10 Guitarists You've Never Heard Of - Teppei Teranishi

A group column outlining the styles of 10 guitarrists you've never heard of to expand your musical taste. The first guitarist is:

Teppei Teranishi Of Thrice:

Teppei Teranishi was exposed to music at a very early age. By the time he was five years old he had begun to play the piano, and continued up until about the third grade. Two or three years later, when he was in 5th and 6th grade, he started listening to metal like Pantera and Megadeth. His father owned a guitar, and Teppei began to build what was to become an amazing skill with the guitar. In 7th grade he had discovered the "simpler but equally moving," (in Teppei’s own words) punk rock like Minor Threat and Operation Ivy. His discovery of punk led him to play guitar more and more, and he took classical guitar lessons, though he says he remembers none of what he was taught. However, skateboarding had begun to take up much more of his life than guitar, and Teppei had very little skill in rock guitar. When Thrice formed up, he didn’t even know how to play with a pick, though he caught on quickly. He says that he is constantly moving, and hopes to be making music years from now.

Teppei plays mainly with three guitars, all of them are Gibson Les Paul Customs. His live guitar is a black 1985 Les Paul Custom, though the guitar he uses more in the studio is a wine red 1977 Les Paul Standard (his "baby"). His main amp is Bogner Uberschall with Mesa Boogie cabinets. He uses Line 6 modelers and a Boss pedal. Teppei arms his mighty axe with Ernie Ball 11-52 strings and uses Tortex .60mm picks.

Though Teppei has many punk influences in his guitar style, his early love of heavy metal is easily apparent in his richly distorted solos and riffs that are strewn throughout Thrice’s albums. Though Thrice is more of a hardcore or punk rock band, Teppei brings a distinctly metal sound to the band’s music. Meeting fast and hard power chords with ripping solos, Teppei is a guitar genius in the lands of hardcore and punk, making something of a merger between heavy metal and punk rock.

Teppei has only been in one band: the California hardcore/punk band, Thrice. Thrice is currently signed to Island records and has made a hit with their third album, "The Artist In The Ambulance." Thrice’s first album was released under a smaller, independent label.

Stay tuned for more of "Ten Guitarist You've Never Heard Of" series.

Comments

[CtrlAltDel]

Jesus Christ, why the hell does everyone put first/second/etc in their comments? It's bloody stupid.

Kinda short, but a good read nonetheless.

[Brunswick]

Teppei is a great guitarist and doesn't get much credit, and Thrice is a kick ass band

[j_forrest2]

I know who he was, but great article, and great series of articles! its kick ass to see awesome guitarists get reconized finally!! thanks!
Thrice Kicks ass

[Aka55]

If you haven't heard of Teppei you really have to get your head out of your ass.

[Molodov]

Good article...Teppei rules.

[Blackbullet]

Yay recognition (sp?) for a Japanese guitarist!!

[moshimoshi]

Yeah, Teppei can pull off a levithan riff like no one else, e is truly something special. To Blackbullet, how about a Japanese Hardcore Band?

http://www.purevolume.com/natureliving

[chet91]

i've heard of Teppei....

[FreebirdSolo]

I never heard of Teppei, good article.

[Joey .G]

You're right. I've never heard of him although i like some thrice.

[under_d_oath]

it's good that many guitarists are getting recognition besides americans and europeans.

[starálfur]

yeah i like thrice a lot and ive been waiting for teppei to get some recognition cause hes such a great guitarist and hes not too popular.

[under_d_oath]

it's good that many guitarists get recognize besides americans

A little short, but good article.

[Ecalecalyse]

very good article ... lookin forward to see who the other 9 guitarists are

[guitarGuyDan]

thrice is aswome its good to see hes getting some credit

[AvixK7]

^^what guitarguydan said.

Thrice is amazing, great lyrics and great guitar riffs and some screaming for good mesure lol.

[dudewowamcool]

hey u guys is therre any hard songs to play that alot of ppl know about the song ???????

[MyDogAteAString]

what the hell did you try to say?

[moshimoshi]

Paper Tigers is always fun...

[MrLucky77713]

Oh, hey sweet! Mine was first! Suckers.

Teppei really is a great guitarist, though he barely gives himself any credit.

