Courses

Songwriting with Plini

Songwriting with Plini is an in-depth masterclass in musical composition and modern progressive songwriting, straight from the mind of one of Australia’s most innovative and legendary musicians, Plini. Best known for his work as an instrumental guitarist and songwriter, Plini...

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Courses

PROGRESSIVE PICKING with Stephen Taranto

The quintessential guide to modern picking techniques as taught by Stephen Taranto. "The purpose is to shed some light on how I traverse the strings, while keeping things as clean and as fast as possible.”

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Courses

Scar Guitar

Scar Guitar is a detailed journey into the modern playing styles of Per Nilsson, one of the world's finest guitarists. Best known for his work with Swedish melodic death metal group Scar Symmetry and progressive metal titans Meshuggah, Per offers...

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Courses

THUMP! - Tosin Abasi's Guitar Instructional

THUMP! is an in-depth exploration of the modern playing techniques of Tosin Abasi. This course focuses primarily on his approaches to the thumping technique, and also explores several other key techniques that offer insight into his music. Included are detailed...

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Courses

The Madness of Javier Reyes

Javier Reyes of Animals as Leaders and Mestis breaks down some of his key techniques and offers close-up demonstrations of four compositions. All lessons & performances are presented in crystal clear 4k video, with multiple angles covering all the action....

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Courses

Fingerpicking Foundations

Javier Reyes of Animals As Leaders and Mestis builds on fingerpicking technique basics introduced in the Madness of Javier Reyes series. The goal of this course is to develop a strong foundation for the fingerpicking technique. The program includes 5...

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Courses

The Madness of Tosin Abasi

This set of lessons offers an in-depth look at the Animals As Leaders tracks BACKPFEIFENGESICHT and THE GLASS BRIDGE. Featuring 4k video, detailed transcriptions, and downloadable Guitar Pro files, Tosin gives insight into some of the playing and writing techniques...

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Courses

Fingerpicking Foundations

Javier Reyes of Animals As Leaders and Mestis builds on fingerpicking technique basics introduced in the Madness of Javier Reyes series. The goal of this course is to develop a strong foundation for the fingerpicking technique. The program includes 5 etudes, offering a musical, fun path to synchronizing both hands and developing right-hand finger dexterity. A perfect course for beginner to intermediate guitarists looking to dive into the world of fingerpicking.

Scar Guitar

Scar Guitar is a detailed journey into the modern playing styles of Per Nilsson, one of the world's finest guitarists. Best known for his work with Swedish melodic death metal group Scar Symmetry and progressive metal titans Meshuggah, Per offers a close-up personal look at his unique approaches to music and the guitar. This course includes over 2 hours of lessons and performances, in-depth interviews, & bonus materials.

Songwriting with Plini

Songwriting with Plini is an in-depth masterclass in musical composition and modern progressive songwriting, straight from the mind of one of Australia’s most innovative and legendary musicians, Plini. Best known for his work as an instrumental guitarist and songwriter, Plini offers a comprehensive look into his unique methods for crafting memorable, inspiring songs.

The Madness of Javier Reyes

Javier Reyes of Animals as Leaders and Mestis breaks down some of his key techniques and offers close-up demonstrations of four compositions. All lessons & performances are presented in crystal clear 4k video, with multiple angles covering all the action. Each example is transcribed in great detail and can be looped, slowed down, sped up, transposed - all on the same page. Each example is also available for download in Guitar Pro format.

PROGRESSIVE PICKING with Stephen Taranto

The quintessential guide to modern picking techniques as taught by Stephen Taranto. "The purpose is to shed some light on how I traverse the strings, while keeping things as clean and as fast as possible.”

The Madness of Tosin Abasi

This set of lessons offers an in-depth look at the Animals As Leaders tracks BACKPFEIFENGESICHT and THE GLASS BRIDGE. Featuring 4k video, detailed transcriptions, and downloadable Guitar Pro files, Tosin gives insight into some of the playing and writing techniques that are highlighted in the tracks: Thumping, Selective Picking & Sweeping in Riffs, Hammer-On-From-Nowhere Riffing, Songwriting & Arrangement Techniques.

THUMP! - Tosin Abasi's Guitar Instructional

THUMP! is an in-depth exploration of the modern playing techniques of Tosin Abasi. This course focuses primarily on his approaches to the thumping technique, and also explores several other key techniques that offer insight into his music. Included are detailed transcriptions, as well as backing tracks for select songs. The course is not limited to 8-string guitarists. All concepts can be applied to 6 and 7-string guitar.

Articles

Joe Bonamassa Interview

Joe Bonamassa is one of the leading lights in today’s modern blues scene. His latest release, Sloe Gin, debuted at #1 on the Billboard Blues...

