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 “Notice how Wes locks in with the rhythm section during his solo, especially during the second half? How about those quick, stuttering octaves? And that chord solo—yow! Beginning with bluesy melodic phrases and voicings, the chordal ...

“Flames used to shoot out of my guitar,” says Brad Gillis. Yes, he’s speaking literally. “I found a finger-mounted flash pot at this magic shop in Seattle back in the ’80s, and I attached it to the back of my headstock. At Night Ranger ...

In the late 1960s, rock began to evolve from short pop songs best suited to the lo-fi bandwidth of AM radio and cheesy sounding 45s to higher-fidelity, stereo-ready FM, long-playing albums (a.k.a. LP’s), and increasingly powerful home ...

It never gets boring hearing Louisiana slide genius Sonny Landreth play slide notes and fretted pitches simultaneously. (This works because when Landreth frets a string behind the slide, it drops beneath the slide and rings unimpeded ...

Who recorded the funkiest guitar part of all time? It’s hard to say, but with the brilliant lick he came up with on L.T.D.’s 1977 R&B classic “(Every Time I Turn Around) Back In Love Again,” Johnny McGhee (Marvin Gaye, Les McCann) ...

If Albert Lee’s solos are too busy for you yet Luther Perkins’ aren’t busy enough, you’ll love the lyrical playing of Roy Nichols (1932-2001). His sing-able country hooks are key DNA in the Bakersfield sound. They’re also a huge part ...

Some players wouldn’t touch a two-handed tapping lick with a ten-foot tapping finger. Not Marnie Stern. The creative New York guitarist forged a signature style around—and even scored a record deal with—spirited two-handed licks such ...

As you can see in Ex. 1, the notes A, C, and E—the chord tones that spell an Am triad—can be arranged in myriad ways. One challenge guitarists face is that there are typically several ways to finger the same chord or riff. For instance, ...

Back when you were teaching dozens of students a week, what was the first thing you’d show them to help them start making actual music on the guitar?
I’d show them the first 16 or so open-position chords [Ex. ...

“This is a technique I discovered from an interview with Pat Martino,” writes Hudson, New York guitarist Chris Tenerowicz. “I call it the Think Tank method, after the album Martino admitted to using it on. Basically, you take ...