Innehållsförteckning för February 2016 från Total Guitar

Happy New Year! This time last year we were prepping TG’s 20th Anniversary issue, and it barely feels like last month! Time can fly by so easily, and if you’re anything like me, it’s quite easy to put off your musical goals. Well, it’s the start of the year and that’s exactly what we’re focussing on this issue – making time to improve. We’ve lined up a load of tips to help you no matter what type guitarist you are. You’ ways improving your chord knowledge, breaking out of the same old patterns, or simply sorting out your basic techniques. Of course, it’s not all about solitary practice, though. There’s definitely something to be said for remembering why we do all of this – to make music! So with that…

Walk The Moon guitarist Eli Maiman kicks this track off with the bright U2-influenced arpeggio that forms both the intro and choruses. The riff begins on a C# major chord before Maiman raises the 3rd of the chord (played on the third string) by a semitone to create a C#sus4. The sequence rounds off with a return to C# major, and finally by lowering the 3rd by a tone to form a C#sus2. The picking pattern here is the key for getting the riff to flow smoothly, so familiarise yourself with the ‘down down up, down down up, down up’ sequence and maintain it in every bar. Try to keep the notes on the higher strings fretted as you change between the sus4 and sus2 chords. This keeps the arpeggio…

“We had the audience wired up to heart monitors and little motion capture hats” I got my first real six string… “I was an acoustic, I think it was a Fender. I got it for my 16th birthday or something like that. And it sat in my closet for a year. I thought, ‘This really hurts my fingertips… I’m not interested.’ I was a piano player before that. It took a friend of mine who knew how to play Stairway To Heaven and I was like, ‘What, really? It’s that easy?! You just put your finger there and there.’ But it wasn’t that easy because you can put your fingers there, but then they start to hurt…” Just a castaway, an island lost at sea… “If I was on a…

One of the greats said it best; ‘All I want is the truth, just gimme some truth’. Amen, John Lennon. We’re always looking for it too, because that feeling of authenticity you get from an artist is often the very measure of their worth. That sense of truth; is this coming from the heart? Do they mean it? It’s rooted deep in The White Buffalo’s songs. Whether he’s being autobiographical or sketching vivid tales of shady characters in frontier towns with his rich voice and dreadnought, there’s an undeniable gravitas to it all that can only come from an artist with an instinctive need to communicate. In return it commands the listener’s attention; when you become a White Buffalo fan, you tend to become a big one. It’s found the…

Ignore your doubts Getting in a room to play music can be nerve-wracking, and it affects us all. “What if I’m not good enough?” “What if I mess up?” These are the kind of doubts that can stop us from ever progressing further with our goals. Crush the fear and do it! You will mess up, but that’s what practicing is for. Make time One of the biggest obstacles in putting a band together is actually getting started. It’s easy to convince yourself that you don’t have time. We say just do it. Practicing twice a week might not be realistic, but start with small steps; one or two practices a month for two to three hours shouldn’t be too difficult, and while it can feel like a chore, playing…

Change your routine Writer’s block? We’ve all been there. Sometimes you just can’t seem to come up with anything inspiring on your guitar. So change something; tuning, fingerstyle, guitar, plugged in or unplugged, … even your type of plectrum. Small changes can make the difference between hitting a brick wall and a new way forward. A guitar holds an incredible amount of potential, and sometimes it’s just about hearing or approaching it in a different way to untap it. Give yourself limits Sometimes, just getting started can be the difficult part – two hours later and you’re still flicking through amp modelling presets without even coming up with so much as an open chord. Try setting yourself challenges; write a riff using only three notes, come up with a single-chord…

“I’m the founder and owner of Chapman Guitars… I mean, who does that happen to!? It was a complete fluke!” Make no mistake, the internet has reinvented the way modern musicians go about being heard. While major labels once dangled the keys to fame, YouTube and Facebook have given artists a vehicle to showcase their talents and build a much more organic, dedicated following. The UK’s very own Rob Chapman, for example, now has nearly 350,000 subscribers to the YouTube channel he started on 18 November 2006, which tallies over 100 million views altogether. For him and fellow YouTuber Rabea Massaad, it’s become a job, but also one that’s helped their band Dorje achieve wider musical ambitions – their Catalyst EP even hit No 1 on the iTunes UK rock…

