The life and music of Jason Becker

This is an article I had written in Feb 2004 for VAYU groupites:

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If you a rock and roll follower, you have probably heard fair share of tragedies, burnouts, frustrations, fall through of personalities. From Lynyrd Skynyd’s plain crash, to untimely death of Stevie Ray Vaughan, to tragic death of Marvin Gaye, or Norah Jones’s troubled relationship with her father. The stage has many such painful memories.

But the tale you probably will not come across much, may be the one most compelling rock and roll tale of all: the story of a young, dynamic virtuoso guitarist Jason Becker. Jason Becker never had great commercial success of any of his albums going platinum or had his picture on cover of Guitar World, he never even played his guitar with his tongue!!

Way back, when he could still hold a guitar, he was one hell of a player. He made his name amongst the best shred guitarist of eighties, when speed guitar was the coolest thing around. Jason always wanted to be a guitar hero. It was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream that began when he picked up the guitar at the age of five, when his uncle, Ron, started teaching him blues and started jamming with him. His father, Gary, taught him classical guitar. During elementary school, his biggest influences were Bob Dylan and the Band, Andres Segovia, Christopher Parkening, Fernando Sor, Eric Clapton, Paul Simon, Randy Newman and Willie Nelson. He would learn and play along with records of Derek and the Dominos, lots of Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, Roy Buchanan, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and the Steve Morse band. His inclination towards classical music showed in his playing of Bach, Mozart and Vivaldi.

From his early days, Jason wanted to do things as good as anyone. In an interview to guitar world he wrote.“Before I had ever heard of Yngwie, some 14-year-old kid gave me a tape of a long guitar solo of Yngwie doing his thing, but it was sped up to 45 [rpm]-speed. This kid told me it was himself playing. Being 14 myself, I was bumming pretty hard. I mean, I thought I was just wasting my time. Then I decided I had to play like that. So I learned that whole damn solo at that double speed. When I finally found out it wasn't that kid and I heard it at regular speed, I was relieved. “

Jason was always ready to learn new things from just about anyone. He absorbed all kinds of music from around the world, and melded different aspects of each style into his playing. In high school, Becker met his good friend Marty Friedman, and the two of them hit it off instantly. They were both excellent guitarists, who shared the same vision of speedmetal. Marty Friedman had a big influence on Jason, in terms of maturity of writing and composing. Instead of playing like him, Jason blossomed in his own style. Jason also was influenced a lot by his friends Richie Kotzen and Greg Howe. Funnily one of the things that effected Jason, was old Disney music (Pinocchio especially J ..). He loved the drama and the magic, and the emotions.

Just a teenager at the time (16), Becker with Marty Friedman recorded four albums of searing, neo-classical shred guitar for Mike Varney's Shrapnel label, forever earning himself a place in the shred Hall of Fame.
Together, they put out an album, and toured Japan and the U.S. under the name Cacophony (Atma Anur on drums, Peter Marrino on vocals, Jimmy O’Shea: bass).. While they never went mainstream in the U.S., Europeans embraced their music and they sold out almost everywhere they went. 2 marvels of Cacophony were Speed Metal Symphony and Go Off!. These were compositional thrash marvels of such intricate precise speed-picking that it is doubtful playing of this kind will ever be duplicated. Together they presented the future of Bach’n’roll, adding Stravinsky, Philip Glass and Bartok to the list of not-so-obvious influences for an electric rock guitarist. I would recommend some amazing stuff like “Speed Metal Symphony”, “Savage”, “Desert Island”, “Images”, “Sword of the warrior”, “Black Cat”. These aren’t neo classical like Vinnie Moore, Tony MacAlpine or Malmsteen, these are pure “Cacophony”. And like in Asterix, these can open up the heavens! The whole guitar fraternity went berserk over “Cacophony”, and Jason was heralded as the next milestone after Malmsteen.


Becker then went solo for a couple of years,. On his first solo album, Perpetual Burn, Jason extended his reach with the acoustic classical piece "Air" – a clean-toned, counterpoint, multi-layered piece. This is my favorite album of Jason Becker. This has the emotional and passionate “Altitudes”, the funny but very interesting “Mabel’s Fatal Fable” which gradually explodes, the blazing “Perpetual Burn” and “Eleven Blue Egyptians”.



When he turned 20, he joined David Lee Roth's supporting band, taking the place of the great Steve Vai. With Roth, Becker recorded A Little Ain't Enough, and was voted n the coveted Best New Guitarist award from Guitar Magazine. With his public visibility increased a hundredfold, Jason did an about-face on the classical influences and returned to his rockin’ blues roots, showing off touch, phrasing and a clear Albert King influence in his playing

Things were looking up for Becker, but during the recording of the album, Becker noticed a limp in his left leg. Unfortunately, his guitar-playing career came to an abrupt halt. Becker was diagnosed with amyotropic lateral sclerosis (ALS) - better known as Lou Gehrig's disease - a terminal illness that gradually destroys the neurons that control movement. As the motor neurons die, patients steadily lose their ability to move. The brain, however, remains unaffected, and patients become trapped in a body that no longer works.

While Becker was barely able to finish the album, he was not able to tour with the David Lee Roth band to support A Little Ain't Enough. He stayed behind, and continued recording in his home studio. Becker was diagnosed with only five years to live, but that was almost fourteen/fifteen years ago. He is still living in Glendale, California.
I remember in 1991-92, I entered the hostel room of my guitarist friend Tieso, and found him sitting with his head down. When he told me about Jason, I could not speak a word- just the previous day we were listing to “Perpetual Burn”!
Confined to a wheelchair, he eats and breathes through a tube, receiving care and sustenance from his family and friends. Although ALS has left him not only motionless but speechless, Becker is able to communicate by using a system of rapid eye movements developed by his father, Gary Becker. Amazingly, Jason Becker's spirit remains as vital and positive as ever. In that condition Jason wrote “Perspective” (and later ‘The Raspberry Jams’), a testament to his indomitable fighting spirit and determination to remain a creative and productive musical force. Having lost the ability to play the guitar, Becker painstakingly wrote the album on the Macintosh computer. The album runs the gamut from symphonic works to a chordal piece, world music and rock. While Firkins handled the guitar parts on one of the main symphonic works, "End of the Beginning," the album featured some guitar work by Becker, which he had recorded on an eight-track before he developed ALS, and later synced up to the recordings of the other musicians. There is this very emotional song “End of the beginning”. Every time, I listen to it, my heart goes numb and my eyes wet.
Becker also released an album called “The Raspberry Jams”. This contained some unreleased demos recorded when he could still play. The Raspberry Jams features stellar guitar performances that demonstrates his passionate neo-classical and masterful blues chops. “Breath taking solos, speed and precision yet amazingly human and spontaneous” – described Guitar World.
"I believe I will be healed," he wrote on the liner notes to his 1995 album Perspective "but if not, so be it. Even though I have this disease, I am really lucky in most ways. I am surrounded by friends and loved ones who never let me forget my inner fire, hope and faith. Many handicapped people do not have this luxury." “.. With meditation and prayer I am so full of peace and love, how could life be boring? And it doesn't just work for old crippy here! Often in my mediations, or shut-up time for the mind, I receive whole symphonies.”
While there is still no effective treatment for ALS, scientists have recently made some progress determining its causes, and believe the disease may be caused by an infection. The news puts Jason Becker one step closer to his belief that he will be cured. Like many others, I will keep hoping and praying for this great musician, composer who carries the true spirit of music. Like Eric Johnson said - AH VIA MUSICOM!

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Courtesy: Guitar World Mag, Guitar Player Mag, JasonBecker.com