August 2023

Guitar World

Guitar lessons, interviews, product reviews and more!

Guitar World2 min read
Woodshed
VOL. 44 | NO. 8 | AUGUST 2023 AS THE COVER line suggests, this issue does indeed mark the first time in 31 years that Extreme’s Nuno Bettencourt has graced the cover of Guitar World. That brings us back to 1992 — the same year I was stopped by a Penn
Guitar World4 min read
Inquirer Andy Powell
Q What was the first guitar you ever had? It was a borrowed Höfner Colorama when I was about 12. There was a fad in the Sixties for guitars to be covered in a kind of vinyl material that we called Fablon, which this guitar had, in red. But the first
Guitar World4 min read
Sounding Board
STAY CONNECTED WITH GUITAR WORLD ON AND GET THE LATEST GUITAR NEWS, INSIDER UPDATES, STAFF REPORTS AND MORE! Since retiring as a letter carrier, I’ve been woodworking and especially crafting live edge wood slabs. I’m always looking for new creative i
Guitar World2 min read
Covet
FOR THOSE LEANING toward indie, a life in music presents many challenges. For Yvette Young, the Ibanez-wielding leader of Covet, perseverance became a mantra while writing her latest effort, Catharsis. “Without getting too much into it, Catharsis is
Guitar World1 min read
Guitar World
EDITORIAL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Damian Fanelli([email protected])SENIOR MUSIC EDITOR Jimmy BrownTECH EDITOR Paul RiarioASSOCIATE EDITORS Andy Aledort, Chris GillPRODUCTION EDITOR Jem RobertsMUSIC TRANSCRIPTIONIST AND ENGRAVER Jeff PerrinCONTRIBU
Guitar World2 min read
FIVE QUESTIONS McKINLEY JAMES
MCKINLEY JAMES IS at the forefront of the current crop of new, young blues players. Named after Muddy Waters (born McKinley Morganfield), it was a no-brainer that he’d gravitate toward the blues, although for James, there’s a hefty dose of vintage St
Guitar World4 min read
Room for Vroom
BY HIS OWN description, Adrian Belew’s 25th solo LP draws more from “quirky pop” than the proggy acrobatics of his former band, King Crimson. But these two creative roles — the Beatles-y hook writer and the experimentalist — always balance each other
Guitar World4 min read
Two Dog Knights
RICHIE KOTZEN GAVE Winery Dogs fans a bit of a scare back in 2017 when he announced that the supergroup trio (which also includes bassist Billy Sheehan and drummer Mike Portnoy) would be “taking a break,” a phrase commonly uttered — along with “we’re
Guitar World1 min read
My Pedalboard Rebecca Lovell
MY CURRENT TOURING pedalboard is a workhorse! Designed and executed by the wizards at XAct Tone Solutions in Nashville, the brain of the board is a Line 6 HX Effects [multi-effects processor]. I use the HX Effects library to cue up patches for a fast
Guitar World5 min read
Full Spedding Ahead
OVER A CAREER spanning nearly 60 years, British session ace Chris Spedding has worked with pretty much everyone in the business. For U.S. audiences, he might be best known for his long association with latter-day rockabilly legend Robert Gordon, who
Guitar World2 min read
DevilDriver
WHEN DEVILDRIVER FINALLY got back on the road this past March — following a three-and-a-half-year absence reflective of the pandemic and vocalist Dez Farfara’s near-deadly bout with Covid — lead guitarist Mike Spreitzer got to take his number one gui
Guitar World2 min read
Sunny War
FOLK MUSIC HAS often been a quiet form of rebellion, but on Sunny War’s sixth and latest album, Anarchist Gospel, the singer-songwriter transcended the typical constraints of the genre. And it was the virtually limitless canvas of DAW home recording
