps. Steve would certainly remember this, as, " Blue Powder, " was a vinyl ( playable ) insert within, and he'd then been involved with a full endorsement for the first time. I'd heard his name, vaguely from others before, but I had little interest in unknowns to me. Zappa, or Alcatrazz were not artists that I'd really followed, so I was not too hip to Steve. I do remember reading an extensive article/interview with him then, I liked his attitude, and the things that he was emphasising that were important in player development ALL rang true with me. I thought, hmmm, I like this guy, he looks cool, and he's speakin' some gospel. I just pulled out, " Blue Powder, " and put it on the spinner.

Laurie Monk: Ha yeah, I remember that flexi disk, I probably have a copy somewhere in the castle of truth in shredding! Any way you were saying?



Aaron Berg: Well the needle touches, and the rest was profound history for me. I learned the song entirely, and used to play along with my Peavey Audition 20 amp. My friends were impressed, and we had a new guy. I absolutely adore Steve Vai. His attitude, spirit, and creative approach is stellar to me. I eventually came 1 degree of separation from him, as I'd managed ( Suncoast Video/Hollywood ), and this skinny little, glass wearin' kid Michael Hartman was telling me he was a player himself. I would manage him, as I'd come back from The Sam Goody side, to make sure he was doing his job. He was a very nice kid, and he did a fine job. We'd talk guitar in between tasks, and he'd started telling me how he was working on an album at Mothership Studios. I'm like yeah, Mike, that is Vai's place. I thought wow, this kid has quite an imagination. He's telling me about Ray Luzier, and Rudy Sarzo, and blah, blah, blah. I thought NOTHING of it. I'd had people try to impress me with bullshit stories, but this kid was taking the entire cake.

As time progressed, I'd forgotten Michael Hartman for the most part, and I was working at Sam Ash music some 4 years later. I would often help guys carry out their purchased gear to the lot, and it wasn't uncommon to get my palms greased with 20-50 dollars, or whatever. I'm outside, finishing with a client, up pulls, and parks a black Range Rover. To my utter astonishment out climbs down Michael Hartman. I was baffled, I said what's up? " Oh yeah, Dave bought this for me. " I'm like what??? " David Lee Roth, I'm in the DLR Band now, and Steve got me in. " I felt like a total ass, for he then just handed me the cassette demo, and I read his name right there. I felt even worse to learn of his on going battle with a deadly disease, and the fact that Steve Vai was working with the Make a Wish Foundation, as to see Michael's dream through before he'd passed away. Apparently Steve, and Dave did succeed, and I was very sad when I'd found he'd actually passed at around 24 years of age. Very, very sad story, and I thought he was a damn good player too.


Research the album, "Black Glue" That was what he was working on during our Sam Goody period. I liked him a lot, and he'd always just flipped on my playing, as well. RIP Michael! Oh yeah, Berklee, sure I thought of goin there. Hehehe, next question! ( laughs )


Laurie Monk: In my other interviews, there have been some clear favourites as teachers, people like Brett Garsed and TJ Helmerich?

Aaron Berg: My favourite teachers were Michael Ward, and Paul Hanson. Paul used to let ME teach a lot, and he often had me showing him all of my 8 finger tapping type stuff. If he was running behind on a certain day? I had his authorization to start the class, and that was fun stuff. I was then focusing on my picking/sweeping as opposed to the tapping ideas that I'd already had hard wired. Russ Parrish dropped in the class with Paul, and I once. He just blew me away with his picking technique. I was really good, clean, and quick, but Russ's fundamentals were more adept. He seemed like he knew this too, for he was no longer a student, and he'd just pop in the school from time to time, as to show people who was boss. Pretty cocky guy, but there was something I still liked about him.

My playing was almost the opposite as I am today. I was really fast, and clean, but I didn't alternate pick. I NOW need to get down to REAL business, and put those concepts together more. TJ Helmerich was such a cool guy too. He was a student like me, and we'd practice together times again, and again. He showed me a ton of tapping things, and he liked me style too. We got along well.

Laurie Monk: So what sort of things did you do with TJ Helmerich?

Aaron Berg: with TJ? Yeah, I was at the school, one night, and I used to mill about just to find an open room, or what have you. As I was walking the hallway I heard some tapping going on. I could tell from the sounds that it wasn't the three finger, "Eruption", Ya know "beaten to death version, tapping concept, but there were multiple intervals just flowing about the air. I was intrigued, and I wished to follow these melodies to the room that they were expounding from. There was TJ Helmerich, alone, and just tapping up storms. I went inside, sat there, he nodded in a welcoming fashion, and I just sat there, across from him, as he was going about his routine.

