How’s it going this week for you in the woodshed? I’ve been hunkering down and having a lot of fun practicing. I’m at that weird stage in the year where I don’t quite want to turn my heat on yet, but it’s getting a little brisk. Is this another benefit of using a tube rig vs. a modeler? The extra heat the power amp tubes give off?

Speaking of modelers, I’m changing it up a bit, and selling my Fractal AX–8. If you’re looking for a good deal on a fantatsic sounding modeler, you can check it out here on Reverb. Alright, let’s get into this week’s links!

Inside the Mind of Guitar Phenom Greg Koch - I loved this video - Nick from Sweetwater picks Greg Koch’s brain about chicken picking, why it’s more important to learn the vernacular of guitar rather than play your heroes licks note for note, conversational playing, and much more.
New episodes of guitar podcasts - Speaking of Greg, he recently sat down with John 5, where the two talk about Teles! What else? I’ve been loving Greg’s “Chewing the Gristle” show, because he’s had on everyone from Ariel Posen to Tosin Abasi, Jason Isbell, Vai and more. I also checked out the newest episode of Cory Wong’s podcast, where he had on Robben Ford. Robben talks about playing inside of a band (and everything else that goes along with that), his Dumble amp and lots more. If you haven’t checked out Robben’s latest album ‘Pure’, it’s worth a listen. And finally, I really enjoyed listening to the latest ToneMob podcast, where Blake Wyland had on Brad Tolinski and Chris Gill - who are both legends of guitar magazines like Guitar World/Guitar Player. They talk about changes in the landscape of print media, and their new Eddie Van Halen book, which is out now.
Beginners Should Stop Doing This! (I Wish I Would Have) - Are you making any of these mistakes, like playing in out of tune, not focusing on posture, and not applying newly learned stuff over a backing track or drone? Check out more advice from Robert Baker in this vid.
World’s Greatest Acoustic Guitarist? - Mike Dawes is a draw droppingly good acosutic guitarist. Rick Beato has him show us some of his coolest acoustic tricks. If you want to get an idea of Mike’s playing, check out this cover of Van Halen’s “Jump”.
Must Know - ICHIKA Style - 3 Levels - Ichika Nito has been making waves on social media with his exciting guitar playing, and even scored a signature model recently with Ibanez. In this video, Tomo Fujita shows us 3 levels of learning we need to grasp to play more like Ichika.
Playing the Strymon NightSky for the first time! - Dave Weiner is testing out new pedals for the upcoming Vai tour. He recently sat down with the incredible Strymon NightSky, and got some insanely ethereal and strange tones. This sounds like a really wild pedal.
JTC Mega Collab - The Wind That Shakes The Heart - 16 JTC Guitar artists got together virtually for a mega collab. Check out awesome players like Nili Brosh, Lari Basilio, Justin Derrico, and more play some killer leads over the ballad “The Wind That Shakes the Heart”.
Get My Tone for FREE!!! - 8 Presets for Neural DSP Quad Cortex - Martin Miller (extended version) - Speaking of JTC Guitar, Martin Miller has a lot of really great courses on the platform. And if you’re looking to get Miller’s tone, and have a Quad Cortex, you’re in luck. Miller is giving away 8 presets for this modeler for free.
How THE BEATLES wrote the PERFECT chord progression - Paul Davids does what only Paul Davids can do - he goes in depth on why The Beatles’ Penny Lane is so genius. And of course he does it in a beautifully produced video.
Eric Clapton Tours with Just 3 Strats- Premier Guitar talks to Clapton’s tech Dan Dearnley about how slowhand is only using 3 Strats on the road now.
Guitar Tone: What Matters? (actual tests, no opinions) - So happy to see Jim Lill is back on YouTube and making videos. His most recent has him testing what actually matters with guitar tone…for science! All jokes aside, I really think this is a cool video that actually lets you hear tone differences.
Fly Me to the Moon || My favourite part of Squid Game…. - Have you been watching Squid Game? I binged the whole thing on Netflix, and it was, heavy (in Marty McFly’s parlance). Johnathan Cordy played some really good takes of the show’s version of “Fly Me to the Moon”.
The Passion and Warfare Guitar - 30 Years Later - 30 years later, Thomas McRocklin shows off the ‘Passion and Warfare’ guitar that Vai gave to him for doing “The Audience Is Listening” video. Spoilers…it still sounds and looks great!
Arena-rocking Genesis guitarist Mike Rutherford has been using $200 Squier Bullet Strats onstage - One of my favorite articles of the week, and just another case of gear is less important thank you think.
Can pedals get any cheaper? Harley Benton unleashes 27-strong MiniStomp series, starting at $19 - Just when you thought pedals couldn’t get any cheaper (Amazon, I’m looking at you), along comes Harley Benton, who just released a staggering 27 pedals, starting at just 19 bucks. The pedals range from fuzzes and boosts, to a mini graphic EQ, a D.I. and more. If you pick any of these up, let me know how the construction quality and sound is!
Paul Gilbert is releasing the Christmas album you didn’t know you needed - And finally, it’s wayyyyy too early for Christmas music, but when it’s from Paul Gilbert, I’ll give it a pass. Gilbert just released an incredible version of “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”, that has him playing slide, an amazing solo, wah and more. Gilbert’s full Christmas album ’‘TWAS’ comes out November 26th. And if you want to learn how Paul learned to embrace slide as of late, check out this new post.