A while back a nice young gentleman from Norway posted a request for some lead guitar work on a modernized version of the Stryper power ballad "Together As One". I offered my services and got the gig. Seems he has finished the track and posted it.
 
http://forum.cakewalk.com/Together-as-One-Stryper-cover-m3240395.aspx
 
Bonus: Loverly girl vox. Not sure if she wore a spandex bumblebee outfit while tracking but I like to think she did. :-)

Yeah dood! that is one awesome piece of music (and nice guitar work too  )

Thanks, Andy. Kind of off the beaten path for me musically but it was a slippy slidy noodly solo which I can do. I think he did a rather nice job of it all. His other stuff by contrast is ultra fast and crunchy. Cheers!

Nice playing! Can I say it reminds me a little of John Sykes? 

Ha! Thanks, sharke. I actually had to look up who John Sykes was but after hearing some of his lead work it seems I do play quite a bit like him. He's got the aggressive pick attack like I do. Michael Sweet (the guy from Stryper) has that really light touch type playing which I was having a hard time emulating (probably partly due to my guitar and the fact I use really thick strings). Fortunately Jarsve was into that. It was an interesting challenge especially considering there was a significant transposition upward and I had to learn it all by ear.
 
Cheers.

John Sykes is probably best known for being in Whitesnake and playing on the 1987 album. They got a lot of stick for becoming a hair band but I really liked that record - at the time I was pretty much into thrash and hardcore so I surprised myself by liking what was essentially polished pop rock. I guess Tawny Kitaen in the Is This Love video was a factor as well . Listening back to it now I still think it's got some excellent songwriting and playing on it.

Heh... I had originally typed up a reply rambling on about how my influences strayed from the glam/hair metal very quickly after I picked up the guitar into thrash then alternative then hardcore/punk but it was coming across as a little egotistical so I erased it. I never much got into Whitesnake but I do recall that in the sea of gimmicky hair bands of the time they were considered the "real" musician's choice for that style while others were faking it/just along for the ride. I wasn't big on the style of music but certainly had some respect for them.
 
Hopefully he doesn't mind me revealing this but I'm now actually working on an original Jarsve wrote and dude... it is freaking heavy and very well written. Much more my style except but it's got a serious classical flavor to it (whereas I usually write bizzarro modal dissonance stuff with a bit of quirked out blues/rock to bring it back to earth). I think you in particular will really dig it. May not be ready for a while and I'm not sure if he'll post it but I'll try to encourage him to.
 
Cheers.

Sounds interesting, look forward to hearing it if he posts it. I think it's great to get outside of your comfort zone every now and then, it can only improve your playing and overall musicality. I once, on a whim, started a barbershop quartet (actually turned into a quintet) with some friends and we rehearsed some of those old classics like crazy (Tiptoe Through The Tulips, That's My Baby etc). It was a great learning experience to pick apart those old barbershop harmonies and concentrate on what we were singing. Some of them had these wild modulations and very rich chords. Great ear practice, even though I would never listen to barbershop music at home. 
 
It's amazing how music tastes change though. Some of the stuff I hated as a teen in the 80's has really grown on me over the last few years, stuff like the Smiths. You tend to pooh-pooh stuff that doesn't fit in with your precious image when you're younger, but as you get older and your ego backs off a little, you learn to appreciate it. 

FWIW John Sykes was also in the later verssion of Thin Lizzy (from whence my avatar !......).

Not one of my favourite Lizzians - (without opening a can o' worms ) his solos sound similar - but got to admit he could shred. The live version of Holy Wars is him up front.

Cheers,
Jerry

sharke
Sounds interesting, look forward to hearing it if he posts it. I think it's great to get outside of your comfort zone every now and then, it can only improve your playing and overall musicality. I once, on a whim, started a barbershop quartet (actually turned into a quintet) with some friends and we rehearsed some of those old classics like crazy (Tiptoe Through The Tulips, That's My Baby etc). It was a great learning experience to pick apart those old barbershop harmonies and concentrate on what we were singing. Some of them had these wild modulations and very rich chords. Great ear practice, even though I would never listen to barbershop music at home. 
 
It's amazing how music tastes change though. Some of the stuff I hated as a teen in the 80's has really grown on me over the last few years, stuff like the Smiths. You tend to pooh-pooh stuff that doesn't fit in with your precious image when you're younger, but as you get older and your ego backs off a little, you learn to appreciate it. 

I used to get RAAAAAAGGGED on soooper hard by my hardcore buddies for all the stuff I used to do on the side like the old school country, folk, celtic, whatever stuff but that's really where I ended up learning how to play my instrument better so when it came thrash the frack out it wasn't the same old crap. And really aside from super staunch, too cool for school, guys/gals there ended up being a lot of spiky haired, leather and patch clad psychos coming by those side gigs. A lot of the time those gigs ended up way drunker and crazier than the punk shows. lol
 
Never been much for "genre-ism". If it's good I'm in. I do tend to be much harsher in general though. Like I decide what's good on a song to song basis as opposed to deeming an artist or band good. I may REALLY like one or two songs someone puts out and despise the rest and my standards are high for what gets through. If a band or artist puts out stuff I consistently like THEN I'll consider myself a fan. Very few bands/artists get into that club. I mostly blame label pressure for destroying the initial vision of many of those artists but I honestly can't say why I gravitate toward the things I do. Total spazz. :-p
 

joakes
FWIW John Sykes was also in the later verssion of Thin Lizzy (from whence my avatar !......).

Not one of my favourite Lizzians - (without opening a can o' worms ) his solos sound similar - but got to admit he could shred. The live version of Holy Wars is him up front.

Cheers,
Jerry

Yeah, I noticed that in his bio. Being invited to play for TL is indeed a big deal. I certainly dig the Lizzy but not as rabidly as some. That is a massive honor though. Looks like he got rejected by both Ozzy and Dio. However after listening to some of his stuff I actually think he might have been a decent replacement for Rhoads. Ozzy kind of lost my attention after Randy.