The Loar has introduced the LH-301T archtop electric guitar.

Building the LH-301T was an easy decision for The Loar's workshop after successes with numerous vintage-style archtop and small-body models.

"There's something about an electric guitar with resonant chambers; having a fully hollow soundbox really creates a sound that can't be duplicated by any other means," says Travis Atz, the company's director of product development.

"After seeing today's popular artists playing hard-to-find vintage versions of this same type of guitar, we knew we had to build something with the same sound and vibe."

The LH-301T is a fully hollow, extremely lively electric archtop with a 1-1/2-inch body depth and 16-inch lower bout.

Thanks to the 1-11/16-inch nut width and 24-3/4-inch scale, electric players will feel comfortable from the first note. The Loar's single P-90 pickup covers a broad range of tones, from clean and jazzy to crunchy and overdriven.

The maple top, back and sides, and comfortable c-shape mahogany neck provide the ideal foundation for a great-sounding guitar that turns heads with tons of vintage vibe.

From smoother acoustic tones to aggressive power chords, the LH-301T delivers style, elegance and power for players who want true vintage inspiration.

The LH-301T is available in Vintage Sunburst finish and has a street price of $499.99. It comes with The Loar's industry-leading lifetime warranty.

For more information about the guitar, visit theloar.com.

On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of Taylor Guitars, co-founder Bob Taylor shares his vision for the company's guitar-making future and explains why master builder Andy Powers is good for both Taylor and the next generation of guitar players.

Find out more at www.taylorguitars.com

Steve Stine, highly sought-after guitar educator, teaches live online group and private classes at LessonFace.com. His beginner guitar course, Guitar 101, starts Saturday, April 12, 2014. Head here for more info!

It’s been a couple of months since I started my lesson series on achieving absolute fretboard mastery, and we’ve covered quite a bit of ground over the last three installments (all of which you can find under RELATED CONTENT to the left).

In today’s lesson, we’re going to touch on an interesting concept that involves combining the minor pentatonic and major pentatonic scales.

If you’re new to this series, the things I talk about in this lesson might seem a bit sudden or haphazard. So to get the most out of this lesson, I recommend you check out the last three installments of the series first (Again, see RELATED CONTENT to the left).

Let’s get started!

So far in this series, we’ve learned to play minor pentatonic and major pentatonic across the fretboard, and if you’ve practiced your meandering, you should be able to visualize these scales across your whole fretboard with ease.

Last time, we spoke about adding the blue note into these scales to create the signature blues sound. What we’re going to be doing today is drawing on this knowledge to learn how to combine the minor and major pentatonic scales to create patterns that give us a very unique and interesting sound.

For this example, let’s start off by running through the first position of A minor pentatonic starting on the fifth fret of the sixth string:

Next, let’s run through the second position of A major pentatonic, which starts on the same fret:

What we want to do now is train ourselves to see these two positions together. A little trick that helps to start off this blending process, if you will, is by first looking at the notes on the first and second strings and combining the scales on these two strings.

As far as the minor pentatonic is concerned, you’ll notice you’re playing the notes on the fifth and eighth frets, and the notes on the fifth and seventh frets for the major pentatonic. To start off, what we’re going to do is combine these elements. For example, we can play the fifth- and seventh-fret notes on the second string and the fifth- and eighth-fret notes on the first string:

You’ll notice how this suddenly translates into a very interesting sound. But you’ll also notice that if you simply combine the notes in these two scales on the two strings, it creates more of a basic, "Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti" sound:

When combining these two scales, what we want to learn is how to phrase our notes to make sure we stick to the more rock and roll or blues-esque pentatonic sound we’re starting off with. Instead of just combining the notes in both scales, think about how we’re going to alternate between these two scales to create the sound we’re after.

For example, here’s a fun little shape you can start off with that combines these scales:

Start playing around the notes in this pattern and you’ll start to hear how much more unique and interesting it sounds than if we were to just play in minor pentatonic or major pentatonic.

When utilizing this concept in your playing, the most important part is knowing when to use major pentatonic, when to use minor pentatonic and when to use this hybrid scale. This is where our old trick of meandering comes in. For this week’s practice, start off by meandering across this new pattern we’ve learned to really get a feel for mixing up the minor and major pentatonic.

Another thing I want you to focus on this month is to start adding the essential techniques like hammer-ons, pull-offs, slides, bends and vibrato into your usual meandering.

For example, let’s look at a basic jam involving hammer-ons that we can use when combining major and minor pentatonic:

In this example, not only are we combining the major pentatonic and minor pentatonic, but we’re also going from the minor third to the major third of the A chord to create a really cool bluesy rock and roll sound.

So the fifth fret note is actually from the minor chord and the sixth fret note is from the major chord.

You see, this is the really cool thing about blues and rock and roll. Sometimes things that don’t really make sense logically make sense in rock. Which is why we start off by tackling a lot of concepts in terms of visual shapes as opposed to traditional theory.

