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Secrets of Shred with Sammy Boller: Whipping Sweep Arpeggios — Video

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In this lesson, I’m going to show you how to expand your sweep picking skills by adding slides to create a chaotic, whipping sound.

I’m going to show you two different patterns, then combine them to create longer runs all the way down the neck.

Let’s jump right into our first example in the key of D minor.

EXAMPLE 1 is a diatonic sweep pattern starting in the 17th position. For this example, I slide between positions by utilizing slides on the high E string. To create a whipping sound, accent the slides as much as possible with your fourth finger. This riff ends with a short D minor pentatonic run in the 10th position.

Moving on to EXAMPLE 2, I take the same sweep as our first example, but this time shift down to the 10th position using a slide on the G string. For this example, I accent the slide with my third finger. This riff also ends with a short run with the D minor pentatonic scale.

For EXAMPLE 3, we take the slides of EXAMPLES 1 and 2 and combine them into a longer descending run. This example starts with the same sweep in the 17th position, but this time, we utilize slides on the G and E strings to reach the pentatonic run in the 10th position. To bring out the whipping effect, be sure to focus on exaggerating the slides between positions as much as possible. Remember, how you play a riff is often more important than executing every note perfectly.

EXAMPLE 4 takes things one step further by extending our sweep patterns down the neck to the fifth position. I achieve this by utilizing slides on the high E , B and G strings. In each position, I play notes that are diatonic to D minor. This example ends with a short blues run in the fifth position.

When soloing, you can sweep any combination of notes that are in a key—not just diatonic arpeggios. A lot of shredders get stuck only sweeping arpeggio shapes, but sweep picking can be utilized in many different ways. Try coming up with sweep patterns of your own and use exaggerated slides to shift between positions. Hopefully using this whipping slide technique will help break you out of your comfort zone and ultimately expand your dynamic range on the guitar.

Cheers!

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Sammy Boller is the guitarist for the Detroit rock band Citizen Zero. They’re touring and recording their first full-length album with Al Sutton and Marlon Young (Kid Rock, Bob Seger, Uncle Kracker). In 2012, Boller was selected by Joe Satriani as a winner of Guitar Center’s Master Satriani competition. He studied music at the University of Michigan. For more about Boller, or to ask him a question, write to him at info@sammyboller.com or follow him on Twitter.


Adelitas Way Guitarist Robert Zakaryan Talks 'Deserve This' EP, Gear and More

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Las Vegas-based hard rock band Adelitas Way first tasted success after the release of their 2009 self-titled debut album. That album's premiere single, “Invincible,” became an instant top-five Active Rock smash.

Their sophomore effort, 2011's Home School Valedictorian, spawned four more singles, including two Number 1 rock radio hits.

The band's new EP, Deserve This, which was released in March, continues the band's mission of delivering hard-hitting ear candy, including “Filthy Heart,"“Harbor the Fugitive,” “I Get Around” and the powerful title track.

Adelitas Way—Rick DeJesus (vocals), Trevor Stafford (drums), Andrew Cushing (bass) and Robert Zakaryan (guitar)—have completed a successful Pledge Music funding campaign for their next studio album and are about to hit the road with Red and Bad Seed Rising, followed by a headlining tour of their own.

I recently spoke to Zakaryan about the band’s new EP, his gear and more.

GUITAR WORLD: What can you tell me about the band’s new EP, Deserve This?

Up until this point, we had always had input from a lot of other people with our albums. It was always a case of we had our ideas and they had theirs. We were never able to do what we really wanted to do. For this album there was no agenda and it was the first time we really had a chance to be ourselves. Everything came naturally. It was a liberating, creative experience.

What’s the band’s songwriting process like?

Many of the songs on the EP began with a riff, and then everyone got together and started jamming on it. Sometimes Rick may have an idea for a song and I’ll try to think of the message he’s trying to convey and play that feeling. But most of the writing is done in the same room with all of our energies having input.

What are some of your favorite songs from the new EP?

I really love playing “Sometimes You’re Meant to Get Used” and “Filthy Heart." I really love the solos in those two songs, and it was fun recording them. Those are my favorites, but I love the whole EP.

What can you tell me about the band’s successful Pledge Music campaign?

Our fans are beyond amazing. It’s incredible when things like that can happen. We’re building something that’s more true to ourselves, and the fans have really connected with it. It’s a pure fan/band relationship!

How did your affection for Gibson Les Pauls begin?

The way I started playing them was a completely natural thing. The more I turned my ear to the way my favorite records sounded and the things I wanted to hear, the more I knew I had to play a Les Paul through a Marshall. When you play the right guitar through the right amp, it’s larger than life.

What’s your current setup like?

I use a Marshall JCM800 and just got a 50-watt Plexi that I used on the song “Harbor the Fugitive." It has a cleaner sound but has a really good bite. It’s almost like clean sustain, and it's the coolest thing. I usually run both heads straight with just a few pedals.

What’s been the biggest highlight of your career so far?

