I’ll start this off with the old saying ‘People don’t plan to fail, they fail to plan.’ And I’d venture to say that most of us creative and free-spirited musicians cringe at the thought of making a plan. Whether you’re a full-time or part-time musician, planning for the year should be high on your list…
A Simple Path To Dialing In a Good, or At Least Usable Metal Guitar Tone If there’s one thing that we metal guitarists obsess over it’s our tone. It seems that one day you finally dial in the perfect metal tone only to be searching for the perfect tone a week later. It’s as if…
Actually, this isn’t just guitarists. It’s all musicians. We all believe in aliens; we all believe that there’s something else out there. At least we want to believe. I’ll go ahead and admit that I personally believe that there’s life beyond what we know. That’s from both an alien and after-life perspective. But this really…
Life can definitely be unpredictable. Good or bad, it keeps things interesting. You can be going about your day and out of nowhere something awesome happens like recouping last week’s lottery investment on a scratch-off. Other times it may be a bird that pooped on your car as you were opening the door and some…
You’ve heard me dial in some pretty awesome metal tones using Positive Grid’s BIAS Amp 2. In fact, I used one for their amps for the majority of the guitar tracks on my album Masterpeace. But sometimes you want to change things up and dial in a solid and simple hard rock guitar tone. Can…
In the modern era of recording music, many musicians are using virtual amp sims or hardware amp simulators like Axe Fx, Kemper, and the Line 6 Helix. But what about going old school and recording your guitars with a real tube amp? No matter how great these amp sims get there’s still always something missing…
You’re excited and ready to get out there and play some live acoustic gigs. And this is perfect for beginners and those just getting started playing small venues. Maybe it’s just you, a solo act. Or you may have a bandmate or two to share the stage with. Either way, the last thing you want…
From the low death metal growls to those metal screams, singing extreme metal vocals is one of the most unique, awesome, and anti-mainstream styles. But one of the most common questions that I get is how do you sing extreme metal without killing your voice? In this post, I’m going to teach you how to…
You’ve got the process down for laying your own guitar tracks. Heck, you’ve got 20+ metal riff ideas in your studio as we speak! Now it’s time to take it to the next level and record a full song, from start to finish. This is more than just music. This is YOUR song and it’s…
Updated for 2025: This post now includes fresh insights on how bass ties into metal riffs and rhythm guitar — plus links to resources that’ll help you improve your bass and guitar playing. Many guitar players assume they already know how to play metal bass guitar. In fact, those same guitarists assume bass is easier….