Rusty Cooley (born April 27, 1970) is an American guitarist, known for his highly refined guitar technique. He is regarded as one of the fastest guitarists in the United States and a master of the shredding technique of guitar. ''

Guitar Player ''Guitar Player'' is an American popular magazine for guitarists, founded in 1967 in San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and politica ...

'' magazine called him "the leading light of the post-

Malmsteen Yngwie Johan Malmsteen ( ; born Lars Johan Yngve Lannerbäck, 30 June 1963) is a Swedish guitarist. He first became known in the 1980s for his neoclassical metal, neoclassical playing style in heavy metal music, heavy metal, and has released 22 ...

shred-volution."

Early life

Cooley received his first equipment (a Peavey T27 guitar and a Peavey Decade amp) on his fifteenth birthday. From that day on he immersed himself in music, practicing upwards of four hours a day. He took guitar lessons for a while but became dissatisfied with local guitar instructors and decided to become self-taught. He relied on instructional books and videos like

Doug Marks Doug Marks is a musician, guitarist and guitar instructor. He is the founder and owner oMetal Method Video guitar lessons Marks founded Metal Method in 1982. Metal Method is both one of the longest established and worlds most popular video guit ...

's ''Metal Method'',

Ted Greene TED may refer to: Economics and finance * TED spread between U.S. Treasuries and Eurodollar Education * ''Türk Eğitim Derneği'', the Turkish Education Association ** TED Ankara College Foundation Schools, Turkey ** Transvaal Education Depart ...

's ''Chord Chemistry'' and ''Modern Chord Progressions'' books, REH instructional videos, and

Robben Ford Robben Lee Ford (born December 16, 1951) is an American blues, jazz, and rock guitarist. He was a member of the L.A. Express and Yellowjackets and has collaborated with Miles Davis, Joni Mitchell, George Harrison, Larry Carlton, Rick Sprin ...

's instructional DVDs. His early musical influences were guitarists Randy Rhoads,

Yngwie Malmsteen Yngwie Johan Malmsteen ( ; born Lars Johan Yngve Lannerbäck, 30 June 1963) is a Swedish guitarist. He first became known in the 1980s for his neoclassical playing style in heavy metal, and has released 22 studio albums in a career spanning ov ...

Steve Vai Steven Siro Vai (; born June 6, 1960) is an American guitarist, composer, songwriter, and producer. A three-time Grammy Award winner and fifteen-time nominee, Vai started his music career in 1978 at the age of eighteen as a transcriptionist f ...

, Paul Gilbert,

Vinnie Moore Vincent Moore (born April 14, 1964) is an American guitarist and a member of the British hard rock band UFO. Biography Moore was born in New Castle, Delaware. He began his professional career at age 12 after receiving a guitar as a Chris ...

and

Tony MacAlpine Tony MacAlpine (born August 29, 1960) is an American musician and composer. In a career spanning four decades, he has released twelve studio albums. MacAlpine is best known as an instrumental rock and heavy metal solo guitarist, although he has ...

. After only three years of playing, he became a guitar teacher at the music store where he had purchased his first guitar. After high school Cooley went to the local college and studied music theory.

Solo work

Cooley was unsatisfied with local musicians and began to work on solo music in early 1996. He began playing seven-string guitars exclusively at this time. His debut solo album was the self-titled ''Rusty Cooley'', released in 2003 by Lion Music. It consists of 12 tracks, one of which, "Under the Influence", was released as a video as well. The album featured Cooley on guitar, Brent Marches on bass, Eric Sands on fretless bass, and Bobby Williamson on keyboards. Music was by Cooley, Marches, and Kelly Carpenter; Carpenter also wrote the lyrics for, and handled the vocals on, the vocal versions of "Dominion" and "The Machine". Programming was done by Cooley and Williamson, while guitar engineering was done by Sands. Cooley also was in charge of production.

Track listing

Currently

Cooley has collaborated with ProTone Pedals, testing their new

Jason Becker Jason ( ; ) was an ancient Greek mythological hero and leader of the Argonauts, whose quest for the Golden Fleece featured in Greek literature. He was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcos. He was married to the sorceress Medea. He w ...

Perpetual Burn Signature distortion pedal, as Becker himself has suffered from ALS since 1990, and as such, is no longer able to play guitar. ProTone Pedals has posted several videos of Cooley testing prototype versions of the pedal on

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. One of these video features a comment from Cooley himself, citing Becker as one of his biggest influences and stating that working on the pedal was something he considered an honor. ProTone has more recently been working on a Rusty Cooley Signature pedal. Cooley has collaborated with Dean Guitars to produce a signature seven-string model, of which several versions exist. Cooley's lead work was featured on Arnold Schwarzenegger-themed parody metal band Austrian Death Machine's second album, ''Double Brutal''. Cooley is currently working with a new band, Day of Reckoning.

Teaching

Cooley has been a guitar instructor since his third year of playing. He has released five instructional products, done lessons for magazines (such as his "Metal Guru" column) and posted many lessons on sites such as Shredaholic. He has taught for the National Guitar Workshop three times (1996, 1997, 1998) and given many clinics. Cooley has many successful students, such as Chris Storey/Cris Osuna (ex-

All Shall Perish All Shall Perish was an American deathcore band from Oakland, California, formed in 2002. The band was signed to Nuclear Blast and have released four full-length albums through the label. Their final album, '' This Is Where It Ends,'' was releas ...

