Last month’s column was dedicated to the incredible and highly influential playing of Mountain’s Leslie West, whose beautifully melodic phrasing, signature slow, wide vibrato, and rich guitar tone set the standard for blues-rock–style guitar of the highest order in the late Sixties and early Seventies.

West’s many disciples include fellow guitar gods Eddie Van Halen, Randy Rhoads, Jethro Tull’s Martin Barre, Pete Townshend, Warren Haynes and Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple. Blackmore has stated that Leslie’s phenomenal playing on “Mississippi Queen” redirected the course of Deep Purple’s music in an instant, ultimately resulting in the brutal power and hard rock intensity displayed on Deep Purple in Rock.

For Barre, Leslie’s gift to him of one of his late-Fifties Gibson Les Paul Junior guitars inspired the writing and playing on Jethro Tull’s most successful album in the band’s history, Aqualung. West was also instrumental in the development of the music recorded for the Who’s masterpiece, Who’s Next.

The band Mountain dominated rock radio in 1970 with their smash debut album, Climbing!, but true Leslie West fans know well that his solo debut, Mountain, preceded Climbing! by eight months, and was for many the introduction to his brilliant singing and guitar playing.

A solid effort throughout, the signature track from Mountain is the album’s side-two opener, “Dreams of Milk and Honey,” a song destined to become the centerpiece of every live Mountain show from 1970–72.

FIGURE 1 presents a 16-bar solo played in the style of “Dreams of Milk and Honey.” Akin to most blues and rock players, Leslie’s improvisations are based primarily on pentatonic scales, specifically alternating between E minor pentatonic (E G A B D) over bars 1–6 and 11–14, and A minor pentatonic (A C D E G) over bars 7-10 and 15–16. While playing his improvisations based on each of these scales, he remains rooted in standard “box” positions for each, using the 12th-position box of E minor pentatonic and the fifth-position box of A minor pentatonic.

My primary goal in crafting this tribute solo was to demonstrate Leslie’s solid melodic sense combined with his effortless but equally aggressive rhythmic drive. The lines all employ a combination of rhythms, featuring phrases formed by starting and ending with sustained notes, with steady 16th-note driven melodies placed in between, or lines that begin with a long stream of 16th notes that then culminate with heavily vibrato-ed quarter notes.

In both cases, be sure to lean into the beat when playing these lines, using a robust fret- and pick-hand attack, along with a heavily distorted guitar tone, in order to best replicate the power Leslie always generates in his solos.

This past Tuesday, Donald Trump announced that he's running for president.

At the event, which took place at Trump Tower, Trump played Neil Young's 1989 song "Rockin' in the Free World" nice and loud—as you can hear in the video below—over the venue's public-address system.

This is something Young was none too pleased about.

A brief statement from Young's longtime management company, Lookout, read, "Donald Trump was not authorized to use 'Rockin' in the Free World' in his presidential candidacy announcement. Neil Young, a Canadian citizen, is a supporter of Bernie Sanders for President of the United States of America."

Now Young has added a much longer statement addressing the issue, and you can read it below.

"My song 'Rockin' in the Free World' was used in an announcement for a U.S. presidential candidate without my permission. A picture of me with this candidate was also circulated in conjunction with this announcement, but It was a photograph taken during a meeting when I was trying to raise funds for Pono, my online high-resolution music service.

Music is a universal language. So I am glad that so many people with varying beliefs get enjoyment from my music, even if they don't share my beliefs. But had I been asked to allow my music to be used for a candidate—I would have said no.

I am Canadian and I don't vote in the United States, but more importantly I don't like the current political system in the USA and some other countries. Increasingly democracy has been hijacked by corporate interests. The money needed to run for office, the money spent on lobbying by special interests, the ever increasing economic disparity and the well-funded legislative decisions all favor corporate interests over the peoples.

The Citizens United Supreme Court ruling is proof of this corruption, as well as the proposed trade deals, which would further compromise our rights.

These Corporations were originally created to serve us but if we don't appropriately prioritize they will destroy us. Corporations don't have children. They don't have feelings or soul. They don't depend on uncontaminated water, clean air or healthy food to survive. They are beholden to one thing—the bottom line.

I choose to speak Truth to this Economic Power. When I speak out on corporations hurting the common man or the environment or other species, I expect a well-financed disinformation campaign to be aimed my way.

Such is the case with the reaction to my new album The Monsanto Years, which covers many of these issues. I support those bringing these issues to light and those who fight for their rights like Freedom of Choice. But Freedom of Choice is meaningless without knowledge. That's why it's crucial we all get engaged and get informed.

