Mark Tremonti may be a sucker for Dumble amps, but the Alter Bridge and Creed guitarist has succumbed to the pull of digital amp modelers.

Revealing his newly devised live rig in an interview with American Musical Supply, Tremoti has revealed that the Dumble-inspired tones of his signature PRS head, which remains a key part of his Creed setup, are now augmented by a Neural DSP Quad Cortex.

At the heart of the rig is a trio of tube amps, which run simultaneously. That comprises his PRS MT 100; a “great-sounding” EVH 5153, which is a 50-watt version of Eddie's famous head; and a rack-mounted Synergy Amps creation that he describes as his “best find in the last five years”.

The real surprise, though, comes when the camera pans to his QC, nestled in amongst his rack-mounted pedalboard.

“That we just brought out for this tour as an experiment to maybe put it on top of the lead tone for the front of the house,” he says, referring to the Quad Cortex. “But it's still in the early stages of us messing with it.

“I'm a very tube-driven guy,” he adds, ensuring that this isn’t a huge change of tonal heart. “This is just a, ‘Can't beat them, join them,’ kind of thing to see how it sounds when you add it to to the arsenal.”

Tremonti is the latest in a long line of tube amp loyalists to have waded into digital waters. John Mayer was spotted using a Quad Cortex at Coachella, and Slipknot’s Jim Root has gone “sacrilegeous” with a QC, too. Meanwhile, The Edge dropped Universal Audio pedals into his rig to work around the Las Vegas Sphere’s volume restrictions.

Notably here, Tremonti is proving that the two amp styles can co-exist. It doesn't have to be one or the other.

Elsewhere in Tremonti’s rig, pedal picks include a Wampler Audio Tumnus overdrive “for lead tones,” a Boss OC-5 octave pedal, and a G-Lab SD-1 delay. He also employs a Kikusui adapter for power conditioning – a “vital safety” net found in Angus Young and Joe Bonamassa's rigs.

“When you travel around the world, power is gonna be drastically different,” Trremonti explains. “If the power's off, your tone's off. It could be one of the most important pieces in your entire rig.”

In related news, Tremonti has reflected on the honor of using Eddie Van Halen’s 5150 Studios as a base for the writing and recording of Alter Bridge’s forthcoming new album. The band was afforded the rare chance to utilize the space thanks to their connections to Wolfgang Van Halen.

And the digital modeler game is getting hotter by the month. Line 6 announced its potentially game-changing Helix Stadium in June, while the QC just got some big new updates to strengthen its position in the rapidly expanding modeler market.

The end is near, but time is on Mark Tremonti’s side. It’s got to be – he planned it this way.

When Guitar World reaches the legendary Floridian guitar force in late November 2024, he’s just stepped into a Toronto hotel room on a day off from Creed’s extremely successful and rapturously received reunion tour, which packed arenas throughout much of the year.

To say he’s caught during a moment of downtime, however, might be a stretch.

Once this interview wraps, he’ll be warming up his voice in preparation for another round of “Tremonti Sings Sinatra” shows, black-tie events where he smoothly croons Ol’ Blue Eyes’ standards.

He’s also touching up some songs he wrote for an upcoming album with Alter Bridge, his other long-running and beloved hard rock project. He may QC a pair of wah-styled prototypes for a long-promised pedal-making project. He and his family are going to sneak in some Christmas shopping while wandering through the Canadian metropolis, too.

Even after tackling all that, the guitarist will be sitting in the hotel relearning rhythmically crushing riffs from The End Will Show Us How, the latest album from his eponymous and more metallically tinged Tremonti project.

He’d made sure to finish that record at the top of 2024 to avoid conflicts with Creed’s weighty tour schedule, but the pendulum is swinging back toward the musical multi-tasker’s heaviest outfit for 2025.

“In my now very-layered career with all these bands, I’ve got to work about a year and a half ahead of schedule to make sure everything’s on time,” he says of an ever-morphing creative flow.

Throughout The End Will Show Us How, Tremonti and the rest of his group – co-guitarist Eric Friedman, bassist Tanner Keegan and drummer Ryan Bennett – are a wrecking ball of kineticism.

They’re smashing darkly anthemic choruses into ominously quarter-bent alt-rock gloom (The Mother, the Earth and I); they’re busting out bare-knuckled baritone riffage alongside pinch-and-burn soloing (One More Time, Nails).

But while generally several shades heavier than Creed or Alter Bridge, End also unveils tender rock balladry (It’s Not Over).

First single Just Too Much may be the record’s most unique surprise. Sporting an infectiously quirky verse groove built around alternating 8- and 9-bar phrases, the song passed Friedman and Tremonti’s smell test immediately.

Perhaps more irregular to the band leader was how his wife was an instant fan, too.

“That was one of the only songs I’ve ever worked on in my studio where my wife was like, ‘What was that thing you were playing last night? That was really cool!’ ” Tremonti says through a hearty laugh.

“She thought it was Audioslave-ish, which is one of her favorite bands. So I was like, ‘All right, we’re onto something!’ ”

You’ve called The Mother, the Earth and I one of your favorite songs you’ve ever done with this band. Pardon the pun, but what makes it so elementally “Tremonti”?

“I heard the initial demos back and it just hit a spot with me. And when it kicks into the chorus chord progression, that’s musically the most satisfying part to play. I like setting up an atmosphere and finding a lyric that fits the mood.

“When I was writing this song, I just spit out those lyrics. I thought it would be a fun thing to tackle, this love for the earth. Finding beauty and peace in nature while the world is in shambles, and everybody’s killing for religion and politics.

“It’s about sitting back in that tranquility of the earth itself… that’s something we all share, no matter what you believe.”

One More Time kicks off with a gnarly, gun-turreted rhythm riff that locks in with a monstrous double kick. It’s one of the heaviest grooves on the record.

“That’s signature Tremonti. Whenever I have a riff in a rhythm that needs to stay super-tight, and it has an almost speed metal-y approach to it, that’s definitely earmarked for Tremonti. If I brought that to [Creed/Alter Bridge bassist and drummer] Scott Phillips and Brian Marshall, they’d look at me funny.

“They like rock. They like progressive rock. But I don’t know if they like speed metal as much as I do. So I do as much of that as possible with Tremonti. That’s one of the main reasons I started this band – to be able to get that side of my songwriting out. They don’t have to be heavy, but that’s definitely a flavor of this band.”

There’s this bending lick you do in the bridge breakdown of One More Time that had one YouTube commenter asking, “Did I just get Weezer-ed?” because it shares a similar feel to the end of Rivers Cuomo’s solo on Buddy Holly. Had you come across that comparison yet?

“No… I’m not too familiar with Weezer. I’d have to go back and listen to it, but it’s definitely not a tribute to Weezer. [Laughs]”

Parallel thoughts, perhaps. A good lick is a good lick!

“It’s just rock ’n’ roll! There are 12 notes; it’s all been done. When that lick came together for One More Time, I thought it was great for the song. It wasn’t because I was listening to a Weezer record, I’ll tell you that much. [Laughs]”

In your last interview with GW, you talked up your love for the clean channel of your PRS MT 100 head. Did that end up being the primary clean tone on The End Will Show Us How?

“The MT 100 is the primary amp in general. Our producer Elvis [ed. Michael ‘Elvis’ Baskette], absolutely loves that amp. That being said, I’ve always been a firm believer in having multiple amps doing any given job. It’s been a career-long quest for me, pairing amps to find these perfect marriages between tones.

“We had the MT 100, and I brought in a couple of new Dumbles that I love. I honestly think there’s no better tone in the world than a slightly overdriven Dumble. When you mix that with the MT 100, it’s just bliss to me. And then Elvis loves my Cornford RK100, so I brought that in for layering the high-gain rhythms and leads. I think we had it all covered between those three or four amps.”

A while back, you’d started teasing the idea of producing your own pedals. Where are you at with that project?

“Just yesterday I tried out two pedals, but I’m trying to be as picky as I can and not pull the trigger until I’m perfectly happy with it. I’m trying to come up with something cool that’s also very affordable and road-worthy. When you put your name on something, you’ve got to make sure it’s right. We’ve been at it for a few years… but we’ll get there.”

What were you testing out, specifically?

“They were two wah pedals, but we’ve worked on a tremolo, a Uni-Vibe-type of pedal, and a dual overdrive; I love the idea of a stackable overdrive. I also want to do an octave pedal at some point, but the parts are a little tougher to come by than you would think.

“So, it’s been [about] hunting some of that down. I want to come out with three pedals when it launches and then come out with a pedal a year after that.”

How much octave pedal work is on this record?

“Any time there’s a big, single-string heavy riff, there’s got to be some kind of layered octave on there. What we usually do in that case is we’ll put a layer of Micro Synth in there, too.

“Micro Synths have some of the nastiest fuzz tones. If you listen to All the Wicked Things, there’s a section in the bridge where it drops to a real heavy single-string riff. I’d be surprised if we didn’t layer some sort of octave on there.”

How excited are you to start promoting this record with Tremonti? That’s going to be a different vibe than these Creed arena shows…

“Oh, absolutely. All my bands feel so different. It’s crazy going from the Sinatra shows, where I’m wearing a tux and playing with all of these incredibly gifted performers, to going over to Europe and playing in clubs with my heaviest band. It’s definitely a different vibe.

“You’ve got to take a different approach. I can’t get on stage with Tremonti and be like, ‘Hey, you all look beautiful tonight, thank you for coming to the event,’ like I would with a Sinatra performance.”

Maybe you’re underselling the power of that. Everyone loves a compliment!

“I feel like when I do Tremonti, I become a different character. When it’s heavier music, I become a WWE wrestler: ‘Get up, everybody!’ Whatever the music pulls out of you, you know…”

On the idea of pulling out music through these different personas, is there any other music you’re working on at the moment? Whether with Alter Bridge, Creed or Tremonti?

“I’m going into the studio with Alter Bridge in March. I put together nine demos last month that I’ve shared with everybody. I’m always thinking about volume two of Tremonti Sings Sinatra.

“Every record that we put out [donates proceeds] to the National Down Syndrome Society, so I want to keep raising funds for that. And it’s also just a lot of fun to do. We’re still looking at what happens [in 2025] with the Tremonti tours, stateside. And then we’re looking at Creed as well. We’ll see how it all pans out!”

• The End Will Show Us How is out now via Napalm.

Tone freaks everywhere were intrigued by Mark Tremonti’s September 2023 announcement he was launching a pedal company. “I’m going after the Klon,” he declared, “and I don't want it to be $8,000 – I want it to be 200 bucks.”

