Innehållsförteckning för January 2024 från Guitar World

USUALLY, I’D USE this space to tell you what a great — or at least interesting — year this has been in guitar land, but I think you’ll get the gist when you read everything that appears between pages 30 and 71. Instead, I’d like to discuss some pretty cool news, namely the subtle uptick in “guitar appearances” on TV in recent months, especially in commercials. Why is this good? It means that directors, show runners, camera operators and set decorators are getting wise to the fact that guitars — and, by extension, guitarists — are dang cool! A few examples: Twisted Tea commercial during the Ohio State-Indiana game on September 1:A guy who looks like he’s part of a college band (“college band” as in tubas, flutes, trumpets, pom-poms…

TUNE-UPS NEWS + NOTES THERE WAS Atime at the dawn of the alternative rock explosion when Scottish quartet Teenage Fanclub seemed destined for rock stardom. They toured with Nirvana, performed on Saturday Night Live, and Spin rated Bandwagonesque as the best album of 1991, ahead of Nirvana and R.E.M. Suddenly, every media outlet wanted a piece of the bedraggled, jangly rockers, who were touted as alt-rock saviors. “It was a really exciting time for us,” says guitarist and vocalist Norman Blake. “We got to tour the world and play these amazing places. We played a huge venue in Stockholm, and after Nirvana’s soundcheck we left with them and found a little play park. We all bought ice cream cones and ate them sitting on this swing set. That was really…

DOMENIC ROMEO UNEARTHSmolten metal leads aplenty on The Way of All Flesh Is Decay, the scorched-earth debut from his new End Reign project with members of Integrity, Bloodlet, All Out War and Pig Destroyer. Truth be told, he used to have more on there, but the Baltimore-based guitarist says he scrapped half of his solos upon hearing the jaw-dropping, sweep-and-tap complexity that Exhumed/Noisem shredder Sebastian Phillips affixed to album centerpiece “Chasing Divinity.” “I had a solo in my head that I wanted to put on the record, but it was way beyond my ability as a guitar player to pull off,” Romeo says, adding that Phillips’ first take was so spot-on that Romeo recruited the guitarist into End Reign full time. “It was exactly what I wanted — very Marty…

WOLFGANG VAN HALEN Song: Periphery, “Wildfire”Riff: Covet, “Firebird”Solo: Intervals, “Mnemonic”Guitar Moment: Nuno Bettencourt and Extreme back with their new album, Six.New Band: Blink-182 (They’re not new, but Tom DeLonge’s return makes it feel new again.)New Guitarist: Olly Steele. Not completely new, but more people need to know about him.New Gear: EVH SA-126. Take my word for it. Everyone can get one in 2024.Album You Listened to Most: Foo Fighters, But Here We AreGuitarist of the Year: Aaron Marshall CHRISTONE “KINGFISH” INGRAM Songs: Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, “Cast Iron Skillet” and Summer Walker (feat. Childish Gambino), “New Type”Riff: Jamilla Woods, “Practice”Album: Jamilla Woods, “Tiny Gardens”Guitar Moment: Paramore, “This Is Why”New Band: Yaya BeyNew Guitarist: Mathias LattinNew Gear: Marshall ShredMasterAlbum You Listened to Most: Daniel Caesar, Never EnoughGuitarist of the…

AT THE MOMENT, there are 25 Danelectro models to choose from. And sure, most of us musical snobs all love Danelectro’s ’59 DC and Longhorn bass because of their vintage pedigree. Even the more esoteric Sitar and Baritone models are equally adored for their affordable utility. But let’s just say that hasn’t stopped Danelectro from building upon their storied past with newer models that are marked improvements over the originals. One of those models is the ’59 Triple Divine, which advances from their dual-pickup ’59 Divine by sporting a trio of Danelectro’s 1950s vintage lipstick pickups — among other player upgrades. Many artists, from Jimmy Page to Tom Petty, have employed Danelectros as a stark alternative to mainstream brands to great effect, and now, with the fantastic ’59 Triple Divine,…

