What’s the one thing that changed everything in your playing?

Plus, how to use intervals like the pros

Hey there, hope your week’s been full of good riffs and you’ve been learning something fun. I’ve been revisiting Play by Brad Paisley - a masterclass in country playing, and just received the best gift of Kirk Hammett’s new book The Collection, showcasing some of his incredible guitars. Thinking of reviewing that and Hetfield’s Messengers too - let me know if you’re into it.

In this week’s issue: a fun rig rundown, the best habits for beginner guitarists, interval training hacks, string gauge tests, and more of the best guitar content I’ve seen all week. Let’s jump into it 👇

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🔊Turn This Up

This week’s album recommendation is Play by Brad Paisley. Back in 2008 this album entirely changed my outlook on country music. Brad is the real deal when it comes to unreal country playing on a Tele.

Play has it all - country, blues, jazz, surf, and so much more. This album proved to many that Brad could shred and has chops for days. “Huckleberry Jam” is a masterclass in writing a country instrumental song, you have the Wild West vibes of “Kentucky Jelly”, an amazing tribute to Les Paul with “Les Is More”, and showcasing all the greats on “Cluster Pluck” - guys like James Burton, Brent Mason and more.

A story I tell often is one of my old guitar teachers showing up to a blues jam and interjecting jazz and country licks into some of his leads. It made his playing so exciting to watch and made him stand out. Give Play a shot and see if there’s anything that turns your ear - a chord, lick or a cool technique you might be able to add into your own arsenal.

❓Sunday Sound Off

I’ve taken lessons with everyone from Ben Eller to Dave Weiner (formerly of Steve Vai’s band), and I’ve also had the chance to join several Q&A’s with some of my guitar heroes. One question I always ask is what’s the single thing that’s made the biggest difference in your playing as a guitarist?

Now I’m posing that same question to you here. Whether it be learning triads, how to listen in a band context, thinking in intervals or something completely different, what’s that one thing that made you feel like you really leveled up on guitar?

🏡 The Player’s Corner

This week I’m happy to present Markus Bruun, who’s a fantastic guitarist and has one heck of a rig! Here’s what he had to say about his setup:

“I play in two bands and I need a rig that’s flexible, simple, and consistent. We cover everything from The Meters and Steely Dan to INXS and Keith Urban as well as 80s rock. My main guitar is a modded 2023 PRS Studio—mahogany body for warmth, swapped the narrowfield pickup for a Bill Lawrence Tele to get Strat-like scooped mids. I reshaped and refinished the neck for that slick MusicMan feel. The PRS crowd didn’t love the mods, but I treat gear like tools—whatever feels right. Comfort over resale.

Signal chain starts with a Shure GLXD16+ wireless/tuner (rock solid), into a Warm Audio ODD (always on, scooped US voicing), then a TILT OD for punch and clarity. My HX Effects runs four main patches, each with three snapshots—clean to lead tones—plus an expression pedal for ambient delay levels. It’s my control hub. Amp is a REVV D25 running 4CM with a Two Rock TR12 speaker and built-in Torpedo IR direct to FOH. Setup takes under five minutes—ideal when you're packing out at 2am.”

Want your rig featured in the next issue of Six String Sunday? Comment on this post, or reply to the email!

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🔗 This Week’s Guitar Links

• 5 Good Habits for Beginner Guitar Players - The hope of this newsletter is that it can have something for every level of guitar player, every week. That's why I wanted to include this helpful video from PickupMusic where they offer 5 tips for beginner guitarists. Whether you're a brand new guitarist just getting started, or you're a more seasoned player, it's always interesting to see how multiple people teach guitar concepts, and you might even fill in some knowledge gaps for yourself. This video focuses on things like fretting hand placement, “flying fingers", and more. Similar to Pickup’s video, Rhett Shull put out a video this week that covers things that have made the biggest impact in his playing. You can check that video out here. Oh, and if you want more from Pickup, check out the always great Molly Miller giving us the 7 levels of CAGED.

• The BB's Box Country Bending Trick - Learn 3 Classic Licks! - I've been on a huge Rob Swift lesson kick as of late - his lessons are always packed with a lot of great info in the right amount of time. This video focuses on understanding the BB Box, but adding a little country flair to it. You'll go through 3 licks that you can incorporate into your own playing.

