Ever want to see how a pickup is made?

Plus, the truth about practicing

I had a lot of fun writing this week’s issue - mainly because there were so many links that added a ton of value to my life. I think you’ll find something interesting in this week’s issue, no matter what type of player you are.

I had such a good time hanging out with Simon Allaway on the latest episode of Chasing Sound Live. Simon wound a pickup live on the stream, and it was so fun to watch. In the cracks of the conversation, we also talked about the Spark Mini, some cool guitar courses and books, and of course we had to talk about Rolling Stone’s latest “Greatest Guitarists of All Time” list, and how they got it so, so wrong. Check out the replay right here.

Let’s get into this week’s links!

---

This week’s links!

- The Yngwie Malmsteen Interview - Yngwie Malmsteen is truly a character. As wild as his personality is, he's always been such an influential player to thousands of guitarists. Rick Beato sat down with Malmsteen to talk about everything from string gauges to his influences, pickups, understanding scales, and a lot more. No donuts were hurt in this interview.

- Guild Guitars x Kim Thayil at GC Roosevelt Square - Soundgarden has always been one of my favorite bands - I've always loved their music, and Chris Cornell is up there with my favorite singers of all time. It was so fun to see Kim Thayil hang out at Guitar Center in Roosevelt Square for an in store workshop. Kim shows off his Guild signature, tells all sorts of epic stories, and answers a ton of questions.

- Ariel Posen Soloing & Slide Masterclass - I know, I know, I'm an Ariel Posen fanboy. Recently Posen sat down with Guitarist to give a mini masterclass on soloing and slide. If you're interested in getting into slide, and want to improve the musicality of your playing, you owe it to yourself to watch this 20+ min video.

- 5 Finger Stretching Exercises For Guitar Practice With Chris Brooks - There's a joke around our Discord, where a bunch of us are always getting more and more instructional books for our physical or digital shelves. There's just such a wealth of great instructional guitar information out there these days, we're SO lucky. One guitarist who's books grace my shelves is Chris Brooks. He's regularly been putting out fantastic books on everything from picking to using scales well. His latest is all about Practice Warmup Routines. In this video he shows off 5 finger stretching exercises that are perfect to do before you start getting into the rest of your practice regimen.

- The truth about practicing – according to science - I've recently been getting into Rotem Sivan's playing, and I've started watching his great YouTube channel. His latest video talks about how to practice correctly. You don't want to waste those "10,000 hours” practicing the wrong way. This is without a doubt, one of the most helpful videos of the week.

- Marty Friedman on Artistry, Identity & Creating Your Own Style - I've always loved Marty Friedman's exotic and unique playing style. Friedman recently sat down with Nick Bowcott for a great interview. The thing I love about this interview is that both guys have a guitar in their hands at all times, and actually work through some really interesting ideas. I'm always a big fan of interviews actually showing these guys playing the guitar, rather than just talk about it. Earlier in the week, Late Night Lessons did a retrospective on Megadeth's guitar players, which you can check out here.

- Tim Lerch - Solo Jazz Pathways -The Blues - I've been taking this course on TrueFire, and getting a lot out of it. Tim Lerch uses the blues as a base, so there are a lot of 1,4,5 style progressions, and shows us how to accompany a singer in a jazz/bluesy way. But for each example, he shows three different ways to play the arrangement, adding more and more cool embellishments each time.

- Matteo Mancuso reveals the guitar techniques that saw Vai call him "the evolution of guitar" - Matteo Mancuso is a modern day guitar hero. His fingerpicking shred is truly something special to behold. Mancuso sat down with Gutiarist to talk about that fingerstyle technique, and provide some really helpful tips on listening, and much more. Plus he does it all while on a beautiful Yamaha guitar, that sounds great. If you haven't checked out Mancuso yet, this is a great place to start.

- The 6 core skills every guitarist needs to master - Dan Kalisher recently went on the PickupMusic podcast to talk about his idea of 6 core skills every guitarist should follow. The idea came from a post he wrote on KillerGuitarRigs, which you can check out here. On the podcast Dan explains how fluency, listening, literacy, time, imagination, and openness make you a well rounded guitarist. He dives deep into each skill on the podcast and in his blog post. Both are great to take ideas from.

- The 10 Greatest STRAT Tones Ever - I love ear candy, and MusicIsWin's latest video is full of the best type - sweet, sweet guitar tones. Tyler talks about 10 incredible Strat tones, that'll make your ears happy. What's your favorite Strat tone?

- She's a Grammy winner who's been writing songs since she was 8, but Kacey Musgraves also has a fingerstyle approach that will give your acoustic playing a real identity - Might be news to some, but I spun Kacey Musgraves' 2018 album ‘Golden Hour' what seems like a million times when it first came out (I even picked up that sexy, clear vinyl). I guess you could call it a guilty pleasure of mine, but I love her songwriting, and I think the production on that album was incredible. Guitar World recently did a short spotlight on her, and the piece includes some fingerpicking tab that you can play to get into her style.

---

Hey did you know, not only do I talk guitar each week, but I also teach it!

Try out a half an hour to see how much you can learn when you know the right things to practice. Whether you want to learn guitar, recording, mixing or more, I can help you out!