THIS MONTH’S “TOOLof the trade” is a 1969 white “maple cap” Fender Stratocaster, which I refer to as my “bronchitis Strat.” I purchased this guitar in Des Moines, Iowa, in 2017. While the band was in Chicago, our crew were staying in Des Moines and my tech, Mike Hickey, had been at a music store the day before and took a picture of this guitar and sent it to me. Since my earliest days of guitar collecting, I had been looking for a Jimi Hendrix “Woodstock” Strat, which in this case is a white one from 1969 with a “maple cap” fretboard. The neck is one piece of maple, and then affixed atop of it is a separate maple fretboard. My manager wanted me to cancel the show we had…

“PATIENT NUMBER 9” Ozzy Osbourne (w/Jeff Beck) WELL-WRITTEN AND ambitiously produced, this title track from the Prince of Darkness’ latest studio album brings to mind some of his finest collaborations with the legendary Randy Rhoads, featuring hauntingly beautiful, classical-style chord progressions and melodic themes, powerful guitar riffs and two tasteful solos, compliments of the late, great Jeff Beck, with Andrew Watt and Zakk Wylde also contributing crafty guitar work to the arrangement. Metallica’s Robert Trujillo begins the song on 12-string bass (played with a pick) and lays down a lyrical progression of ringing arpeggios, for which each note played is doubled an octave higher. This is comparable to the way a 12-string guitar works, with its low E, A, D and G strings octave-doubled, except here each of the instrument’s…

STAY CONNECTED WITH GUITAR WORLD ON AND GET THE LATEST GUITAR NEWS, INSIDER UPDATES, STAFF REPORTS AND MORE! Equal credit to Perry and Whitford Thank you for a great issue [December 2023]. It was the best issue with the best articles and interviews that I’ve seen and read in a very long time. Thank you for the insight into Aerosmith [via] great articles and interviews with them. It’s about time they got credited as a band and not just one person. I had always thought Joe Perry was the only lead guitarist in the band — until I saw them in person on the Rocks tour in 1976. Brad and Joe were trading riffs and solos the whole show. They are a world-class rock ’n’ roll guitar team. The rest…

TUNE-UPS NEWS + NOTES ALTHOUGH THE U.K. punk explosion of 1976 was initially a very Londoncentric phenomenon, Buzzcocks — from Manchester in the north of England — were actually one of the very first bands to release a single, “Spiral Scratch,” on their own New Hormones label. But they were pacesetters in a number of ways. Singer Pete Shelley (who passed away in 2018) actually booked the Sex Pistols to play an early show in Manchester. The audience for that event, according to legend, included several Mancunians who went on to form significant bands, including Morrissey from the Smiths, the Cult’s Billy Duffy and members of New Order. Buzzcocks bucked the trend, eschewing bleak nihilism for melody-laden, instant pop classics that saw them score numerous chart successes. Their debut album,…

JANUARY 2024 PAGE THIRTY PACKING MORE TWISTS and turns than a Quentin Tarantino movie binge, 2023 will be remembered for many reasons — some good, some surprising and some utterly heartbreaking. There was the return of the mighty Metallica, and while many of us were impressed by 72 Seasons, as you’ll read below, others weren’t so taken with the new material. The recently reunited Pantera — with Zakk Wylde and Charlie Benante joining Phil Anselmo and Rex Brown — embarked on their first tour since the initial handful of Latin American dates at the end of last year, with the general consensus being this is a celebration very much worth witnessing. There also was a fair amount of controversy, starting with an acrimonious split between Mick Mars and the remaining…

Nuno Bettencourt Wolfgang Van Halen Josh Klinghoffer Andrew Watt The Rolling Stones John 5 Cory Wong Sophie Lloyd Nita Strauss Zakk Wylde Buddy Guy Periphery Steve Lacy Vernon Reid Joe Bonamassa Tom DeLonge John Osborne Synyster Gates Graham Coxon Josh Homme & Troy Van Leeuwen NUNO BETTENCOURT IN APRIL OF this year, an always gunslinging, Washburn N4-brandishing, unapologetically candid Nuno Bettencourt told Guitar World, “As I was doing the album [2023’s Six], I was re-inspired to kind of go for blood again. I basically said, ‘I want to bring guitar playing back,’” before adding, “I just wanted to make [guitar] fun again.” Well, as we round out the year, it’s safe to say that Nuno clearly understood his self-imposed assignment. Since late 2020, we’ve suffered from a lack of Edward…

