# What is the life of D. Maestro Alex Gregory?



## leechmasterargentina (Jan 6, 2013)

First of all, no disrespect intended (A bit of phun maybe ) with this post and if it's not appropiate, I'll delete it right away. I decided to open the thread here because it has to do with music.

I learned about this guy pretty much because of the 7-string history thread. This guy is not famous but I noticed I get more links from google by looking my name rather than the name of the "Maestro". So, I was wondering, after his reputation which is not very possitive, what does this guy do for a living?

Unlike me (Money from music can't still pay my living on it's full) this guy seems to be fully devoted to music, but it's hard to find anything else than scattered links. I've found this video (which I don't think he has hearned a lot of money for it):



I've avoided his "official" website because it looks more than a kid's joke than anything else. In fact it looks very much alike the first website I programmed (typed by hand) back in '97 when I was 16 years old. My website looks way more professional than his.

I discard he lives on his record's royalties because, no matter how "famous" he is in Japan, today's reality is that the CD market is really low so that anyone can live of it, unless you're mainstream. I haven't heard of any artist touring with him either.

My wild guess is that he lives by teaching guitar/mandolin to kids, and of course, trying to cash as much as possible by enlarging his image on adds or whatever method he uses to attract people to his lessons (Ex. "The Inventor of the 7-string guitar will teach you how to play the guitar like a Maestro").

What do you know or think he's doing to survive in the music business?


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## mr_rainmaker (Jan 6, 2013)

he`s kinda a big POO POO head...


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## SpaceDock (Jan 6, 2013)

While he came up with some awesome stuff, seven strings tuned high and the five string cello blaster, he talked so much shit about yngwie and srv while his own material was junk.


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## mjbg (Jan 6, 2013)

he pretend to be Jesus.. is known as Inri Cristo.. just google it..



(not srs)


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## leechmasterargentina (Jan 7, 2013)

mjbg said:


> he pretend to be Jesus.. is known as Inri Cristo.. just google it..
> 
> 
> 
> (not srs)




Interesting answers, but this last one is LOL, hahaha. Still, I'd wanna know what does he do for a living (for real). Maybe he's begging on the streets after having sold his 7 string strats...


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## tedtan (Jan 7, 2013)

SpaceDock said:


> While he came up with... seven strings tuned high...


 
Does anyone know when he supposedly came up with this? I know George Lynch was already working on it with ESP circa 1989-1990 (around the time Vai was working with Ibanez on the UV). Who was working on it first?


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## TRENCHLORD (Jan 7, 2013)

Reminds me of this famous seinfeld episode
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7APrz5K1YI


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## SpaceDock (Jan 7, 2013)

His seven string was tuned very strangely, can't remember how, but was done so he could play violin parts and traditional classical music on guitar in the correct pitch.

Seven strings have been around for way longer than any of these guys, he put a patent on some of the designs of electric seven strings if I remember correctly. I used to have a schecter catalog that talked all about it.


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## ilyti (Jan 7, 2013)

He works at a call centre and teaches guitar to kids three evenings a week. Much like me. Actually, I quit the call centre, but I figure he would still do that so he can introduce himself on every single call as "Maestro Alex Gregory who invented the 7 string guitar" and proceed to conduct a survey on grocery stores.


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## abandonist (Jan 8, 2013)

He has a thing called the Pentasystem that's patended.

It basically amounts to fifth tuning.


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## leechmasterargentina (Jan 8, 2013)

tedtan said:


> Does anyone know when he supposedly came up with this? I know George Lynch was already working on it with ESP circa 1989-1990 (around the time Vai was working with Ibanez on the UV). Who was working on it first?



If you have a couple of hours to spare (More like 3 or 4), take the time to read this thread:
http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/sevenstring-guitars/147811-history-seven-string-solidbodies.html

You can pretty much learn there that 7 strings, including the ones tuned high were around way before he came up with the idea. He patented it in 1991, lol, 2 years after the UV was on production.


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## leechmasterargentina (Jan 8, 2013)

ilyti said:


> He works at a call centre and teaches guitar to kids three evenings a week. Much like me. Actually, I quit the call centre, but I figure he would still do that so he can introduce himself on every single call as "Maestro Alex Gregory who invented the 7 string guitar" and proceed to conduct a survey on grocery stores.



LOL are you serious or just joking? Somehow I thought he couldn't be involved in music other than teaching. So much for the Douchebag attitude.

In a supposed interview, he claims he was showing his last record to a friend in the car, and Paul McCartney came by and praised his music...even if this was true, no one would believe him.


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## Rev2010 (Jan 8, 2013)

Trying to patent a 7-string guitar is on par with Apple patenting a rectangular shape with rounded edges.

Adding a string to a guitar is not a technical innovation and 7-strings, as well as 12 strings, 10 strings, and various other guitars with different string numbers, have been around for far more years than one would think.

A Floyd Rose temolo... THAT is something patentable because it's a whole working design and construction.


Rev.


