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Mark Tremonti
Tremonti playing a Gibson Les Paul
Born	April 18, 1974 (age 32)
Genre(s)	Rock Hard Rock Heavy Metal
Affiliation(s)	Creed Alter Bridge
Label(s)	Wind-Up Records - Former
Notable guitars	PRS Guitar
Years active	1994 - Present
Official site	alterbridge.com

Mark Thomas Tremonti (born April 18, 1974 in Detroit, Michigan) is the lead guitarist for the band Alter Bridge. He formerly played lead guitar for the band Creed. Tremonti writes music, some lyrics and contributes background vocals. He is regarded as one of the greater guitarists in modern rock.

During his time as Creed's guitarist, Tremonti was not able to write and play to his full ability. However, with Alter Bridge he is able to develop his sound the way he wants, mainly because lead singer Myles Kennedy is able to play rhythm guitar during live performances.^{[citation needed]}

Contents 1 Early life 2 Musical Life 2.1 "Creed" Era 2.2 "Alter Bridge" Era 3 Equipment 3.1 Guitars 3.2 Rig 4 Present Life 5 Trivia 6 References 7 See also 8 External links

Mark Tremonti was born and raised near Detroit, Michigan. He listened to hard rock and metal music like KISS, Celtic Frost, and Metallica. At the age of 11, he bought his first guitar. It was a Tara, which was a Gibson Les Paul copy and cost about 25 dollars. Mark then attended music lessons but decided to quit because the teacher would not teach the style that he wanted, "They were teaching me Mary Had A Little Lamb when I wanted to learn Master of Puppets." Instead, Tremonti learned guitar autodidactly with tab books.

After high school, Tremonti went to Florida State University, where he started jamming with a high school acquaintance, Scott Stapp. Together, Tremonti and Stapp held auditions for a bassist and a drummer which resulted in the selection of Scott Phillips and Brian Marshall. They named themselves "Naked Toddler" which came from a newspaper clipping Mark kept in his wallet. Brian Marshall is/was credited by Scott Stapp as coming up with the name, Creed, which they later changed the bands name to. They recorded the album My Own Prison and released it independently in 1997. The album ended up spawning 4 number one hits and was a surprise success.

Due to their debut success, they signed onto Wind-Up Records. With Wind-Up, they had:

• 8 #1 singles
• 3 Multi-Platinum albums:
  • My Own Prison - 6 times platinum
  • Human Clay - 11 times platinum
  • Weathered - 6 times platinum

Since Creed split up, Mark has worked with many different guitarists and musicians such as Michael Angelo Batio, Thomas Gospodareck, and Fozzy. He took extensive lessons from shred master Troy Stetina. He stated, “After all Creed achieved professionally, I felt that I needed to refocus on the goals that I had personally. One of those goals was to get back to my rock and roll roots. After Creed took a break, band-mate Scott Phillips and I started to jam together again and realized that we both shared the same vision and were surprisingly anxious to get back out there and start doing it again." ^[1]. They then got together with ex-Creed bassist Brian Marshall and recruited Myles Kennedy to create Alter Bridge.

Mark Tremonti plays his signature Paul Reed Smith Tremonti Model Guitar. His Black, Tribal, and Tiger Eye models have a fixed bridge, while his Charcoal Burst, Dark Cherry, and Platinum guitars have tremolo bridges. It is also rumored he has a Dragon version of his model. He also uses Taylor acoustics as his non-electric guitar part. He plays with Jim Dunlop Jazz III picks; he told Guitar One magazine, "I decided to play with only that pick for a couple of days, and after that my 1-mm nylon pick felt like a paddle. Now I can't go back."

• Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier
• Mesa Boogie cabinets
• Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier
• Morley Mark Tremonti Power Wah
• TC Electronic G-Force effects processor
• Custom Audio Electronics Power Conditioner
• Bradshaw RS-10 MIDI Switcher Floorboard with Mark Tremonti Power Wah and Klon Centaur overdrive pedal
• Bogner Uberschall
• Behringer EQ
• Mackie Mixing Board
• Avalon Mic Preamp
• Fender Twin '65 Reissues
• Fender Tone King
• Diezel Amplifier
• 1968 Marshall "Plexi" head

• Mark Tremonti currently resides in Florida
• Alter Bridge is currently working on the band's second album, due out sometime in 2007.

• Alter Bridge's "In Loving Memory", which was written by Mark Tremonti, is dedicated to his late mother.
• After an invite by UK's Total Guitar magazine for Mark to provide a guest lesson, the song "Ahavo Rabo Taco Salad" was born. While initially supposed to solely involve Mark, the rest of Alter Bridge also got involved. The result is the band's first instrumental track.
• Mark's nickname is Tru.
• Mark welcomed his first child and son Austen Tremonti on May 24th, 2005.

1. ^ Tremonti and Phillips' return to making music together

• Alter Bridge
• Creed

• MarkTremonti.co.uk
• AlterBridge.com
• Creed.com
• Mark-Tremonti.com
• PRS Guitars
• Mark Tremonti at the Internet Movie Database

Creed
Scott Stapp | Mark Tremonti | Scott Phillips
Brian Marshall | Brett Hestla
Discography
Studio Albums: My Own Prison | Human Clay | Weathered | Greatest Hits
Compilations: Stoned Immaculate: The Music of the Doors | Live in the X Lounge
Singles: "My Own Prison" | "What's This Life For" | "Torn" | "One" | "Higher" | "With Arms Wide Open" | "What If" | "Are You Ready?" | "My Sacrifice" | "One Last Breath" | "Weathered" | "Bullets" | "Don't Stop Dancing"
Related articles
Alter Bridge | The Great Divide
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