• I Tried 5 String Gauges—Here’s What Shocked Me! - Could it be that after a few decades playing guitar, this video convinced me to try a different approach to my string gauges? It just might have. JustinGuitar shows us the sonic differences between 8-12 gauge strings, and to my ears there's a huge difference. I've always been a 10's guy, but am considering 9’s and 10's for different guitars for easier bending. What string gauge do you use, and what string manufacturer is your favorite?

• How FAMOUS Songs Use Intervals (Ear Training Trick That WORKS!) - One of the most important videos you'll watch all week. Over the years I've constantly heard talented guitarists talk about worrying less about note names, and more about intervals. Think things like the Solo app for interval training, or even things like the Nashville number system. This video from Andy Guitar talks about why intervals are so important, and how you can relate them to famous songs. This is one of the best ways you can practice music without having a guitar nearby. If you have your phone, you could even whip out something like GarageBand to test yourself. Another really great tool is this web app from Earmaster. Super helpful tool to help you understand different intervals. When you get the hang of different intervals, things like transcribing become that much easier. Check out this video of Levi Clay transcribing Kingfish Ingram live to see how it's done!

• Why EVERY Guitarist Knows Music Theory (Even If They Don't) - Speaking of theory…it turns out you might know more theory than you previously thought you did. This video from MusicIsWin talks about things like cowboy chords and understanding 1,4,5’s, turning the minor pentatonic scale into the natural minor scale, and much more.

• Guitar Professor Shares Hidden Playing Tips - Berklee School of Music professor Jon Finn put out a fantastic video for TrueFire where he goes over some of his favorite guitar tips - everything from how to improve your improvisation, what should you really practice, how to make your scales sound less scale-y and more.

• when Brad Paisley gives you his telecaster - I’m so happy I found Mike Cole’s videos a year or so ago - they’re always so down to earth, and focus on topics I usually love to hear about. For this latest video, Mike has Zac Childs join him to discuss the history of the Telecaster. But that’s not all, because Zac brought a Tele from Brad Paisley himself for Mike to try out.

• Bluegrass guitar needs blue notes - I’ve been trying to learn as many cool bluegrass riffs as I can lately. It’s probably half because I’ve been super excited about playing a new acoustic guitar. A lot of the lessons I’ve been practicing have come from Marcel Ardans, who’s known as Lessons with Marcel on YouTube. Marcel recently sat down with Hayes Griffin to talk about all sorts of different “blue notes.” While this channel is all about bluegrass style music, knowing all the different ways you can mess with scales works for any genre. If you’re into this style of music, check out Marcel’s website where he has a ton of great tabs.

• This Scale Changed METAL Forever - From one type of shred to another - Justin Hombach breaks down one of the most important scales/modes in metal - the Phrygian mode! The first half of this awesome video explains what the phrygian mode is all about and why it sounds so "heavy”, and the second half focuses on the mode in action where Justin shows how versatile it is. If you're still in a metal mood after that video, check out this one from David Brewster, where he shows us a cool "sign of the horns" diminished workout.

• Triads - The Secret to GREAT Rhythm Parts - This video from Jack Ruch explains the power of triads (one of my favorite topics). The video goes over using triads on the upper and lower string sets, using syncopation, how you can use different techniques to slide, use hammer-ons, or mini licks in between chords and a lot more. Jack's videos are always jam packed with useful information. I know we talked about modes above, and if you're still trying to learn them, this video does shed a spotlight on dorian and why it works over the progression Jack's playing.

• The Guitars of Trey Anastasio: A Short History - Growing up listening to Trey Anastasio of Phish, I always adored the tone of his different guitars - I mainly geeked out about his Languedocs. Five Watt World has always done a great job at documenting gear, and this video is no different. He showcases all the different guitars of Anastasio, and has RJ Ronquillo demoing the tones. I always knew a lot of these were custom guitars, but I never realized how expensive some of them are - fetching tens of thousands of dollars. Thankfully, the channel gives us some recommendations on more affordable guitars to get similar tones.

• Deciphering the Studio Notes from Metallica's Load Box Set + Recreating a Tone From "Bleeding Me" - Long-time readers will know I've been obssessed with Metallica since the mid-90’s. I stumbled across this channel where J.P. Henry regularly tries to recreate awesome album tones. This video especially caught my eye, because he's taking a look at some of the liner/recording notes from the recent Metallica Load deluxe box set. If you geek out about production, you should check this video out!