BACK WHEN JOHN Mayer approached Paul Reed Smith about essentially building a “Strat” that ultimately became the PRS Silver Sky, much of the online commentary erupted into heated debates over its Strat similarities — or justifying how much Mayer and Smith successfully reimagined what a Stratocaster should be. Now, with the simultaneous launch of the PRS NF 53 (the guitar reviewed here) and Myles Kennedy Signature models (covered on page 33), which are coincidentally similar, many peanut gallery naysayers have already dubbed these new guitars the “PRS Telecaster.” And while I can’t wholeheartedly disagree with that cynical assumption — mostly because PRS confirms the NF 53 is “inspired by one of Paul Reed Smith’s vintage guitars from 1953” — I have no problem declaring the NF 53 as an imaginative…

IN THE LAST few columns, we’ve been investigating my song “Winterland” (Theme from a Perfect World) and looked at the tune's intro, verse and chorus sections. I'd now like to present its 16-bar solo, shown in FIGURE 1. I begin the solo with a one-bar pickup that ascends through the first four notes of the E minor pentatonic scale — E, G, A, B — with the B note sustained through the downbeat of bar 1, sounded over the tonic, or “home key,” chord, Em. When soloing, it’s important to be aware of the underlying chord progression, as it should dictate the inherent harmony of your specific notes choices. As shown in FIGURE 2, the progression here is Em - D/F# - C. It’s a rather simple i - bVII…

“PATIENT NUMBER 9” WORDS AND MUSIC BY ALI TAMPOSI, ANDREW WATT, CHAD SMITH, JOHN OSBOURNE AND ROBERT TRUJILLO. COPYRIGHT © 2022 RESERVOIR 416, ANDREW WATT MUSIC, SONGS OF UNIVERSAL, INC., AVANAILS PUBLISHING,BLIZZARD MUSIC LIMITED, ROBERT TRUJILLO. ALL RIGHTS FOR ANDREW WATT MUSIC ADMINISTERED WORLDWIDE BY SONGS OF KOBALT MUSIC PUBLISHING. ALL RIGHTS FOR AVANAILS PUBLISHING ADMINISTERED BY SONGS OF UNIVERSAL, INC. ALL RIGHTS FOR ROBERT TRUJILLO ADMINISTERED BY WHAT IT B LIKE MUSIC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. USED BY PERMISSION. REPRINTED BY PERMISSION OF HAL LEONARD LLC.…

Milana Suthers AGE: 18 HOMETOWN: Ravenna, MI GUITARS: Hollowflake Squier Showmaster, Jackson Rhoads RRX24, Takamine G Series Acoustic/Electric, Ibanez Gio bass SONGS I’VE BEEN PLAYING: Black Sabbath “Sweet Leaf,” Slayer “Show No Mercy,” Pantera “Cowboys from Hell,” Extreme “More Than Words” GEAR I WANT MOST: Boss Katana MKII 50W combo amp Ady Van Ali AGE: 60 LOCATION: Sherbrooke, Québec GUITARS: Kramers, Schecter, Gibson SONGS I’VE BEEN PLAYING: Alice Cooper “Halo of Flies” (and his entire catalog) with my band, Aliceson Cooper GEAR I WANT MOST: Slogans amp, Gibson Les Paul Standard Richard Godwin AGE: 17 HOMETOWN: Salisbury, MD GUITARS: Ibanez Gio, Yamaha acoustic SONGS I’VE BEEN PLAYING: Alice in Chains “Nutshell” and “Man in the Box,” plus Mad Season “River of Deceit” GEAR I WANT MOST: Fender Stratocaster, Martin D-28…