Until my next installment, I want you to focus on what we’ve covered today and work hard on meandering on this combined scale while incorporating essential techniques like hammer-ons and pull-offs. I also want you to check out a video I did for Guitar World called "Essential Blues Basics: Soloing with the Combined Major and Minor Pentatonic Scales."

As always, practice hard, and stay tuned for next month’s installment!

Guitar 101 with Steve Stine starts Saturday, April 12, 2014. Click here for more information and to enroll.

Steve Stine is a longtime and sought-after guitar teacher who is professor of Modern Guitar Studies at North Dakota State University. Over the last 27 years, he has taught thousands of students, including established touring musicians, and released numerous video guitar lesson courses via established publishers. A resident of Fargo, North Dakota, today he is more accessible than ever before through the convenience of live online guitar lessons at LessonFace.com.

Omnivore Recordings will soon release the full-length version of The Garden Spot Programs, 1950, featuring 24 performances from Hank Williams.

Rescued from obscurity, these shows originally aired more than six decades ago; The Garden Spot Programs, 1950 collects material from the four episodes now known to exist.

Due out May 20, 2014, the set follows the release of Omnivore’s collectible 10” vinyl Record Store Day EP sampler.

From hits to standards to songs rarely (if ever) performed, this is pure Hank Williams, including playful between-song banter. The release was painstakingly transferred, restored and mastered from original transcription discs by Grammy Award-winning engineer Michael Graves.

Watch a trailer for the release, courtesy of Omnivore Recordings:

Williams’ daughter, Jett, is excited that her father’s lost material is not only seeing the light of day decades later, but will be available on CD, digital and LP.

The CD packaging contains rare photos and liner notes from the collection of set co-producer and Williams biographer Colin Escott. Also available on LP, the first pressing will be on limited edition, translucent red vinyl (with black vinyl to follow), containing Escott’s informative notes and a download card.

Escott writes in his notes: “Set the time machine for early morning on KSIB-AM, Creston, Iowa. February 1950. Country radio was beginning its slow transition from live music to DJ shows. Live music and DJ shows were augmented by transcribed shows. After buying 15 minutes of airtime on small-market stations, sponsors would prerecord shows with well known artists, duplicate them, and ship them out on 12 or 16-inch transcribed discs.”

“That’s how Hank Williams came to be on KSIB in February 1950. Sandwiched between the local ‘live’ acts, it was almost as if he were visiting with Skeets and those Radio Rascals. His sponsor was one of the nation’s largest plant nurseries, Naughton Farms, seven hundred miles south in Waxahachie, Texas. Given that Naughton was a big player in the nursery business, Hank’s shows were almost certainly shipped to many small stations, but only KSIB’s copies survived. Those of us who have studied Hank’s life and career had no idea that these recordings existed.”

“It’s incredible to me that we’re still finding new recordings by my dad — great ones at that,” says Jett Williams. “No one even suspected that these recordings existed. We partnered with Omnivore Recordings for this release, and I especially love it that they’re taking my dad back to vinyl.”

Track Listing:
1. The Garden Spot Jingle
2. Lovesick Blues
3. A Mansion On The Hill
4. Fiddle Tune
5. I’ve Just Told Mama Goodbye
6. Closing/Oh! Susanna
7. The Garden Spot Jingle
8. Mind Your Own Business
9. Lovesick Blues
10. Fiddle Tune
11. At The First Fall Of Snow
12. Closing/Oh! Susanna
13. The Garden Spot Jingle
14. I Can’t Get You Off Of My Mind
15. I Don’t Care (If Tomorrow Never Comes)
16. Fiddle Tune
17. Farther Along
18. Closing/Oh! Susanna
19. The Garden Spot Jingle
20. I’ll Be A Bachelor ’Til I Die
21. Wedding Bells
22. Fiddle Tune
23. Jesus Remembered Me
24. Closing/Oh! Susanna

Tracks 1 - 6 taken from Naughton Farms Garden Spot Show #4
Tracks 7 - 12 taken from Naughton Farms Garden Spot Show #9
Tracks 13 - 18 taken from Naughton Farms Garden Spot Show #10
Tracks 19 - 24 taken from Naughton Farms Garden Spot Show #11

Find out more here.

Here's a cool tapping run that starts on the high E string and moves across the neck to the A string.

It’s based around the A minor pentatonic box at the fifth fret and includes a couple of color tones added on the D and A strings, namely B and F#.

I tap with my middle finger and begin this lick by lightly flicking the string with the finger to get the sound going, basically doing a "phantom" pull-off to the A note at the fifth fret.

I then play a sequence that goes "hammer, tap, pull" and repeats as I move across the strings, initiating the first note on each lower string with a "hammer-on from nowhere" with my fret-hand ring finger. I do this a lot in my tapping forays.

You’ll notice I backtrack at a couple of points in bars 1 and 2 and move back to the previous string, which I do to extend the run. When doing this, I’ll tap the first note on the higher string.

