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AT THE TENDER age of 15, Marcus King attempted to sneak into the Orange Peel, a concert venue in Asheville, North Carolina, to deliver his demo to Warren Haynes. A [...]

ANDY TIMMONS HIT the big leagues more than three decades ago when he joined the rock group Danger Danger in the late '80s. Since then, the talented and creative guitarist [...]

LISTENING TO MICHAEL Lee Firkins' highly expressive and thoughtfully structured blues-rock guitar playing is exciting. Firkins is admired for his seemingly effortless way of creating melodies and musical moods, emotions [...]

IF YOU EXPLORE the history of funk guitar, you'll notice distinctive technical elements among artists known for playing this soulful style of music. The godfather of it all was Jimmy [...]

A NUMBER OF things come to mind when you think of Texas--rolling cattle ranches, vast oil fields and porterhouse steaks the size of a Cadillac. But for many guitarists and [...]

METAL LEGEND AND former Megadeth lead guitarist Marty Friedman remains an important source of inspiration for building unusual melodic twists and finding unique directions in music. As a player, Friedman [...]

IN THEIR QUEST for fresh approaches to the instrument, guitarists throughout history have found creative ways to mimic the sounds and phrasing characteristics of other instruments. This includes valiant attempts [...]

WITHIN THE HALLOWED CATALOG of progressive rock music created during the late 1960s and early' 70s, a handful of groups are responsible for a surge of excelled musicianship and composition [...]

LEGENDARY VOCALIST, SONGWRITER, and rock icon Ozzy Osbourne (a.k.a. the Prince of Darkness) began his long, celebrated career fronting the groundbreaking, pioneering heavy-metal band Black Sabbath in the late 1960s [...]

THE GOAL OF BUILDING SINGLE-NOTE playing technique and increasing speed is a popular and passionate one among many improvising guitarists in a variety of musical styles. While there are several [...]

IF THERE'S ONE NAME SYNONYMOUS with bridging the gap between modern rock, blues, and jazz, it's Jimmy Herring. Being able to pinpoint where you first heard his name or music [...]

STYLE LESSON [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] NEAL SCHON'S DISTINGUISHED resume details a 40-plus-year career highlighted by legendary recordings, hit songs, inspired live performances, creative sideprojects and collaborations, and, most recently, [...]

HYBRID PICKING-USING A PICK IN conjunction with your available pick-hand fingers to pluck the strings--is an interesting and often highly useful alternative to traditional plectrum-based guitar playing, one that can [...]

WHERE CAN YOU catch Larry Carlton, Adrian Belew, Yngwie Malmsteen, Paul Reed Smith, Nita Strauss and many other industry legends, all in one go? They were among the participants at [...]

THE USE OF NATURAL HARMONICS--harmonics played on open strings--is common in many styles of acoustic and electric guitar music, from classical and jazz to rock and metal. The technique is [...]

IN MANY WAYS, YNGWIE MALMSTEEN sets the bar by which shred guitarists measure themselves. Whether it's his command of exotic scales, extended scale runs, alternate picked phrases, or blinding sweep-picked [...]

IN RECENT YEARS, THERE HAS BEEN an amazing influx of young, ultra-talented modern-metal guitarists. These new lions range from 7- and 8-string players in djent metal bands to traditional 6-stringers [...]

WESTERN SWING, ALSO KNOWN AS Texas swing, is a sub-genre of country music that developed and flourished in the 1930s, reaching its heyday during the early years of World War [...]

THROUGHOUT THE HISTORY OF recorded music, many guitarists have created magic from the dimly lit booths of the studio, from legends like Tommy Tedesco, Jimmy Page, Larry Carlton, and Michael [...]

THE USE OF NEIGHBOR TONES IN music can be traced back hundreds of years, to early classical compositions. Neighbor tones are chromatic passing tones performed by approaching a melody, scale, [...]

IN CASE YOU'VE BEEN LIVING IN A cave for the past few decades, Steve Morse is a masterful guitarist who routinely displays outstanding musicianship dating back to his debut in [...]

STEVE VAI, ERIC JOHNSON, Rudy Sarzo and Billy Sheehan were among the stars who headlined Sweetwater's GearFest 2019 this past June. Held in the musical-instrument retailer's home base of Fort [...]

WATCHING ALLAN HOLDSWORTH perform may leave you with the impression that you've encountered an advanced alien life form who communicates using the electric guitar. His approach to music is abstract [...]

FEW WOULD ARGUE THAT GUTHRIE Govan is an inspiring musical guru. His ability to easily incorporate many advanced techniques is beyond impressive, not to mention his phrasing, feel, tone, and [...]