WHO AM I?
What's up guys, Matt The Riff Master here, so...
...Firstly you may be thinking why "Matt The RIFF MASTER?"...am I right? Well it all began when I started to improve my guitar playing and really began to love playing rhythm guitar. As I started my journey down the road of aspiring to become a rhythm guitar player, it started to shine through in my playing that I had the love and passion for the power of the GUITAR RIFF. As the months rolled on, I became possessed by the RIFF! The sound, the feel and the CHUG!! Every time I would pick up the guitar and play, I would just start writing riff after riff after RIFF!!! One day, I was jamming with my good friend Chris Lamport, the man who got me into playing guitar, he stopped...turned and looked at me and said..."`Matt The Riff Master:"
Where it all began...
...Well that is where my good friend Chris Lamport comes into it again. This man has been a huge part of my life growing up, he would take care of me from time to time when I was around 8 years old. One day, I went round to his house, I heard an almighty noise coming from upstairs. I decided to investigate and try to find the source of this God Almighty sound. I slowly ventured up the stairs with curiosity as the noise got louder and louder. As I reached half way up the stairs, I lifted my head up...and saw two feet dangling out of the loft hatch and there he was, playing what I now know to be the Enter Sandman Riff by Metallica. I watched on in amazement because the noise I was hearing stopped me in my tracks. It was loud and what I would describe now as heavy and chug.
This is the moment that I realised that I wanted to make that exact same sound! This sparked my inspiration to play guitar once I found out exactly what it was he was doing, because back then it was just a noise...but it was a noise I liked. I began asking question after question, trying to find out what is behind the noise.
All my questions were answered the day he showed me all of his gear, After being blown away by all the things he showed me, I still had no idea what any of it did. BUT IT LOOKED COOL.
During all of this, one more question arose...while he was showing me his gear, there was music playing in the background which was unlike anything I had ever heard before. So I had to ask him "what are you listening to?". One word came from his mouth "Metallica". At first I was like "oh ok". He then continued to show me a video from one of their live shows, Cunning Stunts...from that moment on, everything changed.
My Influences
As my interest in guitar and music grew, I was told to check out a lot of different bands including, Metallica, Black Sabbath, Pantera and Black Label Society. I would listen to these bands religiously and as I listened to these bands play riff after riff after riff, the passion and the eagerness to play guitar grew. The more I would listen to them, the more I would study the guitar players, James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Zakk Wylde, Tony Iommi and Dimebag Darrell. These were the guys I aspired to be like and I knew this was the kind of music I wanted to play and write.