Since then, things have been understandably quiet on that front as Tremonti busied himself with Creed’s arena-filling reunion tour. Tremonti recently updated Guitar World, though, and the pedals are happening.

“Just yesterday I tried out two pedals, but I’m trying to be as picky as I can and not pull the trigger until I’m perfectly happy with it,” Mark says. “They were two wah pedals.”

“I’m trying to come up with something cool that’s also very affordable and road-worthy,” he added. “When you put your name on something, you’ve got to make sure it’s right. We’ve been at it for a few years... but we’ll get there.”

When he announced the project, Mark had been testing a Uni-Vibe style model, which is still on the cards. His most recent prototypes, however, were two wah models. Additionally, Tremonti says, there’s a tremolo, the aforementioned Uni-Vibe, and a dual overdrive. “I love the idea of a stackable overdrive,” he adds.

Mark’s plan remains as it was when he first announced the line: “I want to come out with three pedals when it launches and then come out with a pedal a year after that.” He also has a fifth pedal idea in addition to those already mentioned:

“I want to do an octave pedal at some point, but the parts are a little tougher to come by than you would think,” he admits. “So, it’s been [about] hunting some of that down.”

When Tremonti announced the pedals, he had the Uni-Vibe prototype on his Alter Bridge board. Now the Creed tour is wrapped up, Mark is preparing to go out with his Tremonti band, so we can be confident the pedals will have had plenty of gig testing when they do emerge.

Tremonti has not commented on whether he will start his own company or, like Jack White’s Third Man Hardware, partner with existing manufacturers to release the pedals.

The past year has been good to Tremonti gear-wise, seeing him reunited with the Les Paul he used on Creed’s debut album and launching his MT100 signature amp.

The full interview with Tremonti is in the May 2025 issue of Guitar World, available from Magazines Direct.

Mark Tremonti has recalled how Eddie Van Halen took him under his wing – and gifted him an electric guitar – during his early Creed days, which gave the young musician a huge boost as he navigated the first years of his career.

Creed supported Van Halen for two shows in 1998, with Tremonti and co supporting the release of Van Halen III. Eddie liked what he saw and singled out the guitarist, who was in his early 20s at the time, for praise.

“I remember Eddie going, ‘Hey, who’s the guitar player?’ and I raised my hand,” Tremonti reminisces in the new issue of Classic Rock.

“He’s like, ‘Come here,’ and he showed me his whole guitar rig and how everything worked. He’s like, ‘What color do you like?’ I said: ‘Black.’ The next day, he brings me a black guitar, the Wolfgang guitar. It’s one of my prized possessions.”

Eddie’s support didn’t end there, though. Speaking to Guitar World in 2021, Tremonti recalled how Van Halen then later singled him out from a crowd in order to pass on some extra words of wisdom concerning the guitar he'd just given away.

“When the show was over, we were backstage underground and there was 300 crew, guests, press everywhere, just swarming the place,” he explained at the time. “We saw Wolf, his mom and Eddie walking out.

“Eddie saw me out of the corner of his eye and walked through hundreds of people to come over and say, ‘Hey I forgot to tell you – you need to take out two springs to make it play right – sorry I forgot to tell you that earlier!’”

If a guitar and sage gear advice from one of the world’s greatest players hadn't already given Tremonti superior bragging power, Eddie’s final parting gift did.

“He gave me a kiss on the cheek and walked right through all the people clamoring for him again,” Tremonti continued. “He did that for me?! He had his kid and his wife with him and knew he’d get caught up by everybody, but he took his time out because he gave a shit about his products and passing on knowledge.”

Eddie was a famous supporter of other talents. Mötley Crüe's latest recruit, John 5, recently recalled playing through Eddie's rig after being invited to the band’s rehearsals. He also helped shape Def Leppard's Hysteria with a single piece of advice.

Elsewhere in his Classic Rock interview, Tremonti discussed another peak moment in his life and career, reflecting on the moment he felt he’d officially made it.

“When we started playing arenas it was like: ‘Alright, this is what I’ve dreamt about my whole life,’” he says. “I remember specifically being in an arena and opening up a guitar case that had my signature guitar, my PRS Tremonti model, like, ‘I can’t believe I have a guitar with my name on it with the best guitar company in the world.’

“We were just college kids from Tallahassee, Florida. We put all our money together from college to buy gear to go on tour and start from the bottom.

“We were a college band that got signed to a brand-new label, and none of us knew what we were doing. We got lucky to be surrounded with a bunch of hard-working people that wanted to make this thing happen.”

Visit Magazines Direct to pick up the latest copy of Classic Rock.

In the spirit of the Summer of ’99 tour, we asked Mark Tremonti to weigh in on some of the biggest bands of the ’90s. Just for kicks, we threw in a surprise at the end.

Hole

“Great songwriting – great emotional, moody tunes. I like it when somebody puts it all out there and doesn’t hold back, and that was definitely Courtney Love.”

Stone Temple Pilots

“Great band. Iconic. Some of the best musicianship to this day. I loved seeing them live. We had our ups and downs with their old frontman back in the day, but they wrote some tremendous albums.”

Soundgarden

“One of my favorite bands of all time. Kim Thayil is one of the coolest and most inventive guitar players ever. He was a huge inspiration to me as a guitarist and songwriter. Chris Cornell is definitely in my Mount Rushmore of singers, no matter the genre. Matt Cameron on the drums was absolutely phenomenal.”

Weezer

“I never bought any Weezer records, but I’ve always appreciated what they did. I think they’re great songwriters, and they definitely had their thing. I remember somebody telling me at the time that Weezer and Veruca Salt had signed two of the biggest record deals for new bands. When I heard Weezer, I was like, ‘I get it. They know how to write a song.’”

Pearl Jam

“Pearl Jam were the biggest band in the world when I was in college. You couldn’t walk anywhere without hearing Ten coming out of every dorm room. It was a very special record. I remember seeing the video for Alive on Headbangers Ball, and it seemed so different. 

“Eddie Vedder’s voice grabbed everybody right out of the gate. The Temple of the Dog record was another special record to me – incredibly emotional and so well-written. Chris Cornell and Eddie Vedder back to back were so good. I must have played Hunger Strike a couple of thousand times.”

Creed

“When I think of Creed, it’s almost like another lifetime. I feel like I was a kid when we first came out. It was such a long time ago when we were doing it, and now all these old videos are popping up of us playing the clubs before our record deal. 

“It’s funny how different things were. We had mosh pits and we were all aggressive; I tried to push the metal thing. It was before With Arms Wide Open kind of tamed down our crowd a little bit.”

Launched by PRS in 2018, the MT 15 would go on to become a hit with players needing something versatile that could take them from bedrooms to smaller stages. Six years later, after a whole lot of tweaking, Mark Tremonti is unveiling his second signature amp, the MT 100 – a 100-watt behemoth capable of conquering venues of any size.

“I wanted three channels this time, so I could replicate my favorite amps at home,” he says. “The Fender Twin-like clean is one of the things I’m most proud of, because with high-gain amps, that channel is often there as a side note. A lot of metal players won’t care; they just want to play metal. But cleans are important to me.”

The middle channel also required some extra attention to detail; Tremonti says he didn’t just want it to work as a “gained-down version of channel three.” It had to stand on its own two feet and inspire the player to do different things. Having owned six Dumble amps over the years, Tremonti knew exactly how he wanted to dial that second channel in.

“There’s a certain something that happens when you play a Dumble,” he says. “When the pick hits the string, you hear this certain quality that I tried to replicate with this amp. You can turn the gain down, sit on a note and it will bloom – which is a beautiful thing if you’re playing something slow and sweet. It won’t if you’re burning like Malmsteen!”

The latest signature amp is also notable for its old-school sensibilities. You get three independent channels, but don’t expect any USB connectivity, power attenuation or cab sims. Things like that, Tremonti says, can often get in the way.

“When I was growing up, we didn’t need all those functions,” he says. “I’ve seen comments where people were wishing it had a bunch of bells and whistles, but that’s not what this amp is. This is not a Kemper or something you program 10,000 presets into. This is a tube amp. I didn’t want too much because when things go wrong, you don’t know what the hell’s happening. I also wanted to keep the price down.

“I told Paul Reed Smith to keep it around $1,800 because that’s the breaking point between affordable and expensive. You still get three excellent channels that are individually voiced and completely isolated, sharing nothing but the effects loop.”

So what can we expect next from the longstanding PRS devotee?

“I think it would be good to do another line of baritones,” he says. “When we did that in the past, they sold out quickly and people missed out.

“I’m spitballing here, but we’ve also talked about doing a limited run of MT 100s with hand-painted Joe Fenton art. A 50-watt combo could be good. We’ve also talked about doing replicas of my Charcoal Burst with the Dimebag sticker – beaten up so they look like mine. We’re always discussing things.”

“We didn’t plan any of it,” Mark Tremonti says. “I don’t think anybody could have planned it. Everything just fell into place and happened organically. It’s pretty incredible.”

The guitarist is responding to the strange, unexpected and borderline paranormal phenomenon that swept the nation last fall when Creed – that’s right, Creed, perhaps one of the most polarizing bands of the past 30 years, mercilessly derided by critics as overly earnest Pearl Jam knockoffs but adored by millions of music fans – were publicly embraced by not one, but two professional sports franchises.

The Texas Rangers were the first to get the ball rolling. The baseball team were facing a midseason slump when they started psyching themselves up to Creed’s music in their locker room. Before long, the Rangers’ fortunes turned around and they began pumping Creed’s anthemic 1999 hit Higher during home games at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, resulting in rapturous fan singalongs.

By the time the Rangers swept the Baltimore Orioles 3-0 in ALDS playoffs, Creed’s streams were up 175 percent on Spotify. Baseball’s Creedmania culminated with the Rangers winning their first-ever World Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Online videos captured the team celebrating in their locker room with a Champagne-soaked, full-throated rendition of Higher.

A similar scenario unfolded in the NFL world, when Minnesota Vikings quarterback and dedicated Creed fanboy Kirk Cousins used Higher as a locker room team motivator. One victory led to another and another, and as the team rode a five-game winning streak, they moved Creed’s music from the clubhouse to the stadium.

Vikings fans adopted Higher as their own rallying cry and sang along mightily as the track roared over the P.A. at U.S. Bank Stadium. During one game, in which the Vikings defeated the New Orleans Saints, the audio dropped out, but the crowd kept right on singing without missing one lyric.

