Swedish melodic death metal mainstays Arch Enemy have announced the departure of vocalist Alissa White-Gluz, who steps away after more than 10 years with the band.

White-Gluz replaced golden era vocalist Angela Gossow in 2014, who pivoted to become their manager. Jeff Loomis joined the group at the same time, with both debuting on the band’s ninth album, War Eternal, later that year.

While White-Gluz features on the band’s latest album, Blood Dynasty, Loomis, who left in 2023, only features on its bonus tracks, Break the Spell and Moths. Joey Concepcion, who had previously filled in for Loomis for a host of European festivals in 2018, has assumed his place.

In the band’s official statement on White-Gluz’s departure, the Swedes, led by guitarist Michael Amott, said they were “thankful for the time and music that we’ve shared and wish her all the best”.

They added, “Wherever there is an end, there is also a beginning. See you in 2026.” It’s currently unclear who will take her place in Arch Enemy.

White-Gluz, meanwhile, took the opportunity to hint at her next chapter.

“After 12 years in Arch Enemy, we have parted ways,” she stated. “I am forever thankful to the thousands of amazing fans I have met along the way. Stay tuned for big news in 2026 and see you very soon.”

Fans didn’t have to wait long to find out what that was. Her debut solo single, The Room Where She Died, followed quickly. It was co-written with Kamelot and Doro six-stringer Oliver Palotai (Kamelot/Doro), and for its music video, she’s paid homage to her former outfit by donning Michael Amott’s Dean Tyrant signature guitar.

“The Room Where She Died is a song that feels truly satisfying to me; like I get to express myself in so many ways that have been dormant for years,” she says of the track.

In a 2022 interview with Guitar World, Michael Amott professed his love for Depeche Mode and Jimmy Page, but admitted he'd never dip into their respective musical waters for his own material.

Amott also debunked the myth that he's an aggressive player, while name-checking the player who helped him take his chug game to the next level.

Seymour Duncan has just announced the Noumenon signature humbuckers, in collaboration with the former Arch Enemy and current Alcatrazz guitarist Jeff Loomis.

The Noumenon signature humbuckers call back to Jeff Loomis' formative years and promise “tight low-end and smooth treble” as well as “dynamic control and a powerful tone for both six-string and seven-string guitars.”

Active pickups, like his signature Blackouts. became synonymous with Loomis' sound, particularly in Nevermore, Arch Enemy, and his solo work. However, prior to this, Loomis spent years crafting a metal tone that heavily relied on passive humbuckers, bought from 1980s guitar catalogs. The Noumenon signature humbuckers take inspiration from that era, with a few modern upgrades.

“The idea behind the Noumenon pickup kind of happened by accident during an Arch Enemy soundcheck,” reveals Loomis.

“I had an issue with one of my guitars that had my active set in it, and I needed a B guitar really quick to use. I had a Made In Japan Jackson with me on the road that had a passive Seymour Duncan in it, strapped it on, started playing and I just really love the feel and sound of those pickups.

“And being a player that's come from 20 years of playing active pickups, that whole soundcheck was kind of the turning point for me to relive the moments of using passives again.”

The six-string set is built with Alnico 8 magnets, which provide high output and thick bass and maintain definition without getting too shrill when it comes to the high register. The seven-string set is built with Alnico 5 magnets, delivering a tight low-end and sharp attack.

Both signature humbuckers come with triangular feet bottom plates for standard humbucker routes. Direct mounting is included if you happen to own one of Loomis' signature Jackson guitars. The sets will set you back $278, with single pickups starting at $139.

For more information, head to Seymour Duncan.

Arch Enemy have announced they’ve split with guitarist Jeff Loomis. The American joined the Swedish melodeath band in 2014, having established himself as a modern great across seven Nevermore albums and three solo releases.   

"It’s been a joy having Jeff play with Arch Enemy for close to a decade. We truly had a blast touring around the world together,” reflected Arch Enemy guitarist and founder, Michael Amott, in a social media post.

"We were friends long before we played music together and we remain even-closer-buddies, now, which feels great. We respect that he’s in a place and time in life where he needs to step out of Arch Enemy and we all wish him nothing but the best moving forward.”

Loomis became part of a new-look Arch Enemy, with The Agonist vocalist Alissa White-Gluz brought in to replace Angela Gossow, who moved into a management role.

The pairing of Loomis and Amott was met with great excitement. Fast-forward nine years and some may be left feeling Loomis’ talents were underused across his three-album tenure, with Loomis bereft of any writing credits on those records.   

"The only constant is change,” Amott adds on the band’s reasoning for the change. “This is one of those moments where things had to change a little to move forward in a satisfactory way for everyone involved.”

Loomis has also provided a short statement, saying: "My time in Arch Enemy has come to an end. I have had a great time (9 years!) of playing and touring with them, but now it’s time to enter a new chapter in my life."

Joey Concepcion has been announced as his replacement. The Connecticut-born guitarist has been playing alongside Amott’s brother, Christopher, in Armageddon since 2014, producing two albums together.

He’s also toured with Jamey Jasta (Hatebreed) and recorded with Dee Snider, Yngwie Malmsteen vocalist Michael Vescera, and death metal band, The Absence. In August 2018, he was a live stand-in for Loomis and in 2023 released his second solo album, Divine Technical Machine. Fittingly, it features a guest spot from the man whose boots he has been chosen to fill.

Says Amott: "Joey’s a phenomenal talent and has been a friend of the band for a long time, he even filled in for Jeff on a couple of European festival shows back in 2018. We have touring and a myriad of other exciting things coming up on the horizon with Arch Enemy for 2024 and beyond and are thrilled to move forward, creating the next chapter and keeping the metal flowing!”

"It’s an honour and a privilege to be working with Arch Enemy,” Concepcion adds. “I’m very much looking forward to shredding stages across the globe together, playing for and meeting all the fans!"

Save for any as-yet-unannounced festival performances, Concepcion’s second debut with the band will take place in October. The band have joined forces with fellow Swedes In Flames for a European tour, starting 3 October and winding up on 5 November. 

In Flames have recently gone through a key lineup change, too, with ex-Megadeth man Chris Broderick joining for last year's acclaimed album, Foregone.

Speaking to Guitar World back in October, Björn Gelotte called his new co-guitarist a "wizard", saying that "it didn’t take him long to learn those older songs. 

"As soon as we heard Chris’ name, I knew we were good," he added. "Nobody works harder or learns songs quicker. It was like I had my teacher with me every day.”

Loomis, meanwhile, remains a part of Graham Bonnet’s Alcatrazz, having joined in 2021. He follows in the footsteps of Malmsteen and Steve Vai, who were part of two of its lineups in the ‘80s. With Loomis, the outfit has released two albums together in V (2021) and Take No Prisoners (2023).

Jackson has unveiled a new limited-edition signature guitar for Arch Enemy guitarist Jeff Loomis – the Pro Series Signature Kelly HT6.

It is the third signature six-string to arise from the pair’s decades-spanning partnership, and notably the second to feature the none-more-metal ergonomics and aesthetics of Jackson’s Kelly template. 

After putting their heads together to create a more traditional yet equally wild seven-string Soloist in 2022, Loomis and Jackson have now gone back to their roots to revisit the Kelly body shape, turning in a limited-edition metal machine that has been described as “a meticulously designed powerhouse for today’s players”.

At first glance, you’d be forgiven for thinking this was a simple reissue of the original Loomis signature model, but further inspection reveals there is one key difference that differentiates the two siblings from one another – and the clue is in the name.

The “HT6” part of the model tag indicates this is indeed a hardtail version of the original Loomis Kelly, swapping out the Floyd Rose 1500 tremolo for a Hipshot Hardtail bridge, supposedly drafted in to help the guitar survive “the rigors of the road”.

This has the potential to come as a pleasant addition for those Loomis – and all-round metal – fans who had been wooed by the stunning instrument but put off by the maintenance burden that comes with a locking tremolo. That, and some players just prefer hardtails – players who now can unleash their inner Loomis without worrying about the bridge.

Hardware tweaks aside, the Kelly HT6 otherwise retains all the gloriously metal appointments and visuals that made Loomis’ original instrument such a hit.

That means the through-body, graphite-reinforced neck is topped with a 12”-16” compound radius ebony fingerboard, and complemented with Luminlay side dots and classic Jackson inlays, while the basswood body boasts a sandblasted ash top and white binding.

Tones come by way of two Seymour Duncan Jeff Loomis Blackout humbuckers, which can be tweaked via the single volume control and three-way toggle switch.

So, what’s Loomis’ own personal favorite spec? The finish, maybe, or perhaps the new bridge? Nope – it’s something far more humble.

“My favorite feature is the heel mount truss rod wheel,” he admitted. “As a touring musician, it’s perfect if I need to adjust the neck on the fly.”

Naturally, Loomis does reserve some praise for the rest of his new signature: “It’s a seriously metal looking guitar,” he says. “The playability is truly superior and the single volume and pickup toggle switches make it simple yet effective. I’ve played Jacksons from an early age, so working with them again to create this signature model has been incredibly fulfilling.”

The Limited Edition Pro Series Signature Jeff Loomis Kelly HT6 is available now for $1,599.

Head over to Jackson to find out more.

Jeff Loomis made his indelible mark on the metal scene with the legendary band Nevermore, who over their 20 year career released some of the best albums of their time. From The Politics Of Ecstasy and Dead Heart In A Dead World, to This Godless Endeavor, Jeff’s stunning lead work and sledgehammer riffs gave the band their signature sound.

Nowadays, Jeff plays with Swedish melodic death band Arch Enemy alongside guitarist Michael Amott. He also continues to release his own solo albums, showcasing his technical riffing and soloing style.

Our first example deals with the meat and potatoes of metal playing: alternate-picked palm-muted riffs. Contrary to how this aggressive music sounds, the required picking technique should actually be as relaxed as possible. 

Use the edge of the pick to cut into the string for a clear attack, and its tip to strike the strings as this will make the changes smooth so less likely to interrupt the rhythmic flow of notes. Experiment with playing the riff with an open sustaining sound, with palm-muting and increments between the two to create different tones.

One of Jeff’s signature techniques is combining sweep-picked arpeggios with alternate-picked chromatic scales. Example 2 demonstrates how diminished 7th arpeggios (1-b3-b5-bb7) can be connected with chromatic notes for an almost jazz-like tonality over a the static B5 power chord riff.

Example 3 utilises a scale sequence pattern in E Aeolian (E-F#-G-A-B-C-D). The sequence uses all four fingers of your fretting hand and what’s vital here is economy of movement. Keep your fingers close to the strings and only move a digit when necessary; this is the key to being able to build up speed and accuracy together.

The picking style here is also economical, with the pick taking the shortest route from string to string. Contrary to alternate picking (down-up-down-up etc), economy picking utilises sweep-pick motions for string changes, which provides a different tone and (often) smoother note flow.

Jeff is an expert at seamlessly combining techniques during solos. Example 4 shows how he might use sweeping and tapping together to play diminished 7th arpeggios. Here we use sweep picking to ascend the three-string arpeggio, followed by a picking-hand tap, then we use fretting-hand tapping to descend the arpeggio. 

Our final example is a melodic riff using alternate picked arpeggios. Alternate picking is used here for a more mechanical, quantised sound with each note intended to be played with the same velocity. 

Keep your pick slightly twisted so the edge hits the string, but also keep the tip of the guitar pick angled upwards, so any upstroke movement naturally brings the pick away from the strings. This will make the string skips cleaner and more manageable, therefore minimising the chances of accidentally hitting the wrong string. 

Get the tone

Amp Settings: Gain 10, Bass 7, Middle 4, Treble 7, Reverb 2

Loomis uses a classic shred tone. It’s extremely edgy and distorted, and with little in the way of effects, other than wah-wah at times. You’re going to need either an amp with the channel gain cranked to the max, or a heavy metal style distortion pedal – even a distortion and an overdrive together. Go easy on the mids, too, and only use a modicum of reverb.

Example 1. Lydian dominant flat 2 lick

Jeff often uses unusual scales to create unique parts and this particular riff uses F# Lydian dominant b2 (F#-G-A#-B#-C#-D#-E, or 1-b2-3-#4-5-6-b7). Keep your thumb near the centre of the back of the neck to allow your fingers to stretch more easily, and use alternate picking throughout.

Example 2. Diminished 7 arpeggio

Use all four fretting fingers to play the diminished 7th arpeggio and chromatic scale shapes and make sure you take note of the suggested picking and pull-off directions, as there is a mixture of sweep-picked and alternate-picked strokes throughout.

Example 3. Economy picking and palm muting

Use your third finger to play the semitone bend and vibrato. Descend through the E Aeolian mode in a ‘sequence of four’ pattern, using economy picking for smooth string-to-string transitions. Keep the lick clean with light palm muting on the low strings and finger muting on the high strings.

Example 4. Picking and fretting-hand tapping

This lick is phrased in 16th-note quintuplets, or five-notes per-beat. For the five ascending notes use downstrokes and hammer-ons. For the descending five notes start with a picking-hand tap, followed by pull-offs and fretting-hand taps. Repeat the same lick as you ascend in minor 3rd intervals.

Example 5. Palm-muted, alternate-picked string skipping 

This melodic riff is based in A Aeolian (A-B-C-D-E-F-G), which switches to A harmonic minor (A-B-C-D-E-F-G#) in the third bar. Use palm-muted alternate picking to play through this intricate string-skipping part. Use the tip of the pick to glide across the notes and jump cleanly from string to string.

John Petrucci has announced the fourth edition of his semi-annual Guitar Universe camp.

John Petrucci’s Guitar Universe 4.0, to give it its full name, will take place from August 3 through August 6, 2023 at the W hotel in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. 

This edition of the camp will feature an impressive list of guest instructors, among them Zakk Wylde, Tosin Abasi, Fredrik Åkesson, Lari Basilio, Tim Henson, Scott LePage, Jeff Loomis, Rena Petrucci, Plini and Jason Richardson.

Camp-goers can attend classes taught by each of these guest instructors, and witness special events – among them instructor jams and solo sets – at night. The final night of the camp, Petrucci says, will feature a set from his solo band.

Furthermore, the Dream Theater electric guitar hero says that players of all skill levels can attend the camp.

"It’s really important to me to feature guitar players of different genders and different styles," Petrucci wrote in a statement on the camp's website. "It’s important to show different angles, to not only have people whose music I highly respect but also a diverse, international presence as well. 

"The span of the players in this camp – stylistically, age, gender, nationality – represents a cross-section of the guitar community all in one spot. From jazz fusion and instrumental prog to death metal and shred, they all share a common sensibility towards playing guitar – highly energetic, acrobatic, on fire."

Even if you can't attend the camp yourself, these all-star gatherings tend to produce some fascinating musical moments that eventually make their way onto the internet. 

