Dave Reffett
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Dave Reffett (born June 6, 1983) is an American
hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...
and heavy metal guitarist, singer, producer, and bassist. Reffett is best known as the singer, lead guitarist, and producer of the album ''The Call of the Flames'' from his project Shredding The Envelope, as well as being a noted player, performer and columnist in the guitar community. His music mixes thrash metal and hard rock with very technical and bluesy guitar playing. Some of his favorite artists include Kiss, Megadeth,
Pantera Pantera () is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Arlington, Texas in 1981 by the Abbott brothers (guitarist Dimebag Darrell and drummer Vinnie Paul), and currently composed of vocalist Phil Anselmo, bassist Rex Brown, an ...
,
Van Halen Van Halen ( ) was an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1973. Credited with restoring hard rock to the forefront of the music scene, Van Halen was known for their energetic live performances and the virtuosity of their guit ...
, Motorhead, Metallica,
David Allan Coe David Allan Coe (born September 6, 1939) is an American singer and songwriter. Coe took up music after spending much of his early life in reform schools and prisons, and first became notable for busking in Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville. He ini ...
,
Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor and activist. He was one of the main figures of the outlaw country subgenre that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restr ...
,
Hank Williams Jr Randall Hank Williams (born May 26, 1949), known professionally as Hank Williams Jr. or Bocephus, is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His musical style has been described as a blend of rock music, rock, blues, and country music, count ...
,
Anthrax Anthrax is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Bacillus anthracis'' or ''Bacillus cereus'' biovar ''anthracis''. Infection typically occurs by contact with the skin, inhalation, or intestinal absorption. Symptom onset occurs between one ...
, Ronnie James Dio,
Judas Priest Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million albums and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Judas Priest have also been referred to as one of the p ...
and Ozzy Osbourne. In an interview with Estonia's Metal Storm, Reffett named ''Kiss Unplugged'' by Kiss, ''And Justice For All'' by Metallica, ''Rust in Peace'' by Megadeth, ''Holy Diver'' by Dio, and ''Powerslave'' by Iron Maiden as some of his all-time favorite albums. He is also an in-demand guitar teacher. He gives lessons in person and online via
Skype Skype () was a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for IP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also had instant messaging, file transfer, ...
and films teaching products for companies like ''Guitar World'', Dangerous Guitar, and Lecture Land. In 2012, Reffett appeared on the cover of the May issue of Asia's ''Gitar Plus Magazine'' and was on the cover again in 2014. 2014 also found Reffett giving clinics all over the world in places like China, Mexico, Chile, and the world-famous Musicians Institute in Hollywood, California. He also appeared on the cover of Mexico's ''Heavy Riff'' magazine in 2014.


Childhood and early life

Dave Reffett, the son of a coal miner, grew up in the hills of the
Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, are a mountain range in eastern to northeastern North America. The term "Appalachian" refers to several different regions associated with the mountain range, and its surrounding terrain ...
in
Eastern Kentucky Eastern or Easterns may refer to: Transportation Airlines *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 192 ...
and began playing trumpet, tuba, baritone, and French horn at age 11. At age 13 he was inspired to pick up the guitar after seeing video for Metallica's " The Unforgiven". In 1999 at age 16 he released one album with the short-lived band Graveyard Earth, called ''Warning Shot''. Reffett was forced out of the group after he voiced his distaste of the band's overall direction. Upon leaving Kentucky and moving to
Denver, Colorado Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...
, Reffett joined the band Moore, playing many live shows but releasing no records with the band. He quit during the recording of what would have been their first album together. While finishing high school in
Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...
, Reffett was contemplating taking the
Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music () is a Private university, private music college in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern Music of the United ...
up on the scholarship they had offered him during a summer program there the previous year. He decided to take advantage of the scholarship after he had a chance meeting with one of his childhood heroes, Megadeth frontman and thrash metal pioneer
Dave Mustaine David Scott Mustaine (born September 13, 1961) is an American musician. He is best known as the co-founder, frontman, primary songwriter and sole consistent member of the thrash metal band Megadeth and for his time as the lead guitarist of Met ...
. In 2001 Reffett won a
KBPI KBPI (107.9 FM, "107-9 KBPI") is a commercial radio station licensed to Fort Collins, Colorado. It is owned by iHeartMedia and it broadcasts an active rock radio format. KBPI's studios are located in Denver in the Tech Center. In December ...
radio contest to meet Mustaine and asked him if he should take the scholarship or hit the road in a band. Mustaine told him "don't look a gift horse in the mouth, if you've got the chance to do something like that for free go get as many weapons in your arsenal as you can and make your army as tough as it can be". Reffett took Mustaine's advice and studied hard, eventually earning a degree in Music Business Management from the Berklee College of Music. He then went on to work in the business and legal affairs department at the now defunct
Sanctuary Records Group Sanctuary Records Group Limited was a record label based in the United Kingdom and is, as of 2013, a subsidiary of BMG Rights Management solely for reissues. Until June 2007, it was the largest independent record label in the UK and the largest ...
, and at
Virgin Records Virgin Records is a British record label owned by Universal Music Group. They were originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), ...
, a division of
EMI Music EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), c ...
, in the radio promotions and marketing departments. During his time at Virgin Records, Reffett helped market and promote acts as diverse as The Rolling Stones, Korn, Meat Loaf, KT Tunstall, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Janet Jackson and 30 Seconds To Mars. He got the idea for Shredding The Envelope in 2009. Reffett has been quoted in interviews saying, "I really wanted to make an album that I would be the first in line to buy".