Madison Avenue got in on the zeitgeist with a Super Bowl ad for Paramount Plus that featured Drew Barrymore, Patrick Stewart and other stars trapped on snow-covered Paramount Mountain. Various rescue methods are shot down by Stewart until he hears the opening chords to Higher and sees Tremonti and Creed singer Scott Stapp rocking out.

What follows is even more surreal: An inspired Stewart (who reveals a Creed tattoo on his lower back) grabs the animated character Arnold (from Hey Arnold!) and tosses him like a football while crooning, “I just threw him hiiiiigher, to a place where we won’t freeze.” Watching it all, a vaguely dazed-looking Barrymore joins the chorus.

In the late Nineties and early 2000s, hating on Creed was something of a public pastime (remember those “Even Jesus Hates Creed” T-shirts?).

But the sweet serendipity of the events that gave rise to the band’s recent revival (fueled even further by young, meme-making TikTokkers, many of whom weren’t even born during the group’s heyday) has led to a stunning reversal of perception: Creed are cool. And not just some ironic form of nostalgia cool, but cool as in the genuine article.

None of which surprises Stapp one bit. “I’ve always said that Creed was cool with the fans,” he says. “The critics and the media painted this narrative that didn’t reflect 95 percent of the population. You don’t sell millions of records and sell out multiple nights in arenas if you’re uncool. The media put this idea out there because we were so big, and it wasn’t the story they wanted moving forward. But it’s the people that matter, not the press.”

Tremonti draws a straight line between the backlash and the band’s massive popularity, noting, “Whether it’s LeBron James in basketball or Creed in rock ’n’ roll, anytime somebody is on top, people want to see them knocked down. We were on the radio non-stop, and we were playing your city every other month. Some people push back on that.

“You’re seeing it now with Taylor Swift. She shows up at a [Kansas City] Chiefs game, and everybody wants to hate on the situation. It’s just a shame. Don’t hate on people because they’re successful.”

On their own, Creed, who haven’t toured since 2012, began laying the groundwork for a comeback last summer when they announced a “Summer of ’99” cruise in which they would headline concerts featuring 3 Doors Down, Buckcherry and other acts.

The cruise sold out in 30 minutes, and the band quickly put another nautical experience on sale. When it, too, sold out, it became clear that the demand for Creed called for a full-scale summer tour of sheds and amphitheaters, which was soon extended to a fall arena run.

“I remember when Bon Jovi came back and blew up arenas, I thought, ‘I sure hope this happens with Creed,’” Tremonti says. “People grow up and they want to relive their youth and see the bands they loved. Lo and behold, here we are doing exactly what I hoped would happen. We put the summer tour on sale, and it took off well beyond what we imagined. I spoke to my agent, and he said, ‘This is bigger than you guys were at your prime, ticket sales-wise.’ It’s unbelievable.”

Coming out of Tallahassee, Florida, Creed (which also includes bassist Brian Marshall and Scott Phillips) took the music scene by storm during the first wave of late-Nineties post-grunge.

The combination of Tremonti’s widescreen riffs and solos and Stapp’s commanding baritone guitar was catnip for both alternative and hard rock fans. Along with their huge and heavy sound, Creed had the tunes.

Dispensing with any sense of anti-commercial pretense, they knocked out hooky, radio-ready slammers – With Arms Wide Open, What’s This Life For, One, What If, One Last Breath, My Sacrifice and, of course, Higher – that drove sales for their first three albums (1997’s My Own Prison, 1999’s Human Clay and 2001’s Weathered) into the tens of millions. All told, the band has sold more than 53 million albums worldwide.

Critics did their level best to topple Creed, but the band ultimately did themselves in. Friction between Stapp and the other members grew heated, and Marshall left the group in 2000 to battle alcohol dependency. Stapp’s own drug and alcohol use escalated, and by 2004 his relationship with Tremonti and Phillips was beyond repair.

Stapp went solo, and Tremonti formed Alter Bridge with Marshall, Phillips and lead singer Myles Kennedy. Creed would eventually reunite in 2009 for a well-received album, Full Circle, and a touring cycle that lasted till 2012, but after attempting to record a fifth album, the group went on hiatus in 2013. For the next decade, any future band activity remained in doubt.

Fast-forward to today. Nine years sober, Stapp looks healthy and cheery, and he’s ready to put the past behind him. Appearing on Zoom with Tremonti, he says, “I think time heals. You grow up and mature, and things that kind of mattered 20 years ago don’t matter now. Whatever issues I had, I can’t even remember what they were.

“It’s been nothing but good vibes since we’ve been in rooms together and hanging out. But have we ever laid everything out on the table and done a kind of Metallica therapy session? No, that’s not happened.” He laughs. “Mark, you think we need to do that?”

Tremonti doesn’t answer that question outright, but he echoes Stapp’s positive outlook.

“I think things are going perfect right now,” he says. “I had a conversation with my wife, and she asked me, ‘How are things between everybody?’ I told her, ‘We’re all rooting for one another. We’re all on each other’s side.’

“This feels good – no negativity here. It feels like when we got our first record deal. We were all pushing for one another and trying to make this the biggest thing in the world.”

Let’s go back to the beginning. When the band formed, did the two of you feel like you were a good fit musically?

Mark Tremonti: “We were a mismatch all around. I was the metalhead. Scott Phillips was more chill – Living Colour, soul, rock, funk. Brian Marshall was a classic-rock Rush-meets-Iron Maiden-type thing. Even though Iron Maiden is metal, I was into Slayer and speed metal.

“Scott grew up on Elvis and the Doors. When I came in and started playing heavy metal riffs, everybody looked at me like I was crazy. We had to fall into place with one another, and once we did, the Creed recipe came together.”

Scott Stapp: “I think there’s no doubt that we had tremendous chemistry. When we’re playing and writing together on stage, it’s undeniable. If Mark is just noodling, I’ll hear something that inspires me to create in that moment. Despite our differences, I think it was the perfect recipe for the soup to make the music that Creed made.”

What did you have in common, then, musically? What was the glue?

Stapp: “I was such a fan of Mark. Everything he played was awesome, so I tried to write over whatever he played me. We kept digging through stuff until we found what we both connected with.

“Mark was very patient with me and allowed me to find my niche as we were trying to find our sound together. I remember the first time we got together, and he played all these riffs and heavy metal things I had never gotten into before. But I didn’t care, man! [Laughs] I loved what he was doing, and I tried to write songs over it.”

Tremonti: “We went to high school together, but then we met back up in college at Florida State University. I was desperate to get a band going; that’s all I wanted in life. I would find local musicians. It was easy to find another guitar player, a little bit harder to find a bass player, but it was impossible to find a great singer.

“Scott came to town and just blew everybody else away. There was nobody who could sing like him. I was like, ‘Wow, we have this absolute powerhouse of a vocalist that we can work with here.’ I even remember going back into the studio on the Full Circle record, when I hadn’t heard Scott sing in the studio for years. His voice was a mile wide. He has an iconic voice that millions of people in the world can immediately put their finger on. I think that’s a massive strength.”

Stapp: “I feel the same way about Mark. As soon as you hear his guitar playing, you know it’s him. He’s got an undeniable sound, and he’s an incredible writer with an amazing melodic sense. I’ll go to my grave saying he’s probably one of the best guitar players of our generation.”

The sound of your first album owed a lot to grunge. Did you think at the time that perhaps you should move away from that sound?

Tremonti: “At the time, there was more of a poppy rock thing – Third Eye Blind, Marcy Playground. When we came out with My Own Prison, it was the moodiest song on the radio. I think that kind of set us apart. We were fans of a lot of the grunge bands, but I don’t think we ever tried to fall in line with them. We were just doing our own thing.”

Stapp: “When we wrote a song called Grip My Soul, we all kind of looked at each other and said, ‘We found it. We found who we are.’ From that day forward, we pumped out song by song what would end up becoming the My Own Prison record.”

Scott, quite a few writers criticized you for sounding like Eddie Vedder. That must have stung.

Stapp: “Hey, they said the same thing about Darius Rucker. He was the Eddie Vedder rip-off before they called me the Eddie Vedder rip-off. I felt like I was in good company, and I was honored by the compliment.”

The second album, Human Clay, featured more riff-oriented hard rock. Was that in any way a response to critics who called you grunge copycats?

Tremonti: “That all kind of happened naturally. What was terrible about the first three records of our career was, everybody was talking about how we were going to fail. Each next step was going to be a disaster. We came out with My Own Prison, and everybody said, ‘You’re going to be a one-hit wonder.’ Then we set a record for Number 1’s in a row on a debut record, and then everybody said, ‘All right, now you’re going to have the sophomore slump with Human Clay.’

“We pushed as hard as we could to stay alive. Imagine the pressures that we had being probably the most heard band on radio and MTV. Record labels and publicists saying, ‘You gotta do this, you gotta do that.’ No matter how much you tour – ‘Scott, you gotta take Advil to keep your voice going.’ They were just pushing us like we were invincible. When Human Clay came out, that was a band trying to fight and survive.”

Stapp: “And we had four Number 1’s off that record.”

Creed had the classic hit band scenario: You had years to write your first album and months to write your second.

Stapp: “I think it was a key to our success. From my perspective, I didn’t feel any pressure. With My Own Prison, we immediately went to headliner. We were writing songs that would be on Human Clay on tour at soundcheck. Then we’d play them live so we could do a longer set. I felt so confident in the band and the songs Mark and I were writing.

“We’d play these new songs for fans that were written a week before, and after seeing their responses I walked into Human Clay with tremendous confidence – and to be honest with you, call it youthful naivete. The thought of failure never entered my mind.”

Mark, had you already made the switch to PRS guitars on Human Clay? Could that be why it’s more riffy than the first album?

Tremonti: “I remember being in an arena, so it had to have been the second record when I opened up the [PRS] guitar case on a stage. That was one of the coolest days of my career. So that was probably during the second single of Human Clay.”

I talk to musicians all the time who say they never knew what song would be a hit. When you guys wrote Higher, did you have any idea how big it would be?

Tremonti: “We felt really good about it.”

Stapp: “[Laughs] Yeah, we did!”

Tremonti: “We were standing up writing that song. Scott liked to play this game where he would put the band on the spot and say, ‘We’re going to write a song.’ In our college years, he would do that in front of a live audience at a club, and I would just start riffing out. The band would follow me and he’d start singing. The chorus of Higher was born that way. That song was written in front of a live group of people.”

Stapp: “It was probably in front of 4,000 people. It was a freestyle. I still like to do that – I’m sure the band guys around me hate it. But it’s fun and you get in a flow. Mark can trigger me with some of his licks and interludes between songs. When I hear it, I roll with it. I’m glad Mark jogged my memory on that, because that’s how that chorus was born.”

