Alex Skolnick Interview by Sweetwater

[@EmJay.1971]

It’s always very captivating listening to Alex, he’s such a knowledgable and humble guy! Very inspirational!

[@estebanfumero3728]

Man Mitch Gallagher is the best interviewer in music. Great questions and he just let Alex take his time with his answers. Great content as always

[@claymartin5167]

Awesome interview, most of his questions aren't even Questions just comments that get him going, every once in a while he will ask a Quick to keep it going and moving to the next question that he doesn't really ask

[@RobPierce103]

hearing alex talk about music and what inspires him to keep the music fresh is really awesome to hear. great interview

[@Steve_9292]

Well that hour just flew by. What a great guy Alex is. And Mitch always provides a quality interview.

[@1970borntorun]

Alex is the "new" Randy Rhoads ♫ Like Randy - Here's a man who knows Theory/Modes, but doesn't sound technical or rehearsed, always plays for the song, knows gear inside and out, has an unfailing dedication to learning from ALL genres, and ALWAYS plays with his Soul and passion. And you may not think this makes a difference in one's playing, but it does: Randy and Alex are both class acts, intelligent and humble.

[@GrumpyMJK]

Alex is such a huge hero of mine. He has feel and most of all you can tell he's a true musician. In love with the art and not afraid to try new things! Thank you soooooooooooooooooo much Mitch and Sweetwater!

[@RWM0000]

Great Interview. Skolnick is one of the greats for sure. An amazing player, very diverse. Metal Allegiance looks to be great to check out.

[@evalex71]

Versatile and incredible musician and great guy to boot. There is always some magic when this guy plays

[@nirvhannahgarden]

doesn't even feel like 50 minutes went by. absolute gentlemen! and alex himself is without question, the sweetest guy and so intelligent to boot.

[@dougsteeleguitar]

Two awesome guys.

[@johnsiegmund3995]

excellent interview as always

[@johnk7093]

5:28.... love that statement. KISS had its place to get me into music, they opened the door... none of them held the books for me to learn... Alex is my fav guitarist.... thanks for posting this.

[@jelmeromero]

Great interviewer! Love how he let's Alex complete his thoughts and ideas. It's almost like he's talking to me directly. I forget about the interviewer which is how it's suppose to be right? It's all about Alex.

[@patrickedwards8518]

Great guitar tone. Love the bluesy jazz sound.

[@kimlarsson7259]

That was a bloody awesome blues-funk intro.

[@admarhermans1]

Great! I'm in awe of this man's knowledge, broad intellectual approach of all things (non)musical and calm but powerfull 'kung-fu master' like energy. I didn't even know who he was before I accidently found this video...

[@CatherineAKennedy]

both such intelligent gentlemen

[@BobbyLaneProductions]

very cool! one of my fave guitarists wearing a T-shirt from a hometown venue. nice!

[@greatvanzini]

This guy is very diverse in choices. As a NOT a metal fan it keeps me watching. Mitch, of course always has good I Views.

[@Jonesy35776]

Holy shit!! Look at his shirt!! The Orange Peel Asheville NC!! That’s my home town! Got tickets for Testament, Exodus and Death Angel in September. AT THE ORANGE PEEL 🤘🏼😝🤘🏼

[@bestboy897]

satriani did such a great job teaching alex wish he could teach a thing or two to hammett as well

[@carbajal8283]

Actually Satriani said that Alex wasn't exactly a model student lol

[@1970borntorun]

Well, thankfully, Alex doesn't play without feeling and emotion like Joe does.

[@evalex71]

carbajal8283 I never read or heard that anywhere. Joe is respectful of all his past students, I've never heard him say a negative thing about anybody

[@1970borntorun]

Ronin 77 I'm sure Joe said that in a tongue in cheek, kind way. I may not care for his playing but I know he's a kind person.

[@jorgosagb]

All time hero!

[@mtrich8113]

I still got the picture me and Alex at the Testament show promoting the New World Order order. Great hearted guy great player and what I really love about him he's not a musical racist.👍👍👍👍

[@pamrotella]

I happened to be in Fort Wayne in 2015 and heard about Alex Skolnick's guitar workshop at Sweetwater. He was amazing, but now I'm looking for a video of that event and can't find it online. I'd really like a friend of mind to see it, as people are teasing her about the weird chords she uses and I remember Skolnick showing us chords he'd recently learned and enjoyed, also unusual. At that particular event, Skolnick was performing for an audience, demonstrating a guitar that has a product endorsement by him (or was developed to his specifications). The audience seemed to be mostly younger musicians. Did anyone post one of these videos, and if you did, would you post the link (or key words to find it) here? Thanks!

[@pamrotella]

+Pam Rotella I think I found another KZbin video of his with chords similar to the ones I was looking for-- featuring his lesson on his jazz version of "Fade to Black." Meanwhile, my friend has gone off to real estate school and lessons to work with horses before she inherits one, something like that. But I'm sure she'll enjoy that video if I see her again, so I saved the link. She was very proud of being able to write original piano songs for her mother while she was in the hospital, despite no traditional training on the piano. But her chords weren't standard A B C etc., and so people who knew music would rib her about the weird chords she used. I think the guitarist Alex de Grassi mentioned that he wasn't formally trained on guitar at first, and so it gave his music a different sound to it. But I saw several young fans / musicians recording Alex Skolnick's guitar workshop on their cell phones, and Sweetwater was recording it, too. That was a great lesson, so if anyone ever posts it please put the link here or the title of the video on KZbin so that I can find it. Since then, I've seen several lesson videos and demonstrations by Skolnick on KZbin, and he is a great guitar teacher, really understands the music and is great at explaining it. He reminds me of something that my late father (whose only musical credential was playing clarinet for the Army band after being drafted out of college into the Korean conflict) told us about rock guitarists -- that they'd make it look easy on stage, but what they were actually doing took tremendous musical skill.

[@LarsBauer74]

apart from being a great musician, he is a very interesting guy to listen to talk. very cool interview, also great questions from Mitch! Thanks!!!

[@johnunderwood3132]

The beginning Jan reminded me of a Steely Dan sound

[@gringochucha]

Love how they trolled all the metalheads by starting the video with Alex jamming out some funk xD. Also very interesting to hear that he's an E.S.T. fan. Esbjörn Svensson was a phenomenal pianist and that band crafted some very special music.

[@yournamehere7182]

He plays guitar because of Ace Frehley.

[@randysliter9868]

Why do Satriani don't say much about him anymore?

[@joerectifier]

Ace Frehley influenced a lot of kids to play guitar…myself included. Say what you will, but he was and is immensely influential.

[@stonerdrums]

For the love of god dont make the mistake I did, and get a Sweetwater credit card. Especially when you only live an hour away from this particular Sweetwater store/studio.

[@carvinblack]

Does anyone else get that annoying phone call about 6 times a year from some sales guy at Sweetwater that sounds like an old school DJ? Cold calls still exist in this day and age? Lol.

[@joerectifier]

Never diss The Beatles….they set the world upside down in terms of music. The BW Ed Sullivan stuff is great

[@Thekeon3]

Very digital sound and it sounds like his string gauge is too high for how he plays? He is very groovy for a metal guy.

[@jimmywells33]

Looks like Alex is working on his Hoglan starter kit with that second trimester gut he's throwing around. I wonder how much he got paid for this appearance.

[@nirvhannahgarden]

enough to keep that tummy of his well fed and happy. grow up

[@mrfriendly9956]

This is what you see when someone does not prepare for an interview, it looks awkward for the host.