Mario Parga (born 7 August 1969) is an English guitarist. He came into the spotlight during the late 1980s when he began appearing in numerous guitar and rock magazines such as

Guitar Player ''Guitar Player'' was an American magazine for guitarists, founded in 1967 in San Jose, California San Jose, officially the City of San José ( ; ), is a cultural, commercial, and political center within Silicon Valley and the San Francis ...

Metal Hammer ''Metal Hammer'' is a heavy metal music magazine and website founded in 1983, published in the United Kingdom by Future, with other language editions published by different companies available in numerous other countries. ''Metal Hammer'' featu ...

Kerrang ''Kerrang!'' is a British music webzine and quarterly magazine that primarily covers rock, punk and heavy metal music. Since 2017, the magazine has been published by Wasted Talent Ltd (the same company that owns electronic music publication ...

Metal Forces ''Metal Forces'' is a British heavy metal and hard rock music publication founded in 1983. It was well known for its coverage of unsigned bands through its ''Demolition'' feature and championed the likes of Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, HellsBel ...

and played a live guitar solo on

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

's 'Metal Hammer' show.Interview with Mario Parga
RockUnited.com, July 2007Mario Parga
last.fmMario Parga
Prognosis.com Parga was born in

Lytham Lytham St Annes () is a seaside town in the Borough of Fylde in Lancashire, England. It is on the The Fylde, Fylde coast, directly south of Blackpool on the Ribble Estuary. The population of the built-up area at the 2021 United Kingdom census, ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

. During the early 1990s Parga toured, played and recorded with numerous artists, most notably

Cozy Powell Cozy Powell (born Colin Trevor Flooks; 29 December 1947 – 5 April 1998) was an English drummer who made his name with major rock bands and artists such as The Jeff Beck Group, Rainbow, Michael Schenker Group, Gary Moore, Graham Bonnet, B ...

Mario Parga
RockDetector.com and

Graham Bonnet Graham Bonnet (born 23 December 1947) is an English rock singer. He has recorded and performed as a solo artist and as a member of several hard rock and heavy metal music, heavy metal bands including Rainbow (rock band), Rainbow, Michael Schenke ...

.Mario Parga
lsrfm.com
Spirit-of-Metal.com In 1991, his debut guitar instrumental album ''The Magician'' was released by President Records.The Magician
President Records Following disillusionment with the music industry, Parga shied away from the scene until he re-emerged in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

in 1998, playing guitar on Graham Bonnet's ''The Day I Went Mad''. Considered by many to be one of the greatest sweep

arpeggio An arpeggio () is a type of Chord (music), chord in which the Musical note, notes that compose a chord are individually sounded in a progressive rising or descending order. Arpeggios on keyboard instruments may be called rolled chords. Arpe ...

players of the guitar ' shred' Mario Parga
Shredaholic.com and

neoclassical metal Neoclassical metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is heavily influenced by classical music and usually features very technical playing,Stephan Forté, "Metal néoclassique" in ''Guitarist Magazine Pedago'', Hors Série #29, "Les secrets du m ...

genres, Parga combines complex arpeggio patterns with rapid

alternate picking Alternate picking is a guitar playing technique that employs alternating downward and upward strokes in a continuous fashion. If the technique is performed at high speed on a single string or course voicing the same note, it may be referred to ...

Sweep-picking Sweep picking is a guitar-playing technique. When sweep picking, the guitarist plays single notes on consecutive strings with a 'sweeping' motion of the pick, while using the fretting hand to produce a specific series of notes that are fast and ...

and string bending.Entranced
Metal CriticoMario Parga
Guitar-List.com, 'Greatest Guitar Players' Mario was listed in the July '08 edition of the international magazine

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 ...

as being one of the World's 50 fastest guitarists (

technique) based on a scientific note clocking experiment. Despite his amazing speed, he is also renowned for his highly emotive slower playing.Mario Parga
RockUnited.com In 2000, Parga was approached by the guitar label Liquid Note Records and recorded his instrumental 'Valse Diabolique' for their ''The Alchemists'' album.
DMME.net, June 2008 Two years later, he recorded his haunting ballad 'Hourglass'
ChrisRuel.com (Warmth in the Wilderness II) for Lion Music's ''Warmth in the Wilderness II'', a tribute to fellow guitarist Jason Becker. Early in 2007, Parga announced the creation of his own record label 'MidnightCafe Music', (the name taken from his track 'The Midnight Café' from ''The Magician'') and plans on releasing his future

instrumental rock Instrumental rock is rock music that emphasizes instrumental performance and features very little or no singing. Examples of instrumental music in rock can be found in practically every subgenre of the style. Instrumental rock was most popular f ...

guitar music through it. His long-awaited album ''Entranced'' was released on the label on 14 April 2007. Mario Parga lives in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

, United States with his wife Shawna and their daughter Skye.

References

External links

Mario Parga official websiteMidnightCafe Music
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parga, Mario 1969 births Living people English rock guitarists People from Lytham St Annes