Michael Lee Firkins (born May 19, 1967) is an American electric guitar player whose music fuses bluegrass, country, blues and jazz elements into a distorted rock sound. He is noted among guitarists for his prolific use of hybrid picking at high speeds. Firkins was born in 1967 in Omaha, Nebraska, to musician parents; his father was a lap steel guitarist and his mother a pianist. He started playing acoustic guitar at the age of eight. Though mostly self‑taught, he also took lessons at a local Omaha music store. Learning the songs of the time, Firkins was influenced by the guitar styles of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC and Black Sabbath. By 1979, Firkins had a Gibson SG and a Fender Princeton Reverb. Now wielding an electrified tone, he played in local bands and in church from the age of 12 until 18. In 1985, Firkins started touring the country in cover bands. He eventually returned to Omaha and began teaching guitar. Firkins recorded a five‑song demo of instrumental guitar tunes at Rainbow Recording Studios in Omaha, Nebraska. The demo was sent to Shrapnel Records, resulting in a record contract and the subsequent release of his first album. In 1990, Firkins released his self‑titled debut album. This release highlighted Firkins’s encyclopedic knowledge of bluegrass and country licks. With the help of an international advertising campaign from Yamaha Guitars to promote the company’s Pacifica models, Firkins’s first release sold more than 100,000 copies. The album also landed him the top spot in the category of Best New Talent in a readers’ poll in Guitar Player magazine that year. He was also hailed as “One of the Most Influential Players of the Next Ten Years” by Guitar for the Practicing Musician.
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Trinity Road
Laughing Stacks Live
Atma Anur
NAMM 2012
War Pigs
Little Wing
Space Crickets-Rain in the Tunnel
Cactus Cruz Live
Still Alive and Well
Saturday Night Live
Runaway Train Live
Jason Becker Not Dead Yet
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