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.

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

Articles

NAMM 2014: Leonardo Guzman Update (GM / Per Nilsson Guitar Solo Competition Winner)

This year at NAMM we had the pleasure of running into Leonardo Guzman, the fleet-fingered Colombian guitarist whose entry in our Guitar Solo Competition earned...

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...

NAMM 2014: Jake Bowen Interview @ Ibanez (Periphery)

  It would be difficult to overstate Periphery’s impact on modern metal, and guitarist Jake Bowen’s contributions as a composer and riffmaster have been an...

Francesco Artusato Interview (Devil You Know): Part 1

Known for his explosive, harmonically-laden guitar fireworks, solo artist and All Shall Perish axe-slinger Francesco Artusato has fired off a new chapter with his supergroup,...

Pierre Bensusan Interview

Musical nomad Pierre Bensusan discovered the guitar in his early teens, and it wasn’t long before his home-crafted skills earned him critical acclaim at the...

NAMM 2014: Marty Friedman Interview

At this year’s winter NAMM show in Anaheim, CA, I had a chance to speak with guitar legend Marty Friedman, who is known for his...

Dave Martone Interview

Dave Martone hails from Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada), though he’s originally from outer space, where he devised his unique brand of modern progressive fusion. His...

Chris Letchford & Travis LeVrier Interview (Scale The Summit)

Modern prog instrumentalists Travis LeVrier and Chris Letchford of Scale the Summit discuss their new album The Collective as they unfold a new and exciting...

John Petrucci Interview (2007)

John Petrucci is one of the founding members of Dream Theater, arguably today’s biggest progressive metal band. He has come to be known as one...

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...

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...

Lee McKinney & Jason Richardson Interview (Born Of Osiris)

As those of you into the metal scene are probably aware, all the rage about Born Of Osiris’s new album turned their March release into...

Lessons

Putting It Together: Playing Bass Lines & Guide Tones Simultaneously

It’s great to be able to play guide tones as a stripped down approach to comping, and it’s awesome to be able to play bass...

Different Groupings & Finger Independence

One of the most essential things that a guitar player can try to develop is the independence of fretting hand digits (equal control over every...

The Almighty ii-V: Part 1 (Major)

The ii-V. All hail the ii-V. Never question it. Accept it. Embrace it. And then once you’re sick of it you can puke it out...

Artist Lick: Chris Letchford of Scale The Summit

[For this lesson Chris is playing his custom Artinger 7-string guitar (ArtingerGuitar.com) in standard tuning low to high: B E A D G B E....

Jamming With Eric Krasno

Soulive's six-string soul maestro Eric Krasno demonstrates his dynamic style while improvising over two stellar grooves....

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...

The Black Dahlia Murder: Ryan Knight – ‘In Hell Is Where She Waits For Me’ Solo

 [Ryan’s Ibanez FR custom shop guitar is tuned down 2 whole steps to C Standard: C F Bb Eb G C] In this masterclass, Ryan...

The Safety Fire: Derya ‘Dez’ Nagle – The Ghosts That Wait For Spring & Glass Crush

 [Dez’s custom Wirebird guitar is tuned down to an Amin7 open chord: A A C G A E.] The Ghosts That Wait For Spring Chorus...

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...

Putting Jazz In Metal With Ever Forthright

Welcome to Guitar Messenger! I’m Nick from the band Ever Forthright. Today we’re going to use excerpts from two of our recent songs, ‘The Counter...

Artist Riff: Alex Bois of Periphery Plays ‘Frak The Gods’

Periphery's Alex Bois demonstrates some of his favorite riffs from the devastating Battlestar Galactica-inspired 'Frak The Gods' off the band's Icarus EP. 'We play with...

Metal Foundations Lesson 3: Intermediate Riff Concepts

Welcome back, metal Guitar Messengers! The last lesson introduced you to some basic riff construction concepts based off of common chord diads and the palm...

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