I finish the lick by pulling off to the open A string, which I then lightly touch directly over the fifth fret to produce a high A natural harmonic, two octaves above the fundamental. I then decorate this final note with a whammy bar dip, shake and dive.

Mastodon guitarist Brent Hinds bursts out of the control room at the Cabin studio at Dark Horse Recording, his perpetually windswept hair framing a thousand-yard stare.

“I’m recording the last vocal for the album,” he says, pacing to keep his mood revved up.

Behind the wooden door, producer Nick Raskulinecz is listening to the playback of the song, one of the tracks for Mastodon’s forthcoming album.

A few minutes later he pops out and calls “ready,” and Hinds submerges for another round, leaving drummer Brann Dailor in the studio’s lounge watching the 1969 horror film Rosemary’s Baby, an edgy thriller about the arrival of the antichrist.

Dailor explains that psychological horror flicks—including the bloody ax-fest The Shining—have helped fuel the sessions for the album, which is due in June. But so has the Cabin’s bucolic character. Located in Franklin, Tennessee, the studio looks like a dwelling in The Hobbit’s Shire, with its rustic natural wood walls nestled into a verdant hollow bordering a corral. Later, Hinds shows a photo of himself petting a boney old horse.

But as usual, there’s nothing rustic about the new album Mastodon are creating. The Atlanta-based post-metal group’s sixth studio disc promises to be another ambitious soundscape of sharp-elbowed, cascading and orchestral guitars courtesy of Hinds and Bill Kelliher, driven by the locomotive thrust and hairpin meter shifts of Dailor and bassist Troy Sanders.

Together, they work in support of the big, bold, upfront vocal melodies that distinguish Mastodon from most other bands that stake their reputation on whipping up teetering avalanches of heavy, adventurous rock and roll.

Like 2011’s The Hunter, the new disc steps away from the concept album strategy that fueled Mastodon’s first four releases Remission, Leviathan, Blood Mountain and Crack the Skye.

“The songs are loosely based on the personal experiences and traumatic events that happened to each of us, taking the last year of our lives and translating that to a record,” Kelliher says.

Although Hinds says he’s done the lion’s share of the new album’s songwriting and singing, Kelliher also had a heavy hand in the tunes and kick-started the disc when he and Dailor convened in the practice studio he built for the group in Atlanta to begin cutting demos.

Notes Hinds, “This is the first time we recorded an album in its entirety in our practice pad before we went into the studio, and that gave us a vision of where we were really going.”

During the extensive pre-production process, Raskulinecz—who has worked with the Foo Fighters, Evanescence, the Deftones and Danzig—delivered a combination of inspiration and tough love. Kelliher explains, “Nick listened to what we were doing in our studio and said, ‘You’re not ready yet! You’re Mastodon! I want some fucking Mastodon heaviness! I’m coming back in two weeks and you better be ready.’ And when we were hitting our mark, he would run around the room like a maniac, totally into it.”

The result can certainly be called fucking Mastodon heaviness, with numbers like “Cold Dark Place” and “Northside Star” delivering a wallop while showing the group’s maturity. This is the second album Kelliher has recorded since becoming sober, and Hinds showed support by not drinking during the sessions.

Dailor, who delivers his first lead vocal in “The Weight,” and Raskulinecz began tracking by themselves at the Cabin in early December. Next came Sanders, followed by the tag team of Hinds and Kelliher.

Both guitarists hauled their road heads and cabinets into the studio and dove into the trove of effects and pedals that lie around the Cabin like rats on a tramp steamer. Key to their work on the album was the Axe-Fx guitar processor, with its ability to emulate hundreds of vintage and modern amps, cabs, stomp boxes and studio effects.

With so many toys on offer, Hinds and Kelliher were inclined to stack up layers of six-strings, but Raskulinecz kept them in check. “Sometimes there would be just our two basic guitar tracks on part of a song, and Nick would say, ‘Okay, that’s done,’ ” Hinds says. “He has a real sense of when it’s necessary to add lots of guitars to beef things up and when spare is already heavy enough.”

Adds Kelliher, “This album is another step in the evolution of our sound. Each of our records have taken us to a different place.”

But Hinds won’t feel he’s necessarily reached that location until he hears the final mixes.

Mastodon had to bolt for an Australian tour right after he finished that last vocal track, and Raskulinecz will be sending the band mixes while they’re Down Under. “I never get that sense of completion until I’ve heard the finals,” Hinds says. “What I’m looking for is what I’m hearing in my head, and you don’t describe that. You have to play the song. You have to actually hear it.”

Ok, so you may be asking yourself, “Why is a metal bass player being featured on Acoustic Nation?” Wait for it.

By now we’re all convinced that Robert Trujillo is a monster bassist. The job of providing the low end in Metallica – a band known for their lineage of fantastic bass players – is no easy task. But Trujillo delivers.

