Innehållsförteckning för Summer 2018 från Total Guitar

As guitar players we all have a huge opportunity that also poses a bit of a problem: there’s just so much to learn. Even if we only focus on the elements of playing that inspire and excite us, there’s never going to be enough hours in the day to get round to it all. But it’s that journey that keeps us coming back to the guitar – the sense that it’s always got something to offer and we have something to gain in turn. I’ve personally found it immensely helpful to learn new things in small doses, breaking it down into manageable chunks that I can realistically devote time to when I can spare it. And that’s really what we’ve kept in mind with this issue’s cover feature; lessons and…

GEAR Hot SNAMM Fender delivered some seriously tasty goods at this year’s Summer NAMM show, namely a signature Stratocaster for Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond Jr (£839). While it may look unassuming, it comes with customised pickup switching: position four engages both neck and bridge, while positions one and three are reversed. We’re also taken by the latest entry in Squier’s Contemporary Series, the Active Jazzmaster HH ST (£400, above), which packs a hardtail bridge and active SQR humbuckers for searing hot tones. GEAR 51-nifty Jim Dunlop has unveiled five new pedals, including the MXR EVH 5150 Chorus (£212, above). Based on Eddie’s 80s chorus tones, it features intensity/tone/ volume, plus input and output level sliders and EVH’s trademark finish. Other newbies include ilovedust-illustrated Carbon Copy (£169) and Phase 90 (£99)…

1 “This is my TQM1 signature guitar. I’m super-proud and honoured to be involved with Ibanez in such an amazing way. This is based on the AZ Series, which is Ibanez’s brand new high-end kind of players’ player super-precise and versatile guitar.” 2 “This is the 22-fret version and it’s got some really amazing features. It has what they call S-Tech maple wood for the neck, which basically means they roast it in a nitrogen-rich atmosphere. For you guys that means it’s really super stable. So you can go from one climate to another and the wood just won’t move. It has stainless steel frets and a bone nut too.” 3 “The Gotoh locking tuners are very subtle-looking. They have a very vintage vibe.” 4 “For this particular guitar (and…

Guns N’ Roses Appetite For Destruction Boxset For anyone who believes this band’s debut is the greatest album of all time (and the case is strong), this is the motherlode with a remaster of the album itself, 5.1 audio version, art prints, B-sides and the Lies EP, plus extensive demos. The cost of admission to this super-deluxe edition vault is the only snag, but it’s a significant one for us; we think around £140 for a 4-CD and 1 Blu-ray boxset is unjustifiable. For those who want it all, the MP3 version seems to offer the best value. But we can’t argue with the musical content here. The five men who tracked at Sound City for the previously unreleased 25-song 1986 recordings that make up discs three and four of…

OUTPUT The output control on the Dyna Comp is a level control, simply attenuating the signal just before the output jack. Due to the OTA amplifier that makes up the core of the circuit having a variable gain, the output allows the player to tame this amplified signal. Of course, there’s a certain amount of crossover with the sensitivity control, in that compression level is controlled there. Bringing up the sensitivity will result in ‘squash’ as the sine wave top and bottom of the signal are attenuated or boosted, respectively. The output does not actively vary the gain, so more ‘open’ sounds will tend to be high output, low sensitivity, and more ‘squashed’ sounds will be higher sensitivity, and lower output. SENSITIVITY Typically, a studio compressor will have controls for…

GET THE TONE #1 CLEAN PICKING The alternative country sound requires sensitivity at minimum and output at maximum, but if you have a nice amp or a drive pedal after the comp, this might just work better in helping you to achieve the right tone. Pick attack is smoothed off, and articulate cleans will cut through a bit more on denser picking lines. GET THE TONE Sensitivity: 12 o’ clock Output: 2-3 o’ clock GET THE TONE #2 WALL OF SOUND FUZZ Get a Smashing Pumpkins-style fuzz sound with a Dyna Comp into an Op-amp Big Muff. Sensitivity is set low, just to smooth some attack and peaking levels when strumming. The goal with the output level is to get it to be slightly north of unity volume. We want…