“We’re working with Antonin Salva in the Czech Republic – he was introduced to me by [Matt Bellamy’s] guitar tech, Jason Baskin, who I worked with before, with Dan Donegan from Disturbed. He was working with Antonin building Smashing Pumpkins rigs for Billy [Corgan] and Jeff [Schroeder], customising all these Randalls. “That was really interesting to us. As well as that, it was somebody young and different. There’s a tonne of great engineers out there, but we just wanted a different perspective… so we met with him and he just was the right fit; he’s been our lead engineer ever since. “We work well as a team, the three of us. He’s as much of a stickler about the quality coming out of the factory as we are, so he…

He’s a product of his environment… “I come from Brazil, so I was always very interested in the Brazilian music, which is very related and connected to jazz, the harmonies and the improvisation.” Anything goes… “I was a guy who was trying to learn as much as possible in different styles. Why not listen to Greek music, or Spanish, or South American, or Arabian, Hawaiian or Japanese? Bring these different moods and influences and different atmospheres, and then try to incorporate that into a metal band.” He doesn’t need a stack of gear… “I have a signature model from Ibanez, the KIKO100, and I mainly use that. I just use my one guitar that I feel comfortable [with].” There’s a difference between knowing the songs and owning them… “The most…

Live, Alex favours his 1977 Gibson ES-355, and it's a guitar with one very famous previous owner. “I've got an old 335 that I bought a few years ago and since buying that I haven't played anything else,” he says. “It belonged to Johnny Marr. He gave it to a crew member and then he sold it on and I bought it from that person. Johnny Marr confirmed that it used to be his. The problem is that it's wired totally wrong, to the point that you can't go near it for fear of changing the sound. It's pretty unique, someone has totally botched it but it sounds great. In the studio I have to tune it up to the part quite a lot but then live it is ever-so-slightly…

You’ll find some tones you haven’t encountered before NECK THE Condor’s fingerboard is formed from Resinator, a wood-based composite material that has the appearance and some of the tonal properties of ebony VIBRATO THE Condor comes loaded with the classic Hagstrom Tremar unit – it’s silky smooth in operation and maintains perfect tuning thanks to the bridge’s roller saddles CONTROLS EACH pickup has its own on/off slider switch. The remaining three switches offer tonal variations, including a bass-cut function AT A GLANCE BODY: Mahogany NECK: Mahogany, glued-in SCALE: 628mm (24.75”) FINGERBOARD: Resinator FRETS: 22, medium jumbo PICKUPS: 3x Retro-S Alnico V single coils CONTROLS: 3x pickup on/off, bass cut, master tone on/off, mute, master volume HARDWARE: Chrome Tremar vibrato and tune-a-matic bridge, 15:1 ratio sealed tuners LEFT-HANDED: No FINISH: Brown…

It’s the all-round nature that ticks the boxes for us NECK WITH its bound edges and small ‘vintage’ frets, it doesn’t feel quite like your Strat or Tele. The neck shape is a full-shouldered ‘C’ – very mainstream and very playable PREAMP THE Fender/Fishman preamp is a proprietary design for these new guitars, with onboard tuner, phase switch plus treble and bass EQ BODY CLASSED as a ‘triple 0’ body size, this is the only cutaway Paramount, and in its Standard designation features all solid wood construction: spruce and mahogany. The Deluxe version (£629) has rosewood back and sides AT A GLANCE TOP: Solid Sitka spruce BACK & SIDES: Solid Mahogany NECK: Mahogany SCALE: 643mm (25.3”) FINGERBOARD: Bound rosewood FRETS: 20, small ELECTRICS: Fender/Fishman PM System w/ side-mounted volume, bass…

