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Randy Ellefson Bio:
A few years ago, a severe case of tendonitis in both arms rendered Ellefson unable to play guitar for over a year. Even a year later, his fingers would shake on the strings, and he could barely play once a week. Another four years passed before he could perform his own rock music again, but he is still restricted to playing guitar only three hours, every other day. "I'm used to the limitation, but one result is taking 2 years to record the album."
To perform The Firebard, Ellefson had to make adjustments, such as rigging his drum machine with letter openers to play it with his feet. He also engineered it at home so he could record whenever he was able to perform the guitars and bass.
The injury was caused partly by a Bachelors of Music in classical guitar, where he had accomplished four years of playing requirements in only two years. Despite once reaching #3 on MP3.com's classical guitar charts, Ellefson has left that genre behind. "I can't play often enough to maintain two styles, and rock is more important to me." |
