Bob Savage is an accomplished and adroit axe wielder currently based in Orange County, California (U.S.A.) who represents his playing style as instrumental hard/heavy rock, as a music fan can now experience on his most recent recording, "Retrofitted". His workhorse guitars consist of a Vigier Excalibur Custom and a Vigier Excalibur Original. Savage has been playing guitar since 1980, and putting it simply, divulges his career objective, "As much as I love writing music and playing guitar, engineering and/or
producing is the direction I see myself moving in. I can't imagine walking
away from playing and writing because it is a serious passion of mine,
however, engineering is an area I have been involved in for several years
now, and it has become more interesting and fun with each passing year."
When asked to finally make public his favorite or most used effect for the guitar, Savage unflinchingly stated, "Delay," and continued by outlining his musicial goals, "My primary focus is song composition. Arrangement and melody have always
been of utmost importance to me, because I like the listener to walk away
humming melodies or reflecting upon something that they heard in the tune.
Guitar solos are great, but you have to capture the listener's attention
with a memorable melody, arrangement or "gimmick" of some type, first. Once
you have their attention, a little gratuitous plank spanking is just the
icing on the cake." He maintains a desire to, at some point, study engineering - more specifically, mixing and mastering, apprenticing with any of today's top mastering engineers, such as Bernie Grundman, George Marino or Ted Jensen, and is at the moment listening to old Elton John ("Goodbye Yellow Brick Road"), Dream Theater ("Octavarium"), Lamb of God ("Ashes of the Wake"), Alice In Chains ("Dirt".) and UFO ("Strangers in the Night")
. His principal gratification? "As artists, I believe that first and foremost we must be able to look back
upon our compositions and have satisfied ourselves, however, I would
categorize this as a requirement rather than a "greatest satisfaction". In
my opinion, the greatest satisfaction is when the mood, message, melody,
arrangement or theme of a composition touches the listener. The
satisfaction of knowing a composition has moved another person is a feeling
that never grows old," he explains absolutely.
Savage wraps up by noting long-term and forthcoming endeavors enthusiastically, by saying, "My next "big" project is tracking drums and then mixing a project for a
fellow musician, however, I will also begin writing and arranging the music
for my next album once I have fully developed the album's concept and theme."
Savage's discography (available here at Guitar Nine Records) includes one solo album ("Retrofitted").
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