Chris I would consider a second generation influence of mine and current favorite player.

I say "second generation" because although I was a fan of and aware of his work in Megadeth and his incredible playing on his Instrumental album, "Return to Metalopolis" from the early 90's, it wasn't until 2004 that I became reacquanted with his playing and what he had been up to over the past few years.

I have gone into great detail about my meeting Chris and the unforgettable life-changing experience I had getting to hang and jam with him in LA in late 2004 on the message board so I won't waste more space here about that.

Chris encompases almost Everything that I love in guitar playing. He has an equal dose of heavy Jeff Beck / Jan Hammer type unpredictable note selection as well as plenty of mind numbing "shred" techniques all rolled into a pop-fusion style that picks up where Beck left off in the late 70's and takes it to a whole other planet.

He has in the past year, had just as big of an impact on my playing as any of the other players on my list had in the first 15 years of my playing.

Choice Albums:

OHM; - Live on KPFK

Chasing the Sun

Return to Metalopolis

Megadeth - Peace Sells....but Who's Buying?