Ron Thal
Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal (born September 25, 1969 in Brooklyn , New York City , NY , actually Ronald Blumenthal ) is an American rock guitarist, composer and producer. He was a member of Guns N 'Roses from 2006 to 2015 , where he shared lead and rhythm guitar with DJ Ashba and Richard Fortus . He is also active in the bands Art of Anarchy and Sons of Apollo .
The stage name
Thal named itself after the bacterial infection Bumblefoot . He heard this term from his wife, who was training in veterinary medicine.
music
Ron Thal started making music at the age of six. At first he wanted to play bass and drums, but was not very successful and therefore began to play guitar. He formed his first band at the age of seven with his brother Jeff. At the age of eight he received his first private guitar lessons. He played in several bands, which mainly interpreted well-known songs from bands such as Kiss, Guns N 'Roses and Led Zeppelin.
Albums
Ominous Guitarists From The Unknown
His first major release was on Shrapnel Records ' Ominous Guitarists From The Unknown, to which he contributed an electric guitar rendition of Chopin's Fantasie.
The Adventures of Bumblefoot
The first own album was released in 1995 by Shrapnel Records. The album called The Adventures of Bumblefoot , which he released under the name Ron Thal, already showed his varied, experimental playing style. The genre of music can be best described as a mixture of hard rock and progressive metal with funk, jazz and flamenco influences.
Hermit
His second album Hermit , which was also released on Shrapnel Records, is very different from his debut album. In contrast to the album Bumblefoot , which is mainly instrumental and completely dispenses with melodic vocals, you can hear him sing for the first time on “Hermit”. When Hermit was created, Thal was influenced by many different styles of rock music and partly by hip-hop.
Hands
The first album he released under his pseudonym "Bumblefoot" was his third work called Hands . After separating from Shrapnel Records, he produced and released the 1998 album on his own label Hermit Inc. The main influences on this album were genres such as hard rock, metal, grunge and shredding.
9.11
Published in November 2001
Not cool
Published in February 2002
Forgotten Anthology
Published in April 2003
normal
Published in December 2005
Abnormal
Released July 1, 2008
Barefoot
Released in December 2008
The acoustic album with five tracks rearranged for the acoustic version plus 5 instrumental versions, the radio version of "Abnormal" and a version of "Delilah" for guitar and vocals.
Guitars
In addition to its progressive, virtuoso music, Bumblefoot is also known for its extraordinary guitars. At the age of twelve he began to change the look of his guitars by sticking reflective foils and pictures on them or by working on / removing parts of the body. Well-known models that agreed are for example the "Hand Guitar" and the "Swiss Cheese Guitar". He currently plays models by the French guitar maker Vigier, who designed and built several “signature” models for him. He used for the recordings and concerts with Guns N 'Roses models of Gibson , like the Les Paul and Flying V .
Signature and Custom Vigier Guitars
Vigier Excalibur Bfoot Signature
In January 2006 the Excalibur Bfoot Signature Guitar came on the market. This guitar is based on the Vigier Excalibur and was expanded by Ron with a "Roland guitar synth" pickup. In addition, a thimble is integrated into the guitar, which can be easily removed and used as a bottleneck . Ron uses this among other things in his song "Guitars Suck" to play higher notes than the fingerboard allows.
Vigier Surfreter Fretless Guitar
Since January 1999 Ron has been playing the surfreter fretless guitar regularly. He has used this fretless guitar in numerous of his own songs, such as "Raygun" and as a guest musician in works by other musicians.
BBFSCG (Bumblefoot Swiss Cheese Guitar)
In January 2005, Vigier made ten copies of the Bumblefoot Swiss Cheese Guitar based on the Swiss Cheese Guitar, which Ron made himself from an "Ibanez Roadstar RS135BK" in the 1980s and which until 1997 was the guitar he used the most. Ron Thal still owns two of the ten guitars. He wanted to auction one of them for a good cause as soon as the long-announced Guns N 'Roses album Chinese Democracy was released.
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Thal, Ron |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Thal, Bumblefoot (nickname); Blumenthal, Ronald (real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American rock guitarist, composer and producer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 25, 1969 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Brooklyn , New York , NY , United States |