ChinaGuitar：Hey  Doug Doppler! Could you please introduce yourself for guitar fans in
P.R. China?

DD：Hello to my new friends in P.R. China! I suppose to understand who I am, it
is good to understand a bit about my history?

While I was still in High School, I started studying with Joe Satriani - for
3 1/2 incredible years. It was during that time that I met Kirk Hammet of
Metallica and gave him Joe's number for lessons. Joe is such an amazing
guitarist, and was nothing short of a brilliant teacher. With Joe's urging,
I attended GIT in Los Angeles. Before I left to go down there for school,
Joe gave me the phone number of one of his former students - Steve Vai.
Steve and I ended up becoming friends, and I even was his guitar tech for a
couple of shows. At the time he was playing fairly small clubs in the L.A.
area billed as Steve Vai and the Classified. The band featured none other
than Stu Hamm on bass. In fact, on a visit back up to the San Francisco Bay
Area, I brought a copy of one of Steve's clinics at GIT and played the bass
solo for Joe. I passed on Joe's very favorable comments to Stu who had of
course already heard all about him from Steve. That was essentially how Joe
and Stu came to know one another. It is also important to keep in mind that
at that time, Not of This Earth had just been released, and Joe was still a
cult hero, and not the rock legend he has so deservedly become. It was a
VERY exciting time.

Once I graduated from GIT, I decided to come back to the San Francisco Bay
Area. The night I came back, Joe was playing with the Greg Kihn band at a
local club called Wolfgang's, and invited me backstage after the show. I
remember him pulling me into this little alley outside the club asking me if
I could take over teaching at the store in Berkeley where I had studied with
him, while he was out on the road with Greg Kihn. I still have a post card
he sent me while he was out on tour with them. When Joe came off the road,
we alternated days teaching until he went on tour in support of Surfing with
the Alien.

I still teach at the same location, and these days I am incorporating
technology into the teaching process. I capture key parts of my students'
lessons on video and upload them to the web for them to download each week.
I am also showing my students how to use programs like ProTools and Ableton
Live.

ChinaGuitar：What are you planing for in 2005?
DD：Nu Instrumetal was released here in the US on April 11, and I am very
excited about getting out on the road to support the disc. Also, the first
title in my Guitar 411 instructional DVD series is going to be released soon
as well. Additionally, I am working with M-Audio on their Black Box and will
be doing clinics here in the States. I am hoping that I will be able to do
some clinics for either Ibanez and/or M-Audio in Asia as well.

ChinaGuitar：Please tell us something about your record.
DD：Nu Instrumetal is really about the combination of Instrumental Rock and Nu
Metal - heavy, but melodic with LOTS of solos. We wanted to make a really
modern sounding record with cool loops and a wide variety of melody and solo
tones. My producer Peter Karr did a fabulous job producing the disc. He
really pushed me to take myself to another level beyond what I had done in
the past.

ChinaGuitar：We know you released CD in FN,please talk about it.
DD：Favored Nations is an incredible label founded and run by incredible people
with a real vision to share instrumental music with the world. Steve's
partner was one of the founders of Guitar Center, and together their
knowledge and expertise is invaluable to artists like myself. It is hard
enough releasing an instrumental disc, much less getting real international
distribution. I realize how Blessed I am to have such an incredible
opportunity.

ChinaGuitar：And what about your equipment?
DD：As far as guitars go, I play Ibanez - exclusively. Nu Instrumetal was
recorded with two of my S7470s - one set up for rhythm and the other set up
for lead. I have been using D'Addario strings for a long time, and used a
.011 set for rhythm and a .009 for lead. The dirty rhythms were mainly
recorded using a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier head through 4x12 bottom loaded
with Celestion Vintage 30's. I also used a Marshall TSL100 on a few spots as
well. The clean sounds were done on my Roland VGA-7 amp, which is like a
JC-120 on steroids - a truly amazing clean tone. I played bass on most of
the disc using a Fender P-Bass reissued tuned down to B, plugged into the
VGA 7. Billy Sheehan played bass on Bring It On and his track is a blend of
his POD and direct signal. Stu Hamm played on Five Hi, and his track was
recorded direct into ProTools. With the exception of the voice box solo on
Wrecking Ball, all the melody and lead tracks were done direct using a Boss
GT-6. Live I run the GT-6 into the front of my Marshall, and switch between
that and an ENGL Savage 120 for rhythms. Both heads power indentical 4x12
bottoms loaded with Vintage 30's.

ChinaGuitar：Do you regularly give guitar lessons to other people? Please tell us some
secrets of learning guitar?
DD：I teach every week, and learn so much in the process. The most important
thing is to practice things slowly enough that you can play them perfectly
and in time, and then speed them up. It is also VERY important to learn
speak the language of music. By that I mean you should know about music
theory and harmony so you can converse with musicians other than just guitar
players. If you make a mistake you can call out the note name and identify
errors very specifically. This is such a help in getting rid of common,
repetitious mistakes.

ChinaGuitar：To be a renowned guitarist, you must have a lot of great shows. Tell us
some stories.
DD：Doppler, Inc. was fortunate enough to have played on a G3 show here in the
Bay Area. This past December Joe also invited me to sit in and Jam with him
and Neal Schon. It was nothing short of an amazing experience. I also played
with Joe at the Bill Graham Memorial in front of 250,000 people. These kind
of experiences are VERY hard to forget!

ChinaGuitar：Would you give us a definition in one word of your culture for the
following each great guitar player?

DD：
Steve Vai: Disciplined
Joe Satriani: Inspired
Eric Johnson: Tone
Yngwie. J. Malmsteen: Passion
S.R.V: Amazing
Jimi Hendrix: Innovator
Marty Friedman: Heavy
Michael Angelo: Ambidextrous

ChinaGuitar：Have you ever been to P.R.China?
DD：No, but I hope to get there in the next year

ChinaGuitar：How do you think about P.R.China?
DD：China is thought of as an emerging market here in the US, which means that
our perception is that of a country going through redefinition and growth in
business and technology. For someone like myself who is involved in
producing DVDs the idea of creating content that is translated in Chinese is
very exciting. People everywhere are hungry for good musical information
when it comes to the electric guitar. I was Blessed to have been able to
study with Joe, and I very much want to share that knowledge with you. My
father has been there and really felt that the people were very kind and he
so enjoyed his trip there.

ChinaGuitar：Could you say something to guitar fans and internet friends in P.R. China?
DD:It is a real privilege to be able to get to share my music and training with
you, and I hope that I can positively impact your world in a meaningful way.

ChinaGuitar：Say something to GuitarChina dot com~
DD:To my friends at GuitarChina.com, I cannot thank you enough for opportunity
to reach your readers and for your work in connecting the East and West.
Music is an international language and it is through and with people like
you that the message is communicated. You are AMAZING!!!