TYPE: Rotary/vibe pedal CONTROLS: Rotary/vibrato type switch, speed, depth, mix, tone, drive SOCKETS: 2x inputs, 2x outputs, power BYPASS: True bypass POWER: 9V power supply only CONTACT: Sound Technology 01462 480000 www.soundtech.co.uk THIS sturdily-built, true bypass stompbox from DigiTech offers three vibrato and rotary effects. ‘Vintage’ is based on the classic 60s Uni-Vibe made famous by Jimi Hendrix, most notably on Machine Gun and his iconic deconstruction of The Star Spangled Banner at Woodstock in 1969; ‘Modern’ is described as a “pure pitch-based vibrato effect”; and ‘Rotary’ simulates a Leslie rotating speaker. The Uni-Vibe sound is convincing with that great phased-out wash that Jimi dug so much, while the Modern setting is as wobbly as a shell-shocked trifle, great for nailing the intro of Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.…

TAKEN FROM the band’s debut album of the same name, How To Save A Life catapulted The Fray into the big time. Although the song is primarily piano-based, the uplifting intro arpeggios make for an inspiring fingerstyle guitar part – hence our tab is an arrangement of Fray singer/pianist Isaac Slade’s piano line. The challenge lies in recreating the piano’s capacity for producing loud and soft notes across a wide dynamic range; you’ll need to emphasise certain notes, and play other notes almost silently. This boils down to your fingerpicking technique and how adept you are at controlling the force of each finger. A great way to practise is to take any three- or four-note sequence and repeat it over and over. On each cycle simply pick harder with one…

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 the frets where you should 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 traditional notation. TG also includes a timestamp to tell you where in the original track you’ll…

CHRIS BIRD TG’S tuition editor has spent this month designing technique tutorials for our cover feature. The idea is to develop essentials rather than pushing yourself to your limits with more challenging techniques. We’ve covered lead, rhythm and fingerstyle, so there’s something for everyone! JOSH GARDNER THIS month, Josh battled trans-continental phone lines and bemused hotel staff in an attempt to chat to Explosions In The Sky’s Munaf Rayani in Delhi, India about the band’s first UK tour since 2011. His New Year’s resolution is to try to push himself by doing a phoner from down the bottom of a well… ROB LAING CAN Rob make a New Year’s resolution he actually sticks to? He’s been looking back at his first guitar hero for inspiration; “I’d like to develop my…

“I feel like the things that we have been exhibiting all these years will be amped up that much more this time around” It’s been five years since Explosions In The Sky brought their genre-defining brand of emotive post-rock to UK shores, but this April sees the Austin natives are back with their most significant British shows to date, the climax of which will see them join a prestigious list of bands who have headlined the Royal Albert Hall. When they announced the tour, and teased the prospect of a first new record since 2011’s Take Care, Take Care, Take Care, on Twitter back in December, the band simply stated that they were ‘coming out of hibernation’, but when TG speaks to guitarist Munaf Rayani from his Delhi hotel room,…

“LAST SUMMER, Gibson made me a prototype for this guitar at the Custom Shop. They made two for me actually. I wanted a bright White Metallic finish, all chrome parts; pickup covers, pickguard, tuners and everything else. I ended up calling it the White Lightning. Actually, Eric Singer, our drummer, inspired me with the guitar and helped me choose that name. Eric’s a great guitar aficionado himself, so I love to hear what he has to say and I took his advice to heart. After the initial two White Lightnings Gibson did, Epiphone wanted to do this new limited edition.” “THE METALLIC White is beautiful, and looks great on stage. The three-ply binding, you might see that on a Les Paul Custom and I thought it would nice. Black binding…

Viewers of biker gang saga Sons Of Anarchy will still have its concluding scene from last year branded in their memories. And behind the power of that seven-minute finale is its moving soundtrack; the song Come Join The Murder, co-written and performed by The White Buffalo. But that wasn’t actually the original plan at all… “Initially it was supposed to be three episodes earlier,” explains Jake, “I think Kurt [Sutter, SOA’s creator] heard it and fell in love, and wanted it to be the finale song.” Writing the song was also a very different process for an artist who usually writes with his Taylor dread’ in the solace of his garage. “It was essentially Kurt Sutter. He wrote the lyrics entirely and I sort of tweaked them to make them…

Legends such as Jimmy Page, Slash, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Peter Green and others all use the minor pentatonic scale extensively. And, despite their differing playing styles, they all share one thing: they rarely confine themselves to just one area of the fretboard. The notes of the minor pentatonic scale can be found all over the fretboard and are usually learned as five different shapes covering all six strings. In this lesson we’re simplifying things and spreading of the five shapes over just three strings. Practise each shape on its own, then take a look at the two licks we’ve written to see how you can join the shapes together to cover the neck in a musical way. Once you , you can them into one longer line spanning all five…

