Dimebag Darrell facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Dimebag Darrell
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Abbott performing with Pantera in 1990
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Darrell Lance Abbott
August 20, 1966 Grand Prairie, Texas, U.S.
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| Died | December 8, 2004 (aged 38) Columbus, Ohio, U.S.
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| Resting place | Moore Memorial Gardens, Arlington, Texas |
| Other names | Diamond Darrell (1981–1993) |
| Occupation | Musician |
| Years active | 1981–2004 |
| Partner(s) | Rita Haney (1984–2004) |
| Relatives | Jerry Abbott (father) Vinnie Paul (brother) |
| Musical career | |
| Genres |
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| Instruments | Guitar |
Darrell Lance Abbott (born August 20, 1966 – died December 8, 2004), known as Dimebag Darrell, was an American musician. He was a very talented guitarist in the heavy metal bands Pantera and Damageplan. He started both bands with his brother, Vinnie Paul. Many people think he was one of the best metal guitarists ever.
Darrell was the son of country music producer Jerry Abbott. He began playing guitar when he was 12 years old. Pantera released their first album, Metal Magic (1983), when Darrell was just 16. At first, he played glam metal music and used the stage name Diamond Darrell. After a few glam metal albums, the band changed their style. Their album Cowboys from Hell (1990) introduced a new "groove metal" sound. Darrell's guitar playing was a huge part of this new sound.
Pantera continued to release successful albums like Vulgar Display of Power (1992). Their album Far Beyond Driven (1994) even reached number one on the Billboard 200 chart. After 2000, Pantera stopped making music together. Darrell then formed a new band called Damageplan with his brother Vinnie Paul. They released their only album, New Found Power, in 2004. Darrell also worked with other musicians and played guest guitar solos for bands like Anthrax.
Experts and magazines often ranked Darrell as one of the greatest guitarists. Rolling Stone put him at No. 92 on their list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" in 2011. In 2015, VH1 called him the most important metal guitarist of the past 25 years.
Contents
Early Life and Guitar Journey
Darrell Lance Abbott was born in Grand Prairie, Texas, on August 20, 1966. He was the second son of Carolyn and Jerry Abbott, who was a country music producer. His older brother, Vinnie Paul, was born in 1964. Darrell's parents separated in 1979, but he still had a happy family life. The brothers lived with their mother in Arlington. Their mother, Carolyn, always supported their musical dreams. Their father, Jerry, stayed nearby, and Darrell often rode his bike to visit him for guitar lessons.
Darrell started playing guitar when he was 12. His first guitar was a Les Paul-style Hondo. He got it with a small amplifier for his twelfth birthday. He loved bands like Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Kiss, and Van Halen. At first, he would just stand in front of a mirror with his guitar, pretending to play. His father, Jerry, even learned Kiss songs to teach Darrell how to play them. Darrell also learned from country musicians who recorded at his father's studio.
Vinnie started playing the drums before Darrell got his guitar. Darrell had tried drums too, but Vinnie became better and wouldn't let him play them anymore. The brothers' first time playing music together lasted six hours, just playing "Smoke on the Water". They looked up to Alex and Eddie Van Halen. Vinnie later said that he and Darrell were always together after they started playing music.
When he was 14, Darrell entered a guitar contest in Dallas. Dean Zelinsky, who started Dean Guitars, was one of the judges. Darrell's mother had to go with him because he was too young to enter alone. He won the competition easily. Zelinsky remembered that Darrell "blew everyone away." Darrell won many other guitar contests. Eventually, he was asked to stop competing and instead judge the contests so others could have a chance to win.
Music Career
Pantera's Beginnings
Pantera started in 1981. Vinnie was asked to join a band with his high school friends. He agreed, but only if Darrell could join too. At first, his friends weren't sure because Darrell was younger and "wasn't very good" yet. But they said yes. Darrell later became the main lead guitarist. He quickly improved and could play difficult songs like "Eruption". Darrell started using the stage name "Diamond Darrell," inspired by the Kiss song "Black Diamond".
Pantera's early style was glam metal, like bands such as Kiss and Van Halen. They wore spandex, makeup, and hairspray on stage. The band signed with Metal Magic Records, which was created by Darrell's father, Jerry. Jerry also managed and produced their music. Pantera released their first album, Metal Magic, in 1983, when Darrell was 16.
They released two more glam metal albums, Projects in the Jungle (1984) and I Am the Night (1985). Around this time, Darrell and Vinnie started listening to heavier bands like Metallica and Slayer. Darrell especially loved Metallica's Ride the Lightning. The band wanted to play heavier music, which led to their singer leaving in 1986.
