Dave Reffett (born June 6, 1983) is an American hard rock and heavy metal guitarist, singer, producer and bassist.
Reffett is best known as the singer, lead guitarist, and producer of the album The Call of the Flames from his project Shredding The Envelope, as well as being a noted player, performer and columnist in the guitar community. His music mixes thrash metal and hard rock with very technical and bluesy guitar playing.
Some of his favorite artists include Kiss, Megadeth, Pantera, Van Halen, Motorhead, Metallica, David Allan Coe, Willie Nelson, Hank Williams Jr, Anthrax, Ronnie James Dio, Judas Priest and Ozzy Osbourne. In an interview with Estonia's Metal Storm, Reffett named Kiss Unplugged by Kiss, And Justice For All by Metallica, Rust in Peace by Megadeth, Holy Diver by Dio, and Powerslave by Iron Maiden as some of his all-time favorite albums.
He is also an in-demand guitar teacher. He gives lessons in person and online via Skype and films teaching products for companies like Guitar World, Dangerous Guitar, and Lecture Land. In 2012, Reffett appeared on the cover of the May issue of Asia's Gitar Plus Magazine and was on the cover again in 2014. 2014 also found Reffett giving clinics all over the world in places like China, Mexico, Chile, and the world-famous Musicians Institute in Hollywood, California. He also appeared on the cover of Mexico's Heavy Riff magazine in 2014.
Childhood and early life
Dave Reffett, the son of a coal miner, grew up in the hills of the Appalachian Mountains in Eastern Kentucky and began playing trumpet, tuba, baritone, and French horn at age 11. At age 13 he was inspired to pick up the guitar after seeing video for Metallica's "The Unforgiven". In 1999 at age 16 he released one album with the short-lived band Graveyard Earth, called Warning Shot. Reffett was forced out of the group after he voiced his distaste of the band's overall direction. Upon leaving Kentucky and moving to Denver, Colorado, Reffett joined the band Moore, playing many live shows but releasing no records with the band. He quit during the recording of what would have been their first album together.
While finishing high school in Denver, Reffett was contemplating taking the Berklee College of Music up on the scholarship they had offered him during a summer program there the previous year. He decided to take advantage of the scholarship after he had a chance meeting with one of his childhood heroes, Megadeth frontman and thrash metal pioneer Dave Mustaine. In 2001 Reffett won a KBPI radio contest to meet Mustaine and asked him if he should take the scholarship or hit the road in a band. Mustaine told him "don't look a gift horse in the mouth, if you've got the chance to do something like that for free go get as many weapons in your arsenal as you can and make your army as tough as it can be".
Reffett took Mustaine's advice and studied hard, eventually earning a degree in Music Business Management from the Berklee College of Music. He then went on to work in the business and legal affairs department at the now defunct Sanctuary Records Group, and at Virgin Records, a division of EMI Music, in the radio promotions and marketing departments. During his time at Virgin Records, Reffett helped market and promote acts as diverse as The Rolling Stones, Korn, Meat Loaf, KT Tunstall, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Janet Jackson and 30 Seconds To Mars.
He got the idea for Shredding The Envelope in 2009. Reffett has been quoted in interviews saying, "I really wanted to make an album that I would be the first in line to buy".
Style
Reffett was a primarily self-taught player from age 13–18, taking very few lessons, but ended up studying music and business at the world-renowned Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007. He was a recipient of the Berklee World Scholarship Tour award and the Berklee Best award.
He has been noted for his articulate right-hand picking technique and palm muting style. Guitar International Magazine's Matt Warnock wrote about Reffett, "while he can solo with the best of them, what really stands out is his incredible right hand chord work. I have seen and heard a lot of guys speed pick solos over the years at blistering tempos, but few, if any, can match the speed and rhythmic variation that Reffett possesses with his chords."