Jason Becker - Alive and Well

While this past Monday was a day of spooky fun times, today I’d just like to take some time and reflect on one of rock’s greatest tragedies. That is, the tragedy of Jason Becker. Becker had a promising carrier ahead of him. He was in a band called Cacophony with fellow guitarist Marty Freidman. In that band, they shredded guitars at a million miles a minute. He had a blooming solo carrier and then was invited to join David Lee Roth’s solo band at the young age of 19. When he joined Roth’s band in 1990, he had to fill the big shoes of guitar hero Steve Vai. The tragedy starts there, because after he recorded the album, A Little Ain't Enough in the David Lee Roth band, Becker was diagnosed with ALS (a.k.a. Lou Gehrig's disease).

Many of his friends and fellow guitar heroes like Joe Satriani or the previously mentioned Marty Freidman, speak of his legendary prowess on the guitar, and it doesn’t take a genius to find that out. Just listening to any of the material like his solo album, Perpetual Burn, tells the tale of his virtuosity on the instrument. He is a true guitar hero and had he not been afflicted with ALS he would be talked about like the other guitar legends.

Before his diagnosis

After his diagnosis

Since his diagnosis, he has continued to record music even though he can’t move his body. This is thanks to a machine his father built for him in order to communicate. There is a documentary called Jason Becker: Not Dead Yet, which is a great documentary and if you want to learn more about his story you should check it out.

Since his affliction, he has released 5 solo albums and has guested on other albums like Marty Friedman’s 2014 solo album Inferno. Recently, Jason Becker has announced that he wants to make a new album. So, he is crowd funding for the new album. It will have many guest guitarist, and if funded it should be released in 2017. If you love guitars and heavy music, go check out the albums he has made during his career and please help support his Indiegogo campaign for the new album.

There is a reason there are so many mentions of Marty Friedman, one is that he is best friends with Jason Becker, two they still are in regular contact and collaborate together on music. Finally, I am a huge fan of Friedman because of his guitar virtuosity when he was in Megadeth.