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## leechmasterargentina (Jan 26, 2013)

LOL, found out he has a Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Maestro-Alex-Gregory/144805493266

Fun part he has half the followers my band has. (And we don't have much fans...lol)


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## Mordacain (Jan 26, 2013)

Oddly enough, for all of you who weren't around the forum to see it, this forum actually took part in "debunking" the myth the Gregory invented the 7 string guitar. I'll see if I can find the post in general, but we were contacted by an editor from Wikipedia regarding the legitimacy of his claims and in one of the coolest online collaborative efforts I've seen, quite thoroughly debunked his claim.

Now to find the actual post...

/EDIT - don't mind me...I totally didn't read this post thoroughly enough as it was already posted farther up the page


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## leechmasterargentina (Jan 26, 2013)

Mordacain said:


> Oddly enough, for all of you who weren't around the forum to see it, this forum actually took part in "debunking" the myth the Gregory invented the 7 string guitar. I'll see if I can find the post in general, but we were contacted by an editor from Wikipedia regarding the legitimacy of his claims and in one of the coolest online collaborative efforts I've seen, quite thoroughly debunked his claim.
> 
> Now to find the actual post...
> 
> /EDIT - don't mind me...I totally didn't read this post thoroughly enough as it was already posted farther up the page



Actually, the post is a sticky one about 7-string guitar history in the seven string guitar section. Took me 2 days to read it on it's whole and it's was worth every second


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## flexkill (Jan 26, 2013)

leechmasterargentina said:


> I learned about this guy pretty much because of the 7-string history thread. This guy is not famous but I noticed I get more links from google by looking my name rather than the name of the "Maestro".





leechmasterargentina said:


> Unlike me (Money from music can't still pay my living on it's full) this guy seems to be fully devoted to music, but it's hard to find anything else than scattered links.






leechmasterargentina said:


> In fact it looks very much alike the first website I programmed (typed by hand) back in '97 when I was 16 years old. My website looks way more professional than his.





leechmasterargentina said:


> Fun part he has half the followers my band has. (And we don't have much fans...lol)



Why all the comparisons between you and the Maestro?


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## leechmasterargentina (Jan 26, 2013)

flexkill said:


> Why all the comparisons between you and the Maestro?



Because I'm a douche wannabe.

Now seriously, I'm hardly a known musician, maybe I'm not a good one, who knows, but I made the comparisons because I don't understand how this guy has the balls to pull out so much crap...Honestly, it pisses me off.


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## JohnIce (Jan 27, 2013)

I wouldn't be offended by his mere presence if he was just a self-absorbed guitar player. That's fine.

The fact that his patents are keeping Fender (and as far as I know their daughter companies like Jackson and Charvel) from producing 7-string strats is what bugs me to no end. A $1000-1500 Fender/Jackson/Charvel strat would quite possibly be the end of all GAS for me.


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## mr_rainmaker (Jan 27, 2013)

^this


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## flexkill (Jan 27, 2013)

Patents only last so long IIRC....


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## HeHasTheJazzHands (Jan 27, 2013)

JohnIce said:


> I wouldn't be offended by his mere presence if he was just a self-absorbed guitar player. That's fine.
> 
> The fact that his patents are keeping Fender (and as far as I know their daughter companies like Jackson and Charvel) from producing 7-string strats is what bugs me to no end. A $1000-1500 Fender/Jackson/Charvel strat would quite possibly be the end of all GAS for me.



Really? How long ago was this?

Because under Squier, they released the Stratocaster VII.


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## BucketheadRules (Jan 27, 2013)

Sorry to sound like an arsehole, but he really isn't very good.

Listen to that horrific mandolin solo at the start... SO sloppy. I would be fine with this if he wasn't also (evidently) a self-obsessed, arrogant douche.

Anyway... I thought he was British, where the hell is that accent from?

And that interviewer... nothing but appallingly sycophantic throughout - "This is the best mandolin player in the world". Shut up, no it isn't.


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## Deathspell Omega (Jan 27, 2013)

And as much as an Yngwie Malmsteen sucked in recent years and has become sooo repetitive, he is still more proficient technically than this Gregory guy. waaay more. It speaks volumes (how terrible "Maestro" Gregory actually is). It borders on the comical.


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## Deathspell Omega (Jan 27, 2013)

leechmasterargentina said:


> Because I'm a douche wannabe.
> 
> Now seriously, I'm hardly a known musician, maybe I'm not a good one, who knows, but I made the comparisons because I don't understand how this guy has the balls to pull out so much crap...Honestly, it pisses me off.



Don`t get pissed off. This (pseudo)Maestro Gregory is not worth it. The best thing on his album with Mark Boals were the vocals. The guitar playing was......comically bad.


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## BucketheadRules (Jan 27, 2013)

Deathspell Omega said:


> Don`t get pissed off. This (pseudo)Maestro Gregory is not worth it. The best thing on his album with Mark Boals were the vocals. The guitar playing was......comically bad.



Mark Boals was literally the only thing worth listening to on that album. Check out the bit from 5:35, absolutely incredible singer.



The rest is shite.

He's rehashing the same ground Malmsteen was treading years before, except playing very badly and making it even more boring.


