Tag Archives: Michael Angelo Batio

Metallica Tribute: Four guitars, one person

Michael Angelo Batio is a very special guitarist, mostly because he can play both left-handed and right-handed guitars. Born a southpaw, he simply learned guitar ‘the right way,’ and then tried learning it with his dominant hand, also.

Regular guitarists may not be aware of this, but as a lefty guitarist myself, trust me, it’s very frustrating having to deal with it. You may think that it’s the fretting hand which needs the dexterity, but it’s not quite like that, as you have your rhythm in your dominant hand, so the strumming motion comes naturally with it. Which is why I’d encourage all the lefties to get lefty guitars, doing it reversed just adds more frustration to the already daunting task of learning the basics.

Being a lefty guitarist, however, is pretty annoying. There are guitars you simply can’t buy, they just don’t make them for your kind, and any time you see a guitar, well, you can’t show off your skills:

– Don’t you play guitar?
– I do, yeah
– Here, play it.
– I can’t, I am left-handed
– So?
– So I need a left-handed guitar
– LOLWUT?
– Are you stupid?
– Fuck you, dumbass…

So yeah, that’s what I had to deal with when I talked to my mom about guitar playing.

Anyway, I appreciate Batio‘s dedication to the instrument. Not only did he fight through all the trouble of being a lefty, he learned to play both types of guitars, and he got very fast on both. My jaw is always dropping when I see him playing something.

However, that Metallica tribute is pretty boring. I got the clip from MetalSucks, and as they said, nothing in that clip needed more than one neck.

I have seen Batio doing lead guitar on one neck, and rhythm guitar on the other one. Why didn’t he do the bassline on ‘For Whom The Bell Tolls’ with one hand, and the rhythm with the other one? Surely that would have been impressive. Maybe he’s just getting old.

Make the jump for a video where he is absolutely amazing. Granted, it’s guitar wankery at its finest, and it has the melody of an 8bit Atari game, but it’s still impressive, just because of how much this dude practiced his instrument to get to that level.