What you’ll discover today, however, is that Trujillo’s musicality stretches beyond the bass. That’s right, we’re talking classical guitar maestro over here.

Below, be astonished by Trujillo’s natural flamenco-style playing – it seems James Hetfield is pretty surprised as well. This footage is included in Metallica’s Making Magnetic DVD.

Trujillo, along with Hetfield and Kirk Hammett (who, as Hetfield jokingly jabs “is in jeopardy of losing his job”) proceed to work on a song spawned from Trujillo's riffing.

A lover of flamenco guitar, Trujillo has been seen on stage jamming with classical guitar virtuosos Rodrigo y Gabriela. Perhaps another video for another time.

Enjoy!

See what Metallica is up to at https://www.metallica.com/

Check out Guitar World's guide to 11 essential thrash metal albums — discs or downloads every self-respecting metalhead should have in his/her record collection.

Why 11?

"Well, it's one louder, isn't it?"

From Kill 'Em All to Cowboys From Hell, these manic slabs of musical mayhem provide an excellent aural history of the rise of one of metal's most enduring sub-genres.

How many of these albums do you own?

O.A.R. and Phillip Phillips have announced a 25-city co-headlining tour.

The tour includes stops a iconic summertime venues as Red Rocks outside of Denver, Colorado, and Jones Beach in Long Island, New York.

O.A.R. has just wrapped up production on a brand new album – The Rockville LP– which is set for release June 10th on Vanguard Records.

Since their formation in 1996, O.A.R. (singer Marc Roberge, drummer Chris Culos, guitarist Richard On, bassist Benj Gershman and saxophonist Jerry DePizzo) has logged millions of miles on the road and released seven studio albums, spawning such hit singles as “Shattered” “Heaven” and “Love and Memories.”

Take a listen to “Peace,” the debut single from The Rockville LP:

Phillip Phillips also recently released the single “Raging Fire,” the first track from his upcoming release Behind The Light, set for release on May 19th on 19 Recordings/Interscope.

Watch the lyric video for "Raging Fire":

Tour Dates:

6/12/14 - St. Louis, MO Fox Theatre
6/13/14 - Kansas City, MO Crossroads
6/14/14 - Morrison, CO Red Rocks Amphitheatre
6/15/14 - Council Bluffs, IA Harrah’s Stir Cove
6/17/14 - Columbus, OH LC Pavilion
6/18/14 - Pittsburgh, PA Stage AE
6/20/14 - Cleveland, OH Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica
6/21/14 - Chicago, IL FirstMerit Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island
6/22/14 - Sterling Heights, MI Freedom Hill Amphitheatre
6/27/14 - Indianapolis, IN Farm Bureau Ins. Lawn at White River (O.A.R. only)
6/28/14 - Cincinnati, OH Riverbend Music Center
6/29/14 - Milwaukee, WI Summerfest (O.A.R. only)
7/2/14 - Lewiston, NY Art Park
7/5/14 - Gilford, NH Meadowbrook
7/6/14 - Mashantucket, CT Foxwoods Resort Casino
7/10/14 - Boston, MA Blue Hills Bank Pavilion
7/11/14 - Wantagh, NY Nikon at Jones Beach Theater
7/12/14 - Holmdel, NJ PNC Bank Arts Center
7/13/14 - Raleigh, NC Red Hat Amphitheater
7/16/14 - Charlotte, NC Uptown Amphitheatre at the NC Music Factory
7/18/14 - Philadelphia, PA Festival Pier at Penn's Landing
7/19/14 - Columbia, MD Merriweather Post Pavilion
7/20/14 - Portsmouth, VA nTelos Wireless Pavilion
7/24/14 - Glen Allen, VA Innsbrook After Hours
7/25/14 - Charleston, SC Family Circle Magazine Stadium
7/26/14 - Atlanta, GA Chastain Park Amphitheatre

For tickets and more information, fans are encouraged to go to ofarevolution.com or phillipphillips.com.

IK Multimedia has announced a new iPhone, iPad and iPod touch app that will delight Orange Amplifier fanatics around the globe: AmpliTube Orange for iPhone/iPod touch and iPad.

Officially licensed and developed in close partnership with Orange Amps, AmpliTube Orange is a real-time mobile Orange Amplifier and effects studio featuring digital models of five classic and modern Orange guitar amps and one Orange bass amp.

Each amp and cab model has been meticulously recreated in looks and sound to deliver spot-on Orange tone any time, everywhere.

Orange Appeal

Derived from the fan-favorite desktop version of AmpliTube Orange, the app offers five guitar amps and one bass amp.

Guitar amps included are the 40th anniversary reissue of the single channel “pics only” original OR50, the ultra-versatile “dirty” channel of the Rockerverb 50 MKII with multiple gain stages, the dual-channel 200-watt Thunderverb 200, the simple yet powerful original Tiny Terror “lunchbox amp," and the straight-ahead “British voiced” AD30.