At the most recent edition of the Guitar Universe camp, for instance, Petrucci treated campers to a funk rhythm guitar masterclass while neo-soul A-lister Mateus Asato got his shred on. 

Similarly, this summer, a video of Steve Vai and Yvette Young jamming at the former's Vai Academy camp was posted by Young on social media.

For more info on the camp, and to register, visit John Petrucci's Guitar Universe.

Announced at the beginning of this year, the all-new Jackson Pro Series Signature Jeff Loomis Soloist SL7 looks like one glorious beast of a metal machine. 

Following on from the Arch Enemy guitarist’s six-string Pro Series Kelly, which we described as “one of the best metal signatures in recent years” in our 2021 review, it features the same jaw-dropping sandblasted ash top that we likened to “an Ikea shelf from hell” and Loomis’s delicately balanced signature Seymour Duncan Blackouts.

With the same tonewoods and Floyd Rose system, even Loomis himself admits the new addition is pretty much the exact same guitar, just reimagined as a seven-string Soloist – which is certainly an enticing proposition for fans of his extended range playing…

“We kinda went for the same vibe and look,” Loomis tells Guitar World, surrounded by all kinds of instruments and amps in his home studio. “In Arch Enemy, I’m solely using six-strings, but a lot of my repertoire outside of that has featured a seven-string. 

“Given my history with Nevermore, the band I played in from 1992 to 2011, it felt like a lot of people wanted to see one come out. The body is made out of basswood, with the sharkfin inlays you find on most Jacksons. The binding is around the whole body, which I think makes the guitar really pop. The neck is thin and the frets are extra large, which makes bending and vibrato a whole lot easier…

“Then there’s also the wheel truss rod adjuster at the bottom of the neck. In Arch Enemy, we fly around the world and doing that can sometimes mess around with your necks. This makes it easy to adjust with an Allen wrench, though mine have graphite-reinforced necks which means they really don’t move compared to other guitars. 

“The Luminlay side dots are perfect for dark smoky stages where you can’t see where the heck you are – you can always navigate through the fretboard in any live situation! It really is my perfect guitar.”

You signed with Jackson in 2018. What exactly prompted the move?

“I was initially with a different company and was planning on being a bit of a free agent. I’m a guitar collector, just like anyone else, and have all sorts of different things. 

“I was thinking about playing Strats and Gibsons at one point but Jackson really goes back to my roots when I was a teenager playing metal. They were the guitars I had at that age, so I feel right at home working with them. 

“Being able to design stuff with [Senior Master Builder] Mike Shannon, sitting one-on-one with him to sculpt the neck dimensions and everything else, was a very cool process.

“The SL7 really is the perfect guitar for my needs. Anyone that follows me and likes my playing and music is more than welcome to purchase one. You’re not going to sound like me, but maybe it’ll help you get closer to my way of playing! 

“I’ve got a bunch of Eddie Van Halen guitars sitting around here, but nothing can make you sound exactly like Eddie. Guitars like this are more about getting one step closer to your guitar hero, rather than the whole way.”

We have to say, the sandblasted ash top is one of the most metal finishes we’ve ever seen! What inspired that?

“That was basically an idea I had with Peter Wichers, who used to play in Soilwork. He works for Fender/Jackson now, in the artist development department. We wanted to put our heads together and think of the most metal thing you could possibly see on a guitar. 

“And we came up with this idea of charred earth, where you can actually feel the rough grooves in the wood with your hand. I love it because it looks so metal, but at the same time it doesn’t fingerprint up with sweat marks and all that stuff. It just has this natural wood like on the top all the time.”

That’s not the only thing visually striking about your signatures…

“One of the biggest features for me is the raised logo. Most Jackson logos tend to be inscribed into the headstock, while this one is actually sitting on top of it. We called it the refrigerator aesthetic, because it’s steel sitting on top of wood and looks so nice. 

“And then having the sandblasted top throughout, from the base to the headstock, gives it that really finished look. I couldn’t be happier: it’s a phenomenal guitar with awesome playability. It doesn’t just cater to metalheads, though! If you look at a guitar like this, you might think you need to play in a metal band to use one, but no. It’s well-rounded and sounds great for all styles… it’s for anyone, really!”

A lot of that comes down to your signature pickups, which are more tonally versatile than regular Seymour Duncan Blackouts, using Alnico 5 magnets instead of ceramics...

“I agree with you! They’re very musical. When I was designing the pickups, I wanted to make sure I had lots of output. Mainly playing metal, that’s what I tend to like, but if I need to play other styles, these Blackouts clean up easier. I can just dial back the gain on my amp or on my guitar volume, and I can get any tone I need.

“I’m constantly switching between my pickups for leads, so I like the selector really close to my picking hand along with one simple volume knob. The guitar has a Floyd Rose 1500 which is important because they come with a push/pull arm, while most Floyd Roses have the screw-in ones.

“I’m so aggressive with the whammy arm that it can often loosen up and start making this clicking noise that comes through the pickups… and I hate that! So having one that stays in position and never gets loose is very important to me.”

What do you remember about the first time you picked up a seven-string?

“I started playing seven-strings around 2000, so I’ve been playing these things for over 20 years. I started listening to bands like Meshuggah and Korn, who had this mammoth heavy guitar tone. I kinda wanted to replicate that, looking to do something new with that kind of sound. 

“I had a friend of mine build me a seven-string which even had an 80-gauge string, which is for bass! And I used that guitar for the first seven-string Nevermore record, Dead Heart in a Dead World. I still have that instrument to this day! That was the start of my seven-string journey.”

What were the main challenges compared with the six-strings you’d been playing before that?

“Mainly I just had to get used to the wider neck, which felt different. Once you get an understanding of the instrument, however, it’s really just an extra low B – which comes in handy for chords and chord extensions. 

“I quickly realized it’s not that big a deal switching over from six. You just need to get used to it and stretch out your hand a little bit, and familiarize yourself with riding on that low E with another string behind it.

“For me, it was a little tedious to start with but all in all it was an easy transition. I play six and sevens so much these days – I don’t even think about switching between them. Though I only play six in Arch Enemy, a lot of my instrumental stuff and other projects feature sevens. 

“Eight-strings, however, felt too different. I had one lying around for a bit and never really picked it up. You have to set your amp differently because it’s so much closer to bass. You need to dial in a whole different gain structure and yeah… it’s just too much for me. We’ll leave that for other people!”

The new Arch Enemy single, Handshake With Hell, features some clean vocals from Alissa White-Gluz. That certainly turned a few heads!

“We wanted to do something different with this new album and show a new side of Alyssa that people haven’t really heard in Arch Enemy. Lo and behold, she has this beautiful clean singing voice. It’s turned out great on this new album. We’ll be heading on tour in mid-April to the end of May, and then we have a bunch of summer festivals, followed by a big European tour at the end of the year. It’s going to be a busy year!”

So what kind of gear will you be taking out with you?

“I used to have real amps for live shows, but when you’re using heads from a backline company, quite often what you actually get can be rather inconsistent. I decided to go for something that’s way more consistent on a nightly basis, switching to the Line 6 Helix. I love it for many reasons. 

“Firstly, it’s consistent and sounds the same every night. Everything is MIDI-automated and hooked up to my drummer’s laptop, which does all my preset changes. I don’t need to do the tap dance on stage or find the right button to kick in effects in the dark. It’s all done for me…

“I just have my guitar and my in-ears, and all I need to worry about is playing the best show ever. It’s a big plus! Sure, it’s a little time-consuming to program, but at the end of the day, it’s a massive time-saver and means I don’t need to stress. 

“In the studio, I tend to stick with real amps. I’ve got an arsenal of heads at home, from Marshalls and EVH to Lenz, Revv and Omega. One of my favorites is the Jake E. Lee signature Friedman [the JEL-100], which sounds amazing.”

What’s the last pedal you acquired, out of curiosity?

“Gosh, I have so many pedals. The latest one I got is the Ibanez [40th Anniversary] Tube Screamer, but I’ve also got tons of Maxon pedals and other overdrives. I’m a big fan of chorus and reverbs for lush clean tones – there are hundreds here with me at home… it’s pathetic! [laughs]”

It has to be said, you and Michael Amott make a great team. He tends to write more classic metal-sounding, Michael Schenker-esque runs, while you’re more of a modern technical player…

“Totally! It’s a very nice balance. Michael has such great intonation with his bends – he always hits things so beautifully. It was really hard for me at first to match the harmonies, because it’s a perfection thing. You’ve really got to hone in on everything to make those moments shine. 

“Wearing in-ears really helped, because I can always hear the nuances of his playing. And he’s phenomenal… like you said, I tend to be the faster, more aggressive guy and he’s more of a bluesy and classic metal player.

“Together it makes for a wonderful chemistry that really shines during our live shows. I’ve had so much fun with that guy. I’ve known him for so long. We met in 1998 or 1999, so it’s been a long time. We’re friends first and foremost and then after that the band stuff comes in. And that goes for Arch Enemy as a whole: they’re a great bunch of people. I love being in this band and couldn’t ask for a better gig.”

Many of your solos over the years have featured blazing alternate picking runs. How exactly did you master the technique?

“I started examining it by watching Yngwie Malmsteen in that famous live show in Japan he played with Alcatrazz. There are a lot of close-ups of him at a time when he was setting the world on fire, around the age of 23. I noticed that it was all in the wrist with him; he’s never moving his whole arm. 

“You even see that in a lot of gypsy jazz players, it’s all very fast and fluent and from the wrist. Another great wrist player was Eddie Van Halen: he always had the greatest tremolo picking sound back in the day.

“Then there are other players who use their arms, which I do too, but mainly for rhythms when I’m doing James Hetfield kinda stuff. When I play leads, I use three different styles – economy, alternate and some legato – and I can combine all three. 

“To build my alternate picking I do what I call ‘flutter bombs’, where you pick one note as fast as you can for 20 seconds. Then you move up to 30 seconds and more, and before you know it, you’ve started to build up muscles in that area of your wrist. It becomes second nature.

“Ultimately, the less effort you need, the better your picking will be because it’s all about being relaxed. That’s how you blast! These days, I’m more of a slower and emotional player. I prefer my leads to have memorable lines rather than just shredding really fast.”

It’s interesting how you’ve said you’re not much of a theory buff in the past – your solos definitely feel informed…

“It’s so funny, I come from a family of music lovers. My dad had a huge record collection and was a guitar player himself. Both my parents were teachers and they knew I loved playing so much that they let me stay at home and skip school to play! [laughs]

“Then my dad suggested taking some theory classes to move further, which I did and completely failed at. I could not understand one thing! My friend would be sat next to me whispering, ‘That’s an A dominant arpeggio, Jeff!’ and I’d be like ‘What?!’ 

“I understand the basic fundamentals of the modes, but that’s really about it. I see music more as colors. It’s all about what sounds good. I’ve been blessed with a really good ear – even when I was a kid, I’d jam along to the jingles on TV and instantly replicate them. My dad would be like, ‘How did you do that?!’ 

“So I’ve focused on my ear alone for my entire music career, going with what sounds good. I have friends who tell me, ‘Dude, I’ve seen you play a diminished line; you know that stuff!’ and I realized that I know how to play these things but I don’t know what they’re called. I just hear notes that sound nice to my ears!”

Well, Dimebag didn’t know much theory and he pretty much wrote the book for modern metal guitar.

“Exactly. I’m almost afraid of learning theory now. I’m almost scared that understanding more and figuring it out will take away the mysteriousness of everything. I like navigating around the fretboard, not really knowing where I’ll go until I hear the phrase that sounds best to me. That’s the fun of guitar playing! 

“I don’t really have a big vocabulary of lead stuff. I’ve always just wanted to be a songwriter, and somehow I got lumped into the whole shred thing! I love coming up with riffs and writing a good song…

“That’s actually what I’m doing right now with the legendary Graham Bonnet from Alcatrazz. He’s a fantastic dude – we’ve become really good buddies over the last year or so. I’m halfway done with the writing for the album and will be finished by the time Arch Enemy start touring, which will give Graham 10 songs to work on, and hopefully we’ll record that album later this year.

“I also have an instrumental record coming out this year, while spending most of my time touring with Arch Enemy. It’s going to be a busy one!”

• The Jackson Pro Series Signature Jeff Loomis Soloist SL7 is available now. Arch Enemy's new album, Deceivers, arrives July 29 via Century Media Records.

Prog metal giant Jeff Loomis and Jackson both enjoyed the popularity of the former’s Pro Series Signature Kelly. Now they’ve reunited to produce the guitarist’s first signature seven-string, the Jackson Pro Series Jeff Loomis Soloist SL7.

The new model is an aggressive, utilitarian beast equipped with a through-body graphite reinforced-neck made of three-piece maple, alongside a 12-16” compound radius ebony ‘board, with jumbo frets and Luminlay side dots.

The basswood body is paired with a sandblasted ash top, finished in Satin Black. Hidden around the back is a heel-mount truss rod adjustment wheel and a Loomis headstock logo.

Things are kept simple and effective on the electronics front, with a pair of Seymour Duncan Blackout humbuckers – Loomis’s signature set of active pickups – plus a three-position toggle switch and a single volume control. 

Elsewhere, there’s a Floyd Rose 1500 Series double-locking tremolo (also in black) and black hardware, including Dunlop dual-locking strap buttons and seven-in-line sealed die-cast tuners mounted on a – you guessed it – black headstock. 

The aesthetic certainly oozes power and the Loomis SL7 looks like the sort of guitar that can handle a nationwide tour before breakfast. You’ll see the virtuoso pulls no punches in putting the model through its paces in an extensive demo below.

“Working with Jackson has been absolutely amazing,” says Loomis. “I couldn't be happier. Being able to work one on one with the legendary Mike Shannon – Jackson’s Principal Master Builder – on the overall shape and dimension of the neck was incredible. We were able to really hone in on every little fine detail, down to the glow-in-the dark fret markers for playing on dark stages. 

“But this isn’t an over-elaborate guitar: we stripped down the controls to make pickup changes dead-easy. There’s only one volume knob and you’re going to leave that on 10 anyways. This is a beautiful, aggressive guitar that I love and I know Jackson fans will too.”

Jackson says it is similarly pleased with the results. “We collectively conceptualized and then delivered for Jeff a guitar that matches who he is as a player: technical prowess meets brute force,” says Jackson’s Jon Romanowski.

“Not every guitar can handle what Jeff and those inspired by him have in mind. Meeting his standards was a fantastic challenge. We can’t wait to hear what he and his fans will create with his Signature Soloist SL7.”

Expect to find the Loomis SL7 retailing around $1699 (or £1,649/€1,899). 

For more information on the Jackson Pro Series Jeff Loomis Soloist SL7, head to Jackson.com.

