Courses

Songwriting with Plini

Songwriting with Plini is an in-depth masterclass in musical composition and modern progressive songwriting, straight from the mind of one of Australia’s most innovative and legendary musicians, Plini. Best known for his work as an instrumental guitarist and songwriter, Plini...

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Courses

PROGRESSIVE PICKING with Stephen Taranto

The quintessential guide to modern picking techniques as taught by Stephen Taranto. "The purpose is to shed some light on how I traverse the strings, while keeping things as clean and as fast as possible.”

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Courses

Scar Guitar

Scar Guitar is a detailed journey into the modern playing styles of Per Nilsson, one of the world's finest guitarists. Best known for his work with Swedish melodic death metal group Scar Symmetry and progressive metal titans Meshuggah, Per offers...

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Courses

THUMP! - Tosin Abasi's Guitar Instructional

THUMP! is an in-depth exploration of the modern playing techniques of Tosin Abasi. This course focuses primarily on his approaches to the thumping technique, and also explores several other key techniques that offer insight into his music. Included are detailed...

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Courses

The Madness of Javier Reyes

Javier Reyes of Animals as Leaders and Mestis breaks down some of his key techniques and offers close-up demonstrations of four compositions. All lessons & performances are presented in crystal clear 4k video, with multiple angles covering all the action....

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Courses

Fingerpicking Foundations

Javier Reyes of Animals As Leaders and Mestis builds on fingerpicking technique basics introduced in the Madness of Javier Reyes series. The goal of this course is to develop a strong foundation for the fingerpicking technique. The program includes 5...

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Courses

The Madness of Tosin Abasi

This set of lessons offers an in-depth look at the Animals As Leaders tracks BACKPFEIFENGESICHT and THE GLASS BRIDGE. Featuring 4k video, detailed transcriptions, and downloadable Guitar Pro files, Tosin gives insight into some of the playing and writing techniques...

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Courses

THUMP! - Tosin Abasi's Guitar Instructional

THUMP! is an in-depth exploration of the modern playing techniques of Tosin Abasi. This course focuses primarily on his approaches to the thumping technique, and also explores several other key techniques that offer insight into his music. Included are detailed transcriptions, as well as backing tracks for select songs. The course is not limited to 8-string guitarists. All concepts can be applied to 6 and 7-string guitar.

The Madness of Tosin Abasi

This set of lessons offers an in-depth look at the Animals As Leaders tracks BACKPFEIFENGESICHT and THE GLASS BRIDGE. Featuring 4k video, detailed transcriptions, and downloadable Guitar Pro files, Tosin gives insight into some of the playing and writing techniques that are highlighted in the tracks: Thumping, Selective Picking & Sweeping in Riffs, Hammer-On-From-Nowhere Riffing, Songwriting & Arrangement Techniques.

The Madness of Javier Reyes

Javier Reyes of Animals as Leaders and Mestis breaks down some of his key techniques and offers close-up demonstrations of four compositions. All lessons & performances are presented in crystal clear 4k video, with multiple angles covering all the action. Each example is transcribed in great detail and can be looped, slowed down, sped up, transposed - all on the same page. Each example is also available for download in Guitar Pro format.

PROGRESSIVE PICKING with Stephen Taranto

The quintessential guide to modern picking techniques as taught by Stephen Taranto. "The purpose is to shed some light on how I traverse the strings, while keeping things as clean and as fast as possible.”

Fingerpicking Foundations

Javier Reyes of Animals As Leaders and Mestis builds on fingerpicking technique basics introduced in the Madness of Javier Reyes series. The goal of this course is to develop a strong foundation for the fingerpicking technique. The program includes 5 etudes, offering a musical, fun path to synchronizing both hands and developing right-hand finger dexterity. A perfect course for beginner to intermediate guitarists looking to dive into the world of fingerpicking.

Songwriting with Plini

Songwriting with Plini is an in-depth masterclass in musical composition and modern progressive songwriting, straight from the mind of one of Australia’s most innovative and legendary musicians, Plini. Best known for his work as an instrumental guitarist and songwriter, Plini offers a comprehensive look into his unique methods for crafting memorable, inspiring songs.

Scar Guitar

Scar Guitar is a detailed journey into the modern playing styles of Per Nilsson, one of the world's finest guitarists. Best known for his work with Swedish melodic death metal group Scar Symmetry and progressive metal titans Meshuggah, Per offers a close-up personal look at his unique approaches to music and the guitar. This course includes over 2 hours of lessons and performances, in-depth interviews, & bonus materials.

