22-year-old guitar ace Anna Cara has looked back on how she landed the gig of a lifetime in Alice Cooper's band.

When Cara was hand-picked by shred veteran Nita Strauss to fill in during her maternity leave from her long-standing tenure with Cooper, the young guitarist wasn't just stepping into Strauss' shoes – she was also carrying forward a guitar legacy that included Dick Wagner, Steve Hunter, Kane Roberts, Vinnie Moore, and Orianthi.

“You’ve got to be adept at learning a whole spectrum of music,” longtime Cooper guitarist Ryan Roxie says of the gig in the latest issue of Guitar World.

“When I heard Anna play, I knew right from the get-go that she’s cut from a different cloth. She can play mechanical shredder stuff with ease but also can slip into classic rock mode at the drop of a hat.”

It was Tommy Henriksen, Cooper’s other guitarist, who discovered Cara, likening her tone and style to the late Gary Moore as soon as he spotted her on social media.

Henrikson tells Guitar World, “I kept telling Ryan, ‘You’ve got to see this kid play, man.’ She’s got that thing. I can’t explain it. There’s not many people who have it, but she’s got it.”

Henrikson initially scouted Cara for his own band, Crossbow Skully, after scouring YouTube and Instagram for promising musicians.

“She never showed her face, just her playing guitar,” he remembers. “She wasn’t doing all that stupid stuff – not posing or anything. I sent her a message and said, ‘I love what you’re doing. You’ve got great vibrato and feel. Can I call you and your parents?’

“I didn’t know how old she was,” Henrikson adds. “I FaceTimed with them and said, ‘I like your daughter’s playing. She’s a natural. She plays like Gary Moore. She’s got the vibrato of a 55-year-old man.’”

“I said, ‘I’m putting together a band. I’m going to call you. Be show-ready. You’re going to be going on a plane to L.A.’”

As soon as she landed at LAX, Henriksen (casually) drove her to a Hollywood star's home studio.

He continues, “This kid has never been out of Newcastle, and now she’s at Johnny Depp’s house. Johnny goes, ‘Let her play any guitar she wants,’ so I handed her Johnny’s guitar. That’s how she wound up working with me.”

Cara explains that she was discovered when she was just 19, and, as she herself puts it, “There have been years of development, and I’ve become a better musician and live player.”

Therefore, when Strauss announced that she needed a maternity cover, Henrikson knew who to put forward for the gig.

“Alice was looking for a guitar player, and I said, ‘Do you want a girl or a guy? I’ve got either/or,’” says Henriksen. “But the first thing I did was send Anna’s stuff to Ryan because I wanted him to see her. Ryan heard her play and said, ‘I see it. I hear it.’

“Next thing you know, he’s [Cooper] like, “Let’s bring her to Vegas to watch the show and get her familiar with everything.”

Strauss has not yet announced a specific return date to the band, so those hoping to catch a glimpse of Cara’s talent can do so during Alice Cooper’s upcoming fall run.

Head to Alice Cooper for a full list of dates.

For more from the Alice Cooper guitar triumvirate, plus new interviews with Ziggy Marley and Brian Setzer, pick up issue 607 of Guitar World from Magazines Direct.

Alice Cooper has announced his temporary replacement for Nita Strauss, who is taking a break from his band to welcome her first child this summer.

Anna Cara, a 22-year-old guitar player from Newcastle, England, has been chosen for the role, having been handpicked by Strauss herself to be her replacement. Indeed, Strauss recently singled out Cara as her favorite up-and-coming guitarist in an interview.

Cara arrives in Cooper’s band already with an impressive resume. She’s racked up quite the following on social media thanks to her playthrough videos, and in the past has worked with Marc Storace of Krokus, and Tommy Henriksen, who plays with both Cooper and Hollywood Vampires.

“This is like a dream come true, to join Alice and his great band,” Cara says. “Back when I started playing guitar at 14, I was watching Alice Cooper live shows on YouTube dreaming of joining one day!

“Nita Strauss is a tough act to follow, and she's been so encouraging to me this past month, so I am looking forward to showing everyone who I am and what I can do.”

She joins the band with a glowing recommendation from Strauss, who plans to return to the Cooper lineup further down the line after the birth of her child.

“When I was asked in an interview who I thought was the best up and coming guitarist, I had no hesitation in answering ‘Anna Cara.’ Anna's precision and soulful, emotional playing will make her an amazing asset to the Cooper tour!” Strauss says.

“Working with Alice for 12 years has been the experience of a lifetime and I look forward to seeing you all back on the road (with a +1 along for the ride!) Until that time comes, I know that the show is in good hands and the fans are in for a treat!”

It’s an astonishing piece of feedback and a remarkable gig to get for the 22-year-old, and Cooper himself is already singing her praises.

“Nita found a brilliant British female guitarist to fill in for her while she is on maternity leave,” the singer says. “Anna Cara is a beautiful dynamic shredder in the vein of Nita but with a style of her own. She will fit in with our gang perfectly while Nita is away and we can't wait to meet her.”

Cara is set to make her live debut with Cooper tonight (April 2) and will be part of the band as they navigate a hectic touring schedule over the next few months, including the Alice’s Attic tour across the US and Europe.

Head over to Alice Cooper’s website for more details.

After much speculation, Arch Enemy announced former Once Human vocalist Lauren Hart as their new singer this week. But their ex-frontwoman Alissa White-Gluz has made an announcement of her own, revealing the two guitarists set to supercharge her newly launched solo career.

The powerhouse vocalist, chosen as the replacement for Angela Gossow in 2014, departed the band after four albums last year. She then quickly launched her first solo single as she looked to “express myself in ways that have been dormant for years.”

That song was co-written with Kamelot and Doro six-stringer Oliver Palotai (Kamelot/Doro), while she was seen playing Michael Amott's Dean Tyrant signature guitar in the video.

Now, she’s announced the twin shredders who will be featuring in her band moving forward, including a guitarist Joe Satriani believes “can shred any guy out there.”

“Meet the band,” White-Gluz says in an Instagram post unveiling Alyssa Day and Danielle Sophia.

“Soon, you’ll meet the music,” she adds.

Day, who has also played in metal band Mindscar and instrumental prog metallers Abesntia, arrives with a weighty reputation, having been part of Jackson's artist roster, and a notable guitar influencer for years.

Meanwhile, Sophia has been enjoying an equally rapid ascent on social media, posting videos soloing over Meshuggah and Humanity's Last Breath riffs, as well as slick jazz playing. That’s earned the guitarist an endorsement deal with electronics gurus Fishman, and caught White-Gluz's attention in the process.

The announcement has been met with approval of Alice Cooper and Los Angeles Rams guitarist, Nita Strauss, who commented, “SHEEEEESH bringing out the heavy hitters!” There have also been supportive comments from Kiko Loureiro, Kiki Wong, and Arch Echo's Adam Bentley.

Other champions of the double appointment include Lacuna Coil vocalist Christina Scabbia, Mercyful Fate bass player Becky Baldwin, and Sepultura frontman Derrick Green.

It's not lost on us that Sophia is clutching an eight-string Jackson, either.

Now we have to play the waiting game to hear the Day-Sophia partnership. Given how quickly White-Gluz’s first single came after her Arch Enemy departure was officialised, surely we won’t be waiting too long?

NAMM 2026: Ibanez reliably stuck to NAMM tradition by showcasing a load of new signature guitars at this year’s show, giving Nili Brosh’s first-ever artist electric guitar its long-awaited debut.

Talk of Ibanez going into the show was focused mostly on the Alpha series – which nods to Tosin Abasi’s guitar designs – but the majority of eyeballs on the show floor were trained on the ‘Wall of Fame’ signature display, which offered new axes Brosh, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Kiko Loureiro and more.

We’ll be as impartial as possible, but Brosh’s is our favorite of the lot. That purple finish? Those yellow EMG pickups? Those exclamation mark inlays?! From top to bottom, it’s a sensational signature, one that puts the virtuoso’s spin on the classic RG template.

It’s been a long time coming, too. Back in 2022, the long-time Ibanez endorser revealed she’d worked on a custom shop model that was later played on stage alongside Danny Elfman. It’s been one of her main touring guitars since, with fans calling for a signature release.

This is slightly different from the OG custom model, with a deeper finish and purple inlays, instead of yellow. Still, it retains that distinct Brosh vibe, and leads the charge for the rest of Ibanez’s 2026 signature line.

“My thing basically was, you don’t see too many RG signature models these days,” Brosh told Guitar World. “I’ve always been an RG player so that’s something I felt like made sense for me.

“I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel here. It’s a workhorse that I’ve been using for everything that I do.”

The line also includes an official racing stripe-adorned signature for JB Brubaker, new-look models for Nita Strauss, Joe Satriani and Kiko Loureiro, and an extraordinarily styled Gold Flame PIA for Steve Vai.

Ibanez has gone big on visuals this year, it seems. The Gold Flame PIA has specially tailored pickup covers and inlays, while Satch’s Cherry Sunburst model puts a vintage spin on his usually Sci-Fi-esque six-string.

The Ruby Red Sunburst Flat finish of Loureiro’s KIKO300RRT, meanwhile, is very nice on the eyes, as is Strauss’ appropriately named Torch Red JIVA.

While we’re on the topic of visuals, we should also give a shout to Ibanez’s limited-edition RG, which celebrates 250 years of the USA with a very tasty blue, red and white art-style splash finish.

None of these models have been put on the Ibanez website just yet, but GW was able to get up close and personal with each of the models while scouring the Anaheim Convention Center for gear.

It’s only a matter of time before they do go live on the site, though, so keep your eyes peeled on Ibanez for more info when it lands.

Founded in Japan all the way back in 1957, with roots stretching to the Hoshino Gakki company in 1908, Ibanez stands today as one of the key players in the guitar market.

The brand has always been synonymous with high quality – so much so, in fact, that there’s even a now-collectable ‘lawsuit’ period of instruments from a time when American brands felt threatened by their Eastern imitators.

And while it’s easy to think of Ibanez as a company that’s at the cutting edge of metal machines for the modern age, it's also innovated much further afield: producing timeless acoustics, semi-hollows, and hollowbody instruments – not forgetting, of course, some of the world’s best-selling overdrive pedals in the Tube Screamer series. Which is exactly why this list of the 25 most important Ibanez players crosses through various genres and styles.

It's become the go-to brand for all kinds of players, from original jazz cats like George Benson and fusion pioneers like Pat Metheny to acoustic renegades like Jon Gomm and Marcin and modern trailblazers like Nita Strauss and Yvette Young.

Steve Vai

Could Steve Vai be the most quintessential Ibanez player of them all?

After all, it was his first JEM signature in 1987 that inspired the RG series, which quickly became a bestseller for the company. And then just a few years later, his Universe signatures made history as the world’s first mass-produced seven-string electric.

More importantly, however, Vai ended up cementing his name as one of the greatest guitarists of all time, from his stints with Frank Zappa, Whitesnake, and David Lee Roth and game-changing solo records like Passion And Warfare, Real Illusions: Reflections, and his latest instrumental masterpiece, Inviolate.

Joe Satriani

How many guitarists can say they taught the likes of Steve Vai, Kirk Hammett, and Alex Skolnick? Joe Satriani is truly one of a kind in that sense, but more significantly, he took rock guitar to new heights with the double Grammy-nominated album, Surfing With The Alien, and continued to innovate on the releases that followed, most notably Flying In A Blue Dream and The Extremist.

The legato-loving legend has also been prolific as a collaborator, having conquered arenas as part of Mick Jagger’s band and Deep Purple, as well as starting the G3 supergroup alongside Steve Vai. More recently, he’s been busy working with ex-Van Halen members on the Best Of All Worlds tour.

Paul Gilbert

Alongside Vai and Satch, Paul Gilbert completes what many would consider to be ‘The Big Three’ of Ibanez shredders.

His work in Racer X and Mr. Big sets him apart as one of the most advanced minds to pick up a guitar, as well as one of the most ferocious alternate pickers the world has ever seen, fusing the neoclassical edge of Yngwie Malmsteen with the impromptu bluesiness of Edward Van Halen.

He’s had all kinds of Ibanez signatures through the years, from the PGM series to the Fireman models he’s usually seen with today, having designed the latter, reversed-body model himself.

Pat Metheny

Since the release of his debut album in 1975, Pat Metheny has continually proven himself to be one of the most revolutionary minds to ever work in jazz, cross-pollinating elements of the traditional with more worldly and experimental meditations.

He currently has two Ibanez signature models, the PM200 and PM3C, and his most famous works include Still Life (Talking), Letter From Home, and Bright Size Life.

As well as these sizeable contributions to the world of electric guitar, he’s also recorded unaccompanied acoustic albums like 2003’s One Quiet Night and last year’s MoonDial release, which saw him wielding a custom-built baritone guitar made by the luthier Linda Manzer.

Tim Henson and Scott LePage

The genre-smashing guitarists from Polyphia could very well be two of the most ground-breaking names in the company’s roster of signature artists, at least in terms of recent additions.

Their most recent album, 2022’s Remember That You Will Die, was voted as the best guitar album of that year by GW readers and was also notable for featuring fellow Ibanez endorsee Steve Vai on its mind-melting closing track, Ego Death.

By that point, both guitarists already had their own signature electrics, but what really got the industry talking was Henson’s TOD10N nylon-string electric, as prominently featured on the album’s lead single, Playing God.

Ichika Nito

As the very first Japanese guitarist to become an Ibanez signature artist, you could say Ichika Nito is making history for all the right reasons.

Much like Tim Henson and Scott LePage, his take on guitar is an incredibly contemporary one – combining the sounds of tech-metal with spanky and funky cleans while dazzling listeners with an array of legato and two-handed techniques.

He currently has two Ibanez models, the Talman-inspired ICHI00 and the headless Q Series-style ICHI10.

John Scofield

Having worked with everyone from Miles Davis and Charles Mingus to Herbie Hancock and Weather Report, John Scofield’s jazz credentials are as impressive as they come.

His most famous works include 1986’s Still Warm, 1994’s Hand Jive, and 1997’s A Go Go, as well as 1994’s I Can See Your House From Here – which saw him team up with fellow Ibanez signature artist Pat Metheny for an absolute tour-de-force of modern jazz. He’s also ventured into bluesier sonic pastures, having collaborated with John Mayer and Gov't Mule.

Josh Smith

Continually featured in lists of the best blues guitarists in the world today, it’s no wonder that Josh Smith ended up being recruited by Joe Bonamassa and has become a regular face in the blues giant’s backing band. The pair also work together regularly as producers, lending their expertise to fellow blues powerhouses like Eric Gales and Larry McCray.

The guitarist/singer currently has two T-style signatures, the FlATV1 and FlATV2, and is also highly regarded for his informative tutorials, some of which he has authored for this very publication.

Manuel Gardner Fernandes

As the driving force behind progressive metal band Unprocessed, German guitarist Manuel Gardner Fernandes is someone who knows how to blend the power of gargantuan riffs with blistering lead work.

Last year he was awarded his own signature guitar, the MGFM10 – a stunning headless model in Obsidian Black Low Gloss, boasting the same advanced switching system he uses to make his guitar go from apocalyptic roars to spanky cleans.

This year’s latest Unprocessed album, titled Angel, served as yet another firm reminder of his all-encompassing talents.

George Benson

Now at 82 years old, George Benson is one of the dyed-in-the-wool veterans of jazz guitar – a multiple Grammy-winning master who influenced the sound of an entire genre and ended up inspiring countless players that came after him.

Over the years, as well as releasing an extensive solo discography, he’s worked with mainstream greats such as Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan, Aretha Franklin, and Frank Sinatra, making him one of the most prolific jazz artists of all time. He currently has six Ibanez signature models, all of them hollowbody designs.

Yvette Young

There’s a wonderfully abstract quality to Yvette Young’s sound – of course, there’s plenty of dexterity and technicality, but the real magic lies in the sheer amount of personality the Covet guitarist throws into every note she plays.

Part of this comes down to her alternate tunings, which she has often cited as a secret weapon for yielding interesting results, as well as her experimental approach to tone, but then there’s also her piano background – which has led to her unique sense of phrasing and ear for melody.

Marcin

Having just turned 25, it would be fair to say Polish wunderkind Marcin Patrzałek is spearheading a new generation of daredevil acoustic guitarists.

He rose to fame partly thanks to his viral videos that shocked listeners in how they were able to blur the lines between classical and contemporary music. This all led to the release of his first signature in 2022, the Ibanez MRC10, and a major label deal that started with last year’s debut full-length, Dragon In Harmony.

Nita Strauss

In 2018, Nita Strauss made history as the first woman to have her own Ibanez signature model, which she named the JIVA. It was certainly well-warranted, given her background playing in Alice Cooper’s band, as well as the all-female tribute band The Iron Maidens.

Since then she’s worked with pop sensation Demi Lovato and has also released two solo albums, the latter of which featured an array of high profile guest stars, including Marty Friedman, David Draiman, and Lzzy Hale.

Andy Timmons

When it comes to tasteful shredding, Andy Timmons is up there with the likes of gold-standard legends like Eric Johnson and Steve Lukather.

He knows how to impress people, but more importantly, he knows when to focus on the melody. Which is exactly why he’s worked with high profile names like Olivia Newton-John, Paula Abdul, and fellow Ibanez endorsee Paul Stanley.

He currently has three Strat-style Ibanez signatures, which come fitted with three DiMarzio humbuckers, including his own AT-1 pickup in the bridge.

Jon Gomm

English guitarist Jon Gomm became one of the early standouts in the modern percussive acoustic scene thanks to the 2011 track Passionflower going viral, which led to both national and international coverage.

In 2020, he announced he’d joined the Ibanez roster, and two years later he unveiled a pair of signature models – the JGM5 and the JGM10 – tailor-made for wanting to implement two-handed ideas based on open tunings, while also using the body of the guitar for drum beats.

Lari Basilio

Over the last decade or so, Brazilian virtuoso Lari Basilio has established herself as one of the most tasteful players of her generation – striking that perfect balance between technical wizardry, emotional phrasing, and an inimitable sense of feel.

Her Seymour Duncan-equipped LB1 signature was debuted in 2021, making her the third female signature artist for Ibanez, with the latest update being this year’s version in black.

Her latest album, Redemption, was also released earlier this year, with no shortage of dazzling fretwork and earworm melodies.

James ‘Munky’ Shaffer and Brian ‘Head’ Welch

Steve Vai may have helped invent the world’s first mass-produced electric seven-string with Ibanez, but it was Korn who took that extended range to new (or nu) metallic heights, inventing a whole subgenre in the process.

For guitarists Munky and Head, the extra low-end only intensified the heaviness and helped them reinvent guitar music in the mid-90s.

Head left Ibanez for ESP back in 2016 but made his official return to the fold earlier this year with the launch of the K7 series.

Fredrik Thordendal and Mårten Hagström

Much like Munky and Head from Korn, Meshuggah guitarists Fredrik Thordendal and Mårten Hagström were early adopters of the seven-string, as demonstrated on the 1995 tech-metal landmark, Destroy Erase Improve.

Other releases like Chaosphere, Nothing, and Obzen would also become hugely influential on the tech-metal scene, with bands like Animals As Leaders, Periphery, and Tesseract taking metric modulations and polyrhythmic concepts to new sonic horizons.

The Swedish pair would later move onto eight-strings, leading to signature models like the M8M, M80M, and FTM33.

Paul Stanley

It’s easy to think of Kiss as a Gibson band, given the kind of instruments usually seen in the hands of lead guitarists like Ace Frehley and Tommy Thayer.

Singer and rhythm guitarist Paul Stanley, however, has been using Ibanez guitars on and off since 1977 – most notably the company's Iceman offset – which led to the five signature models that currently bear his name, including the striking Cracked Mirror PS1CM.

Kiko Loureiro

There’s a golden rule for anyone who plays lead guitar in Megadeth – you have to be, without question, one of the best shredders on the planet.

Brazilian virtuoso Kiko Loureiro had already proven his merits in Angra and was a perfect fit for the thrash titans when he joined in 2015. He recorded two albums with the band, 2016’s Dystopia and 2022’s The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!, before announcing his departure in 2023.

He currently has three Ibanez signature models, all of which feature his custom DiMarzio pickups and a double-locking tremolo system.

Dexter Holland and Noodles

As the two guitar players in The Offspring, Dexter Holland and Noodles are well-known for dialing in tones that are guaranteed to cut through any mix.

The pair were at the very forefront of the 90s punk rock scene, with key albums like Smash and Ixnay On The Hombre setting them up for the mainstream success that followed with the 1998 bestseller Americana, which yielded hit singles like Pretty Fly (For A White Guy), Why Don’t You Get A Job?, and The Kids Aren’t Alright.

Holland sticks with ARZ and RG models while Noodles has had several signatures, the latest being 2020’s NDM5.

