It’s been one heck of a week over here. Been busy with work, hockey is in full swing (and the NJ Devils are doing pretty good!), and I finally was able to sell my Fractal AX–8 and purchase the Fractal FM3 - which I’ve been diving into with the rising force of a 100 Yngwie’s. Keep an eye out for some new videos up on my YouTube, talking about the FM3, how to use it, what my favorite patches are, and more.

It’s been a quieter week in the guitar world, but I still have some really fun links to share with you. So without further ado, let’s get into this week’s links!

The 19 Coolest Guitars I Found Across the USA - I always love looking at guitars I will most likely never have the ability to own. They’re these beautiful, rare, and sometimes super collectible axes that will fetch multiple thousands of dollars. That’s why I enjoyed watching 19 of the coolest guitars that Tyler from MusicIsWin found on his Guitar Store Tour. Which one is your favorite, and what’s the most expensive guitar you’ve ever played?
The Different Tones of ALL THE GUITARS (Can You Hear a Difference?) - I loved this video from SamuraiGuitarist, where he plays pretty much every guitar he owns, and lets us hear the differences (or lack thereof) of all of them. I have to admit, between certain guitars I didn’t hear much of a difference. What about you?
Things You Should Never Say To A Guitarist - h/t to Simon A. for this one. Things you should never say to a guitarist! My favorite was “why does everyone love jimi hendrix so much? his technique was incredibly sloppy.”
10 ways to level up your pentatonic playing | Guitar World - First things first - if you don’t know your maj and min pentatonic shapes, go learn them! There are helpful neck diagrams in this post. After that, if you’ve been playing pentatonic boxes for a while, you should check out these cool pentatonic riffs based on players like Tom Morello, Kirk Hammett, and Zakk Wylde. There’s even some good maj and minor combinations in there, which are always fun. I love small lessons like this where they contain a handful of licks. I always try to learn the licks, and then make them my own.
Learn to play guitar like David Gilmour in five minutes>) - Speaking of bite sized lessons, I also really enjoy Guitar.com’s learn how to play guitar like xxx in five minutes. They’ve done ones on Hetfield, Jeff Beck, and more. This one on Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour is equally as good. Break out your Strat!
The MATH Behind the Major Scale - Chris Sherland guested on Marty Music’s YouTube channel this week to talk about the Major scale. Being able to number the major scale, and really understand it, will help you with other scales and chords. The major scale is the best starting point we have as musicians. Also, go check out Chris’ Patreon. I’m subscribed to his The Studio tier, and really enjoying it so far. If you want to learn more about music theory for guitar players, that’s the place!
Five myths about Slash’s gear that people still believe - Gotta admit, I already believed some of these myself!
Ibanez MINI pedals featuring Martin Miller - Ibanez just released a bunch of new mini pedals, featuring a delay, flanger, phaser, and more. Martin Miller took all of them for a spin in this short demo. They’re all priced between $90 and $120. They sound really great for their price point. Would you put these on your pedal board? Speaking of boards, I loved this video from Vertex effects, where they talk all about the secret to clean cabling.
Is Stealing From Other Artists OK? - Ben Eller takes an a cool D minor pentatonic lick from Arch Enemy, and instead of copping it note for note, turned it into a practice riff that is all his own. The best artists steal! Understanding this way of making riffs/licks your own is really beneficial to your playing.
Do This To Find New Chords On Guitar - Johnathan Cordy shows us how to find new chords on guitar by starting with simple triads and their inversions, and adding more tones to those triads (and finding those extra notes all over the neck - for instance CEG and then finding the 7th in all different parts of the neck). He also talks about triad groups that are near each other, and adding additional notes to those as well. Johnathan has been putting out some great videos lately, and I’ve loved his recent mix of lessons and demoing gear.