KIERON CATON FROM CRANHAM “I’m a huge fan of Chappers and Dorje. I found the clinic was really good and informative. It’s hard when you have a favourite band, they don’t usually have the time to sit down and talk to you on an individual level or even shake your hand. Especially with successful bands, I totally understand they don’t have time to do that for everyone... but it means a lot to the fans. And I think for the musician, it makes them feel like a professional musician too! I thought the guitars sounded amazing today. I’ve got a signature bass as well, so listening to Dave talk about his rig really helped me make the most out of mine back at home. I’d say my favourite Dorje track…

Zakk Wylde The former Ozzy man made headlines this year when he announced Wylde Audio, makers of bullseyed and pointy guitars, plus high-wattage heads, set to be distributed by Schecter. Earl Slick 2014 saw David Bowie’s longstanding guitarist and collaborator release a line of surprisingly affordable Gibson and Fender-inspired designs with worn finishes, under the name Slick Guitars. Eddie Van Halen After signature models with Music Man and Peavey, Eddie finally set up shop with Fender to create EVH Gear – from 5150s to Wolfgangs and Stripes, every era of Eddie’s tone is available. Tom Scholz For the Boston guitarist and mechanical engineer, the urge to create was more than a feeling, and his line of Rockman headphone amplifiers made him the original guitar gear businessman and innovator. Brian May…

1 THE THREAT IS REAL Marching to a trademark Mega-groove, this sees Mustaine in full-on sneer mode with Loureiro engaging him in a searing lead duels. Mustaine takes this one on points. 2 DYSTOPIA One of the album’s catchiest songs has a verse that’s reminiscent of Hanger 18’s pedal-point eighth-note ’n’ squawk. The title track is also a good showcase for Loureiro to enter the melodic shred wormhole. 3 CONQUER OR DIE Mustaine wanted Loureiro to play something like Eruption here, but with a knuckle-poppin’ nylon guitar intro, this instrumental is Spanish Fly too. 4 FATAL ILLUSION Not since Symphony Of Destruction has Dave ‘Junior’ Ellefson’s bass been on the attack like this, but his bottom end work is just part of what makes Fatal Illusion such an aggressive, helter-skelter…

Anyone that has read about Animals As Leaders will be familiar with the name Tosin Abasi. Less is known, however, of his partner-in-crime, Javier Reyes – the other half of the band’s ferocious eight-string assault. Together they’ve been among those responsible for championing the progressive soundscapes of tech-metal to glorious heights. But even though much of his own fretwork is equally as challenging as that of his fellow guitarist, Reyes has long shied from the limelight. Even now, returning with Polysemy – the debut full-length from his other project, Mestis – recognition is not something the 34-year-old LA resident particularly craves. “I’m not a big fan of being the centre of attention,” he laughs. “That’s not really my goal. And also another reason I’ve teamed up with Joe Lester and…

Until Swedish manufacturer Hagstrom began producing guitars in 1958, it was best known for accordions. Take a look at its early guitar models, and you’ll find them wrapped in the same pearloid and sparkle finishes they used on Hagstrom’s well-regarded squeeze boxes. With the rock ’n’ roll explosion of the 50s, and the scarcity of American instruments in Europe, local manufacturers took up the slack. There was Hofner and Framus in Germany, Burns and Vox in the UK, and Hagstrom in Scandinavia. The company introduced a number of innovations, including the first eight-string bass, the Swede Patch 2000 – an early guitar synth – and the H-Expander Truss Rod, which ushered in the development of super slim neck profiles. Notable Hagström wielders include Elvis Presley and Pat Smear of The…

BASED in Oklahoma, Walrus Audio has a wide spectrum of artists from the across the alternative world stomping on its hand-built, screen-printed boutique effects. What’s more, the company’s boxes, such as the recently-launched Messner Overdrive (named after a mountaineer, no less), are creating a serious buzz in the tonehound world. What better time, then, to take a look? Joining the Messner in this round-up are the equally-sized Iron Horse Distortion, and the larger Bellwether Analog Delay and Descent – the latter a high-spec reverb unit with an onboard octave up/down function. While the Messner and Iron Horse draw power from a single nine-volt battery apiece or a mains adaptor (an optional extra), the Bellwether and Descent can only be run courtesy of the National Grid. Again, you’ll have to shell…

