Hi Rusty! Welcome to GuitarChef!

Thanks!

Well, after many years (7 years circa) we are here for another interview with you … finally your name is synonym of “Shred is NOT Dead!” … Tell me something about your latest creation called Outworld!

Well Outworld is my band and I’m very lucky to be able to play with such great musicians. There has been a slight line up change since the cd was released we have a new drummer named Matt Smith and a new singer Carlos Zema. They are both great guys and fans are in for a real treat on the next cd.  The cd is a mixture of all of my influences Metal, Prog and Shred but the most important thing of all is song writing all of the chops take the back seat if it doesn’t sit well in the context of the song in other words we are not just shredding for the sake of shredding.

The great Outworld’s album is now available and we can see the video “War Cry” in many sites … great production!

Thanks! It was a lot of work shooting that video it took six and a half hours of take after take to get enough footage for the final cut.

Other projects with Outworld or it’s only a project of the moment?

Outworld is the only thing I have time for and it’s what I plan on doing for a long time. I think a lot of people associate me with being an instrumental guitar player when it was only the thing that got me noticed first. Before the internet I was always in bands. I just took a break from it and that’s when the whole internet thing took off so it was merely coincidence.

Now tell me about your solo career: what are you currently working on?

Not working on anything solo I’m doing Outworld full time. I do plan on releasing more instructional material and I still do clinics and master classes. As a matter of fact I just got back from doing a master class in Utah on Friday.

Tell us more about your new guitar from Dean, the Rusty Cooley Signature.

The Dean RC7 is a guitar built for speed and performance. It has a super thin neck and really big frets I think the fret wire is 6100. 2 EMG 707’s one volume and a three way pickup selector. It also has a low profile trem so the fine tuners are out of the way of your picking hand. The neck is also sunk into the body a little deeper so that when you are picking on the lower strings you don’t have to raise your hand up to get on top of the strings. The cut a way has been completely modified the depth goes past the 24 fret and the width is so wide you can do any stretches. The back of the bottom cut a way has also been thinned out so the back of the bottom horn doesn’t dig into your hand. The neck joint has been cut back a little too so you can get your hand closer the highest frets.

The interview is finished … the classic question from GC: what are three songs of other artists that you wish you had written?

Paganini’s 16 Caprice,  Chopin Etude #1 and Malmsteen’s Black Star.

Thanx and best of luck with your Outworld’s project from GuitarChef!