Style

Reffett was a primarily self-taught player from age 13–18, taking very few lessons, but ended up studying music and business at the world-renowned Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007. He was a recipient of the Berklee World Scholarship Tour award and the Berklee Best award. He has been noted for his articulate right-hand picking technique and palm muting style. ''Guitar International Magazine'''s Matt Warnock wrote about Reffett, "while he can solo with the best of them, what really stands out is his incredible right hand chord work. I have seen and heard a lot of guys speed pick solos over the years at blistering tempos, but few, if any, can match the speed and rhythmic variation that Reffett possesses with his chords." Reffett is also known for his use of wide vibrato string bending, fretboard tapping, legato articulation, whammy bar dive bombs,
artificial harmonic Artificiality (the state of being artificial, anthropogenic, or man-made) is the state of being the product of intentional human manufacture, rather than occurring naturally through processes not involving or requiring human activity. Connotati ...
s, and
chromatic Diatonic and chromatic are terms in music theory that are used to characterize scales. The terms are also applied to musical instruments, intervals, chords, notes, musical styles, and kinds of harmony. They are very often used as a pair, es ...
passing tone A nonchord tone (NCT), nonharmonic tone, or embellishing tone is a note in a piece of music or song that is not part of the implied or expressed chord set out by the harmonic framework. In contrast, a chord tone is a note that is a part of the ...
s. He often uses the blues scale, pentatonic scale and harmonic minor scale with many random chromatic passing tones when soloing. In an interview with They Will Rock You, he noted "Tornado of Souls" by
Megadeth Megadeth is an American thrash metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1983 by vocalist and guitarist Dave Mustaine. Known for their technically complex guitar work and musicianship, Megadeth is one of the "big four" of American thrash metal—alo ...
, "Flying High Again" by
Ozzy Osbourne John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer, songwriter, and media personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead singer of the heavy metal music, heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which per ...
, "Tooth and Nail" by
Dokken Dokken is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1978. It split up in 1989 and reformed four years later. The band has had several hit singles which charted on the Billboard Hot 100, such as " Alone Again", " In My Dreams", and ...
, and "I Just Don't Want To Say Goodbye" by Shredding The Envelope as some of his all-time favorite guitar solos.


Recordings


''The Call Of The Flames''

2009's ''The Call Of The Flames'' featured performances from famous musicians George Lynch,
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 ...
,
Chris Poland Chris Poland (born December 1, 1957) is an American guitarist, best known as the former guitarist of the thrash metal band Megadeth. Since 2002, Poland has been the guitarist of the instrumental rock/jazz rock bands OHM and OHMphrey, among othe ...
,
Glen Drover Glen Drover (born May 25, 1969) is a Canadian heavy metal guitarist from Ottawa, Ontario. He is best known as the former lead guitarist of Megadeth and King Diamond, along with his brother Shawn Drover who also performed with Megadeth. History ...
, Joe Stump, and
Mike Mangini Michael Anthony Mangini (born April 18, 1963) is an American musician, best known for his tenure with the progressive metal band Dream Theater, with whom he performed from 2010 to 2023. He has also played with artists and bands including Annihi ...
. It featured studio mixing from acclaimed producer Andrew "Mudrock" Murdock (Godsmack, Alice Cooper, Avenged Sevenfold) engineering by Steve Catizone, and was mastered by legendary engineer George Marino (
Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. It was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...
,
Kiss A kiss is the touching or pressing of one's lips against another person, animal or object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely; depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sex ...
,
AC/DC AC/DC are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1973. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock and Heavy metal music, heavy metal, although the band calls it simply "rock and roll". They are cited as a formativ ...
,
Guns N' Roses Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1985 as a merger of local bands L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band's "classic" line-up consisted of vocalist Axl R ...
). Producer Joe Clapp (Sully Erna of Godsmack) was the primary engineer during the recording of the album. In 2010
Bruce Dickinson Paul Bruce Dickinson (born 7 August 1958) is an English singer who is best known as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden. Dickinson has performed in the band across two stints, from 1981 to 1993 and from 1999 to the present d ...
, the singer of the legendary heavy metal band Iron Maiden, called the album a "must-have" on his BBC radio program Friday Rock Show and called Reffett's guitar playing "fantastic." Nationally syndicated radio show ''Hard Rock Nights'' named ''The Call Of The Flames'' the #5 album of the year in its "Best Hard Rock of 2010" list. The album was also in the running for a Grammy nomination during the 53rd annual Grammy Awards voting season in many categories, including "Best Hard Rock Performance" for the song "Caravan of Cannibals" and "Best Metal Performance" for "Devils Roadmap". In 2015 Michael Angelo Batio released the album ''Shred Force 1: The Essential MAB'' via Rat Pak Records, which contained Reffett's composition "Juggernaut". Reffett also appeared on "8 Pillars Of Steel" from the album. ''Shred Force 1'' reached #11 on the Billboard Top Hard Rock Albums chart, #2 on the Heatseekers chart, #121 on the Top Current Albums chart, #39 on the Rock Albums chart, and #21 on the Independent Albums chart.


