Although I have never really been a big Satriani fan, nobody can deny that he is an amazing guitarist. The subtitle of this month’s Guitar World reads “He taught Kirk Hammett & Steve Vai… and now he teaches you!” That’s pretty exciting if you ask me because all three of those are some crazy guitar players.

This issue really is focused on the guitar solo. Each article has some relation to that underlying theme and if you can master everything this issue has to offer you will be a better player because of it.

Superhero

Joe Satriani talks about his new album and gives us some tips on how to write rock solos. He stresses playing slowly to learn and that its not always what you play, but how you play it. He says “if you pick every note identically in an absolutely plain way, the succession of notes will not sound very interesting.” The article has 22 different tabbed learning licks with audio on the CD to accompany them.

Boogie Man

Joe Satriani gives a step by step walk through of playing his 1987 hit Satch Boogie.

Reinventing the Steel

Trivium talks about being accepted by the elders of thrash, playing with ex-Pantera members (RIP Dime), the necessity for guitar solos, and their upcoming album The Crusade.

Young Guns

An interview and harmonizing solo lesson with Trivium’s Matt Heafy and Corey Beaulieu
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Randy Rhoads designed this guitar and approved its prototype before he passed. It’s a shame he didn’t live to see this wonderful guitar come to production. Randy will forever be known as one of metal’s most talented and influential guitarists. So many of today’s guitar players were influenced by the man who made Ozzy and the Jackson RR1 Rhoads Signature screams just like Randy would have wanted.

The RR1 is Jackson’s most popular signature guitar, and not only for its name. The alder body and maple neck are built together in a neck-thru design. Neck-thru gives the guitar much more sustain than the cheaper bolt-on neck option. (more…)

Unless you haven’t picked up on it yet, I’m a pretty big metal fan. I was thinking about doing a series of review posts on some guitars commonly used by metal guitarists.

To finish off the month of March, over the next 7 days we will look at 7 different signature metal guitars. Each of the signature guitars is from one of my favorite guitarists.

The guitars I plan on reviewing are as follows:

1. Guitar Reviews: March Metal Madness
2. Fender Stratocaster Yngwie Malmsteen Signature Guitar
3. ESP KH-2 Kirk Hammett Signature Guitar
4. ESP Ninja 600 Michael Amott Signature Guitar
5. Gibson Les Paul Zakk Wylde CAMO Signature Guitar
6. Jackson RR1 Randy Rhoads Signature Guitar
7. Dean USA Razorback Tribute Dimebag Darrell Signature Guitar
8. ESP Alexi Laiho Signature Guitar

So, check back tomorrow for first on the list, the Yngwie Malmsteen Fender Strat.

March’s Guitar World is out and I’m pretty stoked about this one because it contains a step by step guide to playing Crazy Train. It includes a tab and a video lesson on the CD. I have already pretty much mastered the song. The video doesn’t include all of the little fills and licks, but the tab does a good job at illustrating them, so anyone should be able to learn the song from this lesson. One other thing worth noting is the video of Eric Johnson playing Cliffs of Dover on the CD. I haven’t heard that song for a pretty long time and when I watched the video I melted. It really is an amazing song and is 10 times as amazing when you get to watch him play it.

5 Song Transcriptions

1. Fall Out Boy - Dance Dance
2. Johnny Cash - Folsom Prison Blues
3. Green Day - Jesus of Suburbia
4. Eric Johnson - Cliffs of Dover
5. Ozzy Osbourne - Crazy Train

The Magazine also includes the following articles:

The Cover Story: Randy Rhoads - Tribute to Ozzy Osbourne’s Guitar Genius!

The tribute is actually a series of articles that give a rounded overview of Randy’s career and his tragic demise.

Randy Rhoads & Ozzy Osbourne

A dove, a bat, an airplane. Launching his solo career with guitarist Randy Rhoads, Ozzy Osbourne found both fortune and tagedy in the form of flying objects. (more…)