As you were having such success, the press kept treating you like battering rams. How hard was that to deal with?

Tremonti: “I remember thinking, ‘If you want to do what we do and you want to have the success we had, you’d better have thick skin.’ I did get to the point if, say, my brother called me up and said, ‘Hey, this person said this,’ I’d be like, ‘Dude, do me a favor: Don’t tell me anything negative. Just tell me things that are positive. I don’t need negativity.’ I’m looking out at these thousands of people we’re playing in front of every night, and they’re not complaining.”

With Weathered, you guys debuted at Number 1. That didn’t suck, did it?

Stapp: “No. And if the press were right, the album wouldn’t have done that.”

Tremonti: “When we came back for our reunion with Full Circle, Michael Jackson had just passed. We were on our way to another Number 1 record, and then his whole catalog kind of stole the charts.”

Stapp: “He put out a record from the grave, so our album ended up debuting at Number 2. Had that not happened, we would’ve had our third consecutive Number 1 album. But you know what? We’ll give it to the king.”

Mark, let me ask you about Full Circle. It’s far heavier than any of the prior Creed albums. Did your time doing Alter Bridge rub off on Creed?

Tremonti: “From day one, I was pushing the heavier side of the music to the band. I would get pushed back, but I’d keep pushing. I’m just that constant force of pushing it to the guys and seeing what I can let slip by.

“Little by little, I won ’em over as far as getting those riffs put forward. I think the biggest difference [on Full Circle] was that I was used to the layered guitar sound. The first three Creed records were just me doubling myself. Even the live thing. I hate just being the only guitar player up there. I used to like it, but now I’m like, ‘It could be so much bigger and better.’

“I’m writing a Tremonti record right now, and I can play with the drummer all day long, but as soon as [guitarist] Eric Friedman steps in the room and we got two guitars going, it fills so much more space. On Full Circle, I had already fallen in love with that dual-guitar thing, but I was the dual guitar with myself. When we played live, Eric came out and played guitar with us. There were rhythm parts behind the solos. It felt naked to me without that rhythm guitar.”

Scott, are you an Alter Bridge fan?

Stapp: “I’m a fan of anything Mark does.”

Mark, how do you feel about Scott’s solo work?

Tremonti: “I think it’s great. Like I said, he’s got an iconic voice. He’s got a great song sensibility and delivers every night on stage.”

No doubt people are wondering if you’re going to work on a new album. Any plans?

Tremonti: “This year’s been so crazy, so we would’ve had to plan way ahead to have new music for this tour. But we’ve always got tons of ideas in the hopper ready to go. It’s just a matter of getting it done and doing it in the proper manner before the next time we get out.”

Stapp: “Let’s see what happens. Let’s do these tours and let’s see where we are. If it compels us and inspires us to take that next step and do a new record… you know what I mean?”

By the time of Weathered, the band began to have serious personal issues. When did the two of you feel like you were headed for trouble?

Stapp: “We gave it a shot even after that. In 2004, we got back together to try to make another record, but I was in the throes of addiction, and so it just didn’t manifest. We weren’t ready to throw it away in 2002 or move on. I’ll have to take ownership of that one, because there would’ve been a follow-up to Weathered had I not been in the throes of my addiction.”

Tremonti: “It was just a whirlwind. It was a pressure cooker leading up to that point, and our personalities just got pushed kind of apart. You’ve got to give it up for anybody that’s on top and they stay mentally healthy, because it’s definitely a challenge for anybody. It’s very rare to see a band like Aerosmith staying together, but I’m sure they’ve had their ups and downs as well.”

Stapp: “You throw in the disease of alcoholism and addiction, and we dealt with that with another member in the band who was suffering and dealing with that issue. And then it got me. It’s not a new story in music. It’s unfortunate that it happened, but here we are today with so much good in front of us.”

It’s nice to see the two of you are in a good place once again. It feels like you guys want to make the most of this reunion.

Stapp: “I do – 100 percent.”

Tremonti: “Yeah. I’ve got people coming out of the woodwork. They’re so excited to see Creed back on stage.”

Stapp: “Reliving the past is good for reading, but that’s not what we’re focused on, man. We’re focused on today, riding this wave and just trying to keep things positive and the vibe as cool as possible. I guess the story is good because there’s other people always out there suffering from alcoholism, addiction and mental health issues.

“If our story of renewal, rebirth and healing through overcoming those obstacles can be told by what’s happening with this band, then it can help other people out of the darkness. I pray that it happens, because there is hope.”

• Creed tour the U.S. throughout July. See Creed for more dates and ticket details.

Your eyes do not deceive you! Creed are making their first GW cover appearance in more than 22 years, aka the days of the 5GB iPod.

Here's what we have in the new issue:

>>> Thanks to a pair of professional sports franchises, a bizarre Super Bowl commercial and some of the fastest-to-sell-out rock shows in recent memory, the reunited, rejuvenated and reinvigorated Creed are cooler than ever. GW checks in with Mark Tremonti and Scott Stapp and reviews the new PRS Mark Tremonti MT 100 amp.

>>> In honor of the Fender Strat’s 70th anniversary, Ritchie Blackmore, Yngwie Malmsteen, Robert Cray, Adrian Belew, Mick Mars, Buddy Guy, Alex Lifeson, Henry Garza, Tom Morello and more discuss the Strats they’re holding on classic (and recent) Guitar World covers. Includes bonus Strat chats with Nile Rodgers, Rebecca Lovell and Ana Popović.

>>> Brian May discusses his recent Gibson Garage visit, his beloved Red Special, amp modelers, Nuno Bettencourt and Queen’s guitar-forward 1984 album, The Works, which celebrated its 40th anniversary in February.

>>> Jamie West-Oram – longtime guitarist for the Fixx – talks One Thing Leads to Another, Saved by Zero and how he cooked up his distinctive, super-chunky rhythm guitar sound.

>>> A personal ode to the late Allman Brothers Band legend Dickey Betts by Betts’ former bandmate, Guitar World’s Andy Aledort.

This issue – aka the gray-yet-thrilling August 2024 issue of Guitar World – is available right here, right now.

But wait, there's also this other stuff!

We have new interviews with Stone Mecca, Jack Gardiner, Thunderpussy's Whitney Petty, Mr. Tabs, Lime Garden's Leila Deeley, Accept's Wolf Hoffmann and Failure's Ken Andrews, who discusses the dramatically heartbreaking sounds and circumstances behind the L.A. trio's 1996 space-rock odyssey, Fantastic Planet.

We also have an ode to late Duane Eddy, who we lost in late April.

Gear-wise, besides our review of the PRS MT 100, we explore the history and allure of the Seymour Duncan JB humbucker (the one made famous by Jeff Beck) and review the following items:

>>>Taylor 222ce-K DLX
>>>Positive Grid Spark Live
>>>On-Stage AG5000 Amp Glider
>>>Techpicks
>>>Rode NT1 Signature Series mic

We have new columns by Joe Bonamassa, David Grissom, Andy Timmons and Andy Aledort, plus transcriptions of Ozzy Osbourne's Mama, I'm Coming Home, Lit's My Own Worst Enemy and Matteo Mancuso's Drop D (including Performance Notes).

You can buy new issues of Guitar World at Barnes & Noble, Walmart, Hudson News, Books a Million and other stores – and online from Magazines Direct. And, while you're at it, why not save on every issue by subscribing?

The past few years have borne witness to a drastic resurgence in popularity for Creed, and that’s largely thanks to the fact one of their biggest hits has reached a new adoring audience.

The hit in question is Higher – a hard-riffing cut released in 1999 that has become the unofficial anthem for not one, but two sporting franchises. 

The first is the Texas Rangers baseball team, who began belting out the track in order to overcome a mid-season slump. The team’s fortunes restored, the song was then enthusiastically adopted by the club’s fans, who sing it at home games.

In the NFL, the Minnesota Vikings used the track to similar effect. First, it was a dressing room anthem. Then it became a rallying cry for fans.

For Mark Tremonti and co, it became a harbinger of a new era for Creed, and helped showcase the mounting level of enthusiasm and demand there was for another reunion.

But as Tremonti and his bandmate Scott Stapp explain in the new issue of the Guitar World, the world-beating, passionately embraced, anthemic rallying cry that has mounted their resurgence had rather humble beginnings – and was originally written on the spot live during a gig.

“Scott liked to play this game where he would put the band on the spot and say, ‘We’re going to write a song,’” Tremonti says of the band’s writing approach. “In our college years, he would do that in front of a live audience at a club, and I would just start riffing out. 

“The band would follow me and he’d start singing. The chorus of Higher was born that way. That song was written in front of a live group of people.”

Stapp clarifies that “group” totalled around 4,000 people, and comments the ultra-popular cut began life as a “freestyle”.

“I still like to do that – I’m sure the band guys around me hate it. But it’s fun and you get in a flow,” Stapp adds. “Mark can trigger me with some of his licks and interludes between songs. When I hear it, I roll with it. I’m glad Mark jogged my memory on that, because that’s how that chorus was born.”

Visit Magazines Direct to pick up the latest issue of Guitar World, which features the full interview with Tremonti and Stapp, as well as a celebration of the Stratocaster’s 70th Anniversary.

Mark Tremonti has become the latest high-profile player to experience a heart-warming guitar reunion, having recently been reunited with his childhood guitar nearly 26 years after it was stolen.  

The 1986 Gibson Les Paul was returned to Tremonti on his 50th birthday. It features a unique Kahler bridge, and helped launch Creed’s career, playing a huge role in the writing and recording of their debut album, My Own Prison. 

The guitarist's manager, Tim Tournier, shared the story of the guitar's return on Instagram, saying: “Sometimes life gives you opportunities to right some wrongs. In this case, that opportunity presented itself via a Reddit DM about 18 months ago. 

“A deal was made, hands got shook and I was able to get my buddy his 1986 Gibson with a stock Kahler [bridge] back for his big 50th.”

The guitar was stolen in 1997, shortly after the release of My Own Prison – a record that would hugely raise the band’s stock. 

As vocalist Scott Stapp revealed in a 2019 interview, Tremonti's LP wasn't the only piece of equipment that was stolen from the band: an entire trailer full of gear was taken when their tour hit Boston. 

“We didn’t have a bus,” he explained. “We were just getting started. We parked right in front of the hotel and the following morning, our van is on blocks. The wheels are gone, the trailer has been taken, the chains connecting it cut, and the trailer gone! And so all our gear for the show that night was stolen.”