Hot on the heels of their latest single, and first new music in four years, Deceiver, Deceiver, Swedish death metallers Arch Enemy have issued a new track, House of Mirrors.

Doubling down on the momentum of Deceiver, Deceiver, the new track commences with a series of enveloping harmonized leads from electric guitar duo Michael Amott and Jeff Loomis, before bassist Sharlee D'Angelo, drummer Daniel Erlandsson and vocalist Alissa White-Gluz enter the fray with '80s-inspired, galloping double-kick-driven rhythms and powerful guttural screams.

True to form, Amott and Loomis carve out space for their own respective solos, with the former serving up nimble two-handed tapping lines and the latter letting loose with a series of wah-touched pinpoint bends and rapid-fire alternate-picked lines. Check it out below.

“Musically, this is an idea that has been bouncing around in my head for a while, and finally it got finished,” says Amott. “It all started with the guitar motif that kicks off the track, which naturally leads to the galloping '80s-metal feel of the verses. As is always the case with us, we had quite a few different arrangements and demos of this song until it was, dare I say, fuckin' perfect!”

Adds White-Gluz, “House of Mirrors is a song that twists its way into the human psyche. I wrote the lyrics during a dark time of strict, dystopian lockdown, and I think people will be able to relate to that feeling of being totally alone – but never truly alone – when you are surrounded only by past and future versions of yourself as company.”

Despite two songs being released in quick succession, we've yet to hear word on any new full-length material from Arch Enemy. 

While the band issued a covers album – Covered in Blood – in 2019, featuring new renditions of Judas Priest's Breaking the Law, Iron Maiden's Aces High and Megadeth's Symphony of Destruction, their last original LP was 2017's Will to Power.

Arch Enemy have released their first original new music since 2017's Will to Power, a new single entitled Deceiver, Deceiver.

True to form, the track sees the Swedish death metallers – composed of vocalist Alissa White-Gluz, guitarists Michael Amott and Jeff Loomis, bassist Sharlee D'Angelo and drummer Daniel Erlandsson – serve up a clutch of stellar electric guitar riffs, machine gun-esque rhythms and ever-chaotic arrangements.

There's plenty of lead guitar work to digest, too; Loomis and Amott trade soaring solos from just before the three-minute mark, with the former offering whammy bar dives and alternate picking runs, and the latter delivering more melodic, but equally virtuosic two-handed tapping lines.

Its accompanying music video is directed by Patric Ullaeus – who has also worked with At the Gates, Danko Jones, Europe and others – and finds the quintet tearing the roof off a graffiti'd-up warehouse. Check it out below.

Says guitarist Michael Amott: “Has it really been four years since we last released new Arch Enemy music? Time flies... especially when you tour the world for a couple of years, decide to take some time off, and then we all get hit with a global fucking pandemic!

“Everyone's been through hard times these last couple of years, and it's beautiful to see everything coming back now. This very much feels like the right moment to return with a brand-new song. Deceiver, Deceiver is not the happiest of tunes, but believe me – we're ecstatic to be back!”

While Deceiver, Deceiver is Arch Enemy's first original music since 2017, the band did release a covers album – Covered in Blood – in 2019, which featured new renditions of Judas Priest's Breaking the Law, Iron Maiden's Aces High and Megadeth's Symphony of Destruction, to name a few.

NAMM 2021 isn't taking place in the physical realm this year, but you'll find all the hottest January gear launches in our guide to the biggest guitar, amp and pedal releases of 2021 so far.

Arch Enemy and Nevermore guitarist Jeff Loomis has teamed up with Joey Sturgis Tones for a new signature ToneForge plugin.

With sounds designed by metal producer Jens Bogren – whose repertoire includes work with Sepultura, Kreator and Paradise Lost – the Jeff Loomis Toneforge features three amp profiles: Lead, Rhythm and Clean, each with a plethora of guitar tones to peruse.

While the Lead and Clean channels are fairly self-explanatory, the Rhythm amp has been specifically designed to handle tight low-end riffwork, and boasts a tube emulation that can be switched from 6L6s to EL34s.

In addition to the three amps, the software pack also features a range of virtual cabs,  with JST's first inclusion of dual cab mode.

The mode allows users to edit two guitar signals at the same time, adjust their spacing in the stereo field and more. There's also a matched cabinets feature and the option to import custom impulse responses.

The pack also includes four guitar effects – GTR Comp (compressor), Overdriven (overdrive), Sky Box (reverb) and Echo Man (delay) – each with post-amp processing capabilities.

Joey Sturgis Tones Toneforge Jeff Loomis operates as VST2, VST3, AU and AAX on macOS and Windows. A free iLok account is required for registration.

And as an introductory deal, the plugin is being offered for only $59. After the initial period, the price will go up to $149, so that's a pretty substantial saving.

Head over to Joey Sturgis Tones for more information.

There's something particularly satisfying about plugging in a 7-string guitar and riffing out in between the traditional ranges of the guitar and bass.

A lot of great music has been made on seven-string guitars over the past three decades or so since Ibanez released the Universe at Steve Vai's behest. During the first era of the seven-string, Vai was pretty much the only guy exploring the instrument's potential. It fell out of favor until the mid- to late '90s, when a bunch of guys picked up secondhand Universes and built their sound around the lowest string.

Then detuning a regular six became all the rage and everyone forgot about the seven for a while. And now it's back. There's a lot of history behind the seven-string now, and here are a few of our personal favorites. 

1. Steve Vai - I Would Love To

There are other Steve Vai songs that make use of the 7-string, sometimes quite obviously (The Audience Is Listening, The Riddle, Ya-Yo Gakk) and sometimes quite subtly (For the Love of God; listen really closely to see if you can spot where Vai lands on the low B).

But I Would Love To was the most radio-friendly, MTV-visible track from his breakthrough solo album Passion And Warfare, and the song makes a great case for the seven-string's use as a wide range guitar, rather than just an excuse to play really, really low notes.

2. Dream Theater - A Change of Seasons

Much like I Would Love To, John Petrucci's work on A Change of Seasons is a great example of how to use the 7-string guitar to play things you couldn't play on either a regular six-string guitar in standard tuning or on a baritone. 

He zips all around the neck, making full use of the 7-string's range in clean and distorted settings, on supportive rhythms, blindingly intricate passages, wailing solos and crushing riffs. Yet at no point does the choice of instrument distract from the song itself.

3. Strapping Young Lad - Skeksis

Oh, so standard 7-string tuning's not low enough for you? How about Devin Townsend's GCGCGCE tuning? You can hear this used to great and guttural effect on Skeksis from Strapping Young Lad's Alien album. 

Progressive, exhilarating, intense and ridiculously heavy, the sheer technicality of this song foreshadowed the djent movement. I'm sure I can hear this song's influence when I listen to Periphery's Misha Mansoor.

4. Fear Factory - Descent

Fear Factory's Dino Cazares was an early pioneer of applying low tunings to thrash-influenced metal, but by the late '90s he was going the other way, using 7-string guitars to increase his range upwards rather than downwards. A perfect example is Descent from Obsolete, where Dino combines a low bassline with higher arpeggios. 

The riff itself isn't too tricky from a technical perspective, but it served as a timely reminder to guitarists of the era that there was much more to be done with a seven than just low riffage.

5. Joe Satriani - Hands in the Air

Satch isn't the first guy who comes to mind when you think of 7-string guitars, but he gets a pass on this list, thanks to the riff in Hands In The Air, one of the most fun riffs you'll ever play for an hour straight. Or maybe that's just me. Joe has had other 7-string songs over the years, including one called - get this - Seven String.

6. Korn - Freak On a Leash

Korn kickstarted the second wave of 7-string use in the '90s, and they inspired a lot of less-creative copycats who just ran with the low-end aspect of what the band were known for, but the interplay between guitarists Head and Munky on Freak on a Leash offers a great lesson in a more atmospheric use of the 7-string. 

Creepy high melodies and muddled low chords build tension, then the chorus riff shifts and snakes in a really unique way before the creep sets in again.

7. Jeff Loomis - Jato Unit

Loomis's 7-string skills are put to great use on this monster. Big octave melody lines, low palm-muted riffage, wide arpeggios, whammy bar dives, syncopated rhythms - this one is a great song to sharpen your skills, and, if you're a proficient six-string player making the transition to seven for the first time, it's a great one to cut your teeth on. Make it to the end and you can truly call yourself a 7-string guitarist.

Jackson has announced that Arch Enemy and Nevermore guitarist Jeff Loomis has joined its artist roster.

“I'm very excited to announce that I will be working with Jackson guitars on many upcoming projects,” Loomis said. “We are underway designing a Jeff Loomis signature model that will be unveiled at the 2019 NAMM Show in Anaheim, California.”

Loomis first came to prominence as a teenager in his home state of Wisconsin. After being crowned the winner of a Guitar Wars competition and a battle of the bands with his first band, Fear-Tech, Loomis landed an audition with Megadeth. Then only 16 years old, he was deemed too young to join, and instead went on to craft a complex playing style all his own.

Loomis soon made his mark with Seattle-based progressive metal band Nevermore, with his distinctive rhythmic style, smooth technique and breakneck speed being heard on acclaimed albums like Dead Heart in a Dead World and This Godless Endeavor. 

Loomis said his connection with Jackson dates all the way back to the early Nineties and his earliest days with Nevermore. 

“I started playing Jackson guitars early on in my youth and in the early stages of my first band, Nevermore,” Loomis said. “To be able to work with their excellent staff of amazing luthiers and craftsman on a one-to-one basis now is really a dream come true.”

After departing Nevermore, Loomis released two solo albums. His playing can be heard on Will to Power, the latest album from Swedish melodic death metal act Arch Enemy. The band is on tour through mid 2019.

For more information visit JacksonGuitars.com.

Jason Becker has unveiled a new song, “Valley of Fire,” from his upcoming album, Triumphant Hearts. The nine-minute track features Becker alongside “The Magnificent 13,” a guest list that includes Steve Vai, Joe Bonamassa, Paul Gilbert, Neal Schon, Marty Friedman, Michael Lee Firkins, Mattias IA Eklundh, Greg Howe, Jeff Loomis, Richie Kotzen, Gus G, Steve Hunter and Ben Woods.

Becker first rose to prominence as a teenager when he was one half of the technical guitar duo Cacophony with Marty Friedman. In 1989, at only 19 years old and after wowing audiences all over the world, the young virtuoso became the guitarist for David Lee Roth, following in the huge footsteps of Eddie Van Halen and Steve Vai. He wrote and recorded with Roth for the former Van Halen frontman’s third solo album, A Little Ain’t Enough and was poised for superstardom when a nagging pain in his leg was diagnosed as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), a fatal condition with a life expectancy of maybe five years. 

That was 29 years ago. Becker lost the ability to play guitar, walk, talk and breathe on his own. But never lost his will to live or his desire to create music. Communicating through a series of eye movements with a system developed by his father, Jason spells out words as well as musical notes and chords. He imparts his musical vision to his team who then can input the notes into a computer, edit the parts to his exacting standards, and then generate charts for session musicians. His inspiring music and life story have been the subject of countless news articles, magazine cover stories, and an award-winning documentary, Jason Becker: Not Dead Yet. 

The 14 tracks on Triumphant Hearts showcase Jason’s gift for melody and his deep knowledge of classical composition and orchestral arrangement. Many of the guitar parts are performed by a who’s who of guitarists including Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Neal Schon, Steve Morse, Paul Gilbert, Joe Bonamassa, and many others. Becker's own playing—recorded in the Eighties and Nineties—also features throughout.

The album opens with the title track, featuring Jason’s old bandmate Marty Friedman and an astounding violin performance. “I wrote ‘Triumphant Heart’ and it made me feel triumphant,” says Becker. “When Marty found out I was making this album, he told me he would play anything I needed. I sent him this, and his wife, Hiyori Okuda, who is a cellist, also offered to play on it. The great violinist, Glauco Bertagnin, recorded my violin parts in Italy. That fast solo section I wrote is way too hard; I don’t know how Glauco pulled it off. He put so much soul in the whole song.”

"Hold on to Love" is the first vocal song on the record, although it didn’t start out that way. “It was going to be an instrumental,” explains Jason, “but after I wrote the chorus with lyrics, I knew I had to tell my story, to explain how I can continue living without feeling hate. I hadn’t written many lyrics before.” In addition to its beautiful, gospel-tinged choir, the heartfelt song features Bay Area singer Codany Holiday on lead vocals. 

"Fantasy Weaver" features Jake Shimabukuro and harp arpeggios that were written back in his Cacophony days. ‘Once Upon a Melody’ not only features two Jason Becker guitar solos from his Cacophony era, but also audio of him as a three-year-old. "We Are One," meanwhile, features soulful Flipsyde vocalist Steve Knight, and more Jason Becker guitar delights.

Uli Jon Roth appears on "Magic Woman," along with ex-Megadeth guitarist Chris Broderick who counts both Uli and Jason as big influences. Fans of Jason’s work with David Lee Roth will be thrilled by the inclusion of two previously unreleased outtakes from the A Little Ain’t Enough sessions, the hard rocking "Taking Me Back" and the blues-infused ‘Tell Me No Lies.’ There are also performances by Joe Satriani, Guthrie Govan, Steve Morse, Trevor Rabin, and many others. 

“Some people feel sorry for me,” he concedes, “and I understand that. I really feel lucky though. I don’t miss playing guitar anymore. I’m sure that’s out of necessity, but I am grateful for so much more. I am surrounded by loving people, and I can still make music.”

Triumphant Hearts will be released on December 7 via Music Theories Recordings/Mascot Label Group. The album is available for pre-order here.

Triumphant Hearts track list:

Triumphant Heart (feat. Marty Friedman, Glauco Bertagnin, Hiyori Okuda)

Hold on to Love (feat. Codany Holiday)

Fantasy Weaver (feat. Jake Shimabukuro)

Once Upon A Melody

We Are One (feat. Steve Knight)

Magic Woman (feat. Uli Jon Roth & Chris Broderick)

Blowin' in the Wind

River of Longing (feat. Joe Satriani, Aleks Sever, Guthrie Govan, Steve Morse)

Valley of Fire (feat. The Magnificent 13)

River of Longing (feat. Trevor Rabin)

Taking Me Back

Tell Me No Lies

Hold on to Love (feat. Codany Holiday) [Chuck Zwicky Remix]

You Do It

Why aren't six strings enough? This was the question we posed to one of guitar's all-time greats a few years ago.

Steve Vai, in his infinite, sage-like wisdom, responded, "Six is enough, and eight is enough too. Whatever you want. Four can be enough. One can be enough, if you’ve got the imagination for it."

And that's really what it came down to when whittling down our list of 15 of the best seven-string and eight-string players in guitarville right now: Who has the imagination to take that extra string or two and do something with them that couldn't be replicated simply by down-tuning or pitch-shifting?

