“I won seven guitar contests in a row. When I went to enter again, they said, ‘No, don’t even enter – you’re going to judge the next one’”: Dimebag Darrell discusses his love of soloing – even when it was uncool – and dishes advice in his final interview

Dimebag Darrell performs onstage with Damageplan at SOMA in San Diego, California on May 2, 2004.

The following interview was conducted by Joshua Gropp on Dec. 1, 2004, on Damageplan’s tour bus outside the Phoenix in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. At the time, Gropp was a 22- year-old jazz guitar student at Humber College in Toronto. He interviewed Dime for the school newspaper, the Humber College Et Cetera.

When you were a teenager you were known for winning most of the local guitar contests. What was it that prompted you to enter those contests?