Honestly, the thing that’s excites me the most is when we go on tour and people come out to see us. The energy transfer between us and the audience is just incredible, and the more passionate we are the more people connect. I know what it’s like to go to a show and be inspired by seeing a band, so when people come up to me after a show and tell me the same thing, it’s the coolest feeling in the world. It’s those full-circle moments that make it extra special. The relationship of transferring the metaphysical in us is the most exciting thing.

For more about Adelitas Way, visit adelitaswaymusic.com.

ADELITAS WAY TOUR DATES

May 29th: Diamond Ballroom - Oklahoma City, OK
May 30th: Bourbon Theater -Lincoln, NE
May 31st: Aggie Theater - Ft Collins, CO
June 1st: Summit Music Hall - Denver, CO
June 3rd: Top Deck - Farmington, NM
June 4th: Marquee Theater - Phoenix, AZ
June 5th: Rialto - Tucson, AZ
June 6th: Brooklyn Bowl - Las Vegas, NV
June 7th: In The Venue - Salt Lake City, UT
June 9th: The Whisky - Los Angeles, CA
June 11th: House Of Blues - Anaheim, CA
June 13th: Ace Of Spades - Sacramento, CA
June 17th: DNA - San Francisco, CA
June 19th: Bossanova Ballroom - Portland, OR
June 23rd: Knitting Factory - Boise, ID
June 24th: Knitting Factory - Reno, NV

ZZ Ward Announces New Single "LOVE 3X"— Listen Now!

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Three years after her critically-acclaimed debut, Til The Casket Drops, ZZ Ward is back and her hotly anticipated follow-up album, This Means War.

The album is set for release on September 18.

Every track on This Means War exudes ZZ’s swagger and confident stance as she lets loose her soulful voice over an energetic and more rhythmic core.

The album, produced by GRAMMY Award-winner S1 (Kanye, Madonna, Eminem, Beyonce) and ZZ herself, This Means War is a sexy, girl power romp with a badass backbeat. Pre-order for the album is available today at http://smarturl.it/zza2.

Listen to the first single “LOVE 3X” below. Written by ZZ the song is a shiny but twisted, can’t-help-myself, love song with an infectious chorus and will be available today via all digital retailers.

With countless sold-out shows and buzzworthy festival performances under her belt, ZZ returns to the road with the Love & War Tour later this summer. This marks ZZ’s fourth headline trek across the U.S. which kicks off in Dallas on August 28 and continues through the fall. Initial dates are below, with support to be announced soon.

Jennifer Batten Explores Transcribe! — A Powerful Program to Learn New Material

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I have worked with a lot of musicians during my career and am always surprised when they turn up to a rehearsal and have not learned a tune correctly.

Depending on your listening environment, your ears can easily play tricks on you.

You can think you heard notes that are either not there, or are actually overtones, or even notes that are being played on a different instrument than yours that you believe are your own instrument.

The discrepancies are especially apparent during rehearsal if two or more instruments are supposed to be playing the same single note line together.

So it never ceases to amaze me how few musicians use or even know about the computer-only app called “Transcribe!” from seventhstring.com (Mac/Windows/Linux). What it is first and foremost is a slow downer for audio AND video, but it does so much more.

There are a lot of cheap slow downer apps for tablets and smart phones, but they don’t begin to touch the power of this program.

When I have a new gig booked with 10 or 15 new songs to learn, I drag every song into Transcribe! and listen down at least a few times before I begin to figure it out with my guitar. Then, I will make section markers (S) which I can custom name “verse,” “chorus,” “solo,” for instance and maybe add measure markers (M) as well, for areas I need to slow down and work on. Then you can zip from marker to marker with shift + right or left bracket.

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SPEED/PITCH: On the app’s main page you will find preset speed buttons as well as a speed slider and pitch change slider.

LOOPS: It’s easy to zoom in, (⌘ + →)(Apple’s command key would be ‘Control’ key for Windows) see the downbeats in the waveform and then click and drag to make a perfect loop. You can also store multiple loops for later recall with a simple shift + click in the “misc” window. (To zoom out ⌘+ ←)

KARAOKE: Having the ability to slow music down without changing the pitch can be a godsend, but there are a few other things that you can do to hear even more clearly. At the top of the main window there is a button called “FX” that will toggle in the detail window where you can for instance activate karaoke mode. What that does is remove the center of the stereo spectrum where the lead instrument or vocal is. That is especially useful for singers who can then experiment with the pitch slider to see what their most comfortable singing range is for a song. Karaoke mode is also great for any lead instrument to practice playing along with the track, or just a section of the track. You can toggle karaoke on/off as learning the tune progresses. You can also export your minus one track and send it to bandmates to work with.

EQ: You can click on EQ and for instance instantly remove the bass from the audio with the “bass remove” preset. Now, what you have left is the ability to hear only the drums and rhythm guitar and/or keyboards so you can hear chords more clearly. You can also alter individual frequencies to really zone in on what you want to hear.

So I urge readers to get this app as you will find that it is one of the best virtual coaches available, and will help immensely with accuracy.