That's why GMO labeling matters. Mothers need to know what they are feeding their children. They need freedom to make educated choices at the market. When the people have voted for labeling, as they have in Vermont, they need our support when they are fighting these corporate interests trying to reverse the laws they have voted for and passed in the democratic process.

I do not trust self-serving misinformation coming from corporations and their media trolls. I do not trust politicians who are taking millions from those corporations either. I trust people. So I make my music for people not for candidates.

Keep on Rockin' in the Free World. — Neil Young"

Soundwall Rock Music Camp is an overnight rock and roll camp for students ages 12 to 17. It is open to guitar players, bass players, drummers, keyboardists and vocalists.

Under the guidance of seasoned instructors, Soundwall students are encouraged to study, develop and hone their craft.

The camp offers two week-long sessions that take place at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where students are introduced to a number of music-related activities such as music theory, instrumental technique, recording techniques and performance preparation.

For more information, check out Soundwall's website at RockCamp.Org.

During her recent visit to Guitar World HQ in New York City, seven-string guitarist the Commander-In-Chief took some time to discuss—and demo—her guitar strings of choice, DR Strings.

From the company:

DR Neons—like the ones the Commander-in-Chief is using in the video below—are super-bright, color-coated strings that sound clear, bright and musical. Players love the bright Neon colors and their remarkable sound. Super bright in daylight and under stage lighting, DR Neons are 100 percent black-light reactive and glow strongly under UV lighting.

Neons are the first coated string to make no apologies. While Neons last as long as a coated string should (three to four times as long as uncoated strings), they sound as good, or better, than uncoated strings.

You can pick your own neon colors at drstrings.com. Be sure to follow DR Strings on Facebook.

The Commander-in-Chief's new album, 2 Guitars: The Classical Crossover Album, which she recorded with classical guitarist Craig Ogden, is available now.

For more information on the new album and the Commander-in-Chief, visit commandermusic.com.

As a musician, Paul McCartney is probably best known for his creative, melodic Beatles and Wings bass lines, but he's always been a guitarist at heart.

The guitar was, after all, his first instrument (if you ignore the trumpet his father gave him for his 14th birthday), and it's always been his main songwriting tool.

Here are McCartney's top six (yes, six) electric guitar solos as a Beatle. Sure, George Harrison played most of the Fab Four's lead guitar parts, but McCartney stepped in occasionally, as did John Lennon (and Eric Clapton, for that matter).

Enjoy!

06. "Back in the USSR,"The Beatles, aka the White Album (1968)

By the White Album era, the days of the Beatles sticking to their traditional roles were very much over. In this case, McCartney wrote the song, sang it and played drums on it. Why not play lead guitar, too?

The solo, which follows the melody line, is simple but effective—and don't forget his fine, fast, alternate picking during the last verse.

05. "Another Girl,"Help! (1965)

This "solo" is more of a collection of creative, bouncy fills and bends by McCartney—enough to make it obvious that he started out as a guitarist.

Check out this scene from Help!, below, where George Harrison, playing John Lennon's black Rickenbacker 325, mimes McCartney's lead parts as McCartney plays bass.

04. "Tomorrow Never Knows,"Revolver (1966)

"People tend to credit John with the backwards recordings, the loops and the weird sound effects, but the tape loops were my thing," McCartney says in Barry Miles'Many Years From Now."The only thing I ever used them on was 'Tomorrow Never Knows.' It was nice for this to leak into the Beatle stuff as it did.

"We ran the loops and then we ran the track of 'Tomorrow Never Knows' and we played the faders, and just before you could tell it was a loop, before it began to repeat a lot, I'd pull in one of the other faders, and so, using the other people, 'You pull that in there,''You pull that in,' we did a half random, half orchestrated playing of the things and recorded that to a track on the actual master tape, so that if we got a good one, that would be the solo. We played it through a few times and changed some of the tapes till we got what we thought was a real good one. I think it is a great solo."

Rumor has it that McCartney's "Tomorrow Never Knows" guitar parts are actually transplants from "Taxman."

03. "The End,"Abbey Road (1969)

The extended guitar jam on "The End," the Abbey Road finale (unless you count "Her Majesty"), also could make the list of the best Beatles guitar solos by Harrison and/or Lennon, since all three guitarists take turns soloing for two bars each.

McCartney starts it off, followed by Harrison, followed by Lennon—around and around until "the end." And speaking of solos, it's also the only Beatles song to include a Ringo Starr drum solo.