Daron Malakian

Joining Paul Stanley, Fredrik Thordendal, and Tom G. Warrior in our list of Iceman devotees, System Of A Down guitarist Daron Malakian is someone deeply connected to the striking offset shape.

“I went to Guitar Center, and I saw this Iceman sitting there, and I was like, ‘You know, that’s a guitar that not too many people use’,” he once explained.

The Armenian-American group became one of the biggest bands of their generation thanks to the world-conquering success of tracks like Chop Suey!, Toxicity, and Aerials.

Nili Brosh

Well-renowned for being one of the most versatile musicians in the Ibanez roster, Israeli-American shredder Nili Brosh has performed with Danny Elfman, Cirque Du Soleil, Dethklok, The Iron Maidens, and Tony MacAlpine – a list which perfectly demonstrates just how well-rounded her skillset is.

Her third solo album, titled Spectrum, was released in 2019 and her main guitars include an Ibanez LA Custom RG770 and a Desert Yellow RG550.

Jake Bowen

The sole Ibanez endorsee in Periphery’s trio of hotshot guitarists, Jake Bowen is also their longest-serving member after founder Misha Mansoor.

Over the course of seven full-length albums, they’ve become torchbearers for the modern tech-metal scene and in many ways typify the ‘djent’ wave of bands that arrived roughly 10 years after the new millennium.

He currently has three signature models: the JBM9999 and JBM10FX six-strings as well as the JBM27 seven-string.

Martin Miller

Martin Miller is a man of many talents. The German musician is a highly respected educator, with books and video courses to help rock guitarists expand into fusion.

He also writes, records, and tours original music, but his biggest calling card has been a series of live studio performances that find him enrolling guitar heroes old and new to cover hits of every kind. Hey Jude with Paul Gilbert, Kiss from a Rose with Lari Basilio, and Get Lucky with Kirk Fletcher are just three prominent examples.

He has a pair of Ibanez signatures to his name, the most recent being the MMN1, which was released in 2023.

Nita Strauss has celebrated her first wedding anniversary by looking back on the big day – and it was as extravagantly shred-centric as you’d expect from someone who lives and breathes the electric guitar.

Strauss and Josh Villata, who drums in her solo band, tied the knot during a Haute Dracula-themed ceremony in May last year, with a goth glam chic and plenty of heavy metal panache to ensure it was a party for the ages. The all-star band that jammed Metallica, Pantera and Alice Cooper classics was the icing on the cake.

Strauss described the ceremony as “our dark, romantic, heavy metal dream wedding”. They wed in front of a star-studded guest list that included Alice Cooper and Disturbed's David Draiman – who both got in on the jam band action – as well as pop star turned rock queen Demi Lovato, with whom Strauss has previously played with, and WWE’s Mick Foley.

In newly shared clips from Villalta, Strauss can be seen playing an Ibanez guitar alongside the Godfather of shock rock who, as ever, is donned in all black.

“We had the Moon Units play and have part of their set be a live band karaoke where people can sign up and jam together,” Villalta writes on Instagram. “How many weddings can you jam I’m Eighteen, Enter Sandman, and Cowboys From Hell?”

Going off this writer’s previous wedding experiences (not many) Bohemian Rhapsody is often as rocky as it gets, but Strauss’ shenanigans turned it up to 11. She performed I’m Eighteen with Alice Cooper (of course) and Cooper's bass player, Chuck Garric.

Meanwhile, the Cowboys and Sandman jams were Disturbed-laced affairs, with Draiman and bassist John Moyer joining Johnny Young, the other guitarist in Strauss' solo band, for the performance. Notably, the Pantera song has often been on the Strauss’ solo set lists, with her take on the track during 2023’s Summer Storm tour particularly electrifying.

“[We wanted] the wedding to feel like us,” Strauss told People. “We didn’t want a cookie-cutter ceremony or reception that you could see in any bridal magazine – we wanted every aspect of the day and the experience to reflect us as a couple.”

Strauss had to temporarily step down as Alice Cooper's guitar foil last year due to scheduling conflicts, which saw Orianthi in line for a surprise return to the band she left in 2014. However, a hip injury forced her to the sidelines last minute, with former Guns N' Roses man Gilby Clarke taking her place.

Nita Strauss' and Yvette Young's playing styles, as well as the genres they tend to operate in, may initially seem like chalk and cheese. However, Strauss has recently revealed how she took a page from the fingerstyle and tapping maestro's playbook when composing one of her favorite riffs.

“Something that I did very differently to what I normally do here is, I really am hardly picking anything in this riff," she tells Guitar World, as she demonstrates Kintsugi, from her 2023 record, The Call of the Void.

"I'm picking a few notes here and there, but the majority of it is just those hammer-ons and pull-offs – very inspired by my Ibanez sister, Yvette Young, and the way that she approaches her songwriting and her chords. I was watching her do her stuff, and I was like, ‘I would love to do something like that.’”

In contrast to her usual shred metal riffs, Kintsugi is more restrained, featuring a gentler approach to tapping and hammer-ons/pull-offs that are very much in the vein of Young. As Strauss explains, the key to nailing this riff is articulation.

“Really just making sure that your fingers are right in the center of the fret where they need to be for the hammer-ons, [and] for the pull-offs. Then, when you're doing the pull-off, really just hit that very gentle pull-off. You're not really doing that sort of shreddy-type of pull-off. It's a gentle tap.”

In a 2023 Guitar Player interview about her album, Strauss describes the piano and guitar ballad-like Kintsugi as being “very pure”.

“The emotion comes from a different place than the other cuts on the album,” she reflected.

“I didn’t use any fancy tricks – I didn’t use a lot of gain or anything like that. It’s very simple and evocative. To be honest, I didn’t know I could do something so sparse. It’s just the guitar and keyboard having a conversation. I didn’t need anything else.”

Strauss has recently returned to the Alice Cooper circus – and got a warm welcome from one particular member of the shock rocker’s crew: the band’s snake – ahead of a packed schedule for the rest of 2025.

Nita Strauss has returned to action as the starring shredder in Alice Cooper’s band, and she’s received a very warm welcome from one member of the shock rocker’s crew in particular: the band’s snake.

The guitarist was forced to step back from the band due to scheduling conflicts with her solo shows which saw Orinathi tapped up for a nostalgic return to a band she spent three years in before Strauss took over. However, a hip injury then forced Orianthi to be replaced at the last minute, with former Guns N’ Roses man Gilby Clarke getting the nod.

Strauss wrapped her solo tour in Houston, TX on March 8 and returned to the Godfather of Shock Rock's band of ghouls on Saturday, March 22 at the Wild Horse Pass Stadium in Chandler, AZ.

It seems Cooper’s boa constrictor missed her the most, with the guitarist revealing “It licked me!” in an Instagram post marking her return to the fold.

The incident, seen in the video Strauss has shared online, happened – aptly enough – during a run-through of the 1991 hit Snakebite. Ever the professional, she remained unphased at the serpent's show of affection, a hearty peck on the nose, as she stuck diligently to her task.

She is then seen mouthing something and pointing to her face as she walks off, wringing out power chords with just her left hand as she processes what had just happened.

Cooper’s touring crew consists of numerous snakes to work around their various feeding times – you wouldn't want to parade a snake in front of thousands of screaming fans when it’s hungry, or digesting a tasty meal.

The singer has owned multiple snakes over the years, including Lady Macbeth, Count Strangula, and Julius Squeezer.

Incredibly, Julius died after being bitten by a rat intended to be his breakfast, while another snake, the 12-foot-long Yvonne escaped down a toilet of a Knoxville, Tennessee hotel.

“I put her in the bathtub overnight as she loved to swim, but in the morning she had gone down the toilet,” Alice remembered [per MOJO]. “She eventually emerged two weeks later in a different bathroom, having survived on sewer rats in the plumbing.”

Aptly, she emerged in the bathroom of country music star Charley Pride, whose first big hit was called Snakes Crawl At Midnight.

In related news, Strauss recently sat down for has named the iconic female shredder who proved a huge inspiration for her pursuit of a music career, and, when highlighting the five riffs that changed her life, has called a Scandinavian metal band her “Beatles”.

Orianthi is recovering well from her injury having played at a recent benefit concert that saw her play Livin’ on a Prayer with two generations of Bon Jovi guitarists, Richie Sambora and his replacement, Phil X.

Alice Cooper will head back out on tour in May ahead of a busy summer schedule for the band which will see them traipse the US and Europe.

It goes without saying that Nita Strauss knows a thing or two about good guitar riffs, and recently the Alice Cooper electric guitar hero sat down with Guitar World to run through the five riffs that changed her life.

And, during her selection, Strauss named a cut from a Swedish melodic death metal group, whose music had the same informative and influential effect on her as The Beatles had on the wider musical population when the Fab Four burst onto the global scene in the 1960s.

Of course, countless artists – and casual music fans – cite the Beatles as being their biggest influence, and for good reason: their music forever changed the sound of rock music.

But, for Strauss, she had her own Beatles: In Flames – a Swedish outfit that first emerged in the 1990s, and that pioneered the melodic death metal scene worldwide.

“The next riff is by a band that I consider to be my Beatles, and that is Sweden's own In Flames,” Strauss says during the video. “In Flames is, you know, the band that I always list as my favorite band.

“When I was growing up getting into heavy music, I was always really drawn by these sort of inversions and chords that the Swedish melodic death metal bands use, and this is a song called Bullet Ride.”

Of course, Strauss dutifully gives us a quick taste of the pumping Bullet Ride riff, which she commends for its clever use of pedal tones and chord shape alterations.

“[It’s] really, really fun to play the dramatic shift of those chords with that pedal tone, and just using that root in the fifth in a different way, rather than just adding the tension with those different notes – I just think it's so cool.”

Strauss’ fondness of In Flames go beyond being a casual listener, though. In 2023, she tapped the band’s vocalist Anders Fridén for her solo record, The Call of The Void.

Head over to Guitar World’s YouTube channel to watch the full video.

In related news, Strauss recently revealed she received a call to audition for Michael Jackson, but ended up playing funk with his brother. She also looked back on what she described as the worst gig of her life, and reflected on what she learned from it.

Nita Strauss may be one of the most in-demand guitarists on the touring circuit – she's currently on tour alongside Apocalyptica before gearing up for her reunion with Alice Cooper for the spring and summer jaunt – but that doesn't mean she's immune to bad gigs. But what would she say was her worst gig ever?

“I was fortunate to have played the worst gig of my life early on,” she tells Guitar Player. “When I was 12 or 13, I joined my first band, ODA. I have no idea what the initials stood for, but I guess they meant something. I was still in middle school, and everybody else in the band was in high school.

“There was this tiny metal club in San Fernando called the Cobalt Café that held Battle of the Bands nights. We decided that we wanted to enter, but you had to sell 10 tickets for $10 each to get onstage. We didn't have a big circle of friends, so we sold a grand total of four tickets to the drummer’s girlfriend and someone’s brother.”

“After that, we were stuck. Who’s got 60 bucks? Well, my dad came to the rescue. He was a touring musician and he knew the deal, so he came to the soundcheck and bought our last six tickets so we could get on stage and play.”

Strauss recalls how the fledgling band had practiced three songs – two originals and a cover of Metallica's For Whom the Bell Tolls, and were buzzing with excitement. However, it seems like the audience – and the judges – weren't so keen...

“We came out and started rocking, and for some reason, almost everybody in the club walked out – including one of the other bands and the judges! My dad stuck around, and the four other people who bought our tickets were there. But that was about it.”

However, Strauss says that she has zero regrets about that early show – after all, it served as her gateway to the illustrious career she has now. Plus, everyone has to have a bad show at some point, right?

“Looking back on it now, I can say it was the crappiest gig I’ve ever played, but at the time, I was elated,” she reflects. “I was so fully immersed and happy in that moment to be onstage, wearing my boots and playing in front of a few people. The whole band was pumped. We didn’t care that everybody left. We didn’t even care that the judges left.

“I don’t know who won, or if they announced a winner. We were just like, ‘Yeah, we’re doing it! No matter the obstacles, no matter what happens, we're out here kicking ass!’ Of course, we didn't really kick any ass, but in our minds, in that moment, we kicked ass!”

For young Nita Strauss, seeing Jennifer Batten play with Michael Jackson during his iconic 1993 Super Bowl halftime performance was the catalyst she needed to pursue a career as a shredder. Who would have guessed that, years later, she would be approached to audition for the King of Pop himself?

Fast forward to 2010, and in a true full-circle moment, Strauss was about to have her own brush with the Jackson family.

“Kill Slowly [a band that Strauss had put together] had recorded something that was engineered by a guy named Michael Prince, who worked with Michael Jackson for many, many years,” she recalls.

“At one point, he called and said, ‘Would you have any interest in auditioning for Michael Jackson?’ I was like, ‘Oh my god, yes!’ The audition never happened, but then he called and said Jermaine [Jackson] wanted to do some tribute shows for his brother after he died, and did I want to do it?”

The tribute concerts turned out to be a short African tour that Strauss embarked on with Jermaine, during which she performed a mix of material from The Jackson 5, The Jacksons, as well as Michael Jackson’s repertoire.

“I learned so much about playing funk, and I also got to work indirectly with Tito and Randy [Jackson], who were great,” Strauss told Rolling Stone in a 2015 interview. “And we were playing in these huge soccer stadiums, in places like Gambia and Senegal, where it wasn’t safe to go out unescorted.

"So it was a really eye-opening experience all around. But that’s the amazing thing about this job – you have the opportunity to learn at every turn.”

From touring the world with top artists like Alice Cooper and Demi Lovato to building an impressive repertoire of solo music and guest appearances, Nita Strauss has become one of the most recognizable players in the guitar world and beyond.

However, during a recent chat at Guitar Summit, Strauss revealed that she might not be here if it weren’t for a certain guitarist.

“It's important to act as a role model, even if you aren't one on a grand scale,” she asserts. “But when I was growing up, there were not a lot of female guitar players in the scene, and it was hard to find somebody that sort of checked the boxes for me. For me, that person was Jennifer Batten.”

A pioneer in her own right, Batten is perhaps best known for her role as Michael Jackson’s lead guitarist during his Bad world tour. She also became a key part of his troupe in the late ’80s and ’90s, and starred during his iconic 1993 Super Bowl halftime performance.

Beyond the King of Pop, Batten also spent three years touring with Jeff Beck and lent her skills to Who Else! (1999) and You Had It Coming (2001).

“Watching Jen on the biggest stage in the world, with the biggest star in the world, Michael Jackson, shredding, playing the Super Bowl, blazing solos faster than anybody that I'd ever seen. It was just amazing to see a girl up there doing that, and I think, ‘If I can create that moment for some girls of the next generation, that's really special.’”

Strauss had previously likened discovering Batten to “a kid finding a Barbie that looked like her for the first time”.

“There was somebody like me doing it, and here she is on the biggest stage in the world with the biggest star in the world, and it’s not a chick thing,” she said in a 2023 interview with Premier Guitar.

“She’s playing circles around all these guys. She’s not there because she’s beautiful. She’s not there because she’s a great performer. She is all those things, but she’s there because of the technique and the performance and just delivering night after night after night. And that was my biggest thing: If she can do it, I can do it too.”

In a last-minute plot twist, Gilby Clarke has been confirmed as touring guitarist in Alice Cooper’s band, and will be replacing Oranthi for a string of dates starting January 31.

The Godfather of Shock will be forgiven for placing Clarke under a shelter-in-place notice until the tour bus is fueled up and ready to go because finding someone to play electric guitar in Cooper’s touring band has been a cursed endeavor in recent months.

Clarke will be replacing the Australian guitar phenom Orianthi, after she was booked to return to Cooper’s touring band to sit in for current touring guitarist, Nita Strauss, who had a scheduling snafu. How has all this come to pass?

Well, the official release says “unforeseen circumstances” have forestalled Orianthi’s return to the Cooper camp, but it looks like she is in no fit shape to tour right now after revealing on Instagram that she has sustained an injury.

“Unfortunately I have a torn hamstring and damage to my hip after last tour,” she wrote. “Not sure exactly when it happened but the pain I feel/felt is bad… getting it fixed up now.”

Orianthi said then she would be able to make PRS Guitars’ 40th Anniversary Show but warned ticket holders she would have to perform seated before resting up. A few days later she posted a picture from the physio’s treatment room.

This is a real bummer for Orianthi, who is all systems go right now, finishing up her forthcoming studio album, Some Kind of Feeling, under the watching eye of Kevin ‘The Caveman’ Shirley, and tracking with her new supergroup alongside Cindy Blackman Santana and Rhonda Smith – with Jimi Hendrix producer Eddie Kramer in the control room.

Orianthi played with Alice Cooper from 2011 to 2014, and she told Guitar World that he is “like family.” When Cooper reached out to her for these dates, there was only going to be one answer.

“Working with him was such a blast, and it's such an honor. Alice is a legend,” she said. “I know the shows are going to be really fun. It's going to be just a whole different dynamic and sort of a change from Nita.”

Speaking about the differences between her style and Strauss’, Orianthi said Hurricane Nita was an “incredible player” but she would play Cooper’s tunes the way she always would.

“I play more classic blues rock, so it’s a different dynamic,” she said. “I’m pretty much going to do it my way. I’m just going to play the songs the way I played them before, and then, obviously, Alice adds the new stuff he wants me to add. Because I’m an artist, I don’t copy anything.”

Orianthi even had to play some Jenga with her schedule to make the tour. Alas, it was for nought, and now Clarke will be in her place, and will play Cooper’s shows from January 31 through to February 16. Touch wood.

You can find full dates and ticket details at Alice Cooper.

Orianthi knows a thing or two about playing with Alice Cooper. She had previously joined The Godfather of Shock Rock's camp between 2011 and 2014, before passing the baton to Nita Strauss.

Now, just over a decade later, she’s returning to the fold to fill in for Strauss on next year’s Too Close For Comfort tour – a decision she sums up simply: “Alice is like family.”

“Working with him was such a blast, and it's such an honor. Alice is a legend,” she tells Guitar World. “I know the shows are going to be really fun. It's going to be just a whole different dynamic and sort of a change from Nita.”

The invitation came via an email that cut straight to the chase. “It basically said, ‘Hey, Alice would love for you to join him because Nita [Strauss] is busy.’

“I was like, ‘Absolutely.’ Well, actually, at first, I said, ‘I'm not sure because I have my own stuff going on right now with my tour.’ But we moved things around and made it work.”

With Orianthi on board, Alice Cooper fans can expect her to bring her blues-inflected playing to the table.

“I bring something really different to the band than Nita does. She brings rock and metal – which is awesome. She's an incredible player, like, the way she plays is different from me. I play more classic blues rock, so it's a different dynamic,” she explains.

“I'm pretty much going to do it my way. I'm just going to play the songs the way I played them before, and then, obviously, Alice adds the new stuff he wants me to add. Because I'm an artist, I don't copy anything.”

In other news, Orianthi recently revealed how her new signature Orange amp drew inspiration from her meeting with Alexander Dumble.

Guitar World's full interview with Orianthi will be published in the next few weeks.

Back in 2022, Ibanez-wielding electric guitar virtuoso Nita Strauss left Alice Cooper's band after eight years with the shock-rock titan.

Though Strauss's future with Cooper was uncertain at the time – it was announced just days after her departure from the Cooper fold that she would be joining pop star Demi Lovato's live band – Strauss would join Cooper onstage for a one-off encore just three months after her departure, and subsequently re-join his band full-time the following year.

Now, it's been announced that Strauss will once again be taking a leave of absence from Cooper's band, and that one of her predecessors in the group, Orianthi, will be taking her place.

Orianthi toured with Cooper from 2011 through 2014, and will re-join the latter for a series of shows from late January through mid-February 2025.

“When Orianthi moved on to pursue her own career in 2014, we were lucky to find Nita,” Cooper said in a statement.

“Over the past decade, Nita, Chuck [Garric, Cooper's bassist], and Tommy [Henriksen, another one of Cooper's guitarists] have also launched their own projects, and we always try to coordinate our schedule so we can keep the band together, but these shows came up after Nita had already committed to another tour.

“So, I reached out to Orianthi, and thankfully she was available to jump back in, so we're all really looking forward to doing these shows with her. I’m so fortunate to always have such great musicians to work with.”

In the years since she left Cooper's band, Orianthi has kept plenty busy, releasing two studio albums – 2020's O and 2022's Rock Candy – and working on plenty of signature gear.

Orianthi's one of the rare guitarists with dual endorsements, having created a signature SJ-200 acoustic guitar with Gibson, while maintaining her longstanding relationship with PRS.

As if that wasn't enough, she's also created not one, but two, signature amps with Orange in the last three months – enough to make anyone feel lazy.

For a full list of tour dates, visit Alice Cooper’s website.

Rock ’n’ Roll Fantasy Camp has announced the line-up for its third annual Women-Only camp. 

This December’s camp will take place December 5-8, 2024 in Los Angeles and features Nancy Wilson (Heart), Sheila E. (Prince), Nita Strauss (Alice Cooper), Lita Ford (The Runaways), and Rhonda Smith (Jeff Beck). 

Attendees at the camp are placed in a band and coached by an all-star, all-female cohort of counselors, including Roxy Petrucci (Vixen), Eva Gardner (P!nk), Jennie Vee (Eagles of Death Metal), Julia Lage (Vixen), Jennifer Oberle (Sarah McLachlan), Britt Lightning (Vixen, Musical Director Rock n’ Roll Fantasy Camp, Vixen) and more.

Rock ’n’ Roll Fantasy Camp has been running since 1997, has been featured in The Simpsons, and is the subject of Rock Camp The Movie, a documentary streaming free on Amazon Prime.

This women-only camp is open to female instrumentalists and vocalists of all ages and playing levels. Over four days of camp, attendees are thrown into band rehearsals, jam sessions, masterclasses with rockstar counselors, Q&A sessions and cap off the experience by performing live at The Viper Room on the Sunset Strip.

Sponsored by Billboard, the camp will feature a panel of music executives led by Melinda Newman, Billboard’s Executive Editor.

For more info, head to RockCamp.com.

A new single fashioned from an unreleased Jason Becker demo has been released, and it assembles an astonishing collection of contemporary guitar giants.

We’re not joking, either: the new single features solos from an army of electric guitar heroes, including Nita Strauss, Chris Broderick, Lari Basilio, Joe Bonamassa, Steve Vai, Zakk Wylde, Jennifer Batten, Steve Lukather and Paul Gilbert.

We’re not done: there are also lead efforts from (breathe in) Gus G, Angel Vivaldi, Steve Stevens, Rob Scallon, Nili Brosh, Richie Kotzen, Marc Rizzo, Alex Skolnick, Phil Demmel, Marty Friedman, Jared Dines and Herman Li.

Titled Some Assembly Required, the concept of the seven-plus-minute track was first conceived by Strauss and Josh Villalta, both of whom were initially planning on working on a song for Strauss’ own album.

“However, as the idea materialized, we realized this could be a much bigger project and more importantly, have a bigger impact to help Jason raise awareness and funds,” Strauss says in a statement. “From there, it took on a life of its own.”

The pair landed on an old demo of Becker’s, which had originally been penned in the early 1990s and recorded with Matt and Gregg Bissonette, with the aim of becoming a track that could be used by David Lee Roth.

“It was a lot of fun. Dave passed on it. Cool, because now all these fantastic players get to jam on it,” Becker said in his own statement. “A few years ago, Nita and Josh came over to go through some of my unreleased music to see if they wanted to do some kind of collaboration.” 

Now, the demo has been injected with a new high-octane lease on life, and has been revived to host an all-star guitar jam that will help raise awareness and funds for the Jason Becker Special Needs Trust.

Becker was diagnosed with ALS in 1989, and money raised through donations to the Trust will help finance his on-going medical and care costs. In recent months, the necessity to raise funds to finance his bills forced him to part ways with the guitar that Eddie Van Halen gave to him during their emotional first meeting.

“We reached out to tons of Jason's friends and peers, from all genres and eras, and amassed an army of friends to trade solos on this track,” Strauss explained. “We left Jason's original demo solo where it was, where it shines to this day alongside so many of the players that love and look up to him.”

As put in an accompanying statement, the track is “an unforgettable, unmissable display of guitar mastery”. It’s jam-packed with solos that span styles, genres and techniques, from the sweep-laden effort from Broderick and dizzying blues-rock contributions from Bonamassa. 

Then there’s Brosh’s uber-melodic shred-laced solo, furious wah-tinged musings of Wylde and Strauss’ own legato-littered solo that, at one point, she performs one-handed while, erm, yo-yo-ing with the other.

But perhaps the highlight is Becker’s own solo, audio of which is played underneath footage of Becker shredding at various concerts from his early years.

“Man, what a gift!” said Becker, who was presented with the track during Christmas. “Not only from them, but from everyone involved. I am such a big fan of you all! Thank you all so very much.”

Visit Jason Becker's website to find out more and to support the cause.

When it was first announced that Joe Satriani would be getting the original G3 band back together for a 2024 tour, every electric guitar fan knew it would end up being one of the year’s most notable tours.

Following the triumphant first night in Tucson, Arizona, on January 23, Satch and his fellow G3 pioneers Steve Vai and Eric Johnson have since gone on to play in Las Vegas, Seattle, Salem and more, with a double-header at LA’s Orpheum Theatre last weekend capping off the 13-date stint around the US.

Along the way, the three virtuosos recruited a legion of A-list guest guitar players, all of whom joined the original G3 trio at various points across the tour itinerary for a series of all-star jams and cameos.

That roster included the likes of Nita Strauss, Vic Johnson and Doug Doppler, as well as Plini, Jason Richardson and, as part of a special one-off appearance, Satch’s son, ZZ Satriani.

And, thanks to the internet, footage from most of those guest spots have surfaced online, giving us a generous catalog of collabs from one of 2024’s best guitar tours.

For the penultimate show on the 9th, the trio tapped Strauss for a show-stopping cover of Jimi Hendrix’s Foxy Lady, for which they were also joined by Richardson. Richardson, who had also been on hand for a rendition of Going Down just before, wrote on Instagram: “Saying it was [an] honor to be up there is a wildly drastic understatement.”

It was also during the show on the 9th that Satch invited his son, ZZ, to the stage to perform Summer Song.

The day after, the G3 trailblazers revisited those two tracks once again to close out the ‘24 G3 tour, this time with the help of progressive mastermind Plini, session heavyweight Phil X and Dethklok's Brendon Small.

Plini, who shared Richardson’s sentiments, wrote on Instagram after, “Never would have even considered this a possible bucket list item to tick off. Thank you for having me G3.”

Earlier in the tour, Satch and co shared the stage with Vic Johnson and Doug Doppler, both of whom donned Satriani's Ibanez guitars and lent their skills to those tried-and-trusted guest-spot songs of Foxy Lady and Going Down.

“Our show in Oakland was strong and the audience was just off the hook,” Vai wrote on Instagram after the performance. “We were joined by great players @vicjohnson77 and @dougdopplermusic for the jam. It was nice to feel those other players on stage and watch them tear it up so beautifully. 

“Doug is an ol’ friend that I’ve known since the early days of my arrival in Los Angeles in the 80’s. Besides being a key component to the oversight and success of the Vai Academy camps, he’s a powerful player. Check out his “Nu Instrumental” record.”

In response, Doppler replied, “Your releasing Nu Instrumental on Favored Nations opened door after door in my career. I was, am, and always will be eternally grateful to have known you and had the privilege of hearing and seeing you change the world – and me.”

Sammy Hagar was also brought out for one of the January shows, once again helping Satch, Vai and Johnson through Foxy Lady.

As far as list of guest stars go, the G3 2024 tour delivered in spades, delivering diverse displays of cross-genre and boundary-bending fretboard team ups. Strauss trading licks with Richardson, as well as the tour's OG members, made for an especially notable highlight.

The action doesn't stop here for Satriani and his peers, though. As previously announced, Satch and Vai will be hitting the road together again later this year for their own tour, while Satriani will also team up with Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony and Jason Bonham for The Best of All Worlds tour.

Head over to Joe Satriani's website to find out more.

In her solo work, American guitarist Nita Strauss is modern-voiced and metal-influenced in execution and production. But as a member of Alice Cooper’s band, cranking out classic rock hits with all the blues-based riffs and pentatonic solos that entails, it’s only natural that Nita has a deep appreciation for Jimmy Page’s work in Led Zeppelin and everything he has done to evolve guitar playing…

When you hear the name Jimmy Page, what is the first thing that comes to mind?

“The first thing I think of when I hear that name is ‘innovator’. On guitar there are so many things that one person did first and a lot of the time that person is Jimmy Page. 

“Whether it’s the crazy bow technique that he occasionally used or those really interesting song arrangements that deviated from your traditional verse/chorus/verse/chorus/solo/out. He pioneered ‘being different’ really early on for us guitar players.”

Is there a favorite Page riff for you?

“It’s hard to pick just one, but I guess there’s a reason why Whole Lotta Love is the classic. Actually, if I remember correctly, they even asked me to play that song as part of my audition for the Alice Cooper band! 

“It’s such a classic straightforward riff that every guitarist can appreciate and play – it doesn’t matter if you’re a beginner or very advanced, you will be able to sit down and play that riff as well as really enjoy it.”

Another thing every guitar player loves about that song is the break roughly three minutes in, where the rest of the band cut out and Jimmy is given space to conjure up some E blues magic!

“Exactly! Every time I hear a band doing that, I know exactly where it came from. Let’s give credit where it’s due!”

Jimmy is a very free and fluid guitar player when it comes to time – you get the impression he was making it all up as he went along and feeling the moment, instead of premeditating every note and fitting it all to grid, so to speak…

“For sure. I almost think if a modern player delivered a Jimmy Page solo, they’d get crucified. People would be saying the bends are out of key or this note doesn’t fit in or blah, blah, blah. But whatever he comes out with, Jimmy always makes it work. 

“He’s showed us what we play doesn’t always have to be perfectly time-coded or on the grid, the bends can go a little sharp, the vibrato can be a little erratic and that can work even better that perfectly executed and punched-in stuff. He’s organic and real… there’s all that feel in what he comes out with because he plays from the heart not the head.”

As well as straight pentatonic ideas, he knows when to incorporate more modal notes: whether it’s the Mixolydian major 3rd, the Dorian major 6th or the Aeolian minor 6th – the latter, of course, contributing greatly to the sober feel in the blues number Since I’ve Been Loving You…

“A lot of the time I get the impression he was learning the rules so he could break them. He’d have the theoretic arsenal to know what songs called for. 

“But he also went beyond that – he didn’t feel like he could only use certain scales depending on the key. He had a modal sensibility that he’d explore in the right sections and he also knew when not to lean on it too much and stick to the blues.”

He was also able to distance himself from his instrument when looking at the music as a songwriter, arranger or producer – which is rare for a guitar player!

“Definitely. It’s not out of the normal for guitar players to think, ‘How can I make this song more about me?!’ and turn everything they play into a solo project. Jimmy Page is all about the song.”

• Nita Strauss’ latest album The Call of the Void is out now.

This year is not like any other. The response to the 2023 greatest guitar solo poll nigh-on overwhelmed the administration at Guitar World. It was a record turnout, and once we collated the votes, and our editors meticulously weighed up each solo’s melodicism, influence and technical prowess, we had a truly formidable top 10 on our hands.

The number one spot will come as no surprise. This was the year that gave us this decade’s Heartbreaker, its Eruption. We might all debate the guitar solo’s place in composition, the form it should take and whether it is even necessary in the first place, but it’s not going anywhere.

The solo will outlive us all, and this top 10 presents documentary evidence that the solo is ever-evolving – that at its best it can tell a story, give us a sense of spectacle, and even offer a window into a player’s soul. And if it sets your head on fire, then all the better.

10. Towa Bird – Boomerang

TikTok’s Towa Bird is just going to have to savor the irony in charting in the top 10 guitar solos of 2023 having already declared on this very website that they are “arrogant”. But then art is all about contradictions and subverting expectations, and if you’re the sort of player who discovered the guitar then mainlined Jimi Hendrix’s recorded output, then how could you deny yourself the pleasure of a few bars on the treble clef to cut loose?

Speaking to Guitar World in June, Bird said Boomerang’s solo had to “feel like a conversation”, and you can hear that in the phrasing – it’s inviting a response. Tone-wise, Boomerang is awesome, and should be a surprise to no one that a TikTok star should make use of plugins to dial in an electric guitar sound.

“Being able to do that in the box is really helpful,” said Bird. “Throwing things into different rooms, playing it on two different guitars and then having two different distortions or fuzzes was just so fun.”

9. Big Wreck – Hangers On

Ian Thornley was never going to wake up one morning and find Mike Varney’s face pressed up against his window with a big fat contract to draft him onto the Shrapnel roster. That’s not his game. But that is not to say that he is not a formidable lead guitar player, whose solos are often essential to his songwriting, an opportunity to say what he wanted to say in verse but perhaps couldn’t find the words. 

That’s when you can let the guitar say what you couldn’t, and this solo – teased out, sparse but not minimalist – has an elliptical quality, an air of Peter Green about it. Not that it is blues, but rather that it is phrased with all due care and attention as it should be.

8. Angel Vivaldi – Six

If you’ve heard the name but have yet to experience what he sounds like on record, then Angel Vivaldi’s Six is the perfect introduction to his talents. It’s not as though it is the quintessence of his output. Vivaldi’s protean appetites have taken him all over the map, dabbling in all kinds of genres. But it’s as good as DNA and dental records for identifying the marvel with the Charvel: his style, how he addresses the electric guitar, note choice, intonation, pressure on the strings and melodic disposition. 

“Six is the truest song from a compositional, arrangement and melodic sense,” he told GW. “It’s the one that best shows my ‘signature sound,’ as they say.”

It’s fusion, rock through the blender, a melodic arc that’s a pure flight of fancy. This is the sort of thing that might come of a fever dream after spending all night night woodshedding on Joe Pinnavaia’s Truefire course with nothing but strong cheese and crackers for sustenance.

7. Matteo Mancuso – Silkroad

It’s not, ‘How can Matteo Mancuso play all of this fingerstyle?’ It’s a case of fingerstyle making all of this possible, allowing Mancuso to apply classical guitar techniques to rock and take the instrument into uncharted territory.

It’s early days but let’s be bold and call it now: Mancuso is a generational talent. The amiable Sicilian has made an audacious debut with The Journey, and Silkroad, its opening track, is a product of his adventurous musical appetites, dedication to practice and application.

The lion’s share of The Journey was performed on a Yamaha Revstar, but on Silkroad you’re hearing a Pacifica, and like the physical Silk Road, this connects cultures, a fusion of east and west, a taste of something fresh on the palate that we have never experienced before. Suggested wine pairing: Frank Cornelissian Susucaru rosato, served chilled.

6. Nita Strauss – Surfacing (feat. Marty Friedman)

The undisputed shred heavyweight collab of the year lived up to the hype. Even for Hurricane Nita, who plays with Alice Cooper, has played with Demi Lovato, and can play most of us under the table, this was a moment where it came full-circle.

Strauss is not the first to have pored over Friedman’s Exotic Metal Guitar DVD for insight but few of us get the opportunity to send a track by way of the G.O.A.T. and engage in some back and forth for – arguably – the instrumental rock guitar track of the year.

Strauss says the experience taught her a lot about telling a story with the instrument, note choice and how to make melodies pop out. It made her a better player.

“This collaboration was such an education for me, as a sort-of young guitar player at the foot of the master!” she said. “The first metal song I ever heard had Marty playing guitar on it. We fleshed out the whole concept together. I sent him some riffs and then he sent back this crazy song with his own ideas.”

5. Avenged Sevenfold – Nobody

If the riff to Nobody was so simple it almost sounded like the push-button drone of a synth, then Synyster Gates' efflorescence of sweep-picked arpeggios offers a complex counterpoint, the audio equivalent of pairing a child’s crayon drawing of a donkey with a machine-learning algorithm. And it totally works, closing out the track with a masterclass in lead guitar as narrative device.

This virtuosity is a signature move of Synyster Gates, and is such that we have come to expect it. But sometimes you’ve got to sit back and admire it, to appreciate anew. Just imagine if this was your very first song you wanted to learn on guitar – to the exclusion of all other songs – the length of time it would take between learning the riff and the solo. Well, it could take years, maybe never.

4. Queens of the Stone Age – Paper Machete

That players spend so long trying to sound like Queens of the Stone Age, picking up fuzz pedals, overdrives, taking solid-state practice amps out of cold storage is all well and good. It’s good, healthy tone-seeking fun. But just so long as we all don’t underestimate how difficult it is to actually play like them. Y’know, that’s the important bit. 

As with Josh Homme and Troy Van Leeuwen’s tone, so it is with their arrangements, with riffs you’ve got to count, informing a groove you have to somehow innately feel, and then you’ve got solos like TVL’s here that are as good as copy-protected. 

Van Leeuwen’s phrasing makes it sound as though it has been made up on the spot, a work of high-flying studio improv, but the note choices are all on point, in dialog with the tricksy melody, and tonally… Well, give it some neck pickup and a Univox Super-Fuzz and see how you go.

3. Red Devil Vortex – More Luck Than Brains

Red Devil Vortex sound like they are named after some energy drink that had to be removed off the market for our cardiovascular integrity’s sake, and listening to More Luck Than Brains and then trying to get those pull-offs just right on the seven-string guitar, tricksy tapping and all, might similarly give you palpitations. 

Luís Kalil’s solo starts with the difficulty set to hard before taking it to advanced/expert, stepping on the Whammy for squeal-good kicks and sending us out to the hotdog stand with that ridiculously adroit legato style of his.

Watching the playthrough vid that the Brazilian virtuoso shot, we were taken by that signature reverse tapping move – a little theater goes a long way – but also a cleanliness next to godliness when it comes to those pull-offs to open strings. Check it out and see if you can play it. Just remember to breathe.

2. Mammoth WVH – Take a Bow

In any other year, this would have to take number one spot. Take a Bow is a solo that has everything and then some, and it is the ‘then some’ that is remarkable – the legend, the history that brought us here.

Because this is a solo brought to you courtesy of rock guitar’s Excalibur, the Frankenstein MacGuyver’d into being by Eddie Van Halen, and his son, Wolfgang. It is a solo that gives you the impression that two-handed tapping was taught at the dinner table between main course and dessert, or that it runs in the family.

But, of course, there were no tapping lessons at the Van Halen dinner table; there was conversation like any other family. Of course these skills don’t run in the family; they are developed over the years. They are a creative choice. 

And while it might be a no-brainer that WVH should use EVH’s gear in the studio, it’s Wolfgang’s daring creative choice to deploy these tapping skills on a track that’s as epic and ambitious as anything he has written.

Given the context, the weight of history, that makes it all the more gutsy and poignant. Oh, and it’s just nice to hear that guitar in action again. Take a Bow is a real gift to Mammoth WVH’s audience, and to his father’s.

1. Extreme – Rise

The moment Rise hit YouTube, announcing Extreme’s then forthcoming studio album, Six, after 15 long years, Nuno Bettencourt’s phone lit up with messages from his peers. Legends like Steve Lukather and Brian May got in touch with him.

The messages were thank yous – a bit odd, but the penny soon dropped. They were thanking Bettencourt for bringing back an art that was lost, not just the act of a guitar solo – they’ve always been here, always will be – but the art of performing them.

That was what made the difference, said Bettencourt. It was the presentation. There is a case to be made that Rise isn’t necessarily the best solo on the album. There is an abundance of audacity on Six, the sound of Bettencourt on a tear and in the form of his life. But seeing him perform it, evidence before our very eyes that it wasn’t punched in or trickery we were hearing, made it all the more visceral.

As guitar solos go, this is a nuclear strike, a supernova. This is the guitar solo as pop-cultural event, as though the excitement of a sold-out stadium rock show could be harvested, reconfigured and reappropriated for 55 seconds of God-level shredding.

Shredding is an inadequate word but it’s what we’ve got. Best solo of 2023? Best solo of the 21st century so far, from rock guitar’s most imaginative, most effervescent lead stylist.

This article is part of GuitarWorld.com's series of interviews and features with artists addressing and raising awareness around themes of mental health, particularly as they relate to musicians.

It’s been said that “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step” (Lao Tzu). For Nita Strauss, that step took place in September 2015. Strauss is approaching eight years of sobriety from alcohol – a journey that is, in many ways, reflected on her new album, The Call of the Void. “It’s not a recovery album,” she says, “but there’s a lot of recovery messaging in it because it’s what I think about a lot.”

Last year, Strauss spent six months on the road with Demi Lovato, a move that created media headlines and, of course, heated debates in accompanying comment sections. What many do not realize, however, is the significance of that musical and personal partnership in Strauss’s recovery.

“It was an incredible experience because it was my first time on a tour that prioritized sobriety,” she says. “All the other tours I’ve been on have been respectful of people who don’t partake, but it’s still around all the time. It was such a healthy experience being on a tour that didn’t have alcohol backstage. It wasn’t a dry tour; people could go out and partake at their leisure if they wanted to, but not in the dressing rooms or areas where Demi and the band were going to be. There were a lot of sober people on that tour and a lot of people in recovery to talk to.

“Demi has been a huge ally on my journey. When I was recovering from knee surgery [in December 2022/January 2023], I had to take pain pills for a few days. Demi was the first person to reach out and ask how I was feeling, and whether I was triggered in any way or needed anything. That struck me as incredible, because she’s one of the biggest stars in the world, and she took the time to reach out to one of her band members, check in, and make sure my recovery was doing okay.”

