Buckethead

Buckethead is an American guitarist and composer. He is known for wearing a white plastic mask and a bucket on his head. He is a prolific composer, having released over 50 solo albums and performed on over 60 more. He has also made a guest appearance on 44 different albums from various artists. His music spans across diverse areas such as thrash metal, electronica, jazz and avant-garde music.

Although a multi-instrumentalist (playing bass guitar, banjo, keyboards, ukulele, organ, violin, clarinet, saxophone, recorder, drums, gong, and piano), Buckethead is best known for his electric guitar playing, characterized by diverse playing styles spanning thrash guitar, fingerpicking, and slap guitar. Guitar One voted him number 8 on a list of the "Top 10 Greatest Guitar Shredders of All Time".

Although Buckethead now works primarily as a solo artist touring the United States with a trio, he has had a wide variety of high profile collaborations with such artists as Les Claypool, Tony Williams, Bootsy Collins, Bernie Worrell, Iggy Pop, Serj Tankian, Guns N' Roses, Saul Williams, Mike Patton, Viggo Mortensen and with Bill Laswell on Praxis.

Buckethead achieved a higher public profile as a member of Guns N' Roses from 2000 to 2004; however, the band only toured in 2001 and 2002 during this era. Guns N' Roses response to Buckethead's departure was:

"During his tenure with the band, Buckethead has been inconsistent and erratic in both his behavior and his commitment, despite being under contract, creating uncertainty and confusion and making it virtually impossible to move forward with recording, rehearsals, and live plans with confidence. His transient lifestyle has made it near impossible for even his closest friends to have nearly any form of communications with him whatsoever."

Despite this, Axl Rose has confirmed that some of Buckethead's guitar parts will remain on the upcoming Guns N' Roses album 'Chinese Democracy'.

Buckethead also has a career writing and performing music for major motion pictures. Some of the films he has worked on include: Saw II, Ghosts of Mars, Beverly Hills Ninja, Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, Last Action Hero and the soundtrack of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie.