Vai's Rig Rundown, 10 Essential Mods, and Playing Over Changes
Plus, why we should stop trying to be the next Hendrix
Happy July! By the time you’re reading this on Sunday, I’ll be enjoying some time off, trying to play as much guitar as humanly possible. I have a lot of fun videos, lessons, gear, and more to share with you this week.
I recently got my own Vidami Blue pedal, and plan to show that off a bit more soon. Plus we just wrapped up June’s Song Challenge over at the Chasing Sound Discord. Check out my version of The Cult’s “Fire Woman”. I recorded all my parts only using a Fractal into Pro Tools.
Would you be into a small breakdown of how it all came together? Let me know! We had a couple of cool versions, including a really good acoustic rendition of the song that you should see. We’re in the process of picking new songs for July’s channel, so make sure to hop in to the Discord if you want to join us! Alright let’s get into this week’s links.
Plini: How to Write Melodic Prog Solos - Guys like Plini, Tim Henson, Jack Gardiner and more all seem to be writing leads in a whole new way. Pickup Music just put out a preview of Plini’s masterclass - in the video he shows us how to write melodic progressive rock leads. We have a couple of people in the Discord who enjoy Pickup Music. If you’ve tried them before, let me know in the comments/reply.
Don’t do this while speedpicking! - Have you found yourself wanting to be able to pick quicker? Justin Hombach takes a page out of Troy Grady’s book and shows us some picking mechanics that you might be practicing incorrectly. Really fantastic lesson.
Musicians Injury Prevention & Awareness (Include Proper Techniques, Warm Ups & Daily Routine) - Maybe you’ve been practicing for a crazy amount per day, and you ended up hurting yourself. Don’t be that player! Tomo Fujita just put out a great video on preventing injuries as a musician. Learn some warm ups and Tomo’s daily routine.
Dave Navarro Teaches Me How To Play “Rexall” | Guitar Lesson - Growing up I was obsessed with Dave Navarro’s playing. I was so surprised, and it seems Dave was too, that Let’s Play All’s YT channel wanted to dip in to some of Navarro’s solo album tracks. The coolest thing about this video is that Navarro himself helps in teaching the song “Rexall”. If you’ve never listened to Dave’s ‘Trust No One’ album from the early 2000’s, go check it out!
10 ESSENTIAL Mods That Will TRANSFORM Your Guitar! - Darrel Braun shows us 10 mods that you can do yourself on any of your guitars. These mods will help your tone, playability and more.
How The Pros Dial In Amps | With Pete Thorn & Tim Pierce - Rhett Shull hangs out with both Pete Thorn and Tim Pierce, who are all at Sweetwater, with a beautiful Neve console. They talk about their process when dialing in guitar amps. I love these types of thought process videos where you get to hear players who do this day in and day out for a living.
You asked for it-The perfect delay pedal (I may be biased…) - Wampler has just come out with the Metaverse. This seems like a killer pedal. The thought behind it, as you’ll see in Brian Wampler’s video, is that he put his very favorite delays into one pedal. Check out the vid where he shows off some of the great sounding presets. The craziest thing about this pedal is that when you buy it and register it, you also get the delays as a plugin for your DAW. So awesome!
Joe Bonamassa - The art of playing in a trio - Are you the guitar player in a trio? There’s a lot more pressure on a trio guitarist to provide rhythm, lead, fills and more. Joe Bonamassa gives some quick tips on taking up more space with your playing.
Playing Over Changes 101 - Loved this lesson from Chris Sherland. If you’re new to playing over chord changes, this is a great primer. The key here is to start small, with just 2 chords, see what notes make up both chords, and work on hitting chord tones, time and time again. This is one of the best things you can practice as a guitarist. If you want even more chord tone stuff to work on, check out this new lesson from TX Blues Alley.
Steve Vai | 2022 Live Guitar Rig | Thomann - Steve Vai is currently on tour, and one of the guys from Thomann was able to catch up with Steve and his guitar techs to go through his entire rig. It was awesome to see some of his classic and new guitars, and also get a look into what he’s doing amp/effects-wise.
10 MIN WITH KORN - Ola Englund says it in the video, and it’s true for me as well - growing up, when 7 strings were just getting popular, it was Steve Vai, Meshuggah, Korn, and only a few other bands that were blowing up with popularity. Ola sits down with Head and Munky to talk about guitars, effects and more.
Stevie Ray Vaughan vs Robben Ford… What Separates Them? - Ross Campbell breaks down the differences between two blues legends - Robben Ford and SRV. How do they approach a solo? What about their methods for I IV I licks and turnarounds?
Don’t Skip This - Do this with EVERY Lick to Become a Better Guitarist - Looking to really cement a lick into your vocabulary? John Cordy recommends trying to transpose it to other keys, in different places on the fretboard.
The Woodshed Guitar Experience - Andy Wood Interview - Andy Wood puts on the Woodshed Guitar Experience - which is an exciting looking guitar camp. This year’s guests include all sorts of amazing players. American Musical Supply sat down with Andy Wood and others for some really fun interviews. Head to the AMS YouTube channel for more interviews with guys like Greg Koch, Mark Lettieri and more.
Hear Megadeth, Metallica and Iron Maiden hits like never before in major key Happy Metal YouTube experiment - We’ve seen it on Ben Eller’s channel, but now there’s even more “Happy Metal”. Check out this post a duo covers Metallica, Megadeth, Iron Maiden and other bands, changing their minor songs to major-ly happy metal.
Yngwie Malmsteen: “You can’t ‘build’ speed – you play it until you have it perfect. There are no shortcuts and no tricks” - I enjoyed this throwback 2010 interview with Yngwie Malmsteen. He talks about sweep picking, his scalloped Strats, and why playing it perfect will ultimately develop speed.
Eric Gales on why he is not trying to be the next Jimi Hendrix – and why you shouldn’t be either - I loved Eric’s whole interview, but his thoughts on being yourself, and being the next “you” and not the next Hendrix (because there’ll never be another Jimi), were great.
How to play more musical string bends - This is an excellent lesson on how to be more mindful with your bends. If you’re just starting out, bending is one of the most fun techniques to add to your toolbox. But when you bring some more intention to it, and start trying to target chord tones, it becomes way more effective. Check out the lesson with tabs and audio.
Watch Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen and Dave Grohl Trading Solos on a Beatles Classic - The Foo Fighters are doing some of their first shows back since the passing of Taylor Hawkins. Check out this post where Grohl and co. are joined by Paul McCartney, Springsteen and others, on some classic tracks.
That’s it for this week. Thanks for reading Six String Sunday!
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So much great information!