Later that year, Phil Anselmo joined as the new singer. They released Power Metal in 1988. This album showed the band moving away from glam metal. Darrell's fast guitar riffs were a key part of their new sound.
Developing the Groove Metal Sound
After Power Metal, Pantera got a deal with Atco Records. A talent scout from Atco saw them play live and was very impressed.
Their album Cowboys from Hell came out on July 24, 1990. This album created Pantera's famous sound, which was called "power groove." It became a very important album for groove metal. This style combined the heavy sound of thrash metal but was played at a slower speed. Pantera also added elements of Southern rock to their music. Cowboys from Hell was a big success, selling enough copies to be certified gold and later platinum.
Pantera toured a lot to support Cowboys from Hell, playing almost 200 shows. They spent most of the 1990s on tour. Their next album, Vulgar Display of Power, was released on February 25, 1992. This album made their groove metal sound even better and heavier. Darrell wrote most of the guitar riffs and song structures. He worked to make his guitar blend perfectly with the bass guitar. Vulgar Display of Power was a huge hit and stayed on the music charts for a long time. Rolling Stone later called it one of the "100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time."
Pantera's third major album, Far Beyond Driven, came out on March 15, 1994. It sold 186,000 copies in its first week and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Many people consider it the heaviest album ever to reach number one. Darrell said in 1994, "We're into topping ourselves. Most bands come out with a heavy record, then it gets lighter and lighter. That ain't what we're about."
Band Challenges and Separation
After Far Beyond Driven, the band started to have problems. For their next album, The Great Southern Trendkill, Darrell, Vinnie, and the bassist recorded their parts separately from the singer. Darrell tried out new guitars for this album.
The Great Southern Trendkill was released on May 7, 1996. It reached No. 4 on the Billboard 200. This album is known as Pantera's most extreme work, with some of their lowest-tuned songs.
The touring for The Great Southern Trendkill made the band's problems worse. Recording their final album, Reinventing the Steel, was difficult. Vinnie said it was hard to get the singer to come to the studio. During this time, Darrell and Vinnie's mother, Carolyn, became sick and passed away in 1999. This deeply affected both brothers, especially Darrell. Reinventing the Steel was released on March 21, 2000. Darrell noted that Pantera still played lead guitar solos, which many bands at the time had stopped doing. Like the previous album, Reinventing the Steel also reached No. 4 on the Billboard 200.
In September 2001, Pantera was in Ireland when the September 11 attacks happened. Their tour was canceled, and they returned to Texas, deciding to take a break. The brothers hoped Pantera would get back together in 2003. However, the singer focused on other bands, and the bassist also decided not to return to Pantera. Pantera officially separated in 2003.
Damageplan
Darrell was very sad when Pantera broke up. He felt like everything he had worked for was gone. To move forward, Darrell and Vinnie decided to start a new band. They recorded new songs in Darrell's backyard studio in early 2003. They found a singer, Patrick Lachman, and a bassist, Bob Kakaha. The band first called themselves New Found Power, but later changed their name to Damageplan. Their debut album, New Found Power, was released on February 10, 2004. It sold well, but not as much as Pantera's albums.
Damageplan spent most of 2004 touring to build a new fanbase. They played in many nightclubs across the country. The band had plans to record another album, but this did not happen because of Darrell's death at a show in Columbus, Ohio, on December 8, 2004.
Other Music Projects
Darrell and Vinnie grew up listening to country singer David Allan Coe. Darrell met Coe in 1999 and they became friends. Coe often visited Darrell's house, where they played music in Darrell's backyard studio. They also brought in Pantera's bassist, Rex Brown. This group recorded songs from 1999 to 2003. The album, Rebel Meets Rebel, was released in 2006. It was special because it blended both country and metal music.
In 1992, Darrell and the other Pantera members worked with Rob Halford on a song called "Light Comes Out of Black." Darrell also recorded a song called "Caged in a Rage" by himself, where he sang and played guitar. This song was on the soundtrack for the 1996 film Supercop.
Darrell played guest guitar solos for Anthrax many times. Anthrax's guitarist, Scott Ian, even called Darrell the "sixth member" of their band. Darrell also played solos for King Diamond and a band called Premenishen, which included his cousins. After Darrell's death, Vinnie Paul allowed the band Nickelback to use some of Darrell's unused guitar solos on their tribute song "Side of a Bullet". Darrell had been friends with Nickelback's Chad Kroeger.
