20 solid minutes of EVH licks, Justin Derrico's insane playing, and Bukovac on the Firebird

Plus, a fun update for next week's issue!

This week’s issue of 6SSC is filled with awesome lessons, great looks behind the scenes of different guitar players’ histories, and lots more. I wanted to give a heads up to readers, that next Sunday we’ll have a guest post for the weekend! I’m excited, as this is the first time I’ve ever had someone else take over the newsletter for a week. I think you’re going to dig it, and then the weekend after that, I should be back with your regularly scheduled programming. Alright, let’s get into this week’s links!

• 20 Minutes Of Van Halen Licks 🎸🎵🎶🔥 - Want something fun to work on this week? Check out Cameron Cooper’s latest video, where he teaches us a whopping 20 minutes of Van Halen licks. He’s using a Wolfgang in standard tuning, and a “Frankie” a half step down, while covering songs from both the Roth and Hagar eras. I hope he does a part 2!

• The Guitars of Eddie Van Halen: A Short History - Back to back 20 minute videos? Yes! If you want more EVH, five watt world did a great retrospective on Eddie’s guitars.

• Derek Trucks on the Best Amp Ever | Wong Notes Podcast - Cory Wong recently had Derek Trucks on his podcast - in this clip from the show, they both talk about the best amp they’ve ever used, and how they use that same amp in different ways to get their tone.

• Easy Pedal Steel Style Guitar Licks - Country Bending Lesson! - If you’re a country player, one of the coolest techniques you can learn is pedal steel style bends. SwiftLessons just put out a fantastic video, with a bunch of licks we can learn to work on the technique.

• Daniele Gottardo | Spirals (Official Music Video) - Daniele Gottardo is back with his new single “Spirals”. I always love how easy Daniele makes tapping look, which is on full effect in this song. The great use of delay makes the song even better!

• Modern Sweep Picking - Justin Hombach shows us some great ways to use economy picking and more to write awesome sweep arpeggios.

• These SRV Chord Stabs Sound Unreal… - Stevie Ray Vaughan was known for his explosive blues playing, but his rhythm playing was just as exciting. Ross Campbell just put out a fantastic video on SRV style blues stabs.

• Guitar Hunting Advice From a Professional | The 10-Step Guide | How To Find Your Rare Dream Guitar - The Trogly’s Guitar Show channel on YouTube is one of my favorite to check out each week, because it seems like he has a neverending supply of hard to get guitars. In his latest video, he’s breaking down 10 of his secrets when trying to find a dream guitar. Lots of great tips in this one!

• Absolute BEST Guitar Exercise & Scale (Warmup Playalong Video) - I’m all about stacking learning - technique, theory, etc. all at the same time. Which is why I loved this video from Nasty Soul on YouTube. Not only do we learn a cool scale, but you can use this as a warm up before you get practicing each day.

• Has Justin Derrico found a new hangover cure? - Simply had to link to this video, because Justin Derrico is a killer player, and I loved this track he did for JTC Guitars pllatform. In an older newsletter, I found out that Justin had to record over 4000 songs for The Voice, so he has a little bit of guitar playing under his belt!

• How To Build Riffs! - I always have fun watching Marty Music’s livestreams. In his latest one, he talks all about analyzing and writing your own riffs. He kicks off the lesson with the classic “Message In A Bottle” from the Police, and goes from there.

• Watch Steve Vai hand his guitar to a teenage fan mid-show, who then brings the house down with his insane playing - It seems that Steve Vai always has some pretty unique experiences at his live shows. Like this one where Vai hands his guitar to a teenage guitar player, who proceeds to shred up the aisle to the stage.

• The three pedals Steve Vai would rescue in the event of a zombie apocalypse - And speaking of Vai, Guitar World recently linked up with him to talk about his 3 “desert island/zombie apocalypse” pedals. What are 3 pedals you couldn’t live without? Let me know by replying to this post or to the email!

• Tom Bukovac: “The Firebird is a Great Nashville Guitar, Because it’s Got the Midrange That Can Cut Through a Big Band. It’s Like a Big Giant Tele” | GuitarPlayer - I’m a big fan of Tom Bukovac. His lessons during the pandemic were one of the bright spots of each and every day. I loved his recent Plexi Soul album too - it’s a great listen, go check it out if you haven’t already. Tom did an interview with GP to talk about why he loves the Firebird so much.

• The Genius Of… Mer De Noms by A Perfect Circle | Guitar.com | All Things Guitar - Last week I linked to an interview with Billy Howerdel, talking about his new solo album. But there’s a whole story about his time in A Perfect Circle, and how that came to be. Guitar.com looks back at how Billy and co. became a band, and why their album ‘Mer De Noms’ is so special.

That’s it for this week. Thanks for reading Six String Sunday!

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