ALTHOUGH THE Sex Pistols blazed the trail for British punk rock, The Clash came to represent a more musically and lyrically adventurous punk style in the late 70s and early 80s. Songwriter/guitarists Joe Strummer and Mick Jones also held a rebellious left-wing political ideology that garnered fans all over the world. 1979’s London Calling album marked a change in musical direction, featuring a broader palette of styles, including reggae, ska, jazz and soul. In keeping with the post-punk vibe the track features a minor key, staccato guitar chords and an unconventional Phrygian modal tonality. root The song (Em) ’s and repeating , crucially Em , a -F b 2 chords nd (F), are the instead of the more usual major 2nd interval of major and minor keys. During the track…

OVER THE next few issues TG is looking at RGT’s Preliminary Grade acoustic guitar exams. We’re kicking off with a look at the chords you’ll be tested on if you take RGT’s exam. These are essential chords that every guitarist should know, so you must dedicate some practice time to learning them. Get the basics down and hundreds, perhaps thousands of songs will open up to you. Generally, chords are written down either as ‘chord boxes’ (a diagram of the guitar’s fretboard, with dots telling you where to place your fingers) or as tablature (aka ‘tab’, which uses six lines to represent guitar strings, with numbers indicating frets). Both styles are included below. Start by trying the chord shapes. D, Em and Am are arguably the easiest; G, C and…

10. Glamour girls Dressed like they’ve just walked out of a Kid Rock video, the only thing more depressing than the company that hired them – and its belief that guitarists are all horny teenage boys – is the look on the ladies’ faces when they try to summon up some enthusiasm for the ‘revolutionary’ new budget axe they’re modelling… 9. Ridiculous instruments Quadruple-necked basses, lava-lamp lutes, mirror-effect mandolins, glow-in-the-dark ukeleles… no sane person would ever buy one, of course, but it might just draw punters close enough to the booth for the sales gonks to start plugging their boring new practise combo. 8. Funk bassists For reasons unknown, the default soundtrack of the guitar trade show is a hot-buttered, porn-flick-style slap ’n’ pop. On the first day, it makes…

TAYLOR’S Baby Taylor set the bar for small-bodied strummers when it launched nearly 20 years ago. It was followed in 2009 by the Big Baby, which Taylor overhauled in 2015 by adding the ES-B pickup system. It seems the firm did a great job too, because this is the guitar that you lot have voted as the best acoustic of 2015 in TG’s end of year poll! Equipped with a spruce top, sapele back and sides and onboard preamp, the starkly minimalist Big Baby-E is the perfect guitar to get you gigging. We’re offering one lucky TG reader the chance to bag one this month, and all you have to do to be in with a chance is answer the question below correctly. How many frets does the Taylor Big…

Whether you’re into rock, blues or metal, as soon as you start playing guitar solos you’ll likely find yourself using string bends – and this calls for a slick, tight technique. It takes a combination of strength, control, feel and a lot of practice, but these six short licks guide you through some great techniques that’ll raise your string bending skills to new heights. The licks can easily be adapted into any key and style, so you can apply the techniques to your own solos. We’ve compiled all six licks into one audio file over a simple backing track. Each lick is played twice before a short space for you to play back the same lick in a ‘listen and repeat’ style. Each lick provides a different challenge, getting gradually…

Refine your sound Having weekly practices and playing through a set is all well and good, but as with practicing guitar, you need to be rehearsing the right things. Knowing your parts should be a given, now it’s time to focus on really working your repertoire into a finely-tuned set. Think about the song order, and mechanics of transitioning between them (tunings, guitar changes etc), time your set to make it as efficient as possible, and think about extra material to include as a contingency/encores. Once you’re a well-oiled machine, start booking gigs. Get a demo This should go without saying. If you’re going to be approaching venues and promoters about playing, they’re going to want to hear you. These days, it’s easy to get a decent quality demo together…

