Jaw-dropping
classical guitarist
Matt Palmer reveals
how his love of
’80s shredders like
Yngwie Malmsteen
and an unwanted
gift from his mother
inspired him to
turbocharge the
“Classical Gas”
mentality of yore
and create his own
mind-bogglingly
fast nylon-string
picking technique.
BY JASON SHADRICK
Matt Palmer isn’t your typical classical guitar
hero. His blistering technique
isn’t fueled by Fernando Sor and
Heitor Villa-Lobos arpeggio
studies, and his musicality wasn’t
originally inspired by lyrical Bach
passages. Palmer in essence turbocharged the vehicle of classical-guitar composition with a DIY
ethic inspired by the visceral
sounds and rule-breaking spirit
of early metal shredders. Unlike
most aspiring classical guitarists, who often find inspiration
in the works of Andrés Segovia
and Julian Bream, Palmer spent
his formative years nurturing his
musical yearnings with generous
helpings of Yngwie Malmsteen
and Marty Friedman.
“I first got a guitar when I
was about 10 years old,” Palmer
Matt Palmer’s main guitar was built in 2005 by luthier Kolya Panhuyzen. “There is a ton of volume, but it can also sound really soft and delicate.”
recalls. “This was when Guns
N’ Roses exploded on the scene,
so I was really inspired by Slash.
The image of a cool guy who
played the guitar really spoke to
me.” After poring over Slash’s
whisky-soaked pentatonic licks,
he moved on to the neoclassical shred deities of the period,
foreshadowing a greater stylistic
turn later in life.
“A short time after I started
playing guitar, I got into Randy
Rhoads—he was one of my
big influences all through
high school,” says Palmer. “I
played everything off the [Ozzy
Osbourne] Tribute album, and
from there I progressed into
really heavy stuff.” By that, he
means the thrashing riffs of
Slayer’s Kerry King and Jeff
Hanneman, as well as Pantera’s
Dimebag Darrell.
