Pinoy rock gods face off in a night of dueling guitars
Guitar duels are the quick ticket to music credibility. Jam with your heroes and test your skills! Or learn a a thing or two from the masters. As Pat Metheny once said, “Always try to be the worst player in every band you are in.”
Guitar duels have been romanticized in the movie “Crossroads,” where “Karate Kid” star Ralph Macchio beat legend Steve Vai in a solo.
Last July 3, I attended a dueling guitars gig called Mas Mayabang Ako (or simply, MMA) at SaGuijo. It was organized by Barangay Tibay, with selected guitarists invited to jam with each other and show off their skills.
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Pair offs
This was no ordinary show, as the event not only had the most blistering guitarists in the country, it also made sure the pairings were unusual.
Francis Brew Reyes of Peso Movement faced off with Jeriko Aguilar, Ka Freddie Aguilar’s son.
Former Rivermaya colleagues Kakoi Legaspi and Mike Elgar dueled with the Razorback boys Tirso Ripoll and Manuel Legarda. Preceding them were Kaloi Cambaliza of Sultans of Snap/Mara and Valley of Chrome’s Tatel Marcelino; Karl Castillo of Tempest versus SJ Lontoc of of Hyena Harmonies Inc., Jec Castillo of Exillion with Sega Alcabasa of Segatron and Dan Magpantay of TPE/Mismo versus Bike Vinas of Badburn, who also played rhythm guitar for Francis Reyes and Jerico Aguilar’s set.
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Shredding skills
Jeriko Aguilar, who reminded me of a young Francis Reyes with his skinny figure and long curly hair, complemented the sound of his doppelganger. Francis was the calm and sophisticated player showing off complex techniques while Jeriko was a livelier counterpoint handling his guitar with a little more energy.
Francis does have astoundingly great shredding skills, but he has never risen to the bait of fans teasing him about not being able to shred. He has said time and again that a good solo doesn’t always require quick playing. But he can do it if he has to: check out the ending scene of The Dawn’s 2006 movie “Tulad Ng Dati;” it’s like a Filipino version of movie “The Crossroads.”
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Rivermaya alums ‘cheat’
For Kakoi Legaspi and Mike Elgar, it was a reunion as both worked together in Rivermaya in the early 2000s. I asked Mike what he planned to do and he said, “Dko nga alam gagawin ko eh, gusto ko lang magpatawa”.
Before the actual duel started, both fooled around with the chords to “It Might Be You” and “Venga Boys,” which made the whole crowd laugh. They also did the chord progressions to what sounded suspiciously like “Elesi” until Francis Brew called them out for “cheating” by not playing original solos.
When the actual duel started, the two produced music that was as lively as their personalities and showed off their shredding skills while having a laugh the whole time.
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Lost in the music
Before Tirso Ripoll and Manuel Legarda went on stage, Tirso joked that they would make the whole venue sing along to their jam and make it a show.
Razorback is known for their lengthy jams every gig. They can go on up to three hours with all the jams that they put in between their sets.
Tirso and Manuel were so used to playing together that you no longer notice if one is deliberately showing off. And these guys know how to make the crowd get lost in the music.
When this event was put together, none of the guitarists knew exactly what they were going to do. The fact that they all knew each other and were friends was enough assurance that things would fall into place.
And that evening, they certainly did.
Niña Sandejas’s first solo exhibit “Behind the Curtain’s Shadows” is ongoing until July at Apartment 1B restaurant on the ground floor of One Rockwell East Tower, Rockwell Drive near Power Plant Mall in Makati. Visit her blog, like her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter, Tumblr and Instagram. Read more of Niña’s blog posts on Yahoo! OMG!.