02. "Good Morning, Good Morning,"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)

Young, guitar-playing Beatles fans are often disappointed when they find out Harrison didn't play this very 1967-sounding, brash, psychedelic, distorted, raga-inspired gem from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The solo was, in fact, played by McCartney.

01. "Taxman,"Revolver (1966)

On what is clearly one of the most powerful guitar solos to be found on a Beatles song, McCartney channels a bit of Jeff Beck (with descending pull-offs a la "Shapes of Things") and gives a nod to Harrison's current, Indian-inspired frame of mind.

"I was pleased to have Paul play that bit on 'Taxman'," Harrison said in 1987. "If you notice, he did like a little Indian bit on it for me."

Damian Fanelli is the online managing editor at Guitar World and Guitar Aficionado. His New York-based band, the Blue Meanies, has toured the world and elsewhere. DF, a former member of Brooklyn jump-blues/rockabilly band the Gas House Gorillas and New York surf-rock band Mister Neutron, writes GuitarWorld.com's The Next Bend, a column dedicated to B-benders. Follow him on Facebook,Twitter and/or Instagram.

Sometimes—although it is rare—the worlds of guitars and art meet up.

Something along these lines is taking place at the Center for Contemporary Art in Aalst, Belgium.

Ruben D’Hers, a guitarist and sound artist from Caracas, sees “chords as autonomous sound spaces” and uses acoustic guitars and motors to create a juxtaposition of "organic" and "machine."

In this work, which is titled "chords tunnel #1," D’Hers hangs 40 acoustic guitars and 40 tiny suspended motors on the walls of the Center for Contemporary Art.

With a small propeller or vibrating cable, each motor strums a different chord, creating some very nice and unique dissonance. Check out the video below.

As they promised to do earlier this week, today Slayer unveiled the title track from their new album, Repentless.

The track, which featuring guitarists Kerry King and Gary Holt—both of whom are in fine shredding form—proves Slayer can still crank it up with the best of them after three-plus decades.

Check it out below, and let us know what you think in the comments and on Facebook!

Breedlove Stringed Instruments is pleased to announce the addition of the Premier Concert LTD to its USA-handcrafted Premier Series of acoustic instruments.

Reliable, versatile and accessible, these road-ready guitars have earned a reputation among performing musicians as go-to instruments.

Joining this heralded lineup is the Premier Concert LTD, which combines the comfort and playability of our Concert body shape with a Western red cedar top, known for its diverse harmonic abilities and articulation.

The Premier Concert LTD is truly a player’s instrument with a wider nut width and slim neck profile that’s a favorite among fingerstylists.

Exemplifying the best qualities of Breedlove’s Distinctively Crafted Sound, solid Western red cedar was chosen for the top and solid East Indian rosewood for the back and sides—a tonewood combination that rewards a player’s touch with sweet, extended harmonic content and a robust bottom end. Professionals and enthusiasts alike will appreciate the delicate interaction it provides with your individual style of expression.

Premier Concert Rosewood

The Premier Series already offers two of the most revered solid tonewoods available as body woods—East Indian rosewood and Honduran mahogany—combined with a solid Sitka spruce top for a perennially classic tone. Available in Concert, Auditorium, Dreadnought, Parlor, Jumbo and a 12-string model—all boasting LR Baggs EAS VTC electronics—performing musicians have embraced the Premier Series as road-ready workhorses designed to perform flawlessly night after night and stand up to the rigors of the road. The Premier Concert Cedar LTD adds yet another tonal option for discerning players.

The Breedlove Premier Series is available now, including the Premier Concert LTD. All Premier Series models include a deluxe hardshell case and are handcrafted in Bend, Oregon.

For more information, visit breedlovemusic.com/guitars/premier-series.

Sugarcane Jane have amassed an extremely loyal following by performing what they like to call, “organic music at its finest."

Anthony Crawford and his wife, Savana Lee, are both virtuosos. Crawford is a songwriter who plays guitar and mandolin while Lee alternates between rhythm guitar, tambourine and snare drum.

Sugarcane Jane’s new album, Dirt Road’s End, provides a rich, homegrown brand of Americana that draws deep from a well of influences, including country, jazz, rock and gospel. The album was conceived and co-produced by legendary Americana/roots singer-songwriter Buzz Cason.

Dirt Road’s End, which was recorded on a classic Otari MTR-90 tape recorder, traverses a spectrum of moods and stories, including the autobiographical “Ballad of Sugarcane Jane” which features Anthony’s driving guitar work, and “Heartbreak Road," which steams with rock energy and bluegrass spirit.

