Guitar Heroes: Frank Hannon and Dave Rude
Earlier this week I had the chance to see Tesla play at Center Stage in Atlanta. I was excited about the show - I was a HUGE Tesla fan in high school and college, and while I went to dozens of shows during that time, I never had the chance to see these guys live. So finally, I was able to see them do “Modern Day Cowboy” along with several other classic songs I loved back in the day.
Seeing these guys live reminded me of what a huge influence they were on me when I started playing guitar. They have several songs in which the hook of the song is an acoustic riff, and then they kick in with the full band. Songs like “Love Song”, “Little Suzi”, and “The Way It Is” come to mind. Guitarist Frank Hannon deftly pulled off both by having an acoustic on an Omega stand for most of the show. If you’ve seen me play live, you know that I often do the same kind of thing using a PRS Hollowbody equipped with a piezo pickup.
Both guitarists had great tone, playing Gibson SG’s, Flying V’s and Explorers through Marshall full stacks (I wasn’t close enough, but I assume they were JCM 800’s. If you know otherwise, feel free to let me know!). Both also played great and had really good stage presence. It was fun and flashy in a straight ahead rock way.
Dave Rude has only been with the band for a couple of years but he was totally fun to watch. And Frank Hannon is just a wizard, switching between acoustic and electric, guitar and keys. He even used his guitar to control a theremin at one point. Definitely a man after my own heart!
What about you? Have you seen anybody cool live that blew your mind?
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