Learn how to pick like a pro player
Plus, the Adam Jones Epi line is going to be super collectible
I have a short issue for you this week, but there’s some fun links inside. To start, we have a great lesson from Ben Eller that shows us how to combine economy and alternate picking. There’s also a great Vai lesson with 3 licks from the 80’s that’ll have you working on tapping, bending and more.
Personally I’m out of comission mostly on playing guitar for the next few weeks. I’ve been having some issues with my fretting hand pinky finger, so it’s a doctor’s appointment for me in a few weeks. With all that extra time, I’ll be focusing even more on closing out the year strong for Chasing Sound.
Also, if you haven’t subscribed to Six String Sunday Club yet, now’s the time to do so. In this month’s subscriber only extra post, I’ll be going over my favorite guitar and other tools that I loved this year. Not only that, but you get access to all the other subscriber only posts in the archive. Alright, let’s get into this week’s links!
- COMBINING Economy + Alternate Picking Like the PROS! - Alternate picking is cool. You know what's cooler? Combining alternate picking AND economy picking, to create an incredible picking strategy. Ben Eller shows us a killer lick that combines the two picking techniques, that's perfect for slotting in to your practice schedule.
- This Guitar Tuning Is Insane (but it sounds AMAZING) - This video made me want to give Covet's Yvette Young another listen. The tuning she employs sounds incredible, even if you're just strumming the open strings. It's always fun to look at the guitar through the lens of a different tuning. It might help inspire you to come up with a bunch of new songs. Speaking of which, it was also super interesting to hear how Yvette comes up with the melody first, and then chooses bass notes when she's working on a new song.
- An intrepid guitar researcher has assembled an exhaustive list of 100 alternate tunings – and he's just getting started - Want some inspiration when it comes to alternate tunings? George Howlett just put together a list of 100 alternate tunings you can mess with, and he's not even done! Check out the GW post first for a taste of what he's come up with, and then head over to George's site for the full list.
- Analysing Jason Becker - The Most COMPREHENSIVE Jason Becker Guitar Styles Lesson | Licklibrary - I keep linking to these vids regularly here in the newsletter because Sam Bell has been knocking it out of the park lately for LickLibrary. In his latest video he goes over the amazing playing of Jason Becker.
- 3 Steve Vai Licks From 1988 - Late Night Lessons is back with a new three-for-all video. This time he's breaking down 3 Steve Vai licks from back in the late 80's. Not only are these fun licks, you'll also learn the way that Vai expresses himself with technique - stuff like bending, tapping and more.
- Dimebag Darrell: the Lost Lesson – the Pantera legend's Destructional Home Video from 2003 - The Pantera "reunion" is in full swing right now, and so far the lineup sounds prety darn good. But no one will ever be Dimebag Darrell. I included this video just to show how fun Dime was, even when making a guitar lesson vid for Guitar World. Plus if you have a copy of the June 2006 issue of GW magazine, this video is for you!
- The story of Tom Morello’s ‘Arm the Homeless’ Guitar - Tom Morello is one of those guitarists who you can instantly identify by their tone and groove. The most popular guitar associated with Tom has to be his ‘Arm the Homeless' guitar. Guitar.com took a look at how came to be, and how it's changed over the years.
- Snark launches the Snark Air, a rechargeable ‘hidden’ clip-on tuner - It seems like at this point, nearly everyone has a clip on tuner. Snark has been leading the way with some of the best ones, which is why I was excited to see that they're launching the Snark Air. the great thing about this version of their tuner is that it stays out of the way for the most part, and goes behind your headstock. I love the design of it, from how the tuning screen looks, all the way down to the light up airplane on the front. Looking forward to picking one of these up.
- The Epiphone Adam Jones signature Les Paul has finally arrived – with a collectible twist - It was big news when Gibson finally announced the launch of the Adam Jones signature Les Paul. And while that's a beautiful guitar, it was out of the price range for a majority of players. Now, Epiphone is launching the Epiphone version of the guitar, and in true Adam Jones fashion, there's a twist that makes it exciting. These Epiphone sig models will have one of seven art pieces on the back of the guitar. I imagine these will be crazy collectible!
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!
Man, I only recently bought a new Snark, didn't know about this. Pretty smart, if it sits nicely on your guitar, you need one for each. Hope they do a volume discount!
Hope it's nothing serious with your finger Brian!