BTW:I don't give half a damn what you think about Thrice. The point here is to garner respect for their guitarist, who is really good.

[hobo8917]

okay

[switchfoot_nfg]

awsome ..thrice rocks .....and he got some info wrong...he also uses telecasters...jus thought id let u know

[guitardude98]

thanks for this article, it's great to know who is actually in the bands that i listen to

[Tcurtis]

awesome! i love Thrice. Teppei is a great guitarist. Rock on Lucky!

[MiNDspiN]

Holy shit Teppei is the ***in' man. This guy can rip on his guitar. Thrice puts on a great show too!!!

[MiNDspiN]

Oh and to the guy who wants to play a good kind of hard Thrice song...either play Deadbolt or To Awake and Avenge The Dead.

[fake_sk8r182]

heard of him and he uses telecasters aswell

[TheAxeAbuser]

QUOTE] fake_sk8r182:
heard of him and he uses telecasters aswell.
nah....
thrice are an amazing hard core punk band. all of their albums are great. any one wanna chat bout them Pm me!

[Backup Guitar]

Everybody keep looking out for the rest of the series from the rest of the Columns team.

[awesome-name]

i saw them on june 12th, they were really good

[xalwaysfallingx]

thrice is awesome!.....good job on the article....can't wait to see the other 9 guitarists! keep them coming

[noops]

i don't like thrice...but now i'm going to see about learning some of his songs

[MrLucky77713]

I hate telecasters...But thanks for the info! I've never seen him use one (but I haven't seen much of him) and the website didn't say anything because he is currently obsessed with Les Pauls...

[dai the flu]

I'm not too big on thrice, but I respect this guy as a good guitarist

[AVRIL IS GAY]

Sounds like a good guitarist to me nice article

[riffamortis221]

dustin kensrue is not bad either..but tepp's is way beyond amazing

[blink_x41]

El Chino de Thrice es el mejor y mas guapo !!! \m/

[stratstrummer40]

YES Teppei is actually one of my favorite and most influential guitarists of all time, im so glad hes being recognized

[strigoi_vii]

blink_x41:
El Chino de Thrice es el mejor y mas guapo !!! \m/

..ure a girl right?

[Fender_Guy]

i saw them live, only cos dashboard was headlining, and i wasnt that impressed, teppei wasnt bad but thrice wasnt too great i actually got really bored during their set. next person you should put up in the "ten guitarist u need to know" article is mike einziger, sure people know him but no one gives him enough credit, especially for his earlier work. dude could smoke much of today's "guitarists", and he outclasses them all,becasue he has the mad jazz chops.

[ZepHedJack]

Teppei is the man, he is an amazing guitarist i think. Their cover of Eleanor Rigby really shows off how the band can play. My fav tune has to be The Red Death though.

[pepsi_home]

Teppei kicks ass. hes my idol

[Necronomicon]

Next guitarist should be PAUL GILBERT. He is ***ing amazing at guitar but I never hear anyone talk about him and no one I talk to knows who he is. Just download any of his solos and you'll get the point.

[Pawnee20]

so... where are the other 9 guitarists?

[lb_guitarist12]

the guitarist is good but the singer ruins the songs

[MrLucky77713]

Shut up with suggestions, all the articles are already written. Check the columns forum to see who else is coming up. If you wanted someone in, maybe you should have written it yourself.

[~Rock~Guitarist]

great job, i cant wait for mine to go up

[GnR25esp]

Good Article. Teppei RULES.

[dylan_f1989]

FUCK THRICE AND FUCK TEPPEI - IF HE WAS INTO MINOR THREAT AND OPERATION IVY WHY DIDNT HE JOIN A BAND THE ACTUALLY KINDA RESEMBLED MINOR THREATS AND OPERATION IVYS SOUND. INSTEAD OF JOING A FUCKIN EMO BAND. HARDCORE/PUNK MY ASS - HARDCORE/EMO

[gary666]

i dont know him, so he must suck

[ShaDoweR]

It says 10, why is there only one....?

