Guitar Pete

by Evan Cater   Pete Brasino has been playing his rock & roll-flavored brand of blues ever since he was in high school. He began to teach himself to play guitar as a 16-year-old and within six months he had become so proficient with the instrument that his classmates dubbed him Guitar Pete -- the nickname that would become his performing name. Another significant leftover from those early days is his playing style. Because he never had a guitar instructor, the left-handed musician never learned how to string the guitar the way a southpaw traditionally would. Instead, he plays upside down and backwards, holding the guitar lefty but using right-handed fingerings. Brasino's early heavy metal albums, released under the name Guitar Pete's Axe Attack, were not commercial successes, but they caught the attention of high-profile music industry professionals and eventually led to a 1994 recording deal for Brasino's band, Snakeyed Sue. The band's first record was produced by Steve Thompson and Michael Barbiro, producers whose resumes included work with Blues Traveler, Guns N' Roses, and Aretha Franklin. Snakeyed Sue dissolved shortly after the album's release, but four years later, Guitar Pete returned with a solo effort Burning Bridges that provided a showcase for his powerhouse blues sound.