I was super impressed, but I was able to understand, and appreciate what he was doing a lot. I was quite familiar with tapping myself, so everything he was playing was not beyond my comprehension. His playing was incredible, he didn't rely entirely on tapping, but he could have done that, and that alone to just blow other's minds. He stopped playing, I got out my guitar, and plugged in to jam a bit with this guy. He was giving me the floor now, and I just started cruising about through some ideas, or whatever. Blending some scales/ modes/ techniques, just ripping off of the top of my head, and off the cuff. It was cool to have TJ ( a fellow student then ) watching, for he'd already fried my mind beyond recognition, and it was my time to attempt to fry his. It worked!!! Haha!!!!! It was a victory for both of us, and we'd shared things throughout our stay at MI. He was always fond of me, and I was always most fond of him.

Laurie Monk: That is a cool memory, I normally just think of TJ Helmerich as the teacher, the master producer or what have you... but I guess he must have started somewhere, I think he had lessons with Jennifer Batten if I recall. So was it all shred?

Aaron Berg: No, Michael Ward was anti-shred. The polar opposite of the idea. He used to laugh at me, and tell me to just chill out!!!!

Laurie Monk: Laughs!!

Aaron Berg: He emphasised to me OVER, and OVER again that it wasn't about a bunch of notes, playing fast as all hell, and that it was more about colours. The moods that certain chords created, and the importance of writing an actual song. I didn't let much of that sink in then, but his teachings affected me more after GIT than ANY of the instructors there. I know he did the Wallflowers thing, and went on to Ben Harper, but I have no idea what he is doing now. I would LOVE to see Michael Ward, and tell him how much he changed my life.



Laurie Monk: Did you ever get in contact with Mike Varney?

Aaron Berg: I was in the Resume column. Sept. '90 ( Guitar For The Practising Musician ) John Stix wrote me a couple of times. Nice guy, and Varney? I got his home phone from a friend, and called him up. I had a song on cassette that I'd recorded, I asked him if he had time to listen, set up the boom-box, and away we went. After the song was played to him over the phone, I came back not to expect him to still be on the line. He listened to the whole thing, and likened me to a young Malmsteen. He told me to put some more material together, and stay in direct contact. I blew it off!!!

Vinnie Moore told me at NAMM in '86 to not do instrumental stuff. He's like, " Get a real band together, like The Beatles, and write songs, not riffs. " He'd expressed some negativity regarding his Shrapnel experience, so I just heeded his advice. Vinnie Moore is a very, very nice person, and I thank him for being so candid with a 16 year old kid.

Laurie Monk: That was sage advice from Vinnie Moore, I guess his playing with UFO earns him the real bread and butter. When did you meet Vinnie Moore first?

Aaron Berg: With Vinnie... I was about 15 when Vinnie Moore was doing a clinic tour in support of his, " Mind's Eye, " release. I, of course, would be in attendance, for I'd owned the album myself, and I loved the music. I'd, initially, read about Vinnie in a very small article in a guitar mag, and they were speaking very highly about him as a force to be reckoned with. I had the album title in mind [minds eye] , and I eventually bought it. What a dear guy Vinnie is. I mean, such a very soft spoken, and kind individual.



During the clinic he was offering the room up for questions, and nobody was raising their hands. I said screw this, I'm going to ask him something. There was one part in the very first song that was super quick. It was about 5-8 seconds in it's duration, but the notes just blazed. I asked him about this, tried to explain the part, and everyone just laughed, as well as did he. I said, you know that part where you play really fast. Hehe, yeah the guy plays fast most of the time, so which part right??? He couldn't figure it out, as he'd play something. " You mean this part? " I was like no. " Oh, you mean this part. " Actually Vinnie no. Hahahaha. He quickly moved on with the clinic from there. LOL, I was embarrassed, but at the end he, and I talked a bit. I met him a year or so later at NAMM Chicago, and he'd remembered me from the clinic. Yeah, the kid with the really dumb question. Hehe, no, he was so cool to me, and one on one in conversation. People were curious to our little pow wow there, but he, and myself were in a zone. He gave me some very constructive advice, and that I will never forget.

Laurie Monk: Can you tell me about your experiences with Paul Gilbert:

Aaron Berg: Paul was one of the main reasons for my move to Los Angeles to attend this school. I'd befriended an extra-ordinary player, Craig Erickson, as it was often fun for me to haunt local music shops in Iowa, in my teens, and show off some chops to whomever maybe present. Young, impressionable, looking for positive feedback I was, so I entered the Erickson family store, and I was in a groove this particular day. I noticed dude there, and started peeling some frets immediately. It was go time, and this cat looked like he had some serious experience. As I played, I'd used my peripheral senses of sight, and knew then, that I had some ears on me. It was Craig, and he came closer. I figured I'd played enough notes in a reasonably short amount of time, and I would then just give the damn guitar neck a break!