For bass players, AmpliTube Orange also spotlights the single channel vintage inspired AD 200 Bass MK 3 offering a huge range of bass tones from ultra clean to pure dirt and grit.

AmpliTube Orange also features perfectly matched Orange speaker cabinets as well — the 4x12” PPC, 1x12” PPC, 2x12” PPC, 2x12” AD30 and the 1x15” OBC. The cabinets are individually selectable, so they can be mixed and matched with other amp heads for different sound possibilities.

Stompbox Effects Mania

Even though Orange doesn’t make stompbox effects, IK Multimedia has created four vintage-styled Orange-inspired effects to make AmpliTube Orange a versatile stage and studio suite.

Players will find four staple effects: a “Noise Filter” for keeping the hiss down when the gain is cranked; the “Highway Drive” vintage inspired overdrive pedal with crunch, level and tone controls, the “Echo Trip” delay pedal with feedback, delay time, level and tone controls, and “The Shaker” tremolo pedal with rate, depth and inspirational “shape” control.

Recording Studio

After dialing in their favorite tones, players can start recording thanks to AmpliTube Orange’s built-in recorder. The recorder section can be expanded via in-app purchase (four tracks on iPhone/iPod touch, eight tracks on iPad) for multi-track recording and composition.

The full recorder features a bounce function that frees up tracks for limitless recording, and a master effects section with global reverb, EQ and compression. Players can record complete compositions without leaving AmpliTube Orange.

AmpliTube Orange is also Inter-App Audio and Audiobus compatible, so it can be used as an input or effect in other compatible audio apps like GarageBand, making it perfect for injecting Orange tone into other audio environments.

Practice Buddy

AmpliTube Orange is also the perfect practice tool, thanks to its built-in “Song” section. The Song section allows a user to import any audio from their device iTunes library and play along.

It features a “no voice” button that cancels the center portion of the stereo field (where most vocals and leads are placed) making soloing over existing recordings a breeze. There’s also a speed control that allows users to slow down (or speed up) audio material without changing pitch, allowing players to learn difficult passages or enhance their speed and precision.

Standalone or AmpliTube in-app

AmpliTube Orange is available as a standalone app from the App StoreSM, an “in-app” purchase bundle within AmpliTube, or individual amps and effects can be purchased a-la-carte as in-app purchases within AmpliTube. This gives players the flexibility to choose the bundle or individual models as their needs change.

Plugging In and Control

With IK Multimedia’s range of interfaces and controllers for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Mac/PC, getting a guitar signal to AmpliTube Orange is as simple as plugging into an amplifier.

iRig HD and iRig PRO are the newest digital interfaces that allow players to plug into an iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and a Mac or PC and deliver pristine quality pure guitar signal. iRig BlueBoard is the advanced Bluetooth pedalboard that allows for control of presets and sound parameters in AmpliTube, wirelessly, from the floor, without laying your axe down.

Pricing and Availability

AmpliTube Orange is available now on the App StoreSM in two versions: AmpliTube Orange for iPhone/iPod touch and AmpliTube Orange for iPad for $14.99/€13.99 each. The 4–Track recorder and 8-Track recorder with master effects section on iPhone and iPad cost $9.99/€8.99 and $14.99/€13.99 respectively as an in-app purchase.

AmpliTube Orange is also available as a bundle for existing AmpliTube users for $14.99/€13.99 as an in-app purchase. Individual gear models are also available for in-app purchase, price ranging from $2.99/€2.69 to $6.99/€5.99.

More Info

iPhone: amplitube.com/orangeiphone
iPad: amplitube.com/orangeipad

For more information about IK’s range of interfaces and accessories for iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Mac/PC, visit ikmultimedia.com.

In this edition of In Deep, we’ll examine some of the signature elements of the brilliant blues-rock guitarist Gary Moore’s stunning, immediately identifiable guitar style.

Born in 1952, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Moore picked up the guitar at the age of eight, inspired by the music of Elvis Presley, the Shadows and the Beatles.

But his strongest influences were John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers guitarists Eric Clapton and Peter Green, as well as legendary electric blues progenitors Albert King, B.B King and Albert Collins. Another important influence was Jimi Hendrix; Moore would regularly include Hendrix’s slow blues “Red House” in his live shows.

Though Moore was often seen playing a beautiful Fiesta Red 1961 Strat, his signature sound is more closely associated with the beloved 1959 Les Paul Standard that he played for many years (see sidebar on page 36). He purchased that guitar from Peter Green in 1970 and, fittingly, used it to record his 1995 tribute to his mentor, Blues for Greeny.

Often, Moore would begin a song using the warm tone of his Les Paul’s neck pickup, with which he would perform melodic, vocal-like lines, then switch over to the bridge pickup for his solos to achieve a more aggressive and biting sound.

Moore often employed a fair amount of gain—courtesy of Marshall heads (often JTM45s), 4x12 basketweave Marshall cabinets and Marshall Guv’nor and Ibanez Tube Screamer pedals—and was known for conjuring tremendous sustain, such as the celebrated “endless note” featured in his live performances of his classic song “Parisienne Walkways.”

