Lopez picked up a guitar for the first time just three short years ago and taught himself how to play ACDC's ‘Thunderstruck.' From the moment he felt the chords and notes blend together in harmony and resonate through his fingers, he was hooked on his ax. Granted it took plenty of practice and it didn't come without some bumps in the road, but Lopez said within months he was flying up and down the neck of the guitar with relative ease. He still practices an hour a day and he's all self-taught.
Now you'll see him hammer and on and pull off with both hands during solos and bend a note to make it cry. The most impressive aspect of his playing is the incredible rapid ferocity with which his hands assault the fret board.
Now 13 and in eighth grade, the Colorado Springs-native is a virtual virtuoso guitarist, a young metal Paganini. He's joined forces recently with a metal band of grown men, Aleister Wild, and has contributed to some of their original compositions. doing some recording in the past week at Sunshine Studios in Colorado Springs. They've played several shows including a show for the Dean Owners of America this past February in Clearwater and an Ozzy tribute show March 19th in memory of the late Randy Rhoads, were he he wowed the crowd.
His expertise and his finger speed floors everybody that's lucky enough to catch a glimpse of him, in person or on YouTube, even his band mates. “I enjoy the challenge of playing with older more experienced players,” Lopez says. “But even so it's not that much of a challenge to me.” He says his favorite brand of guitars is DEAN, and he owns four (a Tiger Eye Cadillac , a Black Razorback , a 30th anniversary ML and a BlackGold V ) that he practices on for at least an hour every day.
“I really enjoy the feel and tone of their guitars,” Lopez says of the Dean brand. “It really matches the style I like to play." He describes his style "as more of a fast type of playing, almost shredding. It sticks to the metal genre." Josh says he's working towards becoming a professional musician and will/may study music once he gets to college. By that time, however, he may be in a band touring the country or the world, a dream he says would be the experience of a lifetime.
It's scary to think of how talented this kid could be once he begins to grow as a musician and opens up to new types of influences and musical genres. He's already started to tinker with Jazz guitar to mixed result while playing in his school's jazz band.
For now, he'll just try to be a normal 13-year-old… That is until you ask him to play some Randy Rhodes.
Feature Story by Chris Cornell/FloridaEntertainmentScene.com - ©2010 Florida Entertainment Scene - All Rights Reserved
