[Note: Guitar Messenger provided Misha with a POD X3 Live processor for his guitar tones and a Vox AC DA5 amp for monitoring. In this video Misha is playing his Blackmachine Guitar tuned to Drop-C and using Dunlop Jazz III Ultex picks.]

Insomnia

This is sort of a triplet riff – it dances you around the pulse. It’s funny, it sounds kind of like Terminator. It’s one of the two riffs that we get called for being Terminator rip-offs, and you know what? I’m fine with that, because Terminator fuckin’ rules. But you have to sort of imagine ‘1-2-3, 1-2-3…’

Insomnia Excerpt

So it’s kind of playful – it plays around the beat a little bit.

Racecar

[Note: Racecar is performed on a 7-string using “Tosin Tuning” tuned 1/2 step down: Bb Db Ab Db Gb Bb Eb. In the masterclass video Misha performs excerpts from Racecar on his 6-string in Drop-C tuning.]

We tried [Tosin Tuning] for that song, and it’s really cool. When you change the relationships of the strings, you can do some insane moves and you end up with some really cool riffs. So you can play drop D songs in that tuning. And the midsection of that song goes into this sort of rock feel for a little bit:

Racecar Excerpt 1

One goal that I have with my music – it’s up to you to decide whether I’ve failed or succeeded at this – but we’re definitely trying to write interesting, proggy chord changes that we have sing-along choruses to, that have catchy vocal lines. It’s very, very hard to find that line that works for that reason. You usually end up with stuff that works, but doesn’t necessary fit very well. But I really like the part that we wrote for that, and it took a little bit of working out, because it is not a very obvious chord progression.

Racecar Excerpt 2

AGCFAD Tuning & Zyglrox

This tuning is actually an interesting tuning. For those of you who don’t know what tuning it is – we normally tune [our 6-strings] to CGCFAD, and this is AGCFAD. I was in Mauritius on vacation, visiting my parents, and I had a 6-string there, and this was my way of getting extended range on a 6-string. It’s the same relationship of strings as if you had a 7-string missing that sixth string. So you have an octave [between the open sixth string, and the second fret of the fifth string].

Zyglrox Excerpt

**Very special thanks to C-Rob and Phil of Infinite Descent for their assistance in shooting this feature, C-Rob for making a kick-ass video intro, and Nolly of Red Seas Fire for providing the spot-on transcriptions of Insomnia and Zyglrox**