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.

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.

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.

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.”

Articles

NAMM 2014: Christoph Kemper Interview (Kemper Profiling Amplifier)

Guitar Messenger’s Ivan Chopik had a chance at this year’s NAMM to speak with Christoph Kemper, the mastermind behind the legendary Access Virus synthesizers, as well as...

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...

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...

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...

NAMM 2014: Tosin Abasi Interview @ Ibanez (Animals As Leaders)

Since revitalizing the landscape of instrumental music with their self-titled debut in 2009, Animals As Leaders‘ Tosin Abasi and his bandmates have been busy refining and...

Paul Masvidal Interview – Cynic

A mere decade ago, Cynic was somewhat of a password between fans of extreme metal – a secret handshake that itched at a curious footnote...

NAMM 2014: Marco Sfogli Interview @ DV Mark Amplifiers

Marco Sfogli has been blowing the minds of industry veterans like James Labrie for a decade now with his trademark blend of soulful, inflective rock stylings and stunning technique. We first...

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,...

Devin Townsend Interview

Following Devin Townsend’s career has been a diverse musical journey through the many facets of his compelling personality. First introduced to the world as Steve...

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...

Martin Henriksson & Niklas Sundin Interview (Dark Tranquillity)

Few bands are as committed to crafting quality melodic death metal as Gothenburg, Sweden’s Dark Tranquillity. Since their formation in 1989, the band’s music has...

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...

Lessons

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,...

Team Players

If you’re a member of a band, set ground rules early in your relationship to prevent legal and financial problems down the road. Being a...

Opeth: Fredrik Åkesson Masterclass

[Fredrik’s Paul Reed Smith Signature Model guitar is in Standard Tuning: E A D G B E]  String-Skipping / Tapping Lick This lick utilizes both...

The Haunted: Ola Englund Lesson – Eye Of The Storm (Solo)

 [Ola’s signature Washburn Solar guitar is tuned down one step to D Standard: D G C F A D.] Eye Of The Storm Solo Ola Englund shows...

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...

Artist Lick: Joel Stroetzel of Killswitch Engage

Joel Stroetzel of Killswitch Engage presents his screaming, guitar tech-thrilling Guitar Messenger Artist Lick. Joel is tuned to Drop-C [C G C F A D]...

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...

Red Light District

Hello readers, if you’ve stumbled upon this then I guess you’re somewhat interested in the wide (and very confusing) world of audio production/recording. Throughout this...

Steve Morse Masterclass

Electric guitar luminary Steve Morse welcomes you with a stunning solo, runs through his warm-up routine and teaches you to play harp harmonics using Deep...

Artist Lick: Travis LeVrier of Scale The Summit

[For this lesson Travis is playing his Ernie Ball Musicman 7-string guitar in standard tuning low to high: B E A D G B E....

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...

Diminished Possibilities: Part 2

Hey guys! Welcome again to my “Technical Difficulties” column – this is number 6 already! As the title suggests, this is the second part of...

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