In an interview with Soundsphere Magazine, you shared that you struggle with anxiety.

“Yes, absolutely. I am a chronic over-thinker, and it’s been very difficult to manage my own expectations of what needs to be done, especially on the road. A lot of people are depending on me for this tour to go well – my band, the crew – and I have a new album. There’s a lot of pressure on me, and for somebody who already struggles with anxiety, that added pressure is not helpful.”

How does playing guitar help you cope?

“Guitar is therapeutic. I have always been not the most social person. As a kid, I had a hard time making friends. I found that when I picked up the guitar, it was a universal way to communicate where I didn’t have to worry about being cool. I didn’t have to worry about what people were going to think. All that came later, when I started getting more well known! 

“But when I first started playing, it was a healthy way to communicate and make friends. I could go out and kill it onstage and I didn’t have to worry about anything else at that moment. I could just let loose and enjoy playing. 

“When I’m playing, I’m not worrying about interviews, album numbers, if an email got sent out, if a T-shirt order was placed, or any of the day-to-day things that come with being a musician that are constantly circling around in my mind. All I’m focusing on is the show and my playing and if the audience is having a good time. That, to me, is the best therapy in the world.”

You were on tour during your first year of sobriety. How important was music in getting you through those initial months?

“It was incredibly important. If I was going to make this huge lifestyle change, this sacrifice – I thought of it as a sacrifice at the time – I wanted to become my best and highest-functioning self in the process. I started working out a lot, getting more muscle, losing body fat that came from all the alcohol I was consuming. I was getting better physically, I was getting stronger mentally, and I was playing at my highest level ever at that time. I was improving in leaps and bounds because my mind was clear, my fingers were calm, there were no jitters or shakes, and no hungover, sluggish feeling, so I was firing on all cylinders.”

How soon into recovery did you notice a difference in your playing? 

“Immediately. I used to think it was fun to go onstage inebriated. I treated it like a video game, like it wasn’t even real. I would get off stage, and if I made mistakes, I treated it like a joke – 'Oh my God, I was so hammered! Did you see where I slipped and fell?' Or 'I made this mistake, I totally missed this part, ha ha ha.' Looking back, my God, how unprofessional! 

“It was kind of fine at the time, especially pre-Alice Cooper, touring with club bands. The audience was three sheets to the wind as well, and we all had a good time together. It was never to the point where it got me in trouble, but now, looking back, the level of disrespect for my audience, the people who paid good money to come and see me – I wish I had given them the show I give them now.”

What was your lowest point?

“When I was using drugs. I’ve been sober from drugs a lot longer than I’ve been sober from alcohol. When I was at my highest level of using, it was all day, every day, for a couple of years. That was a dark, dark time in my life. When I look back at old pictures, I see a haunted shell of who I am now, and I am very grateful to have gotten out of that relatively unscathed. 

“It took me a long time to get over it because I was super-high-functioning. I was touring at a very high level, playing at a high level, going overseas with bands for the first time, and keeping this terrible secret. My band didn’t know, my boyfriend at the time didn’t know, only my friends that I used with knew. Being out of that for many years now gives me the mental clarity to realize how much it affected me at that time.”

How has recovery impacted your role as an inspiration for fans, particularly young women who play or want to play guitar, and of course fans who are also in recovery?

“I wish that people understood what a motivator it is for me to hear their stories. Every time someone comes up to me and says my story has been a part of their recovery, it gives me more strength and solidarity in my own recovery. 

“It’s still not easy for me. I’m on a tour right now where I’m the only sober person and there are times… we had a hard show one night and afterward I said, 'Honestly, I really want to have a beer right now.' It would have been nice to be able to have that to relax and unwind after a hard day. 

“So hearing other people’s experiences, hearing them say, 'Because you got sober on tour and you’re maintaining your sobriety on the road, I feel like I can do it too,' gives me that added motivation. I might even be able to let myself down, but I would never let those people down, and because of that, it helps me stay strong in my recovery.”

In your interview with Recovery Today, you discussed the stigmas that women in the music industry still face. There are also stigmas surrounding addiction and recovery. Would you mind addressing that?

“You are very right. Everybody’s recovery is their own, everybody’s journey is their own, no two journeys are exactly the same. Even if you are not an addict, you know somebody who is, or it has affected your life in some way. 

“It’s important, if you are on this path, to give yourself grace to walk at your own pace. If there is someone in your life who is on this journey, you also have to allow them to walk this path at their own pace, because things that trigger some people might not trigger others, and things that don’t seem like a big deal to one person might be a big deal to someone else. 

“So, as you navigate whatever path you’re on, make sure to give grace, kindness, and empathy to the people around you and also to yourself, because we’re all figuring it out together.”

• The Call Of The Void is out now via Sumerian.

Resources

• MusiCares
• Recovery Unplugged
• Backline
• SAFE Project
• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
• Jewish Addiction Awareness Network
• Alcoholics Anonymous
• Recovery Connection
• The Phoenix

It’s been a rollercoaster couple of years for Nita Strauss. In October 2021, she topped the American rock charts with Dead Inside, which saw her team up with Disturbed vocalist David Draiman. Last summer, the American guitarist – who made history in 2018 as Ibanez’s first female signature artist – left her position in the Alice Cooper band to join forces with pop star Demi Lovato. And now, having toured again with Alice, she returns with her long-awaited second solo album, The Call Of The Void. 

While the predecessor, 2018’s Controlled Chaos, was a completely instrumental affair, her latest venture sees her going the other way with more vocal-led tracks, including features with Alissa White-Gluz (Arch Enemy), Anders Fridén (In Flames) and even Alice Cooper himself. So what made her decide to switch things up?

“It started out as one or two collaborations and then it just snowballed,” Nita says. “I guess it just evolved that way. At one point my label said, ‘Why not just release two separate albums?’ But I felt it would end up giving more attention to the one with all the features and radio songs. The instrumentals, which are what I mainly love and want to do, would have fallen by the wayside.

“I worked very hard to make the album I wanted to make. My label were very supportive. They signed me as an instrumental solo artist with no inclination that I’d give them a song like Dead Inside, which ended up being a number one song. They even suggested doing the first half instrumental and the second with vocals, or vice versa, and I said, ‘No, because I want to lay it out in a certain way and tell a story’. They listened and it ended up exactly how it should be…”

Talking to TG from her home studio, Nita discusses the key tracks on the album and the creative process behind them…

The opening track, Summer Storm, builds very quickly from downtuned clean guitars to neoclassical harmonised leads and then triplet riffing…

“It was partly inspired by the first song on DragonForce’s Sonic Firestorm album, which is called My Spirit Will Go On. It does this thing where it builds and builds, starting off with a clean guitar and going from there. I love songs that do that. Funnily enough, Summer Storm wasn’t necessarily written to be the first track on the record but it came out so cool I felt it could be my version of that DragonForce opener.”

There are parts of your solo that utilise two-string ‘mini sweeps’ – which can help cover a lot of melodic distance very quickly without going into full arpeggio mode…

“I picked that stuff up from Yngwie Malmsteen, probably when I was learning his Rising Force solo. I can do the three- and five-string sweeps in different positions, but there’s something extra cool about those little ones. I like it that you call them mini sweeps, because that’s what they are! 

“They’re so easy to throw in and very playable live too, which is key. It’s easy to sit in the studio and do these gigantic stretches but it’s different when you’ve got to go on tour and play that shit! I want to write things I can execute well on stage. It’s okay to go a little further, sure, but you can’t go too far!”

What’s your best tip for making these sweeps sound so effortless?

“It’s all about starting off slowly and cleanly. Then you start doing it a little less slowly and keep going from there – don’t think ‘fast’ in terms of how you imagine it, think ‘less slow’ every time you slightly increase the tempo. That’s the only way you can get fast and still sound very clean. It’s very painstaking. Honestly, getting good at sweep picking for me was like rolling a heavy ball up a steep hill. It has to be baby steps, one bit at a time.”

You’ve always described yourself as more of a legato player, but judging from some of the alternate picking runs on the opening track, you’ve really been working on your right hand.

“I still don’t think of myself as a good alternate picker! It’s never been a strong point. I don’t know if there was one particular exercise that helped. I just knew I wanted to approach this record as a more rounded player. I took more time with it, too. 

“I made Controlled Chaos in three months. This one took three years, from a very different perspective in terms of how I played, having vocalists, working with outside writers to help me understand the subtleties and nuances of creating radio songs that are completely different to the shred stuff I’m known for.”

Maybe some of Paul Gilbert’s legendary exercises came in handy though, right?

“You know, there’s a fast alternate lick in that first verse that I probably lifted from his parts in Racer X’s Technical Difficulties! It definitely has that Paul Gilbert vibe to it. I wasn’t sat there trying to copy anything but I guess you’re right… there were definitely a lot of Paul Gilbert exercises happening in my house over quarantine!”

The solo in Digital Bullets has some wide interval taps that are almost keyboard-like.

“Yeah, they are quite wide! I have to put my guitar on my knees for that one! That song was a co-write with Johnny Andrews, who has worked with Motionless In White, Halestorm and others. It was my first time working with an outside writer. I’d done co-writes for other people but never for myself. He asked what made me angry and I said, ‘All these motherfuckers on the Internet who tell everybody else how to live their lives but don’t have any real-world experience!’ 

“Like all the detractors from the Demi Lovato thing last year… They’re not actual musicians working in the industry. They’re just keyboard warriors, firing digital bullets from behind a screen but never being strong enough to say those things to someone’s face. Crafting this song and solo was a big ‘Fuck you’ to all the haters. I think it was Johnny who said, ‘Why don’t you have an Eruption moment as a big middle finger to these people?’ So I came up with that!” 

You generally tend to stick with your Ibanez Jiva signature guitars and either Marshall amps or Boss multi-effects when you play live. What are we hearing on this album?

“I would say 85 per cent of the record was done with the original JivaX, which came out in 2020. When I was designing the range, versatility was the first thing in my mind. When I used to go to the studio as a younger player, I would bring this guitar for that and another for something else. It’s like you’d need a Les Paul for rhythms, your Ibanez for leads, an acoustic for cleans and so on.

“And I wanted to bring just one instrument that could do everything. The Jiva, for me, is that guitar. I worked closely with Larry DiMarzio on the Pandemonium pickups, which are a huge part of the sound. The African mahogany body rings so true, especially because the Pandemonium pickups are really hot. But if you split the coils, it can sound so clean. And the ebony fretboard makes your fingers feel like they are just bouncing right off it.”

So what are the other guitars we are hearing and what did you put them through? 

“The other 15 per cent was done using an RG with an EverTune bridge, which was great for the lower rhythms. If you’re in drop C, it’s very easy to throw the string a little out of tune if you’re picking hard – and I chose to pick some of the riffs really hard.

“There’s also a little bit of seven-string, like on the Alice Cooper track Winner Takes All, and layered into some other tracks. Using digital gear made it really straightforward going back and forth between different studios. I used the Archetype: Tim Henson by Neural DSP and, of course, the Gojira plugin because everyone loves that. The rest was done using my Kemper live tones, which has all my Marshalls profiled into it.”

Shred legend and former Megadeth star Marty Friedman guests on the grand finale, Surfacing. What did you learn from working with him?

“Talk about a storyteller! I’ve learned so much from Marty over the years. He knows what he wants. This collaboration was such an education for me, as a sort-of young guitar player at the foot of the master! The first metal song I ever heard had Marty playing guitar on it. We fleshed out the whole concept together. 

“I sent him some riffs and then he sent back this crazy song with his own ideas. Funnily enough, there was a quote I read from him recently which said something like, ‘Nita’s not afraid of a little hard work!’ referring to how this song went back and forth. I wanted him to critique me…”

And what kind of advice did he give you, exactly? 

“He would tell me how I could make melodies better and what notes I should use instead of the ones I’d initially chosen. I came out the other side a better player. He sent pages of detailed notes and through him I learned you have to know what your story is and what you’re trying to say or convey. Pick phrases that help tell the story. Resist the temptation to use your songs to show off your fastest licks. 

“It’s about the message of the music rather than a bunch of notes you can play fast one after another. I had Marty’s Exotic Metal Guitar instructional DVD growing up. Honestly, I learned so much from that – as well as John Petrucci’s Rock Discipline, Yngwie’s Play Loud or Frank Gambale’s Modes: No More Mystery… which is how I learned you can go from A natural minor to G Mixolydian or C Ionian and move between those shapes. 

“It’s just a case of taking a little walk down the neck through the different modes of the same scale. That’s when the whole fretboard opened up for me. All of these greats shaped what us guitar players do now!”

• The Call Of The Void is out now via Sumerian.

Two young electric guitar stars adorned the cover of Guitar World's January 2023 issue (which looked at 2022's most impactful guitar-related news and players): Wolfgang Van Halen and Nita Strauss.

Now, Van Halen and Strauss are primed to hit the road together. The former's band, Mammoth WVH, will headline a number of North American shows in November and December, for which Strauss and her own band will serve as the opener.

Strauss, for one, is fresh off the release of her long-anticipated sophomore solo effort, The Call Of The Void. Highlighted by collaborations with David Draiman, Alice Cooper, Marty Friedman, and Arch Enemy’s Alissa White-Gluz, the LP also features a notable “Eruption moment” in the form of the hater-battling shred-fest, Digital Bullets.

Van Halen and Mammoth WVH, meanwhile, are prepping for the release of their sophomore effort, Mammoth II. Though not slated to be unleashed on the listening public until August, the LP has been prefaced by an impressive run of singles, including Take a Bow, which features Eddie Van Halen's original Frankenstein guitar and original Marshall amp rig.

“It’s an absolute honor to announce that we’ll be joining the incredible Wolfgang Van Halen and Mammoth WVH on this run to finish out the year,“ Strauss wrote on Instagram today (July 17). “See ya on the road!“

The Mammoth WVH/Nita Strauss tour will criss-cross the continent this fall and early winter – starting with a November 4 show at The Rave in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and closing out with a December 9 gig at The Belasco in Los Angeles. You can see a full list of tour dates below.

For tickets and more info on the tour, visit Mammoth WVH.

Mammoth WVH/Nita Strauss 2023 Tour:

11.4.23 – Milwaukee, WI - The Rave 
11.5.23 – Minneapolis, MN - First Ave
11.7.23 – Columbus, OH - The Bluestone
11.9.23 – Chicago, IL - The Vic Theatre
11.11.23 – Grand Rapids, MI - Elevation at The Intersection
11.13.23 – Toronto, ON - Danforth Music Hall
11.14.23 – Montreal, QC - Theatre Beanfield 
11.15.23 – Boston, MA - Big Night Live
11.17.23 – Sayreville, NJ - Starland Ballroom
11.18.23 – Glenside, PA - Keswick Theatre
11.19.23 – Baltimore, MD - Rams Head Live
11.21.23 – Atlanta, GA - Buckhead Theater
11.22.23 – Lake Buena Vista, FL - House of Blues
11.24.23 – Houston, TX - Warehouse Live Ballroom
11.25.23 – Dallas, TX - The Factory in Deep Ellum
11.26.23 – Austin, TX - Emo’s
11.28.23 – Denver, CO - Gothic Theatre 
11.29.23 – Salt Lake City, UT - The Depot 
11.30.23 – Boise, ID - Knitting Factory
12.2.23 – Spokane, WA - Knitting Factory
12.3.23 – Seattle, WA - The Showbox
12.4.23 – Portland, OR - Roseland Theater 
12.7.23 – San Diego, CA - House of Blues 
12.8.23 – Las Vegas, NV - House of Blues
12.9.23 – Los Angeles, CA - The Belasco

Hello, and welcome to a new Spotify playlist-embiggened Essential Guitar Tracks. As you may well know, every seven days (or thereabouts), we endeavor to bring you a selection of songs from across the guitar universe, all with one thing in common: our favorite instrument plays a starring role.

Our goal is to give you an overview of the biggest tracks, our editor’s picks and anything you may have missed. We’re pushing horizons and taking you out of your comfort zone – because, as guitarists, that’s something we should all be striving for in our playing. 

So, here are our highlights from the past seven days – now with a Spotify playlist (scroll to the bottom for the latest additions).

KK's Priest – One More Shot at Glory

Grizzly guitars and visceral passages absolutely dripping in distortion headline the latest single from K.K Downing's post-Judas Priest project. The riffs fly at you at breakneck speed, the harmonized guitar solos are as sweet as they come, and those shreds will most certainly singe an eyebrow or two along the way. (MO)

Nita Strauss – Digital Bullets

We knew that Digital Bullets was going to be special as soon as Strauss started throwing around phrases like “Eruption moment” and “a big 'fuck you' to the haters.” Her metalcore turn with Chris Motionless is her response to online trolling in the face of the Demi Lovato gig and features – at least, in the case of the video – a quite literally electrifying tap-heavy solo. (MP)

Dirty Honey – Won't Take Me Alive

We've been waiting for a new Guns N' Roses album for a long, loooong time, but if your thirst for that particular vein of slippery, biker bar fretwork has become unbearable, fear not, for ye shall be quenched by Dirty Honey's explosive new tune, Won't Take Me Alive. John Notto brings the satisfying six-string sleaze so convincingly in this single's riff (which a colleague of mine accurately described as “stonking“) that Slash'll surely be looking in his rear-view mirror... (JM)

The Dust Coda – Come the Night

Through razor riffs, crunchy guitars and acoustic-driven verses, The Dust Coda – fresh from supporting Guns N’ Roses – have served up a powerful tribute to the late Taylor Hawkins. Come The Night isn’t just a Really Good Classic Rock Song, it’s also a dedication to those affected most by the loss of Hawkins, as well as a soaring sonic memorial of the man himself. (MO)

Lauran Hibberd – Honda Civic

It’s the simple things in life that are often the most satisfying: in this case, a crackling distortion, an axe to grind with a self-satisfied ex-boyfriend and a monstrous four chord riff that luxuriates in its space. For some reason, hanging for another half-beat on that fourth bar just makes it extra headbang-y. (MP)

Teenage Fanclub – Tired Of Being Alone

30+ years on and Teenage Fanclub are still delivering spangled, sophisticated alt-pop gems at a remarkably consistent rate. Though they're certainly not the first band that comes to mind when you hear the words 'guitar solo', the one that highlights their new single, Tired Of Being Alone, is an understated gem that'll earn a 10 even from the Soviet judges in the melody and vibrato categories. (JM)

Curling – Hi-Elixir

Pan-Pacific duo Curling’s new album is named No Guitar – an ode to their short-lived mission statement to record without six-strings. “It lasted 30 minutes,” reports guitarist Bernie Gelman. Praise be. (MP)

Ida Mae – Lost On Your Time 

Rootsy acoustics and a plodding double bass prop up Lost On Your Time – the latest single to arrive from the British indie rock pair, who have taken a deeper dive into their folk roots this time out. It’s a stunning piece of music, and those glass-like open tuning progressions are oh-so sweet. (MO)

Benét – Insensitive

This wobbles enticingly between classic rock and indie pop, with a breezy abandon. Benét’s vocal hops in and out of the thudding bass and the washes of jangle and chime are neatly punctuated by Garrett Russ’s fuzz solo – reclaiming the Ibanez for indie kids in the process. (MP)

Maggot Heart – Looking Back At You

Maggot Heart’s Swedish guitarist and singer Linnéa Olsson has priors when it comes to angular anger, having played a key role in both Beastmilk and The Oath. The first taste of the trio’s new album, Hunger, takes no prisoners – it’s a thundering gut-punch that only catches its breath with a Hagstrom-powered, minor key guitar breakdown. (MP)

Metric – Just The Once 

Synths and disco strings might be the star attractions of the lead single from the Canadian indie vets' forthcoming Formentera II LP, but guitarist James Shaw puts in some killer rhythm work that – in the style of Nile Rodgers – bolsters the song's groove perfectly. (JM)

Nothing But Thieves – Tomorrow Is Closed

There's not much to say here other than Tomorrow Is Closed is prime Nothing But Thieves. They've brought their A-game for their new album Dead Club City, and if we had the space here we'd probably be putting every track on this playlist. (MO)

Also on this week’s playlist…

• AMAARA – Still
• Tash Sultana – Bitter Lovers (ft. BJ The Chicago Kid)
• ANOHNI and the Johnsons – Why Am I Alive Now?
• Hannah Georgas – Fake Happy

Nita Strauss has shared a video for her new track Digital Bullets. The song rails against online trolling and features a blistering metalcore vocal from Chris Motionless, plus a solo that Strauss has described as an “Eruption moment.”

Strauss explained in her recent Total Guitar interview that the song was inspired by her anger towards button-pushing keyboard warriors with no “real-life experience,” particularly those who took against her for accepting a role as Demi Lovato’s guitarist. 

