Has any piece of musical equipment proliferated more, or more rapidly, than the humble electric guitar effect unit?

Though there is no official tally, suffice it to say that thousands of stomp boxes, effect devices and processors have been created for the electric guitar over the past 60 years (and that’s not including rackmount effects). Conceivably, more than half of those devices are distortion, fuzz and overdrive effects.

So how did we come up with a list of the top 50 electric guitar effects of all time? Actually, it was easy, as most of these stomp boxes and devices turn up in the pages of this magazine on a regular basis every time we ask artists what they use in the studio and onstage.

Other effects got the nod for being the first of their kind (like the DeArmond Tremolo Control, which dates back to the Forties and was the first optional effect device) while a few passed muster for being undeniably cool or influential — even if they’re so rare that it will cost you a few thousand bucks to score one on eBay.

Popularity also was a critical factor in our choices, although we generally passed over a few best-selling reissues or boutique clones in favor of the real deal. So even though the Bubba Bob Buttcrack Tube Overdrive may sound more soulful than an original Tube Screamer, if it’s little more than a copy with slightly upgraded components, it didn’t make the cut.

If you love effects like we do, we hope you'll find this top-50 list a useful guide to discovering the classic effect boxes that have shaped the guitar sounds of rock, metal, blues, punk and many other styles. And if you're like us, it will undoubtedly compel you to plunk down a chunk of cash for a collectible pedal or two on eBay. Don't say you weren't warned.

I remember someone telling me that George Lynch once said he heard B.B. King say something that instantly improved his guitar style.

It went something like this: “If you play a wrong note, play it again like you mean it and it’ll sound like the best note you played all night."

The dubious origins of this gem aside, I've always found this to be an almost religious concept to strive toward, where any note can work anywhere if it is done with purposeful conviction.

In a guitar-player-friendly form, an easy way to play a lot of these purposefully performed “wrong” notes with conviction is through the use of licks and phrases composed of symmetrical fingerings. The trick with these is that they use the same fingering and fretting on all six strings and don’t adhere to any pure scale continuity, so you need to fit them into a fretboard context that relates to the key or chord (and its associated fingerings) you’re playing in/over.

In the case of these examples, I’ll show you how these symmetrical shapes relate to E for the convenience of performing the necessary stretches and for their ease of use over E major or E minor harmonies. But there are keys-inside-the-key that you might also notice that can be used as well. Just try to find at least two strings of the six whose fingerings sync up in some way to the key you’re playing in, and you’re ready to rock this!

Symmetrical fingerings can work with any fretting or fingering pattern (Any 1-2-3, 1-2-4, -1-3-4 pattern will work). Most almost-the-same-as-the-scale fingerings sound only OK, so I’ll be basing most of the examples on arpeggio-related shapes, since they have a wide intervallic stretch on each individual string, while having much smaller jumps when moving from string to string.

This creates a lot of interesting and unexpected melodic movement related to the fingering contour, depending on how the fingering patterns are phrased.

Based on a 1-2-4 fingering E diminished arpeggio on the E string, Example 1A is a shape often used by Zakk Wylde, John 5 and the aforementioned George Lynch.

Example 1B uses the shape in a ridiculously simple way to execute a pattern moving in groups of nine across successive patterns of three notes on three strings (E-A-D, A-D-G, D-G-B, G-B-E, then back the other way E-B-G, B-G-D, G-D-A, D-A-E).

Stretch the pinky one fret further into an E minor arpeggio on the E strings (E,G,B) and you get the shape in Example 2A, which was used to great effect by Dimebag Darrell all over the Cowboys From Hell album as well as many other examples from throughout his career.

Example 2B uses “The Dime” in a Paul Gilbert-inspired, shred-friendly string skipping legato pattern that covers a vast intervallic range with a smooth, yet aggressive flow. Note the picking instructions and pay particular attention to the muted alternate-picked “turnaround and re-launch” in the latter half of the pattern on beat three of each bar. Be sure to try out this pattern within some of your favorite three-note-per-string scale fingerings!

Of course, no discussion of symmetrical fingerings would be complete without mentioning Edward Van Halen, whose ever-unique guitar style has always utilized this technique with extreme sophistication, taste and conviction.

While EVH has used many different forms and variations of these fingerings throughout the years, Example 3A depicts the E major (E, G#, B)-based shape made famous on songs like “Ice Cream Man” from Van Halen. Note the wider shift between the root note (E) and the 3rd (G#) of the arpeggio relative to the previous examples. Try both the 1-2-4 and 1-3-4 fingerings to see which allows you to most efficiently play through the shape.

On the topic of Eddie’s “Ice Cream Man” solo, Example 3B is inspired by spirit and feel of the original lick. This is a great legato stretch exercise that utilizes the EVH-approved “hammer-on-from-nowhere” (More on that technique can be found in my previous article HERE) on the transitions from higher to lower strings and has a unique and challenging truncation of the shape at the end of each phrase that adds a very cool intervallic and melodic curve ball to the overall flow of the line.

