Omar Rodriguez-Lopez

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez (born September 1 1975 in Bayamón, Puerto Rico) is a guitarist for rock band The Mars Volta.

Related Topics:
September 1 - 1975 - The Mars Volta

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Frequently linked with close friend and collaborator Cedric Bixler Zavala, the pair has played (and often lived) together since their early years as musicians, first in At the Drive-In, and then leaving At the Drive-In on "indefinite hiatus" to form The Mars Volta, their current main project and focus. Also, the two collaborated with sound technician Jeremy Michael Ward in a side project called De Facto. In addition, Cedric appears on A Manual Dexterity, a soundtrack to a movie Omar himself has been working on.

Related Topics:
Cedric Bixler Zavala - At the Drive-In - The Mars Volta - Jeremy Michael Ward - De Facto

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As a guitarist, Rodriguez-Lopez is known for a very experimental, atonal and creative style, characterized by unusual and complicated chords and progressions, complex and everchanging time signatures, highly elaborate, although arguably self-indulgent, improvised solos and extensive, restless experimentation.

Related Topics:
Atonal - Time signature

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Rodriguez-Lopez claims to know very little musical theory, although the elaborated melodies and solo pieces on the Mars Volta's first full length album De-loused in the Comatorium show a great musical talent at work. Thanks largely to his unconventional style, Rodriguez-Lopez is unique as a modern guitar player in terms of innovation and experimentation, similarly (as well as differently) to Jimi Hendrix in the 1960's.

Related Topics:
Musical theory - Jimi Hendrix - 1960's

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