Rumor: DRAGONFORCE Guitarist HERMAN LI Leaves IBANEZ

DRAGONFORCE guitarist Herman Li is rumored to have left Ibanez, the legendary Japanese guitar firm he has been endorsed by for a decade and a half.

Li, who was born in Hong Kong and moved to England during his teenage years, is said to be working on a new signature guitar with an as-yet-undisclosed company.

Herman has been spotted playing a number of different guitar brands on his Twitch livestream over the last six months. In addition, he used a PRS (Paul Reed Smith) private stock guitar during DRAGONFORCE's appearance at Twitchcon in September to launch the band's latest album, "Extreme Power Metal".

Li has played Ibanez guitars since 1993, and became an Ibanez endorsee in 2005. Since 2008, Herman has had his own Ibanez signature guitar series called the EGEN.

In the last 20 years, Herman has established himself as one of the most recognized and influential guitarists of his generation. He is a two-time winner of the Metal Hammer Golden Gods "Best Shredder" award and has topped four categories in Guitar World's "Readers' Poll." Outside of DRAGONFORCE, Herman has performed with guitar legends Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Tony MacAlpine and Paul Gilbert, among others.

Herman believes that to improve as a guitar player, it is important to understand the instrument as much as possible. Li is also interested in inspiring and coaching the next generation of guitar players and has contributed guitar lessons to a number of publications around the world.

Outside of music, Herman's interests include computer technology, martial arts and Porsche racing. He is fluent in Chinese, French and English.

DRAGONFORCE's platinum-selling single "Through The Fire And Flames" brought the London-based Grammy-nominated extreme power metal group international acclaim and was featured as the most challenging song on "Guitar Hero III".

Last March, the "Through The Fire And Flames" music video reached a new milestone: it surpassed one hundred million views on YouTube — DRAGONFORCE's first music video to do so.

"Through The Fire And Flames" is the leadoff track from 2006's "Inhuman Rampage" album, which was officially certified gold in July 2017 by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) for sales in excess of half a million copies.