) and Mica Roth, former member of Hybreed.

Endorsements

Currently Cooley endorses Ormsby Guitars,

EMG Pickups EMG, Inc. is the current legal name of a company based in Santa Rosa, California that manufactures guitar pickups and EQ accessories. Among guitar and bass accessories, the company sells active humbucker pickups, such as the EMG 81, the EMG 85 ...

, Morley Pedals, GHS strings, VHT, Rocktron, Eventide, Maxon and more recently Randall Amplification. He previously endorsed

Jackson Guitars Jackson is a manufacturer of electric guitars and electric bass guitars that bears the name of its founder, Grover Jackson. The company was acquired by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation in 2002, which manufactures Jackson-branded guita ...

Ibanez Guitars is a Japanese guitar brand owned by Hoshino Gakki. Based in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Aichi, Japan, Hoshino Gakki were one of the first Japanese musical instrument companies to gain a significant foothold in import guitar sales in the United Sta ...

and

Dean Guitars Dean Guitars, commonly referred to simply as Dean, is an American importer and maker of stringed instruments and musical products with its headquarters in Tampa, Florida. Its products include solid-body electric guitars, bass guitars, and acoust ...

. His signature Dean model was released at NAMM in early 2007. It features a super-strat style body with a deeply sculpted lower horn (in order to perform the widest stretches when playing in high positions), EMG 707 pickups, volume control and a three-way switch. In 2011 Dean Guitars released an eight-string version as well. Nicknamed the "Dean RC-8", it has the same features of the seven string version but with the implementation of a fanned fretting system and EMG 808 pickups. Appeared on the podcast Cyber Timebite in April 2019

Releases

Music

*Rusty Cooley - ''Rusty Cooley'' (2003, Lion Music) *Book of Reflections - ''Book of Reflections'' (2004, MCD, Lion Music) *

Outworld Outworld may refer to: Game * Outworld, a fictional realm in the '' Mortal Kombat'' franchise * ''Outworld'', a 1981 VIC-20 The VIC-20 (known as the VC-20 in Germany and the VIC-1001 in Japan) is an 8-bit home computer that was sold by Co ...

(2006, Replica Records) *Outworld - "Promo 2008" (2008, self-released) *

- ''Awaken the Dreamers'' (2008, Nuclear Blast, guest) * Austrian Death Machine - ''Double Brutal'' (2009, Metal Blade Records, guest) * Derek Sherinian - ''Molecular Heinosity'' (2009, InsideOut Music, guest) *The Sean Baker Orchestra - ''Baker's Dozen'' (2009, Lion Music, guest) *

After the Burial After the Burial is an American progressive metal band from Minneapolis, Minnesota. They are currently signed to Sumerian Records and have released five of their six full-length albums through the label. Since their inception in 2004, the band h ...

- ''In Dreams'' (2010, Sumerian Records, guest) *

Michael Angelo Batio Michael Angelo Batio (), also known as Michael Angelo, Mike Batio or MAB, is an American heavy metal guitarist and columnist from Chicago, Illinois. He was the lead guitarist for the Los Angeles-based glam metal band Nitro in the late 1980s an ...

- ''Intermezzo'' (2013, M.A.C.E., guest) *

Rings of Saturn The rings of Saturn are the most extensive ring system of any planet in the Solar System. They consist of countless small particles, ranging in size from micrometers to meters, that orbit around Saturn. The ring particles are made almost entir ...

- ''Infused'' (2014, Unique Leader Records, guest)

Instructional products

* ''Shred Guitar Manifesto'' (2000, DVD, Chops From Hell) * ''Extreme Pentatonics'' (2001, DVD, Chops From Hell) * ''The Art of Picking'' (2001, DVD, Chops From Hell) * ''Rusty Cooley Performance/Clinic'' (2003, DVD, Chops From Hell) * ''Rusty Cooley Performance/Clinic 2'' (2003, DVD, Chops From Hell) * ''Basic Training'' (2007, DVD, Chops From Hell) * ''Rusty Cooley Fret Board Autopsy - Scales, Modes & Patterns Level 1'' (DVD, 2008, Rock House Method) * ''Rusty Cooley, Fret Board Autopsy - Scales, Modes & Patterns Level 2'' (DVD, 2008, Rock House Method) * ''Arpeggio Madness: Insane Concepts & Total Mastery'' (DVD, 2011, Rock House Method)

Television appearances

* ''Stay Tuned'' * ''Metallurgy Live'' * ''Metallurgy Unplugged'' * ''World Class Guitar Techniques'' * ''Robb's Metal Works'' * ''Rusty Cooley's Guitar Asylum TV''

References

Additional sources

External links

Official website

from Cooley's official website

Music video for "Under the Influence"

Interview

Outworld Message Board - Ask Rusty

GUITAR GODS: Rusty Cooley (2003 interview)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooley, Rusty 1970 births American heavy metal guitarists Eight-string guitarists Seven-string guitarists Living people Lead guitarists Progressive metal guitarists Musicians from Houston Guitarists from Texas 21st-century American guitarists