From Guitar World · · 1m 30s
The SG had to go before the gig was his
Neil Giraldo beat 200 guitarists to join Rick Derringer's band, then learned the hard way what the job demanded.
In brief
Neil Giraldo beat 200 guitarists to join Rick Derringer's band, then learned the hard way what the job demanded. Getting picked is the easy part. What turns a good player into a great one is being told the truth after a bad night and never repeating it. Originally reported by Guitar World.
Before Benatar, there was Derringer
In 1977, long before Neil Giraldo became Pat Benatar's musical partner and husband, he cut his teeth in Rick Derringer's touring band.
He beat 200 guitarists
The audition was not a formality. Giraldo won the spot over 200 other players, for a bandleader who was a fearsome guitarist himself.
One condition: lose the SG
Giraldo showed up playing a red Gibson SG. Derringer told him he had the job, but the guitar did not.
“You're in the band, but you gotta get a new guitar. You can't play that SG.”
Mockingbird was taken
Derringer offered to buy him a B.C. Rich, with one catch: no Mockingbird, because that was his. Giraldo picked an Eagle instead, and founder Bernie Rico set him up with a couple.
“I'll get you a B.C. Rich, but you can't play a Mockingbird, because I play one.”
The first gig went badly
Giraldo had been playing to 25 or 300 people. Suddenly it was thousands. Nerves got him, and Derringer came off stage asking what the hell had happened.
“He said, 'You sounded terrible.' I went, 'Rick, I was really nervous.'”
It never happened again
Giraldo promised it would not repeat, and it did not. That education under Derringer is what prepared him to anchor Benatar's run to multi-Platinum stardom.
“I can't even tell you how much it prepared me. He taught me so much.”
The short version
Getting picked is the easy part. What turns a good player into a great one is being told the truth after a bad night and never repeating it.
