Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 21, 1992 TAG: 9202210258
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-8 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By JOE TENNIS CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
VETERAN GUITARIST GIVING FREE CLASS
Look out, ax-slingers: You're about to learn a trick or two.Guitarist extraordinaire Al Pitrelli is on his way to Mainstream Morrell Music in Blacksburg to stage a clinic on the instrument Monday at 7 p.m. Admission is free.
Pitrelli's recording and writing credits read like a who's who of popular rock performers: Danger Danger, Great White, Michael Bolton, Taylor Dane, Donny Osmond, Paul Stanley, Billy Sheehan (bassist for Mr. Big), Joe Lynn Turner (crooner for Rainbow and Deep Purple) and Eric Carmen (the "Hungry Eyes" guy and former leader of the Raspberries). He's also lead guitarist and musical director for Alice Cooper.
"He's been around. He's done a lot of things," says Mainstream's in-house guitar instructor, Richard Jessee, 26, of Blacksburg.
Jessee, who recently released his tour-de-force guitar-heavy debut, "Chronicles of Mischief and Mayhem," called Pitrelli's visit a chance for guitarists to "get a real view of a professional. . . . He's got some experience that's not really easily attained."
The guitar clinic is sponsored by Peavey Electronics. For more than a year, Pitrelli has been working with Peavey and Peavey's dealers by giving guitar clinics in several cities.
So far, the clinics have been going great, Pitrelli said in a press release. "There is this barrier between kids and musicians in bands that I try to do away with. I encourage questions and that kind of thing."
At the clinics, Pitrelli tries to squash myths about making it in music. "There is lots to learn about the business end of music. It's not as mystical as it seems," he said.
Pitrelli is a longtime guitar teacher. "I enjoy teaching. That's how I was brought up and that's what I'd like to always keep doing. It keeps me in touch with kids and keeps me humble. It also keeps me out of trouble if I'm teaching at 9 in the morning," he said.
For Mainstream owner Gary Everett, 37, who opened the Blacksburg store four years ago and another outlet in Radford last fall, Pitrelli's visit could be great hype for business, he said.
Plus, Everett added, folks can "come meet a rock star. . . . It turns out to be good for everybody."