[punks-not-dead]

shut the *** up! dont ***ing talk shit about the guy juss cause he listens to punk and doesnt relally show it...juss cuz u listen a certain style or band doesnt mean u have to grow up and play in that kinda band

[punks-not-dead]

that last post was aimed at dylan_fi1989 btw

[MrLucky77713]

1: Don't knock emo, you clown.

2:They're pretty much an HC band. There isn't really much of an emo song on all of AITA.

3:Gary, shut up.

4:This is the first article in a series of 10.

[ineedaband388]

emo=emotional???? thats kinda um nevermind

[SpoonyPony]

This article is hardly orignal. It's a copy of the bio of Teppei from the Thrice website, just reworded a little. Thumbs down for copying.

[ark]

^whatever, what was he gonna do? interview him himself?

the purpose is that he got the info needed to let us know what teppei is all about....short article but it got hte point through.

anyway, teppei kicks, and it doesnt matter what kind of music he plays he is still a good guitar player..and dylan_f1989: you shoudl shut the *** up.....jus cause smoeone is influenced by a certain style of music it doesnt mean they have to play it....and who wants to play the same old shit? playing a new sound is never a crime.

[DeliriumTrigger]

under_oath: Teppei is American :P

[Hyper]

Yeah he is a very talented guy, I wonder, did he start off with a gibson? My first guitar was a gibson sg!

^Did you even read the article? Quote from it..

"Teppei plays mainly with three guitars, all of them are Gibson Les Paul Customs"

[MrLucky77713]

Spoony: All information was taken from Teppei's bio. And apparantly there was information missing from that. I can't interview Teppei myself, so I did the next best thing and read his bio.

A little word changing? The third paragraph is all my own, and (except for the qutation), NONE of this article is word for word (as much as I can remember, the equipment may be close to it, though). The 4th paragraph is all mine as well, I already knew those facts. This doesn't come anywhere close to plagarism. If it did, the columns crew would have found it easily. This article was written weeks ago.

[Kealan]

Thrice are pretty damn cool, Teppei's riffs are great. dylan_f1989 is an arse :

[pinkerton]

teppi is one of my favorites. rivers cuomo is #1, jade puget is #2, and then teppi. I love that metal/punk/emo/hardcore mix that thrice does. To bad Artist in the ambulance isnt anywhere as good at illusion of safety.

spam deleted.

you guys dont get it do you? any post with a claim to a number like "1st" or "40th" (ahem) will be deleted.... whether or not something worthwhile is said. although i havent run into a post with a post number claim that actually HAD a real comment.

oh and....

scorpions: SECOND WARNING FOR SPAM.

[heavens_ak47]

well said thrice rock just one question anyone know if teppei samples those violin sounds on the artist in the ambulance or uses an ebow to create the sounds through his guitar? those ebows are damn hard to use.

[MiNDspiN]

I think he may have sampled those violin sounds...but I could be wrong. I didn't see him with an ebow when he played live.

[Timmeah]

nice article. i always thought the guitar for thrice ruled all ass, though i didn't know who was the guitarist. well now i know.

[im not mental]

he says he likes justin timberlake, but he's a good guitarist.

[IadultswimI]

thats way fu*kin awesome!

[howaceisjoe]

thrice kick ass, fanks for enlightening me on there guitarist,

and u stupid cunts that knock emo whats the point? what u trying to prove? suck my balls you dickfaces

[Greasybass]

uhh i thought that there were going to be 10

[Greasybass]

oh and yeah, operation ivy

they were bitching

[N_I_N-621]

gary i dont know you.....so you must suck

yeah anyways, Teppei is really good, my first song I heard by them was To Awake and Avenge the Dead and I was really impressed, even though it might not be their best work.

[ATOM]

I love teppei...his crazy ass solos on the red death and AITA are sick

[dylan_f1989]

i think we need to clear the word emo up. you see emo doesnt have to be hardcore. emo which mean emotional has emotional lyrics. what do bands like Thrice, Thursday, From Autumn To Ashes and Taking Back Sunday sing about. Breakups, relationships and many more emotional stuff. so in that case they are emo.

[yeller56]

Another guitarist everyone doesn't know about it me.

Oh wait, I don't think I count.

[corey182__]

Teppei is one helluva guitarist

[MrLucky77713]

The new Thrice album is almost totally political. There isn't much emo to it at all. Besides that, emo is quality stuff.