Death
While on tour with Damageplan, Darrell was shot by a fan during a show at the Alrosa Villa nightclub in Columbus, Ohio. This happened on December 8, 2004. He passed away at the scene at 38 years old. The person who shot him was later killed by a police officer.
Thousands of fans attended his public memorial service. Famous musicians like Eddie Van Halen, Zakk Wylde, and Corey Taylor were there. Darrell was buried next to his mother in Arlington, Texas. Gene Simmons of Kiss donated a special Kiss-themed casket for the burial. Eddie Van Halen also gave Darrell his famous black-and-yellow-striped guitar to be buried with him. Darrell had asked Van Halen for a copy of that guitar just weeks before he died. Van Halen said at the funeral, "Dime was an original and only an original deserves the original."
After Vinnie Paul passed away in 2018, he was buried next to his mother and Darrell, also in a Kiss Kasket. In 2020, a fence was put around their graves to stop vandalism. Darrell's grave had been scratched and damaged by people over the years. The Alrosa Villa nightclub was torn down in 2021.
Musical Style
Darrell Abbott started as a glam metal musician. But by the late 1980s, he moved away from that style. He became a key person in creating the groove metal sound in the 1990s.
Influences
Even though his father was a country music producer, Darrell's main influences were heavy metal bands. He loved Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Kiss, and Van Halen. Ace Frehley of Kiss inspired him to play guitar. Darrell even had a tattoo of Frehley on his chest.
No musician influenced Darrell more than Eddie Van Halen. Darrell said his own background was similar to Van Halen's. Both were younger brothers who first played drums before switching to guitar because their older brothers were better at drums. Another important influence was Randy Rhoads. Darrell said, "To me, Eddie Van Halen was heavy rock and roll, but Randy was heavy metal." He also learned about double tracking guitar leads from Rhoads. Darrell often said that Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath inspired his guitar riffs.
Darrell was also a fan of the Southern rock band ZZ Top. He was influenced by their guitarist, Billy Gibbons. He said he was exposed to the "Texas blues" sound growing up, which affected his playing. Darrell was also influenced by other metal guitarists like Kerry King of Slayer and James Hetfield of Metallica.
Technique
Darrell Abbott did not take formal guitar lessons. He developed his own unique style.
He often used the major third in his guitar riffs and solos. This added a special sound to his music. He also used a technique inspired by Van Halen, using symmetrical fingerings. Darrell was very good at picking notes, but he also liked a smooth, flowing style called legato. His strong left hand helped him play these smooth patterns. Darrell did not always use traditional scales. He often added extra notes between scale tones to create tension. These chromatic licks were a big part of his playing.
No matter what note or chord he played, Darrell had a "Texas style." This meant he used many different techniques. These included sliding, bending strings, palm muting, and using the whammy bar and effects pedal to make his sound unique.
One of the most recognizable parts of Darrell's guitar playing was his use of harmonics. These created a squealing sound, which he learned from Billy Gibbons. Darrell also used dyads instead of regular power chords. This added more texture to his riffs. When played with distortion, it made a tense sound.
Darrell experimented with different guitar tunings throughout his career. For Cowboys From Hell (1990), he used drop D tuning. Starting with Vulgar Display of Power (1992), he tuned his guitar down a whole step. This became his main tuning. He also used other low tunings, especially on The Great Southern Trendkill (1996) and New Found Power (2004).
Three of Darrell's guitar solos were ranked in Guitar World magazine's "100 Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time." These were "Walk" (No. 57), "Cemetery Gates" (No. 35), and "Floods" (No. 19).
Equipment
In 1982, Darrell won a maroon Dean ML guitar at a contest. His father had actually bought him a similar guitar just before the contest. Darrell wanted to sell the maroon ML to buy a car. He tried to sell it to his friend Buddy Blaze, who was a guitar maker. Blaze thought a prize guitar should stay with its owner, so he didn't buy it. Darrell sold it to one of Blaze's bandmates instead. Blaze later got the guitar and changed some of its parts. He added a custom Floyd Rose bridge and new pickups. He also repainted it blue and black with a lightning bolt design. Blaze gave the guitar back to Darrell in 1987. Darrell didn't even realize it was the same guitar he had won! This guitar became his signature instrument and was later called the "Dean from Hell."
After Cowboys from Hell came out, Darrell signed a deal with Dean Guitars. When Dean Guitars closed in 1994, Darrell signed a contract with Washburn Guitars. With Washburn, he played many signature guitars that looked like the ML, such as the Dime 333 and Stealth. When his contract with Washburn ended in 2004, he became the main artist for the re-opened Dean Guitars. Darrell passed away just before his new Dean contract was supposed to start. He had designed two new guitar models, the Dean Razorback and Razorback V, in the months before his death. Dean also later released copies of his "Dean from Hell" guitar.
