In the 1980s, the shred guitar arms race was reaching fever pitch. Fretboard theatrics and unprecedented displays of virtuosic ability were very much in vogue. And fast-rising ambidextrous guitar star Michael Angelo Batio was very much a leading force on the scene.
Two things made Batio stand out in the crowd of shredders: his command of the fretboard, and the bonkers arsenal of double and quad guitars.
The concept itself was insane: a right-handed and a left-handed guitar, Frankenstein’d together, allowing the wielder to tap both fretboards, with each hand, simultaneously.
It’s impressive being able to wrangle such a beastly guitar. What’s even more impressive is playing it in front of more than 20,000 people. And that’s exactly what Batio did the first time he took it to the stage
In the August 1993 issue of Guitarist, Batio looked back on the making of his first double-guitar, and the first time he ever took it on stage.
“I actually had the idea for years before I had the first one built,” he remembered. “But I didn’t have a record deal, so no-one was going to take me seriously if I told them I wanted a left-hand and right-hand guitar stuck together.”
“For the first six months I didn’t even play the guitar!” Batio continued. “I just looked at it for days on end! It was like this thing that was glowing at you, goading you; it was pretty rotten. So my father goes, ‘What are you going to do – look at it, or are you going to play that thing? So I played it on-stage one time.”
And Batio picked one hell of a stage to take it on.
“The first time I played the guitar, it was in front of 23,000 people!” he revealed.
“I was using a Marshall head – my ‘Death Head’ – which was rewired by José [Arredondo]. He’s done some great work for guys like Van Halen and Randy Rhoads.
“Anyway, I walked out and everybody went crazy. I was playing criss-cross, but I was so nervous that I grabbed both guitars and all you heard was this really bad sound. And I’m going, ‘Oh shit.’
“My hands are so nervous they’re shaking; and I see these guys in front going, ‘Yeah...’ as though they think I’m giving up on it. So I said, ‘Fuck it!’ and I started playing and acting like I knew what I was doing.”
Batio didn’t need to act. He certainly did know what he was doing, and the double-guitar has been a key part of his skillset ever since.
The double guitar was only ever out-done by Batio’s even-more-insane quad-guitar, which (yep, you guessed it) had four guitar necks strapped together. And, as Batio told Guitar World earlier this year, that four-neck was actually inspired by Steve Vai’s three-neck…