Guitar World6 min read
Green Energy
THE STORY OF Greeny — the 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard made famous by Fleetwood Mac founder Peter Green, later owned and played by blues-rock great Gary Moore and, since 2014, in the possession of Metallica’s Kirk Hammett, who has used it onstage an
Guitar World3 min read
Quotable
Q: KISS' TOMMY THAYER: THE 10 (OR 11!) PLAYERS WHO SHAPED MY SOUND 1. Pete Townshend 2. Peter Frampton 3. Davey Johnstone 4. Robin Trower 5. Mick Ralphs 6. Ace Frehley 7. Ronnie Montrose 8. Ritchie Blackmore 9. Alex Lifeson 10. Pat Travers “In true
Guitar World9 min read
Rik Emmett
DURING THE LATE Seventies and into the Eighties, few bands were pilloried by music critics quite like Triumph. “Faceless” and “corporate rock” were two of the tags regularly assigned to the Canadian power trio composed of guitarist-singer Rik Emmett,
Guitar World10 min read
Best In Show
NAMM.ORG DESPITE SOME NOTABLE name-brand absences, there was a lot to see and chew on at the 2023 NAMM Show. And the ebullient vibe was undeniably palpable among the exhibitors and attendees who were caught up in the carnival-like atmosphere of NAMM
Guitar World16 min read
Transformer
ALTHOUGH FOREVER LINKED to David Bowie’s breakthrough success — and what is, for many, Bowie’s golden era in the early Seventies — Mick Ronson’s career continued long after his departure from Bowie’s band, the Spiders from Mars. Bowie’s announcement
Guitar World15 min read
The Rising Son
THE LAST TIME NUNO Bettencourt appeared on the cover of Guitar World was the December 1992 issue, when this magazine declared the then-26-year-old phenom the “new boss.” At the time, Bettencourt had turned the six-string universe on its ear with the
Guitar World4 min read
Extreme Sports
ROCK FANS WATCHING this year’s Super Bowl likely experienced a jolt of unexpected delight when they caught a glimpse of one of their own — Nuno Bettencourt, ever-present Washburn N4 in hand — performing alongside Rihanna during her halftime-show extr
Guitar World6 min read
Bettencourt Of Public Opinion
“When it comes to Nuno’s playing, we have to start with the new single, ‘Rise.’ Nuno sent it to me a few months before it was released and, Jesus, I was stunned. I clicked the button as I was doing other stuff, as you do, and I sort of had it in the
Guitar World10 min read
Rise And Shine
Let’s hop right in! “Rise” begins with a very heavy, aggressive riff played in a drop-D tuning. What was the genesis of the song, and how did it come together? I always go into recording a new album with the mindset that I’ll never release anything t
Guitar World4 min read
Extreme Measures
IN THIS LESSON , we’ll explore several of the signature techniques that characterize Extreme axman Nuno Bettencourt’s unique, fiery style, with five examples that embody key elements of the guitarist’s approach to playing rhythm and lead. Nuno is pri
Guitar World2 min read
Furnished Solos For Rent
ALTHOUGH YOU’D THINK that, by now, all of Nuno’s guitar solos would be required listening in primary schools across the land, there are still a few dusty gems that are just waiting to be discovered by the masses. Such as… Mourning Widows (Mourning Wi
Guitar World4 min read
The Big Red One
WHEN THE DOWNSIZING trend rapidly accelerated in the amplifier space, Blackstar creatively addressed the shift by releasing their St. James all-tube series. By downscaling the output power section with innovative technology, and outfitting the combos
Guitar World4 min readMusic
Nine-time M.v.p.