Going to the extreme in both the physical stretch and the intervallic leaps between the notes, Example 4A is based on an E augmented arpeggio (E, G#, C). I have affectionately named this one the “Shawn Lane” as he was known to use this shape often, and licks based around this pattern channel the spirit of the wide stretched, intervallically complex “outside” licks that flowed effortlessly from his fingers. This fingering (I highly recommend a 1-2-4) is not for the faint-of-heart, so be sure to warm up sufficiently before attempting it (Stop playing it IMMEDIATELY if you feel any sharp pain in your fingers or wrist!).

To have some fun with this shape, Example 4B uses a Zakk Wylde-inspired picking pattern that combines both economy picking and alternate picking. Also, to continue in the Shawn Lane-vein, the patterns are grouped in 7's, which lend horn-like flow to the lick.

To perform each pattern, start on the middle finger note on the low string with a downstroke, push through the index finger-fretted note on the adjacent string with another downstroke, and continue through the remaining notes with alternate picking (up-down-up on the 4-2-1 fingered notes on the same string, and down-up on the 2-1 fingered notes on the next higher string in the pattern). If the stretch is too much, try the pattern with any of the other symmetrical shapes depicted or with a comfortable fingering pattern of your own.

The remaining examples add in a right-hand tapping element to further expand the symmetrical shapes. Example 5A is a shape that would be right at home in George Lynch’s style, relating to the first four notes in E Phrygian Dominant (E,F,G#,A,B,C,D) and possessing a lot of chromatic movement, overlap and half-steps.

Example 5B begins with a “hammer-on from nowhere” that is then again used throughout the pattern, and you’ll find that in combination with the tapped notes that is makes it very easy to facilitate the string-skipped basis of the pattern. This one is very cool when you’re looking for something flashy and exotic! Be sure to finish off with a tapped artificial harmonic, fretting the 12th fret on the E and lightly tapping right above the 24th fret (or right where the 24th fret would be for those of us with 22 frets).

Finally, Example 6A and Example 6A continue in this Lynch-esque vein, adding a legato tap and slide into the mix and expanding the pattern even further. I’ve kept the left-hand stretch to a minimum, but you should obviously try your own variation with both the left-hand stretch pattern and the “tap-slide” spread.

In the case of these examples, the close-knit half-step relativity between the 12th and 13th frets and the 17th and 18th will create a lot of overlapping echo-type effects as you cross the pattern from string to string, especially due to the legato tap-slide-and return slide in Example 6B. Get the pattern down, experiment and have fun!

I’ve really only begun to scratch the surface here with what is possible through the use of symmetrical fingerings. The best part with these is that since you’re not necessarily restricted to a key, there are essentially no rules, so let ‘er rip and just be sure to play, as you should always, like you MEAN IT.

Happy shredding!

Scott Marano has dedicated his life to the study of the guitar, honing his chops at the Berklee College of Music under the tutelage of Jon Finn and Joe Stump and working as an accomplished guitarist, performer, songwriter and in-demand instructor. In 2007, Scott developed the Guitar Strength program to inspire and provide accelerated education to guitarists of all ages and in all styles through state-of-the-art private guitar lessons in his home state of Rhode Island and globally via Skype. Learn more at GuitarStrength.com.

Ever want to know what an early Led Zeppelin concert experience was like? We've got you covered.

Below, you can check out some vintage, high-quality video from a March 17, 1969, Led Zeppelin TV appearance.

In the US, Led Zeppelin's self-titled debut album was only three months old — and it wouldn't be released in the UK for another two weeks.

The band — Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and John Bonham — was on a tour of the UK and Scandinavia when they visited TV-Byen studios in Gladsaxe, Denmark, to play four tracks from the new album, all of which you can hear below: “Communication Breakdown,” “Dazed and Confused,” “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You” and “How Many More Times.”

Page is playing his 1959 Fender Telecaster, a gift from Jeff Beck and a holdover from Page's Yardbirds days. Page fans are in luck, because there's lots of close-up camera work during his guitar solos, including his enjoyable “Communication Breakdown” Tele-shred workout. Enjoy!

As 2014 rapidly approaches, Guitar World is taking a nostalgic look back at the most popular GuitarWorld.com stories of 2013, including viral videos, guitar lessons, Guitar World Girls and other features.

Be sure to check out our other 2013 Year in Review stories HERE!

Today, we're revisiting the 15 most popular Guitar World Girls photo galleries, as determined by the number of page views per photo gallery. Remember you can see a complete photo gallery of each Guitar World Girl by following the "See the complete photo gallery here" link. Note: Some galleries also include exclusive videos.

Of course, we're always looking for new Guitar World Girls! If you think you have what it takes, email photos of yourself with a guitar (or bass) to modelsearch@guitarworld.com!

While you're at it, click here to see a behind-the-scenes video from Guitar World's 2014 Holiday Review Guide photo shoot!

Below, check out a video of 11-year-old guitarist Aidan Fisher performing "Eruption" while onstage with Steel Panther during their December 19 show at the Midland Theater in Kansas City, Missouri.

As expected, Fisher follows "Eruption" with "You Really Got Me," and the whole band, minus Steel Panther guitarist Satchel, joins in.

Apparently, Fisher challenged Satchel to a guitar duel at some point before the show, which led to his being invited on stage with the band.

At the very end of the clip, you can read Satchel's verdict on who won the shoot-out.

