1. Guthrie Govan is a British guitarist and guitar teacher, known for his work with the bands the Aristocrats, Asia, GPS, the Young Punx and the Fellowship, as well as his solo project Erotic Cakes.
44 Facts About Guthrie Govan
1. 2.
Guthrie Govan is a noted guitar teacher, working with the UK magazine Guitar Techniques, Guildford's Academy of Contemporary Music, Lick Library, and formerly the Brighton Institute of Modern Music.
3.
Guthrie Govan began playing guitar aged three, encouraged by his father, but initially learning mainly by ear.
4.
Guthrie Govan's father taught him three chords first, and introduced him to his record collection.
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Guthrie Govan worked out chords and solos from listening to the records.
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Half-Scottish, Guthrie Govan was heavily influenced by Zal Cleminson, a Scottish guitarist best known for his work with the Sensational Alex Harvey Band.
7.
Guthrie Govan's first electric guitar was a Gibson SG, which he keeps at home.
8.
Guthrie Govan dropped out after a year to pursue a career in music.
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Guthrie Govan has since worked with Guitar Techniques, providing transcriptions of songs, including his own track Wonderful Slippery Thing.
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Since the late 1990s, Guthrie Govan has taught at the Guitar Institute in Acton, Thames Valley University, and the Academy of Contemporary Music.
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Guthrie Govan formerly taught at Brighton Institute of Modern Music, and is invited to teach in seminars, masterclasses and clinics all around the world.
12.
Guthrie Govan has published two books on guitar playing: Creative Guitar Volume 1: Cutting Edge Techniques and Creative Guitar Volume 2: Advanced Techniques.
13.
Guthrie Govan explained that he was then chosen as an "affordable" option for the band, which had not experienced recent chart success.
14.
Guthrie Govan wrote an instrumental song, Bad Asteroid, which itself was based on material from Govan's early 1990s demo.
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Guthrie Govan went on to play on the band's 2004 album Silent Nation.
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Guthrie Govan was replaced by virtuoso guitarist Mitch Perry, known for his work with Cher, Ratt, Lita Ford, and the Michael Schenker Group.
17.
Guthrie Govan appears in the music video for their track Rockall.
18.
Guthrie Govan has played live guitar for Dizzee Rascal, including a performance on Later With Jools Holland.
19.
Guthrie Govan faced a set-back after the albums were produced when several thousand copies of Erotic Cakes were stolen during a warehouse robbery and were never recovered, but the record company said that "if the thieves can sell all of the records they have a job here with us".
20.
In late 2011, Guthrie Govan announced a new tour with a new band the Aristocrats, featuring Bryan Beller on bass and Marco Minnemann on drums.
21.
Guthrie Govan was the lead guitarist in Steven Wilson's band, performing on The Raven That Refused to Sing, Hand.
22.
Guthrie Govan left the band because of touring priorities with the Aristocrats whose touring schedule was clashing with Wilson's.
23.
Since 2016, Guthrie Govan has been the lead guitarist in the 'Hans Zimmer Live' band and has toured the world with this ensemble.
24.
In 2013, Guthrie Govan held a guitar workshop with Paul Gilbert.
25.
Guthrie Govan is one of the guest stars on Michael Angelo Batio's album Intermezzo, released in November 2013.
26.
Guthrie Govan was a guest guitarist on one song, Electric in My Veins, in Nick Johnston's solo album, In a Locked Room on the Moon Guthrie Govan was a guest guitar soloist in the song "Have a Blast" by Periphery.
27.
In 2016, Guthrie Govan played alongside Joe Satriani and Steve Vai in G3 2016 touring across Europe.
28.
Since 2015 Guthrie Govan has embarked on more frequent solo tours, mostly in Asia where he has a lot of fans requesting him to perform live.
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Guthrie Govan has toured extensively since then across India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Philippines, South Korea, and Japan.
30.
Guthrie Govan is a very in-demand clinician, often teaching specialized guitar masterclasses around the globe.
31.
Guthrie Govan has said that the guitar is simply a "typewriter" for getting a musical message across.
32.
In October 2012, Guthrie Govan was seen using a Charvel guitar on tour.
33.
Guthrie Govan stated in January 2013 that he and Suhr parted ways officially.
34.
In July 2013, Charvel made it official that they had joined forces with Guthrie Govan, who had been using their guitars for a few months.
35.
Guthrie Govan's model sported a caramelised basswood body, birdseye maple top, a caramelised maple neck, Sperzel locking tuners, custom pick-ups by Michael Frank-Braun and a custom in-house developed tremolo bridge similar in design to a Floyd Rose, but without fine-tuners.
36.
Guthrie Govan used a Strandberg 8-string while on tour with Hans Zimmer.
37.
Since 2013, Guthrie Govan has started using amplifiers designed and produced by Victory Amplification for both Steven Wilson and the Aristocrats tours.
38.
Guthrie Govan has been working closely with designer Martin Kidd getting the V30 and V30 Mk II made the way he likes a tube amp to sound.
39.
Since 2013, Guthrie Govan has been taking his carry-on V30 across the globe.
40.
Guthrie Govan, as stated before, uses his beloved Victory V30 MkII amplifier but to get the desired tone he prefers to use 4 x 12 cabinets with Celestion V30 Vintage speakers inside, slightly having a preference for cabinets made by Mesa, Orange, Bogner.
41.
Mid 2022 Guthrie Govan stopped using real amps for live shows.
42.
Guthrie Govan has been an analog fan concerning pedals, but for a few years he has been moving towards using a Fractal FX-8 live on tours.
43.
Since mid 2022 Guthrie Govan has changed his performance live gear to a Fractal FM9 and no longer uses any amplifier but only a powered monitor.
44.
Guthrie Govan went completely digital in 2023 during The Aristocrats tours in Asia and Europe and has tried out the Laney LFR-212's.