Richard Rojas Biography

Richard began his musical journey playing keyboards at age 7, but his first stringed instrument was the Venezuelan 'Cuatro' at age 11, he then switched from classical guitar to bass guitar at age 16 after being inspired by Geddy Lee, and Steve Harris, then he decided to be a bassist, and a Fender lover too.

Richard played countless concerts with several local bands in the mid/late 80's and also discovering and experimenting with the two handed tapping technique which he managed to incorporate into his sound in the process. His biggest influences are Geddy Lee; Steve Harris; Billy Sheehan; Jaco Pastorious; Stu Hamm; Victor Wooten.

In the early 90's he finished studying bass guitar and harmony at the Tecnológico De Música Valencia (T.M.V.), and was also fortunate to spend most of the 90s playing covers from other bands of most styles of music giving him the vocabulary on Pop, Rock, Metal and a bit of Jazz.

In 1998 he was voted as 'Best Rock Bassist' by many local magazines after finishing recording 'Historias y Leyendas' with the neoclassical Venezuelan band 'Obertura', right after that, a tour with the Columbian metal band 'Masacre' followed. In that tour, Masacre singer/bassist Dilson Díaz (now with La Pestilencia) cited "Richard is the most impressive bassist I've never seen in South America". Richard also laid some tracks with two other bands, Centurion and Arte Sacro, both from Venezuela. Both these bands put their recorded work either 'on-hold' or 'in the drawer' forever. Fortunately one of those bands 'Arte Sacro' is about to release their first studio outing. You'll have the chance to hear Richard play the most complicated and fastest music he's ever recorded.

Richard uses 'Ampeg' amps and 'Fender' basses exclusively, he got his first Fender bass in 1997, an 'American Deluxe Precision Bass'. His original beloved 'Precision Bass' disappeared in early 2009 and now he has replaced it with a new 'Fender Aerodyne Jazz Bass'.

In 2005 Richard recorded two bass solos for the 'Bass Extremes International Solo Bass Competition' that took place in Atlanta, Georgia, being probably the only one bassist from Venezuela who gave it a shot. He got congratulated by Steve Bailey and Victor Wooten for the great entries. Both songs were recorded using the two handed tapping technique. One of the bass solos is his own composition called 'My Dream' and the other 'Michelle' by Lennon and McCartney. Professional bassist, music producer T.M. Stevens after listening to these bass solos cited "Richard, I love your music". In 2007 he joined the legendary Venezuelan Rock/Metal band 'Gillman' giving him instant recognition as one the best rock bassist in Latin America, this happened right before the release of Gillman's studio album 'Inevitable', sharing the stage with world class international bands like 'Testament' and 'Dios Salve a la Reina' (God Save the Queen).

When he's not seen performing live in the big arenas, he's busy teaching bass guitar tecniques and music theory as the academic director at the Tecnológico De Música Valencia (T.M.V.) in Venezuela.

Richard's musical journey continues and more projects are on their way, this is just the beginning...