At the age of 16, he became part of the Shrapnel Records-produced duo Cacophony with his friend Marty Friedman, and they released two albums, Speed Metal Symphony (1987) and Go Off!
Since the dissolution of Cacophony in 1989, Becker has undertaken a solo career, releasing seven albums since his 1988 debut Perpetual Burn.
He later joined David Lee Roth's solo band and recorded one album with him, A Little Ain't Enough.
He cited Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Van Halen as early influences.
[4] Becker started out playing alongside Marty Friedman in the Mike Varney-produced duo, Cacophony.
He finished the recording using lighter gauge guitar strings and other techniques, which made it easier for him to play with his weakening hands.
In 2003, Becker posted on his website that he was feeling better and had gained some weight, while the folder for his 2008 album Collection also mentions an upcoming book.
However, when Becker could no longer even play the keyboard, his friend and music producer Mike Bemesderfer[7] helped him with a music-composing computer program that reads movements of his head and eyes, enabling Becker to continue to compose after he lost control of the rest of his body.
On August 20, 2010, Becker declared that he was considering releasing an album of music he recorded when he was in his teenage years.
[8] In October 2016, Becker launched a campaign to fund an album, which was initially estimated for release in July 2017.
[10] Considered a virtuoso guitarist and one of the top players of his time,[5] Becker studied the works of violinist Niccolò Paganini and was a playing partner with Marty Friedman.
Becker's compositions often include high speed scalar and arpeggio passages—trademarks of his shred style of guitar playing.
[12] Many guitarists cite Becker's playing as an influence, including Nita Strauss,[13] Guthrie Govan,[14] Herman Li,[15] Chris Broderick,[16] and Daniel Mongrain,[17] among others.
Prior to joining Cacophony in 1987, Becker worked his way through the Franciscan, a Takamine acoustic, a Fender Musicmaster, and finally, a black "Dan Smith" era Fender Stratocaster (likely a 1982 or 1983 model) with a DiMarzio Steve Morse humbucker in the bridge (seen in the "Black Star" video, c. 1986).
For his next guitar, Becker said on his message board "Mike Varney got Hurricane to endorse us after we recorded Speed Metal Symphony.
His LTD.2 was a "strat copy", but with a HSS pickup setup, a 24-fret rosewood fingerboard, and unique Floyd Rose where you do not have to cut the strings.
For the second Cacophony album, Becker switched over to Carvin gear, utilizing 2 DC Series models, one in a trans blue finish with flamed maple top, and another one in a solid burgundy finish (This is the guitar seen in the famous "Yo Yo" video from the 1989 Japan tour with Cacophony).
Both have double cutaway bodies, Kahler locking tremolo systems, six in line machine heads and two Carvin humbucker pickups.
During the sessions for A Little Ain't Enough, Becker used various Carvin, Ibanez, ESP and Valley Arts guitars, as well as a Les Paul on some tracks and a Gibson acoustic for select things.
Features include an alder body, maple neck with steel 2-way truss rod, maple 16" radius fingerboard, 24 jumbo thin frets with colored number fret marker inlays, black Floyd Rose Pro Style floating Tremolo with Floyd Rose Tremolo stop, Sperzel red satin tuners, 14-degree tilt-back headstock with black Paradise logo and matching tremolo and electronics plates.
[26] Cacophony Marty Friedman Solo David Lee Roth Joe Becker Other works Compilations Tribute Instructional Films