Doug Aldrich

Doug Aldrich (born February 19, 1964 in Raleigh, North Carolina), is a Los Angeles-based hard rock guitarist, since 2003 a member of Whitesnake. He founded the band Burning Rain with Keith St.John in 1998 and has played previously with the bands Dio, Lion, Hurricane, House of Lords, and Bad Moon Rising. He has also released several solo albums. Doug was first introduced to the guitar at age 11 when his sister Jennifer introduced him to the playing of Jeff Beck. Doug’s first guitar came from Sears, it was a copy of a Les Paul. Doug even auditioned for KISS. He didn’t get the gig but as a result of the audition he met Gene Simmons and he and Gene are friends to this day. Doug was also once a highly sought after guitar teacher, at one point he was teaching over 70 students a week.

Equipment

Doug was previously endorsed by Jackson Guitars. He used their Dinky and Soloist superstrats as well as his own signature model which has bridge and neck position humbucking pickups were "Full-shred" pickups which Seymour Duncan specially wired. More recently though California-based Suhr Guitars came out with Doug Aldrich signature humbucking pickups, which are actually found on their superstrat-style 24-Fret Moderns. Currently, he plays various Gibson Les Pauls and Fender Stratocasters through hot-rodded Marshall JMPs and Vintage Modern amps. Doug sums up his philosophy of playing this way, “I’m not one of those guys that follows whatever is trendy. I’d rather do what I do best and do it to the best of my ability.”

Discography

Solo

•    1994 - Highcentered
•    1997 - Electrovision
•    2001 - Alter Ego

Lion

•    1986 - Power Love
•    1987 - The Transformers The Movie: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
•    1987 - Dangerous Attraction
•    1989 - Trouble In Angel City

Bad Moon Rising

•    1991 - Full Moon Fever
•    1991 - Bad Moon Rising
•    1993 - Blood
•    1993 - Blood on the Streets
•    1995 - Opium for the Masses
•    1995 - "Moonchild" (Single)
•    1995 - Junkyard Haze
•    1999 - Flames on the Moon
•    2005 - Full Moon Collection

Burning Rain
•    1999 - Burning Rain
•    2000 - Pleasure to Burn

Dio

•    2002 - Killing the Dragon
•    2005 - Evil or Divine - Live in New York City
•    2006 - Holy Diver - Live
•    2006 - Push - Live

Whitesnake

•    2006 - In the Still of the Night Live
•    2006 - Live: In the Shadow of the Blues
•    2007 - 1987: 20th Anniversary Collectors Edition
•    2008 - Good To Be Bad
•    2011 - Forevermore

Other works

•    1990 - Slave to the Thrill-Hurricane
•    1990 - Sahara-House of Lords
•    1989 - One - Minoru Niihara
•    1989 - Cutting Air Act 1 - Air Pavilion
•    1997 (Japan) & 1999 (Europe) - Windows - Mike Vescera Project
•    1998 (Japan) & 2000 (Europe) - Ignition - Mark Boals
•    1999 - A Tribute To Early Van Halen - The Atomic Punks (Ralph Saenz)
•    1999 - Here Before - Stone
•    2000 - Mikazuki in Rock
•    2001 - Art of Mackin' - Ghetto Dynasty
•    2001-2002 - Superhero & More... - Brian McKnight
•    2002 - (1989-2002) From There To Here - Brian McKnight
•    2003 - Wake The Nations - Ken Tamplin and Friends
•    2003 - Guitar Zeus 1 - Carmine Appice's Guitar Zeus
•    2003 - Sho(?)Twist Songs - Sera Masanori
•    2005 - The Real Thing - Christian Tolle
•    2007 - Live for Tomorrow - Marco Mendoza
•    2007 - Jacaranda (Twist International) - Masanori Sera
•    2009 - Play My Game - Tim Ripper Owens
•    2009 - Northern Light Orchestra - Spirit Of Christmas
•    2009 - Conquering Heroes - Carmine Appice's Guitar Zeus
•    2009 - Pulling The Trigger - Cooper Inc.
•    2010 - Northern Light Orchestra - Celebrate Christmas

Tribute albums

•    Crossfire - A Salute To Stevie Ray Vaughan (1996)
•    Forever Mod: A Tribute to Rod Stewart (1998)
•    Little Guitars: A Tribute to Van Halen (2000)
•    Bat Head Soup: A Tribute to Ozzy (2000)
•    Metallic Assault: A Tribute to Metallica (2000)
•    Tie Your MIX Down: A Tribute To Queen (2000)
•    Stone Cold Queen: A Tribute To Queen (2001)
•    One Way Street - Let The Tribute Do The Talkin': A Tribute To Aerosmith (2002)
•    Spin The Bottle: An All-Star Tribute To KISS (2004)
•    Metallic Attack: Metallica - The Ultimate Tribute' (2004)
•    We Salute You: A Tribute To AC/DC (2004)
•    Numbers From The Beast: An All Star Salute to Iron Maiden (2004)
•    An 80's Metal Tribute To Van Halen (2006)
•    Butchering the Beatles: A Headbashing Tribute To The Beatles (2006)
•    Flying High Again: Tribute To Ozzy Osbourne (2006)
•    Frankie Banali & Friends: Led Zeppelin Tribute - 24/7/365 (2007)
•    The Omnibus Album: This Is Guitar Gods (2007)
•    Northern Light Orchestra: The Spirit of Christmas (2008)

Videography

•    1997 - The Electro-Lesson / Guitar Instructional Video
•    2005 - Dio - Evil Or Divine: Live In New York City
•    2006 - Dio - Holy Diver Live
•    2006 - Whitesnake - In the Still of the Night Live

Posted in: Guitarists