Darrell was famous for his amazing guitar tone. He was on Guitar Player magazine's list of "The 50 Greatest Tones of All Time." For most of his career, Darrell used solid-state Randall amplifiers. He even wrote in the album notes for Cowboys from Hell, "Gotta have that Randall Crunch!" He had won his first Randall amplifier in a guitar contest. Darrell later released his own signature amplifier, the Randall Warhead, in 1999. He wanted it to sound just like his own setup. Darrell also used other effects pedals like a Digitech whammy pedal and a noise gate. The noise gate helped him control loud feedback and create quiet parts in his playing.
When Darrell's deal with Washburn ended, his deal with Randall also ended. He then partnered with Krank Amplifiers. He used their tube amplifiers and even invested in the company. He designed an amplifier called the Krankenstein, approving its final design just days before he died. Darrell also helped design many other products. With Dunlop Manufacturing, he designed a wah-wah pedal and a distortion pedal. He also designed a signature guitar pickup called the Dimebucker with Seymour Duncan.
Personal Life
Darrell grew up in the same neighborhood as his long-time partner, Rita Haney. They first met when he was eight years old and started dating in 1984. They never got married. Rita said they didn't feel they needed to get married.
In 1995, Darrell bought a house with Rita in Dalworthington Gardens, Texas, close to his hometown. Darrell even kept a pet goat at his house and dyed its goatee to match his own. His neighbors remembered him as a friendly person.
Legacy
On May 17, 2007, Darrell was honored by being added to Hollywood's RockWalk after his death. Ace Frehley from Kiss was there and spoke about Darrell. Frehley also dedicated his 2009 album Anomaly to Darrell.
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A concert called Dimebash has been held every year since 2010 to remember Darrell. All the money raised goes to the Ronnie James Dio Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund. Many famous musicians have played at Dimebash events, including Dave Grohl, Kerry King, and Tom Morello.
Rolling Stone magazine ranked Darrell at No. 92 on its list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" in 2011. They called him "one of modern metal's key figures." Geezer Butler of Black Sabbath said Darrell was "one of the greatest musicians to grace our world." In 2018, Louder magazine ranked him at No. 19 on their list of "The 50 Greatest Guitarists of All Time." Sebastian Bach of Skid Row said Darrell "reinvented heavy metal guitar."
Darrell was also ranked No. 9 in a 2012 Guitar World readers' poll for "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time." Loudwire named him the "Greatest Metal Guitarist" in 2013 after a reader vote. Jonathan Davis of Korn said in 2014 that Darrell was "one of the greatest guitar players ever." Slash said Darrell "had a great tone and a great original style."
In 2015, VH1 named Darrell the most important metal guitarist of the past 25 years. Doc Coyle of God Forbid said Darrell's guitar style was a blueprint for many metal styles that came after him. Also in 2015, Gibson ranked Darrell at No. 5 on their list of "The Top 10 Metal Guitarists of All Time." They said he "proved metal guitar could shred wildly, but still groove."
In 2017, Avenged Sevenfold guitarists Synyster Gates and Zacky Vengeance praised Darrell's playing and songwriting. They said he was a major influence on them, especially Gates.
Discography
Pantera
- Metal Magic (1983)
- Projects in the Jungle (1984)
- I Am the Night (1985)
- Power Metal (1988)
- Cowboys from Hell (1990)
- Vulgar Display of Power (1992)
- Far Beyond Driven (1994)
- The Great Southern Trendkill (1996)
- Reinventing the Steel (2000)
Damageplan
- New Found Power (2004)
Rebel Meets Rebel
- Rebel Meets Rebel (2006) (recorded in 2000)
Images for kids
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Dimebag Darrell performing with Pantera in 1990
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Abbott in June 2004, six months before his death
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A fan mourns outside the now defunct Alrosa Villa nightclub in Columbus, Ohio, where Abbott was murdered.
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Abbott's Washburn Dime 333, a signature guitar built in the style of a Dean ML
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An Aria Pro guitar, nicknamed "The Spare Dime", on display at the Hard Rock Casino in Florida
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One of Abbott's signature headstocks on a Dean guitar
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Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters
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Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine
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Scott Ian of Anthrax
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Corey Taylor of Slipknot
See also
In Spanish: Dimebag Darrell para niños