TUNE-UPS NEWS + NOTES ARTIST SIGNATURE GUITARS, amps and pedals designed in collaboration with guitarists are common these days. However, Fairfield Guitar Co. (fairfieldguitarco.com) might be the only company that offers artist guitar straps designed with similar input and attention to detail. Earlier this year Fairfield Guitar Co. released a trio of custom straps designed with Ben Cote (the Ben Cote Band), Frankie Lindia (Atomic Punks, David Lee Roth, Ratt) and Philip Shouse (Accept, Ace Frehley) that prove that there’s much more to guitar strap design than cool looks. “Who better to instruct me about designing a strap than someone who is using one constantly on tour?” says Fairfield’s Louis Costa. “I work for a men’s clothing company and started making straps for friends during Covid. I eventually got my…

JANUARY 2024 PAGE THIRTY-EIGHT FENDER TONE MASTER PRO $1,699, fender.com THE WORDS “FENDER” and “digital floorboard” hadn’t really existed in the same sentence until October, when the guitar giants dropped a bombshell: they’d be entering the multi-effects processor market with a new invention, the Tone Master Pro. Granted, it’s an area other companies like Line 6, Boss and Neural DSP have been dominating, but the Big F are claiming theirs to be “the ultimate guitar processor in terms of tone, dynamics, power and user-friendliness,” offering “staggeringly accurate recreations of the world’s most beloved amps.” Featuring eight processors, which is twice the amount of Neural’s Quad Cortex, it comes loaded with more than 100 amp and effect models, including the first-ever fully licensed EVH 5150 III Stealth. On top of that,…

“That story has been so telephone-gamed through so many random pull quotes that people now think my other uncle, Alex [Van Halen], played the solo!” For Wolfgang van Halen, 2023 was a huge year. He spent an enormous chunk of it on the road with his band, Mammoth WVH — opening for Metallica’s M72 stadium tour shows in the United States, Europe and Canada as well as the Alter Bridge Pawns & Kings tour and finishing the year with his band’s first tour as the sole headlining act. Thanks to his guidance and vision, the EVH brand has continued to grow, with new releases like the Frankenstein series and MIJ Wolfgang Signature model, and he brought the revolutionary semi-acoustic electric SA-126 model to its final stages of completion. Somehow, he…

THE EVH STRIPED Series is pretty much the coolest thing going for guitarists who want to make a loud and proud statement about their appreciation for Eddie Van Halen and his influence. However, many players may prefer something a little less flashy and distracting-looking that still provides plenty of classic VH vibe. If that’s your jam, the new EVH Frankenstein Relic Series delivers the goods. The EVH Frankenstein Relic guitar is based upon the mid-Eighties iteration of Ed’s iconic Frankenstein, but it features a single-color finish (red, white or black) and offers a few modern modifications, like a compound-radius fretboard and EVH Floyd Rose with D-Tuna, perfect for guitarists who want the aggressive tones and rat rod appeal of Ed’s original ax, expertly combined with high-performance playability. The EVH Frankenstein…

ONE OF THE greatest things about the guitar is its capacity to emulate the melodic nuances and expressiveness of the human voice. Singers rarely simply hit pitches; there are often glissandos between notes, meaning ascending or descending movement from one note to the next. For example, instead of singing a D followed by E, a singer will often seamlessly glide from D to E; the reverse is also common, gliding from E down to D. After landing on the targeted pitch, vibrato is then typically added, to sweeten the note. Guitarists can emulate these sounds with string bends, finger slides and vibrato. A similar effect is possible via the use of a slide, which allows the player to seamlessly glide between pitches while also affecting different types of vibrato. In…

IN THE NEXTfew columns, I’d like to discuss three tools I use to strengthen my approach to improvisation. These three things help me to tell better stories with a solo, all of which have nothing to do with note choice or melodic information. They are: repetition, where I will repeat a phrase and establish the line as a foundational motif to build upon; call and response, wherein I "answer" lines I play with complimentary statements; and “handcuffs,” which I envision as painting myself into a musical box. I find that if I set limits on where and what I can play, it forces me to find new alternatives. Repetition is simply repeating a phrase, developing it as a motif and then continuing to reference it throughout a solo. If I…