Jason Becker Shares New Song, "Hold On to Love"

Jason Becker has shared the official video for the song “Hold On to Love.” The track comes off the guitarist's new album, Triumphant Hearts, due December 7 via Music Theories Recordings/Mascot Label Group.

“Hold On to Love” features Bay Area singer Codany Holiday on lead vocals. The song, Becker explains, was originally “going to be an instrumental, but after I wrote the chorus with lyrics, I knew I had to tell my story, to explain how I can continue living without feeling hate. I hadn’t written many lyrics before.”

As previously reported, the 14 tracks on Triumphant Hearts showcase Jason’s gift for melody and his deep knowledge of classical composition and orchestral arrangement. Many of the guitar parts are performed by a who’s who of guitarists including Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Neal Schon, Steve Morse, Paul Gilbert, Joe Bonamassa, and many others. Becker's own playing—recorded in the Eighties and Nineties—also features throughout.

Becker first rose to prominence as a teenager when he was one half of the technical guitar duo Cacophony with Marty Friedman. In 1989, at only 19 years old and after wowing audiences all over the world, the young virtuoso became the guitarist for David Lee Roth, following in the huge footsteps of Eddie Van Halen and Steve Vai. He wrote and recorded with Roth for the former Van Halen frontman’s third solo album, A Little Ain’t Enough and was poised for superstardom when a nagging pain in his leg was diagnosed as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), a fatal condition with a life expectancy of maybe five years. 

That was 29 years ago. Becker lost the ability to play guitar, walk, talk and breathe on his own. But never lost his will to live or his desire to create music. Communicating through a series of eye movements with a system developed by his father, Becker spells out words as well as musical notes and chords. He imparts his musical vision to his team who then can input the notes into a computer, edit the parts to his exacting standards, and then generate charts for session musicians. His inspiring music and life story have been the subject of countless news articles, magazine cover stories, and an award-winning documentary, Jason Becker: Not Dead Yet. 

“Some people feel sorry for me,” he concedes, “and I understand that. I really feel lucky though. I don’t miss playing guitar anymore. I’m sure that’s out of necessity, but I am grateful for so much more. I am surrounded by loving people, and I can still make music.”

Triumphant Hearts will be released on December 7 via Music Theories Recordings/Mascot Label Group. The album is available for pre-order here.