Michael Angelo Batio height - How tall is Michael Angelo Batio?

For most of his career, Batio used Dunlop Jazz III picks as his guitar pick of choice, and has used the 'teardrop' shape of pick since he first started playing. However, in 2016, Batio released the "Michael Angelo Batio Signature 1.3mm Dura Picks, Premium Shredder Jazz Shaped Pick" from ChromaCast. These picks are a slightly larger version of his former favorite Dunlop Jazz III picks, made with a different material. For his acoustic work, Batio will sometimes use different picks.

Batio was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois to an Italian father and a German mother. He started playing the piano and composing music at the age of five, and first played guitar at the age of ten. By twelve he was playing in bands in youth clubs, churches, and shows, playing for 10–12 hours on the weekends. By the age of thirteen his guitar teacher told him, "I can't teach you any more. You're faster at thirteen than I was at 22." He started listening to and watching professionals and sitting down and trying to work out riffs and tunes.

The Double Guitar was recently named as the 8th "coolest guitar in rock" by online music magazine Gigwise. His iconic Dean 'Jet' Double-Guitar has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum and was put on permanent display in February 2012. This guitar was built by Mike Lipe for Dean Guitars.

In 2011, Batio debuted his multimedia show "Hands Without Shadows - A Tribute to Rock Guitar" in Las Vegas. In 2012 Batio toured the world with this show. It was a chronological tribute to rock guitar. Batio toured the world with the tribute to rock guitar show in 2013 and 2014. Batio is currently performing concerts featuring his original music mixed with several songs from his tribute to rock guitar show.

Batio has been listed as one of the "Top 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists of All Time" by Guitar World Magazine, for which he wrote the column Time to Burn, and one of the "20 Greatest Shredders of All Time" by Total Guitar Magazine, both in April 2008. Batio also won the 2009 Guitar World Magazine Readers Choice award in the "Best Shredder" category. In November 2011, Batio won the Guitar World Magazine Readers Choice Award and was voted the "Fastest Guitarist of All Time." Over 440,000 votes were cast.

In 2005, Batio released his highly anticipated cover/tribute/studio album, Hands Without Shadows, which featured guest appearances from such musicians as Mark Tremonti (of Alter Bridge fame), Rudy Sarzo (of Ozzy Osbourne, Quiet Riot, Whitesnake and Dio fame) and virtuoso newcomer Bill Peck. In 2006, DVD Speed Kills 2 was released, in addition to the first in the new Hands Without Shadows series, Performance. Batio's latest release came in 2007, when his first two albums - No Boundaries and Planet Gemini - were remixed and remastered with additional drums, for an album entitled 2 X Again; the title of a song from the first album. Angelo also released three DVDs in 2007: Speed Kills 3, 25 Jazz Progressions and MAB Jam Session.

Batio gave lessons to guitarist Tom Morello (of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave fame) while at college. Morello has credited MAB with teaching him in a feature article in Guitar World Magazine in 2005. Batio also gave lessons to guitarist Mark Tremonti after Creed broke up and Tremonti wanted to learn more techniques.

As well as the Double Guitar, Michael Angelo also invented and designed the Quad Guitar. The guitar was originally built in conjunction with Gibson, and built by Wayne Charvel in California. The top two guitars have seven strings, while the bottom two have the regular six. The first Quad, as used in the video for Nitro's "Freight Train", was stolen in El Paso, Texas after the second show of Nitro's O.F.R. tour. When Batio was performing in November 2004, a young fan named Simon Jones and his father turned up with a guitar case which held inside the two top guitars of the Quad, as found by Mick Seymour. Dean designed and had Mike Lipe build a new Quad Guitar in 2008.

Batio was voted the "No. 1 Fastest Guitar Shredder of All Time" by Guitar One Magazine in 2003.

In 2003, Batio released his first DVD, the title release in his Speed Kills series, followed by the second, Speed Lives, in 2004. It was also in this year that Batio released a compilation album, Lucid Intervals and Moments of Clarity Part 2, which featured songs from Tradition and Lucid Intervals.

In 2001, Batio released a CD with his band "C4," covering songs from his Holland years and including the original "Call to Arms." It was his 1st all vocal CD since recording with Nitro. Batio and C4 were featured on "Rock My Ass", a TV show self-described as "Chicago's live music venue from your couch". This was not Batio's first appearance on the show, having also appeared in 1999 with a band called No Remorse .

