Genres
Although the violin is an instrument used extensively in classical music, electric violins are generally employed by classical performers only in the performance of contemporary classical music. The electric violin is more frequently used by non-classical musicians in popular genres such as metal, rock, hip hop, pop, jazz/jazz-fusion, country, New Age, and experimental music. Famous electric violinists include:
- Papa John Creach
- Ben Lee (violinist)
- Yann Tiersen
- Diana Boncheva
- Ray Shulman (with Gentle Giant)
- Eddie Jobson (with UK, King Crimson, Curved Air, Frank Zappa, and Roxy Music)
- Graham Smith (with VDGG)
- Geoff Richardson (with Caravan)
- Robbie Steinhardt (with Kansas)
- Greg Hiser (with Bound Deun)
- L. Subramaniam
- Jean-Luc Ponty
- Mat Maneri
- Jerald Daemyon
- Olli Vänskä of Turisas
- Jaakko "Hittavainen" Lemmetty and Korpiklaani
- David LaFlamme
- Darryl Way
- Vanessa Mae
- Sue Son (for Britain's Got Talent, as one of the semi-finals in 2009)
- Jerry Goodman
- Tony Selvage
- David Cross (with King Crimson)
- Billy Currie (on recordings and live performances with Ultravox, Gary Numan, and solo)
- Carla Kihlstedt of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum
- Martie Maguire of the Dixie Chicks
- Nash the Slash of FM
- David Ragsdale and Robby Steinhardt of Kansas
- Ric Sanders Of Fairport Convention
- Dave Swarbrick
- Simon House of Hawkwind
- Mark Wood
- Stephen Nachmanovitch
- Boyd Tinsley of the Dave Matthews Band.
- Sugizo
- Mik Kaminski of Electric Light Orchestra
- Caitlin Papier
- Emilie Autumn
- Joel Zifkin of Kate and Anna McGarrigle and Richard Thompson
- Sean Mackin of Yellowcard
- Michael Hoffman
- Henry Lau
- Ed Alleyne-Johnson
- Linzi Stoppard
- Geoffrey Castle
- Lorenza Ponce
- Lindsey Stirling
- Deni Bonet
- Roddy Chong of Trans-Siberian Orchestra
- Jim Lea (with Slade)www.sladeinwales.co.uk
It is used extensively in folk rock; one prominent exponent in the area being Dave Swarbrick. Folk metal band Turisas also puts a lot of emphasis on the electric violin in their compositions. Finnish folk metal band Korpiklaani also focuses in Jaakko Lemmetty's electric violin parts. It has also found its way into modern musical theater, a recent example being Whistle Down the Wind by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Several popular bands that use the electric violin are Zox, Operator Please, Doll Factory, and pop punk band Yellowcard. Urban Blitz of protopunk rock band Doctors of Madness used the instrument to original effect in the mid 1970’s; also using baritone Violectra.
Ben Lee (violinist), of the electric violin duo FUSE, became the Guinness world record holder for "Fastest Electric Violinist" when he performed "Flight of the Bumblebee" in 58.515 seconds in London, UK, on 14 November 2010 playing on a 5 stringed electric violin.
Classically-trained violinist Emilie Autumn has also made extensive use of the electric violin, particularly on her instrumental Laced/Unlaced album.
Several Irish fiddlers have adopted electric instruments. The fiddle is quite prominently featured in such bands as the Celtic punk bands Flogging Molly, and The Levellers. Eileen Ivers played a blue Barcus-Berry electric fiddle during her tours with Riverdance during the 1990s, later switching to a custom-made blue ZETA Music Systems Strados acoustic-electric fiddle (which ZETA later marketed as the "Eileen Ivers Signature Series").
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