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

Backpfeifengesicht

This set of lessons offers an in-depth look at the Animals As Leaders track BACKPFEIFENGESICHT. 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...

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Courses

Backpfeifengesicht

This set of lessons offers an in-depth look at the Animals As Leaders track BACKPFEIFENGESICHT. 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 track: Thumping, Selective Picking & Sweeping in Riffs, Hammer-On-From-Nowhere Riffing, Songwriting & Arrangement Techniques.

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.”

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 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.

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

Joel Stroetzel Interview (Killswitch Engage)

Joel Stroetzel is best known for being one of the axe-slingers for Massachusetts-based Metalcore pioneers Killswitch Engage. In June 2009 the band released the self-titled Killswitch...

Guthrie Govan Interview (2010)

We last spoke to guitarist extraordinaire Guthrie Govan at the NAMM 2009 Show in Anaheim, California. Throughout the past year Guthrie’s kept quite busy with...

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...

James Smith & Timothy McTague Interview (Underoath)

Throughout their decade-long journey, Tampa, Florida’s Underoath have crafted a unique and ever-evolving style, securing them as one of the premier acts in today’s heavy...

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...

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...

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...

Yngwie Malmsteen Interview

Yngwie Malmsteen is the undisputable king of neoclassical metal. Drawing from hard rock and blues influences in combination with classical music, he pioneered the genre...

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...

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...

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...

Richie Kotzen Interview

Richie Kotzen is one of today’s most intriguing guitarists. He arrived on the music scene in the late 80’s through Mike Varney’s Shrapnel Records and...

Lessons

Artist Lick: Carl Verheyen

Renowned session pro, solo artist, and Supertramp guitarist Carl Verheyen presents his Guitar Messenger Artist Lick. This C minor lick is a great example of...

Killswitch Engage: Learn to Play ‘Holy Diver’

Adam D. and Joel Stroetzel of Killswitch Engage teach you how to play their righteously reverent cover of Dio's classic 'Holy Diver.' Both Adam and...

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...

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...

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+...

Stepping Out: A Guide To Playing Outside (Part 2)

In part 1 of the Stepping Out: A Guide To Playing Outside series, we looked at the use of side stepping (moving a motif, scale,...

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...

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...

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...

Scale The Summit: Chris Letchford Lesson – Atlas Novus

 [Chris’ Strandberg Boden CL7 signature 7-string guitar is in Standard Tuning: B E A D G B E.] Atlas Novus In this lesson, Chris Letchford...

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...

Devin Townsend – Gear

Guitars & Rig Guitars make or break songs. I firmly advocate that while certain guitars have a ton of songs in them, certain guitars have...

Guitar Messenger is dedicated to in-depth courses, lessons, and interviews with today’s leading guitarists.

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