Play Guitar Forever

Plus, McRocklin's new plugin company

Photo by Ash Edmonds on Unsplash

This week’s issue has us exploring different types of picking, we take a visit to JHS with Rob Scallon, learn some helpful stretches to keep us playing guitar well into old age, check out some mind blowingly good tones from McRocklin’s new PolyChrome DSP brand, and so much more.

I hope you dig this week’s issue! Let’s get right into the links.

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This week’s guitar links

- Joe Satriani, Steve Lukather, Eric Gales & Mateus Asato Epic Jam Session! - What happens when you combine the old guard with the new? You get en epic jam with Satriani, Lukather, Gales and Asato. The occasion was filmed in Vegas at one of Satriani's recent G4 shows, where they put a new spin on an old Miles Davis song. Watching each of these guys trade leads, it's obvious why they've either lasted so long in this industry, or are taking off to new heights in it.

- Why I've Given Up Making Guitar Progress in 2023... - If you're at a more advanced level on guitar, it's a good idea to re-think your priorities. Ross Campbell came to a conclusion that blindsided him recently. Start around the 2 minute mark on this video, and hear about why putting what you know into practice and actually enjoying the guitar is so important in sticking with the instrument.

- Changing How I Hold a Guitar Changed My Life - Included this one just to get a consensus on how you hold your guitar when sitting down. Leon Todd said that holding his guitar on his leg closer to his fretting hand changed his life in a significant way. What about you, how do you hold your guitar when sitting?

- How to Play Guitar Forever - Guitar is one of those things that's so monumental in my life, that I hope I never have to put it down. Guitar Player just published a post with 5 helpful tips focusing on various stretches to keep you in playing shape!

- You NEED this Legato Sequence from @DavidBeebee - If you want to work on a beautiful legato lick this week, check out David Beebee filling in over on John Cordy's channel. Similar to his parnter Tom Quayle (who together make the excellent Solo app I've raved about in the past), Beebee also has an incredible knack for clean legato lines.

- PolyChrome DSP | McRocklin Suite - McRocklin has been hard at work making a software company of his own. And this week we finally got to see the new company's first product, the McRocklin Suite. It seems like a ton of work went into not only these sounds, but the design of how the actual plugins look as well. The tones vary from cleans to searing leads, to some really unique FX laden sounds. I’m extremely excited to check these out for myself.

- Solar Guitars Europe Workshop Tour - Speaking of new gear, Ola Englund recently put up some footage of his trip to the new Solar Guitars Europe location. It's a nice, quick tour around the workshop. I'm interested in seeing how these guitars turn out. If the regular Solar guitars are any indication, I'm sure they'll be fantastic.

- 🎸 Greg Koch Guitar Lessons - Chicken Pickin' Single Note Lines - Greg Koch came out with a great hybrid picking course on TrueFire this week. It's difficult, but it's fun to get both the pick and your fingers going on some of these lines. If you want a taste of one of the lessons, check out this chicken pickin’ tip for single note lines. Also, if you want to help in the creation of this newsletter, use this TrueFire affiliate link to buy a course or All Access from them. It'll help out what I do for free!

- Hone your hybrid picking with this lesson in the style of the great Danny Gatton - Someone who undoubedtly inspired Greg Koch had to be Danny Gatton. If you want 4 more hybrid picking examples to work on, check out this short lesson from GW.

- THIS Is the Economy Picking Workout You NEED! - Another type of picking you can use is economy picking, which helps combine consecutive downstrokes or upstrokes in the most economical way to increase speed and ease of getting around to your next note. Ben Eller put out a great video this week, with an economy picking workout you can use to brush up on the picking style.

- This Is The FASTEST Way To Build Endurance In Your Fretting Arm - With all that work on your picking hand, you also need to keep up on your fretting hand. Anthony over at TXBA shows us some easy exercises that incorporates trills to strengthen your fretting arm.

- DOD and DigiTech have been revived (LIVE with Tom Cram) - DigiTech and DOD are officially back in action. To celebrate the occasion, Josh Smith of JHS pedals has on Tom Cram who was so heavily involved in the brand's popularity about a decade ago. Later in the week, Rob Scallon took a visit to JHS to go behind the scenes. It was awesome to take a peek behind the scenes of where they record the show, check out all the various parts that go into their pedals, and to take a trip down memory lane with some classic pedals. You can check that vid out here.

- Eric Johnson Talks Guitar Tone - Eric Johnson is known for his crazy attention to detail when it comes to his guitar tone. Eric recently sat down with Rick Beato to discuss some of the gear and mix tactics that he uses when recording.