Articles

Michael Keene Interview – The Faceless: Part 1

Michael Keene is the mastermind behind California’s progressive death metal band, The Faceless. They first broke onto the worldwide stage with the 2006 debut release...

Paul Masvidal Interview – Cynic (2014): Part 3

In the third installment of our interview series with Paul Masvidal, we discussed what Paul does to keep his hands busy when he’s not working on...

Mikael Åkerfeldt Interview (Opeth)

Opeth’s newest release, Watershed, marks the band’s ninth studio album since their formation in 1990 in Stockholm, Sweden. The band has always been known for...

Misha Mansoor Interview (Periphery)

Always striving to expand the outer limits of their sound, Periphery is a band that’s living up to their name – and storming onto the...

Al Di Meola Interview

World-renowned guitar virtuoso Al Di Meola known for his eclectic mix of Latin jazz-fusion and fiery guitar lines. Over the years, he’s been named Best...

Paul Masvidal Interview – Cynic (2014): Part 2

In the first part of our interview, Paul Masvidal took us inside the composition and recording process for Kindly Bent to Free Us. Read on...

NAMM 2015: Zakk Wylde Interview @ Wylde Audio

Guitar Messenger’s NAMM 2015 interview with Zakk Wylde began with a long black car with tinted windows pulling into the 7-11 parking lot where we’d been...

Paul Masvidal Interview – Cynic (2014): Part 1

When the ‘prog’ label is invoked, does it imply a ‘progressive’ take on broader musical traditions, or rather, can it refer to an individual band’s...

Eric Johnson Interview (2010)

We last spoke with guitar luminary Eric Johnson during his debut with the Experience Hendrix tour in 2008. Two years later, following his third appearance...

Marco Sfogli Interview

Marco Sfogli is at the forefront of the new generation of virtuoso guitarists. He first appeared on the map after handling the guitar duties on...

Silenoz & Galder Interview (Dimmu Borgir)

Dimmu Borgir’s international success in a genre that celebrates dissonance and gritty production is nothing short of remarkable. Since their formation in 1993, Norway’s Dimmu...

John Petrucci Interview (2009)

It’s been 2 years since we last spoke to guitar virtuoso John Petrucci. Since then John has reunited with Liquid Tension Experiment to complete a...

Lessons

20 Tips: How To Choose Your Next Record Producer

The most important thing to a musician is the music that you create. You spend years developing a distinctive sound and style before finally getting...

Using a Metronome Effectively Part 4: Being One With the Tick

So you’ve got your metronome – (Part 1) – check. You understand the basics of rhythmic notation – (Part 2) – check. And now you’ve...

The Faceless: Michael Keene Masterclass

[Michael’s guitar is tuned down to Drop-C for all examples in this Masterclass: C G C F A D]  The Ancient Covenant (0:01 – 0:07) Michael’s...

Major Scale Harmony

For this first column, I feel its best that we start off with something simple. The purpose of this column is to show which chords...

Future Metal Shred

Welcome to Guitar Messenger! My name is Paul Wardingham, and I’m going to be showing you how to play some futuristic-themed shred ideas using excerpts...

Social Networking vs. Business Networking

An open-ended letter to a friend on the topic of Social Networking versus Business Networking in the music industry [Editor’s Note: The views expressed are...

Messiaen – Canteyodjaya [1949]

Welcome back to Beyond Theory and to what already is column #5! Today we will be talking about Hindu Rhythms as applied by Oliver Messiaen...

The Faceless: Wes Hauch Masterclass

[Wes’ guitar is tuned down a whole step for all examples in this Masterclass: D G C F A D]  E Minor Lick In this...

Advanced Tapping: Extended Arpeggios

For many guys that want to tap better, they do not have the hand strength or built up dexterity to hammer onto the fretboard hard...

Guitar Tone: Body Woods

Today we’ll discuss the piece of your guitar which many believe has the biggest influence on your sound – one which is a huge deciding...

Artist Management

Managing your career can be a daunting task. That’s why the artist management profession exists! If you actually break down what a manager does, you...

Scar Symmetry: Per Nilsson Masterclass (Part 2)

The nimble Per Nilsson of progressive metal band Scar Symmetry demonstrates parts of 'Holographic Universe' and 'Prism And Gate,' and explains his approach to tapping...

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