Frank Gambale is one of the those insanely sick guitarists that most people have never heard. I say “one of those” tongue and cheek–he is THE sickest all around guitarist that I’ve ever heard, imo. Our pick for February hails from down under, where he started his jazz career. Since the early 80’s he has released over 20 albums, performed with Chick Corea’s Electric Band, Steve Smith’s Vital Information and Return to Forever. He turned the world on with his unique style of “conservative picking” allowing him to command massive sweeps and super fast phrasing all over the guitar fretboard. He even has his own style of tuning (Gambale Tuning) that more closely approximates the chord structure on a piano. If you haven’t ever heard of Frank Gambale, you need to add him to the rotation–his playing will blow your mind!

I was turned on to Frank’s playing in the late 80’s–just a few years after I started playing the guitar. One of his early standout instructional videos “Monster Licks and Speed Picking” had come out in 1988, and came to me via a gift from Dad. Honestly, I wasn’t ready for it at the time. It was too insane to handle at my intermediate level and although I loved his virtuoso style, there was no way I could approach guitar like that. Funny enough, whereas my chops have improved to be able to handle most of Gambale’s riffs, he still has the ability to “Go Plaid” (hat tip: Spaceballs) at any time and leave me utterly speechless with whatever I had just heard.

The mid to late 80’s were also the same time he was playing with Chick Corea’s Electric Band. As a young inspiring musician, Chick Corea was my first introduction to “jazz” and I gravitated to his music as an inspiration of how I wanted to perform and compose. It wasn’t until a few years later however that I once again heard this Frank Gambale guy’s name, now performing with Chick. I remember the first time I heard him shredding on “Got a Match” and I was hooked. The style was way beyond anything I was listening to at the time.

As music often weaves in and out of one’s life, I lost track of Frank until the turn of the millennium, where I was pleasantly surprised to find (and become addicted to) the music of Vital Information. This is another group to put on your list, if it isn’t already. Steve Smith (of Journey fame) is an incredible drummer and in fact the band is quite remarkable, but the infusion of Frank Gambale’s jazz fluidity and over the top technique really solidified their music for me. Imo, this group contains some of his best guitar playing over the years. The compositions are fun as well; I have lifted quite a few of these to perform in my own groups. Vital Information is Frank’s longest standing position on guitar and I think his personal favorite, lasting from 1988 to 2012 (so far).

As if his guitar career wasn’t amazing enough, he rejoined Chick Corea in 2011 to perform in Return to Forever IV. While Al Dimeola will always be “the guy” that makes Return to Forever what it is on guitar, there were a few albums that featured other guitar players, such as Bill Conners. I think that Chick was trying to add some variety to the shows at that point by featuring a new line-up to approach some of the non “Dimeola” collaborations. I have to say, this set of shows was a once in a lifetime experience, and I couldn’t be happier that he chose to use Frank again on guitar.

Overall, as an avid listener of guitar players and jazz groups I think what puts Frank Gambale over the top is his ability to jump into hyperspace at any moment and leave even the most adept shredders standing speechless, mouths agape. His fluidity is really unmatched; sure there are guys that can play as fast (even faster, if possible) or have different technical skills, but one has to remember that it’s about the notes at the end of the day, in addition to technique. Frank’s phrasing and consciousness of the music dominates the airwaves and it’s very easy to see that he is really thinking about what he wants to play in addition to his fingers moving at light speed. Add in the ability to sweep pick the entire fretboard, and Gambale is just light years ahead of 99.9% of guitar players. If you don’t believe me, take a listen for yourself, he really is that good; I’d even say he really is that much better than your favorite guitarist!