As always, since Steel Panther is involved, the top video is NSFW. It features foul language in the presence of an 11-year-old.

We've also found the censored version of this clip, which you can watch below. No talking, just music:

I work with a lot of songwriters on through SongTown USA that are trying to turn their hobby into a profession. The most common mistake I see in those aspiring songwriters is that their songs tend to wander around.

They start strong with the first verse. It tends to stay on topic. By the time they get to the chorus, they are chasing a couple of rabbits down different trails. The second verse is where it usually falls apart. By the time they get to the bridge, there are rabbits running everywhere.

A song that started off talking about how many things irritate you about your partner gets turned into a song about unconditional love and winds up saying, “I’ll leave you if you don’t change.” The listener walks away dazed and confused.

I often challenge writers to pick ONE thing. If it’s how much your partner irritates you, then talk about that for the WHOLE song. If it’s about unconditional love, stay right there for the duration. If you can’t do that, your topic may not be strong enough to carry an entire song. But, if you focus on one thing and you make sure that every section supports that one thing, you are much more likely to have a strong, commercial song. At the very least, you should have a song that supports your idea well.

When I work with writers that really have trouble with this, I encourage them to try writing one-word titles. I wrote a song with Jimmy Yeary and Dean Brody called “Dirt.” It was very easy to write, because everything in the song was about, well, dirt. Any time we started to get off topic, we brought it back to dirt. Sometimes, concept titles (unconditional love) are harder to keep on topic. One-word titles can help “wandering” writers stay on track.

So, if you have ever wondered what is keeping you out of the “#1 Club,” give your songs a checkup. See if you are wandering all over the place, or if you are staying very focused on the “one thing” your song is about. If you have an interesting melody and you craft a great lyric around ONE thing, you increase your chances of success immensely.

There could just be “one thing” standing between you and your goals. Write On.

Oh, and here's the video for "Dirt."

Marty Dodson is a songwriter, corporate trainer and entrepreneur. His songs have been recorded by artists such as Rascal Flatts, Carrie Underwood, Kenny Chesney, Joe Cocker, Leon Russell and The Plain White T’s. He once bumped Psy out of the #1 spot on the K-Pop charts but that’s another story for another day. Marty plays Taylor and Batson guitars. Follow him here: www.facebook.com/songtownusa, at www.facebook.com/martydodsonsongwriter and at Twitter @SongTownUSA or visit martydodson.com

What’s next on the bucket list when you’ve sold 16 million albums and garnered three Grammy nominations, two American Music Awards, and five BMI Pop Awards for songwriting, including BMI’s coveted "Songwriter of the Year" award? How about going back to the basement…?!

That’s right. Celebrated Mississippi-based rock quintet 3 Doors Down are stripping it down (so to speak) and hitting the road with an all-acoustic show for their “Songs From the Basement” Tour. With the stage set like the basement from whence they came, this intimate setting seems like the ideal way to create a new connection with fans.

The band’s debut album, 2000’s The Better Life, which is now certified six times platinum, featured the smash hit “Kryptonite.” That was followed by 2002’s Away from the Sun, which included radio mainstays “When I’m Gone” and “Here Without You.” Their subsequent efforts 2005’s platinum certified Seventeen Days,/em> and 2008’s 3 Doors Down debuted at #1 on the Billboard Hot 200 Chart.

In 2012, 3 Doors Down released The Greatest Hits, a collection of nine #1 hits and three new songs, returning to the Top 5 at radio with "One Light." Now fans can hear these songs and more in their raw acoustic form, plus some cuts that have never been played live before!

We caught up with guitarist Chris Henderson to chat about the tour and more. Check it out.

Can you give me some insight about the tour and why you guys decided to do this acoustic this year?

Well, It’s something we’ve been talking about for 10 to 15 years and just had never done it. We’ve done charity events, and stuff for friends and radio stations and a couple songs acoustic onstage, but never a full-on acoustic show. And so we decided to do it one night in Nashville and we were all scared and really apprehensive, like, “Is it gonna come off?” and didn’t know how it was going to work out. Everyone in the crowd had a great time. And we had such a great time that night we decided, right then, we were going to do an acoustic tour. And we started putting the feelers out.

Did you feel like you connected to the audience in a different way than you usually do?

Yeah, in an amazing way. If you play electric, you’ve got lights flashing and videos and shooting pyro and all that crap. Then you break it down and go acoustic in the middle of the show, people tend to get ice cream, like, “Nah, we’re cool. We’ll come back when this crap’s over.” If you go in and sit down on a stool and start playing acoustic songs and people are expecting that, they become more of a part of the show than they ever would before. Because now there’s a little bit of a communication thing going on between us and the crowd, and it’s an embrace almost between the band and the crowd.

You guys are going to have some audience members on your stage. Are you sure that’s safe?

Yeah, I don’t know, man, hopefully!

Are you going to serenade these people on the stage then?

They’re going to get to sit onstage on a couch. Because the tour is called “Songs from the Basement,” so we’re going to set the stage like a basement with couches. Like we’re going to be hanging out like we’re teenagers.

That’s cool. So, is the couch going to smell like old beer, too, then?

Probably, probably.