For the last fucking time, I DON'T GIVE HALF A DAMN IF YOU LIKE THRICE OR NOT!!! This is about the guitarist.

This teppei guy isn't an obsession, but he's good, fulfilled the requirements that the team gave me and had information available to make an article from. Hence, that's who I wrote the article about.

Just please god stop talking about what you think of thrice...

[punksnafu]

FINALLY!!!!

its about time teps gets the ***ing recognition he deserves here!! nicely done

[jeremyrozario]

didn't realli noe who he was, but thrice really roXz!!!

[kick the flips]

Yeah...Thrice is awesome. So is Teppie Tereneshi. But what's the point of making fun of music styles that you don't like? I mean it's great to have opinions but just becuase you don't like it (or can't play it which I'm sure is what the case is) dosen't mean you have to make fun of it and put it down. I mean, I can't play jazz or bluegrass worth shit but I respect people who do becuase they can do something I can't. Thanks for letting me rant.

[Death Of Season]

thrice kicks ass, and teppei is definetly one of the best guitarists out there. it's about time he gets some recognition.

[playonforever]

thrice is awesome and i love them almost as much as i love fresca. Thank God these guys are out there, they are way better and way heavier than all those crappy bands that are all old school nad half nu metal. BETTER THAN CREED, VELVET REVOLVER, GODSMACK, STONE TEMPLE PILOTS, GUNS AND ROSES, AEROSMITH, KISS, and any other wenier rock band. Oh yeah, teppei rules.

[TheDriedZulu]

Hey, dude, don't be bitchin' about G&R, or Aerosmith, they rock.

But yeah, Teppei rocks, and I'm mostly Asian too, so he's the best.

Though most of the "hardcore" guitarists at my school keep arguing with me that he's mexican, wtf?!!!

[Bulletbass man]

i've heard of him and he rocks and hes asian not many asian dudes rock no offence asians

[Only In Dreams]

teppi is one of my favorites. rivers cuomo is #1, jade puget is #2, and then teppi. I love that metal/punk/emo/hardcore mix that thrice does. To bad Artist in the ambulance isnt anywhere as good at illusion of safety.


Wow thats a good list. I'm glad someone else ranks Rivers #1. Anyway I saw Thrice last year and they kick ass. I was right in front next to Teppei and he almost blew my ears up but i didnt give a shit. Keep on truckin Teppei.

[Only In Dreams]

^ sorry dude, that shoulda been in quotes

[MestPunk182]

why is teppei on a list of 10 guitarist you've never heard of? who hasnt heard of him? i knew who teppei was way before i even started playing guitar.

[Lifeless2112]

Giving Teppei some credit finally, cool. Nice list man.

[that_onepunk]

Thrice is a kickass band and Teppei DOES use a Fender Telecastor (For all you people that disagree and dont know =D)

[raysetsfire]

Teppei is my favorite guitarist! Thrice rulezzz! Good article but watch out for the guitar in the Image of the invisible video!

[iri5h punk21]

dylan_f1989

[iri5h punk21]

dylan_f1989...you're a little bitch. A whiney, insecure little bitch. If you don't like this band...fine, whatever that's your choice. But to bash them just cause your balls haven't dropped and your still sucking on your mom's tit....thats kinda lame. I might think your artists are sound like apes scratching thier asses, but Im not going to say it cause..well that's something, you, and idiot would do. Teppei is an awesome guitarist and definetly deserves this column. btw he uses a black 1985 gibson les paul custom for gigs, 1977 wine red gibson les paul standard with a dimarzio super distortion pickup in the bridge for recording, a fender american deluxe telecaster, a fender telecaster also for gigs, and occasionally a fender jazzmaster, and a fender jaguar. btw check out www.alchemyindex.com for their in studio blog on their vheissu follow-up album

[iri5h punk21]

awww the took out my comment. Basically I bi**ed out dylan_f1989. a lot. oh and teppei's a god

[hurleydude77]

update this to include his more artistic work on vheissu and the alchemy index. he's becoming a really special guitarist--no, MUSICIAN--out there. he does like a billion things at once in concert, its truly amazing to see.