Silenoz & Galder Interview (Dimmu Borgir)

Dimmu Borgir’s international success in a genre that celebrates dissonance and gritty production is nothing short of remarkable. Since their formation in 1993, Norway’s Dimmu...

Paul Masvidal Interview – Cynic (2014): Part 3

In the third installment of our interview series with Paul Masvidal, we discussed what Paul does to keep his hands busy when he’s not working on...

NAMM 2014: Leonardo Guzman Update (GM / Per Nilsson Guitar Solo Competition Winner)

This year at NAMM we had the pleasure of running into Leonardo Guzman, the fleet-fingered Colombian guitarist whose entry in our Guitar Solo Competition earned...

Jarle H. Olsen Interview

Hailing from Norway, Jarle H. Olsen is one of today’s finest guitarists and composers of melodic progressive metal. His full-length debut album, Quadrasonic, showcases his...

Misha Mansoor Interview – Periphery (2012)

Since their influential debut album release in 2010, Periphery have morphed from a fledgling young group with an eclectic blend of styles into a modern...

Robert Cray Interview

We’ve all heard a variation of the phrase “he can say more with one note than others can say with a million notes.” This one...

Eric Johnson Interview

Eric Johnson is a remarkable artist who makes no compromises with any aspect of his music – from the well-crafted songwriting that spans various styles,...

Guthrie Govan Interview (2010)

We last spoke to guitarist extraordinaire Guthrie Govan at the NAMM 2009 Show in Anaheim, California. Throughout the past year Guthrie’s kept quite busy with...

Dave Martone Interview

Dave Martone hails from Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada), though he’s originally from outer space, where he devised his unique brand of modern progressive fusion. His...

John Wesley Interview (Porcupine Tree)

A multi-faceted guitarist, singer, and songwriter, John Wesley is best known for his work as touring guitarist and backing vocalist for British progressive rock luminaries...

George Bellas Interview (2010)

George Bellas is a unique figure in the world of instrumental guitar. His fusion of technical facility and compositional prowess allows him to consistently deliver...

Lessons

The Black Dahlia Murder: Ryan Knight – A7 Lick

 [Ryan’s Ibanez FR custom shop guitar is tuned down 2 whole steps to C Standard: C F Bb Eb G C] The following fretboard-spanning deluge...

The Black Dahlia Murder: Ryan Knight – Tapping & String-Skipping

 [Ryan’s Ibanez FR custom shop guitar is tuned down 2 whole steps to C Standard: C F Bb Eb G C] Ryan credits some of...

Jakub Żytecki – Living Mirrors: A Lesson In Songwriting & Arrangements

Welcome to my lesson at Guitar Messenger! Today, I’m going to talk about my approaches to songwriting and arrangements. I’ve taken a few examples from...

Scale The Summit: Chris Letchford Lesson – Atlas Novus

 [Chris’ Strandberg Boden CL7 signature 7-string guitar is in Standard Tuning: B E A D G B E.] Atlas Novus In this lesson, Chris Letchford...

Guitar Tone: Body Woods

Today we’ll discuss the piece of your guitar which many believe has the biggest influence on your sound – one which is a huge deciding...

The Almighty ii-V: Part 2 (Minor)

Sultry.  Spicy.  Rich.  Exotic.  No, I am not talking about your mother.  I’m talking about Jazz standards in minor keys.  Though they make up a...

Scar Symmetry: Per Nilsson Masterclass (Part 1)

The nimble Per Nilsson of progressive metal band Scar Symmetry demonstrates licks from 'Ghost Prototype Part 1' and 'Ascension Chamber,' and breaks down the devious...

Opeth: Bonus – Mikael Åkerfeldt’s Gear

Take a backstage gear tour as Coty Allinson, Opeth's guitar technician, walks us through frontman and mastermind Mikael Åkerfeldt's live guitar rig....

Harmonic Overlapping

I first came about Harmonic Overlapping when studying the formation and inversion of chords, a subject that quickly became an obsession of mine. The idea of...

Scar Symmetry: Per Nilsson Masterclass (Part 2)

The nimble Per Nilsson of progressive metal band Scar Symmetry demonstrates parts of 'Holographic Universe' and 'Prism And Gate,' and explains his approach to tapping...

Jason Richardson – Thought: Main Theme Tabs

 We’re happy to announce that we’re working together with Jason Richardson on an upcoming lesson series. In the meantime, we wanted to share the...

Fusion Licks That Rock

Hi, my name is Murilo Romano. It's a great pleasure to be here with you! Today I’ll be using the solo from my song ‘Nostradamus’...

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