Did you have any challenges taking some of your songs and stripping them down to acoustic versions?

Not really. It’s a beautiful thing when a song translates to acoustic guitar. You know what I mean? Like, if you play electric songs and it’s all fast and cool and you can break it down to acoustic guitar and still have some vibes, that’s an amazing thing. And I think that a lot of our songs do translate well, because we wrote something like 90% of our songs, even the rock songs – even “Believer” and all that stuff – they were written on acoustic first.

So perhaps you are going back to the original thought that you had. You’re also playing some stuff that you never played live before, right? That should keep things pretty fresh for you.

Yes. We’re going to dig in to the repertoire. And it also is a challenge because we’ll be playing songs that we haven’t played in decades. So they were written 10, 15, 20 years ago. And we really haven’t played them since the day we recorded them. There are songs that we’re gonna play that we haven’t played live ever, which means we haven’t played them since the day we recorded them.

Wow! You’re going to have to do some practicing then, I think.

Yeah. We are!

So, tell me a little bit about what your gear setup is for this tour. What guitars are you using?

It’ll be really simple. I’m going to play probably, just because it’s so comfortable, and I love the guitar so much, the Paul Reed Smith Hollowbody II with the Piezo pickup. I use the Piezo direct, and then let my sound guy take it. And he’s like a science project, this guy. He’ll take that tone and do all kinds of crazy things with it.

I don’t know what’s with PRS and the Piezos, but whatever they’re doing over there, they’re doing it right. I’ll also be playing a Taylor GS8 as well. I’m going with that and I think Chet is going to be using some Gibsons and some Guilds.

Do you guys use alternate tunings in your songs? .

Yeah, we do. “Here Without You” is in D#, so we turn that half a step down. And “Citizen/Soldier” is in open C. And then “Train,” I mean, the song’s in C but the guitar is half in C and half in standard.

Oh, that’s funny.

Yeah, it’s really weird. The first three strings are in C and the next three strings are not. It’s kind of a weird way that we did it. The reason I tune my guitar like that is for the guitar solo, because I did the guitar solo with a standard guitar and then, playing it live, I was like, “Oh no! What am I going to do now? Change guitars in the middle of the song?” So I just tuned three strings one way and three the other, and it worked out.

That’s very inventive of you.

Yeah, it would’ve taken a whole ‘nother guitar.

I guess for those songs you haven’t played for a decade or so, are any of them ones you have to remember what technique you used on the guitar when you were writing it?

It comes back to me quickly. A lot of our songs are written, especially with the acoustics, with finger-picking. You know, we’re from the South, that’s kind of what we do down here. So we wrote them without picks and so now I’m starting to revisit that kind of thing. But for me, as a guitar player, I don’t have any sort of schooled techniques on that. I use a pick, and my three fingers beneath the pick to do the picking, so I kind of have to go back and find this sloppy kind of hand technique that I used to use and kind of knock the dust off of it. I’m looking forward to it, ‘cause I wrote a lot of songs like that.

Tell me about the Better Life Foundation and its mission and what you guys are doing with that.

Yes, we’re trying to help children and women’s charities that people typically will neglect and that was kind of our thought process: that people won’t help a children’s foundation, unless they have a child that is helped by the foundation, typically. People just seem to ignore those charities. We got the chance to go to the USA Children’s and Women’s Hospital and see how they take care of babies that are premature. Premature babies are really, really expensive and a lot of people in the South don’t have insurance. We were like, “This is a good chance to help some people that really need it,” so we started giving to the USA Children’s Hospital and the Ronald McDonald House.

Next thing you know, it evolved into the Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital and then we started building these Dream Racer cars, which are for children who are getting chemo. They can sit in this racecar and have their chemotherapy and play videogames. It’s like a little NASCAR. It’s really cool.

That’s great. Is there anything you’re doing on this tour with the Foundation or is that just a separate thing?

Well, actually, what we do on tour with the Foundation is we just kind of spread the word as much as we can. We do a charity event every year and we just spread the word as much as possible.

That’s great. Good luck with the tour! It sounds really like a great experience for your fans to be with you in another light, so to speak.

Thank you!

Find tour dates and more at http://www.3doorsdown.com

Laura B. Whitmore is the editor of Guitar World's Acoustic Nation. A singer/songwriter based in the San Francisco bay area, she's also a veteran music industry marketer, and has spent over two decades doing marketing, PR and artist relations for several guitar-related brands including Marshall and VOX. Her company, Mad Sun Marketing, represents Dean Markley, Peavey Electronics, SIR Entertainment Services, Music First, Guitar World and many more. Laura is the founder of the Women's International Music Network at thewimn.com, producer of the She Rocks Awards and the Women's Music Summit and co-hosts regular songwriter nights for the West Coast Songwriters Association. More at mad-sun.com.

The all-new January 2014 issue of Guitar World is available now!

Guitar World's January 2014 issue counts down the Fab Four's 50 greatest guitar moments from their hit-making history. Also, the Beatles'Live at the BBC disc gets remastered, and now includes a companion, On Air — Live At The BBC Volume 2.

Next, missing for years, a set of newly released recordings and footage from the 1968 Miami Pop Festival reveals the Jimi Hendrix Experience at a bright spot in their brief and troubled history.