DID YOU KNOW the January 1992 issue of GW called Nuno Bettencourt the M.V.P.? If you’ve been following along for a while, you probably did. But if you’ve just joined the party, let us catch you up. If we dial back to ’92, all things considered, being
Guitar World2 min read
American Beauty
WHILE THE QUALITY of affordable acoustic guitars has increased exponentially over the last decade, many of these guitars tend to sound rather similar. Taylor’s American Dream series is a notable exception, offering a variety of body styles and tone w
Guitar World2 min read
Buzz Bin Bare Knuckle Pickups Peacemaker Humbucker
ZERO IN ON Bare Knuckle’s last few artist collaborations for signature pickups and you’ll find that the U.K. brand has been crushing it with humbuckers voiced for traditional and progressive metal. From the extraordinary Adam “Nolly” Getgood Polymath
Guitar World3 min read
Signature O’ The Times
WITH THE EXCEPTION of an occasional funky rhythm track, the electric guitar isn’t heard very much on songs topping the pop and R&B charts these days. Steve Lacy is trying to change that, both through his own work and as a collaborator with artists li
Guitar World3 min read
Slide Area
ONE OF MY favorite styles of guitar playing is slide guitar. In general, I try to avoid slide guitar because there are “slide players” and then there’s me! There are slide players who have dedicated their lives to the craft, including the dreaded int
Guitar World2 min read
Theories Of Relativity, Part 3
OVER THE LAST two columns, we looked at various ways to craft melodic solos over alternating relative major and minor chords. As a basis for study, I used the 16-bar chord progression from my original song “Twilights,” which includes two different se
Guitar World2 min read
Diminished Returns
OVER THE LAST few months, we explored the use of chromaticism within the blues as part of a three-tiered approach that I like to use to connect one chord to the next in a blues progression, namely, chromaticism, diminished phrases and ii - V - I (two
Guitar World3 min read
Hybrid Vehicle, Part 3
ONE OF MY favorite pick-hand articulation techniques is hybrid picking, which combines flatpicking with fingerpicking, either together or in a quickly alternating fashion. When a series of notes is played with just the pick, most often the sound is v
Guitar World4 min read
Performance Notes
THIS EXCITING NEW song finds veteran guitar god Nuno Bettencourt in top form, riffing and shredding his ass off as creatively as ever. And with a tributary nod to the flashy, soulful style of the late, great Eddie Van Halen, the nimble axman offers a
Guitar World1 min read
“Rise”
“RISE” WORDS AND MUSIC BY GARY CHERONE, NUNO BETTENCOURT AND JORDAN FERREIRA. COPYRIGHT © 2023 SLIPKID MUSIC, BRUNO GRAFFITTI MUSIC AND INTERSTELLAR SOUL. ALL RIGHTS FOR SLIPKID MUSIC ADMINISTERED WORLDWIDE BY KOBALT SONGS MUSIC PUBLISHING. ALL RIGHT
Guitar World1 min read
“You Shook Me All Night Long”
“YOU SHOOK ME ALL NIGHT LONG” WORDS AND MUSIC BY MALCOLM MITCHELL YOUNG, ANGUS MCKINNON YOUNG AND BRIAN JOHNSON. COPYRIGHT © 1980 AUSTRALIAN MUSIC CORPORATION PTY LTD. ALL RIGHTS ADMINISTERED BY SONY MUSIC PUBLISHING (US) LLC, 424 CHURCH STREET, SUIT
Guitar World1 min read
“Rocky Mountain Way”
“ROCKY MOUNTAIN WAY” WORDS AND MUSIC BY JOE WALSH, JOE VITALE, KEN PASSARELLI AND ROCKE GRACE COPYRIGHT © 1973 SONGS OF UNIVERSAL, INC., BARNSTORM MUSIC AND BELKIN MUSIC COMPANY. COPYRIGHT RENEWED. ALL RIGHTS CONTROLLED AND ADMINISTERED BY SONGS OF U
Guitar World3 min read
1965-69 Fender Electric Xii
THE RICKENBACKER 360/12 is the most famous and popular electric 12-string guitar, thanks to its use by George Harrison on more than a dozen Beatles songs like “A Hard Day’s Night,” “Can’t Buy Me Love” and “Ticket to Ride” and by Roger McGuinn (who ac

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