Learning the piano as a child, Hladík later studied classical guitar at the
Prague Conservatory for two years. At the age of 15 he began playing guitar in the rock group Komety, before joining
The Matadors with his friend
Vladimír Mišík. In 1968 Hladík and Mišík established the
Blue Effect (later called Modrý Efekt and M. Efekt), which initially played more mainstream, blues-influenced "
Beat" music, quickly gaining recognition as a dominant force on the rhythm-and-blues scene in Czechoslovakia. After Mišík left the band, Hladík became the band's leader, and steered it away from the spotlight into
jazz fusion (yielding two jazz-orchestra accompanied albums
Nova syntéza and
Nova syntéza 2), and eventually into
progressive rock territory through the 1970s. During that period, he also collaborated with some of the key protagonists of the Slovak music scene,
Marián Varga and
Pavol Hammel, contributing to their
Na druhom programe sna and
Zelená pošta albums, and worked with bass guitarist
Fedor Frešo (album
Svitanie, 1977). His jazz-rock playing was also featured on instrumental collaborations with the
Jazz Q members,
Martin Kratochvíl and
Jiří Stivín. Hladík's electric style is uniquely recognizable, and relies primarily on fast ascending and descending scales alternating with his signature bending, particularly at the ends of phrases, and frequent use of
hammer-on and
pull-off techniques. In the late 1960s, he was strongly influenced by the
British Invasion and
Jimi Hendrix, and became one of the pioneers of the electric blues-rock sound in Czechoslovakia, particularly the use of various effects. From the early 1970s his playing incorporated jazz phrasings, although Hladík's sound remained mostly rock-oriented, especially in his later years. The majority of Hladík's recordings and live performances feature his favourite
Gibson Les Paul Custom 1959. Hladík is probably best known for his instrumental composition "Tearoom" (), originally intended as a "filler" on the 1975 album,
Modrý efekt & Radim Hladík, but re-recorded in several variants (albums
Czech Masters Of Rock Guitar,
Na Kloboučku with
Michal Pavlíček). In 1979, with singer
Lešek Semelka and drummer
Vlado Čech, Hladík recorded the winning song of the annual music contest
Bratislavská lýra, "Šaty z šátků". He remained active in the studio and continued performing until shortly before his death in 2016 following a prolonged lung illness. ==References==