“Crafting this song and solo was a big ‘fuck you’ to all the haters,” said Strauss. “I think it was Johnny [Andrews, co-writer] who said, ‘Why don’t you have an Eruption moment as a big middle finger to these people?’ So I came up with that!”

At the close of the track is a lead workout full of wide interval taps and synth-y, keyboard-like sounds, intended as an intentional parallel to the faceless, electronic forms of online trolls. 

Mostly, though, it’s about flipping the bird at haters with an excoriating guitar solo.

The animated clip sees Strauss and Motionless performing onstage before they are chased by trolls to a rooftop and left cornered. The musicians are then left with no option but to draw on Strauss’s lightning guitar powers, which are seemingly unleashed by the energizing force of face-melting shred.

The clip has arrived in tandem with Strauss’s long (long) – looooooong – awaited second solo album The Call Of The Void. The new record finally lands today, and has been preceded by a run of singles that began back in 2021 with the David Draiman collaboration, Dead Inside.

Strauss drew a line in the sand with that track from the off and, indeed, the new album is packed with heavyweight talents, including Alice Cooper, Marty Friedman, Arch Enemy’s Alissa White-Gluz, Dorothy, and In Flames’ Anders Fridén.

Now, after more than 18 months of teasers and singles, it’s finally dropped. Insert your own Hurricane Nita/landfall joke, as appropriate.

If you want to stream or order the new album, head to The Call Of The Void site. Meanwhile, you can read Strauss’s full interview with Total Guitar by picking up issue 373 over at Magazines Direct.

Nita Strauss says the guitar solo in new track Digital Bullets is “an Eruption moment” and “a big fuck you to all the haters” who came out of the woodwork following her appointment as Demi Lovato’s guitarist.

Strauss is interviewed in the new issue of Total Guitar for an in-depth discussion all about her forthcoming solo album, The Call Of The Void and took the opportunity to explain the motivation behind the (as yet unreleased) track.

The song features Chris Motionless on vocal duties and another Motionless in White associate – songwriter Johnny Andrews – as co-writer. 

“He asked what made me angry,” says Strauss of Andrews’ co-writing process. “And I said, ‘All these motherfuckers on the internet who tell everybody else how to live their lives but don’t have any real-world experience!’’

In the interview, the solo is described (somewhat appropriately) as having almost keyboard-like wide interval taps and Strauss says she felt compelled to address the trolling she received after she took on guitar duties with Demi Lovato. 

“All the detractors from the Demi Lovato thing last year,” continues Strauss. “They’re not actual musicians working in the industry. They’re just keyboard warriors, firing digital bullets from behind a screen but never being strong enough to say those things to someone’s face.

“Crafting this song and solo was a big ‘Fuck you’ to all the haters. I think it was Johnny who said, ‘Why don’t you have an Eruption moment as a big middle finger to these people?’ So I came up with that!”

It’s fair to say that Strauss has taken her time in preparing and releasing her second album. The first single from the new collection, Dead Inside featuring Disturbed’s David Draiman, arrived back in October 2021 (and has since broken four million views on YouTube alone). 

Admittedly, the Lovato gig looks to have slowed things down, but we’ve nonetheless had a masterfully hype-building drip-feed of new material, with a colorful selection of guest talent.

In addition to the debut single, there’s been the instrumental Summer Storm, The Golden Trail, which features In Flames’ Anders Fridén, The Wolf You Feed, featuring Arch Enemy’s Alissa White-Gluz and Winner Takes All, featuring Alice Cooper. 

That all said: an Eruption moment with wide interval taps powered by troll hate? We’re ready to hear that. And, given the album finally arrives in just a few days’ time (July 7), we won’t have to wait long...

To read Strauss’s full interview, in which she discusses The Call of the Void and working with a host of guest stars, pick up issue 373 of Total Guitar over at Magazines Direct.

Earlier this week, electric guitar virtuoso Nita Strauss kicked off a North American tour in support of her soon-to-be-released second solo album, The Call of the Void.

As one would expect, the Ibanez-wielding guitar hero's first couple setlists leaned heavily on the new album, and her 2018 solo debut, Controlled Chaos.

To round out her first couple of Summer Storm tour sets, though, Strauss – who has served high-profile stints as a six-string sidekick for both Demi Lovato and Alice Cooper – has been saluting one of her own guitar heroes, Dimebag Darrell, with a rousing cover of Pantera's groove metal/outlaw anthem, Cowboys From Hell.

You can watch Strauss perform the song with her band – which includes Kasey Karlsen on vocals – at the The Loft in Atlanta, Georgia earlier this week (June 14) below.

Armed with her Ibanez JIVAX2 'Ghost' signature guitar, Strauss generously shares the lead spotlight with her live guitarist, Johnny Young, before taking center stage.

A metal audience probably doesn't want to hear a 20-minute jazz-fusion take on Cowboys From Hell, and indeed Strauss doesn't stray too far from the iconic source material, though her sharp phrasing and ever-impressive technical acumen are on full display throughout the cover.

It's not the first time Strauss has channeled Dimebag's influence onstage, either. At the 2018 Sweetwater Gearfest, Strauss performed an emotionally charged version of another one of Pantera's trademark tunes, the hard-riffing Walk, in tribute to the band's drummer, Vinnie Paul, who passed away while the festival was occurring. 

Between the release of her new album, her ongoing solo tour, and her forthcoming dates with Alice Cooper – whose band she re-joined earlier this year after taking a temporary leave of absence to tour with Lovato – Strauss has one busy summer ahead of her.

The Call of the Void is set for a July 7 release via Sumerian Records. To preorder the album, and see all of the guitarist's forthcoming tour dates, visit Strauss's website.

Nita Strauss has revealed that she and Yvette Young traded signature guitar models, only to find that each of them struggled to play the other’s guitar.

The two guitarists come from different ends of the rock spectrum, but both have multiple signature models with Ibanez – namely, the JIVA series for Strauss and the Talman-based YY10 and YY20 for Young. 

Now, in a new interview with Ultimate Guitar [below, around 20.05], Strauss recalls a moment in which the virtuosos temporarily traded their instruments. 

“A couple years ago at NAMM, Yvette young and I had signature models come out on the same day,” explains Strauss. 

“We were both at an Ibanez event… and I said ‘Hey, can I play your guitar?’ and she's like, ‘Yeah – only if I can play your guitar!’ So we traded guitars and we noodle around on each other's guitar for a second and then we handed it back. 

“We were [both] like, ‘Oh no!’ The style was so different and the setup was so different and she was like, ‘I wouldn't even know how to play your guitar’, and I was like, ‘I wouldn't even know how to play your guitar!’”

Strauss says that despite the fact Young’s model felt so alien, the situation actually left her feeling very positive about the health of the guitar industry. 

“That was a really telling moment of how much innovation is happening in this instrument,” says Strauss. “You’d think, ‘Oh Nita and Yvette, both Ibanez girls. They must be pretty similar’, but we literally couldn't be more disparate musicians. So I just think it's so cool – it's such a cool time to be a guitar player right now.”

Strauss’s tale certainly says something about both players’ idiosyncratic designs, but also about the increasing diversity of Ibanez’s artist lineup, given such opposing talents are housed under the same brand.

It’s a pattern we’ve seen repeated elsewhere in recent years, where even the corporate might of a brand like Fender seems at home building signatures for the likes of Tash Sultana and Jim Root –  two artists that might otherwise seem to have little in common.

Perhaps it’s no surprise that Strauss struggled to adapt from her super-slick JIVA to Young’s YY10. The latter is based on Ibanez’s discontinued Talman model, with a matte neck and was likely tuned to Young’s preferred FACGBE. The Covet guitarist also insisted on a heavier string gauge on her signatures.

“I wanted to puts .12s or 13s on these but they were like, ‘That’s a little intense, people are going to be bleeding from their hands…’ So we compromised at .11s,” Young told Guitar World in 2020. 

“I wanted a heavier string gauge because for people doing fingerstyle, I find you get a better tapping tone when you have a heavier gauge string and it’s easier to bend things sharp or flat.”

Strauss had an equally well-defined checklist for her signature, as she told Guitar World last year.

“I already had all my dream specs in my head... I knew I wanted a mahogany body, a quilted maple top and an ebony fretboard,” says Strauss in the 2022 interview.

“I wanted a guitar that screamed 'me', and that’s what we got with the original JIVA 10… I only play my signature guitars, not just because I designed them, but because I feel I designed the perfect guitar for my playing style.”

Trading signatures with Young only seems to have cemented that point.

Hello, and welcome to a new Spotify playlist-embiggened Essential Guitar Tracks. As you may well know, every seven days (or thereabouts), we endeavor to bring you a selection of songs from across the guitar universe, all with one thing in common: our favorite instrument plays a starring role.

Our goal is to give you an overview of the biggest tracks, our editor’s picks and anything you may have missed. We’re pushing horizons and taking you out of your comfort zone – because, as guitarists, that’s something we should all be striving for in our playing. 

So, here are our highlights from the past seven days… now with a Spotify playlist (scroll to the bottom for the latest additions)!

Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck – Moon River

Thought to be one of the late Beck’s final studio recordings, this new take on the crooning classic lets his guitar do the talking. Perhaps it’s simply the context of Beck’s passing, but the guitarist’s signature whammy-riding Strat tone really tugs the heartstrings here. Indeed, even Clapton wisely keeps out of the way for the first minute and a half… (MP)

Nita Strauss – The Golden Trail

The latest single from the Ibanez signature shredder’s upcoming album, The Call of The Void, which marries Strauss’s scintillating riff work with the visceral vocals of In Flames frontman Anders Fridén. (MO)

Joe Bonamassa – I Want To Shout About It

The blues guitar king channels his soulful side on this Stratocaster, horns 'n' organ-powered new single. Of course, though, Bonamassa allows himself some fun – impressing with a celebratory solo and limber, fiery fills that demonstrate his impeccable phrasing and sense of timing. (JM)

RVG – Common Ground

The Melbourne indie-punks' new track was born from a “deep depression” and absolutely wears its heart on its sleeve. There’s a moody, melodic starkness that evokes Echo And The Bunnymen, drenched in a level of cavernous reverb that appropriately reflects the depths from whence it came. (MP)

Red Devil Vortex – More Luck Than Brains

Reverse tapping pioneer Luis Kalil returns with his band for one of 2023’s most explosive guitar tracks yet, tipping his hat to the likes of Eddie Van Halen, Randy Rhoads, Buckethead, and more with a fretboard masterclass of the highest order. (MO)

Blur – The Narcissist

The Narcissist – the lead single from Blur's first new LP in eight years, The Ballad of Darren – finds guitarist Graham Coxon doing what he's done impeccably for over 30 years now, serving Damon Albarn's affecting narratives with supple fretwork highlighted by his deft melodic touch and propulsive, memorable, and just-a-little-jagged riffs. (JM)

Bully – Change Your Mind

Alicia Bognanno’s grunge-y new cut is blessed with the sort of fat, fuzzy bassline that is so enveloping you want to fashion it into chunky knitwear. Admittedly, we’ve not yet figured out how to translate audio waveforms directly into trendy knit designs but we’re pretty sure that’s an Etsy goldmine waiting to happen. (MP)

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Gila Monster

King Gizzard turns metal?! That’s certainly the vibe we’re getting with Gila Monster, what with its Metallica-esque riffs, hypnotic guitar solos, and no-nonsense arrangement that launches a full throttle high gain assault. This next King Gizzard album – the band’s second incursion into thrash, following 2019’s Infest The Rats’ Nest – could be very interesting indeed. (MO)

R.L. Boyce – Coal Black Mattie

Mississippi native and blues veteran R.L. Boyce is one of the many artists featured on the upcoming Dan Auerbach-produced Easy Eye Sound compilation, Tell Everybody! (21st Century Juke Joint Blues From Easy Eye Sound). With a hypnotic boogie riff and fire-and-brimstone slide work, Coal Black Mattie is a perfect adrenaline shot of pure, proper, old-school blues guitar. (JM)

Yusuf / Cat Stevens – All Nights, All Days

King of a Land, the forthcoming album from songwriting legend Yusuf / Cat Stevens, has been previewed with All Nights, All Days – a delightful display of electric and acoustic interplay that uses an upbeat vibe to serve up slinky riffs and chord work. (MO)

Creeping Death – The Common Breed

The Texan death-metallers are gathering a reputation as a tonal force majeure –responding with overwhelming crunch, darkness and a grooving pace that suggests they’ve got a few hardcore records stashed under the bed. (MP)

Dudu Tassa & Jonny Greenwood (feat. Nour Freteikh) – Taq ou Dub

Fans of Jonny Greenwood's recent guitar work with The Smile will find plenty to like in Taq ou Dub, the hypnotic new track from Jarak Qaribak, his upcoming full-length with Israeli musician Dudu Tassa. There are no made-for-120 Minutes alt-rock-guitar-hero moments here, but the spidery arpeggios Greenwood weaves throughout this spirited version of the Lebanese folk song are quintessentially his. (JM)

Foo Fighters – Under You

Foo Fighters returned with Rescued last month for their first new material since the passing of Taylor Hawkins, and the emotional core in their new music remains in strength in Under You – another anthem that channels raw human emotion through high gain guitars and heartfelt lyrics. (MO)

NewDad – In My Head

Grizzly oversized hooks and irresistible indie guitar action is the order of business for Irish rock band NewDad, whose In My Head delivers delicate lead work and a pummeling progression that’ll knock the wind out of you. (MO)

Gregory Alan Isakov – The Fall

There's a lot to peel back in this, the stately lead single from Isakov's new effort, Appaloosa Bones, but we're big fans of how its electric and acoustic parts weave themselves seamlessly into the track's beautiful, hypnotic fabric. (JM)

Wallice – Loser at Best 

After three years of singles and EPs, Wallice is finally gearing up for her debut studio album – and judging by Loser at Best, her commitment to angsty guitars will be front and center in that offering: it’s gnarly and noisy in all the right ways, and dripping in a stage-ready attitude. (MO)

Mandy, Indiana – Drag [Crashed]

The cathartic, industrially-abrasive rally against misogyny your Friday was thus far missing. It comes from an experimental four piece in Manchester, UK and, if you’re wondering, ‘Where’s the guitar?’ It’s that thing that sounds like a whale eating a freight train. (MP)

Liam Fender – Time Comes Around

An accomplished singer-songwriter in his own right, Liam Fender – brother of Seventeen Going Under sensation Sam – has given listeners another insight into his own independent sonic universe via Time Comes Around, which is heavy on the heavenly guitars and equally heavy on the luscious instrumentation. (MO) 

Julie Byrne – The Greater Wings

Summer Glass – the lead single from Julie Byrne's forthcoming album, The Greater Wings – was powered by lush, synth-driven arrangements, but the LP's recently-released title track is built upon brilliant, multi-dimensional acoustic fingerpicking. It's a musical backdrop that will be warmly familiar to anyone who's been following the singer/songwriter's career for some time, and the perfect introduction to her for those who haven't. (JM)

Nita Strauss has announced her upcoming solo studio album, The Call of The Void, for which she’s recruited a handful of special six-string guests.

Joining Strauss for her first solo outing since 2018’s Controlled Chaos will be former Megadeth electric guitar star Marty Friedman, as well as hard rock guitar hero Lzzy Hale, and her longtime collaborator Alice Cooper, whose band she recently rejoined after temporarily departing to join Demi Lovato’s new rock outfit.

The Call of The Void will arrive in physical and digital formats, with the former featuring 14 songs. The latter, meanwhile, will up that count to 22, courtesy of eight additional instrumental tracks.

To accompany the news, Strauss has shared the LP’s latest single, The Golden Trail, which features In Flames’ Anders Fridén. It’s a clinic of rhythmic mastery first and foremost, with Strauss flexing her potent picking powers for a stream of bruising riffs that mingle with some face-melting lead licks.

“When I was first learning how to play guitar, In Flames were my Beatles; my first favorite band,” Strauss said of The Golden Trail. “Anders' iconic vocal style is burned into my mind.

“To write a song like this and have him sing on it, as a kid who grew up with In Flames posters on my walls, is an absolute dream come true.”

Of his contributions, Fridén commented, “It was a lot of fun to collaborate with Nita on The Golden Trail. She's an amazing guitar player and I can hear the history of metal flowing through her fingers.”

The Golden Trail joins a slew of previously released singles, with The Call of The Void set to collate Strauss’s standalone efforts from the past two years. The Cooper-featuring Winner Takes All, the solo shred-a-thon Summer Storm and Dead Inside – which features David Draiman – will make the cut, as will The Wolf You Feed.

The Call of The Void arrives after an eventful 2022 for Strauss, who departed Alice Cooper’s band to link-up with pop superstar Demi Lovato, who in turn called upon the Ibanez signature artist to help launch their rock renaissance.

That Lovato tour – which came straight after a Cooper tour – was followed by a return to Cooper’s cohort for Strauss. As a result of all these commitments, it comes as no surprise that this particular album proved to be particularly difficult to piece together.

“Some pieces of music come into the world gracefully and easily. This album is not one of them,” Strauss admitted. “The Call Of The Void was born kicking and screaming, a labor of love for sure, but also of blood, sweat, and plenty of tears. 

“I couldn't be more proud of the end result. Making this album helped me learn and grow so much as a musician and songwriter and I’m excited to finally unleash it on the world. 

"I wanted the follow up to Controlled Chaos to be exciting, new, and fresh, to take listeners to a new place and take myself somewhere new as an artist, too. We have some amazing collaborations on this album with incredible musicians, as well as the instrumental guitar music that first inspired me to play.”

The track list for the physical edition of the LP can be found below.

1. Summer Storm
2. The Wolf You Feed (Feat. Alissa White-Gluz)
3. Digital Bullets (Feat. Chris Motionless)
4. Through the Noise (Feat. Lzzy Hale)
5. Consume The Fire
6. Dead Inside (Feat. David Draiman)
7. Victorious (Feat. Dorothy)
8. Scorched
9. Momentum
10. The Golden Trail (Feat. Anders Fridén)
11. Winner Takes All (Feat. Alice Cooper)
12. Monster (Feat. Lilith Czar)
13. Kintsugi
14. Surfacing (Feat. Marty Friedman)

The eight instrumental tracks that will be found on digital editions of The Call of The Void are as follows.

• The Wolf You Feed (Instrumental)
• Digital Bullets (Instrumental)
• Through the Noise (Instrumental)
• Dead Inside (Instrumental)
• Victorious (Instrumental)
• The Golden Trail (Instrumental)
• Winner Takes All (Instrumental)
• Monster (Instrumental)

• The Call of The Void is available to preorder now via Sumerian Records ahead of its release on July 7.

There's been a ton of noise surrounding Nita Strauss of late, none of which has detered the Ibanez-wielding shredder.

Most of the chaos stemmed from Strauss stepping away from her longtime employ with Alice Cooper to hit the road with pop-turned-rock mega-star Demi Lovato. And while many of the metal faithful were perturbed, Strauss's most loyal fans understood her position as a gun for hire.

"There was no big moment where I threw my guitar in the air, stormed out, and quit," Strauss says. "It was more, 'Hey, I have this opportunity with Demi. She's working a lot this year, and Alice isn't. What do you think if I go and do this?' And Alice said, 'Go do it; I love it. Go off; have fun. We support you completely." Demi was working a lot, and Alice wasn't. I go where the work is."

With Lovato's hectic schedule dying down, Strauss has returned to Alice Cooper with the intent of pulling double duty. Indeed, for Strauss, a career in guitar-driven music isn't about playing it safe; it's exploratory, refreshing, and, most importantly, increasingly interesting.

"I definitely plan on doing Demi and Alice," Strauss reveals. "I've always been a hired gun. You have to be willing to be versatile, take risks, and try different things instead of staying in the same place, even if it's a safe place."

As she prepares for a busy year, Nita Strauss dialed in with Guitar World to discuss her latest single and return to Alice Cooper's band, her continued work with Demi Lovato, and the importance of staying true to her artistic vision.

What can you tell me about your latest single, Winner Takes All?

"As I was putting the record together, I thought it would be cool to have Alice on a song but make it a modern rock track rather than the stuff you're used to hearing from him. Initially, our goal was to take Alice's voice that we know and love but showcase his vibe on this modern shred track. I think we hit it hard and nailed it."

Do you approach working with other singers differently than you do with Alice?

"I've been working with him for many years, so I understand what he likes and doesn't like to sing over. Having probably played on over 50 Alice Cooper songs at this point, I think we've got it dialed in. Besides that, collaborating with so many different singers has been incredible. But I never imagined myself as the type of musician with songs like this; I used to think of myself as a solo guitarist who would only stay in that world. So, to be able to do this has been a fascinating process."

While you might not have imagined yourself going down that road, you have. Has that opened you up or altered your approach at all?