I recently spoke with Crawford about Dirt Road’s End, recording “old school” and what it was like touring as a member of Steve Winwood and Neil Young’s bands.

GUITAR WORLD: To someone who might not be familiar with Sugarcane Jane, how would you describe your sound?

"Saving the planet one good vibe at a time" is our slogan. Savana and I are energy pushers and write songs that make people feel good. Although we have songs in our repertoire that have deeper meaning, the lyrical content for Dirt Road’s End is more light hearted. Savana and I are in love with each other, and that shows in our music. Ultimately, it’s energetic Americana that’s positive and light hearted.

What was the songwriting process like for Dirt Road’s End?

At one time when I was working in Nashville I was forced to write, but I quickly learned that the best songs are never written. Instead, they’re born. For this record, songs like “Ballad of Sugarcane Jane,” “San Andreas” and “Pedigree” were my lyrics and melody.

For the other seven, I wrote a melody or a piece of music and my co-writer/producer, Buzz Cason, wrote the lyrics. Buzz is such a masterful lyricist who's had a lot of success over the years. He’s always inspired. Then Savana came in and with her vocal and energy. She organized everything and brought it to life.

What made you decide to record this album "old school" style?

When you record with Pro Tools or in another digital format, manipulating the music is easily done. But when you record on analog, not only do you gather a different approach sonically but it also keeps you from the temptation of manipulating what it is you’re doing. Buzz has a studio in Nashville with a 2-inch tape machine and an old analog board and invited us in to record. We wanted to record that way because we wanted to capture exactly what we sound like live and have it be authentic.

What was it like for you working and touring as a guitarist with guys like Neil Young and Steve Winwood?

It was a fabulous time. I was in Steve’s band back when he did the Roll with It tour. I remember when I was on the road with him I was out with some serious musicians, like drummer Russ Kunkel, guys who’ve played on some really big records. We recently opened a show for Steve Winwood in Birmingham at the Alys Stephens Center, which is a beautiful venue.

But my main claim to fame as a sideman was playing with Neil Young. He’s someone who’s on maximum power at all times. For me to have been around him was an honor because not too many people get his approval. You can’t get a better gig than to play with Neil Young. He’s just amazing. He’s one of the most incredible songwriters of our time.

What excites you the most about the future and the next phase of your career?

We’re excited about having a broader audience and continuing to keep our music attached to who we are. Our secret weapon is to be ourselves, and by today’s standards it’s something that’s almost unheard of. We’re real people and want to continue to be ourselves and hopefully inspire other artists to embrace that philosophy and do the same.

James Wood is a writer, musician and self-proclaimed metalhead who maintains his own website, GoJimmyGo.net. His articles and interviews are written on a variety of topics with passion and humor. You can follow him on Twitter @JimEWood.

Minarik is probably best known for its highly original guitar models like the Inferno, Lotus and Orchid, which feature unorthodox body shapes designed as much for function as they are for form.

Minarik’s custom models start at several thousand dollars and can reach well into five figures when elaborate inlay work is added to the order.

However, in recent years Minarik introduced the Studio X-Treme series models, which offer several of Minarik’s innovations but are more cosmetically stripped down to provide similar tone and performance for much more affordable prices. The Studio X-Treme Furii is Minarik’s most affordable model yet.

FEATURES: With its sharp, pointed double-cutaway horns, mahogany set neck attached to a beveled mahogany body and dual humbucker design, the Minarik Furii resembles a Gibson SG but it differs in several significant ways. The most important differences are its larger body size and patented “tone tail” design, where the lower bout has more surface area to enhance bass frequencies and provide wider overall frequency response. The pickguard is also Minarik’s patented Gemini design, which resembles flickering flames.

The pickups are Minarik’s own Tone Perfect models—a Minarik Distortion at the bridge and a Minarik Resonata at the neck. Controls consist of individual volume controls for each pickup, a master tone control and a three-position pickup selector. The bridge features a single-piece wraparound design with individually adjustable saddles for each string. Both the bridge and tuners are gold plated. Neck specs include a bound rosewood fretboard with 22 medium-jumbo frets and pearl inlays, a 14-degree radius, slim C-shaped profile, 1 11/16–inch nut width and 24 3/4–inch scale.

PERFORMANCE: The Furii is the perfect name for this guitar as its tone is absolutely fierce. The pickups sound very aggressive, delivering crisp treble and tight bass that sounds full through a clean amp setting and absolutely huge with high-gain distortion. There’s a nice upper midrange peak that cuts through the mix and absolutely nails the sweet spot for classic rock and metal tones. Don’t be fooled by the SG-style body shape—this guitar’s tone is closer to Explorer territory and delivers a much wider range of frequencies compared to the SG’s dominant midrange personality.

The neck plays very fast, with the slightly squared-off and flat frets providing “fretless wonder” feel but with enough height to retain string contact during extreme bends. The body bevels make the Furii very comfortable to play, making the body seem thinner than it actually is.

STREET PRICE: $499
MANUFACTURER: Minarik Guitars, minarikguitars.com

Minarik’s Tone Perfect Distortion and Resonata pickups deliver crisp treble and tight bass and retain impressive clarity and definition even with high-gain distortion.

The patented “Tone Tail” body design provides more surface area and mass in the lower bout to produce a wider frequency range with enhanced bass.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Fast and furious, the Minarik Furii is an outstanding choice for guitarists who want a guitar that sounds and plays as fierce as it looks.

Everyone knows Eddie Van Halen didn’t invent two-handed tapping. He picked it up from Harvey Mandel, according to George Lynch.

For that matter, Roy Smeck, Harry DeArmond, Jimmie Webster, George Van Eps, Barney Kessel and Emmett Chapman (inventor of the Chapman Stick) are just a few guitarists who employed the technique in the decades before Ed and others, like Stanley Jordan, came along.

You can add Dave Bunker’s name to that list. As you can see in the vintage video clip below, Bunker was a tapping master, with each hand simultaneously working the two necks of his custom-designed electric guitar.

The demonstration below dates to around 1960 and shows Bunker playing his “Touch Guitar” on a TV show called Jubilee USA.

Hosted by country music star Red Foley, the weekly show debuted in 1955 as Ozark Jubilee and was the first U.S. network TV program to feature country music’s biggest stars. It was renamed Country Music Jubilee on July 6, 1957, and was retitled Jubilee USA on August 2, 1958, prior to Bunker’s appearance on it.

Bunker was living in Puyallup, Washington, in the Fifties when he saw Jimmie Webster perform on the University of Washington campus. Webster’s unique two-handed tapping technique interested Bunker, but after trying it himself, he found it was too limited. “While the tapping format used on a single-neck guitar could easily be used in pull-offs and tapping, two hands could still only play six strings with nine fingers,” he notes on the Bunker Guitars web site.

Bunker turned to his dad, an established guitar craftsman, to help him build a guitar with two necks, one for each hand. What they came up with looked unlike any guitar previously made.

Dubbed the Touch Guitar, it featured a typical guitar neck with another neck about twice as wide positioned above it. Both were strung with six strings tuned to standard tuning; the left hand played the bottom neck, while the right played the top neck with the palm of the hand positioned over the neck rather than under it. The necks were intended to be played by fretting or tapping the strings rather than plucking or strumming them.

In 1958, Bunker patented the guitar as the Duo-Lectar and subsequently showed it at NAMM when the show was still held in Chicago’s Palmer House hotel. He recalls sharing space at the Standel amps booth with a young Barbara Mandrell and entertaining guitar greats like Chet Atkins, Mel Bay and Joe Maphis with his Duo-Lectar.

Bunker says Leo Fender approached him with an offer to buy the guitar and Bunker’s related innovations. Leo offered $20,000 and a three percent royalty—“which at the time was like a million dollars,” Bunker notes. But he turned down Fender and continued refining the guitar on his own.

According to a recent Gbase.com description of a 1960 Duo-Lectar, both necks sported a maple fingerboard, with 18 slanted frets on the bass neck and 23 straight frets on the standard. The guitar featured 12 handwound pickups, one for each string, arranged in groups of three. Controls included two volume knobs, two sliders for pickup selection and two for tone control. It also had two outputs, one for each neck.

As you’ve probably figured, the Duo-Lectar never caught on, but Bunker continued to develop the guitar, as well as standard guitars and basses and other guitar innovations, including the Sustainium tension-free neck system, bridge and pickup designs, electronic mute technology and more.

Today, he sells his own line of guitars and basses alongside the latest evolution of his Touch Guitar. Check them out when you’re finished enjoying the video. We’ve also included a newer video of Bunker performing and talking about the Duo-Lectar.

Dentistry, aviation and lion taming are just a few skills I wouldn't attempt after checking out an online tutorial.

Installing an under-the-bridge acoustic pickup? That seemed within reach.

JJB Electronics sells acoustic-guitar pickups kits from basic to complex. The Prestige 330 made a good fit for my first attempt. It is a passive three-piezo transducer set wired straight to an output jack. This means no soldering or hacking out battery or preamp cavities.

The only modifications needed included widening the strap button hole to mount the output jack and gluing the piezo discs under the bridge of the acoustic.

I recommend removing the strings, since you’ll have to work with Super Glue, and fishing the output jack though the body is a bit of an art form.

Widening the strap button hole meant taking the hole from ¼ inch to ½ inch. I taped off the outside area to prevent scratching. I gradually widened the hole with two different drill bits for a safer excavation. Once the hole was big enough for the output jack, it bolted right on.

Next it was time to glue the three piezo discs under the bridge in front of the saddles. Each disc goes between two of the six strings. Because you only get one shot working with Super Glue, I suggest measuring your bridge or taking a few pictures inside the guitar body.

To prep the discs, I wiped them (and the inside of the acoustic) with a damp cloth to remove potential dust. After that, one at a time I put a small drop of Super Glue on each disc and held it into place for about a minute to set.

Post-restringing and soaking my fingers to loosen up accidentally dried on Super Glue, I recorded some clips, which you can check out below. The guitar is my ever-so-fearless Yamaha FS700S. Clip 1 is basically a few chords; clip 2 is fingerpicked.

To pump up the passive pickup, I used my GMF Ai1 acoustic preamp to give it a bit more gain. Cranked up, I’m impressed with the string-to-string volume balance and low noise floor.

Web:jjb-electronics.com
Price: Prestige 330, $49.99

You can't believe everything you read on the Internet, but Billy Voight is a gear reviewer, bassist and guitarist from Pennsylvania. He has Hartke bass amps and Walden acoustic guitars to thank for supplying some of the finest gear on his musical journey. Need Billy's help in creating noise for your next project? Drop him a line at thisguyonbass@gmail.com.

In late April, GuitarWorld.com posted the exclusive premiere of "Gatton," a new instrumental track by guitarist and frequent Guitar World contributor Glenn Proudfoot.

The song also happens to feature a guest appearance by guitarist Johnny Hiland.

Today, we have the sequel, if you will. It's the official transcription of the song, courtesy of Proudfoot.

The song is from his new album, Ineffable, which is available for pre-order through glennproudfoot.com and iTunes.

"This is a really special track for me," Proudfoot says. "Danny Gatton’s playing has been such a huge source of inspiration over the years. A lot of people probably don’t realize it, but I studied bluegrass and country guitar; Danny Gatton and Johnny Hiland where my two biggest country influences and heroes.

"Once I had written this track, I reached out to Johnny and told him it was my little tribute to Danny Gatton. He was very enthusiastic about being a part of it. We really had some fun recording it—great vibes all round.

"Johnny’s playing is simply incredible; he makes everything look so easy, and he totally rips! I'm humbled that he took part in this. It makes it all the more special for me, and I hope for you too."

Proudfoot is playing his Number One Strat through a Victory V100 head and 4-by-12 cabinet. The amp is set on the clean channel, and you're hearing nothing but the guitar.

Ineffable was recorded at Screamlouder Productions in Melbourne, Australia. The video was shot, edited and produced by Peter Reggie Bowman of Screamlouder Productions.

Follow Proudfoot on YouTube, at glennproudfoot.com or on Facebook. Order Ineffable on iTunes right here.

Glenn Proudfoot, "Gatton"

One of the most common roadblocks many jazz guitarists face is that after learning your essential chord shapes, how do you take those inversions and make them into cool-sounding jazz chord lines?

While learning chord shapes is important—since it builds an understanding of jazz harmony and the fretboard in your studies—studying classic jazz guitar chord lines is the next step in turning these chord shapes into music.

In this lesson you’ll study three essential jazz guitar chord soloing lines that will bridge the gap between your study of chord shapes and applying those shapes to a real, musical situation.

The lines are written out in one key, so make sure to transpose them in your practice routine as well as work them at different tempos in your practice routine.

Once you can play these three lines from memory, in a number of keys, try writing out three chord lines of your own over the same progressions as you begin to create your own jazz guitar chord soloing phrases in the woodshed.


Jazz Guitar Chord Soloing Line 1

To begin your study of these three chord soloing lines, here is a phrase that is used to outline a turnaround progression in the key of G major. The line itself is pretty straight forward, but notice how the G#dim7 chord uses a few diatonic notes to run up the fretboard over that part of the tune.

When playing dim7 chords on the guitar, you can take any note in that chord shape and raise it by 2 frets to reach the next diatonic note over that chord. You can see this in action as the Ab moves to Bb and B moves to Db(C#) over the second half of the first bar in the line.

