Mark Tremonti
ALTER BRIDGE
Mark Tremonti's biggest passion in life, apart from their families, are guitar. It has been running for twenty-three years since he took the first one and continues to this day.
Introduced to music at an early age by his brothers while growing up outside of Detroit, Mark spent his young days listening to a lot of classic rock bands from the 70's and 80's. Music is a major part of his life in every aspect and he is interested in the guitar like a moth to a flame. At the age of eleven he got his first guitar, cheap imitation Les Paul, and began to start playing with his thumb. He did not know how to play an instrument, but he did not care. He was the guitar and it makes noise. He's in heaven.
After the initial excitement died down, Mark decided to get serious and take lessons from a professional. Apparently only one lesson.Teachers want to teach the basics of Mark while Mark wanted to jump directly to the Metallica song. When teachers told Mark that he was "not ready to play Metallica," leaving Mark and vowed to teach himself.
Now keep in mind that Mark was not a virtuoso at a young age or anything. He did not think he's better than the teacher he did not think that teachers do not have something to show him. He was just determined to do things his own way, and that single thought and dedication he showed at the age of eleven was the origin of the unique style and sound Mark Tremonti has created over his career.
Mark continues to teach himself the guitar throughout high school and early high school while at the same time joined the band to learn how to write songs and perform in front of people. Mark has never felt completely comfortable on stage doing during this period because he always thought he was not good enough but he did not enjoy writing songs is and focus your energy on the melodies and song structures. It was also during this time that Mark started to attend the concert. At the first concert, in which Comet Frehley Iron Maiden and done, Mark could not take his eyes off the guitar player and broke up in the future. That night, walking home, he swore to her brother that she would one day play on the same stage.
After Mark's first year in high school, an event that would change his life forever happened. His parents moved to Orlando, Florida and his older brother went to college. He was alone for the first time in his life with no brothers and her new boy in school. Worse, the kids at her high school more into pop music than rock. Imagine being a kid wearing a Metallica shirt in a sea of fans of Milli Vanilli. It was traumatic to say the least.
With so much time on their hands and no friends initially to talk about, Mark locked himself in a room with a guitar and really focused on songwriting. He took the path and use it to record four songs full of the first ever written. He learned during this time that the trouble and chaos (or strong emotions in this case, good or bad) lend themselves well to the creative depths of mining deep in the heart and soul.
After high school, Mark attended Clemson University in South Carolina. Again, he is the new kid at school, so he turned to the tried and true friend, the guitar. He found a local guitar shop and started hanging out there looking for musicians to play with. He found the musicians he was looking for but not in the way he originally thought. He found that the music store guitar instructional videos renting so she took home as much as he can as often as the store allowed. So now, the focus returned to the guitar technique after years of working on the song. Mark found that the instructional videos have an exponential effect on the technique and that, within one year of watching hundreds of hours of video, his ability to play increased dramatically.
Due to financial reasons, Mark has only stayed one year at Clemson. However, he decided to continue his college education in Tallahassee at Florida State University. Mark grew up as a songwriter and guitar player and although he is shy and nervous, he managed to get on stage in several local bars open mike nights.He also ran into Scott Stapp he knew in high school. They began writing together and soon Scott Phillips and Brian Marshall joined the fold and Creed was born.
Between 1997 and 2003, Creed has run away from the success that is truly amazing. In the seven years they sold more than 30 million albums worldwide, has many singles who go to the top of the charts and playing to sold-out audiences wherever they go. Mark is really focused on song-writing over the years and is recognized by the recording industry in 2000, won a Grammy Award for co-wrote the song "Open Arms With an area."
Over the years, Creed won many awards from the American Music Awards Billboard Awards, but one in particular achievement of the summit for Mark Tremonti .... its support to deal with Paul Reed Smith Guitars. PRS makes Mark's signature model guitar, and at that time the only other artist with a signature model is Carlos Santana. Mark was flattered and very honored to help design a guitar that would bear his name. Around this time Mark was also honored by readers of Guitar World magazine as the Guitarist of the Year and he won that award three consecutive years in a row.
Even with the success he had, Mark did not feel that he was a pretty good player who has not deserved a signature guitar or awards. So from that point forward Mark's mission to validate all the accolades he receives by spending every ounce of spare time he must be the best he could on the guitar. He put a new focus on guitar technique and seek advice and assistance from many of the best guitarists in the world and also continue to buy any guitar instructional DVD which he said could help him. He started practicing up to eight hours a day and a regimen that still continues to this day. Mark did not feel that he has a latent talent that some are born with so that he felt an obligation to offset the hard work and determination.
Morley is the next company that offers support agreement Mark and he was very flattered that they chose him. Mark helped them design a pedal with the specifications and Mark Tremonti Wah Pedal Power was conceived.
In 2004, Creed broke up but it did nothing to stop Mark's love for music and playing live for the fans. Mark is very proud of the songs that he wrote in the Creed so this is very difficult for him but instead of seeing a break-up as the end, he looked like a new beginning.He bought his own Pro Tools workstation, take a class to learn how to operate it, and built a home studio so he could record the song.He even took singing lessons so she could lie in the demo vocal tracks he worked on. He wrote and recorded these songs for over a year, do not know where they will end.
Mark's hard work pays off in 2004 when he founded the band Alter Bridge. He tapped his band mate Creed Scott Phillips and Brian Marshall for this project and together they found the missing piece of the puzzle in the singer / guitarist / song-writer Myles Kennedy.Together they have written two albums: One Day Stay in 2004 and Blackbird in 2007.
Creed is an amazing journey, but sometimes frustrating and Mark will be forever grateful for that experience, but Alter Bridge has been transformed into a band that originally envisioned when he was young. Alter Bridge has enabled the Marking of freedom in playing the guitar and song-writing that he was never in the Creed.Alter Bridge also allows Mark to play with many bands he idolized as a young man like Metallica, Van Halen, Moterhead, Slayer, and Black Sabbath to name a few.
Alter Bridge continued success in 2008 and they were getting ready to tour Europe at the end of the year. Mark has also recently offered a deal of support from T-REX that he was very proud and in 2009 Mark Tremonti Phaser Pedal will be unveiled. Throughout 2008 Mark has also worked hard on the instructional DVD entitled: Mark Tremonti He created this DVD in the hope that it will help the other guitar player because he has been helped by so many DVDs and videos for years, "The Sound and the Story." .
Mark Tremonti has demonstrated time and time again that if you want something bad enough, hard work and determination will get you there. At age eleven, Mark vowed that someday he would play on the same stage that he first saw Iron Maiden. In 1998 he achieved that dream in Detroit, playing with Van Halen. That's just one of many dreams come true for Mark. But those who know Mark know that he is not to rest contently. He was always trying to better themselves, be it on guitar or just in life. That is the mantra and he continued to live with it every day.
