It has been absolutely crazy with work and shopping for the holidays, which is why I was so excited to spend some time writing this week’s issue of Six String Sunday. I can just relax with my MacBook, and talk about the best guitar stuff of the week.

I had been talking to the guys in the Discord and seeing what their favorite albums of the year were, and there’s a lot to choose from! We got 3 albums each from guys like Ariel Posen and Cory Wong, a new War on Drugs album that’s incredibly well done, lots of great punk like Turnstile’s Glow On, and much, much more. It was a great year for music. What’s your favorite 1 or 2 albums of the year? Let me know by replying to this email!

As we move into 2022, I have to imagine it’s going to be better than 2021 and certainly 2020, right? Anyway, here’s a boatload of my favorite guitar links of the week, to take your mind off of all the craziness! Let’s get into it.

TOP 10 RAGE RIFFS RANKED (Rage Against The Machine) - Rick Beato and Rhett Shull count down their top 10 Rage Against the Machine riffs. Tom Morello and co. have always been kings of “the riff”, so it was fun to take a trip down memory lane listening to these.
Robben Ford Beginner Guitar Lesson: Compositional Tools - Robben came out with a great album this summer, called ‘Pure’. He’s also been showing up more and more on YouTube as of late. In his newest video, he’s talking all about songwriting tools you can use as a guitarist.
CHRISTMAS GIFTS FOR METAL GUITAR PLAYERS 2021 - Haven’t bought anything for that guitar player in your life? There’s still a short amount of time to get something for them! Thankfully, Ola Englund has some good ideas for the guitarist in your life. Oh, and if you want to support the work that I do at Chasing Sound, check out my gift guide from last year. All great ideas for guitarists, and you’ll help the site!
Santa Claus Is Coming To Town • Fingerstyle Guitar - I’ve been posting a bunch of different guitar Christmas songs in the Discord lately, and this is one of my favorites. Joe Robinson is a great player, and I loved this version of “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town”.
Every musician deals with this… - Not directly guitar related, but if you’re a musician who ever has that sinking/lonely or burned out feeling after finishing something, like a gig or a recording project or something else, this is a helpful video to watch.
ANOTHER INSTANT CLASSIC! | Wampler Pantheon Dual Overdrive Deluxe Demo | TOM QUAYLE - I don’t always link to gear reviews in this newsletter, but this new Pantheon Dual Overdrive pedal from Wampler really has me excited. I love how you can stack these two great sounding overdrives on top of one another. Not to mention Tom Quayle really making it sing.
The Voodoo Child Chords - Jimi’s “Voodoo Child” might just be one of the best guitar moments in all of history. In this vid, Ross Campbell puts together some beautiful pedals to get that awesome Jimi tone, and teach us all about the chords that Hendrix played. Really helpful video, with a good dose of theory included as well.
Homeskoolin Holiday Special…”Community of Tenderness” - I loved this video from Tom Bukovac and a roundtable of studio musicians. They talk about things you should know if you want to hang as a session musician - the best of what to do and not to do.
Josh Smith’s Pedalboard | What’s on Your Pedalboard? - I’ve been working on a ton of Josh Smith course material lately, and over the last couple of years, his music has really made a huge impact on my playing. He also has one of the fattest blues tones I’ve ever heard. Part of that is his signature Ibanez Tele, but some of it comes from what’s on his pedalboard. Josh sits down with Sweetwater to show everyone what’s on his board.
John 5 on How He Gets Old-School Tones from His Metal-Friendly Tele | The Big 5 - Over the last decade or so, there’s been a lot more metal players, playing T-style guitars - everyone from Slipknot to the Deftones, and even John 5 (who plays solo and also with Rob Zombie). In this video, John talks to Premier Guitar to talk about how he gets a heavy metal tone from his arsenal of Teles.
10 Minute Legato Builder Workout for Guitar - Chris Brooks - Want to give your left hand a workout? Try Chris Brooks’ 10 minute legato workout. Chris makes some of the best instructional books on the planet, and his YouTube vids give you a window into just how good they are! If you want to add more legato playing to your licks, and make your leads sound more vocal, give this workout a try. Ben Eller also put out a solid legato exercise lesson this week - check that out here.
Vulfpeck announce new album, Vulf Vault 005: Wong’s Cafe, debut slinky lead single, Smokeshow - I’m so excited that Cory Wong has a “Vulf Vault” album coming out in January! Sometimes the Vulf Vault records are comprised of older material, but Cory decided to do new music for his entry into this series. The new single, “Smokeshow” is available to listen to now! What do you think of it?
St. Vincent had the Peavey Decade practice amp built into a pedal after Josh Homme revealed it as the secret behind the Queens of the Stone Age sound - Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age recently shared that one of the secrets of the Queens’ “No One Knows” tone was a Peavey Decade practice amp. Ever since then, the amps have gone up crazily in price. St. Vincent went an alternate route, and had the circuitry built into a pedal!
David Lee Roth Says that Frankenstein’s Stripes Were “My Work,” Experts Disagree - I’ve never despised DLR as much as I do after reading this nonsense. We always knew he told a lot of tall tales, but revealing this after EVH’s death goes a little too far. Especially since it was disproven by Chris Gill, who wrote a fantastic book about EVH, called Eruptions: Conversations with Eddie Van Halen. Try again Dave!
The Whys and Hows of Building a Repertoire - Guitar Tricks Forum - The awesome David Donaldson shared this with our Discord group this week. Learning songs is one of the best things you can do as a guitarist - not only to get better, but to build your repertoire of songs you can play anywhere. This post on Guitar Tricks talks about building that repertoire of songs, how to memorize them, what songs you should attempt to learn, and more.