Warren DeMartini

DeMartini was born on April 10, 1963, in Chicago, Illinois, the youngest of five boys. He spent his early years in the suburb of River Forest, Illinois. The family later relocated to San Diego. DeMartini became interested in rock music due to the influence of his older brothers Bernard and James, whose band rehearsed in the family basement. His grandmother was also a musician, playing piano accompaniment to silent movies in Preston, Minnesota. DeMartini's mother bought him a guitar at his request when he was "around seven or eight years old". According to Warren, he struggled early on learning to play it due to the tuning pegs being cheap, causing the instrument to constantly fall out of tune. As a result, he became frustrated and smashed the instrument as he had seen Pete Townshend of the Who do onstage. As a result, that was the last guitar he would receive as a gift. At age 14, he had to get himself a job in order to raise the money to purchase a new electric guitar, a Cimar Les Paul copy. The first song DeMartini learned was "Sunshine of Your Love" by Cream, which he learned by ear. Warren played his first concert with his band the Plague in front of a small crowd at San Diego's La Jolla High School at the age of 15. By this time he was emerging as one of the San Diego area's most talented and sought-after young guitar players. …