By learning a half a dozen shortcuts it will help you to easily dominate this program in a hurry. Here are a couple more:
To make a loop full screen = ⌘ + F
To make the entire song fit in the screen equals ⌘ + G

TIPS:
When you are playing along with a track, make sure your guitar is a little less volume than the track you’re learning. That way you are not masking what is really there and will hear discrepancies to correct easier.

Music is learned best when taken in small chunks, slowly. Your brain records everything (including repeated mistakes), so play slowly and perfectly, then speed up in small increments.

You can also drag a video into Transcribe!, and, for instance, see where a players hands are on the neck, and slow down what their fingers are doing!

I’ll be digging into this app plus multiple other subjects in 15-20 min chunks, during my summer USA tour called “Jennifer Batten’s Self-Empowerment for the Modern Musician Experience.” Find out more at www.batten.com

Dream Theater's John Petrucci Demos His Ernie Ball Music Man JP6 Guitar — Video

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John Petrucci has a lot of Ernie Ball Music Man signature guitars to his, well, name.

Today, we present a brand-new video that shows the Dream Theater guitarist demoing his signature JP6 model.

For more information about this guitar, including photos and specs, visit music-man.com.

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Richard Lloyd: 'Alchemical Guitarist' Guitar Lesson DVD

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The Alchemical Guitarist: Fretboard Secrets Unlocked presents the 12 best videos and accompanying columns from Guitar World columnist Richard Lloyd.

In this insightful instructional DVD, Lloyd gives viewers a new and comprehensive way to understand the fretboard, one that unlocks the mysteries that so often confuse and frustrate guitarists, whether they are beginners or advanced players. One of Guitar World's most popular instructors, Lloyd presents lessons on topics that include hexatonic blues scales, emphasizing minor thirds in pentatonic patterns, the cycle of fourths and fifths, and much more.

With more than two hours of lessons, The Alchemical Guitarist will give you the power to transform your guitar playing into pure gold.

The Alchemical Guitarist DVD contains these lessons:

• Magic Circles: The cycle of fourths and fifths
• Skeleton Key: Unlocking the modes with the mystical major-scale diagram
• Call Me: Two telephone numbers and an introduction to vertical knowledge
• Five Chords & the Truth: The five-chord cycle
• The Dark Stuff: The modes in order of descending brightness
• The 48-Step Program: The modal step-down practice method
• Box Cutters: Breaking free with pentatonic trees
• Diagonal Diatonics: Another way out of the boxes
• Back in the Box: Positional play and the pentatonic boxes
• Minor Issues: Emphasizing minor thirds in and out of the boxes
• Opening Your Third Eye: Three maps for moving in and out of the boxes
• The Hexatonic Blues Scale: Inviting the devil back to the party

The Alchemical Guitarist: Fretboard Secrets Unlocked DVD is a Guitar World Online Store EXCLUSIVE. You won't find this product anywhere else! It's available now at the Guitar World Online Store.

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Top 10 Covers of Songs by The Who

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In a semi-recent issue of Guitar World, we paid tribute to the high-flying genius of Pete Townshend by taking a look back at the Who's most creative—and most volatile—years.

It's difficult to understate the importance of Townshend as a composer and a guitarist, and no shortage of great bands have taken a cue or two from the Who's songwriting wizard over the years.

Several have even tipped their hats to the band by putting their own spin on one of the many classic cuts in the Who's back catalog.

As a bonus, we've rounded up our 10 favorite Who covers of all time. What a bargain!

10. Iron Maiden — "My Generation”

If ever there was a bassist who could pay fitting tribute to the nimble four-string work of the late John Entwistle, it's Iron Maiden's Steve Harris. This deep cut from Maiden—who were just named 2012's best live act in our annual readers poll—features Blaze Bayley on vocals and was originally released as a B-side to their 1995 single, "Lord of the Flies." The song would re-appear in 2002 on the somewhat rare Best of the B-Sides compilation.

09. Elton John — "Pinball Wizard"

Yes, we just went from Iron Maiden to Elton John. But it just so happens that Elton's version of "Pinball Wizard" is one of the highlights of the 1975 Tommy film soundtrack, which also features performances by Ann-Margret and a berobed Eric Clapton. Besides its powerful vocals and spirited performance, Elton's version of the song, a hit in its own right, is noted for its undeniable "Seventies-ness," from its instrumentation to its glam feel to those gigantic shoes in the clip below.

08. Green Day — "A Quick One While He's Away”

Green Day have always had a thing for this multi-part song, which can be considered Townshend's first—albeit mini—rock "opera." They like to perform bits of it at soundchecks, and the song has been a Green Day concert highlight on more than one occasion. The band finally got around to recording this spine-tingling studio version of the tune, which was released as a bonus track on their 2009 album, 21st Century Breakdown. They are "forgiven" for waiting so long!

07. The Jam — "So Sad About Us”

The Jam — Paul Weller, Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler—would often make half-hearted attempts at covering the songs that inspired them (case in point: their weak version of the Beatles'"And Your Bird Can Sing"), but they gave it their all when it came time to record this tune from A Quick One. This version, originally released as the B-side to "Down in the Tube Station at Midnight" in 1978, sounds polished off and updated (at least by '78 standards) and stars Foxton's expert often-overlooked bass playing.

06. David Bowie — "I Can't Explain"

One of two Who covers on 1973's Pin Ups, this laid-back, almost parochial take on "I Can't Explain" brings an unmistakable cool to the band's first hit single. Bowie's vocals on this album have been infamously maligned by critics over the years, but factor in Ken Fordham's baritone sax and Mick Ronson's saturated guitar licks and you have a more-than-fitting tribute to Townshend and crew.


05. Rush — "The Seeker"

In 2004, Rush honored some of the bands that inspired them by releasing Feedback, an eight-song EP packed with covers of songs by the Yardbirds, Buffalo Springfield and Cream.

The EP also featured a cover of "The Seeker," which was originally released as a single by the Who in 1970.

Although the track doesn't give these three master prog-rockers a chance to "spread out," they put the emphasis on the song's strong, steady beat and high-flying vocals, which are handled rather nicely by Geddy Lee.

04. Sex Pistols — "Substitute"

While this song may seem like an oddball cover for a band that made a short career of toppling rock and roll dinosaurs, frontman Johnny Rotten has never had anything but positive things to say about the musical and personal influence of Pete Townshend.

"Every now and then, when you feel down and despondent, a fellow like him can really put a good word in your ear, and it's unfortunate that that side of his character hasn't really come through in the media," he said in a 2012 Guitar World interview. "He's a very important person for us, and let's not for forget that. And he wrote some bloody excellent songs along the way!"

03. Oasis — "My Generation"

If any modern rocker has the die-young persona to pull off Roger Daltrey's lyrics in "My Generation," it would have to be Liam Gallagher. Oasis were as combustible a group of musicians as any in the last two decades, but when they pulled it together, they could put distorted guitars and debauched lyrics together as well as anyone, making them an ideal candidate to take on this Who classic. Four-string enthusiasts may find the bass solo a bit lacking, but one thing's undeniable: Liam means every word.

02. Van Halen — "Won't Get Fooled Again" (Live)

It takes a powerful band to truly do justice to what some consider The Who's greatest song—1971's "Won't Get Fooled Again"—but the Sammy Hagar-fronted Van Halen take no prisoners. Their live version of the song, which is featured on 1993's Live: Right Here, Right Now, is noteworthy for its spot-on performances by all involved, especially Eddie Van Halen, who covers the iconic keyboard parts on his guitar. The video below shows them rehearsing the tune in a studio, but the energy is there.

01. Pearl Jam — "Love, Reign O'er Me"

Few bands carry on the spirit of the Who quite like Pearl Jam. In 2008, when VH1 assembled a cadre of modern-day rockers to pay tribute to the Who, there was no doubt that Pearl Jam—whose cover of "Baba O'Riley" has been a staple of their live shows since 1992—would be providing the climax of the evening. As predicted, Eddie Vedder put everything he had into a medley of "Love, Reign O'er Me" and "The Real Me." The former was released in 2007 as part of the soundtrack to the film Reign Over Me, as well as on the band's 2006 fan club Christmas single. According to lore, Vedder would only agree to cover the song after getting Roger Daltrey's blessing.

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What In the World: Using String Skipping to See Scales Differently

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When you first learn the three-note-per-string and/or single position seven-note scale, you learn the patterns starting on the low E string and work your way up to the high E and back.

You do this for each of the seven patterns up the neck, practicing and perfecting your scales.

This is great! The only problem is, this is how you are training your hands and brain to approach them.

Rather than viewing the scales as the available notes you have to choose from in a given key/mode, the order of the notes sometimes becomes how you rely on playing them in an improvising and/or composing situation.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with this; it has worked fine and beautifully for hundreds of years. The melody for “Joy to the World” is simply a descending major scale. Learning to approach your scales in a different way will shake things up and hopefully change your habits of approaching scales in only an A-to-Z fashion.

String skipping is mostly associated with being a shred technique, covering a lot of ground quickly on the guitar by skipping over adjacent strings. The approach I am presenting is not so much a shred thing, but more of a way to know the scale on only two strings at a time, rather than all six, as most people generally learn them. If anything, this will force you to know the notes of the scale better, rather than relying on muscle memory to get through them. Remember the most important thing when playing music is to consciously create, rather than go through the motions of learned patterns that are embedded in our brains from constant repetition.

For the examples, I have written the scales out in the key of F. Once the concept is learned, it should be applied to all keys/modes. As you play through these, you will notice different shapes that repeat across each set of two strings according to the degree of the scale you start on. Eventually you will see that if, for instance, you start a pattern on the third degree of the scale, you will be playing one shape; if you start on the root of the scale, you will be playing a different one, etc.

String set 1, High E and G strings:

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String set 2, B and D strings:

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String set 3, G and A strings:

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String set 4, D and low E strings:

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To further learn and integrate this approach to your playing, try improvising with this technique using only one string set at a time. Move up and down one string and then hop over to the other string in the set, keeping in mind to be as melodic as possible at all times, rather than trying to shred through the scale.