Also in the January issue, Guitar World pays a visit to Alter Bridge guitarist Mark Tremonti's home and private stronghold of collectible axes, amps and pinball machines.

We then bring you 15 new signature guitars that can help you channel the spirit of your favorite ax slinger. PLUS, the history of artist axes; where Myles Kennedy finds his greatest musical inspiration; a eulogy for Lou Reed; and much more!

Five Songs with Tabs for Guitar and Bass

• The Beatles - "The End"
• The Black Keys - "Gold on the Ceiling"
• The Who - "Pinball Wizard"
• Attila - "Payback"
• The Velvet Underground - "Sweet Jane"

The January 2014 issue of Guitar World is available now at the Guitar World Online Store!

Many guitar fans know about the Commander-In-Chief from the amazing guitar duel she recorded with classical guitarist Thomas Valeur.

The video, which was featured earlier this month on GuitarWorld.com, has since gone viral in guitar circles. It came in at No. 4 on our list of the Top 10 Viral Guitar Videos of 2013.

The duo met last summer at a music festival and decided to collaborate on Spanish composer Pablo de Sarasate's Zigeunerweisen Op. 20, an extremely challenging piece of music, particularly because it was written for violin and orchestra.

The Commander-In-Chief is also a classically trained opera singer who has harnessed her guitar skills in master classes with Steve Smyth (Testament, Nevermore). She worked with producer Sterling Winfield (Pantera, Hellyeah, Damageplan) on her debut EP, Evolution.

I recently spoke with her about the physical and mental preparation it took to create the guitar duel. We also discussed her gear, influences, new projects and more.

GUITAR WORLD: How did you and Thomas Valeur connect, and what inspired you to take on such a challenging piece of music?

We met at the Bergen International Festival in Norway, where we shared the stage. Thomas first thought we would cover something more mainstream, but I wanted to play something classical and step into a different world for a change. I grew up listening to Itzhak Perlman's violin recordings and the "Zigeunerweisen" was always a favorite. I normally don't play other people's music, but it was very motivating to work on something this challenging.

How long did it take you to prepare it?

It took five months. Since there were no guitar tabs for this piece and no recording that could be used as a reference, I had to find out where to play the notes on the guitar. So I spent some time writing down the name of every single note from the sheet music.

How did you determine who would play which sections?

The majority of the runs in the front section could not be played by anything else but an electric guitar. I ended up doing most of the runs with the exception of a couple. Many of them had to be tapped or sweep picked in order to be playable. I also wouldn’t have been able to play this piece without the seven-string guitar, since I use the seventh string a lot on this recording.

Did you encounter any other difficulties in learning the piece?

Despite my extensive warmup routine, the physical strain from practicing this massive piece of music resulted in injuries. At one point, I dislocated my collar bone and my chiropractor had to use athletic tape to "tape me up" to get my collar bone and shoulder back in place again. I had to take three weeks off, but I've completely recovered now. I've found that the best way to avoid strains is to sit like a classical guitarist when I practice.

Do you come from a classical background?

I'm a classically trained opera singer in the Bel Canto technique. My mother was an opera singer and she studied with the award-winning Italian maestra Aida Meneghelli. I still take lessons with her every day and have a four-octave vocal range (up to C7). When it comes to guitar, I am not classically trained but do include some Paganini and Mozart pieces as part of my warmup routine every day.

What made you decide to play guitar?

I wanted to write songs. I had tons of ideas for melodies but couldn't play an instrument, so I chose the guitar. I always visualize my music and see pictures and music as one. When I write a song, I see the video or artwork for it right away.

What's your practice regimen like? Scales and patterns?

I enjoy writing my own exercises as I feel that being creative is way more inspiring than anything else. By doing this, you can keep challenging yourself with customized exercises that will strengthen areas you know you need help with. I have a very good warmup routine that I follow every day. I use my PowerBall for 20 to 30 minutes before I start playing. Then I'll run through some scales, sweep arpeggios and licks. Part of this warm up includes the Mozart and Paganini pieces I mentioned before. I also take breaks and stretch a lot.

Who are some of your musical influences?

My favorite guitarists are Randy Rhoads and Ritchie Blackmore. I'm also big fan of movie soundtracks and love the work of Danny Elfman and Hans Zimmer. For me, a song has to be memorable, so I love good songwriters. I'll listen to everything from James Brown to Slayer.

What other projects are you working on?

I like to do things nobody has done before, which is why I'm pretty secretive about what I'm up to. Nobody knew I was working with a classical guitarist or that I was working on the "Zigeunerweisen." Right now, I’m working on my solo career, but I would love to do more collaborations.

What's your current setup like?

I've got the prototype Ibanez Falchion 7 with 57-7H 66-7H EMG pickups. It's a one-of-a-kind guitar that I run straight into my Laney Ironheart Amplifier. I've also got a Laney GH50. The two amps sound pretty sweet together. For effects, I use one effect pedal (only during my solos), and that’s an MXR Carbon Copy Analog Delay.

Do you have advice you can offer to aspiring players?

