Beato and Spender get Plek'd
Plus, how you can overcome that intermediate plateau
Remember last week when I was in Chicago and couldn’t find the time to write summaries for each link I shared? Well, we’re back in action this week, because I have a ton of links to share with you, and they’re all good in their own right - whether it’s Mary Spender and Rick Beato checking out the Plek machine, JHS making a Klon clone, or the introduction of the Dead Spec Silver Sky, there’s lots of fun links for you to check out.
What have you been working on or checking out in the guitar world? I always love talking with readers, so let me know! Let’s get into this week’s links.
This week’s guitar links!
- 3 Reasons Why Guitarists Get Stuck (the intermediate plateau…) - I've been such a big fan of what Ross Campbell has been doing the past couple of years - whether it's a course or his books, he always explains concepts in an easy to understand way. Ross' latest video focuses on 3 ways to get unstuck from being an intermediate player. The first 2 reasons are very common misconceptions, and the 3rd is something a little more practical that you should start working on right away.
- Rick Beato Invited Me To Berlin and we visited the Inventor of the Plek Machine - It was awesome to see Mary Spender meet up with Rick Beato and talk to the inventor of the Plek machine. The Plek is truly revolutionizing guitar setups, no matter what shape the guitar is in. It was very interesting to how this awesome machine came to be.
- Better Pinched Harmonics | Tips & Tricks - It always makes me laugh a little when students want to learn pinch harmonics - they always seem very elusive at first, and it seems everyone wants to learn them at some point. Leon Todd just put up a quick video from one of his recent Q&A sessions, where he gives some great tips for better pinch harmonics.
- Stunt guitar run based on Steve Vai lick - Animated Lick of Mika Tyyskä Ep42 - I loved this 6 note pattern, Vai-style lick from Steve's DLR-era. Mr. Fastfinger, Mika Tyyska himself shows us this fun lick, with tab included.
- I DITCHED My Old Warmups for THIS! - Want to be able to play some of the licks from the lessons above? You need to warm up first! Ben Eller has us covered this week, with a D minor warm up exercise that you can move to any key. If you want to get your hands in sync and warm up your alternate picking, you should check this video out.
- It's Like IKEA Made a Klon [JHS Notaklön Build] - JHS is always coming up with fun ideas - their latest is a Klon clone called the Notaklon. In this video, Rhett Shull goes through the process of building this pedal kit. 60 Cycle Hum did a similar video building the pedal, which you can check out here. The pedal sounds great, and it turns out the first 3000 have already sold out. The next batch is on preorder for early next year.
- WHAT SHOULD I PRACTICE IF I DON'T HAVE TIME - Guitar Lesson With Jon Björk - I've never heard of Jon Bjork, but I'm glad Ola Englund had him over for his latest “Ola Learns" lesson video. I subscribed to Jon's channel right away. Jon talks about what to practice when you don't have a lot of time or energy, or if you're in a rut. The video clocks in at just under a half hour, and is well worth your time.
- Rich Shaw - Five 1 Minute Guitar Hacks - It looks like this was Rich Shaw's first livestream for Licklibrary, and I think it went great. Rich goes over 5 things you should be focusing on, that'll make a huge difference in your playing. There are some excellent tips for understanding time signatures/rhythm, bending accurately, left hand muting, and a bunch more.
- Arpeggios | 10 Levels | Beginner to Pro - I truly love Jack Gardiner's playing, and his courses have been awesome lately (I've been checking out his fretboard visualization and improv roadmap courses). In his latest video he talks about 10 levels of arpeggios. From essential mapping to really getting them under your fingers all throughout the fretboard.
- The 20 Telecaster Players That Changed the World - When I want to relax, I'm usually checking out a five watt world video. The latest really caught my eye, because I love playing Teles. FWW goes over 20 influential Telecaster players, that made a big difference in music. Who's your favorite on this list?
- One "Big Wreck" of an Interview | AMS - I can't get enough of Ian Thornley and Big Wreck's music. To me, they've always been the underrated Canadian version of Soundgarden. American Musical Supply recently sat down with Thornley and Dave McMillan of Big Wreck to talk about writing, being guitar nerds, their upcoming album and more. Cool little "small world" thing - Ryan Dacey, one of the interviewers for American Musical Supply, was the Sales Manager at Sam Ash Paramus when I worked there decades ago. How cool is that? Hi Ryan!
- How To Learn Great Concepts From Thelonious Monk - When I was going to school for guitar back in the early 2000’s, I started to get into a ton of jazz. Thelonious Monk was always a player that caught my ear, and challenged me musically. Jens Larsen recently put up a video focusing on Monk, and how we can apply some of his songwriting concepts to gutiar - stuff like working on inversions, repetition and more.
- It’s been covered by Steve Morse, Steve Lukather and Eddie Van Halen – but if Joe Satriani and Brian May tackled Joy to the World, it would sound a little something like this - Are you already feeling that holiday spirit? Check out this very shreddy version of “Joy to the World” from the folks over at Guitar World.
- The "Dead Spec" Silver Sky | Demo - I love PRS, and I adore my Silver Sky. Recently PRS announced a limited, 1000 guitar run of the "Dead Spec" version of the Silver Sky. This version has an interesting finish, some brass that you don't see on the other versions of the guitar, and a preamp, with an adjustable boost. This link is the demo video of the guitar, but you can also check out Paul talking about the concept behind this guitar, here.