My newest CD, “Sketches From the Thought Chamber”, is a major musical step for me, as it features some fresh new elements of my playing and composition skills, and truly expresses where my mind is at presently : fusing progressive, jazz, and metal influences. As usual, the compositions themselves are more important than the notes within them, and what surfaced here is a “sci-fi soundtrack-ish” sound to many of the tunes, some extremely twisted melodies, two acoustic numbers, several songs with serious grooves, and the most beautiful piece I have ever written, “A Soul’s Torment”.

Well, thank you. Those are always the 2 biggest compliments anyone can pay me : that I improve from album to album and that the songs and melodies are paramount. The guitar is just a tool of expression to me to get the songs out! Technique is important, but secondary to the music itself.

Arch Rival is on hiatus at the moment. Right now I am too musically busy to devote any time to AR, but everyone is gathering ideas and we will record again hopefully. But thank you for acknowledging the band, as I feel we recorded some very relevant music.

I’m not much of a 'clinician', but would love to come to your country to play a concert or three !!!

When I released my first album, I was young and still living at home. I had to time to practice and write music 10 hours a day or more. When it came time to move out and get some independence, SURPRISE! Things seemed to progress a little more slowly. On top of that, I want this next release to be something I am really proud of. I didn't want to release something just for the sake of releasing it. I wrote large quantities of material after my debut release, but didn't feel it represented where I wanted to go musically.

Probably the most obvious difference between the new stuff I am writing and the Shrapnel release, is the fact that I am going to be singing on it. Also, I feel I matured a great deal as a guitar player and can communicate much better musically then I could back then.

I think the Internet will play an extremelly important role in the future of music, Napster is a perfect example. The whole idea of file sharing is obviously turning the industry upside down. I think that eventually the Internet will help the bands, especially the ones just starting out, since it puts everyone on a more equal playing field.

I am working hard on the new CD and should have it completed by early next year.

I tend to listen to bebop. Most rock-fusion sounds too cold and clinical to my ears. I also find most of it comes across as twee and pretentious. I could also say the same for a lot of modern jazz; a lot of players sound like they are giving you a geometry lesson on their instrument. I'd rather listen to somebody with real soul like Django Reinhardt or Charlie Parker. I started off with rock guitar, but got good pretty quickly and so was looking for new challenges. Bebop has got to be one of the most challenging forms of music. It involves improvising over chord progressions that are often changing keys several times in one bar - it's a fascinating thing to study. That's one of the great things about that style of jazz: you never master it, you just get better.

I try not to listen to guitarists if I can help it because I think it's important to sound different. Although, when I started playing guitar, there were certain guitar players who I loved - Michael Schenker, Van Halen, Allan Holdsworth - I went through a big phase of copying all three. I know that it sounds a bit of a cliché, but, these days, I like to listen to piano players and sax players. If I'm in the car, I tend to listen to sax players like Dave Liebman. Occasionally, I will listen to a new release by someone like Yngwie or George Lynch, but I usually just make cassette tapes of all the solos so that I don't have to listen to the horrible music. I've always been a rock guitar fan, but never a big fan of rock music in general.