• The 10 best 7-string guitars right now

It would have been very easy for seven- or 8-string guitars to be sitting in a museum somewhere as novelty items—you know, Spinal Tap-esque relics of an age when guitarists went "one lower." But these 15 names are a testament to the myriad ways in which the seven- and eight-string guitar has evolved over the years, in ways that even its modern progenitor couldn't have foreseen.

"When I was [playing seven-strings], I had a feeling there was going to be a group of kids who were really gonna take that low string and do something with it that I wasn’t doing," Vai said. "I also felt that maybe some jazz and classical players would take it up. I had no idea that they were going to do what they did."

STEPHEN CARPENTER | DEFTONES

Whether utilizing seven strings or eight, Deftones have packed some serious subsonics into their music over the years. "Hexagram" off the band's 2003 self-titled effort is the epitome of their haunting take on alternative metal, with Chino Moreno screaming maniacally over Stephen Carpenter's off-kilter seven-string riffing.

JEFF LOOMIS

A true guitarist’s guitarist, Jeff Loomis is no stranger to readers of this magazine for his work as a solo artist and with Nevermore and Arch Enemy. Loomis' seven-string skills are put to great use on a monster track called "Jato Unit." Big octave melody lines, low palm-muted riffage, wide arpeggios, whammy bar dives, syncopated rhythms—this one is a great song to sharpen your skills, and, if you're a proficient six-string player making the transition to seven for the first time, it's a great one to cut your teeth on. Make it to the end and you can truly call yourself a seven-string guitarist.

TOSIN ABASI | ANIMALS AS LEADERS

When Tosin Abasi recorded what was essentially a solo album under the name Animals as Leaders, his goal was to expand the pallet of heavy, progressive music into something that was more compositionally challenging for him and more accessible to linsteners. “I wanted to make music that was more universal,” he told Guitar World in 2009. Tosin may be better known for rocking the eight-string these days, but "CAFO" from Animals as Leaders' eponymous debut is as fine an example of seven-string mastery as you'll come across in the modern metal-scape.

OLA ENGLUND | THE HAUNTED, FEARED

If you're even slightly familiar with music driven by electric seven-string guitars, Sweden's Ola Englund needs no introduction. He's played a seven-stringer for years with the Haunted and—especially—Feared and has an ever-evolving line of signature models through Washburn (plus his own line of axes). And then there's his popular YouTube channel, which features his trademark gear demos, many of which have appeared on GuitarWorld.com over the years. "By constantly putting out material/videos/tutorials, I’ve been able to maintain a steady growth in followers," he told iMusician. "It’s not that hard actually, just work your ass off and don’t be an asshole and you’ll be fine."

CHRIS LETCHFORD | SCALE THE SUMMIT

In a genre that's often put down for self-indulgence, instrumental-prog-rockers Scale The Summit have found that perfect niche between musicality and technical fireworks. In other words, the band, which features seven-string guitarsts Chris Letchford and Travis Levrier, puts the focus squarely on the songs. “The most compliments we get are that we’re not just a guitar wizardy band,” Chris Letchford told theaquarian.com. “Yeah, our stuff is really complex, technical music, but it’s still not over-the-top, shred-based. That would push a lot of people away.” Below, check out the official video for "Blue Sun" from the band's 2015 album, V.

MISHA MANSOOR | PERIPHERY

Misha Mansoor has become a guitar hero in his own right. Since 2005, he has played guitar (and often produced) with his band, Periphery, a groundbreaking progressive-rock unit that fuses soaring vocal melodies and complex instrumental interludes into polished, compact, space age–sounding metal. With their distinctive three-guitar sound, glitch electronic overlays and throaty chug provided by the lower strings of their seven-string guitars, Periphery have spawned a whole underground industry of imitators.

SARAH LONGFIELD

Keep an eye or two out for Wisconsin-based (or is it Boston?), Strandberg Guitars-playing Sarah Longfield. The guitarist, who posted an extra-popular cover of Meshuggah's "Pravus" to YouTube a few years ago, formed the Fine Constant as an outlet for her innovative—and pleasing-to-the-ear—original music. Longfield also records under her own name, and her latest album, 2017's Collapse // Expand, has been burning up the interwebs. You can check it out here and sample a wee bit of it below.

ADAM "NERGAL" DARSKI | BEHEMOTH

Nergal is the lead guitarist, vocalist and mastermind behind Polish metal warrirors Behemoth. Over their lengthy career, they've been putting out some of the most technical and inspired metal to ever be exported from their country. Nergal has his own signature model through ESP Guitars, the HEX-7. "ESP made the perfect axe for me," Nergal says. "It kills, it slays."

MARTEN HAGSTROM & FREDRIK THORDENDAL | MESHUGGAH

While you won't find any extra strings on Meshuggah's 1991 debut, Contradictions Collapse, guitarist Fredrik Thordendal knew from the very beginning that six strings just wouldn't suffice to contain the breadth of his band's music. "For as long as I can remember I’ve wanted to have a seven-string guitar so that I’d be able to play those really low notes," Thordendal told Guitar World, "and then Ibanez finally came out with one." By the time of the band's follow-up effort, the aptly named Destroy Erase Improve, the band had added an additional guitarist in Marten Hagstrom, and upped the ante with a retooled brand of progressive metal that has proven immensely influential to the new breed of metal musicians.

IHSAHN

For the past few years, founding Emperor guitarist (and former Guitar World columnist) Ihsahn has been pushing musical boundaries on his solo albums, revealing a vision beyond what few listeners could ever imagine—from his inventive rhythmic structures to his rough-and-ready riffs. The progressive black metaller also just released a pair of new playthrough videos, one of which, "Frozen Lakes on Mars" (below), is the first-ever demo of Aristedes' new 080s eight-string guitar.

STEVE VAI

You knew it was coming. It would be impossible to leave out Steve Vai, the man who brought the seven-string guitar to prominence. In fact, the first mass-produced seven-string guitar was Vai's signature Ibanez UV7. Sure, there are other Vai songs that make use of the seven-string, sometimes obviously ("The Audience Is Listening," "The Riddle," "Ya Yo Gakk") and sometimes subtly ("For the Love of God"). But "I Would Love To" was the most radio-friendly, MTV-visible track from Vai's breakthrough solo album, Passion and Warfare, and the song makes a great case for the seven-string's use as a wide-range guitar—instead of simply an excuse to play really low notes.

As Vai told Mixdown magazine in 2013, he feels a sense of gratitude in seeing where new players have taken the seven-string guitar. "When it first came out, I was the only one playing one aside from Uli Jon Roth. They weren't available commercially. And once it became available I think there were some people that gravitated toward it because they were fans, and some people gravitated toward it because they saw the potential in it for something new. And they sure did do it. When Passion and Warfare and the Whitesnake albums came out, there was a surge in sales."

RELATED: Hear Steve Vai's "Lovely Elixir" from Passion and Warfare 25th Anniversary Edition

DAVID DAVIDSON | REVOCATION

One of guitarist David Davidson's primary objectives when writing music for his band, Revocation, is to try to push the envelope and come up with sounds, ideas, chord patterns, progressions and riffs that have been rarely explored within the thrash metal genre. Davidson developed his technique at the Berklee College of Music, where he focused on polyrhythm for jazz; the atonal aspects of jazz have afforded him a different perspective on composing and soloing.

JAMES MONTEITH | TESSERACT

The U.K.'s James Monteith and Acle Kahney are highly respected practitioners of djent—an onomatopoeic label for that subset of progressive metal characterized by weighty, palm-muted riffing, typically on instruments with seven or more strings. TesseracT juxtaposes that steadfast staccato underpinning with trippy atmospheric textures. “When TesseracT performs live, Acle and I generally trade off between playing riffs and the more atmospheric stuff, as well as taking turns soloing,” Monteith told Guitar Player. “Keeping the parts distinct helps to assure that things don’t get overly hectic, and also helps us leave more space in the music."

ALEX WADE | WHITECHAPEL

No list of top seven- and eight-stringers would be complete without deathcore heavyweights Whitechapel. Alex Wade, a guitarist for the Tennessee-based band, helps write the band's imposing, bruising and buoyant music—music that has struck a chord across the globe. In 2014, guitarplanet.eu asked Wade what makes a great guitarist: "Someone who can write well-composed, catchy music. I've been fascinated with guys who just shred. Sure it's impressive, but no one wants to listen to that over and over. My favorite guitarist is Stephen Carpenter from Deftones and he's a good example of a guy that just writes great songs with catchy hooks and doesn't try to impress people."

SCOTT CARSTAIRS & BRIAN JAMES | FALLUJAH

“A guitar player should aspire to be a virtuoso,” says Scott Carstairs, who spearheads the San Francisco Bay Area-based and politically charged band Fallujah. “It takes the whole package: proficient technique, tasteful notes and phrases and a solid tone.” Carstairs possesses that package at an age when most people are happy to be able to rent a car. He and gravel-voiced screamer Alex Hofmann started formulating their progressive metal in 2006, and along with second guitarist Brian James, Carstairs & Co. throw down the guitar gauntlet with every performance.

BERNARD REVEL

Yep, they make seven-string acoustic guitars too. Check out the impressive sounds of Bernard Revel and his Lowden Guitars seven-string, below.

AND SINCE WE'RE ON THE TOPIC:

Be sure to check out the fretwork of Per Nilsson ...

... Yvette Young ...

... and the guys in Beyond Creation.

Damian Fanelli, Alan Di Perna and Peter Hodgson contributed to this story.

In this video from Ernie Ball, shred-master Jeff Loomis discusses the company’s new Paradigm strings.

As Ernie Ball’s latest string innovation, Paradigm represents the most advanced string technology ever created, and the strings are the first to come with a fully backed guarantee: If they break or rust within 90 days of purchase, Ernie Ball will replace them free of charge.

“I think that with the Paradigm strings, it gives me that much more confidence in the live situation,” Loomis says.

The strings feature a combination of Ernie Ball’s proprietary Everlast nanotreatment coupled with a breakthrough plasma process that further enhances the corrosion resistance like never before.

Watch the video below, and to find out more, visit ernieball.com/paradigm.

Arch Enemy—featuring guitarists Michael Amott and Jeff Loomis—have premiered a new music video for their song, "The Race."

"This was actually the last song written for the Will To Power album," Amott said of "The Race." “Listening through all the material we had up to that point we agreed that the album needed one more song that would be a relentless and fast paced counterpoint to some of the more epic compositions we already had.”

"We sent Alissa the music and she came up with a thought provoking set of lyrics with an intense vocal arrangement that complemented the music perfectly," he continued.

"We've been having a blast playing this song on the current tour and we had our video director Patric Ullaeus come out to capture the mayhem at our recent show in Helsinki, Finland."

Check out the new video for yourself below.

“Well, there’s a first time for everything, right?” says founding guitarist Michael Amott from his home near Gothenburg, Sweden, where he’s taking a few days to decompress before Arch Enemy meet up at their rehearsal space in Frankfurt, Germany.

There, they’ll practice their summer festival set, which includes “The World Is Yours,” the first single from their new album Will to Power.

“You know, sometimes things don’t work out,” Amott says. “I don’t really want to elaborate on that. At the time, it was, of course, surprising. But I called my brother, [band co-founder] Christopher [Amott, who has been in and out throughout the group’s history] and he finished the tour with us. What’s really surprising is that we didn’t miss a show.”

When asked about the incident, Cordle had no comment. “Not interested in anything to do with them,” he texted.

Putting out fires and overcoming challenges has become a regular task for Arch Enemy. The band is currently on its third vocalist; 14-year screamer Angela Gossow quit in 2014 before Cordle left; she currently manages Arch Enemy from her home in Germany. When Christopher Amott wasn’t in the band, Fredrik Åkesson and Cordle played for two years each, the former from 2005 to 2007 before leaving to joining Opeth, and the latter from 2012 to 2014 before joining Sanctuary.

But with every lineup shift came change and, frequently, growth. Gossow’s replacement, Alissa White-Gluz, the 32-year-old former vocalist for the Canadian metalcore band The Agonist, is a personable, charismatic growler with a ferocious death metal roar and a surprisingly pleasant singing voice. As difficult as it is to replace a vocalist, Arch Enemy fans have taken to White-Gluz, partially because Gossow introduced her to the band, and in part because her exuberance and blue hair appealed to the Hot Topic crowd.

The most recent band recruit, ex-Nevermore cofounder and ace lead guitarist Jeff Loomis (who replaced Cordle in 2014) might be the most technically gifted player to join the AE ranks. And he’s stepped in at a great time. Twenty-one years into their career, Arch Enemy could be at the top of their game.

Will to Power is a striking, musically diverse album that combines elements of thrash, Gothenburg-style melodic death metal and stomping traditional metal with progressive touches. The tracks are highlighted by Amott and Loomis’ abundant guitar harmonies and fiery leads.

The video for the fiercely melodic “The World Is Yours” had accumulated nearly 4.5 million views less than a month after it was posted, and Arch Enemy just announced a co-headline U.S. tour with Trivium that runs through December 6 in Houston and could expose Arch Enemy to a younger, more mainstream following.

“I never considered Arch Enemy to be a death metal band, and I didn’t start Arch Enemy with the intention of being death metal,” stresses Amott. “I’ve already done that type of stuff [as a member of Carnage and Carcass], so I wanted to focus more on melody, while still keeping the music heavy. And I think this record does that.”

(from left) Arch Enemy's Daniel Erlandsson, Michael Amott, Jeff Loomis, Alissa White-Gluz and Sharlee D'Angelo

While Loomis was Amott’s first choice to fill in for Cordle, Arch Enemy’s architect was afraid Loomis wouldn’t accept the offer. “I always tell Jeff he’s overqualified for the gig,” Amott says, then laughs. “But having a high-profile guitar player join was really great for us. He plays amazing stuff almost without effort, and I’m still sitting here struggling to figure out how to hold a guitar pick.”

Loomis first met Amott in 1999 when Arch Enemy and Nevermore were playing some of the same festivals. The two bands toured Europe together in 2003, though Arch Enemy had to pull out of the last few shows after their bus was infested with blood-sucking insects and some of the members became ill. Impressed by Loomis’ playing, Amott asked him to join Arch Enemy in 2005, when Christopher quit for the first time, but Loomis was committed to Nevermore and turned down the offer.

When Loomis broke up Nevermore in 2011, largely because he was having problems with alcohol and needed to dry out (“Moderation definitely wasn’t in the dictionary next to the Nevermore name”), he went cold turkey until he was sober, then started looking for another gig. Come November, he will have been sober for five years. Staying sober was easier for Loomis than finding the right project. He staged clinics and put out the solo album Plains of Oblivion in 2012, but it didn’t connect with Nevermore audiences the way he had hoped it would. Besides, he wanted to play in a band again, so when Amott called him for the second time, Loomis leaped at the opportunity.