A great way to approach incorporating Gary Moore–style licks into your playing is to start with the most essential scale for blues/rock soloing, the minor pentatonic. FIGURE 1 shows the A minor pentatonic scale in fifth position.

The fingering I use for this scale is index-pinkie on the low E string, switching to index-ring finger for the rest of the scale. One of the unusual things about Moore’s style is that he preferred to use his middle finger in conjunction with his index for a great many of his licks, similar to the fretting approach of Gypsy jazz great Django Reinhardt. When playing this type of scale in this position, Moore would often use his index and ring fingers on the top two strings and the low E string but would switch to index-middle for all the other strings.

Occasionally, Moore would stick with the index-middle approach across virtually all of the strings, along the lines of FIGURE 2. In this lick, I start by barring the index finger across the top two strings at the fifth fret and use the middle finger to execute the quick half-step bends on the B string, as well as the fast hammer-ons and pull-offs across the B and G strings.

FIGURE 3 details a “traditional” fingering for descending the minor pentatonic scale in this position within groups of 16th-note triplets.
A staple of Moore’s soloing style was to unleash fast flourishes of notes, executed with free-form “crammed” phrasing that rushed over the top of the groove. He would balance these fiery blasts with simpler, more vocal-like phrases that would effectively pull his improvisations back into the groove. For many of these runs, Moore would rely on quick hammer-on/pull-off figures between pairs of notes on a given string, as demonstrated in FIGUREs 4a and 4b.

In FIGURE 5a, I apply this concept to every string as I descend A minor pentatonic in a symmetrical fashion. FIGURE 5b offers a similar, albeit simpler, idea, and FIGURE 5c presents a similar approach applied to an ascending lick.

Further permutations on this concept are shown in FIGURES 6a–c. Once you’ve got a handle on these, try moving to other areas of the fretboard and apply the concepts to other keys, as demonstrated in FIGURES 7a and 7b.

FIGURE 8 offers an example of soloing in Gary’s style over a medium straight-eighths funk groove along the lines of his cover of Albert King’s “Oh, Pretty Woman.’

The title track of Moore’s hit album Still Got the Blues (a complete transcription of which appears in this issue, May 2011) featured a “cycle of fourths” chord progression more common to jazz than blues or rock.

FIGURE 9 is a melodic solo played over this type of progression in the key of Am. Notice that each phrase makes direct reference to the accompanying chord by targeting its third. Also, bar 6 features a fast pull-off lick to the open high E string, a technique Moore utilized in a great many of his solos.

In early 1990, the editors of Guitar World magazine sat back, grabbed some coffee and painstakingly selected what they considered the top 50 guitar albums of the just-ended Eighties.

In the photo gallery below, you can see exactly what they came up with!

The albums are listed in order, from "killer" to "jaw-droppingly awesome." Or from 50 to 1, depending on your perspective.

Please note that there are actually 51 albums in the gallery (There was a tie).

Don't agree with the vintage editors' vintage choices? As always, let your voice be heard! Share your opinion in the comments below or on Facebook!

Head back to the ... past!

The gang over at MetallicaTV— Metallica's official YouTube channel — well, let's just say they're very busy.

On April 3, they posted official footage from Metallica's March 22 show in São Paulo, Brazil, and you can check it out below.

Note that the clip features performances of "Battery"— and "Whiskey in the Jar," which the band hadn't performed in concert since 2009.

If you like what you hear, you can download the entire March 22 show at LiveMetallica.com.

Recently, Tool updated their official website by posting a newsletter.

The good news? It looks like the Tool are back on track in terms of completing their long-awaited next album.

You can read most of the webmaster's post below:

"With the latest mini-tour now a thing of the past, members of the band will continue working on material for their next record after taking a short break in order to unpack and sort through their mail.

"I say 'continue' because — contrary to those who thought that the tour would only further delay the writing process — with all four band members together during sound checks, catering, etc., I'm fairly certain that they spent a considerable portion of that time experimenting with new tunes. In which case, the tour might have actually sped things up a bit. But then again, this snifter of cognac is half full ...

"Besides writing and arranging new songs, there is one other Tool project that was in the works prior to the tour that I will update you on should I hear anything (Yep, the so-called 'curve ball.') Likewise with another item of interest to both Tool fans and drummers in general that I will post in the news section once I receive more details.

"As far as I know, there is nothing else to report at this time except that Danny will be performing with Volto! at the Mint here in L.A. on April 19. Prior to that he will be playing his gig with the Webb Allstars at the Baked Potato in Studio City on April 6."

For the rest of the latest Tool newsletter, plus an almost endless supply of Tool news, visit toolband.com.

Steve Stine, highly sought-after guitar educator, teaches live group and private classes at LessonFace.com.