"I think, as an instrumental guitar player, I was a selfish musician. I don't mean that in a bad way, but from a musical perspective, I was only thinking about myself. I wasn't thinking about what rhymes with what or what the song's key was for the singer to along with. And I was not thinking about radio or what works within a three-minute format to fit into a playlist, either.

"I was only writing for the sake of my art. But once I started working with different vocalists, I had to approach things from a more sensible standpoint of what makes sense for the song. I had to think about what might draw in the average listener who likes this type of music and what might open them up to new things."

Do you approach solos differently for instrumental versus vocal tracks?

"I think a guitar solo is a way for the guitarist to tell a little chapter of the story if that makes sense. But obviously, you're not using words; you're using your choices and emotions to contribute to the song's story. Even when I've done guest solos on other people's stuff, when I play live, I always try to get a sense of what the song is about. That dictates how I choose my notes and approach to serve the story, rather than, 'Here's a bunch of cool notes. Let me just play these and be done with it.'"

When you initially left Alice's band in 2022, did you know you'd be back, or were things more open-ended?

"It was very open-ended. There wasn't this big departure, which is how everything was construed by people that weren't there. I had a conversation with Alice and his manager, and what I put out on my social media was, 'I'm stepping away from the fall tour. I'm grateful for the opportunities I've had, and I'm not sure what will happen next.' Honestly, that was the entirety of what was going on."

Were you surprised by the mixed reaction you received?

"I was expecting a mixed reaction, but I definitely wasn't prepared for how strong of a reaction the news received. But the only thing that really got under my skin was how inaccurate a lot of the stuff people were saying was. I saw people saying, 'She walked out of the tour without giving Alice notice,' and none of that was true.

"Everything was in the works for months; everybody knew, Kane Roberts knew about it, and everything was planned for a long time before it was announced. So, reading things online where people said, 'Nita left Alice in the lurch and didn't give them time to find somebody new,' was completely inaccurate."

Was it challenging to adapt to Demi Lovato's style of music?

"I have to say… it wasn't all that different. If I had stepped into Demi Lovato's world in 2016, it would have been a very different show. But Demi's new record [Holy Fvck] is heavy rock. So, once I joined, we went out and did a heavy rock show with her every night. If they had been looking for a more traditional pop touring band, they wouldn't have had the band they did or had me be a part of it. I guess the big takeaway is that as a guitar player, I need to be versatile.

"I will say that one cool takeaway from the Demi tour was that she completely changed her style. If you listen to her old music, it sounds nothing like the music that got her to the level of stardom she has today. To me, that's the most rock 'n' roll thing you can do. And who knows? Maybe some of those girls will see Demi playing an Ibanez X series – a Chuck Schuldiner[-style] guitar – and they'll go out and learn to play, not because of me but because of her."

Speaking of Ibanez, have there been any new developments regarding your signature model?

"Honestly, we're playing catch-up at this point with my signature model. It's been in production for many years, and the newest model didn't come out too long ago. We're always excited to do new things, but I have paused it until we can get the orders that have come in shipped and out the door."

Have you made any exciting gear discoveries of late?

"I'm more of an 'if it's not broke, don't fix it' kind of player. As much as I love checking out and trying new things, I tend to stick with the same stuff I've used. But I will say that I've been getting myself into some new plugins on the recording side. I tried some Neural DSP stuff recently, and it blew me away. But I'm a fan of simplicity. I have never been a huge analog pedalboard type of person. Whatever is consistent, easy, and sounds great is what's good for me."

Are there any young guitarists you've been listening to recently?

"I'm absolutely obsessed with what Angel Vivaldi is doing right now. I did my first solo tour with him, and this new record [Away with Words: Part 2] he's putting out has a few singles that have blown my mind so far. His new stuff is more like fusion, while his original stuff is heavier.

"Aside from him, I have to give a shoutout to my Ibanez sisters, Yvette Young and Lari Basilio, who are absolutely crushing it. They're both putting out incredible music and touring. If Lari or Yvette are coming near you guys, see them. They're mind-blowing players."

In what ways have you grown over the last 12 months?

"I've gone through phases of listening to others about my work, but now I'm taking a step back and only doing what I think I should do. It's easy to get in that cycle… but it can take a lot out of you. Just look at Winner Takes All: there were two comments on Instagram right next to each other, and one was, 'Oh, this song is crap. You should do more songs like The Wolf You Feed. Do better, Nita.'

"And then, the comment right underneath said, 'Wow! I love this. This is exactly what you should be doing. I hated The Wolf You Feed.' So there will always be people with strong opinions, so taking a step back and being happy with where I'm at as a musician and a professional touring guitar player is a good step for me. It's much better than focusing on what other people think about my music. My decision and opinions are what matter most to me now."

• Winner Takes All (feat. Alice Cooper) is streaming now.

Welcome to Guitar World’s weekly roundup of the musical highlights from the, erm, world of guitar. Every seven days (or thereabouts), we endeavor to bring you a selection of songs from across the guitar universe, all with one thing in common: our favorite instrument plays a starring role.

Mammoth WVH – Another Celebration at the End of the World

What is it? Wolfgang Van Halen returns with the first slice of anthemic hard-rock to be taken from his forthcoming sophomore effort, Mammoth II, due in August. Another Celebration at the End of the World is a breakneck riff-fest with a thrashing middle section and a fretboard tap-dance that is sure to be on every guitarist’s must-learn list.

Standout guitar moment: The tapping section grabs the limelight, but can we all appreciate Wolfie’s pinpoint intonation and vibrato for a second? Proper chef’s kiss stuff.

For fans of: Alter Bridge, Tremonti, The Winery Dogs

– Michael Astley-Brown

Nita Strauss – Winner Takes All (featuring Alice Cooper)

What is it? Having briefly left the shock-rock legend’s camp for a high-profile stint with Demi Lovato, Nita Strauss has returned to Alice Cooper’s fold. Now – with Cooper’s charismatic appearance on the guitarist’s new song, Winner Takes All – their collaboration has even extended to the studio. This song is a high-stakes crusher that makes us all the more excited for the Ibanez signature artist’s seemingly imminent second solo effort.

Standout guitar moment: Can’t argue with that solo, can you? For all the braggadocio of Cooper’s lyrics and vocals – not to mention her absolutely diabolical rhythm tone – Strauss makes sure that it’s the melodicism and intonation of her ferocious lead break that sticks with you the most, as opposed to its impressive speed.

For fans of: Rob Zombie, Andrew W.K., John 5

– Jackson Maxwell

Ida Mae featuring Marcus King – When Eden Was My Girl

What is it? A dream pairing of UK roots duo Ida Mae and the Southern rocking blues talents of Marcus King. Ida Mae’s Chris Turpin and King make formidable sparring partners. It's a four and a half-minute song, but it feels surprisingly tight for all the intricate guitar wrangling.

Standout guitar moment: The track builds to a scorching peak at the mid-point as Turpin and King exchange some of their fieriest playing, but we love the moment when it drops down to a scuttling rhythm lick and then back into the silky verse section.

For fans of: Larkin Poe, Greta Van Fleet

– Matt Parker

Cory Hanson – Twins

What is it? Last year, John Frusciante waxed lyrical to us about his favorite modern-day guitar players, and among them was Cory Hanson, best known as the leader of LA psych-rockers Wand. Now embarking upon his own solo endeavors, Hanson has released the second single from slightly icky-sounding new album Western Cum.

Thankfully, Twins sounds a lot better than that album title, all Eagles-esque pop-country at the start, before a wall of guitar layers psychs up the joint. Throw in that lap steel break and Hanson’s wiry solo, and it’s easy to see why he’s won the plaudits of some of the biggest names in guitar.

Standout guitar moment: Dear lord, the guitar tones are simply incredible on this. Retro, roomy, but right in your face, they add an extra dose of personality to Hanson’s hummable leads.

For fans of: Wand, Ty Segall, Eagles

– Michael Astley-Brown

Ayron Jones – Blood In The Water

What is it? The dynamite lead single from the Seattle native’s forthcoming second LP, Chronicles of the Kid. A powerful rumination on the evolution of trauma through time and generations, Blood In The Water is a killer display of Jones’ guitar prowess and skills as a storyteller. 

Standout guitar moment: Those Hendrixian, swirling arpeggios in the song’s opening bars will suck you in straight from the get-go, and will leave you utterly defenseless when Jones executes a dramatic slide, and turns the song on its head with an absolute freight train of distorted, multi-tracked riffery. That’s sweet and spicy, for you! 

For fans of: Jimi Hendrix, Audioslave, Gary Clark Jr.

– Jackson Maxwell

LA Priest – It’s You

What is it? The latest conjuring from the unique mind of Sam Dust (formerly of UK cult band Late Of The Pier). He has a knack for melding squelching samples made on his DIY electronic gear with funky, manipulated Strat licks. It’s You is the laid back first single from his latest collection, Fase Luna.

Standout guitar moment: That guitar solo is a bend-y pleasure – woozy and slightly unnerving, like all of Dust’s finest work.

For fans of: Prince, Unknown Mortal Orchestra

– Matt Parker

Sylosis – Deadwood

What is it? At this stage, Josh Middleton is one of heavy music’s most influential guitarists, shredding the ’boards with both Architects and Sylosis, and the latter’s first material of 2023 is serrated metal polished to a terrifying gleam. Deadwood displays Middleton’s And Justice for All roots, taken to contemporary levels of brutality with some frankly death-defying displays of alternate picking.

Standout guitar moment: Yeah, that solo is just ridiculous – particularly the accuracy of the harmonized double-tracking. Scarily good.

For fans of: Bleed From Within, Lamb of God, The Black Dahlia Murder

– Michael Astley-Brown

Hannah Jadagu – Warning Sign

What is it? The third preview we’ve gotten from the up-and-coming singer/songwriter’s forthcoming debut album, Aperture, and perhaps the best of the bunch. Confident, propulsive and armed with one hell of a groove, Warning Sign sounds like the future – we can’t wait to see what the rest of the album has in store for us…

Standout guitar moment: Though light on guitars in its first half, Warning Sign is seasoned by a slinky, multi-tracked six-string break later on that bears more hook-y gifts than its brevity would imply.

For fans of: Radiohead, Japanese Breakfast, Arlo Parks

– Jackson Maxwell

Body Type – Holding On

What is it? The second single from the Australian indie rock band’s forthcoming album Expired Candy. It’s a smart, hooky tune that bounces back and forth between vocalists Annabel Blackman and Sophie McComish and is skewered throughout by fuzzy, overdriven lead guitar lines.

Standout guitar moment: It’s less of a moment and more of a permeating presence, but it’s that bouyant and infectious lead work that meanders throughout, in a very positive way.

For fans of: Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, The Goon Sax

– Matt Parker

Following the news that Nita Strauss was returning to the Alice Cooper camp to provide high spectacle on box-office virtuosity on electric guitar on the forthcoming Too Close For Comfort tour, it is no shock to learn that Hurricane Nita has drafted the King of Shock for a new single, and it’s all kinds of huge.

Titled Winner Takes All, we can reassure you that it is nothing at all like the Abba super-pop track of a similar title, and is a bona-fide funhouse of a track that foregrounds Cooper’s gravel voice and macabre magnetism.

For the most part, Strauss lets Cooper pull focus. The vibe on Winner Takes All is contemporary hard-rock with a soupçon of mid-tempo Euro metal, gang vocals, a big riff that lands right on the grid.

Then, of course, you’ve got the guitar solo, which is Hurricane Nita matching form to content, setting the scene, establishing the melodic stakes – perfect intonation, btw – before unleashing the sort of quicksilver serpentine legato that her Ibanez JIVA signature guitar was designed for. That JIVA neck profile? Well, on the new-for-2022  JIVAX2 it measures just 17mm at the 1st fret, which makes even the legendary Ibanez Wizard neck profile look like it’s carrying some timber. Incredible.

Strauss says it was a no-brainer to get Coop’ in the studio, and that it was “an honor” to get the rock legend on one of her original tracks.

“When we were working on the music for this album, there was no question that I wanted to create a song to collaborate with my longtime boss and friend, the legendary Alice Cooper,” she said in a statement.

“I think the track accomplishes what we set out to do – showcase Alice's voice and signature style on the backdrop of a heavy, modern rock track. After many years of lending my style of playing to Alice’s music on stage, it was truly an honor to work together and hear his voice on one of my songs!”

The track arrives right on time for building anticipation ahead of the Too Close For Comfort tour, which – metaphorically and kinda literally – lets out the python and brings down the guillotine at Mount Pleasant, MI, on April 4.

It’s the first of what is going to be an epic run across the States, with the Alice Cooper/Strauss party hooking up with Def Leppard and the new John 5 Mötley Crüe touring line-up on August 5, and co-headlining the Freaks on Parade tour with Rob Zombie later on in the month. All that is going to shift a lot of beer and T-shirts.

There are no more details about a forthcoming solo album from Strauss, but perhaps we will learn more later this evening (March 22), with Strauss being interviewed by Cooper himself on his Nights With Alice Cooper radio show.

Strauss’s departure from the Alice Cooper touring band was one of the biggest guitar stories of the summer, and she made her next move playing with Demi Lovato, helping the pop superstar usher in a more pop-punk direction. But even at the time, there was always the suspicion she would return and that this was just Strauss broadening the horizons – a move Cooper fully endorsed.

“Nita asked for a leave of absence to work with someone else, something I always encourage my band members to do,” he said. “I like them to challenge themselves and try new things.”

Strauss explained to Guitar World that her gig with Lovato was a great opportunity to widen the appeal of guitar music, and inspire a new cohort of players. Lovato’s fanbase ate it up.

“If we can reach this next generation of passionate and intense fans, and inspire them to play music, isn’t that a wonderful thing?” she said. “They might pick up a guitar or bass, try out drums or see Dani [McGinley] on keys and think, ‘I could do that!’ Some of these younger fans might not have been reached through a traditional rock show.”

After taking temporary leave to join Demi Lovato’s new all-female band for an extensive tour last year, Nita Strauss will be reuniting with Alice Cooper for a run of North American dates later this year.

The tour, dubbed Too Close For Comfort, will kick off in April, and will be the first time Cooper and Strauss have shared the stage as formal bandmates since the latter left to link-up with Lovato in July last year.

The move put a brief pause on the pair’s musical relationship, which began when Strauss joined the band back in 2014, though the door for Strauss’s return had always been a possibility when the electric guitar hero said the move wasn’t a formal departure and that she “may have a chance to come back”.

“She's back!” Cooper said of Strauss’s return. “Nita asked for a leave of absence to work with someone else, something I always encourage my band members to do. I like them to challenge themselves and try new things. 

“I'm thankful to my old friend Kane Roberts for stepping up and filling in for her, but she'll be back with us for the new tour that starts up in late April. It's going to be great to have her back."

“From the studio to the stage, it's always an immense honor to make music with Alice Cooper,” added Strauss. “I'm very excited to be rejoining the band on the road for the 2023 dates, and so I'll see you on the road in April. Let the nightmare return!”

The tour is set to kick off in April at the Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort, with Cooper’s band set to play a run of headline shows that will conclude on May 18 at the Beau Rivage Theatre. A slot at Welcome to Rockville on May 20 will cap off the run.

In August, Strauss, Cooper and co will then join up with Def Leppard and Motley Crue for six shows, before heading out on a co-headline tour with Rob Zombie throughout the remainder of August and most of September.

When Strauss made the move to Lovato’s band, she told Guitar World that the career change had partly been motivated by a desire to inspire a new generation of fans to play music, and to introduce guitar to individuals who otherwise might not have been interested in the instrument.

“If we can reach this next generation of passionate and intense fans, and inspire them to play music, isn’t that a wonderful thing?” she said. “They might pick up a guitar or bass, try out drums or see Dani [McGinley] on keys and think, ‘I could do that!’ Some of these younger fans might not have been reached through a traditional rock show.”

Though she left Cooper for his 2022 tour – and was replaced by the vocalist’s former axeman, Kane Roberts – Strauss rejoined the band for a one-off performance wielding a Jackson Jeff Loomis signature Kelly.

Strauss’ return to the fold almost seemed like an inevitability, after the guitarist reassured fans that original reports of her departure had turned it “into a much bigger decision than it was”.

Nita Strauss recently revealed some of the “bad advice” she received when starting out her career in the early 2000s.

The electric guitar player – who has spent the last decade performing at the highest level with the likes of Alice Cooper and more recently Demi Lovato – discussed her early experiences on Knotfest’s She’s With The Band podcast. 

“Early in my career, I got a lot of really bad advice,” she tells hosts Alicia Atout and Tori Kravitz. “I was a young guitar player… I did my first national tour at 15 and dropped out of high school at 17 to try to do this full-time. 

“At the time, I had so many people telling me what I needed to do in order to be successful in this industry. People saying: ‘You need to show more skin.’ ‘If you have a boyfriend, you can’t say that you’re dating anybody because you need to appear available’, all this kind of stuff.”

Strauss reflects that none of the advice was helpful for someone who wanted to be known as a musician first and foremost. 

“I wanted to be known as a guitar player and that was it,” says Strauss. “I started really dressing down. I dyed my hair darker… to stand out less. I’d wear a men’s large t-shirt onstage and baggy cargo shorts and started touring with heavier bands. 

“I was like, ‘I don’t want to be the hot chick. I just wanted to be the guitar player.’ But that’s not who I am either, you know? I kept getting pulled back and forth through this dichotomy of ‘No, you have to be the sex symbol.’ And it’s like, ‘No, you want to be a serious musician.’ But the reality is [that] where I am doesn’t fit into either of those molds.”

Fortunately, the guitarist says she has reached a place of more nuanced acceptance now – that she has, ultimately, learned to be herself. 

“[So] yeah, if I have a boyfriend I'm gonna tell the world about because I love him and I don't need to appear single. I don't need to have fans think they have a chance with me in order to be respected and have people come to my shows.

“Once I just started embracing who I actually am as a person, that’s when great opportunities and great successes started coming to me… So I just wish that I could go back and tell my younger self to stop trying to fit into what other people tell you you should be, and just be who you are.”

Elsewhere in the discussion, Strauss talks about more positive early role models such as Jennifer Batten and the constructive nature of her relationships with other women in guitar music. 

“In the female guitar player orbit, we’ve all got the same goal and the same purpose,” says Strauss. “Which is creating more women like us – inspiring more women to pick up the guitar and play.”

Strauss had a phenomenally busy 2022, performing with Alice Cooper until her sudden July departure from his band, for a new role with Demi Lovato, while also releasing a pair of new solo singles. 

Her next (as yet untitled) solo album is in the works and we expect 2023 will be the year it finally sees the light of day, but if she keeps getting killer gigs, who knows…

Late last year, Jared Dines put guitar fans on high alert when he announced the preliminary lineup for the fifth installment of his “biggest shred collab song in the world” YouTube series – an event that, on paper, looked like it would be the most star-studded shred-a-thon of all time.

On December 26, Dines’ mammoth festival of electric guitar greatness finally arrived in all its glory, and though there were some notable absences from the initial announcement, the 37-minute masterclass still turned out to be one of the greatest shred guitar collabs ever.

When Dines revealed the first wave of players he had approached for the event on social media, legends like Steve Vai, Zakk Wylde, John Petrucci, Yvette Young, Tim Henson and Synyster Gates were all named as potential participants.

Alas, none of the above made it on to the final roster, but their omissions did not dampen the level of elite six-string action that was ultimately served up by the likes of Matt Heafy, Nita Strauss, Michael Angelo Batio, Herman Li, Hedras and countless others.

In total, 70 electric guitar and acoustic guitar heroes took part in Dines’ video, making it quite literally the biggest shred collab song in the world. To put that into perspective, the previous edition only featured 27 artists.

In just the first five minutes, Mike Dawes, Jason Richardson, Gus G, Nita Strauss, Herman Li and Manuel Gardner Fernandes are all given the opportunity to flex their six-string chops, while players such as Ichika Nito, Marcin, Angel Vivaldi, Kiki Wong and TheDooo help cap off a staggering opening 10 minutes.

The next phase is equally impressive: Hedras, Cole Rolland and FM Guitars founder Felix Martin all deliver their trademark prog and double-fretboard antics aplenty, with Elizabeth Cannon, Bernth, Annie Shred, I Built the Sky and Dines himself following suit.

In the final 16 minutes, the spotlight is given to Ola Englund, Michael Angelo Batio, Matt Heafy, Courtney Cox, Nik Nocturnal, Sophie Burrell, Rabea Massaad, Dre Dimura, Max Ostro, Charlie Parra Del Riego and Alan Gogoll, who help close out the shred-a-thon in style.

Highlights – of which there are too many to count – include Herman Li’s hands-free effort, which is fueled by the DragonForce maestro’s Hot Hand wah ring controller, Marcin’s furious fretboard frolick – delivered via the fingerboard of his Ibanez signature guitar – and Lari Basilio’s tasteful-as-ever contribution that gives viewers another glimpse of her new-look Ibanez LB1.

Honorable mentions must also go to Fernandes – who uses both a six-string and a golden eight-string – as well as Strauss, who makes light work of some spectrum-spanning legato and two-hand tapping licks.

Truth be told, we could spend all day unpacking the 37-minute masterclass, so it’s probably best you check out the video above for yourselves.

Type Nita Strauss’s name into a search engine and you’ll find endless links about her longtime gig with Alice Cooper and new post with Demi Lovato. But Strauss is much more than a side person. She’s a songwriter, session musician, clinician and solo artist with a unique array of credits ranging from movie soundtracks to the WWE. 

Strauss joined Cooper’s touring ensemble in 2014. After eight years, it seemed like the ideal setting to showcase her loud and proud technique. Instead, she stunned fans earlier this year by accepting the Lovato gig. While this announcement dominated headlines, no less significant is news of her long-awaited second solo album, scheduled for release in 2023.

The focus is often on your work with other artists and not as much on your solo career. With a new album coming up, how do you redirect the attention, and is it frustrating to have to do so? 

“It doesn’t bother me too much, because playing with other artists has been the majority of my career. It also speaks to one of the main reasons I thought it was necessary to take a step out and make a change in my day job, so to speak.

“I want to be myself. I want to have my own identity and my own brand. I do have my solo music and a new album in the works, and if I’m just known as one person’s guitar player for the rest of my life, that counteracts what I’m trying to do. So I think all I can really do is keep touring my solo band when I’m off the road with other artists, keep releasing new music, and at the end of the day, if I’m in the conversation, I’m happy.

What does “being someone’s guitar player” require?

“Playing with the artists that I do, I’m not technically a band member. Being a hired gun, it’s really 'step in and fill this role,' whether it’s playing Alice Cooper songs or reimagining rockers from Demi Lovato songs. What I bring to each of those different gigs is that sense of professionalism I’ve learned across so many years, and how to step into each role, fill it nicely and tightly, and help bring that artist’s vision to life while still bringing my own personality and energy to the show. 

“I have learned so much from Alice and Demi. One of the things they both do really well is they take the forefront, but they give each band member an introduction and time to shine. They don’t take the entire spotlight for themselves. That’s something I try to do with my solo band as well, to make sure it’s a collaborative effort and everybody knows it.”

What can you tell us about your new album?

“I’m a really emotional musician and person, and I write about what I’m feeling and what’s going on in my life. Making this album, and especially doing a lot of the writing during 2020, when everything was shut down and uncertain, brought out a lot of emotion in my songwriting.

“I’ve grown a lot as an artist and songwriter since Controlled Chaos came out in 2018, and I’m excited to show a higher level of playing and more depth and maturity in these new songs. I’ve improved a lot as a musician, my technique has gotten better in the last four years, and I’ve gotten more comfortable in my own style, so I feel I’ve come into my own as a guitar player.”

How does working on other artists’ material strengthen your chops? 

“First of all, any time you’re playing guitar, you’re improving, no matter what it is. Whether you’re playing power chords or technical metal, if you’re playing guitar, you’re getting incrementally better each day. Playing straightforward rock songs has given me a much better sensibility of song structure, and not playing too much, or adding too much, and all these things guitar players do just because we like to show off and have fun! It has taught me a lot about letting the song breathe. 

“Simplicity is key in a lot of Demi’s songs, especially the older ones, which were originally pretty straightforward pop songs that have been reimagined in this heavy-rock way. The simple, catchy chords are still there, and it’s finding things that work around the melodies, because melody is king in pop and rock songs. It’s about finding that simplicity and embracing it, rather than saying, 'This is only four chords. I have to play a bunch of notes over it.'”

You have signature models with Ibanez. What makes its guitars right for you? 

“Like so many guitar players, every time I got a new guitar, there was always something that wasn’t quite perfect. 'I love it so much, but I have to put different pickups in it' or 'I love it so much, but if only it had an ebony fretboard.' If only it was this, if only it was that. When I had the chance to design the JIVA with Ibanez, I already had all my dream specs in my head because I’d had so many different guitars. I knew I wanted a mahogany body, a quilted maple top and an ebony fretboard. I knew what I wanted the pickups to sound like. 

“I wanted a guitar that screamed 'me', and that’s what we got with the original JIVA 10 with the black-to-blond burst. We expanded to the JIVA JR, which I call the 'beach burst' because it goes from black to blue to blond. Now we have the JIVA 10L and two JIVA X2 models – the original black one and the new JIVA X Ghost, which is the white one I use onstage. It’s my favorite guitar. 

“I only play my signature guitars, not just because I designed them, but because I feel I designed the perfect guitar for my playing style. It’s fast, it’s light, it’s versatile. It can shred, it can go clean, it can go rhythm. So that’s my weapon of choice 100 percent of the time.”

Is instrumental music more challenging in terms of communication, since there are no lyrics, or is it more universal, in that it’s open to interpretation and the listener can simply let the music take them wherever it leads?

“For me, writing music for a vocalist is infinitely more challenging. I come from the world of instrumental music, where you can play what you’re feeling, evoke those emotions through note choices and chord choices, and there’s no limit to it.

“When you get vocals involved, you’re thinking about the singer and their range, how many syllables you can fit in this line without it sounding weird, and does the end of this phrase rhyme with the end of the phrase after it. There are so many rules you have to follow in order to make a catchy radio song, let’s say. So I find it a lot more limiting to write music for a vocalist.

“At the same time, it’s a great challenge, it’s a fun challenge, it’s one I’ve embraced a lot, and while it might not be as subjective as instrumental guitar music, I think it’s definitely its own beast.”

What can the greatest guitar solos of the year tell us about the business of playing the guitar? Well, in one sense, this annual democratic endeavor reveals a lot about where lead guitar is going technically. 

Once upon a time, some people were saying the guitar solo is dead, and yet here we are in 2022, in an era when individual virtuosity has never been more spectacular – and not just on social media, which has been an accelerant for neo-shred styles. Players are doing what they have always done, standing upon the shoulders of giants, in search of new techniques, new sounds, but also, more to the point, in search of themselves.

After all, that’s all technique is: a means to an end, a mode of expression. Once we look past the technique, we’ll find that the solos here all serve different purposes. They’re all telling different stories. That is what Chris Buck is doing with Cardinal Black’s Warm Love – we describe it as a journey, and it is, but it’s a narrative. It’s the same for Erja Lyytinen, whose meticulous intonation evokes the blues-rock greats, and for Slash, whose lyrical style is evergreen.

Take Eddie, from Red Hot Chili Peppers’ returning guitarist John Frusciante, a player of great gifts, not least his discipline, knowing when to temper his brilliance and when not to. Eddie, written in tribute to Eddie Van Halen, somehow does both, allowing him a bona-fide guitar hero moment that nonetheless has the good grace to not pull focus away from what Flea is doing on bass – a bassline like he is talking to Frusciante as he scales a rock face, telling him where to place his feet.

Others are the story, like how Steve Vai and Ibanez teamed up for one of electric guitar’s most bonkers, most intriguing creations, and the sound that he could get out of it. Or like when Steve Vai answered an email from two guys from Austin, TX.

And others act as all lead playing does – whether it’s clarinet, oboe, violin or a Les Paul – it acts as a power-up, changing the energy of the song, using all of the above, the sense of narrative, an exploration of technique and what’s possible, for a musical set piece that gets people out of their seats. And that’s why people play guitar.

• The 10 best guitar riffs of 2022

10. Erja Lyytinen – Bad Seed

The first single taken from the Finnish blues-rock phenomenon’s latest studio album, Waiting For The Daylight, features a solo that will stop you in your tracks should you be laboring under the impression that Lyytinen’s style is all about the slide, and strictly blues as manifested by all those 5s, 7s, and 8s on the tablature notation. 

This is the aggressive expansion of blues-rock’s melodic perimeter fence, as though Lyytinen is following in Gary Moore’s footsteps, chasing down big moonlit minor key melodies with her lead playing, digging into her two years getting musically booksmart at the conservatory, intonation on point, for a solo that effectively tells the story of the song without words.

9. Red Hot Chili Peppers – Eddie

RHCP’s big, massive and prolific 2022 was lit up with guitar highlights from returning guitarist John Frusciante. It wasn’t so much 365 days spent orbiting the sun as an outpouring – two albums, stadium tours, and a track that saluted the late Eddie Van Halen.

Taken from the Los Angeles superstars' second album of the year, Return of the Dream Canteen (where is this canteen, does it take reservations?), Eddie is not the sound of Frusciante with a modded Strat, a Marshall stack and a Variac in search of Eruption II, but in a sense it is the sound of Frusciante placing himself in that zone.

It opens with him at his most yowling, quasi-Hendrix fuzz, with the solo all the more impactful for sharing the mix with Flea’s peripatetic and propulsive eighth-note bassline. But as Eddie works towards a conclusion you ask yourself, ‘Is he going to go full-shred? He’s not.’ He did, kind of.

8. Slash – Fill My World (feat. Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators)

There is a case to be made that says 4 is the most Guns N’ Roses album Slash and Myles Kennedy have recorded together with their band of Conspirators. It has a sleazy grit to it, like an oyster recovered from the gutter on Sunset, a sense of animalism that is hard to put into a rock ’n’ roll record in the 21st century because contemporary audiences have long been deflowered; they’re inured to this kind of thing.

That the band were allowed to track it live – a long-held aspiration of Slash’s – was critical. There’s even something a little Sweet Child O’ Mine about the Fill My World, right there in that opening riff. But then Slash’s phrasing is always going to betray his latent appetite for destruction, right there in the controlled chaos, in the trebly clang of his Les Paul into Marshall head. Here, as ever, he proves that there’s no-one better at balancing noble melodic intent with rock’s devil-may-care fatalism.

7. Ghost – Griftwood

Sadly not a bold theater-metal cover of Scottish indie wets Travis’s Driftwood, this is kind of something else, subversive with its bash-the-bishop anti-religious pomp, and it plays out a little like Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love as reimagined for the Eurovision market.

It’s like they’ve turned black metal marshmallow pink. From the gussied up production to its redoubtable structure and pop dynamics, Griftwood is really is a masterclass in formal discipline, and of course a composition like this demands a big solo and a 2,000-watt spotlight to shine on it.

The anonymity of the Nameless Ghouls must make for an HR nightmare and streaming platforms must spend much of your subscription fees on designing the algorithm to administer royalties (no laughing at the back) to these cats, but it also makes adjudicating this style all that more difficult. Could it be Phil Collen in black robes and face mask? Is Vitto Bratta leading a double life? We’ll never know, but the solo rips all the same. La Suède, Douze points!

6. Nita Strauss – The Wolf You Feed (feat. Alissa White-Gluz)

Oh, so this is why they call her Hurricane Nita… Wowzers. With Nita Strauss’s 2022 was dominated by the headlines surrounding her departure from Alice Cooper’s touring band and joining up with pop superstar Demi Lovato, there was a risk her profile as a solo artist would fly under the radar.

But then Strauss had the good sense to hedge against this, drafting Alissa White-Gluz from Arch Enemy for some serious vocals – a collaboration she had been wanting to do forever – and firing out a work of anthemic up-tempo metal that could not be complete until she’d turned the strings on her Ibanez JIVAX2 signature guitar molten.

The Wolf You Feed was the second of two singles that will feature on her upcoming solo album, with the followup to 2018’s Controlled Chaos expected some time in early 2023. It is sure to be one of the guitar spectaculars of the year.

5. Alter Bridge – Pawns & Kings

Having ran away with the Palme d’Or for best riff of 2022, with Silver Tongue winning by a landscape, Myles Kennedy and Mark Tremonti return to chart highly once more for his unique abilities to gently melt the face. There’s something about the way those players just tease the notes off the fingerboard, with Pawns & Kings sounding like the divination of some sacred metal they have discovered while backpacking across the Sinai Peninsula.

The solo here is anticipated by an off-kilter legato shred-a-doodle that is more hyper-rhythm than lead, but when it arrives – complete with that high-end electric guitar tone courtesy of Paul Reed Smith’s R&D department – it is a stop-and-rewind moment.

It's also an invitation for all the young Tremontis to get their game faces on, retreat to the practice space, to try all the guitar picks at their disposal – maybe even all at once – and work on phrasing and those super-fluid transitions that Tremonti and Kennedy so insouciantly perform like a master maître d’ preparing his 10,000th Crêpes Suzette. Indeed, this is what 10,000 hours sounds like.

4. Cardinal Black – Warm Love

Chris Buck revs up his Goldtop Revstar to give Warm Love the warmth and the love that a soulful blues-rock track a decade in the making deserves. And it requires a fingerstyle approach to tease out all the dynamics. We’re assuming, or rather calling the live session version as definitive, because that’s where Buck really stretches out and perches his guitar where Tom Hollister’s vocals were just a minute before.

Using a wah pedal as an occasional filter, no doubt with some space added from a Dawner Prince Boonar, and then just seizing the improvisational initiative to take the solo from Point A through the scenic route to arrive at Point B in one piece. 

Though with a solo such as this, you don’t want the tension of thinking it’s all going to come crashing down; the tension here is how high he might take it. Well, 2022 was quite the year for Cardinal Black: Buck took this all the way to the Royal Albert Hall.

3. Steve Vai – Teeth of the Hydra

Steve Vai’s playing has outgrown the guitar. We have long suspected it. The clues were there: the accumulation of the double-necked electrics, the playing one-handed while recovering from surgery, all to keep things interesting and find new avenues for musical exploration. And now this: the best, the Ibanez Hydra, the triple-necked steam-punk custom build that inspired this ripping, not-of-this-Earth instrumental.

Anyone who has put in the hours working on their Travis picking will particularly appreciate Vai’s separation of various parts of his brain, as though head, shoulders, knees and toes can all act independently of each other, answering to their own metronome.

That Teeth of the Hydra is technically audacious goes without saying – it is a man playing a guitar with three necks – but it somehow encapsulates what an instrument like this should sound like, an instrument so cumbersome it needs to be on a stand, one that has its own theme song. We look forward to hearing a sequel.

2. Sophie Lloyd – Do or Die

Sophie Lloyd made her name by adapting tracks from across the length and breadth of the pop-culture firmament for shred guitar, and it turns out this gambit endows her with all the chops necessary to, y’know, just go out and tear it up as Machine Gun Kelly’s stunt guitarist, or to take on the big projects such as corralling her favorite singers into the studio – a power move inspired by Slash, who did something similar with his solo work – for an all-star album. 

Do Or Die is taken from her forthcoming solo album, Imposter Syndrome, which will be released in 2023, and features Nathan James on vocals. James, frontman of Inglorious, will thank you for not fast-forwarding the YouTube video to watch Lloyd set her Kiesel ablaze, but understands if you did.

1. Polyphia – Ego Death (feat. Steve Vai)

It had to be Ego Death. Just doing the arithmetic on the personnel involved would have led most to the conclusion that no other solo could compete. Here we have Steve Vai lighting up his Ibanez PIA with Scott LePage and Tim Henson holding down the rhythm.

With 8.8 million views on the Polyphia YouTube page, a second Top 10 finish for Steve Vai, and one of the most audacious moments on an album that in years to come might well become a byword for audacity, Ego Death is an early contender for the ne plus ultra of 21st-century guitar instrumentals. 

It is the sound of the master who never let himself lose his sense of radicalism stretching out to offer Tim Henson and Scott LePage a solo that is quintessentially Vai: virtuosic but playful, tricksy but melodic, and a perfect fit for the Polyphia aesthetic of pristine genius.

As Vai explained when he sat down with Henson, LePage and Guitar World, his playing on Ego Death was his gift for Polyphia to do with what they say fit. That meant cutting it up, as they often do, splicing instrumentation together, and taking a non-linear approach to writing and composition much in the way a hip-hop producer might.

“I wanted them to do it. It didn’t really matter – it’s not sacred,” Vai said. “It was chopped in a way that met their creativity demands, and I wouldn’t want them to do anything else. When I first heard it, though, it was so different. I thought, ‘Maybe they didn’t like what I did!’”

Oh, they did. Just listen to it. It’s perfect.

Hello again! For the second year in a row, we’re dedicating almost an entire issue to “the year that was.” And so, our January 2023 issue is a full-on celebration of that pair of 24-sided dice we call 2022.

Our coverage includes…

* Our editors choose the guitarists of the year – 20-ish players who made massive dents in the rusting hull of 2022, including our two cover stars (Wolfgang Van Halen and Nita Strauss), plus… Well, you’ll just have to read the issue, won’t you? 

* A recap of the biggest guitar-centric news of the year – including the one about the ballsy thief who stuffed a Gibson Les Paul down his pants in Canada. (And let’s not forget Mick Mars’ retirement from – and John 5’s joining – Mötley Crüe. Sixx plus 5? The Crüe suddenly go to 11!

* Our editors’ favorite new gear of the year, including Gamechanger Audio’s Bigsby pedal, which I’m seriously considering buying myself for Christmas. But do I really need it? I mean, my Teles don't have whammy bars, so I guess the answer is yes? 

* A who’s who of guitar stars – including John Petrucci, Joe Bonamassa, Nita Strauss, Steve Stevens, Wolfgang Van Halen, Marty Friedman, Christone "Kingfish" Ingram and many, many more – choose the year’s best albums, guitar solos, riffs, songs, guitar moments, guitarists of the year and more.

* Wolfgang Van Halen – there’s that name again! – and Matt Bruck discuss the future of the EVH brand and their dedication to keeping Eddie Van Halen’s visionary ideas alive.

This issue also features…

We have interviews with the amazing Molly Miller, Wheel, R.E.M. legend Peter Buck, Orianthi, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram (he of the new signature Telecaster), His Lordship’s James Walbourne and shred master Jason Richardson, plus the Introducing and Playlist columns and the photo of the month.

Meanwhile, Joe Bonamassa shows you how to solo over a minor blues, Andy Timmons shares more string-bending techniques, Andy Aledort shows you how to make the most of open strings while soloing – and there’s a new column by Josh Smith. 

This month’s song transcriptions are Blue on Black by Five Finger Death Punch (featuring Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Brian May), the new-for-2022 Black Summer by Red Hot Chili Peppers and Badfish by Sublime.

We have reviews of the Meris LVX Modular Delay System; Fender’s new American Vintage II 1973 Stratocaster; Orange’s new Distortion, Phaser and Sustain pedals; and the Electro-Harmonix String9 String Ensemble pedal. In Power Tools, Chris Gill explores the history of the Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive pedal and provides a tone tip or two.

Hope you enjoy it! Read you in four weeks!

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

Welcome to Guitar World’s weekly roundup of the musical highlights from the, erm, world of guitar. Every seven days (or thereabouts), we endeavor to bring you a selection of songs from across the guitar universe, all with one thing in common: our favorite instrument plays a starring role.

Kings of Chaos – Judgment Day 

What is it? Though Matt Sorum's supergroup Kings of Chaos has operated solely as a live project since its inception, the Grammy-winning drummer has announced the band will be releasing its first-ever album late next year – an announcement that was accompanied by the effort's lead single, Judgment Day. Featuring Slash, Duff McKagan and Dave Kushner, the de facto Velvet Revolver reunion is an infectious addition to the group's original repertoire.

Standout guitar moment: It’s a three-and-a-half minute pentatonic workout for Slash, who treats Sorum’s singing to non-stop double-stop bends and swampy licks. The guitar solo gets the nod, though, introducing additional sonic flair by way of some pinch harmonics and tight turnarounds.

For fans of: Velvet Revolver, Guns N’ Roses, Slash

– Matt Owen

Nita Strauss – The Wolf You Feed (feat. Alissa White-Gluz)

What is it? “Hurricane” Nita Strauss whips up a storm of shred in her latest single, The Wolf You Feed, which also sees Arch Enemy leader Alissa White-Gluz lend quite formidable pipes to the task. 

A towering metal anthem, The Wolf You Feed finds Strauss throwing in the proverbial kitchen sink, offering everything from gargantuan electric guitar riffs to an extended passage of dizzying leads, crafted with soaring melodic phrasing, lightning-quick alternate picking ascends and some face-melting sweeps for good measure.

Standout guitar moment: Strauss’s solo from the 2:18 mark is, itself, a standout guitar moment, however we’re going to zoom that microscope in on the insane single-hand legato runs from 2:53, as they surely take the crown here.

For fans of: Arch Enemy, Nikki Stringfield, Alyssa Day

– Sam Roche

Jared James Nichols – Down the Drain 

What is it? The latest single from blues-rock ace Jared James Nichols, whose affinity for the Gibson Les Paul and penchant for speaker-smashing fretboard throwdowns has made him one of the foremost Gibson-toting guitar titans of his age. 