The trailer was ultimately found – empty - several miles away, with what Stapp calls Tremonti’s “prized possession” seemingly gone forever. The show went on, with tour partner Fuel lending Creed their gear, but the sentimentality of the stolen gear wasn’t lost on the singer. 

“Not only are you upset, but there was an emotional attachment to some of those instruments,” he continued. “We weren’t at a place yet where we had endorsements and tons of guitars. For years, we have been trying to find it.” 

It’s a sentiment shared by Tournier, who has put himself in line for ‘Manager of the Year’ with his find. 

“The contents of the trailer were the instruments of their childhood,” he details, “the gear they mowed lawns for – or – in the case of Tremonti, worked at a car wash for.”

It's the latest example of a guitar being reunited with its rightful owner years after it had been stolen. Already this year, Paul McCartney’s long-lost Hofner bass, described as “the most important bass guitar in history”, was found in a London attic. 

In another story with eerie parallels Tremonti's tale that also concerned a Les Paul, an avid guitarist was reunited with his beloved Gibson – also on his 50th birthday, oddly enough. 

Then there was Jerry Cantrell’s odd-but-amusing ‘I’ve lost my 'Blue Dress' G&L”… ”Oh no, I haven’t” episode. But there’s no disputing that Tremonti’s LP had been tragically missing throughout a career it helped create.

Mark Tremonti formed Creed in 1994 and released four albums with the band, as well as winning a Grammy for the single With Arms Wide Open. In 2004, Tremonti put together his new band, Alter Bridge, who have to date released seven studio albums. 

The group’s music contains lots of melodic guitar playing, chord progressions, heavy riffs and soloing, and has gained Tremonti respect from fans and peers alike. As well as Alter Bridge, Mark has released five albums under his solo project, Tremonti, which has an even harder metallic edge. 

Mark describes himself as a songwriter first and foremost, which is reflected in his frequent output over the past decades. But that said, his guitar playing is as inventive as it is technical. In this lesson we will look at some of the trademark shred techniques that Tremonti uses.

Our first example is a lick that could be used in a modern blues, rock or metal context and is based in the Minor pentatonic scale. There is a mixture of traditional two-notes-per-string pentatonic shapes as well as three-notes-per-string shapes, which allows for various legato techniques to be applied to wider intervals.

Example 2 is an arpeggio-based part using a combination of picking and fretting-hand tapping. Fretting-hand tapping is a combination of legato and string muting. 

When hammering on to a new string, use your fretting finger to land cleanly and squarely on the string near to the fret-wire. As well as this, lightly touch the unused strings with your first finger and any other spare fingers in order to mute them. If done correctly, it should be possible to play these notes without using the picking hand.

Our third example is a long legato line using some odd groupings within 16th-notes. Tremonti likes to play legato phrases using either five-note or seven-note groupings that can be connected together to smoothly navigate through positions of the scale, while at the same time not sounding repetitive or predictable.

Lick number four is a single-string idea using pull-offs and selective picking. The combination of repeating open-string pedal notes, picking, and pull-offs is tied together by keeping the picking hand moving down and up continuously – even though the pick is not always in contact with the strings. Maintaining constant momentum is the best way to stay in time and ‘in the pocket’, while synchronizing your two hands.

Our fifth and final example uses a combination of sweep picking and alternate picking using triad shapes from the key of E Minor, and scale notes in-between, which connect them together.

Learn each example slowly and accurately at first, and only when you can sense that muscle memory is attained, gradually speed up in small metronome increments. 

Get the tone

Amp Settings: Gain 7, Bass 4, Middle 5, Treble 6, Reverb 1

If you have one, go for a guitar with humbucker pickups and use the bridge pickup for a tight, clear, articulated tone. Tremonti favors 6L6-voiced tones, such as Mesa Boogie, or his signature PRS amps, so a more ‘American’ gain would be most appropriate. Use the gain control sparingly and aim for a balance between an organic rock guitar tone and sustaining shred-style lead.

Example 1. Descending pull-off lick

Start with your fourth finger and pull off from the 17th to 12th frets, then use your third finger to pull off from the 15th fret. Use this three-notes-per-string approach to descend through E Minor pentatonic (E-G-A-B-D). In bar 2, switch to palm-muted alternate picking to complete the scale.

Example 2. Ascending fretting-hand tap triad phrase

Pick the notes along the fourth string with downstrokes and fret with your first finger, using your remaining fingers to fretting-hand tap the notes on the fifth and sixth strings. Ascend the neck through these Minor and Major triad arpeggio shapes and finish with an E Natural Minor (E-F#-G-A-B-C-D) legato line.

Example 3. Five and seven-note fragment lick

This legato lick is based in E Natural Minor (E-F#-G-A-B-C-D) and uses fretting-hand taps and slides to change strings and shift positions. The lick is comprised of five and seven-note fragments, but is played with a straight 16th-note feel.

Example 4. B minor pedal-tone lick

Use the open second string as a pedal note for this B Natural Minor lick (B-C#-D-E-F#-G-A) and use pull-offs to play the notes of the scale. Keep your guitar pick moving in an alternate picking fashion throughout, in order to synchronize the hands.

Example 5. Linking triads and scale lines

This lick combines sweep picking and alternate picking and uses an E Minor triad and a C Major triad, which are connected with E Natural Minor Scale positions on the first string. Focus on synchronizing the pick and fingers when transitioning from 16th notes to 16th-note triplets.

Many-times-platinum hard-rock band Creed are set to reunite for their first live performances in over a decade.

The occasion is the Summer of '99 cruise – a true bonanza of late-'90s/early-noughties rock that will also feature 3 Doors Down, Buckcherry, Tonic, Vertical Horizon, Fuel, The Verve Pipe, Tantric, Dishwalla, Veruca Salt's Louise Post, and Nine Days.

Set to run from April 18-22, 2024, the cruise will sail from Miami, FL to Nassau, Bahamas, and will be hosted by Eddie Trunk and the stars of AXS TV’s Power Hour – Matt Pinfield, Caity Babs, and Josh Bernstein.

The cruise marks Creed's first live performances since 2012, and will reunite electric guitar hero Mark Tremonti, bass guitar player Brian Marshall, and drummer Scott Phillips – all of whom have remained together in the Myles Kennedy-fronted band Alter Bridge – with vocalist Scott Stapp.

Creed will perform twice for attendees and host a live Q&A open to all aboard the ship. All attendees will also reportedly receive a “commemorative item“ signed by the band.

In keeping with the late Clinton-era theme, the cruise – which will take place aboard the Norwegian Pearl – will also feature a “Y2K Countdown“ party. 

This cruise, mind you, does seem quite a bit more organized than the festival that brought a bunch of multi-platinum hard-rock bands together during the actual summer of 1999...

Pre-sale signups for the cruise are available now, with the pre-sale itself set to run from July 25 through July 27. The first 500 cabins to book will secure a cabin photo opportunity with Creed. Sales to the broader public will commence on July 28 at 2 p.m. EST. 

In a 2010 interview with Guitar World – conducted during Creed's first reunion, which petered out in 2012 – Tremonti spoke of the connection Creed fans have with the band's music, and how that connection has served as a spark for the band members themselves.

“We’ve changed so much as musicians and as people in the time we’ve been away from Creed,“ Tremonti said. “But one thing that hasn’t changed is that, when we play the songs and we hear the crowd singing the words back at us, it’s incredible. The connection that people have with this music is powerful.“

For more info on the event, visit Summer of '99 Cruise.

In 2015, Greek guitar phenom Yiannis Papadopoulos began a musical partnership with Creed frontman Scott Stapp. 2019’s The Space Between the Shadows is the first installment of the collaboration between the two.

Filled with tasteful playing, introspective lyrics and all the hooks you would expect from a Scott Stapp album, the record marks a return to the charts for Stapp - who has achieved two Top 50 tracks to date.

Beyond touring the globe with Stapp and co, Papadopoulos has released two instructional guitar books and is preparing to release his debut instrumental album. His playing draws from a multitude of influences and showcases seemingly limitless technical capabilities.

We sat down with the guitarist to discuss the albums, his books and more.

Stepping into a band situation as such a gifted instrumentalist, how does that impact your approach to what you play?

“I believe that every guitar player out there that takes the time to practice and improve, always enjoys playing long solos and improvising. In any given scenario though, when you’re stepping in a band situation you need to remember that the audience cares for the song and not just for the solo part.

"Keeping that in mind, I always try to think like I’m part of the audience. I try to play guitar parts that are interesting and challenging so that the guitar will have character and it will make the song sound better as a whole.

"I use all the theory and harmony I know in order to orchestrate the songs and write beautiful parts. When it’s time for the solo, I give my best to play things that justify the hours I put into the guitar and show how I think and what I can do.”

The bulk of Creed's catalog was notoriously void of guitar solos.  So you get to put your stamp on those live playing with Scott?

“The first thing I always do is approach every song note by note so that I can capture the feeling that’s in the album. After that, I always put my touch and parts to the songs and the solos so that they would fit my playing character and style. Scott trusts my playing. He and I have a very similar taste regarding music. Our ears are in tune.”

How did the songs that became The Space Between the Shadows take shape? Scott's audience certainly has an expectation of what a Scott Stapp album is going to sound like yet you're a different group of musicians.

“The song composition process for the new album started around a year and a half before its release. Different songs were created in different ways. I composed a few of them and presented them to Scott and then we made any necessary adjustments.

"For others, Scott had different melodies and riff ideas which we then combined into songs. Several songs were created during sound checks or even during days off when we were on tour.

"I like the new material very much. I believe the songs are heavy and modern with great vocal melodies and amazing lyrics that connect with the listener. In my opinion, this is the best Scott Stapp album and the fans embrace that. 

"Anyone that comes to the shows can immediately see that the audience is singing loud, crying and head-banging to a great live show and performance by Scott and the band. As you said, the fans have certain expectations about the new music, so they know that we would never let them down. That’s why they’ve been following us in the USA and around the world, showing their love and support.”

You're putting together your debut album.  Can you talk about what we can expect?

“My instrumental album has been ready for quite some time now but I’ve been postponing its release waiting for the right moment. Most possibly it will be out in 2021.

"It’s going to have nine instrumental songs, and an intro following a style I describe as melodic shredding. All the songs have very challenging parts, different combinations of scales and techniques in order to create a great atmosphere and blend with beautiful, catchy melodies. 

"The main characteristic is the contrast between the melodic and technical parts of the songs. You will find heavy songs with big riffs, ultra-fast alternate picking and sweep picking runs but you will also find slow songs with dark melodies and meaningful slow solos with sweet low gain sounds and long delays. 