“It’s very similar to the first one, so it’s the same thing with the 57 Classic pickups,” says Lzzy on her new signature Gibson Explorer. “The one thing that I ended up doing differently was that, for the fretboard, it’s Richlite instead of rosewood. I made that switch because I wanted to be kind of environmentally conscious, but I was nervous about it, like, ‘Is this going to change everything and I’m not going to like it?’ They made me a prototype and when I compared it to my original, my white Explorer, the OG, it was so different, which I loved – because I didn’t want to make the same guitar. As far as the tone, I am able to switch out both of these guitars live depending on…

FRAMUS TALISMAN William: “Ever since I started with Framus, I would go to NAMM every year, Marcus Spangler who is the head of design, would always say, ‘You should design something,’ and I thought, ‘Well, as soon as I have something that’s worth showing you then I will.’ Finally, last year I did. The thing that I was hoping to achieve is I was trying to get something that could take the place of the other key classic instrument that I’d been using for a number of years; the good old sunburst original spec Gibson Les Pauls. And I needed something that had the sonic girth of that but had a sleeker design. And less weight, a bit more streamlined but, hopefully, still giving you that classic timeless feeling.” G&L…

As guitarists, it’s all too easy to fall into a playing rut, stick to those stock licks and tricks we rely on and forget to spread our wings and challenge ourselves. Sure, ‘challenging ourselves’ may not be what we signed up for when we took up our beloved instrument, but, here at TG we always like to remind our loyal readers just how important it is to try and broaden your playing horizons – a little while spent honing troublesome techniques can potentially take your playing to new heights. With that in mind, this month we’ve identified a selection of areas that most guitarists will benefit from working on. Follow our lessons and your technique will surely improve. Hopefully, we’ll fire you up with some fresh, new creative ideas too.…

Joe Duplantier One of Gojira’s many gifts as a metal band is how they’ve made a distinctive pick raking technique their own. Though it was likely influenced by Dimebag, it might as well be called the Gojira pick rake at this point. In essence, it’s simple but it requires two fundamental components. Firstly, hold your pick so that you can target a harmonic with the side of your thumb – much like a pinched harmonic. Then rake across the strings with an upstroke from the first string to the sixth with the pick’s edge. The harmonic and rake combine to give a shrill, scratching scrape sound. Combine the rake with powerchords to spice your rhythm playing up.…

Roy Buchanan This is a nice, straightforward technique that’s very effective for embellishing lead and chords with emotion – something Tele player Buchanan was especially adept at. You can use a volume pedal but all you really need is access to your guitar’s volume control while playing. Turn your volume right down and as you strike the note roll it on rapidly with your little finger. It will take some practise to synch but it’s a great tool you can call on, especially for moody solo guitar intros in your songs.…

GREAT FOR WIDE-INTERVAL ARPEGGIOS IN THE STYLE OF YNGWIE AND STEVE VAI A famously tricky technique for guitarists to master, sweep picking is when you play multiple strings with one single pick stroke. Unlike scale-based playing (where you play two, three or even more notes on each string) this is largely a one-note-per-string affair, great for playing wide-interval arpeggios in the style of shredders like Yngwie Malmsteen or Steve Vai. Fear not, though, if shred isn’t your thing; arpeggios are used by more melodic players such as David Gilmour and Brian May too, so there’s no reason not to have a go. Think of the picking technique as strumming in slow motion, rather than as individual pick movements. The secret is to only fret one note at a time in…

What is tab? Tab is short for tablature, a notational system used to give detailed information as to where notes should be played on the fretboard. Tab appears underneath conventional music notation as six horizontal lines that represent the strings of the guitar, from the sixth (thick) string at the bottom to the first (thin) string at the top. On these lines, numbers represent which frets you place your fingers. For example, an A note on the 2nd fret, third string, will be shown as a number ‘2’ on the third line down on the tab. Unfretted strings are shown with a ‘0’. The key and time signatures are shown in the notation. TG also includes a timestamp to tell you where in the original track you’ll find each example…