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## leechmasterargentina (Jan 28, 2013)

Deathspell Omega said:


> Don`t get pissed off. This (pseudo)Maestro Gregory is not worth it. The best thing on his album with Mark Boals were the vocals. The guitar playing was......comically bad.



I realize that he could put my name in one of the graves and piss on it on his next album.


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## mr_rainmaker (Jan 28, 2013)

yea no kidding....


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## DLG (Jan 29, 2013)

they that album is really one of the worst things I have ever heard in my life sans mark boals being on it. 

it's some of the most horrific guitar playing ever recorded.


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## mr_rainmaker (Jan 29, 2013)

well I guess you haven`t heard yngwie`s new album.


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## Gram negative (Jan 29, 2013)

Making an album cover with a picture of you pissing on the graves of someone live Vai, who continues to make great tunes, and malmsteen, whom Ive never cared for but still blazed his own trail....I mean, it makes you look like a real fuckass. 

"Let me be disrespectful out of what appears to be jealousy so 14 year olds will think Im cool"

Thats what I get from it. I clicked the tune, but skipped through it. Boring. 

Im not impressed with speed, or technique as much as I am with writing a fucking song that comes from your heart.

Never heard of this guy before now, he sucks.


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## leechmasterargentina (Jan 29, 2013)

Gram negative said:


> Making an album cover with a picture of you pissing on the graves of someone live Vai, who continues to make great tunes, and malmsteen, whom Ive never cared for but still blazed his own trail....I mean, it makes you look like a real fuckass.
> 
> "Let me be disrespectful out of what appears to be jealousy so 14 year olds will think Im cool"
> 
> ...



I suggest you read the whole thread about the 7-string guitar history and you'll learn who this guy is :

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/sevenstring-guitars/147811-history-seven-string-solidbodies.html


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## Gram negative (Jan 29, 2013)

Holy shit. I dislike this guy even more now.

Piss on his grave all you want maestro, Vai brought the 7 to the forefront. Regardless of your patents. Not to mention Vai a respected artist.

Seems like this dude took the shitty route to getting famous/known. When all he had to do is make good music and have good ideas, like the people he seems to put down.

Douche.


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## JohnIce (Jan 29, 2013)

HeHasTheJazzHands said:


> Really? How long ago was this?
> 
> Because under Squier, they released the Stratocaster VII.



I own two of those Squires  I don't know the full story and really it's all rumors, but it's said that in order for Fender to make a 7-string they have to pay royalties to MAG, and somewhere along the line Fender said "Fuck it this ain't worth it!" and simply decided not to make 7's at all. Given the nature of MAG's apparent behavior, I wouldn't be surprised if he made some ridiculous demands and it ended up costing him this potentially incredible deal. 

Practically every major guitar company is making 7-strings now, and Fender even make baritones which is a smaller market than 7-strings, there is no way they don't know about the market for a Fender 7. Something else is definitely holding them back, and like I said, that "something" is supposedly MAG.


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## Konfyouzd (Jan 29, 2013)

Gram negative said:


> Making an album cover with a picture of you pissing ON ANYONE'S grave it makes you look like a real fuckass.


 
fix'd

It's particuarly shameful when both of the people are better musicians than you are.


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## Gram negative (Jan 29, 2013)

Konfyouzd said:


> fix'd
> 
> It's particuarly shameful when both of the people are better musicians than you are.



For sure!! Nice edit, man.

I seriously never heard of this guy before.....Im at a loss here.


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## leechmasterargentina (Jan 29, 2013)

Gram negative said:


> For sure!! Nice edit, man.
> 
> I seriously never heard of this guy before.....Im at a loss here.



You can find pretty much who he is in this post : http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/sevenstring-guitars/147811-history-seven-string-solidbodies.html


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## JohnIce (Jan 29, 2013)

leechmasterargentina said:


> You can find pretty much who he is in this post : http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/sevenstring-guitars/147811-history-seven-string-solidbodies.html



Haha I hadn't seen that, that is fantastic  Thanks!


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## flexkill (Jan 29, 2013)

I'm sorry, but the singing even drives me insane....I hate it!


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## leechmasterargentina (Jan 29, 2013)

flexkill said:


> I'm sorry, but the singing even drives me insane....I hate it!



And I've heard that is the best part of his material, lol.


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## Danukenator (Jan 29, 2013)

A little OT, the moment a 7 string Fender USA Strat comes out, I'd start saving. Is there any grounds to the rumor that he is holding them back or is it internet nonsense?


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## leechmasterargentina (Jan 29, 2013)

Danukenator said:


> A little OT, the moment a 7 string Fender USA Strat comes out, I'd start saving. Is there any grounds to the rumor that he is holding them back or is it internet nonsense?



Yeah. Overall, Fender is quite conservative. His guitar roster looks like something from 30 years ago...they never improve nor add new technology...

Still, I bet the Douchebag's avoiding the 7-string strats to come out


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## Deathspell Omega (Jan 29, 2013)

flexkill said:


> I'm sorry, but the singing even drives me insane....I hate it!



"Insane", "hate" ?? That`s always a good thing.


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