Don't listen to the haters. All musicians get pestered by nay-sayers when they start out! Listen to yourself and listen to your heart. We should all be free to pursue what makes us happy. Think for yourself that your success will prove them wrong! Then go and kick some ass!

For more about the Commander-In-Chief, visit her official website and Facebook page. For more about Valeur, visit thomasvaleur.com.

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.

In honor of the all-new January 2014 issue of Guitar World — a guide to the Beatles' 50 Greatest Guitar Songs — we're asking you to choose the Beatles song that features what you feel is the all-around best guitar solo.

We've included 20 guitar-centric Beatles songs for you to choose from.

You'll find tunes with fancy fret work by George Harrison ("A Hard Day's Night,""Old Brown Shoe,""Something"), John Lennon ("I Want You (She's So Heavy)") and Paul McCartney ("Taxman,""Good Morning Good Morning") — and all three guitarists at once ("The End").

And, of course, there's one song featuring a very famous non-Beatle named Eric Clapton ("While My Guitar Gently Weeps").

We hope you understand why we haven't included every Beatles song with a guitar solo. For instance, the mini-solo in "I'll Follow the Sun" and the repetitive solo in "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" really have no business in this poll. Having said that, if you truly feel we've left out your absolute favorite, be sure to let us know in the comments below.

The results of the poll will be posted on GuitarWorld.com.

Thank you for voting!

For more info about the new Beatles issue of Guitar World, head to the Guitar World Online Store.

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

For many guitarists learning to play solos, it can be easy to fall into a rut — based on a certain hand position of a scale — and, in doing so, forget to play melodically.

In this lesson, we will focus on learning to effectively incorporate melody into a solo. After all, iconic melodies are what set great guitar solos apart in many instances.

For this example, we will work with a chord progression moving from G major to E minor to D major, and we will solo in the G major scale.

And in this exercise, we will focus on a single string to help avoid getting stuck in a rut of simply playing from string to string across a familiar particular position of the major scale.

Although we will use the second string, or B string, you really could replicate this exercise with any of the strings. So, as a first step, let’s think about the G major scale in terms of only the second string.

Then let’s think about where these three chords in our progression (G major, E minor and D major) fall on the fretboard, so we can chase these chords around on the neck, so to speak. (A quick note on this point: One system many players use to learn to locate chords all over the neck is the CAGED system, and a simple Google search for “CAGED system” will bring up a host of websites explaining this relatively straightforward method for learning scale positions on the fretboard.)

For example, there is a standard G barre chord at the third fret, the G chord falls at the seventh and eighth frets on the first through third strings using your open D major triad shape, and there is fifth-string G barre chord at the 10th fret. What we will try to do is visualize these G chords all over the fretboard along with the notes in the G scale falling on the second string, so that we can use them when the G chord is playing in the progression.

Considering playing the G major scale on the second string, the note at the third fret (within the barre chord is a D), there is a G at the eighth fret (within the open D major triad shape), and there is a B at the 12th fret (within the fifth-string G major barre chord). Don’t worry or feel intimidated if you don’t understand a ton of music theory at this point, which you can learn more about separately. These are just examples, and you see how they can be used in this exercise.

Our goal here is to plot points on the fretboard corresponding to notes we can emphasize when the G major chord plays in the progression. And, likewise, we can plot similar points for the E minor and D major chords to have options for what to emphasize when these chords are played:

• Considering the second string and the E minor chord: There is an open B (within the open E minor chord), and there is a G at the eighth fret (within the fifth-string E minor barre chord).

• Considering the second string and the D major chord: There is a D at the third fret (within the open D major chord), and there is a G at the eighth fret (within the fifth-string D major barre chord).

As you will see, you can use these notes to play a solo within the chord progression, developing a melody. Obviously, at this point, we are not trying to play the fastest or flashiest solo incorporating the most notes possible. We just want to play something simple and focus on developing a melody that moves the song forward coherently.

As you’ll notice in this example solo, we start with the G on the eighth fret of the second string, playing it over the G major chord and again over the E minor chord, because the note G is found in both of those chords. From there, we move down to the F# at the seventh fret of the second string over the D chord, as F# is a note found in that chord.

I use a D at the third fret of the second string over the D major chord. The second pass begins again with the G on the eighth fret of the second string over the G major chord, walks up to the B at the 12th fret of the second string over the E minor chord, and then walks down to the F# at the seventh fret of the second string. The A notes in the solo, played at the tenth fret of the second string between notes, are used to keep the solo moving and provide additional color.

Once again, although this particular solo is not the most exciting thing you will ever play, this exercise is worth pursuing to help develop a focus on melody, because most memorable guitar solos incorporate strong melodic components to get beyond merely being an incoherent jumble of guitar acrobatics.

From there, of course, you can continue to build additional notes onto the solo, and your ability to add additional notes, color, and motion to your melodies will only increase as you grow in your knowledge and understanding of the guitar fretboard and other more general aspects of music like music theory and ear training.

Ultimately, you’ll find that the more you know about the fretboard, the more you can visualize the scales and the chord shapes; and you can use this knowledge to think in visual terms about your options of what to play in connection the different chord progressions you want to solo over.

Doing this will help you develop a broader understanding of the notes that will sound natural and melodic, giving you the building blocks you need to create melodies of your own.

