“I played the jam with Eric Johnson, Steve Vai and Joe Satriani. I was like, ‘Uh, yeah sure. I’ll come and play G3!’”: All That Remains’ Jason Richardson on surviving the ultimate virtuoso jam, despite fearing improv – and why theory is not 'law'

Jason Richardson with his signature Ernie Ball Music Man Cutlass (Image credit: Nevermore Visuals)

In the world of melodic metalcore, All That Remains are rightfully considered one of the genre’s finest exponents, alongside the likes of Killswitch Engage, Trivium and Bullet for My Valentine.

In fact, popular YouTuber and respected metalcore evangelist Nik Nocturnal describes the band’s 2006 album, The Fall of Ideals, as follows: “It is God-tier; the riffs still hold up to this day and the hooks are huge. It is the perfect era of metalcore encapsulated in one amazing album.”

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Richardson also has guested with the likes of Polyphia, August Burns Red and Falling in Reverse, to name but three. Add to that a range of signature six- and seven-string guitars with Ernie Ball Music Man and Sterling by Music Man; a critically acclaimed signature MixWave amp simulation plugin; and his own website, which offers a slew of tabs and more, and Richardson’s profile is pretty darned high.

“Definitely a bit of both. Theory is important because it helps expedite the writing process, but it’s obviously not a necessity. I know plenty of players who write the craziest-sounding stuff, and some of them don’t know anything about theory. And that’s almost better for them in a way because they don’t have any constraints or perceptions that might dictate what they’re going to write, if that makes sense.

“They’re just playing what sounds cool to them. The bluntest way I’ve ever heard it put is this: Al Di Meola was at one of the John Petrucci camps [John Petrucci’s Guitar Universe] and he said, ‘Learn as much theory as you possibly can and then forget it!’ [Laughs] That way it’s subconscious; it’s in the back of your head, not the front. Remember, it’s called music ‘theory,’ not ‘law.’ It’s just there to guide you, to be a suggestion and help make things work better together with each other.

“Even if I were just to do 30 minutes a day, I would never have to go through the ‘rebuilding my technique’ phase ever again. But I don’t do that when I’m home, [Laughs] so I’m gonna have to do it again at some point soon.

“For example, that song The Piper – it just sounds like a metalcore riff, because it is – but it keeps going by so fast, and the verse riff in that song is supposed to be all down-picked. I can do it when my technique, endurance and stamina are up after I’ve been practicing that stuff for a week or two straight.”

“But right now, during this interview, if I were to pick up a guitar and try to play that, my right hand would just fall apart. When I know I’ve got to play stuff like that live, I make sure I’m consistently practicing for two or three weeks beforehand, working to where something like that is more comfortable and isn’t a stress-test where your just arm just gets locked up after trying to play it for a little bit. It’s like working out; that’s the best analogy I can give for it.”

“This is probably an unrealistic standard, but someone like Guthrie Govan can go up there, pull something out of his ass on the spot and it’s just the sickest thing you’ve heard every time! Nick Johnston, too. Those guys can just pick up the guitar and think on their feet so well, whereas I get inside my head, and it doesn’t come out like them. Everyone is always their own worst critic, but I’ve definitely got to work on improv a lot more.

“Nita [Strauss] who played the same night as me, had a similar experience. They hit her up and she almost said no – but then her husband said, ‘Are you kidding me? Go play!’ So we were in the same headspace, I guess. I watched the video of me at that jam and I was like, ‘OK – that was much better than I thought it was in the moment!’ That said, it definitely wasn’t Guthrie Govan. [Laughs]”