“WHEN WE FIRST MET RICK RUBIN WE WERE NERVOUS... NOT GONNA LIE!” The role of the acoustic guitar in rock ’n’ roll is underestimated. Rock’s origins in the 50s and 60s are dominated by the emergence of golden-era Gibson electrics and sunburst Strats, yet if we took a trip back to the smoke-clouded studios of Sun, Spector or the Brill building in that 15-20 year period, it would be the acoustic forming the backbone of rock and pop’s most iconic tracks. Let TG introduce you, then, to the Ruen Brothers, AKA Henry and Rupert Stansall. The Scunthorpe natives cut their teeth covering Everly Brothers and Roy Orbison in north east working men’s clubs, before their tanked-up take on classic rock ’n’ roll led to them signing to Universal in 2013.…

To many, the Axe-FX is synonymous with modern digital modelling. The myriad amp options, EQ and tone-shaping tools and the addition of a powerful noise gate made the original a no-brainer in the late-2000s for the emerging wave of ‘djent’, or modern technical metal bands, that were seeking new tones not easily delivered by a real amplifier. They’re by no means the only users, however, with players as diverse as Devin Townsend, Alex Lifeson, Billy Howerdel, The Edge, Keith Urban and Guthrie Govan incorporating them into their rigs, either for amp modelling, effects, or both. The Axe-Fx III is a huge update to Fractal’s flagship, bringing a host of new features to the table, such as a redesigned user interface, a large colour screen and a more ergonomic front panel.…

Anybody who’s attempted to capture the heavily gated, meticulously tone-shaped ‘djent’ sound with a traditional pedalboard will tell you that it’s harder than you’d think. So what does the Axe-Fx do that makes dialling in those monolithic guitar tones easier? Well, firstly, it’s worth saying that in the early days of that scene, the bands that were touring were doing it on a budget, and not having to drag around half-stacks was probably at least half the reason for using the Axe. Apart from that, there are probably three key features: the ability to put an inline boost block in front of an amp, a versatile EQ section, and a powerful noise gate. Of course, the Axe-FX III does ship with the tongue-in-cheek ‘Djentlemanly’ patch, but you’re better off building…

One thing that became clear while testing this quartet was how closely matched they are. With the exception of the PRS Sonzera 20, three of the combos have very similar features and capabilities. Players who spend a lot of time in the studio should check out Blackstar’s HT Club 40 and Peavey’s ValveKing; both have a wide range of subtle tone variation together with low power options and direct-to-desk connectivity. Marshall’s DSL40R is perfect for anyone who wants loud, aggressive modern metal sounds, and the MIDI option means it integrates well into modern externally switched effects setups. The PRS Sonzera 20 takes a different but no less tempting path, focusing on tone and dialling in the most tonal range from a relatively simple design, with huge flexibility from both channels.…

CHRIS BIRD As a huge grunge fan, Chris seized the opportunity to commission Steve Allsworth to produce a lesson on Seattle legend Jerry Cantrell’s playing style to accompany our interview on p34. Incredibly, Steve has covered Jerry’s penchant for odd time riffing, dissonant string bends, his epic soloing style and signature chords – in less than a page! MICHAEL ASTLEY-BROWN Mike McGreedy only went and saw Pearl Jam again this month, as well as popping down to the 2000 Trees festival to see British rock’s brightest hopes Marmozets and Black Peaks. Before his gig vacation, he reviewed the most versatile semi-hollow he’s ever got his hands on: Hagström’s Artist Project Viking (p94). JONATHAN HORSLEY This month, Jonathan discovered that the world has been thrown off its axis, having learned that…

