It’s been a pretty crazy week in the music world. Unfortunately we lost guys like ZZ Top’s Dusty Hill, and Slipknot’s original drummer Joey Jordison way too soon. I’ve been spinning a wild combination of ZZ Top and Slipknot over the last few days in their honor. If you get a chance to see Slipknot live, I would 100% recommend going. Their live shows have always been a lot of fun, and they usually bring great supporting acts. I hope ZZ can keep going as well, as they were just set to go out on tour at the end of July.

I also just wrapped up episode 4 of Chasing Sound Live, and as always, I had a blast doing it. Aside from this newsletter, the livestreams have been so much fun to come up with. You can check out the replay here. And finally, before we get into this week’s links, make sure to join me on Lick Every Day In August. I’ll be posting up a brand new lick that I create each and every day on TikTok and Instagram. I hope you’ll join me in taking the challenge of creating every day. Alright, let’s get into these links!

(Steve) Lynch Tapped Pentatonics - 5 Minute Licks - Any time I see a fun way to mess with the pentatonic scale, you know I’ll be interested. Leon Todd shows us some cool Steve Lynch (Autograph) style tapped pentatonics.
Economy picking vs alternate picking | Is one better for improvisation? - Troy Grady from Cracking the Code has been on a roll with helpful videos lately. In this one he discusses if there’s any benefit between economy picking vs. alternate picking, with Padraig O’Kane from Streetwise Guitar. Earlier, he also talked about choosing the right pick - pointy or round! The choice of guitar pick can make a huge difference on your playing style, tone and technique.
Learn Double Thumb from Victor Wooten - While not a guitar lesson, I think there’s a lot to learn from the legendary Victor Wooten on the technique of double thumbing. There’s a handful of folks who are playing “slap guitar” right now, and learning from one of the best bass players out there is a great starting point for technique. If you want more, check out Jude Gold’s Solo Slap Guitar book.
How To Wind Your Own Telecaster Pickups - Simon Allaway is without a doubt one of the most active builders I’ve come across. He recently put out a fantastic video on winding your own pickups, and it’s a lot of fun to see these come together. He even made his own winding machine! Inspiring stuff if you want to get going building your own guitar. Simon also recently shared one of the most hilarious things I’ve seen all week - this video by TJ Walker: “What if Mark Knopfler played Panama by Van Halen”. Amazing.
Warm Audio Jet Phaser | Faithfully Recreated - I’ve been nerding out over so much gear lately, and this Warm Audio Jet Phaser is not helping! Rabea Massaad puts it through its paces. I’ve also been checking out the Suhr Discovery Analog Delay. Mateus Asato just demoed that pedal here. And it’s taking everything in my power not to drop some money on the new Andy Wood signature overdrivefrom Wampler.
Analog vs. Digital | Episode 1: Delay - And speaking of gear, Reverb just launched a new series called Analog vs. Digital. The first episode focuses on analog and digital delays. Andy Martin demos a ton of delay pedals - everything from tape delays to mod delays and more. I love these videos, as it gives really any guitarist a good idea of what tones they enjoy, and what pedals they might want to buy.
5 Reasons To NOT Buy A New Guitar! (A Video To Myself) - As a G.A.S. counterpoint, Robert Baker is back with a video with 5 reasons why you shouldn’t buy a new guitar. From tips like not settling until you find the guitar you really want, to making sure no two guitars are too alike, Baker gives some sound advice.
2 ways to get better guitar tone that are often overlooked - Brian Wampler gives us two great ways to get better tone, that you might not have thought about. The video revolves all around speakers and cabinets, and how you can use impulse responses to help out if you don’t want to go out and buy a bunch of different cabs/speakers.
I bought the CHEAPEST GUITAR on AMAZON - A bargain or... - What does a $50,000 guitar sound like vs. a $50 guitar? The Martin that Paul Davids plays in this video sounds incredible, but I loved the line that no guitar is worth 50 thousand dollars. I also thought his tips on making the $50 guitar sound better, were very helpful. Biggest takeaway? As Robert Baker says above, hold out, save your money, and buy a better guitar. Doesn’t have to be $50K, but if you have patience, you’ll be happier in the long run.
Let's Talk About Fender Telecasters [And T-Shaped Objects £139 - £Thousands] - The guys at The Pedal Show talk about why Teles are so cool, and similar to Paul Davids, compare a Squier Tele to a 1965 Tele. They also give some really good history on what made the Tele so great, from its humble beginnings to when it “wasn’t so cool”. My personal take, Telecasters have always been cool, and they’re one of the most versatile and useful guitars you’ll ever buy.
Ariel Posen - The Making of 'Headway' - I still can’t get enough of Ariel Posen’s latest album, ‘Headway’. Here’s a short making of vid that shows a couple of brief behind the scenes action from the studio. And if you’re looking to get that Ariel Posen sound, check out RJ Ronquillo’s recent demo of Posen’s Hudson Electronics Broadcast overdrive.
3 Chromatic Licks That Will Make You Sound BETTER Than You Are! - Using chromatic notes can help make you sound better, and help fill the gaps when you’re playing more standard scales. In this video Darrell Braun gives us 3 fun chromatic licks to try, with tab.
Kirk Hammett joins the Gibson family - We’ve always known Hammett and Hetfield to be ESP endorsers, but both have played Gibsons as well for the entirety of their career. Recently we got a teaser from Gibson’s Mark Agnesi, and then later this week we found out that Hammett had joined the Gibson family. No talk about product yet, but Cesar from Gibson said there will be a “collection” of guitars. I’m so excited to see what they come up with! Oh, and it looks like Kirk is also still sticking with ESP as well, as evidenced in this Instagram post.
Modest Mouse's Isaac Brock: "I quit trying to find my favorite guitar. All the precious pairing of instruments and amps is just time spent not writing" - Guitar World sat down with the Modest Mouse frontman to talk about their new album, ‘The Golden Casket’. The headline’s quote was enough to pull me in though. We’ve been talking so much about gear over the past few weeks, it always is secondary to actually writing music.
The Five Guitar Commandments of Luke - Toto and session legend Steve Lukather hits us with 5 life lessons when it comes to music. Luke’s tips are all about perseverance, connecting with people, and making sure you’re great at solo and rhythm guitar. Great advice from one of the best guitar players out there.