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

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Articles

Adam Dutkiewicz Interview (Killswitch Engage)

With a unique style, ferocious riffs, and great melodic sensibility, Killswitch Engage has morphed into one of today’s most successful acts in heavy music. The...

George Bellas Interview 1

George Bellas is a guitar virtuoso and  one of the leaders of the neoclassical scene, with three solo albums released and a truly unique musical...

Derek Trucks Interview

Derek Trucks is a virtuoso blues artist and is also known as one of the greatest slide guitarists. In addition to leading the Derek Trucks...

Tommy Emmanuel Interview

Australian virtuoso Tommy Emmanuel is going on five decades of professional guitar playing. At an age when most of us were occupied with learning our...

Eric Johnson Interview

Eric Johnson is a remarkable artist who makes no compromises with any aspect of his music – from the well-crafted songwriting that spans various styles,...

Vinnie Moore Interview

Though his first big break came in the form of a Pepsi commercial, Vinnie Moore’s guitar playing is anything but saccharine. He’s able to adapt...

Slash Interview

Slash is more than an extraordinary musician – he’s a cultural icon. The top hat-wielding and Les Paul-slinging axeman’s instantly identifiable sound has helped to...

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...

Fredrik Åkesson Interview – Opeth

Hailing from Stockholm, Sweden is one of metal’s finest axemen – Fredrik Åkesson. Best known for his work in Arch Enemy, Krux, and progressive metal...

NAMM 2014: Ola Englund Interview – Part 1

Ola Englund is living the dream. The gear-demoing guru and ferociously accurate riff machine from Swedish bands Feared and The Haunted is an incredible example of a...

Michael Keene Interview – The Faceless: Part 2

PART 2 (continued from PART 1…) I want to talk a little bit about your recording and production process. Your productions consistently feature some of the...

Marc Okubo (Veil Of Maya) & Misha Mansoor (Periphery) Interview

We at Guitar Messenger already had plans to interview Veil Of Maya’s Marc Okubo, but once we saw the announcement of their tour with Periphery,...

Lessons

Artist Lick: Steve Morse

Guitar legend Steve Morse demonstrates his burning take on the blues, in an Artist Lick taken from the Dixie Dregs’ 'Rock & Roll Park' from...

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...

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...

The Black Dahlia Murder: Ryan Knight – Tapping & String-Skipping

 [Ryan’s Ibanez FR custom shop guitar is tuned down 2 whole steps to C Standard: C F Bb Eb G C] Ryan credits some of...

Tapping In Harmony

Hello Guitar Messenger readers! Today’s lesson focuses on spicing up chords by actively engaging both hands on the fretboard. Don’t be fooled by all the...

Heavy Metal Ninjas: Richie Allan Lesson – Interstellar Abduction

 [Richie’s Ibanez RGD-7 string guitar is in Standard tuning: B E A D G B E, and his Strat-type custom guitar is in Drop-B tuning: B F# B E G#...

Scar Symmetry: Per Nilsson Masterclass (Part 1)

The nimble Per Nilsson of progressive metal band Scar Symmetry demonstrates licks from 'Ghost Prototype Part 1' and 'Ascension Chamber,' and breaks down the devious...

Periphery: Misha Mansoor Masterclass (Part 1)

Periphery's Misha Mansoor talks djent, demonstrates his favorite chord voicings and teaches exceprts from 'Buttersnips!'...

Animals As Leaders: Tosin Abasi Masterclass (Part 2)

In this second part of his masterclass for Guitar Messenger, Tosin Abasi of Animals As Leaders demonstrates the main riff and breaks down the opening...

2-1-2 Arpeggio Permutations

Welcome to my fourth column/lesson. This time I would like to talk about a component of guitar playing that has always fascinated me: arpeggio permutations/fragments....

Francesco Artusato (Devil You Know) – Gear

Devil You Know’s Francesco Artusato walks us through his arsenal of Ibanez guitars that he’s currently using on the Revolver Golden Gods tour with Black...

Artist Lick: Jake Bowen of Periphery Plays ‘Luck As A Constant’ Solo

[Jake’s Ibanez Prestige 6-string guitar is tuned to Drop-C. Low to high: C G C F A D.]    Luck As A Constant – 2nd...

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