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Trip to Jason Beckers house!!!


KeyOfZ

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;)

About a month ago my buddy Rob and I went to return a guitar that Jason had given to him about 14 years ago (The blue Hurricane from the Perpetual Burn album cover) and got to hang out with Jason and his dad Gary for 5 hours.

It was awesome, they were very graceous and made us feel right at home.

We weren't there more than 5 minutes and they were handing us guitars to play (Jasons Peavey, a custom one and another one).

I'm the one on the left:

DaveJasonRob.JPG

Jason and his father Gary Becker:

GaryJason.JPG

Jason never fails to amaze me. He is such a warm person (as is his father Gary) and has an extremely optimistic spirit. He would motion upwards with his eyes to say "yes" and smirk with the corner of his mouth to say "no". His father and nurse could communicate with the letter system that his father invented (really cool by the way) and even gave us a brief explaination. He could smile and looked like he was laughing at one point. His eyes can tell you a lot though

He showed us some video footage that I had never seen, Michael Lee Firkins performing The End of the Begining live with an orchestra!

Some home footage and some more highschool footage.

They talked about the possibility of Fender releasing a Jason Becker signature series guitar (YES!)

Jason is working on music still and an Autobiography (YES and YES!)

They are also currently going through a possible movie script about Jasons life.

He asked about our current influences and we told him about Nunos more current work so I will be sending him some CDs for him to check out. He seemed really interested

He likes No Doubt,Prince, Indian music and some others.

I created this word doc to help me study up in case I go on the next trip, there were times when Jason's dad had to leave the room and I had a ton of stuff I wanted to ask Jason. Check it out if you are interested on how Jason communicates, it's REALLY inventive:

Becker Speak.doc

Here is a pic from back in the day (right after he found out about the David Lee Roth gig):

Jason3.jpg

This is the Blue Carvin that he is going to be getting back from my friend Tony. KILLER guitar! I wish all my guitars had necks that felt like this one. (My 94' Hamer Daytona comes close though)

I asked him if he had ever played a Hamer USA guitar and he said that he had 3 of them :D

I wish Jason the best in all his future aspirations. I only wish there was more that I could do for him.

P.S. - I saw the GOLD record from Warner Brothers for 500,000 copies sold for A Little Aint Enough with DLR presented to Jason Becker. Way freaking cool. He has it hanging on the wall by his back door.

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Jason never ceases to amaze me. Thanks for sharing his communication system - I agree, it is very clever.

I remember that back in the day he had a deal going with Peavey to offer a signature model. IIRC it was the one with a maple fretboard and large numbers on the neck (in several different colors) for fret markers. Word has it they decided not to follow thorugh after Jason was diagnosed. Up until that point I had always admired Peavey as a company but that move really ticked me off.

A Jason specific signature model is long overdue. Hopefully the deal works out with Fender (and hopefully it will have a Floyd on it!).

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Very cool stuff. Thanks for sharing-some amazing people out there that have tons more to deal with than most of us and so many of them do it with so much class.

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thanks for sharing that. If you can't find inspiration in somebody like Jason who is dealing with what would destroy most of us, then you're missing something!

That was great.

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Guest Kevio

I found this thread over on the Carvin BBS.

Great story about Jason. My grandmother passed away some 20 years ago from ALS, and I understand what a frustrating disease it is. I echo that hopefully, someday a cure will be found.

Before Tony takes the Carvin back to Jason, I'd *really* like to get pictures of it, as well as the backstory, for my site, the Carvin Museum (http://www.carvinmuseum.com). It would be nice to preserve this little part of Jason, and I'm sure my visitors would like seeing and hearing about this instrument. Anything you can do to help would be great.

Bless Jason.

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For some of the folks that might not have had the chance to hear Jason Becker, I put this song up on my website temporarily for you guys to check it out.

Most of this is Jason Becker in his prime. One of the most beautiful pieces of guitar playing I have ever heard.

Enjoy.

Images

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very nice ,, man that must make him feel good ,that he still a influence in the guitar world .. I saw him in the early 90's w/ David Lee Roth he Ripped on the guitar ,,Rob D...

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very nice ,, man that must make him feel good ,that he still a influence in the guitar world .. I saw him in the early 90's w/ David Lee Roth he Ripped on the guitar ,,Rob D...

that wasn't Becker onstage with Dave. he started having medical problems after ALAE was completed and had to drop out of the tour. i think Dave wrote about it in his book.

found this online...

"By 1990, Becker learned that he would fill Steve Vai's old slot of lead guitarist with David Lee Roth. His selection brought only brief celebration, because a week later, Jason Becker was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (A.L.S. or Lou Gehrig's Disease) an incurable, inexorable disease which attacks the nervous system.

Completing Roth's A Little Ain't Enough with a final burst of the stunning guitar work that rivaled Vai's, Becker was too ill to tour and moved in with his family. His deteriorating health did not affect his mind or his desire to create music. He conceived a project that would fill the next five years with frustration as well as satisfaction - the making of Perspective."

Becker also did an interview that ran in Guitar Magazine where he confirms he didin't tour with Dave:

If it weren't for your illness were you headed for the road?

Oh yeah, definitely. Me and Dave are still friends and we'll probably work together in the future. But it's something that I couldn't do. Apart from having to sit on stage, there's another 22 hours I'd have to deal with.

the article went on to say "And while Jason has had to leave the band for medical reason, replaced on the road by Joe Holmes (lead guitar) and Desi Rexx (rhythm guitar)"

still, it's a shame to see a talent like that silenced. i loved his work on ALAE.

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Actually Jason did play a couple live performances with DLR but I think they were promotional appearances.

I remember Jason saying something like, he was having to concentrate on not falling down so hard that he would have to tone down his playing a bit. He thought people in the audience were going "This is David Lee Roths new guitar player?"

Not sure of the exact times and places of these appearances but I remember him talking about it.

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Not to thread jack here, but that carvin museum site is very well done. Lots of info.

Yup, the best brand-specific fansite out there IMNSHO. Oh, BTW, Jason Becker rocks! :D

-Austin

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Hey KeyofZ

thanks for sharing, I remember reading about Jason after he had been diagnosed, He seemed so determined to keep going at it however he could, weather by electronica or writing for other great axe-men to play. His attitude is very humbling. He had always seemed like a great person even before his diagnosis.

Thanks for the post, thank you very much!

:D

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