Epic practice tips, flamethrower guitars, and guitar mods to try at home

Plus new music from Animals as Leaders, Foo Fighters and more!

It has been a really exciting week for me, as I was able to pick up a PRS Silver Sky SE on Monday. I’ve been playing the heck out of it all week long, and it sounds and feels great. Keep an eye out for it on Chasing Sound’s social media posts, and in upcoming videos and livestreams. For less than 900 bucks, it’s one of the best S style guitars in that range.

I haven’t talked about it in a while, but I’d love if you’d stop by our Discord chat. It’s a laid back place, with a lot of really fun personalities, and we’re always talking about gear, guitar videos, lessons and more. You can find the invite link to the server at the end of this email.

Alright, I have a ton of fun links to share this week, so let’s get right to them!

• The 46 Best Guitar Riffs Ever (according to a guitar geek) - While I sometimes don’t agree with the selection in these lists, I come to them because I love any list that’ll remind me of songs, riffs, solos, etc. that I might not have thought about in a while. Some really good picks from Tyler in this video.

• DON’T PRACTICE! THIS is How To Learn Guitar! - I’ve been saying it for years - rather than practice boring scales or exercises on their own, why not try making something up that’s actually musical to practice what you’re working on? Ben Eller’s latest video is an etude that’ll help teach you inside and outside picking. In the same vein of getting musical fast with what you’re practicing, check out this how to practice modes vid by John Cordy.

• Why You Should NEVER Practice Scales!! - One more vid for not practicing scales over and over! Levi Clay breaks down how to use scales to actually say something on guitar, rather than just playing the patterns over and over again. It’s all about learning the vocabulary of the guitar.

• Country Shred Lick | Three Levels of Difficulty! - Want to get into country licks similar to Brent Mason or Brad Paisley? This week, Ross Campbell teaches us 3 versions of a country-rock lick with varying levels of difficulty.

• Guitar String Muting Techniques | Licks & Rhythms | Funk & Blues Guitar Lesson - Want to get more percussive with your guitar playing? Switflessons did an awesome lesson this week on muting, targeting single strings, rakes and more.

• Complete Guitar Wiring — Haze Guitars - Haze Guitars has been putting out a great guitar newsletter for a couple of years now. He talks about all the ins and outs of repairing and setting up your guitar. He’s shipped some great books on how to set up Strats, Teles and more, and even has a book on buying used guitars. This week he shipped a book I’m really intrigued about - Complete Guitar Wiring. Head over to his website to check out this massive tome of guitar wiring knowledge.

• 15 cheap guitar mods you can try at home - And speaking of wiring, check out this great post from Guitar World. If you were ever interested in modding your guitar, this post talks about 15 easy mods you can try at home, that won’t break the bank. Getting started with small projects like this will give you the confidence to work on bigger projects down the road.

• How Biffy Clyro’s guitar tech Richard Pratt made Dave’s BRIT Awards flamethrower guitar actually playable - Guitars and flamethrowers are not two words that typically go in the same sentence - that is unless you’re someone like Biffy Clyro’s guitar tech. Check out this post where the tech talks about how they made this guitar actually playable.

• Watch session ace Rob Gueringer wield a one-of-a-kind chrome PRS Silver Sky guitar at the Super Bowl - Another guitar that has been plastred all over social media is this one off chrome PRS Silver Sky, made for Rob Gueringer to play at the Super Bowl. I remember seeing this guitar on TV, and instantly going to Twitter to find out if PRS would tweet about it, and they did!

• Brian May, Seiko team up to create Red Special-inspired watch - If you’re a fan of Brian May and his Red Special guitar, you gotta check out this collaboration the guitarist did with Seiko. The two are making a limited edition watch that has a very cool watch face and strap. The watch goes on sale March 1st, and some of the proceeds will go to charity.

• TC Electronic unveils Impulse IR Loader mini pedal, packed with Celestion impulse responses - A new pedal popped up in our Discord server this week from TC Electronic. The tiny stompbox is able to hold up to 99 impulse responses, and even has a few already pre-loaded, with 12 of them coming from Celestion. If you’re looking for a low cost way to integrate cab sims into your rig, for $129, this seems like a great choice.

New Music!

• Animals As Leaders traverse time signatures and shine a spotlight on the low-end in dizzying new single, Gordian Naught - Animals As Leaders’ new album is about a month away, but this week we got the third single from it, titled “Parrhesia”. There’s lots of odd time signatures, slapping, and a ton of 8 string riffery going on in this track. I can’t wait for the new album in March.

• Foo Fighters summon old-school speed and thrash metal for new track March Of The Insane - The Foo Fighters’ new movie ‘Studio 666’ will be in theaters later this month, and in true Dave Grohl fashion, the band came up with a full thrash metal album of music to go along with it, by their fictional band Dream Widow. You can hear “March of the Insane” now before the movie premieres.

• Watch Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs’ New “Electric Gypsy” Music Video | GuitarPlayer - Yearning for Tom Petty-esque music? Me too! Mike Campbell, who was a mainstay in the Heartbreakers, has just released the new song “Electric Gypsy” off of his upcoming album ‘External Combustion’. Campbell’s new band, Mike Campbell and the Dirty Knobs, goes out on tour starting next month to coincide with the release of the new album.

• “Upside Down (feat. Tim Henson)” - Jason Richardson & Luke Holland - Jason Richardson and Luke Holland team up with Polyphia’s Tim Henson for the new track “Upside Down”. Richardson and Henson “battle it out” in a very 80’s looking arcade, that I’m sure Tom McRocklin would be proud to see. There’s lots of killer playing all over the track - sweeps, riffs, bar work, filtered synth sounds - a pretty intense track.

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

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