Rich Walikis has been playing guitar since the age of eleven. He became serious as a teenage guitarist after he heard the Derek and the Dominoes version of Freddy Kings "Have You Ever Loved a Woman" on the Radio. Rich then went though the catalogs of British Blues Rock (Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Peter Green and others) which ultimately led him back to the progenitors of the Blues style (artists like BB.King, Howlin Wolf, Robert Johnson, T-Bone Walker, Muddy Waters, etc..). From there he branched into Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Wes Montgomery, Robert Cray, Harvey Mandel and numerous others.
In his formative years, Rich's bizarre practice techniques included playing in complete darkness for hours, taping a finger or even multiple fingers together in different configurations, not looking at the fretboard, and most importantly not copying riffs but playing alternative note sequences over the same time signature of a riff. He has spent years developing a style that can be associated with him. Rich is not exclusively a Blues Player, he is an inclusive player, one that enjoys to play many styles from the heart with feeling.
Through the years, Rich has played in many groups - ranging from Blues and Rock in College to Ethnic and wedding-styled music with a family band. Rich relocated to Syracuse in 1990 and formed the popular "Out of Bounds" in 1993 which ran hot through 1998. Today, this 6 foot 5 inch guitar monster performs with the very popular Jam Bones band. Visit http://jambones.com for more information.
Rich's equipment includes Fender, Gibson, Takamine, and Guild guitars, as well as Mesa Boogie amplification. Rich plays 10-46 gauge electric strings and sets the guitar fretboard action high. He tunes his guitars in standard tuning.