“WHEN WE GOT OUR FIRST ADVANCE I WAS 17 AND DEAD PROUD TO GO AND BUY A LES PAUL...” Got my first real six-string “My first good guitar was a late 70s Fender Strat, bought for about £200 from a newspaper ad. Then when we got our first advance, I couldn’t believe it. I was 17 and I was dead proud to be able to go and buy a Les Paul and a Marshall amp. I was a big Thin Lizzy fan so I was excited. I’ve got a decent collection now over the years. I was lucky enough to buy a 1960 Les Paul Black Beauty through a dealer in the 90s and obviously the price of that one has sky-rocketed, so it’s become really valuable. That’s the main…

Paul Simon’s 12-string acoustic guitar and use of a capo on the 5th fret give this riff its signature sound. If you don’t own a 12-string, try using an octaver set to one octave up and a 50 per cent mix so that you hear both the effected sound and your original note. When plugging in, bear in mind that acoustic guitars need to be run through neutral sounding ‘clean’ acoustic amps or a PA system. The drive and colouration of an electric guitar amp isn’t really in keeping. Octaver: Interval: +1 octave Mix: 50%…

A success on its release, and a classic by the time MXR was bought out by Dunlop in 1984, the Dyna Comp is nevertheless probably one of the least ‘sexy’ vintage pedals. Designed by Keith Barr and Richard Neatrou, the pair wanted to deliver a pedal form-factor voltage controlled amplifier (VCA) that worked well on guitar, basing the design around an operational trans-conductance amplifier, or OTA. After a period of experimentation, the original Dyna Comp was born. The finished unit still didn’t have a particularly great signal-to-noise ratio, but in the context of the time, it was more than adequate. THE DYNA COMP ADDS A GREAT DEAL OF COLOUR TO THE SIGNAL In addition to its core task of dynamic range compression, the Dyna Comp added a great deal of…

This month’s mode is a major scale that starts on a note that isn’t its root. Yes, the Mixolydian mode is exactly the same as the major scale – it just begins on the fifth note. For example, C major (C D E F G A B) gives you G Mixolydian (G A B C D E F). And, though the notes are identical, reordering them means the gap (aka interval) between the root and the seventh note is different. The details are explained below. Check out Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Sweet Home Alabama as a great example of a chord progression and riff in D Mixolydian. 1 C MAJOR AND G MIXOLYDIAN SCALES TRACK 17 You can see here how C major and G Mixolydian have the same notes but differ…

Alice In Chains laugh when they’re together. A lot. However mired their story as a band has been in loss and struggle, they’ve maintained and strengthened a bond that’s clear to see spending time with them ahead of their UK live return in Leeds. And they have a big reason to be cheerful; new album Rainier Fog validates yet again that their 2006 return with William DuVall began one of the great comebacks of rock history, even though, as DuVall admits to us, 2009’s Black Gives Way To Blue was a band “fighting for our right to exist”. But it was also their new era as a full two-guitar dynamic; DuVall came into the band when his own trio Comes With The Fall backed Cantrell on the tour for his…

Though well known as grunge pioneers, Alice In Chains are heavily influenced by metal and hard rock, with a sound that sets them apart from the loud-soft cliches of some other early 90s alt-rock acts. A big feature of Jerry’s playing is dissonant harmony and a fondness for that staple metal scale, the Phrygian mode – take a listen to the main verseriffin Would foranexample. He’s also no slouch when it comes to soloing, and early influences from Eddie Van Halen to Jimi Hendrix shine through in trackssuchas Grind,whichfeatures speedy legato and lyrical pentatonic lines. Jerry normally plays his guitars tuned down a semitone to E b to allow for deeper riffing and more aggressive vibrato, but we’ve recorded our lesson in standard EADGBE tuning for convenience. Try out our…

