Jason Becker isn't supposed to be here.

More than two decades ago, just after the Richmond resident got his big break as the guitarist for former Van Halen singer David Lee Roth's band, he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, the incurable motor-neuron disease better known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Doctors gave Becker three to five years to live. He was 20.


"At the time, I didn't believe that I couldn't cure it," Becker, now 44, said in an e-mail interview - which he is able to use through a system of blinking his eyes. "I was too young, and I had too much to do. I was living my dream and just kept on."

Becker had to leave Roth's band as his symptoms worsened to the point where he could no longer even hold his guitar. That's when his story really began.


"Jason's doctor at the time he got his tracheostomy and stomach tube told me he would probably not make it past six months," said Becker's mother, Pat. "That was in 1997."

The disease doesn't affect Becker's senses - the ability to see, hear, smell, taste and feel someone's touch.

Finding a way

With a ventilator and feeding tube keeping him alive and devoted friends, family members and a nursing staff providing him with around-the-clock care at his home in the Richmond hills, next door to his parents', Becker has put his remaining faculties to full use.

Using whatever technology was available over the past 20 years, he learned to compose songs note by note, read his favorite books, interact with fans, meditate and even have intimate relationships with women.

"Life isn't only about moving," he said.

Gary Becker invented a simple way for his son to communicate using a hand-painted geometrical eye chart he dubbed Vocal Eyes. Becker spells by moving his eyes to the letters in the separate sections of the board, although at home, his family has learned to "read" Becker's eye movements without the aid of the letter board.

He can smile, raise his eyebrows to gesture agreement or twitch his mouth to say no. He takes pleasure in the fact that personal communication with him generally requires direct eye contact.

"I still haven't found anything as quick and efficient as my dad's system," Becker said.

When he met Stephen Hawking, who himself has defied great odds by living to 71 with ALS, he introduced the prominent theoretical physicist to the system as well. "I don't know if it works for him, though, because we all have different weaknesses and strengths," Becker said.

It was Gary Becker, an artist and poet, who first taught his son how to play guitar at age 5, turning him on to Bob Dylan. By 12, Becker made it a personal mission to teach himself all of Eric Clapton's guitar solos. His brother Ehren recalls that he seldom saw Jason without a guitar, whether at the dinner table or even behind the wheel.

Making a splash

Inspired by the harmony, melody and counterpoint of classical composers Paganini and Bach, Becker started flying through arpeggios at local open mike nights with his uncle Ron, a blues guitar player who taught him pentatonic scales, who was almost always there with a video camera.

In high school, Becker joined future Megadeth guitarist Marty Friedman in the speed-metal duo Cacophony and spent three years touring across America and Japan. By the time he was 18, Becker had released his first genre-defying solo album, "Perpetual Burn."

Becker's incredible story is told in "Jason Becker: Not Dead Yet," a heartfelt feature-length documentary by first-time director Jesse Vile. The 2011 film will be shown as part of a special benefit concert on Thursday at Bimbo's 365 Club.

The film, by turns tragic and inspirational, serves as an introduction to many for Becker's fiery, neoclassical style of guitar playing that never got the recognition it merited.

In the music world, serving as sideman to Roth in 1990 was a coveted position - a job previously held by guitar heroes Eddie Van Halen and Steve Vai. Becker got the gig just three years after graduating from Kennedy High School in Richmond, appearing on Roth's gold-certified album "A Little Ain't Enough."

But for Becker, losing his dream gig just before a major tour didn't mean that he had to give up his quest to become a musical icon.

"We dealt with the initial prognosis with hysteria, crying fits, denial, anger, terror, misery and broken hearts and dreams," said Pat, who still works primarily to maintain Becker's health care coverage. "But Jason was so happy and still keeping busy, falling in love, making his music and living his life, and led us, by example, to a place where we could handle the situation."

Five years after he left Roth's band, with one hand still functioning, Becker put together the solo album "Perspectives." A few years later, with movement in just one thumb and his eyes, he recorded another album, "The Raspberry Jams: A Collection of Demos, Songs and Ideas on Guitar."

Painstaking process

By 27, he was completely paralyzed. Yet Becker remained defiantly career-minded.

In 2008, he released "Collection," which featured three new recordings.

He is currently working on a new album with producer Dan Alvarez - a painstaking process that will see him incorporate solos from several other guitarists into his own work using a digital music program called Logic. It is a change of pace for the guitar player who was best known for blazing across the fret board.

"I spend time editing and massaging each note," Becker said. "Then I start layering with different instruments, adding harmonies, counterpoint, and whatever the song calls for. Then I arrange it into a whole piece, and decide where I need to add live musicians. It takes a lot of time, but it is very satisfying once it is complete."

Last year, Becker graced the cover of Guitar Player magazine. His YouTube videos, from before and after he was stricken with ALS, draw a steady stream of viewers from around the world. Many reach out to him with letters of support.

"Jason has touched so many people, from those loving his music and picking up the guitar again themselves, to not committing suicide, to just living their own lives with more awareness, kindness and love," Pat said. "We hear that every day."

Calling from a tour stop in New Orleans last week, guitarist Joe Satriani said, "Jason as a young kid was a virtuoso guitar player. Now he is a virtuoso human being."

No time for anger

Despite his physical limitations, Becker's soft eyes emanate a world of warmth and gratitude. The walls of his home are decorated with guitars, his father's paintings and pictures of his spiritual guru, Indian hugging saint Amma. He is a devout fan of the 49ers.

He said he was angry about his situation until a near-death experience in 1997 renewed his desire to live with vigor.

"I don't remember making a conscious choice, just feeling surer about things, and content, and that made everything and everyone around me seem that way as well," Becker said. "I still have downs and get depressed, but I try not to dwell too much on being negative because it always passes and there is still so much to do."


"Jason Becker: Not Dead Yet": Film will be shown at 7 p.m. Sept. 19. $30-$75. Bimbo's 365 Club, 1025 Columbus Ave., S.F. www.bimbos365club.com.

Learn more: To see Jason Becker's eye communication system, go to http://bit.ly/bJtWu2.