“Being a big fan of Arch Enemy and knowing most of their catalog already, and all their songs, I was really blown away when Michael asked me to be in the band again,” says Loomis. “It was definitely a no-brainer. I said yes immediately because I loved their music and they seemed to be getting bigger. I was like, ‘Yeah, man. Let’s do it!’ ”

There was no time for Loomis to celebrate, even with non-alcoholic beverages. Arch Enemy had a European tour booked with Kreator in two weeks and Loomis had to learn numerous guitar parts. “Everything happened so fast, it was crazy,” he says. “By the time I felt somewhat confident with the material, I was already on a plane to France.”

Before he learned the solos note-for-note from the band’s past albums, he sometimes had to improvise the middle part of a lead. Even so, he fit right in, his virtuosic playing style complimenting Amott’s cutting, bluesy Michael Schenker–esque approach.

“Once Jeff came into the band you could definitely feel a shift from gray clouds to blue sky,” White-Gluz says from her home in Montreal, Quebec. “He’s so chill and polite and he’s such a nice dude. And he’s so humble, even though he’s crazy-talented.”

For Loomis, the greatest challenge was playing six-string guitars instead of the seven-strings that have been his go-to instruments since 2000. So Loomis, who practiced for 16 hours a day as a teenager to learn his craft, applied some of that discipline to breaking in his Schecter JL6, the six-string model of his signature JL7. In no time, he was as adept on a six-string as he is on a seven.

“The only thing that was a little weird was that when I played six-string guitar in the past I was used to A440 tuning, and the tuning for Arch Enemy goes down to C standard, which is two whole steps down,” he says.

He thought finding the right string gauge would do the trick. He tried out extra heavy Ernie Ball strings and it felt “like playing piano wire.” So he switched to lighter strings—.060 to .01—which were just substantial enough so he could use a tremolo on his leads and bend the strings without breaking them very often. He replaced his light picks with a heavy, pointed plectrum to give his playing a more aggressive attack.

Once Arch Enemy had played around 300 shows to support their 2014 album, War Eternal, their first to feature White-Gluz, the band’s label execs encouraged them to record a new album. In mid-2016, Amott presented the company with a demo of “The World Is Yours,” which he wrote in 2014. They loved it and asked to hear more, and he admitted he only had bits and pieces of other songs.

So, after playing a few shows in Mexico in late 2016, Amott and band co-founder and drummer Daniel Erlandsson rented an apartment in Cancun to write for 10 days. A winter party mecca south of the border might seem like a strange place for a couple of Swedes to work, yet Amott and Erlandsson were motivated, diligent and productive.

“We didn’t get drunk once!” Amott insists. “It was great because being away from home, there weren’t the usual distractions from making music. Every day we just went for a swim in the morning and had breakfast and then started writing metal.”

The two came up with some great passages, but no full songs. Then they put together the framework for the mid-paced, steady-riffing “The Eagle Flies Alone,” and the doors of creativity opened up.

“I came up with practically the whole thing completely on the spot and it turned the record around,” Amott says. “I have found that when you have that first song that you’re really happy with, you go, ‘Alright, now we can start making the record.’ ”

Amott wrote four other full songs in Mexico, then flew back to Sweden and, between gigs, continued writing in his home studio. At one point, he asked Loomis—who was the primary songwriter in Nevermore—if he had any songs to contribute and Loomis was almost ashamed to admit he hadn’t written anything.

“When they started writing, the album came together really fast,” Loomis says. “I did submit three songs, but I think I might have missed the deadline. I feel really bad about that, but at the same time, I didn’t want to be the new guy coming in saying, ‘Okay, here’s a bunch of new songs I wrote. Let’s go record them.’ So I only did those three and honestly, I don’t think they were in the Arch Enemy style.”

“I feel lucky just to have Jeff playing solos on the record,” says Amott. “I know he is such a high-profile guitar player and his role in Arch Enemy is not what people might expect. I’ve always written most of the music in this band and that’s what I do. Right now, he is more about playing guitar solos and he seems to really get that.”

While Amott fine-tuned the demos in Sweden, Loomis mapped out his solos at his home studio in Seattle. Since he had been playing every lead on tour exactly as it appeared on the albums, he looked forward to putting his own signature on the new tunes. “Michael sent me the demos and I really listened to the songs and tried to match them with my playing,” Loomis says. “It wasn’t like in Nevermore when I just went into the studio and improvised. I planned everything out. Like, ‘The World Is Yours’ is extremely aggressive, so I did the math in my head and utilized really fast picking and played in harmonic minor so it flowed with the song.”

Loomis recorded his solos using his Schecter signature JL6 and a Line 6 Helix modeled after an old Peavey 5150. Then he used effects to boost the gain and added reverb and chorus. “I want to achieve that sheer metal tone, so there’s a lot of distortion with a gate in front of it for double stops,” he says.

Amott unfurled his Dean Tyrant V. He recorded the rhythms over a three-week period at the Sweetspot Satellite Studio in Halstad, Sweden, using a Kemper Profiler. Once the rhythms were tight enough, the DI tracks were re-amped through Marshalls and Mesa/Boogies by mixing engineer Jens Bogren.

In April 2017, Loomis flew in to track his solos at the Sweetspot Studio in Harplinge 90 minutes south of Gothenburg. Amott blocked out a week for Loomis to track, and before he arrived he constructed a variety of different tones using live amps, including the JCM800, 2205, a JMP 100-watt head and a JVM 50-watt head. Once they started tracking, though, it took Loomis only two days to finish his solos. More than half of the leads he had pre-written worked perfectly, and the guitarists worked together to tweak and fine-tune the others.

“For some of the leads I wanted a slightly different flavor than what Jeff came up with,” Amott explains. “Making a record is kind of like directing a movie. When the vocals stop, the lead guitar takes over and it’s got to have a dramatic flow. It’s got to tell a story. So I had some ideas for parts for him to play to help keep the songs moving. And Jeff was super open-minded. He has zero ego. He just wants to play for the song and make everything work as well as it can.”

In addition to featuring a new caliber of guitar solos, Will to Power contains Amott’s first metal semi-ballad, “Reason to Believe.” The track features undistorted guitar arpeggios (the only part recorded with a Gibson SG), wispy keyboards and a slow beat before bursting into a chunky midsection and an anthemic chorus. The song provided White-Gluz the opportunity to balance her grizzly-bear growls with clean, melodic singing.

“I’ve always been fearless when it came to vocal techniques, but in the context of Arch Enemy I hadn’t really explored all these colors before,” White-Gluz says. “But I do think with Will to Power we had a natural evolution where I unleashed a little bit more. It’s so easy to go all-out all the time in metal, but having dynamics is what makes for a great album.”

Amott wrote “Reason to Believe” with his brother Christopher (who’s now living in New York) when the family got together last Christmas. Following some stilted conversation and awkward silences, the siblings excused themselves and picked up acoustic guitars.

“The only way we communicated was by playing guitars at my parents’ house,” Amott recalls. “We came up with that piece of music and the next day we recorded it at my place.”

Amott’s not about to let Arch Enemy turn into a mainstream, progressive or symphonic metal band, and Will to Power, while more concise, is just as heavy as War Eternal. At the same time the guitarist admits he had more fun writing the fragile parts of “Reason to Believe,” the emphatic guitar harmonies on the instrumental “Saturnine” and planning the sweeping orchestral section for “A Fight I Must Win” than he did writing and playing the thrash/death riffs on “Murder Scene” or the galloping, descending guitar passages on “First Day in Hell.”

“Having melody in the music is what interests me the most,” says Amott. “The heavy stuff is super-easy. It just flows naturally from my mind. Sometimes I get an idea for lyrics or a melody and I instantly hear all of the guitars and the rest of the song in my head. I don’t know if that makes me the Paul McCartney of death metal, but I’ve been doing this a long time.”

Listening back to Will to Power, Loomis is content with the thumbprint he made with his leads and is looking forward to busting out more of his original playing live. He also hopes to contribute more songwriting to the next record. At the same time, he’s planning to keep himself balanced creatively by experimenting with extreme instrumental music, both with his long-delayed solo album and the second record by his side project Conquering Dystopia, which features guitarist Keith Merrow, bassist Alex Webster (Cannibal Corpse) and drummer Alex Rüdinger (ex–the Faceless).

“I’m so lucky I’m able to play these shows in front of thousands of people with Arch Enemy and then go off into another side of myself guitar-wise and explore a different kind of music,” Loomis says. “It keeps me really busy, but I couldn’t ask for more. I feel right at home with Arch Enemy. They’re my metal family. I think it’s gonna last for a while—as long as we can do it, anyway.”

Amott, too, looks to the future with optimism. Arch Enemy plans to tour for Will to Power for at least the next 18 months, but during weeks off he hopes he and Loomis will be able to write together. And he’s not at all concerned that Loomis will be another member who leaves two years after playing on his first Arch Enemy album.

“It’s so easy to work with Jeff and he has such a great attitude that I can’t imagine having any problems,” he concludes. “And I can see him having a bigger part writing in the future. Of course, that won’t change the band. We have been around for a long time and we have a certain sound, so our direction is always pretty similar. It’s just evolving and becoming more refined, and I think Jeff will be able to be a big part of that.”

The video below shows former Nevermore guitarist Jeff Loomis playing Jason Becker's "Perpetual Burn" to a backing track—and pulling it off in one impressive sitting.

"I think it was really a challenge for myself to see if I could do it," Loomis told Guitar World.

"I always found myself playing snippets of Jason's music but never really played a whole piece of his accurately. After I learned it, I thought, Hey, this doesn't sound half bad, so I programmed some drums and did a few tracks of rhythm guitar."

Check out the video below.

GOLD AWARD WINNER

A true guitarist’s guitarist, Jeff Loomis is no stranger to readers of this magazine for his work as a solo artist and with the bands Nevermore and Arch Enemy.

Eight years ago Schecter introduced its first Jeff Loomis signature model, a seven-string guitar based on Schecter’s C-7 Hellraiser but with various modifications requested by Loomis.

The Jeff Loomis JL-7 is Schecter’s most recent Jeff Loomis signature model, which features numerous significant refinements that make it one of the most impressive products in Schecter’s current lineup of nearly three-dozen seven-string models.

FEATURES The JL-7 is available with either a gloss black or Vampyre Red Satin finish and with either a Hipshot Hardtail string-thru-body tailpiece or Floyd Rose 1000 Series vibrato. Our test version was the black model with the Hipshot bridge. Some of the refinements include a thinner body with a more substantially arched top, a modified cutaway that provides better access to the uppermost frets, repositioned volume control and pickup toggle switch, and extra-jumbo stainless steel frets. The pickups were also changed and now consist of EMG 57-7H bridge and EMG 66-7H active humbuckers with Alnico magnets and steel pole pieces.

The swamp ash body is very light and comfortably contoured. The maple/walnut multi-ply neck features a natural satin finish and is attached to the body with Schecter’s Ultra Access set neck construction that has the smooth, seamless feel of a neck-thru-body design. The maple fretboard is decorated with tasteful “metal cross” inlays and features 24 frets and glow-in-the-dark side dot markers. With its 26.5-inch scale, the neck provides ideal tension for the lowest string as well as down tuning, and the ultra-thin C-shaped neck profile maximizes playing comfort.

PERFORMANCE The refinements made to the JL-7 result in one of the most satisfying experiences I’ve ever had with a seven-string guitar. The clarity and warmth of the EMG pickups are phenomenal, delivering massive tones with high-gain distortion yet retaining the definition of each individual note in chords. The light body weight, contours, cutaway and neck profile make the JL-7 very comfortable to play. The fretboard provides a familiar string-spacing feel for six-string specialists without being too wide, although the longer 26.5-inch scale takes a little adjustment to get used to. The attention to detail in the construction is immaculate, with smoothly rounded edges on the fretboard and frets adding to the JL-7’s comfort and playability and giving it the feel of a handcrafted custom instrument.

CHEAT SHEET
LIST PRICE $1,499.99
MANUFACTURER Schecter Guitar Research, schecterguitars.com

EMG 57-7H bridge and 66-7H active humbuckers with Alnico magnets and steel pole pieces provide warm but detailed tone perfect for the JL-7’s expanded frequency range.

A 26.5-inch scale accommodates both the lowest string and down tuning while providing fast feel and playability similar to standard guitar scale lengths.

The Bottom Line The Schecter Jeff Loomis JL-7 is a sleek and stylish guitar with aggressive tone and comfortable playability that’s ideal for six-string players making the transition to seven strings.

Got a question for your favorite guitarist? Let us be your go-between. The concept is easy — you submit your queries and we pass them on to some of the world's greatest guitarists. Only the sharpest and funniest questions will be used.

This month, we're giving you the chance to ask progressive metaller Jeff Loomis anything you want! From his solo shredding skills to his time in Nevermore and his most recent joining of Arch Enemy...nothing's off limits!

Just email your questions to dearguitarhero@guitarworld.com and put "Jeff Loomis" in the subject line. Remember to include your name in the email body, so you can get credited in the magazine, and impress and annoy your jealous friends!

Here's Jeff Loomis' amazing cover of "Perpetual Burn" by Jason Becker:

The gang at Schecter Guitars have shared the latest edition of "Conquering Rifftopia," a webisode series starring Jeff Loomis of Conquering Dystopia.

In this latest video (webisode III), Loomis shows you how to play the intro to "Ashes of Lesser Men," a track off Conquering Dystopia's debut album, which was released earlier this year. The band also features guitarist Keith Merrow.

Be sure to tell us what you think of this tune and clip in the comments or on Facebook!

Click here to watch Loomis talk about his new Signature JL-7; head here to watch Merrow discuss his new signature KM-7. Schecter says the guitars are shipping now.

The album is available here.

For more about Conquering Dystopia, follow them on Facebook. For more about Schecter, visit schecterguitars.com.

Conquering Dystopia, the new project featuring Schecter signature artists Jeff Loomis and Keith Merrow, released their self-titled debut album earlier this year.

Now you can check out a guitar play-through video of "Autarch," a track off the new album, below.

Be sure to tell us what you think of this guitar-heavy instrumental in the comments or on Facebook!

Click here to watch Loomis talk about his new Signature JL-7; head here to watch Merrow discuss his new signature KM-7. Schecter says the guitars are shipping now.

The album is available here.

For more about Conquering Dystopia, follow them on Facebook. For more about Schecter, visit schecterguitars.com.

Last month, we looked at the intro rhythm parts and the intro guitar solo to the title track of the latest Nevermore album, The Obsidian Conspiracy.

This month, I’ll go over the remaining single-note intro theme and primary verse riff. As you’ll see, the latter is a lower-octave version of the final intro lick.