During his years with Nitro, Batio used Randall amplifiers. However, he used a Marshall amp early in his career, a JCM 800 (which was modified, mainly by Jose Arrendondo). In later years he made particular use of the JCM 900, when recording No Boundaries, and has primarily used this and other Marshall amps since. Currently, Batio typically uses Marshall JCM 2000 amps on tour, which also appear on his more recent studio records. In the studio, he also uses the Marshall JMP-1 preamp and Rocktron Chameleon and Voodoo Valve preamps. Batio's cabinet setup consists of 4x12 Marshall cabinets loaded with Celestion Vintage 30s and Greenbacks, in mono and stereo.

After the breakup of Holland, Batio started his own eponymous band with singer Michael Cordet, bassist Allen Hearn and drummer Paul Cammarata. The band did not release any albums, though three of their songs appeared on the 1998 Nitro compilation Gunnin' for Glory.

In April 1993, Batio founded his own record label, M.A.C.E. Music, which became one of the first labels online in 1996. He used this label when he began recording his first album, No Boundaries, which he released in 1995. Batio's second studio release was Planet Gemini in 1997, which showed a very progressive, experimental side to his playing. In 1999, Batio released his second instructional video, Jam With Angelo, which came with his third studio album as a companion CD: Tradition. This was quickly followed by a fourth full-length album in 2000, Lucid Intervals and Moments of Clarity, which was credited to "Mike Batio and Rob Ross", the latter being the drummer.

By 1992, Comet and Racer had been replaced by Johnny Thunder and Ralph Carter respectively, and it was in this year that they released their second studio album entitled Nitro II: H.W.D.W.S.. Included on the album was a cover of Ted Nugent's "Cat Scratch Fever", which the band also integrated into a music video. Nitro disbanded shortly afterwards.

In 1991, Batio's guitar work appeared in the low budget horror film Shock 'Em Dead, recording tracks for the soundtrack as well as playing the guitar parts of the demonically possessed main character Angel Martin in close ups.

In 1987, after the breakup of Holland, Batio joined glam metal artist Jim Gillette on his solo album Proud to Be Loud, before founding the band Nitro with bassist T.J. Racer and drummer Bobby Rock. In 1989 Nitro released their first studio album, O.F.R., from which they released two singles, "Freight Train" and "Long Way From Home". The music video for "Freight Train", which received much airplay on MTV, was notable for featuring Batio playing his now famous 'Quad Guitar', a notion which FHM magazine voted one of the "50 most outrageous moments in rock history".

1987 was also the year Batio released his first instructional video with "Star Licks Productions" as part of the "Masters Series" and was one of the first recognized metal guitarists to record instructional videos. This video was the very first "shred" instructional program showing many modern guitar concepts for the first time.

Batio began his recording career in 1984 when he joined new Chicago-based heavy metal band Holland, an eponymous project set up by ex-Steppenwolf singer Tommy Holland. With major label Atlantic Records, the band released their debut studio album in 1985 entitled Little Monsters, which saw moderate success in the United States. The band split up soon after, and a compilation of material from the Little Monsters sessions, Wake Up the Neighborhood, was released in 1999 through Batio's label M.A.C.E. Music.

Batio has an extensive collection of around 100 guitars, which he has accumulated since the 1980s. Among his instruments are a Dave Bunker "Touch guitar" (double neck with both bass and guitar, similar to the Chapman Stick), a mint-condition 1968 Fender Mustang, a 1986 Fender Stratocaster 1962 re-issue and several other vintage and custom-built guitars. Among his custom-made guitars is a 29-fret guitar made of military-grade aluminum, which makes the guitar very light. For live performances Batio is an exclusive user of Dean Guitars, both electric and acoustic. In 2007 he designed and developed a signature guitar with Dean, known as the MAB1 Armor Flame. Another signature piece of equipment Batio developed is the "MAB Hands Without Shadows" pickup, which he uses in his Double Guitar when touring. The pickup is specially designed for shred guitar, and provides the clean tone Batio is accustomed to. The Armor Flame, Batio's signature guitar, uses EMG 81, 85 and SA pickups, as his signature DMT pickups were still being developed at that time.

Michael Angelo Batio (/ˈ b eɪ t i . oʊ / ; born February 23, 1956), also known as Mike Batio or MAB, is an American heavy metal guitarist and columnist from Chicago, Illinois. He was the lead guitarist for the Los Angeles-based glam metal band Nitro in the late 1980s and early 1990s.