Glenn Raymond Tipton (born October 25, 1947 in Blackheath, England) is one of the lead guitarists (and occasional keyboard player) for the English heavy metal band Judas Priest. Prior to Judas Priest, he was in the Flying Hat Band.
Tipton is known for his complex, sometimes classically influenced solos and his double lead guitar trades with fellow Judas Priest guitarist K.K. Downing. Although Glenn did not pick up the guitar until he was 21, he was taught by his mother how to play the piano at a young age. (Tipton's piano playing features prominently on the classic Priest album Sad Wings of Destiny, especially on Epitaph, a song that features no guitar). Tipton along with Rob Halford and K.K. Downing are the main composers of the band.
In 1997 Tipton released his first solo album Baptizm Of Fire, featuring a host of well-known musicians including John Entwistle, Billy Sheehan, Cozy Powell and Don Airey, among others.
Tipton has used numerous guitars over the years. These include a 60s Fender Stratocaster up until about '78. During '78-'79 he used a black Gibson Les Paul Custom and he started using a modified CBS-era Fender Stratocaster with Dimarzio Super-Distortion (humbucking) pickups. For the Screaming for Vengeance tour he added a chrome pickguard. For this tour he also played a Gibson SG, which, apparently, he spray-painted black himself. The SG also had a chrome pickguard and stock PAF humbuckers. Around '84 he switched to a Hamer Phantom GT model which was fitted with one EMG humbucker, a Kahler tremolo and one volume pot. A signature model of this was developed and sold to public from '84-'86. Tipton still uses this guitar model.
Tipton has almost exclusively used Marshall Amps. Tipton used Regular Vintage 50 and 100 Watt Marshall heads without a master volume until 1982, when the JCM 800 head was developed. The JCM 800 was used by Tipton and fellow Judas Priest guitarist K.K. Downing for many years. Currently, Tipton uses a large rack unit which includes several different preamps and two Marshall 9100 poweramps.
Late 70s and 80s: Pete Cornish custom pedalboard with overdrive unit, flanger, MXR distortion unit, MXR Phase 100, MXR digital delay, MXR 12-band EQ, Maestro Echoplex, line boosters between each effect to preserve the signal from input to output, and a RangeMaster-based custom treble boost connected to the bass channel of Marshall 50 and 100 watt heads with no master volume.
Today he only has a modified Crybaby 535Q Wah, Digitech Tone Driver, DigiTech Main Squeeze and a Yamaha midi board controlling other effects and sounds in the rack unit.
He was ranked 19 on rock magazine Hit Parader's list of 100 greatest metal guitarists.
Main article: Judas Priest discography