A reminder: “the Obsidian Conspiracy” is played on seven-string guitar, tuned down one half step (low to high, Bb Eb Ab Db Gb Bb Eb). This final intro riff, shown in FIGURE 1a, is built on successive eighth-note triplets and is played entirely on the sixth, fifth and fourth strings. It’s also a little bit tricky for both the pick- and the fret-hand.

Let’s begin with the fret-hand. I start the riff on the low E string by sliding my index finger up from the fifth to the seventh fret and hammer onto the eighth fret with the middle finger. On beat two, I fret the G note on the a string’s 10th fret with the pinkie, followed by the eighth to seventh frets, C to B, on the E string, fretted with the middle and index fingers, respectively. From here through the end of bar 2, my index finger stays rooted in seventh position.

On beat three, the note on the a string is lowered one fret, to the ninth fret, followed again by C to B on the E string. This 10th-to-ninth fret movement is then moved one string higher, to the D string, followed with a string skip back to C-to-B on the low E string. Notice that throughout the majority of the rest of the riff, the first note of each eighth-note triplet changes while the C-to-B figure on the E string repeats each time.

Bar 3 is a restatement of bar 1, and beat one of bar 4 begins in the same manner as bar 2. On beat two, a wide stretch is necessary, as I reach up to the 12th fret on the a string with the pinkie, followed again by notes on the eighth and seventh frets on the low E. the bar ends with the repeated C-F#-C tritone shape (a tritone is two notes that are three whole steps apart).

Now let’s look at the pick-hand articulation of FIGURE 1a. It’s very important to accentuate the first note of each eighth-note triplet. The tricky part is that some of the accents are sounded with down strokes while others are sounded with upstrokes.

I begin with a downstroke and then sound the first note of beat two with another downstroke. From here through the end of bar 2, I alternate (down-up) pick throughout, so the successive triplet figures are picked DOWN-up-down, UP-down-up, DOWN-up-down, UP-down-up, etc.

Bar 3 and the first two beats of bar 4 are picked as previously described. For the tritone shapes across beats three and four of bar 4, however, i switch from alternate picking to economy picking (down-down-up, or up-up-down). in this example, the picking pattern for the tritone shapes is DOWN-up-down, DOWN-up-down. using repeated downstrokes in this way creates a stronger and more forceful accent on each downbeat.

For the verse riff in “the Obsidian Conspiracy,” shown in FIGURE 1b, I transposed the riff from FIGURE 1a down one octave, with a few slight variations. let’s begin with a look at the fret-hand. The riff starts a little differently, with an initial three-note descending figure on beat one, but all of the subsequent eighth-note triplets through bars 1 and 2 are the same as FIGURE 1a, just played one octave lower.

As for the pick-hand, I begin FIGURE 1b with a downstroke and use alternate picking throughout the rest of the riff. This results in the use of an upstroke on beats two and four of every bar. The riff culminates in bar 5 with a descending run based on the Baeolian mode (B C# D E F# G A).

As you can see, FIGURES 1a and 1b offer distinct challenges, so play through them very slowly and deliberately at first, with close attention paid to pick stroke direction. Next month we’ll look at the guitar solo.

This month, I ’d like to finish our analysis of the guitar solo from the title track of Nevermore’s latest release, The Obsidian Conspiracy, with a look at the last four bars of the solo, which carry into the first bar of the subsequent verse.

The majority of what I play during this section is built from sweep arpeggios of B minor triads (B D F#) that shift through a variety of positions. There’s a lot happening in this little four-bar section, so let’s get to it.

For this last section of the solo, illustrated in FIGURE 1, I’m playing over the same rhythm part that was illustrated in last month’s column.

As this rhythm part sits on the B minor “home” tonality for two full bars, it gives me plenty of room to explore fast-moving sweeps based on B minor triads: I begin in 10th position on the top three strings, quickly descending as I pull off with the pinkie on F#, first string/14th fret, to the index finger on D, first string/10th fret, followed by the middle finger on B, second string/12th fret.

The index finger then moves down to F#, third string/11th fret to complete the first descent, after which I ascend through the same series of notes, and then carry the subsequent descent back through the same note series all the way down to the fifth string in one long upstroke sweep.

FIGURE 2a illustrates this sweep in isolation; notice that the arpeggio covers three octaves, starting from a high F# (the fifth of B) and carrying through to F# two octaves lower. The nice thing about playing a seven-string is that it allows me to expand this downward sweeping pattern all the way down through another complete octave, culminating on a low F#, seventh string/ninth fret, as shown in FIGURE 2b.

If you put the pieces of both sweeps together, you get the complete 9th/10th position sweep shown in FIGURE 3. I recommend that you practice each of these elements with both upstroke and downstroke sweeps, starting slowly and concentrating on clear articulation when either dragging the pick across the strings.

Looking back at FIGURE 1, you can see that I like to “cycle” smaller pieces of the arpeggios before expanding them across the majority of the strings. For example, I begin by repeating the small four-note/three-string sweep on the top three strings, and then, on beat three, I “cycle” the four-note/three-string sweep across the bottom three strings.

Then on beat four, I sweep back across all of the strings, from low to high. Bar 2 begins in a similar fashion to bar 1, but starting on the upbeat of beat two, with the index finger on F#, fifth string/ninth fret, I change positions by sliding the index finger up to B at the 14th fret, allowing me to initiate upward and downward sweeps across 14th position B minor triads, which I then “cycle” up and down across the top five strings.

On the upbeat of beat four in bar 2, I use the index finger once again for a quick position shift, sliding from F# at the 14th fret to the B root note at the 19th fret. Now situated in 19th position in bar 4, I wrap up the solo with more conventional B Aeolian type riffs, utilizing hammer-ons, pulloffs and bends for a legato sound, emphasizing very wide vibratos on each sustained note.

I tried to articulate a feeling of rhythmic freedom while executing all of these sweeps, thus the odd groupings of decuplets (10 notes played over one beat) and nonuplets (nine notes played over one beat) as well as pairs of 32nd note sextuplets (six notes) played over one beat.

The rhythmic precision of these groupings is less important than the effect created by crossing the strings in alternating sweeps very quickly, which takes a lot of practice to master.

Schecter Guitar Research has announced a new addition to its website — a monthly video feature called “Conquering RIFFtopia” featuring Jeff Loomis and Keith Merrow of Conquering Dystopia.

The videos will include lessons, guitar play-throughs and reviews of new Schecter models, plus tips and tricks from both guitarists.

The first release, which you can check out below, features Loomis, who demos and discusses the company's new Hellraiser C-7 FR-S. The guitar features a Sustainiac pickup in the neck position and an EMG 81-7 in the bridge.

Click here or watch below to see the debut of “Conquering RIFFtopia."

For more about Schecter, visit schecterguitars.com.

Last month, we dissected the first six bars of the guitar solo section in the title track of Nevermore’s latest release, The Obsidian Conspiracy.

Let’s pick up where we left off and take a detailed look at the rhythm and lead parts I play over bars 7–10 of the solo section.

We’ll begin with the rhythm guitar part, illustrated in FIGURE 1. At this point in the section, I basically shift back and forth between the I (one) chord, B5, the fVI (flat six) chord, G5, and the IV (four), E5, with a few additional chords thrown in for color.

I start in bar 1 with a low B5 voicing, played on the bottom three strings, shifting up to C#5 and D5 at the end of the bar. This rhythm pattern is based primarily on eighth-note triplets, with palm muting employed on beats one and three to fortify the power of the rhythm part.

In bar 2, I move the B5 voicing up an octave, fretting the sixth and fifth strings along with the open low B. Another way I add emphasis to the rhythm is by quickly alternate picking 16th-note triplets on the open low B on beats one and three. At the end of this bar, I slide the two-note power chord shape down chromatically (one fret at a time), setting up the shift to G5 at the beginning of bar 3.

• Across bars 3 and 4, I strum the power chords primarily in a 16th-note rhythm and end the figure on beat four of bar 4 with a quick shift from C5 to D5. I like to fret these three-note power chords with the index finger on the seventh string and the pinkie
• barred across the sixth and fifth strings.

FIGURE 2 shows the lead guitar part for bars 7–10 of the solo. All the lines I play through these four bars are based on the B natural minor scale (B C# D E F# G A), also known as the B Aeolian mode. For bars 1 and 2 of this excerpt, I stay “rooted” in seventh position, starting with a whole-step bend and vibrato on the high B string’s 10th fret, fretted with the ring finger.

Throughout this bar and into the following two beats, I like to use a “stretched” fret-hand posture, with the index, middle and ring fingers fretting the seventh, ninth and 10th frets, respectively. Like many guitarists, I like the strength and accuracy this three-finger approach affords.

At the end of beat two in bar 2, however, I fret the A note at the high B string’s 10th fret with the pinkie, and from there I use all four digits to finger all the fast scalar runs through the remainder of the excerpt. Through these first two bars, notice also that I’m fairly evenly split between using straight alternate (down-up) picking and hammer-ons and pull-offs. Starting in bar 3, I rely more heavily on alternate picking, and by bar 4 I’m alternate picking almost exclusively, which, to my ears, adds more intensity as the solo progresses.

Another point of interest here is the way in which I connect five different positions of B natural minor, starting at beat three of bar 3: I begin in ninth position but shift immediately up to 11th position on the upbeat. The fast scalar phrases stay in this position until bar 4, wherein I shift up to 12th position, then 14th before ending the solo with a final shift up to 16th position. If you play through all these lines slowly and deliberately, you’ll see that these position shifts help facilitate a smooth performance.

I’ll be back next month with the last section of the “Obsidian Conspiracy” solo.

Conquering Dystopia, the new project featuring Schecter signature artists Jeff Loomis and Keith Merrow, released their self-titled debut album earlier this month.

Now you can check out a guitar play-through video of "Ashes of Lesser Men," a track off the new album, below.

Be sure to tell us what you think of this guitar-heavy instrumental in the comments or on Facebook!

Click here to watch Loomis talk about his new Signature JL-7; head here to watch Merrow discuss his new signature KM-7. Schecter says the guitars are shipping now.

The album is available here.

For more about Conquering Dystopia, follow them on Facebook. For more about Schecter, visit schecterguitars.com.

In this month’s column, I’d like to initiate a detailed breakdown of the guitar solo on the title track from Nevermore’s latest album, The Obsidian Conspiracy.

This is a fairly complex solo, 14-bar bars in total length, so let’s begin with a look at the first six bars, including both the rhythm and lead guitar parts. The first six bars of the solo are played over a repeating one-bar rhythm guitar part, shown in FIGURE 1.

The tempo of the solo section is relatively slow, and this allows me the “space” to create a rhythm part that consists of a fairly complex syncopation based on 16th-note triplets. Using the seven-string guitar (tuned down one half step, low to high: Bb Eb Ab Db Gb Bb Eb), I play three-note root/fifth power chords on the bottom three strings.

The “home” chord (the tonal center, or tonic) is Cs5, fretted with the index finger on the seventh string’s second fret and the pinkie barred across the sixth and fifth strings at the fourth fret. The surrounding chords are fretted the same way.

I use alternate strumming throughout this rhythm part to attain an even attack, beginning with a downstroke, and palm-mute the strings to give the part a heavier, harder-driving sound. Palm muting also aids in creating a clearer distinction between each chord.

FIGURE 2 shows the first six bars of the solo. Bars 1-4 are based on the Cs Phrygian-dominant scale (Cs D Es F# G# A B), which is the fifth mode of F# harmonic minor (F# G# A B C# D E#). Phrygian-dominant is a favored scale in neo-classical rock because its structure offers a bittersweet contrast between the “sweetness” of the major third (E# in the key of C#) and the “darkness” of the flatted second, or flatted ninth, (D) and flatted sixth (A).

I’ve included my fret-hand fingerings throughout FIGURE 2 so you can see where I change from one position to another as I play through the solo. I begin in ninth position on B, the b7 (flat seventh), fretted with the pinkie. When I vibrato this note, I line up the ring, middle and index fingers behind the pinkie and shake the string with all four fingers for added support.

At the end of the bar 1, I shift down to seventh position and rely on the first, third and fourth fingers to fret the notes in bar 2. During beat four of bar 2, I shift down one more fret to sixth position to play fast legato lines (lots of hammer-ons and pull-offs) that fall on beats one and two of bar 3.

In bar 3, at the end of beat two, the index finger shifts down to fourth position, wherein I execute the next series of hammers and pulls using the ring finger and pinkie.

The same position shifting technique occurs a few more times as the solo progresses. Bars 5 and 6 feature an ascending and descending B diminished seven arpeggio (B D F G#) played in a rhythm of 16th-note triplets, using string skipping and a wide fret-hand stretch. Notice that I use only the first, second and fourth fingers. Practice this part slowly at first, and make sure your fingers are warmed up before attempting it.

I’ll be back next month with part two of the “Obsidian Conspiracy” guitar solo.

Michael Angelo Batio has released the music video for a new song, "8 Pillars of Steel."

The guitar-heavy instrumental track, which is from Batio's new album, Intermezzo, was written by Batio and features guest appearances — and solos — by George Lynch, bassist Elliott Dean Rubinson (Uli Jon Roth, Michael Schenker), Jeff Loomis (Conquering Dystopia, Nevermore), Craig Goldy (Dio), Dave Reffett (Shredding The Envelope), Andrea Martongelli (Arthemis) and Rusty Cooley (Day Of Reckoning).

That's drummer Joe Babiak behind the kit.

"8 Pillars Of Steel" is the first single from the new album, which is Batio's first album to feature his new signature model Dean MAB 7 Warrior seven-string guitar.

Other guest stars on the album include Guthrie Govan, Michael Romeo (Symphony X), Chris Poland (ex-Megadeth, OHM), Mike Lepond (Symphony X), Joe Stump (Holy Hell), Andrea Martongelli, Alex Stornello, Bill Peck, Maxxxwell Carlisle, Florent Atem, Annie Grunwald (Formless), Tobias Hurwitz, Joe Rose and more.

Check out the complete track listing below the video.

The album is available at angelo.com and iTunes.

Intermezzo Track Listing

• 01. Intermezzo
• 02. Kaleidoscope Images
• 03. Oceans of Time
• 04. I Pray the Lord
• 05. 8 Pillars of Steel (featuring Elliott Dean Rubinson on bass; solos by, in order, Dave Reffett, Jeff Loomis, MAB, Rusty Cooley, George Lynch, Andrea Martongelli and Craig Goldy)
• 06. The Possession – A Tone Poem
• 07. 5 Four Ever (featuring Alex Stornello from 2:34 to 3:07 and Guthrie Govan from 3:22 to 4:08)
• 08. Juggernaut (featuring solos by MAB, Chris Poland, Dave Reffett, Annie Grunwald, Guthrie Govan, Mike Lepond and Michael Romeo)
• 09. Overload Intro (featuring Florent Atem)
• 10. Overload (featuring solos by Tobias Hurwitz, Ken and Darren Burridge, Bill Peck, Peter Ema, Joe Rose, Joe Stump, Florent Atem, Maxxxwell Carlisle and MAB)

Guitarist Jeff Loomis recently visited Schecter to shoot several videos and discuss the company's new models for 2014.