"You can find two songs of the album in an early version on my YouTube channel: Castle Black and One with the Waves.

“Apart from my album, I’m working on a project that will be released in 2020 and I’m very excited about it. The project is called Royal Time Machine and it’s a progressive fusion experimental trio with George Kollias from Nile on the drums, Michael Evdemon on the bass and myself on the guitars.

"We are already in the pre-production phase of our first instrumental album. The songs are going to be technical yet melodic and we are putting extra emphasis on the musicality of the songs first and then the technical, challenging tutti sections and riffs. Both this and my album are the results of years of hard work, and I can’t wait to share them with all of you.”

In a lot of your YouTube clips I noticed you use a fretwrap.  What does that do for your playing?

“I’ve been using the fretwraps by GruvGear for quite some time now. I usually use them in the studio when I record. I place them after the nut in order to avoid any unwanted noise during the guitar recording. 

"Outside the studio, I place it behind the nut, because it affects the harmonics, resulting in a slightly more balanced guitar tone.”

You recently released your second instructional book Fretboard Concepts; how would you contrast it with your first book The Electric Guitar Technique Workout?

“Both of my books serve the same purpose: to show the kind of methodology that I followed to form my playing style. The Electric Guitar Technique Workout is a book that has everything that one might need to work on their technique. 

"You will find exercises about Alternate Picking, Sweep picking, Legato and Licks - 138 patterns, examples and licks - along with notes on how to have a successful practice routine.

"You will also find a list of things to avoid, as well as tips that will help you maximize your time with the instrument. On the other hand, Fretboard Concepts includes everything that’s not technique related. 

"Inside its pages, you’ll find scales/modes, different chord systems, arpeggios, theory, harmony, and advanced improvisation concepts. All these are followed by exercises and personal notes about how to think when you improvise and how to approach guitar soloing in general. Both books are for beginners to advanced level players and they are available on Amazon.”

Yiannis is currently on tour with Scott Stapp in Brazil. The Space Between the Shadows is available now through Napalm Records. Yiannis’ books are available through Amazon. Visit Yiannis's website for more details.

Three bands, 14 albums, a host of B-sides and one stunning shred instrumental… Mark Tremonti has left us a lot of playing to pick through here to highlight the guitar landmarks of his increasingly prolific career.

The longtime PRS artist is a rarity – a player who had massive success but continued pushing himself on a technical level. One who places songwriting above all other crafts.

Creed were one of the '90s' biggest rock bands – in a time when guitar music went multi-platinum. But they were maligned for all manner of perceived faults. When they imploded, Tremonti simply got on with the task of proving their detractors wrong in a new band alongside Creed drummer Scott Phillips, returning bassist Brian Marshall and Mayfield Four mainman Myles Kennedy.

“The way I looked at it with Alter Bridge was, how many people get a chance to start again with a new band and do it their way?” Tremonti reflected with us on his own mindset as a player starting a new chapter in 2004.

“Guitar solos were always something I liked. I wasn’t the greatest at it at the time but I wanted to develop it and them to be part of the new band.

"It’s one of those things where if you write songs, and my number one priority is being a songwriter, but when people hear songs they think there’s this one guy who sings and writes all the songs. So one of the reasons was if I become a good guitar player nobody can take that away from me. So I really wanted to develop my guitar playing.”

Six impressive albums in and that band Alter Bridge have developed into an arena-level act in Europe, a continent where Creed hardly played. With a songwriting tap he’s seemingly unable to turn off, Tremonti has even stepped up to the mic in his own solo band. 

Tremonti has proved himself one of the great rock guitarists of the last 20 years, with the songwriting talent to match. But this isn’t our pick of the best 10 songs Tremonti has been involved in – that list might look quite different, and some of our favourite Alter Bridge songs aren’t here (hello, In Loving Memory and The End Is Here).

Instead, we’re honing in on key examples of his playing to date with special archive insight from the man himself. 

1. Faceless Man – Creed

Something that often gets overlooked about Creed, especially outside their fanbase, is their music’s sense of the cinematic. They had a really good handle on the majestic in many of their songs like My Sacrifice, On My Sleeve. Some might even call it overblown but we won’t.

They showed this penchant for the epic early on with debut My Own Prison’s breakthrough title track (a track that featured Tremonti’s vocals heavily and foretold what would come much later). This is that song’s sequel. Its Empire Strikes Back, if you will.

Overshadowed by the hits Higher and ubiquitous With Arms Wide Open on the massive-selling 1999 sophomore Human Clay, this is really the album’s key song. Slowly rising and falling from balladic to rock euphoria.

Tremonti uses some subtle but hugely effective ascending runs in the bridge while holding the soundbed down. It's easy to overlook how he separated himself from his peers early with a willingness to embrace alternate tunings and the open D5 here inspired the eastern feel of the recurring riff  – as well as the wide open rhythm sound that gives this song so much breadth.

“When I wrote that I was in my early days of experimenting with open D5 tuning,” Tremonti told this writer in 2012.

“I just remember coming up with the line, really digging it, then I wrote a few melodies for the bridge. Then I called Scott and said, ‘I’ve got this cool idea going on and he said, I do too.’ Then we put them together and they fitted really well. Then we put that song together partly that night and the next day at soundcheck. It’s always been our favorite.”

2. My Last Mistake – Tremonti

Tremonti’s formation of a solo band in 2010 could have so easily become a recycling plant for ideas not deemed strong enough for Alter Bridge – not so.

A chance to flex his Slayer-disciplined picking hand, as well as his vocal chords, there’s still plenty of deeper light and shade across Tremonti’s four albums to date. Fellow guitarist and old friend Eric Friedman proving a perfect foil alongside drummer Garrett Whitlock.

Last year’s A Dying Machine concept album is right up there with anything he’s done. But it was the previous one-two punch of the Cauterize and Dust albums (recorded together and released a year apart) made the mission statement clear.

We’ve got to hail that right hand discipline of Tremonti’s here on one of his thrashiest opening riffs to date that’s expertly blended with a driving melodic chorus. The syncopation here between kick drum and picking hand here is crucial.

“The core of my style is probably a mixture between the down-picking stuff I grew up with - the speed-metal rhythm stuff and the palm-muting,” Tremonti said in 2015, “and then the fingerstyle I developed early on. I’d say it’s also the alternate tunings - hopefully, that’s something unique to my style.”

3. Brand New Start – Alter Bridge

While their 2004 debut, One Day Remains was a strong start for Alter Bridge, much of its songwriting was Tremonti working in isolation before singer Myles Kennedy had even joined the ranks.

The 2007 follow-up Blackbird was a different ballgame entirely with Kennedy contributing his formidable guitar chops as well as co-writes. Tremonti was in a two-guitar line-up for the first time but the spotlight is all on him in the solo here.

It’s one of the first examples of Tremonti making a guitar solo the peak of a song, and boy does he make the moment count.

“It’s the first time I’ve really been able to play a solo over a part that’s not full blast,” he told this writer ahead of Blackbird’s release in 2007. “It’s something where I could take a tastier approach to it. It was a breath of fresh air for me.”

Tremonti has proved he can deliver intense legato-laden solos with the best of them, but here he’s positively soulful as he ascends skywards; harmonically and metaphorically. Big bluesy bends and a lesson in build and release, the song changes up a gear from then on – what more can you ask from a guitar solo?

But as we detail later, this isn’t even the best one on the album!

4. Ahavo Rabo Taco Salad – Alter Bridge

Now this is an unusual one. In 2005, our UK sister title Total Guitar had Mark Tremonti as its cover star with a story on Alter Bridge. The remarkable part is the band agreed to record a whole new track for the magazine’s cover CD with the issue – and it was a monster instrumental shredfest that saw both Tremonti and Kennedy departing from the pentatonic into more exotic territory. And it also had a very strange name…

"The original idea we messed around with was Phrygian Taco Salad,” Tremonti told TG, “because the whole piece has that phrygian feel running through it. The Taco bit came from the cool Spanish breakdown in the middle where I pull out the nylons - but it didn't have that ring to it.

"Then Myles was surfing around the web and discovered that the name for the A harmonic minor scale I use in the solo is actually the Ahavo Rabo scale. So, there ya go!"

The music was a feast itself. "We got in the rehearsal pad and just went through some riffs,” added Tremonti. “I decided to make it more of a metal track so I could whip out the cool technical playing.

"I love that neoclassical harmonic minor sound. We did a metal riff to start the song off with, and picked three or four parts to splice together to make a little over a three-minute rhythm track. Then I got to work on the solos. It was like writing four solos in one song: two solo breaks, then a double solo break at the end.

“This was a chance for me to rip out the real fun diatonic solo stuff. This is strictly shred! I thought, for TG, the more technical the better - give the readers something to get their chops around!"

5. One Last Breath – Creed

We can’t comprehend offering a breakdown of Tremonti guitar highlights without giving props to his clean fingerstyle – there’s a wealth of them to choose from, from In Loving Memory’s emotive scene-setting to Unable To See’s classical mood. More than any other, One Last Breath’s earworm fingerstyle verses drive the song, providing the calm before the huge overdriven chorus kicks in.

“One Last Breath is one of my favorite guitar lines,” Tremonti told Songfacts ,”it's one of my favourite musical compositions for Creed. It's a song that turned out to be one of our biggest songs we ever put out. I think it had some of the most views we've ever had on YouTube, so it's a very important one for the Creed camp.”

Again, that classical touch can be detected in the fingerstyle part and it turns out that’s not coincidental. But Tremonti pinpoints the roots of his fingerstyle back to the influence of two specific pieces and one unexpected band…

“I love the fingerstyle stuff,” he explained to this writer in 2014. “Someone told me once, you remind me of the guy from Tesla [Frank Hannon]. You know what? I learned a lot of those [parts]. I loved that first Tesla record [Mechanical Resonance] and I agree. 

"Some of the fingerstyle stuff that they would do I would learn, and I would learn all the fingerstyle stuff that Metallica would do in Call Of Ktulu. Guitar magazines would have things like Bach's Bouree in E Minor and I’d learn that. 

"Over the years it just became a big part of my playing, it’s easier for me to write melodies by letting my fingers roll in a 6/8 kind of feel, stumbling around. It became natural.”

6. I Know It Hurts – Alter Bridge 

How could Alter Bridge follow Blackbird? Well they went darker and deeper with questions of faith and Tremonti employing a pink Kramer bass for some of the rhythm foundations on AB III. 

Tremonti’s feel playing was also coming to the fore – and he was blending melody with intensity in his solos better than ever (Fallout, Cour d’Alene) along with restraint (All Hope Is Gone’s sensitive changes, Life Must Go On’s majestic outro). 