Discography

*''The Call of the Flames'' – 2009 *''Intermezzo'' - 2013 - Michael Angelo Batio (Reffett wrote the song "Juggernaut" and performed a guest solo on "8 Pillars Of *Steel") *''Songs Of Future Past'' - Andrew Bordoni 2013 *''Spiral Motion'' - 2014- Andy Martongelli *''Metal and Thrash Rhythm Guitar: Learn The Secret Techniques of Metal's Greatest Riffmasters'' - 2014- Guitar World/Alfred Publishing *''Guitar Wizards: Book 1'' Versailles Records Compilation *''Shred Force One'' - 2015 - Michael Angelo Batio - Rat Pak Records (Reffett wrote the song "Juggernaut" and performs a guest solo on "8 Pillars Of Steel")


Equipment


Guitars

At various stages of his career, Reffett was an artist endorsee of Gibson, Legator and Esoterik Guitars. He is now signed to the Dean Guitars artist roster, and plays their Dean #11 Custom V and 450 Custom from Dean's Graphyte series. He has been seen playing Gibson Flying V's in ''Guitar World'' magazine video shoots and has used both Gibson guitars and Esoterik guitars for ''
Guitar World ''Guitar World'' is a monthly music magazine for guitarists and fans of guitar-based music and trends. The magazine has been published since July 1980. ''Guitar World'', the best-selling guitar magazine in the United States, contains original a ...
'''s "lick of the day" iPhone application videos. In the pages of ''Guitar World'' he was seen playing a Dean MAB1 Armorflame Michael Angelo Batio signature guitar in the October and November 2010 issues respectively. He has also been seen in Indonesia's ''Gitar Plus'' magazine and Poland's ''Hard Rocker'' magazine playing a mix of Gibson and Dean guitars. For the recording of "The Call of the Flames", Dave primarily used his Gibson Flying V guitars. For a couple of songs that had whammy bar dive bombs he used a BC Rich Bich, and on the clean intro to "I Just Don't Want To Say Goodbye" he used a Yamaha nylon string classical guitar. At the 2011
NAMM Show The NAMM Show is an annual trade show in the United States organized by the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM), which describes it as "the industry’s largest stage, uniting the global music, sound and entertainment technology commun ...
, San Luis Obisbo, California-based company Esoterik guitars unveiled a Dave Reffett signature model guitar known as the DR-1. The guitar featured all of Reffett's favorite specifications such as a Floyd Rose tremolo system and Seymour Duncan Blackout Pickups. It also featured a five-piece walnut neck with figured maple strips, a Honduras mahogany body and ebony overlays, volume knobs and fretboard . Reffett made headlines on popular heavy metal news sites for his jams with Chris Poland and George Lynch at the 2011 NAMM event. ''
Guitar World Magazine ''Guitar World'' is a monthly music magazine for guitarists and fans of guitar-based music and trends. The magazine has been published since July 1980. ''Guitar World'', the best-selling guitar magazine in the United States, contains original ar ...
'' tweeted photos of Reffett performing at the Eminence speakers booth and ''Premier Guitar'' magazine filmed Reffett and George Lynch jamming together at the Mr. Scary guitars booth.http://www.bravewords.com/news/154436 George Lynch at the Mr. Scary guitars booth


Pick-ups

In ''Guitar World'' video appearances Dave can be seen using a Seymour Duncan Dimebag Darrell Abbott signature "Dimebucker" pickup, a personal favorite of his in the bridge position. For the neck position he often uses a Seymour Duncan "59" Model Humbucker. In his Dave Reffett signature model guitar, he had
Seymour Duncan Seymour Duncan is an American company best known for manufacturing guitar and Bass (guitar), bass Pickup (music technology), pickups. They also manufacture effects pedals which are designed and assembled in United States. Guitarist and luthier ...
blackouts. He now uses DMT (Dean Magnetic Technology) pickups as well as the Duncan Jazz and El Diablo.