One key to becoming a more versatile blues soloist is learning to combine the minor pentatonic and major pentatonic scales to create guitar lines that go beyond the minor pentatonic scale.

As a prerequisite to this lesson, you should have a basic understanding of the finger positionings for the minor pentatonic and major pentatonic scales, particularly the first and second positions of both scales.

Stepping back, I should note that learning to play within both of these scales at the same time opened new doors for me as a guitar player.

Before combining them, I remember first learning to solo over the standard 1-4-5 blues progression, and my teacher at the time gave me a quick trick for alternating between the minor and major pentatonic solos: Use the minor pentatonic for the sections on the “1” and the major pentatonic for the sections on the “4," and alternate back in forth in this manner in the way that sounded best.

While this approach can work to give you a more varied sound beyond merely the minor pentatonic scale, this trick is by no means a hard and fast rule, and moving beyond it to learn to combine both scales makes you a more versatile player.

A quick point of reference to understand about these scales is that, in respect to physical finger positioning, they are identical, with one scale simply falling three frets below the other on the fretboard. That is to say, in any given key: (i) the finger position for the major pentatonic scale falls three frets down from the minor pentatonic scale, and (ii) the root note is the same for both scales.

So, for example, let’s focus on the key of A. The A on the fifth fret of the first string is the root note of both the A minor pentatonic and A major pentatonic scales. This means that, in the A minor pentatonic scale’s first position, the A on the fifth fret of the first string is played with your index finger.

And, three frets down playing the same positions for the A major pentatonic scale, the same A is played with your pinky (and your index finger is on the F# — you may also notice at this point that you are in the F# minor pentatonic scale’s first position). The below tabs illustrate this point.

So, first visualize both major and minor pentatonic scales, and practice them up and down the neck, focusing on their first and second positions for the purposes of this lesson. You can practice them with all downstrokes and/or alternate picking, and in doing so, keep in mind the locations of your root note A’s, which are relevant for playing blues in the key of A.

As you will notice, the first position of the A minor pentatonic scale and the second position of the A major pentatonic scale are both within easy reach of the first position of the A minor pentatonic scale (index finger beginning on the fifth fret of the first string, and proceeding on from there).

And, as you see below, these scale positions can be overlayed into a hybrid scale that encompasses all of their notes. And, what we want to learn how to do is visualize the first position of the minor pentatonic scale and the second position of the major pentatonic over the same position on the neck, and use the notes from both scales to play blues licks and riffs.

So, to make a riff using both scales, let’s focus on the top two strings starting at the fifth fret. The A minor pentatonic scale uses the notes at the fifth and eighth frets on these strings, while the A major pentatonic uses the notes at the fifth and seventh frets on these strings. So, to combine the scales and see what it sounds like, let’s play the following lick No. 1. And you can already hear the blues element present when you mix these scales.

After you are comfortable with lick No. 1, you can move to lick No 2, which further explores this principle. And at this stage, I would encourage you to start exploring further and have some fun coming up with new licks using the notes from both scales in this position.

Another common lick that combines these scales using a hammer-on is shown below in lick No. 3, and you have probably heard this combination of notes in many country and blues songs.

So, bringing a lot of these elements together, you can play something like the following.

You can always play the scales separately to give your soloing their different flavors. And soon, taking this lesson into account, and with some practice, you will be able to bring these two scales together into a hybrid scale to further expand what you can play, and allow you to play modern blues and some old-school blues in what may be a new way for you.

The first step is to be able to see the two scales and then put them together, seeing the minor pentatonic and major pentatonic scales at the same time.

As you’ll see, if you know all five positions of the pentatonic scale, you can apply this very same principle all over the guitar neck. And pretty soon the new notes from scale to scale will begin to stick out, giving you new notes to play all over the neck in your blues solos.

Steve Stine is a longtime and sought-after guitar teacher who is professor of Modern Guitar Studies at North Dakota State University. Over the last 27 years, he has taught thousands of students, including established touring musicians, and released numerous video guitar lesson courses via established publishers. A resident of Fargo, North Dakota, today he is more accessible than ever before through the convenience of live online guitar lessons at LessonFace.com.

LessonFace.com offers live online music lessons via videoconference, allowing you to access top teachers in a wide variety of instruments from anywhere with a broadband connection. Steve is offering a live online group class for intermediate players this summer called “The Players Series” via the LessonFace.com platform. More information about live online lessons with Steve is available at lessonface.com/player.

In the latest episode of Electro-Harmonix's "Effectology" series, the New York-based effect company takes a trip to the Far East.

From the company:

"The following sounds were created using a guitar and Electro-Harmonix effect pedals. We start by creating a drone using a HOG2 pedal in the freeze mode."

We also noticed a wooden spoon or two!

For all the settings heard in the video, check out ehx.com/forums.

If Muddy Waters were an actual god — instead of just a blues god — he would've turned 101 years old today, April 4, 2014.

Instead, the legendary bluesman, who his mother knew as McKinley Morganfield, died April 30, 1983, in Westmont, Illinois.

