Vinnie Moore

Emerging amid the mid-to-late 1980s surge of virtuoso players, Vinnie Moore ranks among the most pivotal and influential guitarists of that period. By 2001 he had issued six studio albums and stood out as one of Shrapnel Records’ most visible artists.

He began performing in clubs and bars at age 12, until Mike Varney, a leading Shrapnel executive, learned of him through a magazine profile. The introduction to Varney secured a Pepsi commercial in 1985 that supplied the exposure required for Moore to cut his first solo album, Minds Eye. That debut earned several awards from guitar magazines and surpassed 100,000 copies sold, placing him at the center of the guitar world’s attention.

The late-1980s virtuoso wave brought further well-received Shrapnel releases and opened opportunities to work with other hard-rock acts. Moore joined Alice Cooper’s band for a tour and the Hey Stoopid album, and he issued two widely popular instructional videos on guitar technique.

He obtained support slots on Rush’s tour for his own material, then embarked on a multi-continent guitar-clinic tour. His dedication to teaching earned widespread respect in musicians’ circles. Although interest in solo guitar music declined during the 1990s, Moore sustained his career through the continued popularity of his clinics and the strength of his playing.

Alongside fellow guitar heroes Al DiMeola and Joe Satriani, he maintained a productive partnership with Shrapnel Records that extended from the 1990s into the following decade. Never achieving mainstream crossover, Moore nevertheless built a lengthy and creatively rewarding career in instrumental guitar.