Underrated Guitar Hero: Warren DeMartini (1/5)
Roots
He worked out the chords to Ratt's biggest hit sitting on the floor next to Jake E. Lee, while Lee was working on what became Bark at the Moon. Two riffs, one room, same time.
Born 1963 in Chicago, raised in San Diego. His mom bought him a guitar when he was about seven. The cheap tuning pegs wouldn't hold, so he smashed it like Pete Townshend.
At 14 he bought his own with money he'd saved, a Cimar Les Paul copy. Jake E. Lee, older and already gigging in San Diego, taught him vibrato.