We revisited setups for Anthrax, Megadeth, Guthrie Govan, Bonamassa, and others, introduced ourselves to Cory Wong's and Wolf Van Halen's gear, but who's guitarsenal got the most clicks? Watch to find out!
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10. Cory Wong
The Grammy-nominated high minister of funk guitar and host of PG’s Wong Notes podcast take us through his spare but carefully tailored setup.
9. Anthrax
Check out the signature models (and more) that Scott Ian, Jon Donais, and Frank Bello are rocking on the thrash masters’ 40th anniversary tour.
8. Def Leppard
Nearly 40 years after their breakthrough album, Pyromania, Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell are still setting the world afire with their hot-rod gear.
7. Marcus King
The 26-year-old roots guitar titan shows off his prime stage axes, including his signature ES-345 and a vintage parts Les Paul, plus he reveals the secrets of his personal MK Ultra.
6. The Smashing Pumpkins
Thirty-one years after Gish, the Smashing Pumpkins are still exploring the architecture of sound in their often explosive and unpredictable songs. For their current Spirits on Fire Tour, Billy Corgan leads with his Reverend signatures and a few other carefully culled guitars, and Jeff Schroeder lends support with his fleet of Yamahas.
5. The Aristocrats' Guthrie Govan
Guthrie Govan reveals a new signature Charvel and experiences the digital modeling bath. Plus, bass behemoth Bryan Beller reconnects with old friends and displays his “low - rent” Geddy Lee setup.
4. Megadeth
Thrash-metal icon Dave Mustaine details his signature Gibson Vs and why it’s the best body shape. Plus, Brazilian shredder Kiko Loureiro dishes on his signature Ibanez speed demons.
3. Mammoth WVH
Wolf Van Halen and longtime master builder Chip Ellis discuss prototypes for EVH’s SA-126 and Wolfgang bass. Plus, the rest of the band show off their rockin’ wares.
2. Joe Bonamassa
On a summer tour supporting his Time Clocks album, Joe Bonamassa unveils some new 6-strings and old favorites, and plays through what’s arguably the most covetable collection of onstage tube amps ever assembled.
1. Foo Fighters' Chris Shiflett
A Fender Tele Deluxe “Cleaver,” a not-so-golden ’57 Les Paul, a few gifts from Grohl, and a pedal playground help “Shifty” find some sonic space.
Try to keep your skull glued on while geeking out on the gear the Grammy-winning producer uses to make epic albums with Foo Fighters, Alice in Chains, Deftones, Korn, Rush, Mastodon, and others.
Nick Raskulinecz was in the middle of moving his SSL 6000 console from Franklin, Tennessee, to Nashville and the new home of his Rock Falcon Studio when senior editor Ted Drozdowski and the Rig Rundown crew caught up with the much-in-demand producer. The space, just off Music Row, was built in 1968 and has been owned by Roy Orbison and Ronnie Milsap. Since Raskulinecz—who’s produced Foo Fighters, Alice in Chains, Rush, Coheed and Cambria, the Deftones, Mastodon, Beartooth, and a host of other seriously rocking bands—moved in, there’s been some ass-kicking going on within its walls. He’d just wrapped back-to-back albums by Korn and Halestorm before our visit.
Everybody geeked out hard on Nick’s extensive collection of absolutely badass vintage and modern amps, guitars that have appeared on many of the albums he’s produced, plus a few of his favorite stomps and go-to microphones. And there were plenty more amps that didn’t make it out of the isolation rooms where they’re stored, along with enough pedals stashed away to fill another Rig Rundown. But take a look at what we did see—and try to keep your skull glued on!
D'Addario Micro Tuner: http://ddar.io/Micro.Tuner
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Climb inside riffs inspired by one of rock’s biggest bands.
Chops: Beginner
Theory: Beginner
Lesson Overview:
• Learn how to create rhythmically compelling power-chord riffs.
• Add open strings to barre chords.
• Create melodic octave-based solos.
Click here to download a printable PDF of this lesson's notation.
The Foo Fighters are one of the most successful bands to emerge from Seattle’s post-grunge scene. While drumming for Nirvana, Dave Grohl was quietly writing material, and after Kurt Cobain’s death, he entered the studio to record the group’s self-titled debut album. He’d played all the instruments on the record, so once the buzz began to spread, Grohl had to put a band together for live shows. Lineups have shifted over the years, but currently the band includes drummer Taylor Hawkins, bassist Nate Mendel, and guitarists Pat Smear and Chris Shiflett.
Mixing melodic hard rock with punk and blues elements, the Foos draw their influences from many bands and artists, including Black Flag, Queen, and Tom Petty. Their latest album, Sonic Highways, is an epic project that spawned a series of documentaries about legendary studios around the United States. The band spent a week in each studio’s respective city, soaking up the area’s culture and vibe before writing and recording a song inspired by the experience.
For this lesson I’ve drawn ideas from such tracks as “My Hero,” “Monkey Wrench,” and “All My Life.” We’ll focus on tight power-chord riffs, chords that contain fretted notes and open strings, and melodic octave-based lines and figures.
Click here for Ex. 1
The etude kicks off with a riff based on a standard B5 chord, but also throws in the open 5th string. Notice how the rhythm produces a very tight, punchy sound when locked in with the drums and bass. On the last beat of measures two and four, we give the harmony a bit of movement by throwing in a D5 and an E5. Simply shifting the start of a riff from beat 1 to beat 2 can really change a rhythm part’s sound and feel. Check it out.
In the next section, our riff repeats, but we change the ending by going to an E/G# chord before hitting a huge E5 shape and then building tension with the D5 chord. The second half of the verse is mostly the same as the first eight measures, but with a simple twist: In the last measure we move to a D6(add9) to set up the chorus. This is a great demonstration of how a basic power chord can be embellished by simply including some open strings to add color. You should also notice that the second half of the verse concludes with an eighth-note rhythm as opposed to the tight 16th-note rhythm from measure eight.
Open strings play an essential part in the chorus riff that starts in measure 17. Throughout this section we let the top two strings ring out while moving chord shapes underneath. Check out how the A(add9) chord comes in on beat 4 rather than the start of the next measure. The second half of the chorus goes from F#7(add11) to E5 (keep those open strings ringing) before returning to the D6(add9).
The bridge starts with a melodic section that is reminiscent to the intro of “My Hero.” For this I composed a simple melodic figure based in E major (E–F#–G#–A–B–C#–D#) that continues to use the open 1st and 2nd strings to create some dissonance. As always, where there’s tension there must be resolution.
Distorted octaves pop up in the last section. This progression is very similar to the verse, with the exception of the A(add9) chord. The octave melody follows the rhythm of our accompanying riff, although in places it includes some fast 16th-note rhythmic ideas.
Recording details. Grohl’s main guitar is his signature Gibson DG-335, but he also uses Explorers, Les Pauls, and even Telecasters on occasion. For our lesson I used my Music Man Axis Super Sport guitar and a Music Man StingRay bass. I used Steinberg’s Cubasis on my iPad to record the tracks, and Positive Grid’s JamUp Pro app provided the guitar and bass tones. For the guitar, I dialed up a model based on a Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier and a vintage Ampeg-style setting for the bass. The drums were programmed with the Drums HD app, but I chopped a lot of the fills to create the final drum part. When it comes to Grohl’s tone, opt for a thick overdrive sound, but avoid saturation—we need to hear those open strings!