ALTER BRIDGE's MARK TREMONTI Named One Of 'The Guitarists Of The Decade'

ALTER BRIDGE's Mark Tremonti has been named one of "The Guitarists Of The Decade" by the readers of Guitar World magazine. Also included in the list were Tosin Abasi, Joe Bonamassa, Gary Clark Jr., Eric Gales, Synyster Gates, Guthrie Govan, Kiko Loureiro, Misha Mansoor, John Mayer, John Petrucci, Jason Richardson, Joe Satriani, Nita Strauss, St. Vincent and Derek Trucks.

Tremonti said in a statement: "I can't express with words how grateful, humbled, and honored I am for this recognition! Many of the other guitarists on this list continue to inspire me and I'm so proud to be considered one of their peers. Thank you to all that made this possible, I am forever grateful!"

According to The Pulse Of Radio, Tremonti has been at the forefront of guitar-driven hard rock over the course of a 20-year career that has encompassed 14 albums with three different bands: CREED, his own self-named solo act and ALTER BRIDGE, whose latest LP, "Walk The Sky", came out in October.

In a 2016 interview with Music Radar, Tremonti said: "I still think for the most part people consider just that because you're on the guitar, you're just a guitar player. They might think it's just the singers that write the songs and that's the not the case. Vocal melodies are my favorite thing to write, and they always have been. It's what I've always put most of my effort into. The lead guitar thing came along over the years of just being that player that didn't have to sing, I might as well develop that skill along with it. But my real passion is in writing the vocal melodies."

He went on to say that he formed TREMONTI as an outlet for a passion that shaped his life and approach as a musician: thrash metal. "That's what developed my style as a child, and that's what I grew up listening to," Mark explained. "It's funny that my newest music is showing my oldest techniques, but one of the reasons I wanted to do this solo band is there's a huge side of my playing that I never got to put out there. It's something that the other guys [in ALTER BRIDGE] weren't really into; they're more classic and hard-rock guys and were never into speed metal, so I wanted to do a band that I could put my biggest influences on my playing into."