Musicians Institute: Uptown Blues | Guitar World

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The ESP LTD Deluxe EC-01FT guitar

“Streamlined, pro specs and built for brutal chug”: The ESP LTD Deluxe EC-01FT is a no-nonsense tone machine that asserts single-pickup supremacy

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“My solos are more like rolling scales than the call-and-response of blues riffs... I used to analyze the progression. If I didn’t like what was available, I’d play as weird as possible”: How Randy Rhoads reinvented classical guitar for metal

“It isn’t unrealistic to try with your usual setup, provided you’re not using eights with a 1mm action”: Upgrade your blues chops now with this lesson in how to play slide guitar in standard tuning

“I thought Billy was the coolest guitarist I’d ever heard, and that opinion hasn’t changed in 50 years”: Add some Texas blues sizzle to your lead playing with this lesson in Billy Gibbons' sweet soloing style

Dave Keuning’s uncanny ability to craft huge songs like Mr. Brightside from simple melodies is at the heart of the Killers’ blockbuster sound – here’s how you can use his rhythm approach and hook-filled lead style

Players like Larry Carlton use chords as a launching pad for improvisation, and you can, too. Learn how polychords and slash chords hold the key to musical exploration, just as scales do

“An unapologetic approach to thrash rhythmic precision”: Weaponize your picking hand with this lesson in the bruising thrash-stomp riffing style of Anthrax rhythm kingpin Scott Ian

It worked for the Beatles on Yesterday and it can work for you, too – here’s how to use the melodic minor scale to add intrigue to your songwriting and glide over minor chord progressions

“McLaughlin’s ferocious picking and mastery of the fretboard raised the bar for what could be achieved on the guitar”: Learn the trailblazing style of John McLaughlin, one of the true pioneers of jazz-rock fusion

Think punk is just power chords and rubbish technique? Think again – here are 10 lessons you can learn from the last 50 years of punk

“The idea of the ‘rhythm’ side and the ‘lead’ side as distinctly separate entities has become somewhat blurred”: Mateus Asato is a modern master of combined rhythm and lead playing – he shares his poetic soloing secrets

“Over time, her arrangements became more creative and composed and could stand on their own as melodic instrumentals”: A pioneering protest singer, American folk legend Joan Baez draws on jazz and flamenco for her intricate picking patterns