Effects

On ''Shredding The Envelope'', Reffett uses a vintage 1978 Morley Power Fuzz Wah pedal that he has mentioned in many interviews. The pedal is the same model that Cliff Burton used on the first three Metallica albums, ''
Kill 'Em All ''Kill 'Em All'' is the debut studio album by the American heavy metal band Metallica, released on July 25, 1983, through the independent label Megaforce Records. After forming in 1981, Metallica began by playing shows in local clubs in Los A ...
'', ''
Ride the Lightning ''Ride the Lightning'' is the second studio album by the American thrash metal band Metallica, released on July 27, 1984, by the independent record label Megaforce Records. The album was recorded in three weeks with producer Flemming Rasmusse ...
'', and ''
Master of Puppets ''Master of Puppets'' is the third studio album by the American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Metallica, released on March 3, 1986, by Elektra Records. Recorded in Copenhagen, Denmark, at Sweet Silence Studios with producer Flemming Rasmu ...
''. He occasionally uses a Crybaby Wah pedal and uses various effects when producing in the studio.


Amplification

Reffett typically uses a
Peavey 6505 The Peavey 5150 is a vacuum tube based guitar amplifier made by Peavey Electronics from 1992 on. The amplifier was initially created as a signature model for Eddie Van Halen. Counterintuitively its name does not derive as some consecutive Peavey ...
+ amp head. When recording ''The Call of the Flames'', Reffett ran his amps through a 4x12 Marshall cabinet loaded with Celestion vintage 1930s and Greenbacks in mono and stereo. Now he endorses Eminence speakers and favors their Red Fang, Cannabis Rex and Wizard models. In the studio for some of his rhythm guitar parts he uses a
Mesa Boogie Mesa/Boogie (also known as Mesa Engineering) is an American company in Petaluma, California, that manufactures amplifiers and other accessories for guitars and basses. It has been in operation since 1969. Mesa was started by Randall Smith as a ...
dual rectifier amp. On Batio's ''Intermezzo'' record, Reffett used an Axe FX II for all of the recording.


Microphones

For recording vocals Reffett uses a combination of
Shure Shure Inc. is an audio products corporation headquartered in the USA. It was founded by Sidney N. Shure in Chicago, Illinois, in 1925 as a supplier of radio parts kits. The company became a manufacturer of consumer and professional audio-electr ...
and Manley Gold Reference microphones. For drum recording he uses Blue Ribbon Condenser mics and on his guitar parts he uses a combination of Shure,
Sennheiser Sennheiser electronic GmbH & Co. KG (, ) is a German audio equipment manufacturer headquartered in Wedemark. Sennheiser specializes in equipment for both the consumer and professional audio markets, including microphones, headphones, and loudsp ...
and Manley mics.


Strings

Reffett uses
D'Addario D'Addario () is a family-owned and operated American multinational company that specializes in musical instrument accessories, headquartered in Farmingdale, Long Island, New York. D'Addario is the world’s largest musical instrument access ...
guitar strings, favoring the .009 to .042 models for soloing and most rhythm guitar parts, while sometimes using thicker gauges for alternate tunings and rhythm. Reffett's favorite acoustic strings are Martin Lifespan SP gauge 0.12 to .054. He has also been known to use Elixir brand strings.


Picks

Dave uses black and red Dunlop Jazz IIIs and pure titanium Jazz III style picks from Timber Tone. For bass guitar he alternates between using finger style and Jazz III guitar picks.


Straps

Dave uses a Planet Waves locking strap as well as various Levy straps.


References


External links


Official Dave Reffett site




* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20110810063327/http://musiclegends.ca/2011/03/30/dave-reffett-interview/ Dave Reffett (Shredding the Envelope) Interview: 3.30.2011
In-person interview with Dave Reffett By Aniruddh "Andrew" Bansal – January 14th 2011, Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim CA

Dave Reffett Metal Assault interview and signature guitar demo at NAMM 2011 – Jan 14th 2011

The Dave Reffett (Shredding The Envelope) HRN Interview

Shredding the Envelope'ss Dave Reffett interviewed on ''Focus On Metal'' podcast

Dave Reffett interview at Guitarhoo!
July 28, 2013 {{DEFAULTSORT:Reffett, Dave 1983 births Living people People from Floyd County, Kentucky American heavy metal guitarists Songwriters from Kentucky Singers from Boston Berklee College of Music alumni Rock musicians from Kentucky Singers from Kentucky Songwriters from Massachusetts Singers from Denver Guitarists from Colorado Guitarists from Kentucky Guitarists from Massachusetts American male guitarists 21st-century American male singers 21st-century American singers 21st-century American guitarists American male songwriters