Make sure you’re ready Before you step foot in a studio, you’ll need to make sure that your song ideas are complete. There’s no time to be making decisions on structure, lyrics and parts once the red light is on, so decide on your song formats, tie up any loose ends and stick to them. Rehearse, then rehearse some more Just like a gig, you should know the songs like the back of your hand before you start rolling. The difference between this and a gig is that this will be committed forever! Once you’ve settled on your songs, get rehearsing. Book a couple of practices before you’re due to record and pay attention to any recurring mistakes that you or the band are making, and work on them until…

“How are we going to move forward if someone doesn’t cross the line somewhere?” In between making movies, headlining festivals and recording a new album, you’d think Metallica’s longtime lead guitarist Kirk Hammett would struggle to fit any more on his plate. Yet when old friend and industry vet David Karon suggested a new venture – a pedal company – Kirk jumped at the chance. First introduced through Anthrax’s Scott Ian, the pair had already made waves with Hammett’s signature Randall amps, but KHDK Electronics affords them complete creative control, and provides the keys to unlocking the “unholy sounds” inside Kirk’s head. With three pedals already under their belt – Kirk’s signature Ghoul Screamer, the No 1 Overdrive and No 2 Clean Boost – Kirk and David gave TG the…

Dave Mustaine is many things but a Yes man isn’t one of them. “Hey, Rick!” he yells to a crew member who has poked his head in the door. “Will you tell them to get this fucking song off? I’ve told them about this music. This is not metal; this is Yes.” Rick, and sadly it’s not Rick Wakeman, disappears, the door shuts and there’s a moment’s pause. “Sorry, I don’t get it,” he continues. “They were playing fucking Duran Duran the other day. It’s like if you’re trying to be funny, you’re not funny. If this is the kind of music you like, you’re on the wrong tour, buddy.” Nothing escapes Mustaine’s attention. The doors are open at SSE Wembley Arena. In a few hours, Megadeth will be onstage,…

”ON THE record I used my signature eight-string ESP, which has an ash body with a five-piece walnut, maple and paduak neck, plus an ebony fretboard. It also features my signature DiMarzio pickups, which I think play a huge role in my tone. I spent a lot of time with them designing these pickups, they let you really hear the sound of the guitar itself. There’s only so many steps beyond buying my guitar to sound like me! “After that my Axe-Fx is my next go-to piece of gear. I did all my tracking on the Axe-Fx, there was nothing mic’d up on the album. I went straight into the monitors! It’s my bedroom project, I didn’t wanna go crazy with studio and all the exorbitant costs. I wanted to…

In every respect, the Longhorn demands everyone’s attention NECK THE ’58 Longhorn has excellent playability thanks to its shallow D-profile neck and 21 medium frets. You won’t find any buzzing or string choking here BODY THE unique body shape is borrowed from an Ancient Greek harp. Those deep cutaways and long horns give excellent access to the upper frets PICKUPS THE iconic Lipstick tube pickups provide a fantastic tonal palette, which ranges from primitive blues to country, rockabilly and majestic British rock AT A GLANCE BODY: Masonite w/ hardwood frame NECK: Maple, bolt-on SCALE: 25” (635mm) FINGERBOARD: Rosewood FRETS: 21, medium PICKUPS: 2x Lipstick single coils CONTROLS: 2x concentric volume and tone, 3-way pickup selector toggle switch HARDWARE: Chrome 6-saddle hardtail bridge, vintage-style tuners LEFT-HANDED: No FINISH: Copper Burst only…

LONDON CALLING Music and Lyrics by Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon & Topper Headon © 1979 Nineden Ltd. Universal Music Publishing Limited US/CAN reproduced by kind permission of Hal Leonard Corporation UK/EU reproduced by kind permission of Music Sales Ltd. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. ALSO AVAILABLE: PLAY GUITAR WITH… THE CLASH Guitar notation and TAB with full lyrics & chord names, 56pp. £14.95 ref. AM983103 Take your place at the front of British punk legends The Clash with the help of these specially recorded full band backing tracks and tab transcriptions. The accompanying CD has two specially recorded backing tracks of each song, one a full demo with guitar showing you how the song should sound and the other without guitar for you to play along with.…