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.

Here’s how the average guitarist’s brain functions in response to being unhappy with tone …

Problem: Weedy tone.

Guitarist’s brain says: “Buy a Les Paul.”

Problem: Wooly tone.

Guitarist’s brain says: “Buy a Strat. No — a Tele. No, wait … buy both. And a new amp, just in case.”

One simple problem. One $2,500 solution.

Neurologists understand the reason for this kind of thinking. The brain is seated directly behind the eyes, where it is easily stimulated by bright and shiny things. Simultaneously, the brain is a financially insensitive organ, precisely because it’s located at the point on the human body farthest from the wallet.

This is science.

So let’s be financially sensitive and find the cheapest way to get better tone. I know, that doesn’t sound very rock and roll. It sounds like your dad complaining about the price of hamburger between naps on the Barcalounger.

But no one has to know except you and me. Just try a 25-cent experiment. Try a different guitar pick.

Even if you own half a dozen guitars, twice that many pedals and several amps, you probably use the same Fender Medium pick on each guitar, from acoustic to electric, whether you play folk or metal. That pick is a great, classic, middle-of-the-road, dad-approved choice. But music is about shaking things up, trying new things.*

So this time, buy a different pick instead of a different guitar. That little divided wooden box on the counter of every guitar store on the planet contains a potent selection of plectrums for changing your sound and even the playability of your instrument.

That’s because picks come in a variety of materials, from felt, to plastic, to wood, steel, and stone. They can be thick or thin, big or small, round or sharp, and all shapes in between.

And what a difference something as simple as a pick can make.

On my acoustic guitar I recently changed from playing solo with lots of airy open tunings to jamming with Cajun musicians who want me to play loud, chunky cowboy chords. My first time with them I was lost in the mix. The next day I did just what my guitarist brain suggested, and went to half a dozen music stores auditioning jumbo-bodied guitars.

They were great fun to explore, but something was still missing in my sound. It was too plinky, not up-front enough. Then I thought about the box full of dozens of different kinds of guitar picks I’ve bought over the years. After I got home I tried each kind to see the effect it might make.

In the end, I switched from my usual oversized, thin, pointy-tipped nylon pick to a very rounded, stubby, hard plastic one. The result was a big change in sound. Most obvious was the leap in volume. It was easily as different as switching from my OM to a dreadnought. The tone was rounder and more direct, without any accompanying “click” from the pick — an altogether smoother, even sound, great for pounding out straight four-to-the-bar and waltz rhythms.

The surprise was that it also affected my right-hand playing technique. No more having to carefully lift up the pick from one string and locate it onto the next. The stubbier pick just glided from string to string, letting me brush chords more easily and slide in bass runs here and there. A side benefit was that by being so smooth and producing more volume, I didn’t have to work as hard to get the sound out, saving wear and tear on my wrist — an important consideration after strumming unamplified for three hours non-stop in a noisy pub.

Give it a try. In fact, seeing how cheap picks are, give it lots of tries. And don’t worry, you can get a bright and shiny rock and roll one — and even carry it in your wallet, far from your brain.

*Legal Disclaimer: Fender Corporation makes absolutely amazing picks. And guitars and amps. You have the address I sent you guys, right?

William Baeck is a writer, photographer and hack guitarist living in London. You can check out his webpage at williambaeck.com and reach him on Facebook and Twitter.

We love this! It's totally worth your time to check out this video of Taking Back Sunday's Adam Lazzara as he performs "Because It Works." This solo track features energetic acoustic guitar and some fun and funky harmonica, and appears on the recently released EP, I Surrender Records Presents: Our Voices, which also includes new solo material from Anthony Raneri of Bayside, Chris Conley of Saves The Day, and Vinnie Caruana of I Am The Avalanche.

Check out the video:

Find out more about I Surrender Records Presents: Our Voices

These videos are bonus content related to the February 2014 issue of Guitar World. For the full range of interviews, features, tabs and more, pick up the new issue on newsstands now, or in our online store.

Long-scale electric guitars are a logical choice for modern guitarists who crave more depth, resonance and sonic authority yet prefer to avoid the hand-cramping neck width of most seven- and eight-string axes.

Studio engineers’ routinely utilize them to thicken anemic tracks, but onstage applications have understandably been limited by their typically larger bodies and equally unwieldy 28- to 30-inch-scale necks. Jericho Guitars is a relative newcomer that hopes to change this paradigm with its sleek and stylized Avenger.

The Avenger is a 27-inch-scale guitar that looks and feels like any standard-scale guitar and is designed to complement the tonal curve of today’s high-gain super amps.

These videos are bonus content related to the February 2014 issue of Guitar World. For the full range of interviews, features, tabs and more, pick up the new issue on newsstands now, or in our online store.

Back in the Holiday 2012 issue, I compared guitar playing to being like a winter sport. In the summer, we tend to put away our guitars while we engage in outdoor summer activities.

Speaking for myself, my chops tend to get a little neglected over the warm months, whereas in the winter, I’m happy to sit by the fire and play guitar for hours on end.

As we head into the dead of winter, I'd like to revisit this topic and provide some fresh guitar playing exercises/calisthenics that you can use to quickly and efficiently get your pick- and fret-hand chops back in shape.