Being limited to only two strings at a time will force you to approach the instrument in a way that you may not have possibly explored before.

Steve Booke is a composer for film and TV from the New York area. His compositions range from orchestral to metal to world styles from every corner of the planet. A graduate of Berklee College of Music, Steve has played guitar for more than 28 years. He has recorded 10 albums of his own and has played on countless others. He plays gigs in the NY area and tours the East Coast with a variety of bands. He has performed with Ben E. King and members of Mahavishnu Orchestra. He endorses D'Addario/Planet Waves, Larrivee Guitars, Levy's Leathers, Peavey, Stylus Pick, Finale PrintMusic, Pigtronix, Tech 21, Toontrack, Graph Tech, Seymour Duncan, Waves, Studio Devil and L.R. Baggs. His music is available on iTunes and Amazon. Steve is now offering Skype lessons and can be contacted at info@stevebooke.com. Visit stevebooke.com and Facebook.com/SteveBookeGuitaristComposer.


Greg Holden Performs "Boys In The Street"— Exclusive Video

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Here’s one of my favorite and certainly the most powerful live video we’ve ever recorded in the Acoustic Nation studio.

It’s Greg Holden along with Alex Foote performing the amazing song “Boys in the Street.”

The song appears on Holden’s new album Chase The Sun.

Incredibly touching and heartfelt, the song is a powerful testimony of the coming understanding of a father for his gay son. Add to that the fact that Holden isn’t gay and the result is stunning. Wow.

Listen for yourself and see what I mean:

Originally hailing from the UK, Holden now resides in New York City. Perhaps best known for writing the massive hit “Home” — the debut single for American Idol winner Phillip Phillips that sold five million tracks in the U.S. and earned Holden an ASCAP Pop Award — Holden's "struggling artist to in the spotlight" story is something to cheer.

Find out more at gregholdenonline.com

'Mad Max: Fury Road' Guitarist Plays Real Flame-Throwing Ax — Video

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Mad Max: Fury Road opened in theaters last weekend.

If you caught it, you were probably captivated by the Doof Warrior, a blind mutant who plays a flame-throwing guitar on a truck loaded with a giant sound system and a band of “tiger drummers.”

But in an age where it seems pretty much every movie effect is computer generated, the guitar and truck required no Hollywood trickery. They were the real thing.

Production designer Colin Gibson told MTV, “The plan basically was to try to come up with a vehicle, an idea that could be heard over the roar of a couple of hundred amps. And the only way to do that was to build the largest, last Marshall stack at the end of the universe.”

The flame-throwing guitar was also fully operational. Although flame throwing was not originally part of the plan, Gibson realized he needed a way of “punctuating action.”

“It was a bit like a Kiss concert: there needed to be flames,” he says. “There needed to be fun.”

The part of Doof was played by cabaret artist iOTA, who donned a red onesie for his role and hung from a bungie cable on top of the vehicle. He also had to perform with the guitar while racing along through the African desert.

New Book Explores Stevie Ray Vaughan's Final Years — 'Day by Day, Night by Night'

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Stevie Ray Vaughan: Day by Day, Night After Night is available now at the Guitar World Online Store.

Vaughan tightly grips a place in music history as an unmatched blues man and guitar legend.

His unique style is unmistakable and has never been repeated. His otherworldly talent and relentless drive took him from humble beginnings in Texas bars to world tours and superstar status.

His bustling career and steady stream of inspiring music came to an abrupt end all too soon at the age of 35, immediately following his triumph over the demons of addiction that followed him for years. Finally free and ready for bigger, better things, Vaughan was killed in a helicopter crash in 1990, leaving his many fans to mourn the musician they had grown to love and wonder what could have been.

In a day-by-day format, author Craig Hopkins presents an unprecedented celebration of this artist. This book is the second installment of a two-volume account of Vaughan's life.

With this work, Hopkins delivers one of the most detailed biographies of any musician. His Final Years covers Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble's recording career, from their debut release through their rise to stardom, an exciting journey with its fair share of glory and controversy.

Filled with testimonials from those who knew him best and from fans everywhere, along with facts about tour dates and recordings, and a lavish gallery of rare photographs, this illustrated book (along with its companion, His Early Years, 1954-1982) is the ultimate collector's item for any Stevie Ray Vaughan fan.

Head to the Guitar World Online Store now.

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Steve Vai and Al Di Meola Rehearse (and Perform) "Race with Devil on Spanish Highway"— Video

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On April 26, virtuoso guitarist Al Di Meola made a stop at the Canyon Club in Agoura Hills, California, for one of his typically great shows. As a bonus, the show was topped off by a special encore appearance by Steve Vai.

For the show's encore, the guitarists performed a blazing version of Di Meola’s “Race with Devil on Spanish Highway,” from 1977's Elegant Gypsy.

You can see a fan-filmed video of that performance below. Right above that video, however, is a more interesting clip of Vai and Di Meola rehearsing the song at Vai’s Harmony Hut studio a few hours before the show.