Below, check out the just-posted video that shows Loomis discussing — in detail — the changes and additions he has made to the new Schecter JL-7.

Keep your eyes open for more videos from Loomis and Schecter TV.

For more about Schecter, visit schecterguitars.com.

For more about Loomis, visit jeffloomis.com.

While checking out our Twitter feed this morning, we noticed a random tweet from a guitarist:

"I don't think you can fully appreciate how incredible @jeffloomis is until you attempt to play a couple of bars of from 'Miles of Machines.'"

We couldn't agree more!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the track, which is from Loomis' 2008 solo album, Zero Order Phase, we've included a very close-up, fan-filled video of Loomis playing the song at the Schecter booth at the 2013 Winter NAMM Show.

If you can't get enough of Loomis in action, be sure to watch him tackle Jason Becker's "Perpetual Burn" right here. Enjoy!

NOTE: The submission deadline is 10 a.m. EST Friday, June 21, 2013.

Jason Becker's instrumental masterpiece, "Perpetual Burn," has been a perpetual source of inspiration — and challenge — for guitarists since it was released in late 1988.

In fact, we decided to challenge our own staff, who turned in a spot-on, 17-page transcription of Becker's shred classic in the all-new July 2013 issue of Guitar World magazine.

Now it's time to challenge you!

Guitar World and Carvin Guitars have gotten together to present the Jason Becker "Perpetual Burn" Video Challenge. The winner will receive a new Carvin JB200C Jason Becker Tribute Electric Guitar in Translucent Blue with a flame maple top! (List price: $2,999, direct price: $1,699.)

For more information about Carvin's Jason Becker Tribute guitar, visit carvinguitars.com. And be sure to check out the photo gallery below.

Here's what's involved:

• ENTER the Jason Becker "Perpetual Burn" Video Challenge at our CONTESTS page. NOTE: You MUST officially enter the contest at this link, as well as read the contest rules/restrictions!

• CHECK OUTGuitar World's transcription of "Perpetual Burn" (Page 114 in the July 2013 issue), and send us a video of yourself playing the song as close to the GW transcription as possible (We created it, so we can tell who's done his/her homework). To be more exact, video yourself playing the "Guitar 2" part in the Main Theme or B section of the song — bars 6 to 18 in the transcription. It's about 36 seconds long. Note that former Nevermore guitarist Jeff Loomis sent us the backing track from his own version of "Perpetual Burn," which you can find below. Feel free to use it as your own backing track!

• UPLOAD your video to YouTube, then send the video link to Guitar World at guitarchallenge@guitarworld.com.

The Guitar World editors will choose the top three videos. We'll send our choices to Jason Becker, who will choose the winner himself and include a personalized message!

For inspiration, see Guitar World's performance tips for "Perpetual Burn," which you can find right here. In addition, watch the video, below, of Loomis playing "Perpetual Burn."

The July 2013 issue of Guitar World is available now at newsstands and the Guitar World Online Store. You also can download the July 2013 issue of Guitar World at iTunes here. For other download options, visit the Guitar World Online Store download page.

Photo: Ross Pelton

Why ain’t six strings enough? This was the question we posed to one of guitar's all-time greats in a recent Guitar World cover story.

Steve Vai, in his infinite, sage-like wisdom, responded, "Six is enough, and eight is enough too. Whatever you want. Four can be enough. One can be enough, if you’ve got the imagination for it."

And that's really what it came down to when whittling down our list of the 10 greatest seven-string guitar songs of all time. Who had the imagination to take that extra string and do something with it that couldn't be replicated simply by down-tuning or pitch-shifting?

It would have been very easy for the seven-string guitar to now be sitting in a museum somewhere as a one-off novelty item, a Spinal Tap-ish relic of someone who wanted a guitar that went "one lower." But these 10 songs are a testament to the myriad ways in which the seven-string guitar has evolved over the years, in ways that even its modern progenitor couldn't have foreseen.

"When I was [playing seven-strings], I had a feeling there was going to be a group of kids who were really gonna take that low string and do something with it that I wasn’t doing," Vai said in that same interview. "And I also felt that maybe some jazz and classical players would take it up. I had no idea that they were going to do what they did."

10. Deftones — "Hexagram" (Deftones, 2003)

Whether utilizing seven strings or eight, Deftones have packed some serious subsonics into their music over the years. "Hexagram" off the band's 2003 self-titled effort is the epitome of their haunting take on alternative metal, with Chino Moreno screaming maniacally over Stephen Carpenter's off-kilter seven-string riffing.

09. Morbid Angel — "God of Emptiness" (Covenant, 1993)

Trey Azagthoth can be credited as the man who took the seven-string to the world of extreme metal, bringing in some added low-end heft for Morbid Angel's landmark 1993 album, Covenant. The result? One of the best-selling death metal albums of the SoundScan era.

08. Animals as Leaders — "CAFO" (Animals as Leaders, 2009)

When Tosin Abasi recorded what was essentially a solo album under the name Animals as Leaders, his goal was to expand the pallet of heavy, progressive music into something that was more compositionally challenging for him and more accessible to linsteners. “I wanted to make music that was more universal,” he told Guitar World in 2009. Tosin may be better known for rocking the eight-string these days, but "CAFO" from Animals as Leaders' eponymous debut is as fine an example of seven-string mastery as you'll come across in the modern metal-scape.

07. Nevermore — "Born" (The Godless Endeavor, 2005)

Few guitarists have developed such an integral bond with the seven-string guitar like former Nevermore guitarist Jeff Loomis. On the opening track from 2005's The Godless Endeavor, Loomis and fellow guitarist Steve Smyth put on a seven-string show that kicks off with a blast-beat-backed rhythmic flurry and doesn't let up for five solid minutes.

06. Emperor — "The Prophet" (Prometheus: The Discipline of Fire and Demise, 2001)

For Emperor's final album, 2001's Prometheus: The Discipline of Fire and Demise, guitarist Ihsahn began toying with the sonic and compositional possibilities of the seven-string guitar. While Ihsahn would continue down this path in his solo career (eventually deciding seven wasn't enough and opting for an eight-string guitar), Prometheus may still be his crowning achievement, representing a high-water mark for technical prowess in the black metal genre that few have approached since.

05. Joe Satriani — "Seven String" (Strange Beautiful Music, 2002)

An innovative force like few other guitarists have been, Joe Satriani has unsurprisingly turned to the seven-string guitar more than once in his career to extend the range of his alien guitar acrobatics. "A song like 'Seven String' represents the brute-force side of playing," said Satriani in a 2002 Guitar World interview, echoing just why we can't enough of this track from Strange Beautiful Music.

04. Dream Theater — "The Dark Eternal Night" (Systematic Chaos, 2007)

Dream Theater guitarist John Petrucci has made on-and-off use of the seven-string since 1994's Awake, using it to lend unique chord voicings and extended arpeggiated sequences to the band's frantic brand of prog-metal (perhaps most notably on 2002's "The Glass Prison"). But it was on the band's 2007 effort, Systematic Chaos, that Petrucci revved things up another notch entirely with the pummeling, nine-minute opus, "The Dark Eternal Night."

03. Meshuggah — "Future Breed Machine" (Destroy Erase Improve, 1995)

While you won't find any extra strings on Meshuggah's 1991 debut, Contradictions Collapse, guitarist Fredrik Thordendal knew from the very beginning that six strings just wouldn't suffice to contain the breadth of his band's music. "For as long as I can remember I’ve wanted to have a seven-string guitar so that I’d be able to play those really low notes," Thordendal told Guitar World, "and then Ibanez finally came out with one." By the time of the band's follow-up effort, the aptly named Destroy Erase Improve, the band had added an additional guitarist in Marten Hagstrom, and upped the ante with a retooled brand of progressive metal that has proven immensely influential to the new breed of metal musicians.

02. Steve Vai — "The Riddle" (Passion and Warfare, 1990)

Around the time of Whitesnake's 1989 album, Slip of the Tongue, Steve Vai was in search of some way to take the guitar into another dimension. "I was just looking for something different, looking to expand the instrument and get a different sound," said Vai in a recent interview of his part in creating the seven-string. "It wasn't a great revelation. It wasn't like the skies opened up and this instrument fell down. It was just a JEM guitar with an extra string. We tried to put a high string on it, but they kept breaking so we added a low string instead." And with that, and the release of 1990's Passion and Warfare, Vai would make his new guitar the envy of shredders worldwide.

01. Korn — "Blind" (Korn, 1994)

When grunge had the shred movement on the ropes, Korn helped to bring the seven-string back from the brink of extinction, giving rise to the nu metal movement in the process. While 1998's Follow the Leader was largely responsible for making them the unabashed leaders of the mainstream metal world with hits like "Freak on a Leash" and "Got the Life," it was the lead track off their self-titled 1994 debut that first turned heads. "I was stunned," said Steve Vai of first hearing Korn. "It sounded like a herd of buffalo wearing iron shoes and blowing fire out of their nostrils."

But the strength of Korn's sound was far from just a lumbering, low-end rumble. The guitar interplay of Munky and Head was something imitators never quite nailed down. "We feed off of each other rhythmically a lot," said Munky in a 1998 GW interview. "We play a lot of parts in unison, or I'll play a steady riff while Head plays counterpoint fills, like we do in the beginning of 'Blind.'"

The seven-string guitar is alive and well, with many of modern metal's most innovative musicians opting for (at least) one extra string to open up new creative avenues. With that in mind, here are five cuts from the last five years that are sure to garner consideration in future renditions of this list.

Periphery — "Racecar" (Periphery, 2010)

After The Burial — "My Frailty" (In Dreams, 2010)

All Shall Perish — "Awaken the Dreamers" (Awaken the Dreamers, 2008)

Scale the Summit — "Whales" (The Collective, 2011)

Textures — "Singularity" (Dualism, 2011)

Jeff Loomis and his band, who are on tour with Soilwork, had their van broken into last night while in St. Louis.

Loomis elaborates:

"Last night after our show in St. Louis, our tour van was broken into as we were grabbing a bite to eat before our drive to Dallas. We were parked in a well lit area in front of the restaurant. In the 10 to 15 minutes that it took for us to order our food and eat, all of our personal items such as laptops, cameras, musical equipment, cell phones, passports and money were stolen.

"We came outside to find the lock on the driver side door popped out of the van, and promptly called the police. A report has been filed and the van was fingerprinted, but the leads don't seem promising. The police stated that this is apparently a common occurrence for the area. We are all in disbelief, but are very fortunate for everyone to be OK.

"After discussing the situation as a group, we would like to try to continue on with this tour. But to be able to do this, we will need your help. We have all taken a huge hit financially, and we cannot continue on without some sort of support. We have set up a paypal account for any amount of donations to assist us for the duration of the tour.

Below is the paypal email to make donations to: JLoomisbanddonation@outlook.com

"Any and all support will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,"

— Jeff Loomis band and crew"

Loomis released a special tour edition of Plains of Oblivion today via Century Media Records. In support of his upcoming dates with Soilwork, Plains of Oblivion - Tour Edition features three bonus tracks, in addition to the original Plains of Oblivion disc that was released last year.

JEFF LOOMIS tour dates with SOILWORK, BLACKGUARD, WRETCHED

• 4/16/2013 - San Antonio, TX @ Backstage Live
• 4/17/2013 - Lubbock, TX @ Jake's
• 4/18/2013 - Abilene, TX @ Lucky Mule
• 4/19/2013 - Odessa, TX @ Dos Amigos
• 4/20/2013 - El Paso, TX @ Tricky Falls
• 4/22/2013 - Corpus Christi, TX @ House of Rock
• 4/23/2013 - McAllen, TX @ Geo's
• 4/24/2013 - Houston, TX @ Scout Bar
• 4/26/2013 - St. Petersburg, FL @ State Theater
• 4/27/2013 - Jacksonville, FL @ Freebird Live
• 4/28/2013 - Charlotte, NC @ The Casbah
• 4/29/2013 - Richmond, VA @ Kingdom
• 4/30/2013 - Baltimore, MD @ Soundstage
• 5/01/2013 - Teaneck, NJ @ Mexicali Live
• 5/02/2013 - Poughkeepsie, NY @ The Chance Theater
• 5/03/2013 - Buffalo, NY @ Broadway Joes
• 5/04/2013 - Columbus, OH @ Al Rosa Villa
• 5/05/2013 - London, ON @ Music Hall
• 5/06/2013 - Syracuse, NY @ Station 58
• 5/07/2013 - Worcester, MA @ The Palladium

JEFF LOOMIS online:
www.jeffloomis.com
www.facebook.com/jeffloomisfans

Today, GuitarWorld.com brings you the exclusive premiere of “Speak Of Nothing,” a new track by Jeff Loomis.

The song, which features Joe Nurre on vocals, will be included on Plains of Oblivion — Tour Edition, which will be released April 16 via Century Media Records.

[[ New Video: Watch Jeff Loomis Play Jason Becker's "Perpetual Burn" in Its Entirety! ]]

Plains of Oblivion — Tour Edition features three bonus tracks, plus the original Plains of Oblivion disc. You can hear “Speak Of Nothing” via the Soundcloud player below and another bonus track, “A Liar’s Chain,” at this location.

Plains of Oblivion, which was was released in April 2012 by Century Media Records, was produced by Aaron Smith (7 Horns 7 Eyes) and features cover artwork by Colin Marks of Rain Song Design, who worked on Loomis' solo debut, Zero Order Phase, and the Nevermore DVD The Year Of The Voyager.

Loomis is touring North America with Soilwork in March and April. You can see out his full itinerary below the Soundcloud player.

For more about Loomis, visit him on Facebook and his official website.