Indeed, he’s very keen on outro solos throughout AB III, but this one takes the crown in a song that’s the perfect blend of AB heaviness and uplifting hope. Though it’s a real humdinger for Tremonti, both on the verses and that furious lead break

“That was actually the last solo I tackled on the record and it was probably the hardest one too," he told this writer in 2012. "It’s real up-tempo and I knew it was going to be more of an aggressive solo.

"But I would just play the track and improvise over it for hours and every time something flew by that I dug, I would just jot it down. I would keep going until the solo was full of good ideas."

You have to feel for Tremonti when he sees this song in setlist. It seems like the song is all too knowingly titled because the verse part is just as challenging. 

“That’s a tough, tough song to play for me," he admits. "The verse has a picking thing that’s like playing twister on your fingers. When I hear a guitar line sometimes I don’t care if it’s unconventional to play. 

"Sometimes, I’ve just got to hear the notes in my head. But my wrist is the only thing that hurts when I play too much guitar and if my wrist is hurting and I play that song, it’s a tough one.”

7. Bleed It Dry – Alter Bridge 

Alter Bridge’s fourth album found Tremonti consciously trying to vocalize his leads and leaving at least one comfort zone.

“I didn’t want to use a wah pedal on my leads because I felt like that was kind of my security blanket,” he told us. “I love playing wah but I wanted to try one record without it.”

Bleed It Dry is a hulking slice of heaviness with Kennedy contributing a Mastodon-inspired verse riff but its stunning blues solo breakdown adds the dynamic of light breaking through the black.

It finds Tremonti playing fingerstyle until he plays with a pick for the climatic end section. It’s a different approach in another way too.

“A lot of that, especially the ending, I came up with in my head and then learned how to play it on the guitar,” Tremonti added.

“Myles kept playing this fingerpicked pattern and I was like, ‘Oooh that’s very Opeth. This is the ultimate lead setup right here, keep going!’ I think he was a little apprehensive at first, like, ‘I don’t know do we want to keep the energy up? Do we want to bring it down like this?’”

It paid off. “It was the perfect solo soundbed, just because what I had to play over was so special, it made me really want to… I kept putting that solo off because I wanted to make that solo the best one. I spent a lot of time on it… it’s my favorite one for this album for sure. To me it has the most emotion in it.”

8. Dust - Tremonti 

The idea that Tremonti is just an outlet to scratch Mark’s thrashier metal itch doesn’t really hold up when you listen through the variation on the band’s four albums to date.

This song is a prime example of something that could have potentially been a big song for Creed or Alter Bridge. But it didn’t need to be – because Tremonti absolutely knocks it out the park here.

“It was all based around a chorus I had kicking around for a few years,” Tremonti told Guitar World in 2016. “I had tried using it in the Alter Bridge camp, but it never materialized into a song. It was one I really wanted to make happen. 

"Through my career, I’ve had a lot of ups and downs. It’s a song about those down times, when you notice the people who were around during your good moments have scattered when you find yourself struggling. Kind of like a close friend losing confidence in you. It’s one of my favorite tracks.”

It’s undoubtedly one of his strongest vocal performances to date; hear the emotion on that huge '80s-arena chorus. But the dynamic build and guitar solo here are equally crucial, because while the last two Alter Bridge albums have had a tendency to be sonically dense, this proves the strength in letting parts breathe.

The low key arpeggiated clean verses have space to ring out, the bridge clears the way for the surging chorus. Then that build again to the solo… and it’s simply one of Tremonti’s finest. Melodically, it sings.

9. Cry Of Achilles – Alter Bridge

Creed were pegged as a mainstream rock radio band but Tremonti has always had a progressive ear to his compositions. In terms of the sheer musical scope they deliver here, this opener to Alter Bridge’s Fortress album is tour de force.

Yes, the Tremonti and Kenney duelling Megadeth-esque solos of the album’s closing title track are highly impressive, but the confidence and range here are what really tips it as our choice. With Kennedy’s nylon strung intro and riff inspiring Tremonti on, it’s a real team effort that proves they bring out the best in each other.

“That intro just inspired a whole tune,” credited Tremonti. “And the chorus and the bridge were come up with all on the spot. The little off time part in the verses was on the spot too.” 

On a song that echschews the usual unusual altered tunings for half a step down, Kennedy takes the first solo, and pressure was on Tremonti for his final “stingy” lead break to contrast Kennedy’s muscular vibrato. It delivers as a pay off for everything that precedes it – you can feel through the speakers that Tremonti is pushing himself. 

“I knew that was going to be an important song so I was putting myself under a lot of pressure for that one,” Tremonti adds, though typically hard on himself – he adds a caveat…

“There’s a few notes in there that if I could go back and re-record it again I would play again or change but as a whole, I’m happy with it.” So are we!

10. Blackbird – Alter Bridge 

You didn't think we'd forget this one, did you? Even Tremonti knows it's his masterpiece, the kind of song artists hope comes along once in their career. Though it's all the better for being a true collaboration with Kennedy that he detailed with this writer back in 2011.

“It started with the verse fingerpicked line," said Tremonti of Blackbird's birth. "I’d been throwing it around for a while and I really loved it. It had such a sad classical feel to it. We were all at rehearsals and me and Myles were trying to come up with a chorus. 

"We’ve always had trouble coming up with big choruses that are in a 6/8 feel. I didn’t have anything and Myles didn’t have anything that matched either. So we went into separate rooms at the rehearsal pad and Myles came running back in with the chorus. We all loved it and ran with it.

"For the bridge, he had a musical part and I had a part – we just stacked them on top of each other and they sounded great. Then we did the back to back solos and once we had it all arranged we all looked at each other and it was one of those hairs standing up on your arms moments.

"That was the point we were ready to record the album – we felt that it was complete at that moment. That song was the most impressive we had done to date.”

The Kennedy/Tremonti solo section is a modern classic, so much so it was voted as the greatest guitar solo ever in a 2011 poll held by our sister title Guitarist. 

"The Blackbird solo was the last one written on the album," reflected Tremonti. "I felt a lot of pressure because the song itself seemed to be everyone's favorite. I must have written three rough outlines of the solo before tracking."

But he notes that inevitably it's the dynamic between himself and Kennedy that is key to the song's power.

“I remember from the moment we realized what kind of a guitar player Myles was we tried to really push that to the forefront and show Myles’ skill on the guitar because I felt that it was that secret weapon. 

"For a band not to have a player of his caliber even touch a guitar on the first record, to come out blazing on the next record would really shock people – and give it that wow factor. 

"We felt it was a great moment for our two different styles because he took the part where he could really follow the chord changes and throw his knowledge of his feel and phrasing into that. Then my more aggressive lead style back to back with that. It was a good combination.”

Today's lick features Mark Tremonti of Creed and Alter Bridge tackling a fast, descending pentatonic phrase that takes a Shawn Lane-inspired approach to playing single-note runs.

In Tremonti's own words:

This involves the use of individual fingers when moving between notes on neighboring strings at the same fret, as opposed to employing a more traditional finger "roll" or barring technique. Finger barrés often result in notes ringing together like a chord. By avoiding them, maximum note definition is maintained to create a cleaner-sounding lick.

To grasp this lick's fingering concept, note that you'll be using your fret-hand middle finger to fret the last note in each of the first three quintuplet groups. Doing this will allow your ring finger to jump back and cleanly fret the following note on the adjacent higher string without having to rely on a ring-finger barré to catch the note.

The tempo is 132 beats per minute, 94 for slow practice.

PRS Guitars continues its relationship with Mark Tremonti of Alter Bridge and Creed fame with the announcement of the Limited Edition Tremonti Baritone model.

From the company:

Based on Tremonti’s signature PRS model, this limited-edition guitar features a longer 25.5” scale length that allows players to tune down but ditch the wound “G” so they have the freedom to play lead as well as rhythm. Tremonti’s signature pickups are a perfect fit with an aggressive, articulate tone and the Pattern Thin figured maple neck makes playing a breeze the all the way up the neck.

"This is one of my favorite guitars I’ve ever played. It’s a dream come true for people who like to tune low and still be able to solo. I absolutely love it," said Mark Tremonti in a recent video interview.

The model announcement comes on the day of the new Alter Bridge album, The Last Hero. The band is streaming their album release concert tonight, October 7, live from the House of Blues in Dallas. No doubt viewers will get to see and hear the new Tremonti Baritone in action.

The Limited Edition Tremonti Baritone guitar is offered in six colors and all feature stained figured maple necks. Finishes include: Black Gold Wraparound Burst, Charcoal Contour Burst, Copperhead, Faded Whale Blue, Fire Red Burst, Jade. Guitars will ship tuned to C# [C#, F#, B, E, G#, C#).

Additional specifications include Artist Grade figured maple top, mahogany back, 22 fret Figured maple neck with East Indian Rosewood fingerboard, Green Abalone “Old School” Birds, PRS Adjustable Stoptail bridge, PRS Tremonti Signature treble and bass pickups with a volume and tone control for each pickup and a 3-way toggle pickup selector on upper bout.

There's no limit to the number of Tremonti Baritone signature guitars that will be made, but the ordering window ends December 20, 2016. Contact your authorized PRS dealer to place your order.

To learn more about the Tremonti Baritone, head here.

Mark Tremonti is not the kind of guy who likes to sit still.

Between his stint in Creed, his regular gig in Alter Bridge and with his latest project Tremonti, he consistently finds himself amidst a never-ending cycle of writing, recording and touring.

It takes a tremendous amount of work ethic and drive to juggle two and sometimes three projects at a time, which is why it should hardly surprise anyone that he’s decided to record two simultaneous follow-up records to 2012’s All I Was rather than just one.

Cauterize is the first of a set of two albums Tremonti recently laid down with the help of his backing band and producer Michael “Elvis” Baskette and will hit the shelves this summer. Another record, Dust, will follow along sometime thereafter.

“I’ve always considered myself as more of a songwriter than a guitar player, and with this huge mountain of song ideas that I needed to whittle down, having a couple of bands to do that with really helps to get those songs to see the light of day.”

A key addition this time around to the Tremonti recording unit was bassist Wolfgang Van Halen, who had spent the previous summer on the road with the group.

“As soon as we started touring he was just kind of a member of the band,” says Tremonti. “He keeps the rhythm section super tight…and he’s just real creative. When Wolfgang was a part of the whole writing process he came up with things in his mind that by the time we went into the studio it was just perfectly laid down.”

With so much material saved up, most other artists might have just released a double record and called it a day, but Tremonti’s old-school ideas of what an album is supposed to convey prevented him from taking that route.