It’s a treat to see their fretwork up close!

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The Lacs Premiere "Make the Rooster Crow" Music Video — Exclusive

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Today, GuitarWorld.com presents the exclusive premiere of the new music video for "Make the Rooster Crow" by the Lacs.

The song is from the country-rap duo's upcoming album, Outlaw in Me, which is available now for pre-order on iTunes via Backroad Records/Average Joes Entertainment.

“We’re so excited about this video," the band said in a statement earlier today.

“'Make the Rooster Crow' was a blast to film. We definitely had as much fun filming it as it looks, and we hope everyone enjoys it as much as we do. We can’t wait to share Outlaw in Me with all of our awesome fans. It comes out next week, and it’s our best album yet!”

The Lacs are currently on a jam-packed tour throughout North America; they typically play more than 150 shows per year.

Their last album, Keep It Redneck, debuted at Number 3 on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart and at Number 8 on its Top Rap Albums chart.

For more about the Lacs, follow them on Facebook and visit thelacsmusic.com.

Is This Headbanging Guitarist at the Wrong Gig? — Video

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There are several videos on YouTube titled "Guitarist at the Wrong Gig," but none are as, well, entertaining as this one, which has been making the rounds on Facebook lately.

The only information provided with the 2013 video is the following:

"Dude rocking out to a terrible song. Make what you can of every situation."

I guess the point here is, always give 110 percent, my fellow guitarists!

P.S.: I could go into my tirade about how people should never film vertical videos (Why would anyone shoot a vertical video?), but I'll save that for another time. But seriously, why would anyone shoot a vertical video? Never mind.

Street Guitarist Damian Salazar Plays Deep Purple's "Highway Star"— Video

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Back in March, we ran a hugely popular video of young Argentinian street guitarist Damian Salazar blowing minds (but, oddly, not turning too many heads) with his high-speed fretboard antics on a busy Buenos Aires street corner.

Since then, Salazar has released an all-instrumental studio album, Desert, which is available through CD Baby right here. It features his unique takes on "Sultans of Swing,""Hotel California,""Stairway to Heaven,""Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2" and more.

Below, we present a brand-new video of Salazar performing the Eagles'"Hotel California," followed by a recent performance video of his version of "Highway Star." Although this Deep Purple classic does not appear on Desert, it is a mainstay of Salazar's impressive street-corner sets.

Follow Salazar on Facebook right here.

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Stevie Ray Vaughan's Top Five Studio Guest Appearances

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For someone who spent a mere seven years in the spotlight, Stevie Ray Vaughan left behind an impressive amount of recorded material.

He released four studio albums, a double live album and a Vaughan Brothers album (recorded with his big brother, Jimmie Vaughan), not to mention enough leftover live and studio material to fill several posthumous albums and a box set or two.

He even found time to perform on albums by several other artists—from Teena Marie to Stevie Wonder to Don Johnson to Lonnie Mack—pretty much always with fiery results.

With that in mind, here are Vaughan's top five guest appearances as a guest or session guitarist during his "famous" years, 1983 to 1990. We'll discuss his pre-fame session work in another story (maybe).

Just so the Vaughanophiles are clear, this list does not take into account Vaughan's 1983 Canadian TV studio appearance with Albert King—or anything recorded in a TV studio, a radio studio or a studio apartment.

It also doesn't include his 1987 recording of "Pipeline" with Dick Dale because that track is credited to the duo, so neither guitarist is the other's "guest."

05. A.C. Reed, "Miami Strut," from I'm In the Wrong Business! (1987)

A.C. Reed was a respected Chicago-based sideman who started his lengthy career in the Forties and worked with a host of big names, including Magic Sam, Son Seals, Albert Collins and Buddy Guy.

"Miami Strut" is a funky instrumental that features Vaughan playing a Strat through a Leslie cabinet, its revolving speaker providing an exceptionally "wet" sound. Note how he plays around Reed's catchy tenor sax riffs, making his guitar an integral part of the track. Vaughan's guitar solo starts around 1:22.

Because the album, which also features Bonnie Raitt, was released in 1987, it represents a lost period in Vaughan's discography, since Soul to Soul came out in 1985 and In Step came out in 1989.

WHILE YOU'RE AT IT: Check out "These Blues Is Killing Me" from the same album. Vaughan's guitar solo starts around 2:06. That's Reed on vocals.


04. Bennie Wallace, "All Night Dance," from Twilight Time (1985)

Here's Vaughan guesting with another sax player—this time Bennie Wallace (with Dr. John)—on another blues-based instrumental, a lengthy shuffle called "All Night Dance" from Wallace's now-out-of-print 1985 Twilight Time album. The song also was featured on the Bull Durham soundtrack album in 1988—and even that's out of print (Good luck finding it for less than $60 on Amazon Marketplace or eBay!).

Stevie's guitar solo starts around 3:24, and he really pours it on, dialing up his Soul to Soul sound and including several signature SRV motifs and bends.