Heck this guy was wanting to talk, and I'd rocked the house plenty in about 2.6 minutes. He asked me if I'd heard of Racer X, or someone named Paul, and I was oblivious. He gave me huge props on my playing, and suggested that I research this Gilbert guy. He thought it would be right up my alley, and this band/person was someone worth looking into. About three days later I found myself at the Sam Goody, in the metal section, sifting through the various vinyl releases. I remembered the Racer X thing for I was a big Speed Racer kid, and sure enough there it was.

The only one, and with some disclaimer, or warning sticker about how terrifying the contents of this recording were. I was like, Craig says check this guy out, I'm here looking at it, and I read he's extremely harmful to listen to if you consider yourself any good. Wow, I had to buy the record. It was a no brainer, mind you, I'd heard note zero, but Erickson seemed serious about me listening to the guy. I took the album home, carefully unwrapped the contraption, and placed it on the turntable. It hit me like a shotgun between the eyes from the very first sound.

Laurie Monk: Wow that is spooky, you know I recall that time too, in guitar player magazine the mini Mike Varney's Shrapnel advert, Steeler, Vinnie Moore, Tony MacAlpine and Racer X! I just loved that album... totally over the top lyrics and the two instrumentals, YRO and Frenzy! Ha... I got all excited again... I just must see this band get together again and then see them play live... but I digress...

Aaron Berg: Mike Varney had brought Yngwie Malmsteen into my life, and he'd done it again. I was dumbfounded, and LOVED the essence of Paul's speed, vibrato, rhythmic sense, and just outright BALLS! Wow, from that point on I was Gilbert-ified, and my teacher from years before told me of his experience at GIT. I'd been completely blown away, and past suggestion had collided with actuality, after I'd learned Paul was an instructor at GIT. I saw Paul every day, practically, when I attended the school, and more times than not I wouldn't play around him much, for the impact he'd had on me created a pedestal, and a damn throne in my mind. The guy was a machine with musical genius sense. A complete anomaly.


Laurie Monk: Being in the UK I can recall Guitar World and those hot guitar guys appearing at NAMM. Did you get to go to NAMM around that time?



Aaron Berg: I entered a guitar contest, as well as did a bass player buddy of mine, and fellow band-mate when I was sixteen. Danny Langfield was ridiculous on bass, and he and I spent many o' night until the wee hours jammin' dual runs, riffs, or what have you. We played " The Devil Went Down to Georgia, " at his school's talent show with a couple of other guys, and it was like a concert event. We'd done, " Ice Cream Man " first, but the Daniel's tune, of which we likened ourselves to the Roth dynamic duo Vai/Sheehan just rocked the whole place. He and I were inseparable, and would eventually move together to Los Angeles for the bigtime. That's a whole other story, so I'll take us back to the actual contest. He ended up winning this, and I'd taken second, for he'd just baffled people entering a guitar contest, as a bass player, and out playing everyone. Yes even myself. I sucked it up, for we had an agreement. The grand prize was a two day trip to Chicago NAMM compliments of the local music store, and if either one of us won? The guest would be the other.

Laurie Monk: wow that must have been cool... NAMM just seemed like a dream to me!

Aaron Berg: I walked the NAMM floor, and hung out at several booths. Ibanez was a seemingly safe bet for us to encounter some players, for sure. Of course I was seeing familiar faces regardless of physical location, but I knew Gilbert played Ibanez, he was scheduled to play that afternoon, and I just planted myself. I swear not ten minutes later I spotted Paul Gilbert. I saw very few pictures, for he'd been pretty underground with Racer X, but I felt his presence. He was riffing on a guitar that was unplugged, by himself, no strap, but kind of standing, and playing at a leaning angle. I approached him, he said hello, and there was small talk. He asked me if I wanted to jam on the guitar, or try it out???



Laurie Monk: Laughs!

Aaron Berg: Oh no, no, no, no, I was just fine where I was at. His playing was like a machine gun as far as his picking. I heard about the baseball card in bicycle spokes theory years later, and understood it from my NAMM encounter. The wonderful thing about that day was that I was the only person who knew who he was. Most were chasing around Dweezil Zappa, and Michael Angelo, and I had my private moment with a monster.

Laurie Monk: When you finished at GIT did have a clue what you would do, did GIT give you the business side of guitar playing for example?

