Welcome…

Perhaps the greatest thing about the guitar is

EVERYTHING LOUDER THAN EVERYTHING ELSE!

There were many classic albums reissued this year: Lou

BLAST FROM THE PAST

GIBSON UNVEIL ULTRA-LIMITED $10K CUSTOM SHOP JIMI HENDRIX 1969 FLYING V AND 1967 SG CUSTOM

LOUDER THAN BOMBS

BIFFY CLYRO UNVEIL FIRST CUSTOM EFFECTS PEDAL

ONE THING THEY GOT RIGHT FOR THE GRAMMYS

Five killer songs from the all-female Best Rock Performance nominees

“THE GUITAR IS A MYSTICAL BEING, MAN!”

...SO SAYS BLACK STONE CHERRY FRONTMAN CHRIS ROBERTSON, AS HE DISCUSSES THE GEAR HE’S USED ON THE BAND’S NEW ALBUM THE HUMAN CONDITION

THE GENIUS OF JACK WHITE

WITH THE RELEASE THIS MONTH OF THE WHITE STRIPES’ GREATEST HITS, TG  ANALYSES FIVE KEY STRATEGIES THAT MADE GUITARIST JACK WHITE A GAME‐CHANGER

POCKET ROCKET

Boss’ latest box of tricks is loaded with stacks of features

SYSTEM OF A DOWN

Protect The Land

NIRVANA LITHIUM

TG takes a look at Kurt Cobain’s powerchordfuelled anthem for the dispossessed in this month’s easy Classic Track

CHORDS

All the chords that end in a ‘5’

SCALES

There’s no solo or scale-based playing in Lithium,

GET THE SOUND

Everything you need to know before playing ‘Lithium’

NIRVANA LITHIUM

LITHIUM Words and music by Kurt Cobain  Copyright © 1991 The End Of Music And Contributor:  Primary Wave Tunes All rights administered by BMG Rights Management (US) LLC  All Rights Reserved. Used by permission of Hal Leonard Europe Ltd

ERIC CLAPTON

LAY DOWN SALLY

ERIC CLAPTON / LAY DOWN SALLY

ROCK SCHOOL

A mix of plectrum work and hybrid picking

JOHNNY CASH PERSONAL JESUS

OPEN-MIC SONGBOOK

CHORDS

The chords are simple open shapes – even

2020: A YEAR IN GUITAR

2020 will be remembered for many reasons –

SHOWSTOPPERS!

3 GREAT GUITAR TRACKS FROM 2020 – BY THE STARS WHO PLAYED THEM

MONEY FOR NOTHING

The most iconic guitars up for auction in 2020

THE FAMILY THAT PLAYS TOGETHER...

Guitar-toting husband and wife Tyler Bryant and Rebecca Lovell are stars in their own right. “We’re the leaders of our own respective bands,” he says. But this year they’ve collaborated in each other’s music – her on the new Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown album, and him on Larkin Poe’s acoustic set. As they tell TG, it’s all about a “special connection” – and a lot of gear

LIVE AND DANGEROUS!

The Struts are Britain’s fastest-rising hard rock band, and for their new album Strange Days, they’ve pulled in some A-list guest stars including members of Rage Against The Machine, Def Leppard and The Strokes – and Robbie Williams. It was also recorded pretty much live in the studio, and as guitarist Adam Slack says, “It’s the most guitar-y album we’ve done!”

MASTER CLASS

HIS WORK WITH RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE, AUDIOSLAVE AND PROPHETS OF RAGE HAS MADE HIM ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL ROCK GUITARISTS OF HIS GENERATION. AND FOR THE READERS OF TOTAL GUITAR HE HAS A SIMPLE MESSAGE. “IT’S LESSON TIME,” TOM MORELLO SAYS. “SO WASH YOUR HANDS AND TUNE YOUR GUITAR. BUT IF YOU HAVE TO PICK ONE OR THE OTHER... WASH YOUR HANDS!”

Yvette Young

THE EVOLUTION OF…  “MY TIME IS STILL VERY MUCH BASED AROUND IMPROVING”

50 EASY GUITAR LESSONS

JOIN US AS WE PRESENT 50 BITE-SIZED WAYS FOR YOU TO IMPROVE YOUR PLAYING, EXPLORE NEW GUITAR TONES AND GET MORE FROM YOUR GEAR!

GEAR, TECHNIQUE AND RECORDING LESSONS

Let’s kick off with an assortment of easy tips

TONE HEROES

AMPS, PEDALS & EFFECTS

MAINTENANCE AND MODIFICATIONS MADE EASY

Your guitar’s performance will make or break your sound. Keep the most important parts shipshape with our easy tweaking tips

EASY RHYTHM GUITAR

CHALLENGE! Apply all three strumming patterns to all

THREE WAYS TO USE YOUR VOLUME CONTROL

The volume knob on your guitar is a

TARGETING STRING BEND INTERVALS

LESSON 32 String bending is a feature of

BLUES GUITAR TECHNIQUE CHALLENGE

It’s easy to forget that most popular music

FIVE VIBRATO PHRASES

The perennial unsung hero of lead guitar, vibrato

TONE TIP

CHALLENGE! Apply this technique to our Blues Technique

THE POP PROGRESSION

E B C#M A

THE THREE-CHORD TRICK

E A B

THE 50S PROGRESSION

C Am F G

ESSENTIAL CHORD PROGRESSIONS

Chord progressions are the basis of songwriting and

STARTING ON ‘THE FOUR’

C G C D

FOURTH-FINGER WORKOUT

TG TIP! Don’t quit! Repetition is the key

THE GAS STAON

REAL WORLD REVIEWS OF THE BEST NEW GEAR

START ME UP!

Five awesome new products to get your gear engine revving this month

JOE DUPLANTIER SIGNATURE PRO-MOD SAN DIMAS STYLE 2 HH MAHOGANY

Another Signature model from the Gojira frontman, but this time he’s gone vintage

ALSO TRY...

CHARVEL PRO-MOD SO-CAL STYLE 2 24 HH HT

For the love of PAF

The story behind the pickups, in Joe’s words

HARLEY BENTON SC-JUNIOR

More than the sum of its parts?

EPIPHONE PROPHECY FLYING V

With top-dollar spec and classy finish, is this 2020’s best metal guitar?

DUNLOP CRY BABY Q-ZONE

Cocked and loaded

YAMAHA’S TRANSACOUSTIC

WILL REDEFINE YOUR EXPECTATIONS OF AN  ACOUSTIC GUITAR

AJ YORIO (THE HEAVY HOURS)

Words: Johnny Scaramanga Photo: Devyn Glista