Open chords and barre chords are great for acoustic strumming and big ringing sounds, but, for more focussed riffs and quicker changes, try playing only three or four strings from a bigger shape. Known as ‘partial chords’, these shapes are used extensively throughout rock, funk, jazz and, in fact, most styles of guitar music – from Brian May’s rocking riff inHammer To Fall to the funky lines in James Brown’sThe Boss and, indeed, most of Nile Rodgers’ guitar work with Chic. TRACK 27 THE CHORDS Perhaps the most common partial chord is the powerchord (C5, F5, and so on), which is really just the lowest three strings of a barre chord. Choosing the higher strings of open chords such as G and Em7 can make for quicker, easier changes, and…

Vibrato is without doubt one of the biggest factors that make up your identity on the guitar. Many of history’s most popular guitarists are instantly recognisable by the way they make use of this unsung hero of guitar techniques – listen to iconic players such as BB King, Eric Clapton, David Gilmour, Jimi Hendrix or Zakk Wylde to get a flavour of the possibilities at your fingertips. Technically speaking, vibrato is simply a series of bends and releases applied to a sustained note – in reality all you have to do is ‘wobble’ the string as you fret a note. The art lies in how much pitch bend you use and how fast you apply it. Many players argue that vibrato is purely a matter of feel. That doesn’t mean…

Zakk Wylde An old favourite of Zakk Wylde and the late, great Dimebag Darrell, there’s a learning curve to be faced before this squealing lead staple becomes second nature. Pinched harmonics (sometimes referred to as ‘pinch harmonics’) are actually one of the most difficult techniques to master on the guitar for consistency. You’ll need plenty of patience and repetition. Pinched harmonics use the same principle to reproduce harmonics higher up the strings as the ‘natural’ type, but are produced by simultaneously touching a harmonic with your thumb as you pick the string. You’ll need to keep the point of your pick level with the edge of your thumb. The easiest way to get started is to touch the string 24 frets higher than the fretted note you’re playing. Just remember…

Eric Clapton There was a time when it was commonplace to control your gain without a pedal in sight. You don’t have to leave your guitar’s volume on 10 all the time, instead you can use it as the main source of your gain that you can unleash with your fingertips. Turn your guitar’s volume up full and set your amp to the level where its gain is as high as you’re going to need. Now start dialling back on your guitar’s volume and it will begin to clean up your tone. You’ve now got some boost to dial back in as required, simply by turning up that guitar volume control. Eric Clapton is a player who has utilised another dimension of gain control too – pick attack. Try playing…

Rock ’n’ roll burst onto the airwaves in the 50s with US pioneers Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly inspiring UK acts like The Shadows, Tommy Steele and Marty Wilde. Like so many rock ’n’ roll tunes, our uptempo jam track follows an authentic 12-bar blues chord progression in A; the main chords are ‘dominant’ style A7, D7 and E7 shapes. The bridge introduces two chords, F#7 and B7, for a cool turnaround to lead you back into the verse. Try taking your soloing inspiration from iconic guitarists like Chuck Berry, who would often use two-note shapes based in the minor pentatonic scale – take a look at our tabbed lick across the page for a typical example. Elvis Presley’s guitarist Scotty Moore made great use of arpeggios in his solos…

A firm fan favourite, Thin Lizzy’s Jailbreak was originally recorded with the guitars tuned down a semitone to E b A b D b G b B b E b instead of EADGBE. Detuning this way can be problematic on many guitars so Rockschool have taken that process out of the equation, recording and tabbing their arrangement in standard tuning. The tab begins with the main riff. Listen carefully and you’ll hear that many of Gorham and Robertson’s notes are on offbeats – that means they fall in between the main pulse if you’re counting or clapping in time. Use ‘down up’ style alternate picking to help synchronise your pick strokes with the backing music. The temptation is to use a super-distorted tone to really ‘sell’ the riff but Lizzy’s…

Welcome to the GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome*) Station! Every issue, TG scours the market for the hottest new gear and brings you transparent reviews that you can trust. From the smallest of accessories that make your life easier, to big investments such as brand new guitars, amps and effects pedals – if it’s worth your attention, you’ll find it here! HOW WE TEST CURATION Our product selection is driven by our love of gear. We select the most exciting products on the market every month to bring you opinions you can trust. FACE-VALUE REVIEWS We’re not gear snobs here at Total Guitar. We judge it on whether it looks good, sounds good and plays well – not by the name on the headstock. NO SNAKE OIL You won’t find us…