“A lot of times when I hear an album and it’s too long I feel like I lose track of the album,” he said. “I wanted this record to be concise, like so many of the albums I grew up listening to. A record you could live with for a year and a half before the next one comes out.”

Alter Bridge/Creed guitarist Mark Tremonti has just debuted the latest video from his debut solo effort, All I Was. Watch the video for "So You're Afraid" below.

All I Was features some of Tremonti's fastest and most intricate guitar work to date, although the guitarist is quick to point out he's far more comfortable in the realm of speed metal.

"It's actually easier," he told Guitar World in our October issue. "Its harder for me to play a song like [the Creed ballad] "One Last Breath," because when you're fingerpicking something and it's just you onstage, if you hit one bad note everyone's gonna know it. But with superfast speed-metally kind of stuff, you can go on autopilot a bit. But I guess it also has to do with the act that I'm comfortable playing this way."

All I Was was released earlier this year on Tremonti's own Fret12 Records.

Creed/Alter Bridge guitarist Mark Tremonti has announced a July 17 release date for his debut solo album, All I Was. The album was originally slated for a July 10 release.

Tremonti's solo debut features Erid Friedman on rhythm guitar and Garret Whitlock on drums, while his Creed/Alter Bridge bandmate Brian Marshall will handle bass duties live.

And speaking of live, the band recently announced their first-ever live performance, which will take place in Tremonti's hometown of Orlando, Florida on the album's release date. The band will perform All I Was in its entirety at the sold-out show at the Social.

All I Was is due out on Tremonti's own FRET12 Records.

http://www.guitarworld.com/files/imagecache/featured-node/tremontiRR.jpg

Creed/Alter Bridge guitarist Mark Tremonti has set a July 10 release date for his debut solo album, All I Was. The record will be released via Tremonti's own Fret 12 Records.

"Most of the stuff is more up-tempo and heavy-riffing though," Tremonti recently told ARTISTdirect. "I had to write 11 solos for this record so it took me a long time. There's lots of soloing."

Tremonti will also be handling vocal duties on the album, marking the first time the guitarist has taken on lead vocals for a record.

"I've always been a songwriter, so I've sung while I was playing," he said in a recent interview with IHeartGuitarBlog.com, "but I write in my falsetto, so I'm hitting very high notes and all over the place, but I've always had a low range, so for my solo stuff I tune it way down. Y'know, I just never had the confidence before."

Tremonti was joined on the record by rhythm guitarist Eric Friedman and drummer Garrett Whitlock.

Alter Bridge/Creed guitarist Mark Tremonti is at long last putting the final touches on his debut solo album, which has been given the title All I Was. Tremonti has now unveiled the cover art for the album, which can be seen below.

As for what fans can expect, Tremonti has gone on record as saying the album would be heavier than anything from Creed or Alter Bridge, and that fans can expect more guitar solos than ever.

"Most of the stuff is more up-tempo and heavy-riffing though," Tremonti recently told ARTISTdirect. "I had to write 11 solos for this record so it took me a long time. There's lots of soloing."

Tremonti will also be handling vocal duties on the album, marking the first time the guitarist has taken on lead vocals for a record.

"I've always been a songwriter, so I've sung while I was playing," he said in a recent interview with IHeartGuitarBlog.com, "but I write in my falsetto, so I'm hitting very high notes and all over the place, but I've always had a low range, so for my solo stuff I tune it way down. Y'know, I just never had the confidence before."

All I Was is tentatively due sometime in late spring/early summer.

Alter Bridge have released a clip from their upcoming DVD, Live at Wembley, which can be seen below courtesy of Music Radar. The clip features a performance of "Slip to the Void."

Live at Wembley is set for release on March 27, and features footage from one of the band's largest-ever headlining slots.

A 3D version of the film is slated for a summer release.

Creed have planned a handful of special live dates for 2012, during which the band will perform their albums My Own Prison and Human Clay in their entirety over the course of two nights. So far, the band is only planning the shows for New York, Philadelphia and Boston, and you can check out the dates below.

2012 happens to be the 15th anniversary of My Own Prison, the band's debut album, which has sold around 6 million copies.

Bolstered by the singles "Higher" and "With Arms Wide Open," their sophomore album, Human Clay, has sold over 11 million copies to date.

Creed 2012 Tour Dates

April 13 - Chicago Theatre - Chicago, IL (My Own Prison)
April 14 - Chicago Theatre - Chicago, IL (Human Clay)
April 16 - Tower Theatre - Philadelphia, PA (My Own Prison)
April 17 - Tower Theatre - Philadelphia, PA (Human Clay)
April 19 - Beacon Theatre - New York, NY (My Own Prison)
April 20 - Beacon Theatre - New York, NY (Human Clay)

Originally published in Guitar World, Holiday 2010

Mark Tremonti talks about their latest effort and reports on Creed’s next move.

As guitarist with both Alter Bridge and Creed, Mark Tremonti is mad busy these days. Last year, he and the newly regrouped Creed released Full Circle, the band’s first album in more than eight years, then promptly headed out on tour to support the record. Shortly after coming off the road, Tremonti was back in the studio with Alter Bridge to make AB III, the group’s newly released album.

“The biggest challenge was to have Alter Bridge not sound like Creed,” Tremonti says of the new disc. That’s no mean feat: after all, both bands feature him, bassist Brian Marshall and drummer Scott Phillips; only the singers—Alter Bridge’s Myles Kennedy and Creed’s Scott Stapp—are different. “I was conscious of making the Creed songs shorter and easier to digest,” he says. “Whereas with Alter Bridge it could be a seven-minute song with 18 different guitar parts.”

True to that approach, AB III is layered with Tremonti’s signature speed metal rhythm chops, intricate fingerpicking patterns and solos that range from the feverishly lyrical (“Ghost of Days Gone By”) to the brutally unorthodox (“All Hope Is Gone”). He was assisted by Kennedy, who augments Tremonti’s six-string attack with blues and jazz licks that add a web of dark ambience. “The core of our sound is pushing the technical limits and orchestrating things,” Tremonti says. “I bring the heavy metal and classical thing, and Myles just fills the spaces perfectly.”

Alter Bridge will take this double-barreled guitar assault back on the road later this year in England and Europe. Afterward, Tremonti and Creed will head out for the second leg of their reunion tour. Apparently, the time apart has been good for the group—and continues to be. “Looking back on all the years with Creed, it’s easier to recognize the success you had when you step out of it,” Tremonti says. “It was just a matter of us taking the time apart and growing up.”

Creed, one of the most successful rock bands of the past decade, has announced all four of the original band members are back together for a summer tour and new album. Since their formation, Creed has sold close to thirty-five million albums and millions of concert tickets.

The songwriting team of Stapp and Tremonti are considered one of the most prolific in rock history. Their collaborations delivered numerous chart-topping records that are a testament to the enormity and success of Creed. The band was the first act to have seven consecutive number one rock radio singles, four of which came off of the debut album. Their third album, Weathered, tied The Beatles' Anthology, for the most consecutive weeks at Number One on Billboard’s Top 200 chart (eight weeks since the beginning of the SoundScan era (1991).

The band’s debut, My Own Prison, was released on August 26, 1997 and has sold over six million copies in the U.S. The follow-up, Human Clay, was distributed on September 28, 1999 and certified Diamond for sales in excess of 11 million copies. The band’s last studio album, Weathered, was released on November 20, 2001 and sold six million plus. In November 2004, Creed Greatest Hits was released, and has sold two million copies. The band was voted Favorite Group in 2003 on the People’s Choice Awards and won numerous American Music Awards, Billboard Music Awards and others including the Grammy Award for best Rock Song in 2001 for “With Arms Wide Open.”

On reuniting, guitarist Mark Tremonti stated, “We're all very excited to reconnect with our fans and each other after six long years." Drummer Scott Phillips added, “Our career as Creed came to a very abrupt and unforeseen ending. After reflecting on some of the greatest personal and professional moments of our lives, we've come to realize that we are still very capable of continuing that career and our friendship on a grander scale than ever before." Bassist Brian Marshall continues, “This is a development we are all happy about. It has been a long time since the four of us have taken the stage together, and without hesitation or reservation this is something all of us are in to. The anticipation to get back out there is electrifying. Singer Scott Stapp concluded, “It's amazing how life can change and bring you full circle. Time gave us all a chance to reflect, grow and gain a deeper appreciation of our friendships, artistic chemistry, passion for music, and sincere love for our fans! It's rare in life to get a second chance to make a first impression and we embrace the opportunity. We all believe the BEST IS YET TO COME!”

The band has also teamed with I Love All Access to provide a variety of VIP ticket packages for the tour, including premium seats, meet and greets, photo ops, parties and more. For more information click here.

Tour Dates:

Thu/Aug-06 Pittsburgh PA

Sat/Aug-08 Darien Lakes NY

Sun/Aug-09 Hershey PA

Tue/Aug-11 Saratoga Springs NY

Thu/Aug-13 Philadelphia PA

Sat/Aug-15 Wantagh NY

Sun/Aug-16 Holmdel NJ

Tue/Aug-18 Boston MA

Thu/Aug-20 Hartford, CT

Fri/Aug-21 Washington DC

Sat/Aug-22 Virginia Beach VA

Tue/Aug-25 Detroit MI

Wed/Aug-26 Cleveland OH

Fri/Aug-28 Cincinnati OH

Sat/Aug-29 Indianapolis IN

Sun/Aug-30 Chicago IL

Tue/Sept-1 Milwaukee

Wed /Sept-2 Columbus OH

Fri/Sept-4 Raleigh NC

Sat/Sept-5 Charlotte NC

Fri/Sept-11 Atlanta GA

Sat/Sept-12 Birmingham AL

Tue/Sept-15 Orlando FL

Wed/Sept-16 West Palm Beach FL

Fri/Sept-18 Lafayette LA

Sat/Sept-19 New Orleans LA

Sun /Sept-20 Bossier City LA

Tue/Sept-22 Dallas TX

Thu/Sept-24 San Antonio TX

Fri/Sept-25 Houston TX

Sun/Sept-27 Las Vegas NV

Tue/Sept-29 Glendale AZ

Wed/Sept-30 Irvine CA

Fri/Oct-2 Salt Lake City UT

Sat/Oct-3 Denver CO

Tue/Oct-6 Minneapolis MN

Wed/Oct-7 Omaha NE

Fri/Oct-9 Tulsa OK

Sat/Oct-10 Kansas City MO

Tue/Oct-13 St Louis MO

Wed/Oct-14 Nashville TN