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GT: What is it about guitar instrumentals that appeals to you? RB: Guitar for me is the same thing as a vocal for the singers - the ability to tell the story, to express feelings and emotions through the music. I don’t feel guitar music as only instr

VIDEO Boston-based rock band Extreme boasts a bona fide guitar legend in Nuno Bettencourt, a player heralded by the likes of Brian May, Steve Lukather and George Lynch as a true one of a kind. Bettencourt was born in Portugal before relocating to th

This month I will be focusing on the techniques and approaches of three early country artists: Merle Travis, Lester Flatt, and Hank Williams. While these players sat firmly within the country and bluegrass genres -Flatt, as one half of the legendary

The fretboard can be a complicated terrain to navigate. Many notes can be played at the same pitch in multiple positions, and the third and second strings are tuned a Major 3rd apart, whereas the rest are tuned to the interval of a 4th. With this in

EVEN THE MOST ‘ROCK AND ROLL’AMONG US have probably marvelled on occasion when hearing the harmonic possibilities coaxed out of a guitar by the likes of Joe Pass, Barney Kessel, Wes Montgomery and Tal Farlow. While this feature doesn’t claim to be th

We start with a sweet blues jam in G Major. Our old friend GMinor Pentatonic scale (G-Bb-C-D-F) will work, but for those sweet, uplifting vibes, try out GMajor Pentatonic (G-A-B-D-E), the same five notes as E Minor Pentatonic, and add bends, vibrato,

Dave Mustaine has been the driving force of Megadeth since day one, when the singer-guitarist assembled the band in Los Angeles, in 1993. Heralded as one of the ‘big four’ thrash metal acts alongside Metallica, Slayer, and Anthrax, Mustaine remains t

VIDEO Picture Keith Richards and your first image is probably of the Tele-toting, bandana-wearing wildman of rock. However, explore The Rolling Stones’ back catalogue and you’ll see that acoustic instruments feature heavily, from strummed and picked

GT: Do you have a type of pick that you can’t live without? AS: For the longest time I’ve been using Jazz 3 style picks. There’s a company that makes them for me out in the States and I have to make them white so I can see them when I drop them on th

Los Angeles born Nita Strauss initially gained her reputation as a shred guitar force to be reckoned with as part of the respected tribute band, The Iron Maidens. In 2014 she landed the rock guitarists’ dream gig as Alice Cooper’s axe woman. Nita cur

READY TO SUBSCRIBE? www.magazines direct.com It’s almost unthinkable not to know of and/or to appreciate The Beatles. They are in many ways the fundamental core of popular music with pretty much everything that’s been created since, having been influ

Feel, touch, soul, and phrasing. These are words you will often hear when the topic of blues guitarists arises, and while you may not associate this month’s artist strictly with the blues, he certainly embodies the aforementioned characteristics. Thi

VIDEO You might associate hybrid picking with country guitar, but there’s no reason why you can’t use it in any musical genre. On paper, it seems like such a great solution. You get all the aggression and definition from the plectrum, combined with

A few weeks ago we welcomed a new baby boy to the family. Being a father is really fun, but extremely challenging in many areas, and having a second born with a daughter aged seven has given me previously unseen pressures on my time. I’m in the lucky

How old were you when you had lessons from Joe Satriani? GT: I met Joe when I was 13. I had one lesson a week with him for the next few years. I’d go to his studio after school and wait around until he was done yelling at his other students. I playe

VIDEO Mike Zito is one of the co-founders of blues-rock supergroup Royal Southern Brotherhood, alongside Cyril Neville, Devon Allman, Charlie Wooton and Yonrico Scott. In this line-up he shared lead guitar duties with Devon (son of Gregg) Allman, dr

Now, here’s a paradox for you: I gorra lorra geetars but I’m not a collector. With a very few exceptions, my instruments have been acquired simply to assist with the messy business of carving a crust from Life’s Great Bakery. While it’s undeniable th

Today we’ll look at some of the alternatives should you wish to replace ‘standard’ open chords with something more vibrant, to use alongside standard voicings in a two-guitar line-up, or as an overdub. The most reliable way is to know which notes mak

This month’s piece comes in the form of a short prelude from Coleccion 8a de Ejercicios y Preludios para Guitarra, which is an unpublished collection of 15 exercises and preludes by the 19th-century Spanish guitarist, composer, and educator, José Fer

Brian Stetzer revitalised the rockabilly scene with his band The Stray Cats in the early 1980s, during the time he was living in the UK. After the initial success of the band and his various solo projects, Setzer had a fantastic second wind with his