Like a great songwriter who sometimes relegates jaw-dropping tunes to the cutting-room floor or non-album B-sides, Vaughan recorded this brilliant guitar solo one random day in his career—and then just moved on to the next gig, never really looking back.


03. Johnny Copeland, "Don't Stop by the Creek, Son," from Texas Twister (1984)

Texas blues guitarist and singer Johnny Copeland (father of blues singer Shemekia Copeland) invited Vaughan to play on two tracks on his Texas Twister album. On "Don't Stop by the Creek, Son," Copeland, a fine player in his own right, stepped aside to let Vaughan handle all the lead work.

Although Vaughan's Strat was mixed a little too low in the original vinyl mix (It had to compete with Copeland's acoustic guitar), "Creek" is a fun, engaging, upbeat track with a catchy melody and some nifty guitar work from start to finish.

It's worth noting that the original 1984 Black and Blues version of Texas Twister featured two tracks with Vaughan on guitar—"Don't Stop by the Creek, Son" and "When the Rain Stops Fallin'." However, when the album was reissued by Rounder Records in 1986, "When the Rain Stops Fallin'" was gone—and it's still gone. iTunes sells only the 1986 version of the album


02. Lonnie Mack, "If You Have to Know," from Strike Like Lightning (1985)

Serious Vaughan fans got a nice bonus in 1985: Alligator Records released Lonnie Mack's masterful Strike Like Lightning album, which was co-produced by Vaughan and Mack, one of SRV's many guitar idols (Check out Mack's classic 1964 album, The Wham of That Memphis Man!).

Vaughan plays on several songs on the album, but he actually plays and sings on "If You Have to Know," making it the closest thing to a straight-ahead bonus SRV track. Check it out below.

WHILE YOU'RE AT IT: From the same album, be sure to get a taste of "Oreo Cookie Blues," which features Vaughan on acoustic guitar, predating "Life By the Drop" and his Unplugged appearance by five years ...

... and don't forget "Double Whammy" (a new recording of Mack's early Sixties instrumental hit "Wham!" featuring Vaughan and Mack duking it out in E), "Hound Dog Man" and "Satisfy Suzie," which you can hear below.


01. David Bowie, "Cat People (Putting Out the Fire)," from Let's Dance (1983)

Come on, you knew something from David Bowie's Let's Dance album had to be No. 1 on this list.

Let's Dance served as the world's introduction to Vaughan, who, with Bowie, invented something new by adding Texas-style blues guitar to contemporary, dance-based pop music—raising eyebrows, expectations and bank accounts for all involved.

Vaughan plays lead guitar on several tracks, including two of the album's many mega-hits ("Let's Dance" and "China Girl"), but guitar-wise, the song that truly kicks collective ass is the less-famous "Cat People (Putting Out the Fire)." It's also got the album's healthiest serving of SRV; he solos in the middle, adds Albert King-style bends throughout and then solos near the end of the song.

Note that Bowie recorded two studio versions of this song in the early Eighties; be sure to seek out the Let's Dance version (not that there's anything wrong with the other one).

WHILE YOU'RE AT IT: It just feels wrong to leave out the album's title track—which millions of people can credit as the first time they heard Stevie Ray Vaughan.

Click here to read about THREE MORE SONGS featuring SRV!


Welcome to the bonus page! I don't think too many people get this far. Poor them ...

Here are three extra tunes that feature Vaughan as the guest guitarist, each interesting in its own way.

Please note that we seriously wanted to include "Bumble Bee Blues" from Brian Slawson's 1988 album, Distant Drums, but it's not available on YouTube. You can always track down the CD on eBay for about $5.

Anyway, here we go:

Stevie Wonder, "Come Let Me Make Your Love Come Down," from Characters (1987)

While the Vaughan-heavy video below is promising, it's also misleading.

Sadly, the finished studio recording of this 1987 Stevie Wonder track features much less of Vaughan's playing, although he can be heard closer to the end of the song, going head to head with B.B. King. So make the most of this video!


Don Johnson, "Love Roulette," from Heartbeat (1986)

What's interesting about this one? First of all, Miami Vice star Don Johnson released an album in 1986. Second of all, he got Vaughan to play on it. Third of all, the album reached No. 17 on Billboard's Hot 100.

The album, Heartbeat, was a star-studded affair that also featured Dickey Betts of the Allman Brothers Band, Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones, Dweezil Zappa and Willie Nelson. Johnson eventually recorded one more album, 1989's Let It Roll.

Vaughan's solo on "Love Roulette," which you can check out below, starts around 2:51.


And then there's this thing, which is from a weird late-Eighties commercial filmed in New Zealand. We don't know what to make of it (and we don't really like it), but we figured we'd share:

Photo from Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues: Stevie Ray Vaughan album cover

Damian Fanelli is the online managing editor at Guitar World. Follow him on Twitter. Or not. Whatever.

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Jimi Hendrix's Playing Secrets Revealed in New Lesson Series!

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Jimi Hendrix Playing Secrets, Guitar World's exclusive new lesson series, is now available through the Guitar World Lessons App and Webstore. It joins the ranks of the hundreds of lessons already available through Guitar World Lessons.

