Derryl Gabel, born in 1970, began playing guitar late in life (compared to most virtuoso's) at the age of 15. His early influences included Eddie Van Halen, George Lynch, Warren Demartini, Yngwie Malmsteen, Tony Macalpine, Greg Howe, Vinnie Moore, Paul Gilbert, Jason Becker, Marty Friedman, Derek Taylor, Eric Johnson, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Joey Tafolla, and Michael Lee Firkins. The early work of Derryl was firmly rooted in the Shrapnel style of Neo-Classical shred, yet there was more to his compositions than just ripping on scale after scale at 1,000 miles per hour. One of his earliest recorded works, "Victor", had Derryl firmly in the league with the likes of Tony MacAlpine, Vinnie Moore and Yngwie Malmsteen. Derryl first introduced this track when he was just 17 years old.
In 1992, Derryl had the great honor of dueling with guitar legend George Lynch on his solo release, "Sacred Groove" (Elektra Records). Derryl was given this honor after having been selected out of over 200 guitarists(they originally started with over 750 tapes which were weeded down to 250 by John Stix) in a contest staged by Guitar For The Practicing Musician Magazine. Of the selection process, Mr. Lynch had this to say: "The Point is, that after listening to over 250 tapes, there were very few that had an original style. I thought Derryl had an original style. He had all the techno-weenie chops happening, but I thought he was in a space of his own, so I brought him down to play of "Tierra Del Fuego".
As Derryl continued to hone his composition skills, he had gotten the attention of the now defunct Legato Records, having had the track "Blue Fingers" featured on the compilation "Guitar on the Edge Volume #4" (1994) and the track "Nathaniel" featured on volume #5.
Derryl Gabel, having developed from his early Neo-Classical years into the more sophisticated fusion vein, in which he now resides. Displaying insane chops, technique and an extremely tasteful sense of composition, Derryl's current influences include Greg Howe, Guthrie Govan, Allan Holdworth, Brett Garsed, Shawn Lane, Scott Henderson, Pat Metheny, and Frank Gambale.
Magazines which have covered Derryl's music include: "Guitar World" Sept. '90 (page 124), "Guitar for the Practicing Musician" May 1992 (page 168), and again in "G..P..M" Oct 1992 (page 11) and in Oct 1993 (pages 93 & 150)
Derryl has released two album's Visions & Dreams (Progressive Arts Music Label), and Giant Steps. He has also released instructional and performance DVD's, as well as a guitar technique book. These can be found in the merchandise section of Derryl's website
