Courses

Singing Slide Guitar with Stanly Bactian

“Singing Slide Guitar with Stanly Bactian” is an in-depth masterclass in making the guitar sing. Stanly breaks down his expressive, vocal-inspired approach to slide guitar, starting with intonation, muting, and vibrato before moving into riffs and runs, dynamics, call and...

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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

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

Singing Slide Guitar with Stanly Bactian

“Singing Slide Guitar with Stanly Bactian” is an in-depth masterclass in making the guitar sing. Stanly breaks down his expressive, vocal-inspired approach to slide guitar, starting with intonation, muting, and vibrato before moving into riffs and runs, dynamics, call and response, motifs, and solo construction. Across more than 2 hours of lessons and bonus material, he shows how these techniques can transform simple melodic ideas into expressive phrases and complete performances.

Articles

Joe Bonamassa Interview

Joe Bonamassa is one of the leading lights in today’s modern blues scene. His latest release, Sloe Gin, debuted at #1 on the Billboard Blues...

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,...

Evan Brewer Interview – The Faceless

Many of you know of Evan Brewer as the bassist for technical death metal band The Faceless, as well as for his collaboration with Tosin...

Francesco Artusato Interview (Devil You Know): Part 2

In PART ONE of our interview, guitar maestro Francesco Artusato revealed details about the formation of his new band, Devil You Know, and gave us a glimpse into...

Francesco Artusato Interview

2010 has been a landmark year for guitarist extraordinaire Francesco Artusato; within months he joined forces with California’s extreme metal powerhouse All Shall Perish and...

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...

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...

Paul Masvidal Interview – Cynic (2014): Part 4

  Having covered the ins and outs of his musical past, present, and future in parts I-III of our interview series, Paul Masvidal now opens...

Robert Cray Interview

We’ve all heard a variation of the phrase “he can say more with one note than others can say with a million notes.” This one...

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...

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...

Michael Romeo Interview – Symphony X (2011)

After touring the world in support of their acclaimed release Paradise Lost, progressive metal mastermind Michael Romeo and his band Symphony X returned to their studio,...

Lessons

Killswitch Engage: Learn to Play ‘This Fire Burns’

Metalcore riff gurus Adam D. and Joel Stroetzel of Killswitch Engage show you how to play their track 'This Fire Burns' from the WWE Wreckless...

Harmonic Overlapping

I first came about Harmonic Overlapping when studying the formation and inversion of chords, a subject that quickly became an obsession of mine. The idea of...

Using a Metronome Effectively Part 3: Clocking Your Speed

So now that you’re set up with a quality metronome (Part 1) and understand the basics of how rhythmic time is divided, (Part 2) lets...

Diminished Possibilities: Part 1

Welcome to my third column/lesson. This time I’d like to talk a little bit about diminished scales/arpeggios with their possible application solos. Knowing how to...

Job For A Cowboy: Riffing Style

Watch Bobby Thompson and Ravi Bhadriraju of Job For A Cowboy demonstrate their death metal riffing techniques in this brutal showcase....

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...

Artist Riff: Yossi Sassi of Orphaned Land Plays ‘Numbers World’

[Yossi’s Paul Reed Smith guitar is tuned to Standard Tuning: E A D G B E.] Numbers World – Main Riff Over the past 20+...

Basic Blues Substitutions

Over the years I’ve found that while most guitarists have an easy time learning to comp and solo over the 12-bar blues, many people struggle...

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....

The Black Dahlia Murder: Ryan Knight – Emin7 Lick

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

Sweeping Harmony

I’m going to break down a segment of my song ‘Event Horizon,’ from my album Quadrasonic, for you to check out and study. For me,...

The Black Dahlia Murder: Ryan Knight – A7 Lick

 [Ryan’s Ibanez FR custom shop guitar is tuned down 2 whole steps to C Standard: C F Bb Eb G C] The following fretboard-spanning deluge...

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