TYPE: Digital amp modeller and multi-effects unit CONTROLS: A-E knobs; Home, Edit, Store, Tempo, Enter, Exit and Page Left/ Right buttons; Directional nav buttons; Value knob; 4 out level knobs SOCKETS: Front and rear input, 3 additional stereo inputs (1 XLR, 2 balanced); 2 outputs, balanced or XLR with ground lift, 2 additional balanced outs; 2x Expression ins; Faslink; AES in/out; SPDIF; USB; MIDI in/out/thru AMPS:259 CABS: 2,200, with space for 2048 custom IRs EFFECTS: 212 CONTACT: G66 GmbH +49 461 1828066; www.G66.eu 1 INPUT AND OUTPUT LEVELS Monitor your levels at a glance using these meters, directly above the output trim knobs. Useful when switching guitars while recording, or monitoring multiple inputs if in a rack 2 LARGE COLOUR SCREEN An increased overall size has allowed room for a…

1 BASS-CUT  How often do you use your tone control, really? You’re far more likely to employ the nifty bass-cut, with individual control for both pickups 2 FRETBOARD  Hagström has long been ahead of the environmental curve with its Resinator fretboards, which feel like ebony but are built from a wood composite 3 NECK  To our hands, this is a shallow D profile neck - Hagström calls it ‘Ultra-Thin’, and it’s certainly not as chunky as many other semis Dating back to 1965, the Viking is one of Swedish guitar co Hagström’s longest-running models, and the company’s first semi-acoustic design. It’s been available in a variety of guises over the years – including 12-string and baritone incarnations – but now Paramore touring guitarist Justin York (the brother of longtime Paramore…

The Ibanez Tube Screamer is the single most important overdrive pedal ever made. Famed for its odd-order harmonics, mid-hump and versatility as a drive or boost, it’s been reissued in countless iterations by Ibanez, and has also been widely cloned and modded elsewhere. In the early 1970s, when Susumu Tamura designed the visionary op-amp driven, symmetrical-clipping circuit that would become the TS808, he probably did not forsee its staggering popularity; after all, his original brief was simply to come up with an overdrive pedal to rival the Boss OD-1 and MXR Distortion+. Today, we’ve brought together a selection of the most cutting-edge versions of the Tube Screamer family tree to show that there’s still plenty of life left in this workhorse design... Ibanez NTS Tube Screamer £239 OUT WITH THE…

In one of the highlights of this year’s Summer NAMM show, Vox announced the Superbeetle mini amp stack, a homage to the high-power amps used by The Beatles in their latter live years. There’s an intriguing juxtaposition of old and new here, courtesy of the Nutube-fuelled head – which outputs 50W at 4 ohms, 25W at 8 ohms and 12.5W at 16 ohms – and the vintage-vibed vertical cab. Controls include the standard array of bass, treble, gain and level, plus an onboard digital spring reverb and Nutube-driven tremolo. At the rear is a flat/deep EQ switch, as we saw on Vox’s MV50 micro heads, as well as a headphones/line-out jack for silent practice and recording. Expect a review soon, but for now, here’s what we dig about this fab…

Waiting To Derail Thomas O’Keefe with Joe Oestreich Subtitled Ryan Adams And Whiskeytown, Alt Country’s Brilliant Wreck, this memoir of Adams’ pre-solo career band between 1997 and their 2000 breakup is told by their former road manager O’Keefe – about as reliable as eye witnesses get because it was his job to keep the road-naive and often shambolic band on the tracks. It’s an insight into a remarkable era for Adams that he sometimes downplays. O’Keefe’s no-holds-barred account of the dismissals and drink is both entertaining and sobering, rather than sensationalist, with Adams' prodigious songwriting talent at the centre. Written from the photographic memory of a tour manager, it touches on the realities Whiskeytown navigated, whilst being told with humour.…

MXR DYNA COMP MINI £115 As the name suggests, this is a miniature version of the original design and the Dyna Comp Mini brings to the party a two-position Attack toggle switch to allow for greater tweaking of the pedal’s compression. It might seem like a small addition, but it’s a surprisingly large increase in the overall flexibility of the unit, allowing for sharper, more aggressive tones with that trademark rich, compressor sustain. XOTIC SP COMPRESSOR £170 Another diminutive offering, the SP is a descendant in the ROSS brand family tree, albeit with a radically different control layout. On the front panel, there’s a three-way toggle for compression sensitivity, as well as an output knob, as found on the Dyna Comp. The main addition is a clean blend control; when…

Five years ago we asked Jerry what guitar he wished he could get back – and he chose the rare Goldtop Ernie Ball Musicman EVH model gifted to him by Eddie Van Halen when AIC supported his band. It was one of two EVH signatures stolen from him in the early noughties, but incredibly it’s recently found his way back to his rig. “It just disappeared and I never knew where it went,” explains Jerry. “I played it a lot live and there’s a lot of pictures of me playing it. This guy Tom Brino who’s a friend of Dave Friedman’s called him and said, ‘You know what? I saw this guitar come up on Craigslist [in LA] and I’m pretty sure it’s Cantrell’s guitar. Because I’m a collector of…

Most of us are familiar with shape 1 of the good old minor pentatonic scale. Even seasoned, experienced players gravitate towards it. Eric Clapton, Angus Young and a host of blues-rock guitarists have based their careers around this staple shape. But here we’re looking at two scale boxes positioned above and below shape 1, allowing you to go way beyond the confines of the basic shape. Locking together with shape 1 like jigsaw pieces, these shapes will expand your soloing possibilities from four frets to nine. First learn the three shapes by playing each up and down in turn, then try the two licks that will help you stick them together. There are three scale shapes here – you probably already know shape 1. Take a look at shapes 2…

LIKE SWEEPING, YOU DON’T NEED TO BE A VIRTUOSO TO LEARN A FEW SHAPES... If sweep picking is proving a challenge, or if it simply isn’t the sound you’re looking for, string skipping offers another way to play arpeggios. As the name implies, you’ll simply be jumping over (skipping) certain strings to play the notes in question. This technique is used a lot by players like Paul Gilbert and John Petrucci, but, just like sweeping, you don’t need to be a virtuoso to learn a few shapes. Our examples are based on the major and minor chord shapes shown in the diagrams, with their root notes on the fourth string – but these same shapes will also work with a fifth string root note. These shapes can be quite a…

Back in 2011 guitarist and frontman Billy Gibbons told TG, Gimme All Your Lovin’ is “all about tone. Get the grind and you got it goin’ on. That’s the starting point, then learn to play what you want to hear, crank it up and rock on”. Dubbed ‘synthesiser with soul’, Gimme’s sound was fresh: bluesy riffs retro-fitted with cutting-edge production. Eliminator’s lead single defined the band’s 80s renaissance. When you learn the guitar parts you’ll be focusing on powerchords and pentatonics. The solid-sounding two-note shapes are easy – most of the rhythm parts can be played with only your first and third fingers. Aim to keep your timing tight on those stabs in the verses. Billy’s solos use a couple of minor pentatonic shapes. Even where he plays two-note shapes…

Derek plugs straight into cranked Fender style valve amps for natural, organic-sounding gain, but there’s no reason why an overdrive pedal shouldn’t give you similar tones at more reasonable volume levels. Most often, he uses the bridge pickup of his Gibson SGs, softening the sound slightly by rolling back his tone control a little. Derek is also a fingerstyle player – which lightens the attack of his tone further. Like many slide players, Derek prefers open tunings (usually open E: E B E G# B E), but this month’s examples are played in standard tuning for your convenience. The most challenging aspect is targeting the notes accurately with your slide. Too far either side of the fret and you’ll sound a little ‘off pitch’. Just remember to aim your slide…

Fender is filling out the gaps in its California Series of acoustic guitars with the Villager 12-string. Kitted out in a gloss black finish, the model is based on Fender’s Villager acoustics from the 60s and features electric-style appointments, including an easy-to-play neck and old-school headstock. Fishman electronics provide plugged-in tones, and the whole package costs £435. There’s good news for southpaws, too, as Fender announces left-handed models of the Redondo Player and Newporter Player (£320 apiece). shop.fender.com…

Hailing from Connecticut, USA, MGMT are a duo featuring singer/guitarist Andrew VanWyngarden and keyboardist Ben Goldwasser. The focus of this month’s Open-mic Songbook track is Kids, a platinum-selling tune with an earworm synth riff, and the third single to be released from the band’s acclaimed 2007 debut album, Oracular Spectacular. Apart from being a cool, catchy, and not obviously guitar-y song to add to your repertoire, Kids is a great tune for practising barre chords. In fact, the song transfers to the guitar very easily – and tackling those oft-troublesome barre chords needn’t be a challenge. The tricky chords in question are F#m and Bm. You’ll be swapping between these and easy open chords, which means your fret hand gets a little recovery time during the song. If you’re still…

1 BOSS WL-SERIES WIRELESS SYSTEMS Boss has launched a pair of new wireless systems. The WL-20 comprises a small transmitter and matching receiver - the latter includes cable tone simulation, which reproduces the capacitive effect of a 10-foot guitar cable. The WL-50 is designed for pedalboards and boasts an integrated transmitter dock, plus two cable tone simulation options. It can be powered via a 9V power supply or AA batteries – by using a PSU, the receiver can distribute power to other pedals, too.. (from £179, boss.info) 2 TC ELECTRONIC TONEPRINT APP Seven years on from the launch of its TonePrint line, TC Electronic has rebooted its associated app. The new version merges beaming functionality with the TonePrint Editor, allowing players to tweak parameters from their mobile devices. Faster and…

LINE 6 HELIX Unparalleled in terms of ease of use, and with an enviable selection of effects culled from classic stompboxes like the DL4, the Helix is the floor modeller to beat. HEADRUSH PEDALBOARD The intuitive HeadRush unit boasts a touchscreen and a decent selection of effects, but it’s the articulate amp models that really shine. KEMPER RACK With a tactile interface that puts all the controls up front, like a real amp, the Kemper brings great-sounding modelling to the non-menu-diving masses.…

1 HEADSTOCK  The Seagull headstock shape might divide opinion but it’s certainly distinct 2 NECK  The 16" neck radius is in classic acoustic dread’ territory while the 55mm string spacing is generous enough to keep fingerpickers happy 3 TOP  The solid spruce top is pressure tested to ensure rigidity and stiffness for harmonic vibration Making the decision to spend more on a guitar for a better spec can be a murky subject for us players - will the gains of sound and playability justify the spend? The variables in builds are huge but in the world of acoustic there’s a strong argument to be made that guitars built with solid-wood back and sides, rather than laminate ply, are worth spending extra on. Most acoustic tops now tend to be made…

The first song I remember noticing… Dazed And Confused–Led Zeppelin “My mother is a huge Beatles fan, so I grew up listening to them. Oasis is a huge band that I gravitated towards independently. Led Zeppelin was another big one, finding them and going down that rabbit hole. Dazed And Confused made me scared, and I remember specifically thinking how amazing it was to feel like that from music. It was so new and crazy.” The first song I learned to play… Kashmir– Led Zeppelin “Jimmy Page was definitely my go-to for trying to learn those riffs and his style of playing; just how free he is. I was super-inspired by that. Noel Gallagher for Oasis as well, there are so many Oasis songs I love so much.” A song…