My main guitar is a cream 'Relic' Fender Custom Shop Stratocaster (57 re-issue). It has a swamp-ash body, a maple neck and fingerboard and uses '57 -custom' pick-ups. On my 'JazzMetal" album I used an ocean spray Yngwie Malmsteen signature model Fender Stratocaster with HS-3 Dimarzio stacked humbucker pick-ups, alder body and a scalloped maple fingerboard. I've also got an original 1962 fiesta red Fender Stratocaster with an alder body, maple neck and a rosewood fingerboard. My Strats usually only have 21 frets when I buy them, so I usually have an extra fret added to each of them. As far as amplification is concerned, you name it I've owned it: Rivera, Boogie, Fender, ADA. For my Jazz Metal album, I used the Malmsteen Strat, through a Marshall Guv'nor foot pedal, into a Marshall jMP-1 pre-amp. For effects, I used a Rockotron Intellifex and a BBE sonic Maximiser, which is a time alignment device. This then all went through a Peavey Classic 120 Stereo valve power amp into two Marshall 4 x 12s" For the last few years, I've been using a couple of Marshall '59 reissue 100 watt valve heads into two 4 x 12 Marshall cabinets, both with vintage 30 speaker. I've also reverted to a more stripped down effects set-up. I've got a Boss OD-2 distortion pedal linked up to three Boss DD3 delays. I also us an old Cry Baby wah-wah pedal, an Ernie Ball Volume pedal and an Aria stage tuner. When I play live, I also use a wireless system. Recently, I just started using a Cornford custom 50watt valve head and two 2x12s, which is a British hand-built am that all my guitar friends have been raving about - Joe Satriani has just bought one. I'll probably use this with an Intellifex etc as a lot of my new tunes require a harmoniser when I play live (I usually play as a three piece) For strings, I use Hybrid Slinkies by Picato (009 - 046). For picks, I usually alternate between using Dunlop 1.5ml plectrums (the purple ones) and steel ones; which I prefer for rock sometimes because they have all the attack of a thin pick but also produce all the thickness of tone you get from a thick pick.

These aren't in any particular order. Interesting that there aren't any straight-ahead jazz guitarists - it shows that I'm a rocker at heart! 'Strangers in the Night' - UFO (Michael Schenker)
'MSG' - MSG (Michael Schenker)
'Elegant Gypsey' - Al DiMeola
'Live in Leningrad' - Yngwie Malmsteen
'Van Halen I' - Van Halen
'Fair Warning' - Van Halen
'Live in the Air Age' - Bebop deluxe (Bill Nelson)
'Feels good to me' - Bruford (Allan Holdsworth)
'One of a kind' - Bruford (Allan Holdsworth)
'UK' - UK (Allan Holdsworth)
If I had eleven choices, I'd also like to add 'Trilogy' by Yngwie.

Unfortunatley, that has all changed. Allan can't make the gig now, which is at The Guildhall in Bath on the 6th August 2000, so I'm going to do it with Frank Gambale instead. It's a pity, because I was looking forward to playing with Allan, but they certainly picked the best replacement with Frank. I'm looking forward to it. Frank's going to be playing with my trio which consists of Me,  Paul Elliott on drums and Terry Gregory on bass. Terry also plays bass for Martin Taylor.

Generally, I divide all the chords in music into one of the following six different catagories, maj7, 7, min7, min7b5, 7alt and dim7. I have various scale options for each chord type. It's hard to put in a nutshell, because I've been studying and teaching jazz for over ten years and, in that time, I've collected thousands of licks and techniques that will help me to negotiate various chords and certain chord combinations. When people ask me to recommend some good books on the subject I find it very difficult, because there is no one book out there with all the answers. Consequently, I've decided to write some books on the subject of playing through changes (from a guitarist's point of view) that will be available on my web site pretty soon.

I use alot of different methods when I write my tunes. A tune like, 'I'm Not Sure Yet', started off as a chord progression that suggested a melody, whereas, 'G-Spot Blues' just came out one day when I was improvising along to a drum groove. Sometimes a write a tune to order: with 'Birdman', for instance, I wanted to write an up-tempo jazz blues in Bb, whereas tunes like , 'Strike Up the Band', 'Make t Reel' and 'Open Invitation' started with some riff that my drummer, Paul Elliott, came up with.

