“I’ll Get Too Perfectionist, and It’s Stupid”: UFO Guitarist Vinnie Moore Dishes out Some Sound Advice in the Latest ‘Guitar Player’ Podcast

If you like in-depth interviews with great guitar players AND you like to hear them play, then you need to listen to our No Guitar Is Safe podcast.

Presented by Guitar Player and hosted by Jude Gold, No Guitar Is Safe is free to listen to at your leisure on iTunes, Spotify, Soundcloud, or wherever you get your podcasts.

With well over 150 episodes uploaded there’s plenty to get your teeth into.

In our latest episode, presenter Jude Gold chats to UFO guitarist and solo artist Vinnie Moore.

Lead guitarist of British hard rock/metal veterans UFO since 2003, the renowned virtuoso plugs one of his new Kramers into a great-sounding old Marshall tube amp.

Guitar in hand, Moore then shares some licks and approaches he employs on his new solo album, Double Exposure, and with UFO.

Speaking of UFO, Moore reveals he is the band’s 17th guitarist! And with nearly 20 years under his belt he is also one of the group’s longest-serving members.

“We’re approaching 20 and it’s funny because I never thought it would go that long,” he says. “I thought it might go five years when I first joined.”

Bringing to mind his first encounter with “quintessential” UFO axeman Michael Schenker, Moore recalls, “I first met him at a Concrete Foundations Forum back in ’91, I think. Mike Varney actually introduced me to him. That was just a real quick meeting – not much happening there.”

And when Moore later toured with Schenker, it appears the UFO/MSG/Scorpions guitar legend remained equally enigmatic.

“We toured together in ’99,” he explains. “We did 32 shows in America. I opened. We shared the same band. We all travelled on a tour bus except Michael. He wanted to drive alone with his wife.

“To be totally honest, I didn’t see him much on the whole tour. He was like, very much to himself and, you know, not a lot of conversation to be honest on that tour. 

"He was friendly enough. And I heard him play every night. It was awesome, but I just didn’t really get to know him.”