If you’ve ever sat down with your guitar and thought, “Why don’t my riffs sound as tight as I want them to?” you’re not alone. Every metal guitarist hits this wall at some point, whether you’ve been playing for a few months or a few decades. Sometimes your palm muting just isn’t right.Sometimes everything falls…
One of the biggest problems metal guitar players face is unwanted string noise. Whether you’re trying to lock in tighter riffs or hold out that one sustained note and really milk it, extra noise from surrounding strings can ruin your tone and clarity. The good news? You can fix this fast once you know what’s…
You already know you’ve got to put the time in to get better on guitar.But saying things like, “Well, just practice more,” – that doesn’t always work, does it? Because sometimes it’s not about practice. It’s about passion.You love metal. You love playing. But the fire just isn’t there, and when you finally find time…
Let’s clear the air on something before we get started. A great guitar solo, a professional-sounding guitar solo, doesn’t necessarily mean you’re just throwing a bunch of notes at people. In other words, just because you’re playing endless arpeggios up and down the neck doesn’t automatically make that a great solo. There are two things…
Whether you’ve been playing metal riffs for years or you’re just now exploring lead guitar, these simple tone and setup tweaks can completely change how your solos sound and feel. You’ve got your guitar and amp all set up… but something still feels off.Your tone doesn’t sound quite right, or your guitar just doesn’t feel…
I’ll never forget the first time I heard Blackened by Metallica. That riff completely captivated me to the point where I didn’t just want to listen to metal anymore. I had to be a part of it. I had to learn how to play this stuff. By the way, Blackened uses a really cool technique…
Before we get into this, let me first encourage you to trust your ears more than anything. Tabs are a great tool, but you never want to rely on them 100%. The real superpower for metal guitar players is combining solid ear training with the ability to read tabs. That said, this post is your…
I’ve never been a fan of tone-chasing. To me, a quality amp (or amp sim, in this case) should deliver a killer tone right out of the box without endless tweaking. That’s exactly what the Bogren Digital Ampknob BDM Bundle does. In this post, I’ll break down what makes this bundle special, why it’s perfect…
The Blackstar HT-5RH MK III amp gives you the best of both worlds with hardware (aka a real amp) and software. And it’s great for small home recording studios as it fits perfectly on your desktop. You don’t need a speaker cab (I’ll show what you’ll use instead, which comes with the amp). You don’t…
Setup was at 2 PM that day, February 17th, 2024. The lighting crew started unloading and assembling massive amounts of gear on the stage. We were setting up our merch tables. More members and help from the four bands started to roll in. Backstage food, sound check, and wardrobe changes sprinkled with hints of butterflies….