Known as the guitar god of the 1970s, Jimi Hendrix introduced radical developments in electric guitar playing with distorted riffs and an abandoned sense of technique.

Today, characterized by excellence, maturity and enduring appeal, the classical violin has received a revolutionary, modern appeal.

Violinist Bobby Yang carves his dynamic facility with the small wooden instrument into something psychedelic as he delivers renditions of classic rock’s greatest hits.

Paying tribute to the rock scene’s most revered bands such as Rush, The Rolling Stones and Queen, Bobby Yang and his Unrivaled Players offer nimble performances.

The band uses no sheet music, instead their forte lies in their faculty to play by hearing. Playing entire shows of original music, the band strives to make the audience feel comfortable by playing recognizable music first and then improvising, Yang said.

“When we do jam out it won’t even be in their psyche,” Yang said.

“We’re going to be so in the moment playing with such passion and integrity.”

And he’s no greenhorn musician. This virtuoso began playing the violin and piano at the age of five.

The young musician attended Meadowmount School of Music, whose alumni include esteemed violinists Joshua Bell and Itzhak Perlman.

“That is when I realized I had a lot of knowledge and facility to play rock.”

Inspired by the legendary alumni at a young age, Yang remembers meeting other young students at the Meadowmount School of Music who weren’t allowed to listen to modern music.

“My parents didn’t prevent me from listening to popular music. We’d have our family gang traveling in a car and we had it on FM rock stations the entire time. It was a relief,” Yang said.

After completing his bachelors and masters degrees in violin at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Yang began playing with the Unrivaled Players.

The Unrivaled Players aren’t, however, a stable group of men and women as one would expect from an average band.

“The best players offer different things and bring different styles to the table,” he said.

Not only is playing by ear a trademark of Bobby Yang’s group, but playing an instrument without the aid of written music is a requirement to be an Unrivaled Player.

“As far as playing by ear, no other band in the world can do what we do. We can play 2,000 songs just by listening to the music,” Yang said.

In the meantime, Bobby Yang is also a full-time fiddler for famed actor Kevin Costner’s new band, Modern West.

“I think I truly have the best of the best and it keeps the shows very exciting,” Yang said.