Rusty Cooley (born April 27, 1970) is an American guitarist and guitar teacher. He is known for his shredding.

Career

Beginnings

Cooley received his first guitar, a Peavey T27, and amplifier, a Peavey Decade, for his fifteenth birthday. He initially took guitar lessons but later became dissatisfied with local instructors and opted to teach himself. To develop his skills, he utilized various instructional resources, including Doug Marks's ''Metal Method'', Ted Greene's ''Chord Chemistry'' and ''Modern Chord Progressions'', REH instructional videos, and Robben Ford's instructional DVDs. His early musical influences were guitarists

Randy Rhoads Randall William Rhoads (December 6, 1956 – March 19, 1982) was an American guitarist. He was the co-founder and original guitarist of the heavy metal band Quiet Riot, and the guitarist and co-songwriter for Ozzy Osbourne's first two solo albu ...

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

Steve Vai Steven Siro Vai ( ; born June 6, 1960) is an American guitarist, 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 Transcription (music), transc ...

Paul Gilbert Paul Brandon Gilbert (born November 6, 1966) is an American hard rock and heavy metal music, heavy metal guitarist. He is the co-founder of the band Mr. Big (American band), Mr. Big, and was also a member of Racer X (band), Racer X, with whom he ...

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

Solo career

Cooley became dissatisfied with working with local musicians. He began to create solo music in early 1996. Around this time, he switched to using only

seven-string guitar The seven-string guitar adds one additional string to the more common six-string guitar, commonly used to extend the bass range (usually a low B) or also to extend the treble range. The additional string is added in one of two different ways: b ...

s. His debut solo album was the self-titled ''Rusty Cooley'', released in 2003 by

Lion Music Lion Music is a production company and record label founded in 1989 by composer and artist Lars Eric Mattsson. History Lion Music was founded in 1989 by Lars Eric Mattsson as a production company to handle production and licensing for his recor ...

. It consisted of 12 tracks, one of which, "Under the Influence", was released alongside a music video. The album featured Cooley on guitar, Brent Marches on bass, Eric Sands on

fretless bass A fretless bass is an electric bass guitar whose neck lacks frets and thus is smooth like traditional string instruments, and like the neck of an acoustic double bass. While the fretless bass is played in all styles of music, it is most common in ...

, and Bobby Williamson on keyboard. 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 the production.

Recent work

Cooley is currently in collaboration with ProTone Pedals, testing their new Jason Becker '' Perpetual Burn'' signature distortion pedals. Becker himself could not test as he has been suffering from

ALS Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or—in the United States—Lou Gehrig's disease (LGD), is a rare, terminal neurodegenerative disorder that results in the progressive loss of both upper and low ...

since 1990 and is no longer able to play guitar. ProTone has recently been working on a Rusty Cooley signature pedal. Cooley has collaborated with

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, Tampa, Florida. Its products include solid-body electric guitars, bass gu ...

to produce a signature seven-string model, of which several versions exist. Cooley is currently working with a new band, Day of Reckoning.

Teaching

Cooley has been a guitar instructor since he was 18, 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 well-known students, such as Chris Storey/Cris Osuna (ex-

All Shall Perish All Shall Perish is 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 latest album, ''This Is Where It Ends,'' was release ...

) and Mica Roth, a former member of Hybreed. Between 2011 and 2013, he hosted a video on the

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel 'GuitarAsylumTV', in which he interviewed rock and metal guitarists. Some of the musicians he has interviewed include Oli Herbert,

Mark Tremonti Mark Thomas Tremonti (born April 18, 1974) is an American guitarist and singer, best known for his tenures with the rock bands Creed (band), Creed and Alter Bridge. He is a founding member of both bands, and has also collaborated with many other ...

, and

Jeff Loomis Jeff Loomis (born September 14, 1971) is an American musician, best known for his role as lead guitarist in the progressive metal band Nevermore during its existence from 1991 to 2011, as well as brief tenures in its precursor, Sanctuary (band) ...

Endorsements

Cooley currently endorses Ormsby Guitars, EMG Pickups,

Morley Pedals Morley Pedals is the name of a guitar effects pedal company, famous for manufacturing wah-wah pedals and other treadle type effects for guitar. Morley pedals use electro-optical circuitry rather than a potentiometer to control the effect. ...

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

Jackson Guitars Jackson is a brand of guitars sold by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. Jackson was originally an independent manufacturer of electric guitars and electric bass guitars named after its founder, the American luthier Grover Jackson. Th ...

, Ibanez Guitars and

. His signature Dean model was released at

NAMM The National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) is a not-for-profit global trade association dedicated to the music products industry. Originally founded in 1901, NAMM is headquartered in Carlsbad, California, and represents 15,000 global memb ...

in early 2007. Cooley 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 (2006, Replica Records) * Outworld - "Promo 2008" (2008, self-released) *

- '' Awaken the Dreamers'' (2008, Nuclear Blast, guest) *

Austrian Death Machine Austrian Death Machine is an American thrash metal side project from San Diego, California, founded by As I Lay Dying vocalist Tim Lambesis to be a parody of and tribute to Arnold Schwarzenegger's films. History Austrian Death Machine relea ...

- '' Double Brutal'' (2009, Metal Blade Records, guest) *

Derek Sherinian Derek Sherinian (born August 25, 1966) is an American keyboardist who has toured and recorded for Alice Cooper, Billy Idol, and Joe Bonamassa, among others. He was also a member of Dream Theater from 1994 to 1999, is the founder of Planet X (ban ...

- ''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 ( ; born June 12, 1956), also known as Michael Angelo, Mike Batio or MAB, is an American heavy metal music, heavy metal guitarist. He was the lead guitarist for the glam metal band Nitro (band), Nitro in the late 1980s and ...

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

Rings of Saturn Saturn has the most extensive and complex ring system of any planet in the Solar System. The rings consist of particles in orbit around the planet made almost entirely of water ice, with a trace component of Rock (geology), rocky material. Parti ...

- ''Infused'' (2014, Unique Leader Records, guest) * Screamking - The Indomitable Spirit / Caligula (2021, Platinum Dungeon LLC) Guest Appearance. .

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

GUITAR GODS: Rusty Cooley (2003 interview)

GuitarAsylumTV
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooley, Rusty 1970 births American heavy metal guitarists Eight-string guitarists American seven-string guitarists Living people American lead guitarists Progressive metal guitarists Musicians from Houston Guitarists from Texas 21st-century American guitarists