Who is Allen?

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Allen Van Wert

was nicknamed "R0B0T" for the new guitar playing technique in he invented in 2000 "Robot Tapping" that sounds like a video game. People in yahoo chat rooms believed it was a midi file instead of a guitar. He used his unique technique on his 2005 instrumental debut album "ROBOT". In 2016 he invented and developed an artificial intelligence guitar picking trainer app called the "Ultimate Picking Program" that finds the users weakness and tells them exactly what to practice to develop speed and accuracy for picking on guitar.

As an original YouTuber he has been displaying world record speed guitar in videos online (Picking 25 notes a second and also playing music at 18 notes per second.) He also releases high quality cover versions of pop songs and songs from other guitarists and offers free lessons on music theory and guitar through youtube.

Allen is also a guitar instructor for JamPlay.com (use the code 21DCE1A68F for a free trial to check it out)

He has also done lesson packs for the learning game GuitarBots that later became Yousician.

Allen has authored three instruction books for music and guitar. Ear Training For Guitarists, Modern Songwriting Secrets, and Robot's Technical Guitar. The last one was a top seller overall on an ebook distribution website.

Allen has worked with Steve Stevens of Billy Idol, Dave Ellefson of Megadeth, Travis Miguel of Atreyu and Trapt, Nick Catanese of Black Label Society, Steve Smyth of bands Dragonlord, Nevermore, Forbidden and Testament, Jonathan "Bug" Price of Breaking Benjamin, Fred Mascherino of Taking Back Sunday, Jesper Kyd (composer of many huge title video game soundtracks), Tiago Della Vega (shred guitarist), Shane Gibson of the band Korn, and Justin Lassen (Composer, sound designer, and remixer for Linkin Park, Madonna, and many others).

He has also played guitar on albums with members of Motley Crue, Alice Cooper, KISS, Poison, Dio, Black Sabbath, Night Ranger, Ratt, Skid Row, Deep Purple, Yngwie Malmsteen, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Whitesnake, Black Sabbath, Quiet Riot, LA Guns, Symphony X, Spastic Ink, Lynch Mob, The Cult, Steppenwolf, Cinderella, David Coverdale Band and Warrant.

Early life and education:

Playing a homemade guitar his father built, Allen was self-taught and earned a scholarship to Berklee College Of Music in Boston but decided not to attend, and would later go on to pursue a sound all his own. Allen states for the record in an interview, "There are many fans of guitar music who are sick of the sterile, lifeless reiterations of pop radio. My goal is to bring the guitar back into the forefront of music today. With the help and support of the guitar community as a whole, I honestly believe we can achieve it. It's time for creativity, creation, and virtuosity to reign supreme over the recent downfall of our culture in this world."

On Stage:

As a performing artist he has shared the stage with:
  • Jonathan "Bug" Price – bass guitar (2001) of Breaking Benjamin.
  • Fred Mascherino vocal/guitar of Taking Back Sunday
  • Nick Douglas and Johnny Dee of Doro
  • Tyler Grady (American Idol Season 9)
  • Randy Elmy drummer of "Hierosonic"
  • Stephan Jenkins of Third Eye Blind

Personal life and inventions:

Allen was a hobby computer programmer and created a game similar to (but predating) Rock Band or Guitar Hero in 1994 on his Commodore Amiga computer. He was a big enthusiast of the computer and would make his video games using the Amos Pro programming language that was created by Francois lionet. Commodore went bankrupt and Allen switched to music.

Allen created Ultimate Picking Program in 2016. It is a program/app that runs on PC, MAC, Linux, Android, and soon on an internet browser. It is the world's first and only A.I. Guitar teacher/trainer for picking. It figures out what the underlying weaknesses are for anyone who uses it and it tells them exactly what to practice and at what speed they should be able to perform the exercise based on what it learns about them.

Allen created RandoBeat.com in 2019. It is a simple rhythm generator to use for creating music or practicing. Simply click the subdivision and it generates a rhythm to try out.

History of Work: