Innehållsförteckning för November 2021 från Total Guitar

Boss has added the SY200 Synthesiser (£299) and IR200 IR Cabinet Simulator (£349) to its 200 Series range of pedals. The SY200 comes packing 12 analogue-inspired synth models, three assignable controls for crafting your sounds in real time, 128 user memories for storing them, an effects loop for hooking up any of your current pedals plus MIDI I/O via a pair of 3.5mm jacks. It’s also polyphonic, meaning that full, lush synth chords shouldn’t be a problem. Meanwhile, the IR 200 is designed to give you a pedalboard platform for going direct to PA systems, FRFR cabinets or recording devices. It comes with 8 guitar amp models and three bass amps complete with dual EQ paths for each patch, and built-in ambience effects. But the real purpose here is in…

Mastodon’s Bill Kelliher and Brent Hinds are known for their progressive and experimental riffing, and this lead single from their eighth studio album Hushed And Grim continues the trend. The song opens with a heavy, syncopated guitar riff that will test your rhythmic perception. On first listen, you may assume the riff is in an odd time signature, and, though it can be interpreted as a subset of changing meters, it actually follows two repeating bars of 4/4. The drums follow the riff’s rhythm rather than playing an obvious backbeat, which heavily disguises the 4/4 signature. The best way to learn the pattern is to keep your strumming hand moving down and up in 16th notes and learn when to hit the strings. Bar 1 should be: ‘down-down-up-up’, ‘downdown-up-up’, ‘down-down’;…

1 CROSSING STRING TECHNIQUE When crossing strings you need to have your first finger on the 4th fret and your fourth finger on the 7th fret at the same time so that the notes flow smoothly. 2 THUMB POSITION Wide stretches are much easier with your thumb positioned vertically near the centre of the neck, roughly opposite your first or second finger. 3 GOOD HAND POSITION For maximum stretch, your fingers should approach the strings as close to 90° as your body mechanics allow. 4 BAD HAND POSITION If your fingers approach the strings at an angle, stretching is nearly impossible and you’ll fluff the notes.…

For Sam Fender, the cover star of TG’s Songwriter Issue, the serious business began when he was a teenager. “When I started getting angsty and heartbroken about girls, that was when the real songs started,” he says. “They completely sucked, but you’ve got to start somewhere...” With that name, he was born to play guitar. Now, aged 27, he’s one of the finest songwriters of his generation. Across the next 30 pages, the art of songwriting is discussed by a wide range of guitarists – from rising stars such as Fender and Larkin Poe to a long-established master craftsman in Jerry Cantrell, whose classic songs made Alice In Chains one of the great alternative rock bands of the 90s. Every player has their own unique approach to writing. Adam Granduciel,…

There was a time was when live albums were critical releases in an artist’s career. B.B. King secured his reputation with Live at the Regal. Frampton Comes Alive! was issued to every child born in a US suburb in 1976, and while casual listeners thought they knew James Brown from his radio hits, hardcore fans found the real stuff on Live At The Apollo. Nowadays, live albums tend to be stop-gaps if they’re released at all, but Larkin Poe’s Paint The Roses, a live collaboration with the Miami-based orchestra Nu Deco Ensemble, is a major moment in their development. “With the lack of touring due to Covid, we were able to really expand creatively and try some new stuff,” explains guitarist/vocalist Rebecca Lovell. Her sister, lap steel specialist Megan, picks…

There are lots of ways to bring the chords you already know to life Chords are a great way to get started writing songs, especially for guitarists. After all, you probably already know a bunch of shapes, and, as you’ll see here, there are lots of ways to bring them to life. Play through our tab examples, then try out the techniques with chords you like. NEW STRUMMING PATTERNS TRACK 24 This simple, but effective strummed open chord progression drives this country-rock piece. Try to use a different strumming pattern for every song you write. PICKING HIGH CHORDS TRACK 25 These high-register chords ring out to create an atmospheric feel that leaves plenty of room for a vocal or guitar melody. Try moving your own favourite chords up the neck.…

1 Loud/soft contrast Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit This stone-cold Nirvana classic is a perfect example of using extreme dynamics to create contrast between sections. 2 Dark moods Arctic Monkeys – Red Light Indicates Doors Are Secured Unlike a lot of indie songwriters, Alex Turner uses darker scales more commonly found in classic rock and metal to give his riffs a unique sound. This track uses the natural minor scale. 3 Varying a riff Metallica – Enter Sandman The majority of Metallica’s most famous song is based on a single riff that’s extensively varied using clean tone, single notes, slides, heavy riffs, key changes and powerchord versions. 4 Easy chords = earworm hook Taylor Swift – We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together Swift’s bouncy…

Guitar solos are a great way of breaking up vocal parts, changing Solo over the Chorus Soloing over the song’s catchiest section is a great way to take things up a notch and is definitely a high-impact option. Check out Ritchie Sambora’s solo on Bon Jovi’s Living On A Prayerto hear how to use the solo over the chorus to good effect. your song’s direction or adding excitement to elevate your track. There are no hard and fast rules as to what to play or Solo over the Verse If you’re looking to break your song’s vocal parts with an instrumental section, the verse is a more reserved alternative to using the chorus. You can also use it to build up to a vocal chorus – check out Nirvana’s Come…

...And here’s why. In a rock band context, drums and bass play musical roles that the guitar just can’t do. Keyboards or brass/woodwind generally serve chordal and melodic purposes – and the guitar is a dab hand at these. So, while it helps to know a bit about every instrument, a little drums and bass knowledge will give you a foundation to write your other ideas around. Here’s what you need to think about when writing parts for other instruments. Drumbeats CYMBALS Crash cymbals make a cascading, er, crashing sound; ride cymbals sound less powerful than a crash, and are often used instead of a hi-hat in a groove BASS/KICK DRUM At its most basic, the kick drum outlines the pulse. If you’re new to writing drum parts, keep an…

Johnny Marr’s new double album Fever Dreams Pts 1-4 will be released on February 25, 2022. He is pictured here with one of the guitars he used on this album and for writing his 2018 single Hi Hello. “It’s a 1968 Gibson ES-355 12-string in factory black finish,” Johnny says. “One of three I’ve owned; a red one that I still have that I used with The Pretenders, and a sunburst one I used with The Smiths and Talking Heads that I gave to Bernard Butler. The combination of hollow body and Humbucker pickups balance out the chime of the 12 strings very nicely and give a darker sound than some other electric 12-string guitars.” Look out for a major interview with Johnny in TG in the new year.…

We’ve never had it so good with gear, to the point where world-class modelling now lives inside the most budget of practice tools. But nothing gets a guitarist’s motor running like the sound of valves being pushed into overdrive. With three pedals in its Dept. 10 line-up (Boost, Dual Drive and Dual Distortion), Blackstar’s new range gives us true high-voltage (200V to be precise) operation from an ECC83 preamp valve, and in the case of the Dual pedals, some exciting digital features to boot. Starting with the Boost, you have a fairly straightforward control set of boost, plus low and high knobs. But that EQ circuit is of the James Baxandall variety, offering a wide, smooth Q and a bump to the front end of your amp that Blackstar says…

Sam Fender is a happy man. “I’ve bought my first ever daft guitar,” he says with a cheeky grin. It’s just a few days after his triumphant sets at Reading and Leeds Festival and he’s still a bit ‘groggy’, but when he brandishes his brand new acquisition – a beautiful 1959 Fender Jazzmaster – he visibly perks up. “I got the record deal and got a bit of money,” he says, “so I was like ‘Right, I’m gonna get myself a really nice guitar’. I love Les Pauls, Strats and other Fenders, but this has got that brightness that I’ve always wanted – that heartland rock, Tom Petty twang. Sometimes with my Strat I feel like my chords are p*ssing in the wind, whereas this feels like it’s got more…

They’re a hip Australian collective whose fun, imaginative music blurs the boundaries between synth-pop, prog, psych and rock. When they tour, they’re equally at home on a Glastonbury stage or headlining a sold-out club night of their own. Some members also play with fellow Perth star Kevin Parker, AKA neo-psych act Tame Impala. Their early works led to inevitable comparisons with early Pink Floyd, but a French music blog once described a tune of theirs as a ‘Lenny Kravitz nightmare’. It’s hard to judge where Pond land on the musical spectrum. Maybe their own multi-instrumentalist Jay Watson can help? “I suppose it depends which way you look at it,” he muses from his home studio in Perth. He’s surrounded by vintage synths, guitars, and piles of effects pedals teeter on…

Ace Frehley used a combination of Marshall, Fender and Vox amps in the studio, double-tracking each part through different amps to create his signature tone. Paul Stanley has always been a Marshall man live and in the studio. You might think Kiss used buckets of distortion but in fact they preferred valve amps just cranked loud, without the preamp overdrive of modern amps. Select your bridge pickup and your amp’s distortion channel, dial in just enough crunch to make the lead parts sing, then tame the overdrive during the riffs by backing off your guitar’s volume.…

t’s been a busy few years for Gibson: I new management, a big overhaul of its approach to the guitars it releases, and as such, some interesting new designs across both it and the Epiphone stable. We think it’s fair to say that Gibson is taking note, and there’s no better proof than the acoustic guitars we have before us here. The Generation series is a four-model army, made in the USA at the Bozeman, Montana factory that creates all of Gibson’s acoustics. The four shapes (G-00, G-45, G-Writer and G-200) offer a size for every playing style, and share the same basic materials: that’s a solid spruce top, solid walnut back and sides, traditional scalloped X-bracing, striped ebony fingerboards, plus third-party appointments including Grover tuners and TUSQ nuts. The…

Chords aren’t always the focal point of a song – guitar-driven rock and metal songs are often led by repeating riffs instead. A memorable riff starts with a great groove, so when you’re writing it can be helpful to nail this before getting bogged down with note choices. Follow our three-step guide to creating a simple riff. We’ve recorded our own version, so you can hear the process in action. Step 1: Knock on wood Tap out a rhythm on a table. Concentrate on something that’s easy to remember – test its catchiness by tapping it 10 times. Play your rhythm on a single note to get a feel for the groove Step 2: Play a single note The next step is easy – play your rhythm on…

A key (aka key signature) is a sequence of notes that sound good together. When you use a scale, say, C major, you are playing in the ‘key of C’. Writing songs in a key gives you a blueprint of the notes and chords that will generally sound good together. Here, we’ve written some guitar scale shapes for common keys for you to write riffs and melodies with. If you play the major scales starting from the sixth note you get a darker, moodier scale known as the relative minor – so A minor is C major’s relative minor. These minor scales are every bit as common as their relative major counterparts. 1 C major and A minor C major: C D E F G A B A minor:…

While many songs follow simple verse/ chorus A/B structures, songwriters often incorporate other sections into their songs. Intros, outros and 1 Intro Intros should grab the listener’s ear and draw them in. It could be as simple as playing a riff without the rest of the band (check out Deep Purple’s Smoke On The Water). Or it could be a slow burn gradually increasing in intensity like AC/DC’s Hells Bells. middle sections are common in all styles of music, whereas more progressive acts create complex structures which can defy the A/B kind of analysis. We’re looking at the more basic section types here, but if you 2 Pre-chorus The pre-chorus is a great way to build momentum from a laid-back verse to an upbeat chorus. You can hear…

Writing and studying different genres is a great way to get inspired and broaden your horizons. Regardless of whether these styles are ‘your thing’ or not, play through them and you might just get something from it. It’s always worth dipping your toes into other genres. Blues Variations of the 12-bar blues pattern shown here run through virtually every blues track in existence, and it spills over into country, rock, rockabilly, jazz and more, too. Metal Metal riffs – especially modern ones – rely on dischordance, so no notes are off-limits. Powerchords and the Phrygian mode are a great place to start though. Country This combination of major chords belongs to the D Mixolydian mode. You probably already know them – but together they make a cool country progression. Indie…

1 Rhythm and song structure Strum any chord on beats one and two, rest for beats three and four. Repeat with three other chords. Play them all together. 2 Mood and atmosphere Play an E minor chord. Make it sound like gentle rain. Now make it sound like a clap of thunder. 3 Melody notes & rhythm Say the phrase “Sau-sa-ges, peas” over and over. Pick any two notes and play one for each syllable. Start and finish on the same note. Repeat. 4 Melodic embellishments Play a melody on one string. Now play again using slides, string bends, hammer-ons and pull-offs. 5 Chord experiments Strum a D chord in any rhythm. Move the D shape up to another fret you like the sound of.…

Hot on the heels of Friedman’s BE Mini comes Bogner’s shrunk-down version of its revered Ecstasy head. The Ecstasy Mini is a 30-watt, solid state amp weighing-in at just 1.8kg and it harnesses the sound of the Ecstasy’s famed Red channel, AKA: thick, harmonically rich overdrive and distortion. While the Mini is a single-channel design, a gain switch takes you from Crunch to Overdrive gain brackets, and there’s a built-in variac control to alter the output power, which in turn changes the response of the amp’s dynamics and headroom. As well as three-band EQ controls, there’s a presence knob and a Pre-EQ toggle. To the back you have a pair of speaker outputs plus an FX loop. It’s available now, priced at £249.…

Valve voltage Blackstar has designed the Dept. 10 pedals to run the valves at an internal rating of 200v, meaning you’ll get the best out of those bulbs. Cab Rig The new Cab Rig feature on the Dual pedals feature speaker emulation which can be edited in detail via Blackstar’s Architect software. USB Audio Interface As well as offering preamp-style functionality for your live rig, you can use the valve/DSP combination of the dual pedals direct to your computer for recording via a built-in USB interface.…

The release this month of a new ABBA album, Voyage, their first new material in 40 years, is the surprise comeback of 2021. And it brings back wonderful memories for the guitarist who played on the band’s biggest hits in the 70s and early 80s. “ABBA sold over 380 million records,” says Janne Schaffer, “and I’m on over half of those, which is pretty cool!” In that imperial phase, ABBA recorded and released 98 songs – 50 which featured the Stockholm-born session guitarist and jazz virtuoso who hung out with Pink Floyd and Jimi Hendrix on their first Swedish tours before hooking up with ABBA in 1972. Now, as he looks back on his years as a part of that record-breaking hit factory, Janne says: “It was always good music.…

Bullet For My Valentine guitarists Matt Tuck and Michael ‘Padge’ Paget are no strangers to reinvention. Throughout the course of a 23 year-career, the band have continually searched for new ways to equate anthemic melody against metallic heaviness. In 2018, their sixth album Gravity saw them experiment further away from their thrash metal roots, embracing more radio-friendly structures and flirting with electronica while still remaining very much a guitar band. But now the pendulum has swung again with a new, self-titled album that could be their heaviest yet. “We wanted this to be an extreme version of our band,” Matt says, as he and Padge describe how the new songs were created - from the first bunch of riffs to the shredding solos they call ‘widdly bits’... When did the…

Adam Granduciel has come a long way since forming The War On Drugs in Philadelphia in 2005 - a journey that has taken his band from the margins of indie rock to mainstream success. The first breakthrough came in 2014 with album number three, Lost In The Dream, but it was the follow-up, 2017’s A Deeper Understanding, that gave The War On Drugs a worldwide hit - top 10 hit in the US, the UK and beyond - and confirmed Granduciel as one of the most gifted songwriters in modern rock. Now comes a new album, I Don’t Live Here Anymore, which ranges from heartland rock to ambient psychedelia, well-considered sparsity to mammoth intensity. “The songs come out of different guitars,” Adam says, as he discusses his approach to writing…

1 MAKE MELODIES FROM CHORDS This’ll make you think differently about the chords you play. Ditch those commonplace open- and barre-chord shapes in favour of partial chords. Simply target the highest note of each shape to outline a melody. Play through the shapes shown here – the melody runs down the second string and finishes on the third. It's an idea you can take much farther. 2 FX FANS! GET LOOPY WITH YOUR TONE If you’re the kind of player who’s most inspired when jamming with an effect-laden tone, then a looper pedal could be a useful songwriting tool for you. Place it at the end of your signal chain (in your amp’s effect loop if it has one) and you can layer up parts on the fly,…

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 getting hung up on hokey mythology or nonsense marketing speak: we aim to bring you bullsh*t-free opinions on the gear you’re interested in. WE CAN’T BE BOUGHT TG review scores are a true reflection of our experts’ opinion on the product they’ve been testing. You’ll never find a rating in our mag that has been bought and paid for. REAL…

“DESPITE THE COMPETITION, FOR £89 WHY NOT CATCH A GENUINE RAT?” From Gilmour to Grohl, the Pro Co Rat has earned its place as a bona fide classic distortion pedal since it was first released in 1978. It’s been through many guises, too, including the RAT 2, You Dirty Rat and Vintage Big Box Rat reissue and many more. But now everyone’s favourite rodent-based dirt box has been given the miniaturisation treatment resulting in a ratlet measuring just 5cm wide by 8cm front to back and 5cm high. Now, we know that people get sniffy about reissues and clones of classic pedals, so it’s worth pointing out that Pro Co says the Lil’ Rat uses identical components to our – fairly ancient itself – Rat 2. But there are a…

‘What do I need in order to write a song?’, you may be thinking to yourself. Well, for the simplest songs, just a guitar and a flash of inspiration may be all it takes. For the simple songs, a guitar and a flash of inspiration may be all it takes Of course, we’re concerned most with the writing process here, but if you want to write down or recall those creative ideas, you’ll need to organise your space and potentially stock up on a few essential items to record yourself with. You don’t need a huge budget or much expertise. It’s possible to create studio quality recordings with just a smartphone and a basic audio interface, and you can find free recording software in the Google Play/Apple App stores. Here’s…

Once you’ve got a set of notes you like, experiment with these techniques and see if anything makes your riff pop. Try them all and be sure to mix and match. Palm-mutes Palm-mutes change riffs drastically; try mixing them with un-muted notes and experiment with light and soft mutes. Slides Sliding to or from a riff’s first or last note can make it ‘greasy’. Try moving a note higher up the neck and slide into it. Bends Try bending into notes from one of two frets below – make sure it’s quick and accurate to keep your riff intact. Pinched harmonics Nothing punctuates a riff’s most important notes like a nod to the king of squealies, Zakk Wylde. Hammer-ons and pull-offs Use hammer-ons and pull-offs for smooth riff or to…

Most songs have some kind of contrast between two sections. If they didn’t, we’d The rhythm: If your verse has eight downstrokes per chord, play the chorus with two long strums per chord. The chords: Something as simple as switching a major chord for its relative minor can make quite a difference. all quickly get bored. Even when it seems like everything stays the same, somethingwill change. OutKast’s Hey Yauses the same chords throughout The dynamics: If your verse is quiet, make the chorus loud. Think classic Nirvana or Zombieby the Cranberries. The register: If one section used low open chords, consider moving chords higher up the neck. The same goes for guitar melodies. the song, but Andre 3000 mixes rapped verses with the chorus’s long notes. Here are some…