Aaron Berg: GIT was of, like, legend to me, for I'd heard of Jennifer Batten jumping ship, getting snatched up by the late Michael Jackson, and thought WOW!!! If a chick can get a gig like that from this school, then Ozzy will most certainly pluck me from the place! All I have to do is move there, go to the school, and my career will just take off!!! A no brainer right??? WRONG!!!! I eventually sat with Ozzy at my F.M. Station show years after GIT, but he wasn't hearing me. I'd played a show, and we'd headlined.

The VIP section aside from the stage was mine for the mingling. I was all sweaty, for I'd just played for about an hour, and I was being approached by many, as to be told of a great show, or whatever. I saw Michael Angelo Batio, and he came up to me, as well. He told me that he loved my solo ( unaccompanied/3.5 minutes ), and we shot the breeze for a bit. He was trying to tell me how they had a team of Japanese transcribers working on notating one measure of one of his solos. He was telling me that they were unable to fit all of the notes on a 8.5/11 piece of paper. The paper wasn't big enough! Hahahaha

Laurie Monk: Laughs!

Aaron Berg: I love Michael to death, for he'd remembered me even from NAMM years before, but he was not making sense at all. I mean who cares, right??? It's like the Nigel Tufnel amps going to eleven. There was no team of Japanese people, and he made me laugh at times. Little did I know that Ozzy was there, and I saw some dude with a cane, a top hat, and I told my buddy hey that guy looks like OZZY. He was like, dude, it is Ozzy!

I thought now that I had Batio under wraps, I'd turn my focus to the Godfather of metal. I watched him a bit, and saw that he'd sat at a circular, small, raised table, and that neither of the two beautiful blondes he was with where sitting on the stool next to him. I just introduced myself, asked to sit there, and he bought me a beer. I was freaking out!!! When Randy died it made me cry, and I'd such a feeling of connection, so sitting now with OZZY himself was blowing every part of my mind. I was quite familiar with Zakk Wylde, and I was most positive that I would fail at stealing the gig, but I still tried very hard to convince him that I was the guy. We talked mostly about Randy, and Zakk came up as well, but for the most part it was
an innocent, and candid conversation. We got along right on the spot, and it was cool to connect with him away from the annoying fan idea. I chose my words wisely, and we had a nice encounter.

Laurie Monk: Look like Zakk Wylde is out of Ozzy now too. So MI didn't get you the job then?

Aaron Berg: Funny thing, Joe Holmes (ex-Terriff) was in not some two years later, and did the Ozzmosis tour. I knew Joe, as we'd played shows with his band at some of the same LA hot spots. My timing was a bit off, I guess, but I gave it a good college try. GIT got me so many band gigs though. Just the mention of it, and most groups would even audition me, just by association! Which is kind of funny, 'cause one can be a beginner, and attend the school. That didn't matter then to most, for I'd say the letters MI, and I got the gig immediately.

I tried out for a cruise ship gig at MI, I got my demo to Mark Slaughter from MI, and I almost joined Warrant as Erik Turner was having some alcohol issues. I had a handful of other near misses with pretty successful acts, but I took away mostly personal, stylistic, and knowledge type things from MI, and not so much business. You have to be lucky with the business thing. It's all about timing, who you know, how prepared you are, and how much pure luck you are charmed with. Once you get any break, it's real, and you have no choice then, but to capitalise on the opportunity. I have many 'ol buddies that were more charmed than I, and they are still touring the world. This is OK though, for I've yet to discover just what is actually in store for me. I am just fine by that.

Laurie Monk: So what are you doing at the moment?



Aaron Berg: I am, and have been in total seclusion. The internet is my only window to the outside world. I'm in Wisconsin, of all places, and no musical groups that are here are of any interest to me. Most bands here are cover acts, I've been there, and done that. I have a REAL job, but it doesn't fulfill my creative obligation. I have been in direct contact with a female vocalist in Philadelphia, and we'd met on myspace. Barry Bennadetta ( ex- Waysted ) was her main collaborator for eight years there, and she'd had a much similar experience of close calls in the business. We are hitting it off in many more ways than music itself, but Christina has played her recent stuff for me over the phone, and it's really entrancing. I love it, I love her, and in a matter of months I will be there. It is time for me to find a home, get a major label deal, record the works, and tour the world. This is all tangible stuff, and everything is looking very, very good. She is pulling some serious favors, and setting it all up to succeed. She has hundreds of guitar player buddies, but she likes my sound, and spirit. She likens me to Carlos Santana. I find that quite kind of her, and I promise the music to come to be like nothing ever heard before. I'm pushing 40, and I am JUST getting started.

Laurie Monk: I really appreciate you taking the time out to talk about GIT for guitar fans!

You are always most welcome Laurie. Cheerz apb out!

http://www.myspace.com/lanemergess2
www.youtube.com/aaronbergAPB

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