JazzMetal is a word and style of music that I invented in the early '90s as a means of describing my music, which is something that combines the lead lines and chord progressions of bebop with the aggression of heavy rock. If you like, somewhere between Charlie Parker and Yngwie Malmsteen. Players like Greg Howe, Ritchie Kotzen, Bret Garsed and TJ Helmerich are fusion players who all admit that they are trying to follow in the footsteps of Allan Holdsworth, which is the very thing that I've been trying to avoid. I think that Allan Holdsworth is a genius, but it's pointless to try to do what he does because he's been doing it much better than anyone-else for nearly 30 years. For me, I have always liked the sophistication of bebop, but have always felt that is isn't hard hitting enough. I've also liked the aggression of heavy metal, but have always felt like it lacks sophistication.  I play my style of music so that I can have the best of both worlds. 'Fusion' is too lightweight for me. My style of music is heavier and much more aggressive. I don't want you to think that I don't admire a guitarist like Greg Howe because I do. If somebody asks me about 'state of the art' rock technique, I tell them that they should listen to Greg Howe or Scott Mishoe, but I'm just not interested in sounding like another guitarist. If there are any similarities it is purely coincidental. Greg Howe was recording his first fusion album the same year that I was recording my 'JazzMetal' album (1993). We have some similar rock influences, such as Van Halen and Yngwie, but that's where the similarity ends.

It's been a long time since I did my first album, but I've been incredibly busy. A lot of your readers might know my playing from 'Guitar Techniques' magazine. I've been writing for them for the last 5-6 years. I've had enormous work commitments and various personal reasons that have kept me recording for a long time. However, I have just bought my own studio and started gigging again. I intend to put out at least one new album every year from now on. I've already got over half the material for a new one that will be released towards the end of this year (aptly titled, 'Back In Business')

I'd love to come - I have a lot of fans in Italy. I've been asked by quite a few big artists to go on tour, but I'm not really interested in going on tour for months and months on end. My band and I would like to do things on a much more civilised basis, where we, perhaps, just come over to Europe one or two weekends a month - that would be nice! Having said that, I'm due to play with Carl Palmer next Summer and I know that we're definitely coming to Italy. I'm basically replacing Keith Emerson. I'll be fronting a guitar, bass and drums three-piece line-up, playing a lot of the ELP stuff. Who knows how that might develop? Carl is very connected and well respected. I know that we've already got gigs booked in all round Europe, including a Friday night at the Montreaux Jazz festival and a week's residency at Ronnie Scott's in London.

I will do more solo albums. I've concentrated on Bumblefoot, and producing, but I think it's time to release some "guitar music" - I'm working on a CD with lots of strange fretless guitar in it - should be finished by January 2001.

I like some of it - we had some music used on the MTV show Undressed, over the summer and we just finished a video - maybe MTV will play it?  It's not my goal to be on MTV - in the US, you have to  become a slave to a major record label to get recognized, and if the RIAA (organization made of 5 major labels) doesn't get a piece of your money, they don't want you having success without them.  All I care about is that you, the GuitarChef readers, the REAL people get to hear the music and see the video.  That's what makes the internet so important to independent musicians - it's our communication.

Do you think? I just try to do my best for them - they're an amazing company, with so much integrity in what they do. I'm glad to know them as friends - not just for their guitars.

There are many sides to any person - I like to laugh and have fun with friends, but I also like to be serious and take care of business, I like to spend quality time with my wife, but I also like to live for music touring, writing, recording.  I like to be generous and help people when I can, but when someone tries to screw me in business I hunt them down and eat them.  If you hear all that in my music - fun and laughter, hard work, love, energy, kindness, and wrath - then maybe I am Ron Thal the guitarist.  But I feel that guitar is only 1 thing that we do - it doesn't define everything that we are.Thank you for the interview.  Give my warmest regards to the wonderful guitarists of Italy!

Yeah ! The bass player lives in Texas now and is playing with band called The Nixons . I play with Glen sometimes , but my next project will be mostly just me . I hope the program everything but i may end up using Glen on the Roland V Drum Kit which will give me a Midi Files performance i can edit !

I'm currently in London rehashing with Jeff Beck . The tours start in Japan in December . Jeff's cd will be out mid October .

I had too much trouble with the Ibanez necks warping . 7 bad guitars in 7 bad years !!! With Washburn i have my own model now with a Synth Pick Up.

I don't know their reasons for changing .

Yeah , she's great . There are others out there too. Linda Taylor is one to watch out for in the next few years!