Premier Guitar features affiliate links to help support our content. We may earn a commission on any affiliated purchases.

Top 10 Lessons of 2020

Top 10 Lessons of 2020
Top 10 Lessons of 2020

This year we looked into how to solo like Garcia, bend like the late Peter Green, and think deeper about the blues scale.

Grateful Dead-Style Solo Tricks

By Michael Palmisano
Learn how to connect triads in the style of Grateful Dead legends Jerry Garcia and John Mayer.


Rethinking the Blues Scale

By Shawn Persinger
There's way more than blues-rock fodder buried in the crevices of the most overused scale in music.

Spice Up Your Cowboy Chords

By Shawn Persinger
Just because you live on the low end of the fretboard doesn't mean you can't add melodic and harmonic interest to your progressions.

Pentatonic Escape Routes

By Paul DePauw
Don't be a prisoner of the pentatonic box. Time to break out!

Walking the Blues

By Jason Beaudreau
Eight ways to add excitement to your blues rhythms.

How to Learn a Song Like a Nashville Pro

By Annie Clements
Here's a fool-proof process for systematically embedding a song in your soul.

Hendrix Rhythms Made Easy

By Jon MacLennan
Understanding Hendrix's rhythm guitar style will help you create new, exciting guitar parts that add momentum to the song.

Blues Arpeggio Tricks

By Corey Congilio
A simple half-step slide is all it takes to spice up those vanilla arpeggios.

Peter Green's Magic Scale

By Jeff McErlain
Put some Green into your blues with the minor pentatonic major 6 scale.

A Beginner's Guide to Standard Slide

Arthur Rotfeld
Just because you want to slide, doesn't mean you need to retune.

Stretching the boundaries of reverbā€™s realm through dynamic and pitch control.

Nice core reverb sounds. Invites cool compositional and arrangement directions. High quality.

If you lack patience, it will be hard to unlock its coolest secrets.

$329

Gamechanger Audio Auto Reverb
gamechangeraudio.com

4.5
4
3
4

When the first Moog synthesizer appeared, it freaked out a lot of musiciansā€”not least for the way it blurred the divisions between instruments and their roles. Was it percussion? A keyboard? A reed instrument? Many effects makers build from this philosophical foundation. The Latvian company Gamechanger often seems to revel in itā€”an attitude thatā€™s manifest in the companyā€™s Auto Series pedals, which includes the Auto Reverb.

Read MoreShow less

Kepma Guitars introduces the new Fenix Series of Grand Auditorium acoustic guitars, offering premium features at an entry-level price, plus their new travel-sized FC Mini Series.

Read MoreShow less

Shure introduces the Nexadyne line of dynamic instrument microphones.

Read MoreShow less

The moe. frontline from left: Chuck Garvey (guitar), Rob Derhak (bass), Al Schnier (guitar), and Nate Wilson (keyboards). In the mist behind them is Jim Loughlin (percussion) and Vinnie Amico (drums).

Photo by Paul Citone

The two guitarists are known for their sympathetic 6-string interplay. They remain as tight as ever, despite setbacks, as they deliver the buoyant, vibrant Circle of Giants, the long-running jam bandā€™s 14th studio record.

Thirty-five years ago, a group of University of Buffalo students gathered in a basement, drank a lot of beer, and played some tunes. They had no goal other than to have fun and party. But it wasnā€™t long before they headed into a studio housed in an apartment above local guitar shop Top Shelf Music to record the debut moe. album, Fatboy. Slowly, the band built a devoted fan base, crisscrossing the country in a van. As they persevered, the band and their audience grew up together, and now itā€™s the fansā€™ children who are discovering the group.

Read MoreShow less