JEFF LOOMIS TOUR DATES
w/ Soilwork, Blackguard, Wretched

• 3/12/2013 - West Springfield, VA @ Empire
• 3/13/2013 - Philadelphia, PA @ The Trocadero
• 3/14/2013 - Albany, NY @ Bogie's
• 3/15/2013 - New York, NY @ The Gramercy Theater
• 3/16/2013 - Hartford, CT @ Webster Theater
• 3/17/2013 - Montreal, QC, CA @ Petit Campus
• 3/18/2013 - Quebec City, QC, CA @ Union Commerciale
• 3/19/2013 - Ottawa, ON, CA @ Mavericks
• 3/20/2013 - Toronto, ON, CA @ The Opera House
• 3/21/2013 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Altar Bar
• 3/22/2013 - Cleveland, OH @ Peabody's
• 3/23/2013 - Detroit, MI @ Blondie's
• 3/24/2013 - Milwaukee, WI @ The Rave
• 3/25/2013 - Joliet, IL @ Mojoes
• 3/26/2013 - Des Moines, IA @ Wooly's
• 3/27/2013 - St. Paul, MN @ Station 4
• 3/28/2013 - Winnipeg, MB, CA @ Park Theatre
• 3/29/2013 - Regina, SK, CA @ The Exchange
• 3/30/2013 - Calgary, AB, CA @ The Distillery
• 3/31/2013 - Edmonton, AB, CA @ Starlite Room
• 4/01/2013 - Prince George, BC, CA @ The Generator
• 4/02/2013 - Vancouver, BC, CA @ Rickshaw Theater
• 4/03/2013 - Seattle, WA @ El Corazon
• 4/04/2013 - Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theatre
• 4/05/2013 - San Francisco, CA @ Slim's
• 4/06/2013 - Hollywood, CA @ House of Blues
• 4/07/2013 - Tempe, AZ @ Rocky Point Cantina
• 4/08/2013 - Tucson, AZ @ The Rock
• 4/09/2013 - Las Vegas, NV @ Las Vegas Country Saloon
• 4/11/2013 - Salt Lake City, UT @ In The Venue
• 4/12/2013 - Englewood, CO @ Gothic Theater
• 4/13/2013 - Kansas City, MO @ The Beaumont Club
• 4/14/2013 - St. Louis, MO @ The Firebird
• 4/15/2013 - Dallas, TX @ Trees
• 4/16/2013 - San Antonio, TX @ Backstage Live
• 4/17/2013 - Lubbock, TX @ Jake's
• 4/18/2013 - Abilene, TX @ Lucky Mule
• 4/19/2013 - Odessa, TX @ Dos Amigos
• 4/20/2013 - El Paso, TX @ Tricky Falls
• 4/22/2013 - Corpus Christi, TX @ House of Rock
• 4/23/2013 - McAllen, TX @ Geo's

If you're a fan of mind-blowing metal guitar, you need to be excited about the recently announced summer tour featuring The Contortionist, Jeff Loomis, 7 Horns 7 Eyes, and Chimp Spanner, who will be making their North American live debut.

New dates have been added to the Metal Sucks-sponsored "Intrinsic 2012" tour, and you can find all of them below.

The Contortionist will release their new album, Intrinsic, on July 17 via eOne/Good Fight Music.

Jeff Loomis and 7 Horns 7 Eyes are also touring behind new releases. Loomis released his second solo album, Plains of Oblivion (buy on iTunes), earlier this year, while 7 Horns 7 Eyes are supporting their latest release, Throes of Absolution (buy on iTunes).
Intrinsic 2012 Tour Dates

• 7/14 – Indianapolis, IN @ Emerson Theater (no Chimp Spanner)
• 7/15 - Joliet, IL @ Mojoes
• 7/16 - Cleveland, OH @ Peabody’s
• 7/17 - Lansing, MI @ Blackened Moon
• 7/18 - Portage, IN @ Camelot Arena
• 7/20 - Little Rock, AR @ Downtown Music
• 7/21 - Oklahoma City, OK @ Conservatory
• 7/22 - Alburquerque, NM @ El Rey Theater
• 7/23 – Las Vegas, NV @ The Sanctuary
• 7/24 - Hollywood, CA @ Whiskey A Go GO
• 7/26 – Scottsdale, AZ @ Martini Ranch
• 7/28 – Ft. Worth, TX @ Tom Cats West
• 7/29 – San Antonio, TX @ The White Rabbit
• 7/30 – Metairie, LA @ The Cypress
• 7/31 – Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade
• 8/1 – St. Petersburg, FL @ State Theatre
• 8/2 – Jacksonville, FL @ Phoenix Taproom
• 8/3 – Spartanburg, SC @ Ground Zero

Last month, shredder extraordinaire Jeff Loomis released his sophomore solo album, Plains of Oblivion, a record that had surprisingly strong chart presence for a mostly instrumental shred record.

The former Nevermore guitarist was nice enough to shoot some video lessons of key passages off the new album, and in the first one — which can be seen below — he shows you the opening arpeggio to "The Ultimatum."

Next time, we'll take a look at the rhythm track for "The Ultimatum," so get those pick hands ready!

Plains of Oblivion is out now on Century Media Records.

We're only a few days away from the release of Jeff Loomis' second solo album, Plains of Oblivion, so we thought we would bring you one final taste of the new album to keep you satiated until next week. You can stream the album's eighth track, "Chosen Time," below.

"Chosen Time" is one of two tracks on the album that feature the vocal talents of Christine Rhoads. Other guests set to appear on the record include Marty Friedman, Tony MacAlpine, Chris Poland and Ihsahn.

Plains of Oblivion is out next Tuesday, April 10, via Century Media Records, and you can still pre-order the album here.

As he gears up to release his second solo album, Jeff Loomis recently filmed two new performance videos for EMG pickups. You can watch video of Jeff playing "Mercurial," from his new album, Plains of Oblivion, below.

Plains of Oblivion marks Loomis' first solo album since parting ways with Nevermore last year. The album features guest appearances from Tony MacAlpine, Chris Poland, Ihsahn, Marty Friedman and more.

You also can watch Loomis playing "The Ultimatum" here and "Requiem for the Living" here.

Plains of Oblivion is out April 10 via Century Media.

Jeff Loomis has just posted another play-through video from his new album, Plains of Oblivion. Watch the former Nevermore guitarist shred through "Requiem for the Living" below.

Loomis will release his second solo album on April 10 via Century Media Records. Plains of Oblivion features guest appearances from Marty Friedman, Tony MacAlpine, Chris Poland, Ihsahn and more.

You can also watch Jeff play through "The Ultimatum," which features Tony MacAlpine, here.

Former Nevermore guitarist Jeff Loomis has posted an album sampler for his upcoming second solo album. Check out audio samples of all the tracks from Plains of Oblivion below.

Plains of Oblivion is Loomis' first album since parting ways with Nevermore last year, and is set to feature guest appearances from Marty Friedman, Ihsahn and Tony MacAlpine.

You can watch a video play-through of "The Ultimatum" here.

Plains of Oblivion is out April 10 via Century Media.

Earlier today, former Nevermore guitarist Jeff Loomis posted a play-through video for a new track titled "The Ultimatum." Watch it below.

The track comes to us from Loomis' upcoming solo album -- his second overall and first since parting ways with Nevermore -- titled Plains of Oblivion. Although he's not featured in the video, the track features a guest spot from shredder extraordinaire Tony MacAlpine.

Plains of Oblivious is set for release on April 10 via Century Media.

As previously reported, Jeff Loomis is hitting the road soon as part of an awesome tour package that also features Protest the Hero, Periphery and The Safety Fire.

It has now been announced that Loomis will be joined by guitarist Joe Nurre, bassist Gregory Macklin and drummer Anup Sastry for the upcoming run, which will be in support of Loomis' upcoming second solo album, Plains of Oblivion .

"My good friend, Joe Nurre from up here in Seattle, will be playing guitar with me out on this run with Protest the Hero and Periphery," said Loomis. "Some of you might have seen him play with Nevermore on the 70,000 Tons of Metal cruise last year. I was lucky enough to find this killer drummer online. His name is Anup Sastry, I've seen him do these perfect drum covers on his Youtube page. I reached out and learned he plays in a few great bands as well. You should check out all the stuff he's done. Anup is based out in the DC area and brought in a friend of his, Greg Macklin, to do bass. Those guys are going to be getting together out there to start practicing the set. Joe and I will do the same over here and then a couple weeks before the tour, Joe and I will fly over Maryland and we'll all rehearse until we get things perfect. I can't wait to get out there and start playing live again. See you soon."

Loomis' first solo album since leaving Nevermore, Plains of Oblivion is set to feature guest appearances from Marty Friedman, Chris Poland, Ihsahn and more.

Make some more room in your concert budget: Another exciting metal tour has been announced for 2012.

Protest the Hero, Periphery and Jeff Loomis will be hitting the road for a 24-city North American tour kicking off on March 25.

Protest the Hero are wrapping up tour support for their 2011 effort, Scurrilous, with Periphery and Loomis both planning new releases for the spring.

"We’re extremely elated to be going on tour with some great friends," commented Periphery. "We’re good buddies with three of the other bands on this tour, so it’s sure to be a fun time with some great music and awesome shows! We’re all going to be teaching via Bandhappy on this tour too, so we’re excited to connect with our fans, hang with some great friends, and perform in some of our favorite cities across the US. See ya soon!"

One piece of juicy information revealed in the official press release is that Periphery's new album will indeed be self-titled and will be released in May. Of course, this is only one of two albums the band have been working on.

Loomis will release his second solo album, Plains of Oblivion, April 10 via Century Media Records.

Also joining the tour on support are The Safety Fire, who will release their debut full-length, Grind the Ocean, in April.

Protest the Hero, Periphery, Jeff Loomis 2012 Tour Dates

• Mar. 25 - Chicago, IL - Bottom Lounge
• Mar. 26 - Lawrence, KS - Granada
• Mar. 27 - Dallas, TX - Trees
• Mar. 28 - Houston, TX - Warehouse Live
• Mar. 30 - Albuquerque, NM - Sunshine
• Mar. 31 - Phoenix, AZ - Club Red
• Apr. 01 – West Hollywood, CA - Key Club
• Apr. 02 - San Francisco, CA - Slim’s
• Apr. 03 - Portland, OR - The Branx
• Apr. 04 - Seattle, WA - Studio Seven
• Apr. 06 - Salt Lake City, UT - In The Venue
• Apr. 07 - Denver, CO - Summit
• Apr. 09 - St. Louis, MO - Pops
• Apr. 10 - Milwaukee, WI - The Rave II
• Apr. 11 - Detroit, MI - Magic Stick
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Ihsahn is the latest guest musician confirmed to be appearing on the upcoming new solo effort by former Nevermore guitarist Jeff Loomis.

"I know most of you are aware that Christine Rhoades is doing some vocals on my album," Loomis said. "At first I thought she'd be the only guest singer on the record, but then this one song started coming together, it's pretty brutal.

"I've always wanted to do really, really heavy music and after hearing this, both Aaron and myself thought we needed some crazy, sick singer on it. We just sat around tossing names out for a bit, nothing really was sticking and then Aaron says, 'I got it ... Ihsahn' and it was one of those moments where you knew that was the answer all along, it just hadn't been unlocked in your mind yet.

"Anyway, a few short emails back and forth and we had his vocal track in. It came out amazing. I can't wait for you to hear it.

"Ihsahn, thanks again, it's an honor to have you on my record."

Ihsahn added: "I was both surprised and honored when Jeff asked me to sing on one of the songs for his upcoming album. He sent me a killer track, so it was easy to get inspiration for both words and vocal ideas, and I think it came out really well.

"Jeff is an amazing musician and I'm really looking forward to hearing the final album. Also, in the collaborative spirit, I got him to lay down a solo for my own new album."

As previously reported, Marty Friedman [ex-Megadeth], Tony Macalpine and Chris Poland [ex-Megadeth] have also all signed on to appear on Loomis' solo album as well.

Ex-Nevermore guitarist Jeff Loomis is wrapping up work on his new solo album, which is due out later this year via Century Media, and he's announced a few of the guest musicians set to appear on the album.

In a new update on the progress of his new album, Loomis wrote: "A couple of years ago, I achieved my childhood dream of releasing a solo album. With the releasing of my second record coming up, I'm proud to announce another dream come true ... or should I say dreams ... Marty Friedman [ex-Megadeth], Tony Macalpine and Chris Poland [ex-Megadeth] have all done guest solos for it.

"These guys must have given me hundreds of blisters on my fingers when I was a kid trying in vain to emulate their work. Hell, I'm still trying to figure out some of their solos. To have three guitar players that I looked up to as a young player and still hold in such high regard is simply amazing. I can't thank those guys enough."

The as-yet-untitled album will be the follow-up to 2008's Zero Order Phase.

Loomis parted ways with Nevermore in the spring of last year.

Okay. So admittedly, it's kind of a slow news morning here at Guitar World. But if those videos of a bunch of kids covering Metallica and Guns N' Roses weren't really your speed, check out the below video of ex-Nevermore guitarist Jeff Loomis shredding through a version of "'Shouting Fire At A Funeral" from his solo album, Zero Order Phase.

The video was recorded to show off Loomis' tone on the Spider IV 75, and fans can apparently download his tone here by searching "Loomis."Jeff is currently in the studio working on a new solo album.

Jeff Loomis has been unusually quiet after his departure from Nevermore. All that has changed though, as Loomis has given his first post-Nevermore interview to the guys at Metal Sucks. An excerpt from the chat follows.

So you started discussing leaving the band during that tour… at that point, for how long had you known that there were serious problems within the band? "For quite some time actually… there were many problems health-wise that were kinda getting scary. Warrel had a problem with his pancreas and diabetes back in ’05, and Jim recently underwent brain surgery to remove a small brain tumor, plus he had issues with Crohn’s disease. Sometimes Jim wasn’t able to tour because of that, and we would always have to find a replacement. Troubles happen all the time in bands, and we always dealt with them. I think that over a period of time, though, that started to kind of take a toll with never having the whole original band onstage at certain times when we were on tour. People were asking tons of questions about it, and we would do the best we could with trying to explain everything, but sometimes fans wouldn’t understand or get the real picture of what was going on. So, yes, I would say from as early on as 2005, there were issues we had to deal with, medical-wise."

You can read more here.

Former Nevermore guitarist Jeff Loomis will be entering the studio on August 23 to begin recording his second solo release. The entire recording process for the follow-up to 2008′s Zero Order Phase will be videotaped.

The drums for Loomis' new solo album will be provided by Dirk Verbeuren of Soilwork. Christine Rhoades, known for her prior work on Nevermore’s “Dreaming Neon Black,” will be singing on selected tracks. There will be 3-4 tracks featuring vocals on the album.

Special guest guitarists will be announced in a future update.

Shortly after wrapping up in the studio, Loomis will be doing three weeks of special Schecter Guitar clinics in China scheduled for October 2011.

As previously reported, Loomis and drummer Van Williams announced their departure from Nevermore back in April.

Their mutual statement read:

"In a mutual decision Jeff Loomis and Van Williams have decided to leave Nevermore. The time has come to pursue our own paths from the group. Due to internal struggles and ongoing issues within the band, we feel it is our time to move on. We would like to thank all of our fans around the world for their years of love, support and enthusiasm. This was not an easy decision but a very necessary one at this point, may we all meet again someday, somewhere in time."