How Do You Create a Viral Guitar Hit? Mika Tyyskä and 'The Guitar Shred Show'

What do you do when there's no single job that encompasses everything you want to do? You create one!

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Troy Grady is the creator of Cracking the Code, a documentary series with a unique analytical approach to understanding guitar technique. Melding archival footage, in-depth interviews, painstakingly crafted animation and custom soundtrack, it’s a pop-science investigation of an age-old mystery: Why are some players seemingly super-powered?

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Steve Cropper wears a black suit and tie as he plays his Peavey T-style to honor Otis Redding at the soul legend's 75th birthday concert in 2016.

“My playing has always sucked, but it sells, because I keep it simple, I guess. I’m not a guitar player, I never took the time”: Soul icon Steve Cropper on writing Green Onions, stressing out Brian May – and the secret of Billy Gibbons’ guitar style

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The Black Friday deals have finally arrived in the UK and Europe thanks to Thomann - grab up to 70% off in the early Cyberweek sale

“I'd try to bust out my best hot and fastest licks, and Joe would always be so helpful. He'd say, ‘All those licks are cool. But just slow it down, man. Tell a story’”: Lionel Richie guitarist Greg Suran shares the solo advice he received from Joe Walsh

“The world may not be ready for this”: Meet the D.U.M.Bucker – a fully functioning, monstrous eight-coil pickup that you might actually be able to buy

“A simple and beautiful guitar that is like a warm piece of furniture”: Fender Japan leans into the gear furniture trend with the Fragment Telecaster – a fresh take on the traditional rosewood Tele template

“John, Paul, George, Ringo, the first time they ever performed together in the Cavern Club, this amp was what they used”: Hear the amp said to be John Lennon’s first Vox put through its paces – with Noel Gallagher’s Les Paul

“The bass isn’t looked at as a ‘cool instrument’. It’s always seen as the ‘backbone’ of a band. I think I’m trying to shed new light on it”: Blu DeTiger on how she's changing people’s perception of bass players

“It was Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, and the engineer. Quincy said, ‘Go in there, and do what you want’”: Steve Stevens on following in Eddie Van Halen’s footsteps to record the ‘spiritual successor’ to Beat It

“He said, ‘If you got in the band, what would you do?’ I said, ‘I always wanted a White Falcon.’ Everything I owned, I put into that”: Billy Duffy spent his life savings on his first Gretsch – now he’s got a signature model to mark 40 years of The Cult

"Our lowest prices of the year": Guitar Center's gigantic Black Friday sale is officially here and sees up to 50% off some of the most popular guitars of all time

“I’m making mistakes in the guitar a little bit but I went home and wept that night. It’s a song I’ve been living with for years and could relate to deeply”: Timothée Chalamet on playing guitar in the Bob Dylan biopic – and the song that made it all click

“From January 2024 to now, we sold 334 units. I went after it, but it plummeted”: Why JHS Pedals is discontinuing Ross Pedals – just over a year after resurrecting the legacy brand

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