Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Bumblefoot | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Ronald Jay Blumenthal |
| Born | September 25, 1969 New York City, U.S. |
| Occupations | Musician, Songwriter, Music Producer |
| Instruments | Guitar, Vocals, Bass Guitar, Drums |
| Years active | 1995 - present |
| Labels | Bumblefoot Music LLC |
| Associated acts | Guns N' Roses |
| Website | Official website |
| Notable instruments | |
| Several Vigier custom models | |
Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal (born Ronald Jay Blumental[1], September 25, 1969 in Brooklyn, New York City), is an American guitarist, songwriter and producer best known for being one of two current lead guitarists in the hard rock band Guns N' Roses.
Contents |
[edit] Career
Ron Thal got the name "Bumblefoot" from the bacterial infection, which he learned about while helping his wife review for her veterinary exams.[2][3]
[edit] Early years
He started to play the guitar at age 6, inspired by Gene Simmons but his hands were too small to play the bass[4]. Before releasing solo albums, he had songs featured on the Ominous Guitarists of the Unknown compilations[5]. By the mid 1990s, he was becoming noticed as a guitarist of some merit, and also was known for his interesting custom guitars, such as the hand guitar and the Swiss cheese guitar[6].
After the release of his 9/11 album, featuring the song "Guitars Suck," he had gained fame particularly in Europe, sometimes being the feature of multi-page articles in European magazines[7].
[edit] Guns N' Roses
Thal joined Guns N' Roses before they embarked on a world tour in 2006, filling the position vacated by departed guitarist Buckethead.[8] He made his live debut with the band at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City on May 12, 2006. Thal performs some degree of guitar work on every track of the band's 2008 album Chinese Democracy.[9]
[edit] Recent Years
His song "Firebrand" was the opening theme for MXC, the American adaptation of Takeshi's Castle. He has licensed several of his recordings to television shows on MTV and VH1 such as Hogan Knows Best, The Real World, Made, The Osbournes, and others.[2] Thal made the music for the NY Islanders hockey team's promos for the 2008/2009 season.[10]
In 2008, Thal released his latest solo album, Abnormal, whose sales exceeded his previous solo efforts due to his exposure with Guns N' Roses.[2] On December 23, 2008, Bumblefoot released an acoustic EP called Barefoot, where he took songs from his previous albums and made stripped-down acoustic versions of them.
In February 2009, Ron produced an instrumental metal guitar compilation disc entitled Guitars That Ate My Brain. He oversaw writing, recording and mixing for half the album (co- writing, engineering and mixing as well as guitar and bass playing by Jeremy Krull, drums by Dennis Leeflang), contributed his playing to the song "Disengaged" and mastered the album. Other artists on the album include Devin Townsend, Chris Poland, Shane Gibson, Dave Martone, Paul Waggoner, James Murphy and others.
In June 2009, Thal began touring the US and Europe playing guitar for Lita Ford.[11]
In December 2009, Thal began touring with Guns N' Roses' on the Chinese Democracy world tour.
[edit] Guitars
Thal is an endorser of Vigier Guitars. The company produces a signature model for Thal named the "Bfoot".[12]
- Vigier Excalibur Bumblefoot Signature Model
- Vigier Surfreter Fretless Guitar in Gold
- Vigier Swiss-Cheese Guitar (also released as a limited edition)
- Vigier Bumblefoot Guitar
- Vigier G.V. Rock
- Custom Vigier double neck
- Gibson Les Paul: Ron used his '59 Reissue Les Paul during the Guns N' Roses 2006 tour.
- Gibson Flying V: He has only used this on the 2007 leg of Guns N' Roses' Chinese Democracy Tour.
[edit] Discography
| Year | Album | |
|---|---|---|
| As Ron Thal[13] | ||
| 1995 | The Adventures of Bumblefoot | |
| 1995 | Wild Woody soundtrack | |
| 1997 | Hermit (Ron Thal album) (out of print) | |
| As Bumblefoot[14] | ||
| 1998 | Hands | |
| 2000 | Uncool (French Version) | |
| 2001 | 9.11 | |
| 2002 | Uncool (American Version) | |
| 2003 | Forgotten Anthology | |
| 2005 | Normal | |
| 2008 | Abnormal | |
| 2008 | Barefoot - the acoustic ep | |
| With Guns N' Roses[15] | ||
| 2008 | Chinese Democracy |
[edit] Guest appearances
| Song | Artist | Album |
|---|---|---|
| engineering, bkg vocals, guest guitar solo | 24-7 Spyz | Face the Day |
| co-writing, engineering/producing, guitars, bkg vocals | Q*Ball | This Is Serious Business |
| co-writing, engineering/producing, guitars, bkg vocals | Q*Ball | Fortune Favors The Bald |
| co-writing, engineering/producing, guitars, bkg vocals | Q*Ball | Q*Ball In Space |
| "Rhode Island Shred" | Guthrie Govan | Erotic Cakes |
| "Game Over" | Mike Orlando | Sonic Stomp |
| "Metal Kartoon" | Christophe Godin | Metal Kartoon |
| "Speak When Spoken To" | Freak Kitchen | Organic |
| "Psychometamorph" | Phi Yann-Zek | Solar Flare |
| "Dynasty Of Death" | Mistheria | Messenger Of the Gods |
| "From the Inside" | Richard Daude / Various Artists | Shawn Lane Remembered Vol 2 |
| "Irresistible" | Jessica Simpson | Hex Hector club mix CD-single |
| "Tarkus" | Jordan Rudess | The Road Home |
| "La peur de l'échec" | Orelsan | Perdu d'avance |
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.ascap.com/ace/search.cfm?requesttimeout=300&mode=results&searchstr=501071914&search_in=i&search_type=exact&search_det=t,s,w,p,b,v&results_pp=20&start=1
- ^ a b c Johnson, Ben (July 3, 2008). "Local Guitar Hero – Bumblefoot, aka Great Kills native Ron Thal, is living his rock star dream". Staten Island Advance (Advance Publications).
- ^ http://www.silive.com/entertainment/music/index.ssf/2008/07/music_local_guitar_hero_1.html
- ^ GUITAR PLAYER magazine AUGUST 1989
- ^ GUITARIST NETWORK magazine SEPTEMBER 1993
- ^ GUITAR WORLD magazine OCTOBER 1995
- ^ GUITAR & BASS mag MARCH 2002 (FRANCE)
- ^ Moore, Brian (November 20, 2008). "Axl's arsenal". Chicago Tribune (Tribune Company).
- ^ Graff, Gary (March 2, 2009). "G'n'R: Axl Rose talks to Gary Graff about his new album, rumors and the fans". The Oakland Press (Journal Register Company).
- ^ Best, Neil (December 3, 2008). "Guitarist named for rodent infection writes Isles music". Newsday (Cablevision).
- ^ Virtusio, Jessi (July 2, 2009). "Still rockin'". SouthtownStar (Sun-Times Media Group).
- ^ "Bfoot 2009". VigierGuitars.com. March 4, 2009. http://www.vigierguitars.com/news-55-0.php. Retrieved November 18, 2009.
- ^ http://www.last.fm/music/Ron%20Thal/+albums
- ^ http://www.last.fm/music/Bumblefoot/+albums
- ^ http://www.last.fm/music/Guns+N'+Roses/Chinese+Democracy
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Buckethead |
Guns N' Roses Lead Guitarist 2006–present |
Incumbent |