Learn all of Jimi Hendrix’s essential rhythm and lead guitar techniques, including his go-to soloing patterns, extended pentatonic and blues-scale positions, signature phrasing and articulations, string bending, vibrato and whammy bar usage, strummed octaves, thumb fretting and chord embellishments, plus essential gear and how to recreate Jimi’s tone!

Right now, you can get 13 Jimi Hendrix Playing Secrets lessons for only $14.99!

For more information about Jimi Hendrix Playing Secrets, visit the Guitar World Lessons App and Webstore now.

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B.B. King Casually Changes His Guitar String Onstage Without Stopping the Song — Video

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Here's a little something we picked up from the gang over at Guitar Player.

It's a very cool video of the late B.B. King performing “How Blue Can You Get” at Farm Aid on September 22, 1985.

What makes this performance so special is what happens about three and a half minutes in. King breaks a string on his guitar and changes it himself—onstage—while he continues performing the song.

All the strings are still clearly attached to the guitar at the three-minute mark. The video then cuts to a shot of the horn players, and when it returns to B.B., the highest string is dangling from his headstock.

At around 3:12 you can see a roadie in a blue cap running behind the band; a few seconds later he hands a replacement string to King. After nonchalantly removing the broken string, King winds the new one as he sings up a storm.

This is pure showmanship and professionalism in action. It's one more reason the guitarist, who died last week, will be so dearly missed.

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Review: Musicvox Space Cadet Custom Floyd Rose Guitar — Video

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Musicvox may have concocted some of the most far out and wacky guitar body styles of anything out there today, but generally speaking their guitars’ features are actually somewhat traditional.

In fact, until now all of their models have featured stop tailpieces, with nary a tremolo, vibrato, or whammy bar to be seen. While the Floyd Rose tremolo has been around long enough to be considered vintage or even antique, the addition of a Floyd Rose brings the Musicvox Space Cadet Custom into the modern era and opens up a whole new world to players who have always wanted to try a Musicvox guitar but can’t live without their whammy.

FEATURES The Space Cadet model may be one of Musicvox’s more conservative designs, but it still has very distinctive styling that’s sure to appeal to players who are tired of the same old thing. Construction features include a mahogany body and maple neck with rosewood fingerboard.

Our example was decorated with a limited-edition custom two-tone black and white finish, with contrasting black binding on the body and headstock and white binding on the neck, and gold-plated hardware adding a touch of class.

In addition to the licensed Floyd Rose double-locking tremolo system, the Space Cadet Custom Floyd Rose is equipped with a pair of Musicvox vintage-style humbucking pickups, master volume and tone controls, and a three-position pickup selector switch. The bolt-on neck has 22 medium-jumbo frets, pearloid block inlays, a 25 1/2-inch scale, and a relatively slim and flat C-shaped profile.

PERFORMANCE Musicvox guitars have previously found happy homes in the hands of garage rock, punk, new country, and surf guitarists, but this may be their first model ideal for metal and hard rock guitarists. The vintage-style humbuckers produce loud and proud twang through a clean amp, but when treated with delicious doses of overdrive and distortion they deliver a snarling tone that falls between the honk and howl of a Gretsch Filtertron and the dominant mids of a Gibson PAF. This guitar does both surf and turf equally well.

The Floyd Rose is set up perfectly out of the box in a floating configuration for performing dive bombs and raised pitch shrieks. The flat profile makes the neck comfortable for shredders, and the medium jumbo frets provide plenty of metal to latch onto for sweep picking or over-the-top bends. This is by far Musicvox’s most hot-rodded model to date.

LIST PRICE $999
MANUFACTURER Musicvox, musicvox.com

The licensed Floyd Rose tremolo is set up in a floating configuration and features a gold-plated finish.

Musicvox’s vintage-style humbuckers provide an alluring balance between twangy clean surf tones and aggressive midrange distortion.

THE BOTTOM LINE If you’ve always loved the looks of Musicvox guitars but wanted a whammy bar or even more shred-friendly features, the Space Cadet Custom Floyd Rose is the one you’ve been waiting for.

Jimi Hendrix Experience Perform "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" in Stockholm — Video

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In 2015, where everything, and we mean everything, is turned into a video with minimal effort—whether it deserves to be or not—we tend to forget that it wasn't always like that.

While YouTube abounds with clips of your favorite bands in action from the Seventies onward, "filming things," including live shows by Cream, the Beatles, the Who and the Jimi Hendrix Experience, was still something of a novelty in the Sixties.

Which is why it's so nice to be able to watch all of the Jimi Hendrix Experience's January 9, 1969, show in Stockholm, Sweden. And, as a bonus, to see the full set list from both shows the trio performed that day.

One of the highlights of both shows was the always-epic "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)," the studio version of which appears on 1968's Electric Ladyland.

Below, check out Hendrix, bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell as they simply pound out this droning masterpiece in E (or Eb if you figure in Jimi's tuning). Enjoy!

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