Waters, the father of modern Chicago blues, was a major inspiration to several generations of blues artists — including most of the key players in the British blues explosion of the Sixties.

He also helped define blues for the latter part of the 21st century — an impact felt in a host of other genres including rock, R&B, folk and country.

We’ve decided to celebrate his birthday by gathering up what we feel are 10 of the best covers of his songs by a host of artists. You'll notice Eric Clapton's guitar work appears twice in the list. Hey, I like Clapton.

Enjoy! And if you'd like to recommend another song, please do! I don't mind making this a "Top 11" list! UPDATE: Johnny Winter's version of "Rock Me Baby" has grabbed the Number 11 spot. Thanks for reading!

Led Zeppelin, "You Shook Me"

The Allman Brothers Band, "Trouble No More"

Humble Pie, “Rollin’ Stone”

New York Dolls, “Hoochie Coochie Man”

The Yardbirds, "Good Morning Little School Girl"

The Animals, "Louisiana Blues"

The Black Crowes, "Champagne and Reefer"

The Rolling Stones, "I Just Want to Make Love to You"

Eric Clapton, "Blow Wind Blow"

The Doors, "Close to You"

Johnny Winter, "Rock Me Baby"

Damian Fanelli is the online managing editor at Guitar World. He writes and edits things.

Talk about an album launch.

Former Chili Pepper John Frusciante has — literally — launched his new album, Enclosure, into space aboard an experimental Cube Satellite called Sat-JF14.

The odd event took place March 29, at a "remote High Desert location in California," as can be seen in the video below.

The purpose? So that fans may stream the album, with help from an accompanying tracking app, before its April 8 release date.

An official press release explains:

"On March 29, Enclosure was loaded onto an experimental Cube Satellite called Sat-JF14 and launched into space aboard an Interorbital Systems’ Neptune Modular Rocket. Fans from around the world can download the free, custom-built Sat-JF14 mobile application that will enable users to track Sat-JF14’s movement in real time.

"When Sat-JF14 hovers over a users’ geographic region, Enclosure will be unlocked, allowing users to listen to the album for free on any iOS or Android mobile device. Sat-JF14 also supports an integrated social chat platform, giving fans the ability to communicate with one another after listening to the music.

"The album preview will last until midnight April 7, at which point Sat-JF14 will cease transmission. On April 8, Record Collection will release Enclosure."

If you're interested, you can download the Sat-JF14 app below.

To download the app, visit johnfrusciante.com/sat-jf14/

Enclosure pre-order:johnfrusciante.com/store

Does America got talent?

Before you answer that, check out this video of a guitar-playing, karate-chopping dude named Matt "Rockstar" Sikorski.

The clip is actually Sikorski's unsuccessful audition video for NBC's America's Got Talent.

And even though it's almost three years old, its one-of-kind, karate-chopping, flaming-cinder-block, metal-strumming action continues to capture the hearts and minds of a confused nation.

Enjoy!

New York City singer-songwriter-bandleader-producer-actor Julian Fleisher is Finally done with his new album and he's ready for the world to hear it.

Finally will be released through Modern Records on May 13, 2014.

Below, take a listen to the first single; the album's title track.

Of the song, Fleisher says, "I think I wrote Finally when a friend was over for lunch when I was sick. While we chatted, I had the guitar under my arm and I was absentmindedly picking away as we talked."

He goes on, "I couldn't begin to tell you what we discussed, but by the time lunch was over, the song was halfway done. Written while flying on Robitussin, espresso, chicken soup and Advil."

Take a listen to the song here:

Fleisher will be celebrating the release of Finally with an album release show at Joe's Pub in NYC on May 14, 2014.

The 10-track album was written and produced by Fleisher and follows his critically acclaimed Rather Big album. The album was recorded in NY and includes eight original tracks and two covers for good measure. It also features Julian's longtime collaborators Tedd Firth, Nick Mancini, Pete Smith, Matt Clohesy, Chris Michael and Tom Murray.

Finally takes listeners on a more intimate, personal journey on which the writing is the focus. Shedding his usually brainy covers and full-tilt horn arrangements that so characterized Rather Big, this new album puts the focus on Fleisher as a writer, a craft he's been developing more and more over the last few years.

When asked how he felt about moving away from his well-known sound, Julian says, "No question, it feels like a rise to me."

He goes on, "Naturally, I wonder what folks will make of a recording that's more intimate and less showy than my old stuff. But, the truth is, people have always responded intensely to my own tunes and many of them were written without my Rather Big Band in mind.”

“I’ve kept my rhythm section, of course. I mean, you would too if yours could play like mine does. But I asked them to tone down their insane virtuosity and to turn their talents to simpler gestures and more direct statements. The results, I think, are amazing. As is often the case, when you put restrictions on talent like that, you discover a world of new ideas that are as compelling as they are surprising."

See what’s next from Fleisher at julianfleisher.com.