The Undiscovered: Riccardo Vernaccini

Recording in his home studio, and playing all the instruments over his own drum programs, Italian guitarist Riccardo Vernaccini submitted his twelve song CD-R demo entitled ...At Last. A blend of hard rock, shred and fusion reminiscent of Greg Howe, Vernaccini has channeled all of his influences and a great deal of hard work into his compositions. Tight, intricate arrangements, which still allow for plenty of solo space, are a Vernaccini trademark, as the opening track, "Blind Date", will attest. Sweep picking, legato assaults, shred-lead choruses - all delivered with gut-felt conviction - are additional appealing qualities you'll hear a lot of in his guitar playing. He's not afraid to let it all out on a super high-energy number either, check out the closing track on his demo, "Run For Cover". Vernaccini is probably at that stage where hooking up with a virtuoso drummer and durable bassist is all he needs to take his instrumental career to the next level.

Initially inspired the Beatles, Neil Young and Mike Oldfield, Riccardo began playing guitar at the age of 12. Shortly afterwards, he began taking classical piano and music theory lessons. At age 15, Riccardo played his first gig in a KISS tribute band in front of 300 people. He credits Eddie Van Halen with changing his outlook and approach to the guitar. :Listening to players such as Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen and Paul Gilbert also pushed Riccardo to become as technically proficient as possible. Then, he began to teach guitar (over 30 students a week), while performing in clubs, as well as entering local and national guitar contests. In the early '90s, Riccardo was involved in a vocal-oriented hard rock project called Mirage. Lately, he has been much more interested in writing songs with vocal lines, before deciding in 2004 to do a completely instrumental demo project. Additional musical influences include Brian May, Journey, Steve Lukather, George Lynch, Extreme, Joe Satriani, Dream Theater, Al DiMeola, Eric Johnson, Steve Morse, King's X, Andy Timmons and Brett Garsed.

Vernaccini is currently teaching, studying and looking for additional musicians to work on his projects.

Riccardo Vernaccini
Italy