Below, you can check out a fan-filmed video (ugh, it's vertical) of Quiet Riot performing their 1983 hit, "Cum On Feel the Noize," with their new lineup this past New Year's Eve in Flagstaff, Arizona.

The show marked the debut of the new lineup, which includes brand-new singer Jizzy Pearl (L.A. Guns, Ratt), plus drummer Frankie Banali, bassist Chuck Wright and guitarist Alex Grossi.

"I knew that resurrecting Quiet Riot was going to be a major challenge and undertaking," Banali told Loudwire recently. "You simply don't replace a singer and personality like Kevin DuBrow because he was the complete package, the real deal and my best friend. I never set out to replace Kevin, I set out to continue the band in his memory."

DuBrow died in 2007 of an accidental cocaine overdose at age 52.

For more about Quiet Riot, visit officialquietriot.com.

"Cum On Feel the Noise" was originally released by Slade in 1973.

In the brand-new video below, Guitar World's Paul Riario demos four new vocal pedals from TC-Helicon.

Lately, more and more guitarists are finding they have to pull double duty by performing vocals in addition to playing guitar. Now it's never been easier to get a great professional vocal sound while being in key, thanks to the Mic Mechanic, the Harmony Singer, the VoiceLive Play GTX and the VoiceLive Play.

Riario demonstrates all four pedals in the video below; he also notes that this is the first time Guitar World has reviewed vocal pedals! Riario even sings in the clip, which also features singer Laura Clapp from TC-Helicon.

For more about TC-Helicon, visit tc-helicon.com. To go right to the Products section (where you'll find these four pedals), visit tc-helicon.com/products.

In celebration of the new February 2014 issue of Guitar World, which features Eddie Van Halen on the cover, we present this photo gallery of every EVH appearance on a GW cover.

The new issue is available now at the Guitar World Online Store.

The new issue rewinds 30 years to the making of Van Halen's masterpiece, 1984. Van Halen details how he built his own home studio and took control of his group's musical direction. The result was 1984, the album that established Van Halen as chart-topping superstars. For an excerpt from the new interview, head HERE.

We also mark the 25th anniversary of No Rest for the Wicked, as Ozzy Osbourne and Zakk Wylde recall the audition, rehearsals and recording sessions that resulted in their auspicious debut outing.

For more about the new issue, visit the Guitar World Online Store.

During their annual New Year's show at Madison Square Garden this week, Phish showed a new video, which you can check out below, on the Jumbotron during a set break.

The nine-minute-long clip is a montage celebrating the band's 30th anniversary, which they celebrated in 2013.

The video shows a massive amount of early photos and bits and pieces of video that take us right up to the present.

Phish are working on a new album, tentatively titled Wing Suit. The band played several tracks from the new album over New Year's and at their Halloween show.

In my previous post, Strumming Rhythm, Part 1, we checked out all different possible binary rhythms using eighth notes and 16th notes.

Let’s see what happens now when ties get thrown into the mix.

The Tie

A tie is a curved line connecting two notes of the same pitch. What this does is extend the first note for the length of the second note. In other words, it adds the two tied notes together. For example, if an eighth note is tied to another eighth note, you end up with the length of a quarter note.

Typically, ties happen across beats or across measures. You don’t really need to tie together two 16th notes in the same beat, because you can just rewrite them as one eighth note.

Playing a tie when you’re strumming isn’t too hard in theory. All you have to do is swing your arm as if you’re going to play the tied note, but don’t hit the strings. Miss on purpose.

Let’s check out a few examples.

Strumming With Ties

Here’s a really popular strumming example, using an Em chord:

All I did here was take two of the rhythmic examples from Part 1 and then tie them together. Notice the D’s and U’s indicating down and up strumming directions. The D in parentheses indicates you swing your arm down but don’t hit the strings.

Here’s a slightly trickier example using more syncopation, meaning more up-strums.

Notice that the tie is treated the same way. Just miss the strings on purpose for the tied note.

Strumming With Ties and Dotted Rhythms

Dotted rhythms add an extra challenge, since they already involve a “missed” strum if you’re strumming down with the eighth note. Here’s one example using a dotted eighth and 16th note rhythm.

Notice how there are two missed down strums for that dotted rhythm. It’s really important to keep swinging your strumming arm with that eighth-note pulse. That way you’ve basically got a metronome built into your body, allowing you to play around with the rhythm while keeping the beat.

Check out this last example using another dotted eighth note rhythm.

This example has an extra “missed” down strum at the end, right where the last eighth note pulse falls.

Practice

For practice, try pairing together different rhythm from Part 1 and tying them together. There are seven different rhythms to choose from, so there are a lot of possible pairings.

Start of with just a couple different pairs and work with them along with a metronome until that missed down strum feels comfortable.

The more different rhythms you practice, the more versatile you’ll be as a rhythm guitarist. Eventually you won’t have to worry about up and down patterns any more. You’ll be able to strum whatever rhythm you like, because you’ll have worked all the different possibilities into your strumming arm.

Ben Rainey works as a guitar teacher and freelance guitarist in the Pittsburgh area. He's also in charge of music content at Tunessence.com.