Jazz Guitar Chord Soloing Line 2

In this minor ii-V-I chord soloing line you will be using a number of different E7alt shapes as you navigate the chord changes. Notice how the E7 chord is in the second bar of the progression, but that the chord soloing line begins to outline that chord three beats earlier, in beat 2 of the first bar.

This is a common technique used in jazz guitar lines, where you are anticipating the next chord as you apply it to the previous chord in the progression.

Lastly, there is an F7#9 chord at the end of the first bar that adds a bit of tension as you move up and back by a half step from E7-F7-E7 in that part of the line. This type of chord line is often used to create tension, as the F7 is tense over the E7, which you then resolve when you bring the line back to the original chord, in this case E7alt.

Jazz Guitar Chord Soloing Line 3

Here's a ii-V-I chord line that move up and down the fretboard as you navigate the changes, Gm7-C7-Fmaj7. Notice the use of a triad pair over the Gm7 chord, where you are playing Bb and C triads over that chord.

When playing over m7 chords, you can use major triads from the bIII and IV of that underlying chord, which highlight the intervals b3-5-b7 and 11-6-R respectively. There's also a b9 used over the C7 chord that creates a bit of tension before resolving it down to an Fmaj7 chord to end the phrase in bar 3 of the line.

What do you think about these jazz guitar chord soloing lines? Share your thoughts in the COMMENTS section below.

Matt Warnock is the owner of mattwarnockguitar.com, a free website that provides hundreds of lessons and resources designed to help guitarists of all experience levels meet their practice and performance goals. Matt lives in the UK, where he is a senior lecturer at the Leeds College of Music and an examiner for the London College of Music (Registry of Guitar Tutors).

IK Multimedia, the leader in mobile music creation technology, is pleased to introduce its new Mic Room microphone-modeling app for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

Designed to complement IK’s full range of analog and digital hardware microphones, Mic Room gives musicians, audio engineers, recording hobbyists and everybody in between the ability to “re-mic” their IK Multimedia microphone to sound and perform like the most coveted microphone models of all time.

With classic dynamic, condenser and ribbon microphone models to choose from (plus other unconventional and highly creative models), it offers a treasure chest full of inspiring tone-sculpting tools.

A treasure chest of classic and modern mic tones

At its core, Mic Room is all about enhancing the sonic flexibility and versatility of IK’s range of digital and analog microphones. It lets people change the tone of their favorite IK microphones via a comprehensive and expandable collection of virtual mic models that can be applied to impart the style and character of a number of A-list production studio favorites.

The full version of Mic Room comes with 8 virtual mic models that cover the complete spectrum of sounds from the classic to the contemporary. This initial library can be expanded via in-app purchase—extra content can be bought a-la-carte or as a bundle. Simply put, this means that IK’s range of microphones now have even more sonic range and flexibility than ever before.

Plug and play

Using Mic Room couldn’t be easier. It’s been designed to work seamlessly with IK’s full range of digital and analog microphones for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch (it also works with the built-in mic and Apple headset microphones). That means it fully supports the new iRig Mic Studio as well as iRig Mic HD, iRig Mic Field, iRig Mic, iRig Voice, iRig Mic Cast and the rest of IK’s highly regarded iRig microphone range.

Musicians just need to select their microphone of choice, plug in and then select the virtual mic model they’d like to use. Mic Room will automatically detect the input microphone. Each microphone model can be tweaked to deliver the best sound possible thanks to an intuitive graphic interface that provides an easy-to-read level meter and a touch-and-drag gain knob.

Mic Room is also Audiobus and Inter-App Audio compatible, so it can be effortlessly used with other powerful music creation apps. This unleashes a whole new level of creative possibilities on top of the sonic flexibility imparted by Mic Room itself.

Pricing and availability

Mic Room is available for $/€7.99. An expandable free version is also available. A native iPad version will be available soon.

For more information, visit iTunes and ikmultimedia.com.

Over the weekend, singer Sammy Hagar responded to several claims made by Eddie Van Halen in a high-profile new Billboard interview.

Hagar was particularly upset about Van Halen’s statements concerning former Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony.

In the interview, the guitarist said of Anthony, “I had to show him how to play.” He also claims Anthony would video the sessions to help him remember what he’d been shown.

Van Halen criticized Anthony’s singing, telling Billboard, “He’s not a singer. He just has a range from hell. I have more soul as a singer than he does. And you know, people always talk about Mike’s voice on Van Halen songs, but that’s a blend of Mike’s voice and my voice.”

Hagar responded to those comments with venom—as seen in the video below.

“For Eddie to say he had to show him what to play and had to teach him all those songs, that is the biggest line of bullshit I’ve ever heard in my life. I was in that band for 11 years. There was never a video camera involved of Eddie showing him what to play.

“Eddie would tell him what to play once in a while. ‘No, Mike, don’t play that many notes. Just stay on one note so that I can fuck up and nobody will know it.’ ”

Hagar says that was especially true on the group’s 2004 reunion tour. “If Mike would have played any more than one note, it would have been showing that Eddie wasn’t playing the right chords, again and again and again.”

“Michael Anthony is a bad motherfucker. Fuck you, Eddie Van Halen, for saying that about Mikey. You’re a liar.”

This summer, Slash has been busy touring the world with his trusty backing band, Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators.

If you haven't been able to catch them live, this full, professionally shot video of the group's entire, hard-rocking set at Hellfest in Clisson, France, might be just what you need for a Monday.

The band played:

01. "You're a Lie"
02. "Nightrain "
03. "Avalon"
04. "Back from Cali"
05. "You Could Be Mine"
06. "The Dissident"
07. "World on Fire"
08. "Anastasia"
09. "Sweet Child O' Mine"
10. "Slither"
11. "Paradise City"

Check it out below, and let us know what you think in the comments or on Facebook!

Australia’s Thy Art Is Murder have always pushed the boundaries, cracking the Top 40 album chart in their homeland with their 2012 album Hate (a chart first for the deathcore genre) and undertaking extensive touring with the likes of Fear Factory and Fit for An Autopsy.

With the band’s latest album, Holy War, about to drop, there’s a feeling within underground music circles that this is the record that breaks the band wide open, driving them to new levels of public awareness without compromising the brutality of their sound or the clarity of their vision.

The album came together from material written on the road over the past year as well as in a vacation house on the New South Wales Central Coast. Then the band spent a few weeks in the studio before recording began.

Ultimately half the album was written in the four weeks before recording began, with the band pushing through the mounting expectations from fans and media. “I think there was a bit of pressure but I wasn’t too concerned,” guitarist Sean Delander says.

“We were going to write the songs that we were going to write and that’s that. I like to think that the vision we have is the right one and if you start to write for fans or the critics it’s going to lose something along the way.”

“Our producer Will Putney would walk past the pre-production room and probably once a day yell out ‘reign of darkness!” guitarist Andy Marsh deadpans.

“So there was that pressure. And it’s worthy of note that Sean definitely did crumble. One night, late at night I walked past the pre-production room he’d been writing riffs in and he was laying on his back playing Jeff Buckley at three in the morning singing to himself.”

Holy War sees founder Delander returning to guitar after spending the last four years playing bass. The bass role is now handled by Kevin Butler, who has toured with the band here and there for the last year or two. “It was a decision I’d been meaning to make for a few years now,” Delander says.

“I’d been jumping around between guitar and bass. And I do a lot of the writing, so I just figured it would be better if I was playing live as well to get the songs to come across the way I picture them and the way they sound on the record.”

Be sure to check out Thy Art Is Murder on the Victory Records Stage at the Mayhem Festival all summer long throughout the U.S.

Legendary U.K. rockers the Pretty Things have announced The Sweet Pretty Things (Are in Bed Now, of Course...), their first new studio album in seven years.

The album is set for a July 12 release via Repertoire Records.

The disc, the title of which is a reference to a line from Bob Dylan's "Tombstone Blues," was recorded on vintage analog equipment with longtime producer Mark St. John.

"We set up the band's vintage back line of all Sixties Selmer valve amps, Jack's vintage Slingerland/Camco drum kit, put Phil on a high stool in the vocal booth, I threw up a few old valve microphones and hit the 'Record' button," St. John said.

"It was a really energetic and creative session, with everyone contributing fully in their own way and influences coming from all directions."

You can pre-order the album here.

Here’s a masterful take on Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” from acoustic guitarist Miguel Rivera that was uploaded today, June 22.

We’ll let Rivera explain the background of his percussive/fingerstyle cover:

“I decided to start working [on] this arrangement because it was a great challenge. When you listen to the chorus of the original song, you can hear the main riff (recorded by Steve Lukather) together with the Michael's vocal melody and, of course, drums, bass and other instruments.”

”My objective was to play all [of these parts] together: the main riff, the vocal melody and the percussion part. I had to find the proper tuning and make good use of the harmonics, but in the end I got it.”

It’s an impressive arrangement right down to the Eddie Van Halen-inspired solo.

Check out the video below, and follow Rivera on Facebook here.