Down the Drain is as Nichols as it gets, featuring some tight riffage and soloing that will have you positioning the fretboard of your air guitar perpendicular to the ground as you attempt to head bang as gracefully as the long-haired lick lord himself.

Standout guitar moment: Nichols only waits 70 seconds before flexing his Les Paul-fueled soloing powers, but it's the effort at the 2:06 mark that is the tastiest of the bunch – plenty of wah, an ample number of bends, blistering licks and a healthy helping of Nichols flair.

For fans of: Joe Bonamassa, Marcus King, Emily Wolfe

– Matt Owen

Pomegranate Tiger – The Cryptographer

What is it? After an agonising seven-year wait, prog-metal genius Martin Andres, aka Pomegranate Tiger, is back with a virtuosic slice of rhythmic savagery that will bend your mind in all the right ways. Andres has been crafting material over the past two years, so expect this to be the first taste of a new jaw-dropping full-length.

Standout guitar moment: There is simply no let-up in the riff onslaught that dominates The Cryptographer, but those cheeky rapid-fire runs around the one-minute mark are Tosin Abasi-level genius.

For fans of: Animals As Leaders, Periphery, Meshuggah

– Michael Astley-Brown

Fucked Up – One Day

What is it? The hard-charging title track and lead single from the Canadian hardcore stalwarts’ first proper full-length album in over four years. With frontman Damian Abraham contributing lyrics once again, One Day finds this band at their cathartic best – philosophical, questioning and, above all, pissed off.

Standout guitar moment: Those unacquainted with the quintet, or even with punk in general, will find comfort and familiarity in the band’s unstoppable two-guitar attack. From the very first bar – when Mike Haliechuk and Josh Zucker execute the song’s nimble, hooky riff in perfect unison – you know you’re in for a hell of a ride.

For fans of: Titus Andronicus, Jawbreaker, Judas Priest 

– Jackson Maxwell

Hedras – Miracles 

What is it? It’s a testament to Hedras’ fretboard knowledge and boundless creativity that his furious fusion style never gets tiresome, and that each track he puts out introduces listeners to yet more nuanced elements of his six-string skills and compositional abilities. 

Miracles is all about the chords – specifically, the oversized strums and the arpeggiated lead flavors that can be wrung out of each extended assembly of notes Hedras lands on. Yes, there’s some dazzling soloing and silky fretboard migrations, but Miracles is so much more than just the technically baffling melodies.

Standout guitar moment: It would be too easy to say the solo. Instead, it’s the graceful verse passages that get our vote, thanks to their effortless arpeggiated movements and off-kilter strumming patterns.

For fans of: Owane, Plini, Jason Richardson

– Matt Owen

Morris Day – Too Much Girl 4 Me (Ft. Billy Gibbons)

What is it? A handful of chance encounters and a shared Prince connection led to this meeting of minds between the eternally cool leader of The Time and the ZZ Top icon. It’s a funky, tongue-in-cheek collab, driven by a pounding electro beat and Gibbons’ hot-sauced guitars, taken from Day’s final album, Last Call, due November 11.

Standout guitar moment: It’s rare to hear the Rev break out a Whammy pedal, but it sure sounds like one during his first solo – normal Texas proceedings return for the second, big-bendin’ lead, however, as Mr G turns to the whammy bar for wobble instead.

For fans of: ZZ Top, Prince

– Michael Astley-Brown

Theory of a Deadman – Dinosaur

What is it? A weighty new single from the multi-platinum Canadian rockers. As frontman Tyler Connolly explains, Dinosaur represents the culmination of a full-circle musical journey for TOAD, after breaking out with heavier, more riff-driven material in their early years, before experimenting with pop- and country-leaning styles on their more recent music.

“Dinosaur takes us back to our roots with this riff-driven rocker,” Connolly says. “To me, it feels like it could fit on any of our albums, but I will say if you like the old Theory Of A Deadman, you’ll love the new Theory Of A Deadman.”

Standout guitar moment: Dinosaur is a straight-up riff-driven rocker, and boy, is its riff solid.

For fans of: Shinedown, Seether, Rev Theory

– Sam Roche

Sgt. Papers – Pérdida Total

What is it? A good old-fashioned hell-raiser of a new single from this Mexican garage-rock duo. Written about a friend who drunkenly crashed his car into a Burger King, fled the scene, then successfully reported the crash to his insurance company as a robbery the next day, Pérdida Total is a classic slice of high-adrenaline rock ’n’ roll. 

Standout guitar moment: Felipe García’s zany, Chuck Berry-by-way-of-a-haunted-house guitar break, which captures the evil glee of the pro/antagonist just as well as the song’s lyrics. 

For fans of: Black Lips, Ramones, Ty Segall 

– Jackson Maxwell

Black Veil Brides – Devil

What is it? The opening cut from The Mourning, the new EP by long-standing theatrical California rockers Black Veil Brides. Like a sonic time capsule, Devil boasts a quintessentially late-Noughties hard rock/heavy metal sound, driven principally by its massive down-tuned and often harmonized electric guitar riffs, uber-catchy vocal hooks and a dose of lead guitar from lead six-stringer Jake Pitts.

Standout guitar moment: Pitts’ brief solo from the 2:18 mark is easily the track’s standout moment, lasting only a few bars, but making the most of the sonic real estate with a rapid alternated-picked ascending line.

For fans of: Falling in Reverse, Escape the Fate, Asking Alexandria

– Sam Roche

koleżanka – Canals of Our City

What is it? A new single from koleżanka, the Brooklyn-based project of singer/songwriter Kristina Moore. A wistful look back at a formative romance, Canals of Our City perfectly bottles how our brains tend to frame memories of our teenage years as we get older, without veering into cornball nostalgia. 

Standout guitar moment: The way Moore’s solo – starting right about at the 2:15 mark – descends, then snaps all the way back up the fretboard for some tastefully discordant upper-register stabs, is a delightful addition to this song’s alluring arrangement. 

For fans of: Mac DeMarco, Real Estate, Soccer Mommy

– Jackson Maxwell

Nita Strauss has partnered with Arch Enemy leader Alissa White-Gluz on a blistering riff-fueled new single, The Wolf You Feed.

With lyrics inspired by The Story of Two Wolves – a legend widely attributed to Native American storytellers – the track opens with a gargantuan electric guitar riff underneath a demonic scream from White-Gluz, with uptempo verse sections and uber-melodic choruses.

Strauss shines from the 2:18 mark, with a solo loaded with soaring melodic runs, rapid-fire alternate picking ascends and even a tasty selection of sweeps. Check out the track’s accompanying music video below.

“If you look back at old interviews from the last ten years, any time I was asked about collaborating with a vocalist in the future, Alissa White-Gluz was always the first name out of my mouth,” says Strauss. “She is truly one of my favorite vocalists and performers in the industry and creating this track together was everything I hoped it would be!

“I’m very proud to release this track, especially now with everything else that’s going on. This time in history, whether in politics, music, social media, or our personal lives, has been an eye opening look into the two wolves of a lot of people out there, and maybe this song will be a reminder that we all have the ability to choose how we respond to things.”

“Nita and I finally got to collaborate – something we have both wanted to do for years!” adds White-Gluz. “The Wolf You Feed is a kickass, catchy metal track with a really cool vibe. 

“I kept the ‘two wolves’ analogy as a foundation throughout the song while playing up the dichotomy of the two sides of the tug-of-war we all have inside us. I recorded my parts in my home studio and it was an absolute pleasure to build this song with Nita. I am honoured to be a part of it!”

• Learn the fiery playing style of Nita Strauss

Last year, Nita Strauss joined forces with another metal titan, David Draiman of Disturbed, on Dead Inside, a single which straddles the line between skyscraper-scale modern rock and masterful tech metal.

While there’s no official confirmation yet, it’s likely both The Wolf You feed and Dead Inside – as well as 2022 single Summer Storm – will appear on Nita Strauss’s yet-to-be-titled upcoming album.

As she explained last year in a conversation on The Mistress Carrie Podcast, the record will feature half instrumental music, and half music with vocals.

“I did feel, and the label and everybody agreed, it's still important for me to keep my identity as a guitar player and not just branch off too much and go, ‘Okay, well, now it's just guests,’” she said. “Let me still have a little of what makes me me, which is the instrumental shred stuff.”

Earlier this year Nita Strauss took a step back from Alice Cooper’s band, and shortly after announced that she’d joined the touring band of pop superstar Demi Lovato.

But not everything has been going her way lately; last weekend, a thief was caught on camera stealing her Boss GT-1000CORE multi-effects pedal as she hosted a meet and greet at a guitar clinic.

There's no word yet on whether the thief has been tracked down, but his face was captured on multiple security cameras located around the guitar store, so justice is likely to be swift.

Former Alice Cooper shredder and current Demi Lovato sidekick Nita Strauss hosted a clinic at Big House Guitars in Atlanta, Georgia over the weekend, and all was going swimmingly until a man stole her Boss GT-1000CORE multi-effects pedal directly from the stage.

The thief took his opportunity after Strauss had concluded an instructional session, and was elsewhere hosting a meet and greet with those in attendance. In footage posted to Nita Strauss’s Instagram page, the man can be seen brazenly swiping the GT-1000CORE, and covering it with an envelope in a vain attempt to conceal it.

The pedal’s whereabouts are still unknown, Big House has an array of security cameras which captured the crime in pretty clear detail. 

“After a fun afternoon clinic at Big House Guitars in Atlanta, this MF decided to steal my GT-1000 core pedal off the stage while I was doing the meet and greet,” Strauss explains on social media. “Didn’t count on the store having 30 cameras around the building I guess…

“Thankfully, nothing irreplaceable was taken and my [Ibanez JIVAX2] Ghost, which was also on stage, is safe and sound with me. Thieves suck.

In a separate post, Strauss strikes a more positive note, writing: “Thank you to all who came and spent your Saturday afternoon with us at Big House Guitars. You all were wonderful and I had a great time. Hope to see lots of you at the show tomorrow! Except you blue jacket guy, unless you’re bringing my pedal and an apology.”

Responding to a comment on a post made today asking whether the pedal had been returned, the guitarist says that it has not, and that the owner of Big House Guitars had replaced it for her, which describes as a “very kind gesture since it was absolutely not his fault it got stolen.”

There’s no word yet on whether the suspect has been caught or located, but due to the abundant and overwhelming evidence, we can’t imagine it’ll take long.

Earlier this year, Nita Strauss left Alice Cooper’s live lineup to link up with Demi Lovato, who was putting together an all-female rock band that would help her transition from pop superstar to rock warrior.

At the time, Strauss stressed that her departure from the Cooper cohort was not permanent, and that the door had been left open by the legendary rock vocalist should the Ibanez signature artist decide to return in the future.

Well, it turns out the open door wasn’t waiting for very long, after Strauss hauled it off its hinges and rejoined Alice Cooper and co for a show-stopping rendition of School’s Out on Tuesday (October 4) at the Budweiser Events Center in Loveland, Colorado.

After being brought onstage for the set’s encore, Strauss – who was wielding a Jackson Jeff Loomis signature guitar owned by Cooper’s other guitarist, Tommy Henriksen – joined her former bandmates to take a trip down memory lane.

Opting for the Loomis model as she doesn’t “have any guitars in Alice world right now”, the Hurricane also shared the stage with her direct replacement, Kane Roberts – Hurri-Kane, she cleverly calls – who was redrafted to the Cooper lineup following Strauss’s exit.

Unsurprisingly, the lack of her Ibanez JIVA10 did nothing to dampen Strauss’s six-string acrobatics, as the guitar star seamlessly slipped her Cooper cap back on for a flawless rendition of a track she’s no doubt performed hundreds of times.

Taking to social media after the gig, Strauss confirmed she had spent much of the evening in a spectator capacity, before joining the on-stage antics for School’s Out.

“Such a treat getting to not only see the amazing Alice Cooper show from the audience for the first time, but hop up and join the boys for the encore last night,” she wrote. “They all absolutely crushed it and I was beaming the whole time singing along to every song.

“Thank you all for the warm welcome, it made my day,” Strauss continued. “Also thank you [Tommy Henriksen] for letting me use your Jeff Loomis signature Kelly since I don’t have any guitars in Alice world right now. If I’m not playing mine, Jeff’s is a great substitute.”

After news of Strauss’s exit from Cooper’s band first broke, the guitarist was quick to tell Guitar World that surrounding commentary had blown up the exit “into a much bigger decision than it was”.

“There was a lot of speculation from people who didn’t have all the information about what was going on,” Strauss explained. “When I got the call, I went straight to Alice in person and talked to him in his hotel room. I said, ‘Look, I have this opportunity, it doesn’t conflict with this tour but I will have to miss the fall tour. Are you cool if I go and do it?’”

She continued, “He gave me a big hug and said, ‘Absolutely, go do it, we’ll see what happens from there, we are excited for you and proud of you.’”

Since joining Lovato’s live band, Strauss has performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, embarked on tour with the vocalist and developed a new-found reliance on the second and fourth pickup positions.

“I haven’t used position two this much in my entire life [laughs],” Strauss told Guitar World. “There are times when our MD might say, ‘Can you clean that tone up a little bit?’ and I’ll just click it over and it’s perfect. Position two to the rescue!”

Strauss will next be in action tomorrow (October 6) at the Fox Trot Theatre, Detroit. Visit Demi Lovato’s website for a full list of tour dates.

A star-studded lineup of guitarists including Joe Satriani, Nita Strauss, Nuno Bettencourt and Orianthi will appear on Symphony of Sinners & Saints Vol. 2, a new album by composer Kitt Wakeley.

Kicking off proceedings, Wakeley has released the album’s first single, MVP, which features soaring, melodic electric guitar leads from Nita Strauss, drumming by Kenny Aronoff and an orchestral backdrop courtesy of the Macedonian Orchestra. Check it out below.

The upcoming album follows last year’s Symphony of Sinners & Saints, which also featured Joe Satriani on two of its tracks.

“I’m excited about the release of Vol. 2,” Wakeley says. “It gives me the opportunity to resolve the remaining creativity from my prior projects. There is a lot to build on from the previous album and I made sure there is an upward trajectory with the second album in this series.

“Releasing MVP as the first single sets the tone for the continuation of epic orchestral rock and Nita Strauss takes no prisoners with her approach on the guitars. Her rhythm and lead tracks made a huge statement for the first single.”

“Collaborating with other artists is always great, but it’s made better when that artist really embraces your style and what you bring to the table,” adds Strauss. “Kitt’s music is thematic and emotional, and I had a great time adding a layer of hurricane to these songs!”

“Kitt’s compositions are amazing,” says Aronoff. “I have a heavy orchestral background – working with Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copeland and Boston Symphony Orchestra, and doing four years at Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington, Indiana – so I appreciated and love the fusion of classical music with rock and roll music.”

Recorded at London's famous Abbey Road Studios, Macedonia's FAME Studios and LA's EastWest Studios, Symphony of Sinners & Saints Vol. 2 also features guitarists Jay Gleason and João Miguel, drummer Brent Berry, bassist Ryan Miller, pianist Starr Parodi, and vocalist Marcelo Vieria.

The album – which arrives on January 6, 2023 – also looks set to feature among its originals, covers of Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven, Eagles Hotel California and Queen's We Will Rock You. Take a look at its tracklist in full below.

1. Sacred (feat. Joe Satriani and Kenny Aronoff) ~
2. You Gave Me Wings (feat. Joe Satriani) ^
3. Amadeus (feat. Joe Satriani) ^
4. Paganini's Storm (feat. Nuno Bettencourt) ~ 
5. Requiem of the Fallen (feat. Nuno Bettencourt) ^
6. No Apologies (feat. Nuno Bettencourt) ^
7. MVP (feat. Nita Strauss and Kenny Aronoff) *
8. Closure (feat. Nita Strauss and Kenny Aronoff) *
9. Stairway to Heaven (feat. Orianthi) ~
10. Hotel California ~
11. We Will Rock You ~

~ with the London Symphony Orchestra and London Voices
^ with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and London Voices
* with the Macedonian Orchestra and Macedonian Choir

Welcome to Guitar World’s weekly roundup of the musical highlights from the, erm, world of guitar. Every seven days (or thereabouts), we endeavor to bring you a selection of songs from across the guitar universe, all with one thing in common: our favorite instrument plays a starring role.

Ayron Jones – Filthy

What is it? We’ve long heralded Ayron Jones as Seattle’s next great guitar hope, and this new standalone single further cements that reputation. Co-written alongside Marti Frederikson (Ozzy Osbourne, Carrie Underwood) and Scott Stevens (Shinedown, Halestorm), Filthy’s raucous hooks and sludgy riffs are like a mashup of Alice in Chains and N.E.R.D. – and that’s a pretty potent combination in our book.

Standout guitar moment: Come for the groaning Jerry Cantrell bends, stay for the Prince-style middle eight vamps.

For fans of: Alice in Chains, N.E.R.D., Black Stone Cherry

– Michael Astley-Brown

Nita Strauss – Summer Storm

What is it? The second single from Strauss’ highly-anticipated second solo album, Summer Storm is the follow-up to last year’s Dead Inside, her acclaimed collaboration with Disturbed frontman David Draiman. In a recent interview, Strauss told Guitar World that this phenomenal tune “covers all the bases” of her guitar playing, and indeed it’s a fitting introduction to her versatility on the instrument.

Standout guitar moment: The brutal crunch of those riffs and Strauss’ explosive pentatonic outbursts are obviously impressive, but the strong, memorable and well-articulated melodies Strauss plays – which show how much of an influence Iron Maiden remains on this Iron Maidens veteran’s playing – reveal that not only is Strauss a great songwriter, she doesn’t need a singer to help her showcase that songwriting skill.

For fans of: Iron Maiden, John 5, DragonForce 

– Jackson Maxwell

State Champs – What’s My Age Again?

What is it? Mark Hoppus might have dispelled rumors of an imminent Blink-182 reunion with guitarist Tom DeLonge last month, but that hasn’t stopped NY’s finest pop-punk export State Champs from paying homage to the band’s classic lineup.

Off the back of their triumphant fifth studio album, Kings of the New Age – which arrived earlier this year – Derek DiScanio, Tyler Szalkowski, Ryan Scott Graham and Evan Ambrosio deliver a faithful take on one of the most iconic pop-punk tracks of all time, highlighting the timelessly universal appeal of a two-minute track now well over 20 years old.

Standout guitar moment: What's My Age Again?'s arpeggiated opening riff has the ability to make anyone feel as though they're skating down Sunset Strip with a bottle of ice-cold Mountain Dew. Good times.

For fans of: Blink-182, New Found Glory, Sum 41

– Sam Roche

Hedras – AI 

What is it? As one of today’s most prolific progressive instrumentalists, it’s a testament to Hedras’ razor-sharp creativity that every new release seems to outdo the last – both in terms of technical scope, melody and performance. His chops are always flawless, but in AI – described as “the premise of what Future Metal is” – Hedras particularly excels. The pinpoint lead passages sound effortless despite their sheer complexity, while the time signature-shifting exchanges – loaded with Polyphia-style riffing – install a healthy level of rhythmic uncertainty.

Standout guitar moment: If you wish to grasp Hedras’ instrumental abilities, you need only listen to the solo line at the 2:06 mark. It’s equal parts selective phrasing and adventurous noodling, and ends with a pretty unbelievable legato line.

For fans of: Polyphia, Manuel Gardner Fernandes, Octavision

– Matt Owen

Quicksand – Giving the Past Away

What is it? NYC post-hardcore royalty Quicksand’s latest single had the working title “Greatest Quicksand Song Ever”, so it’s something of a surprise to discover it was left off last year’s Distant Populations album. Released ahead of the band’s imminent tour with Clutch and Helmet, Giving the Past Away does indeed prove to be a celebration of everything Quicksand, namely big riffs and abrasive guitar sonics.

Standout guitar moment: Sure, the stop-start hooks are up front, but listen out for Walter Schreifels’ nonchalant ear-ripping harmonic stabs sprinkled throughout the track.

For fans of: Helmet, Fugazi, Clutch

– Michael Astley-Brown

MILES – Never Have I Ever (feat. Travis Barker)

What is it? The closing track from the debut EP of St. Louis-born, Los Angeles-based singer-rapper MILES. Like a pop-punk Whac-A-Mole, Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker pops up once again for what seems like his 100th feature of the year so far, serving up groovy beats under an infectious arrangement of clean electric guitars and instantly catchy vocals.

Standout guitar moment: The opening riff that continues through the verses is straight-up good vibes, and makes us want to pick up a guitar and play along.

For fans of: KennyHoopla, Blink-182

– Sam Roche

“Captain” Kirk Douglas – We Can Be One

What is it? 7/8 isn’t the most obvious time signature for a ’70s-inspired get down, but longtime Roots guitarist “Captain” Kirk Douglas has never been one to go by the book, and this claustrophobic funk jam offers a tantalizing taste of his forthcoming second album.

Standout guitar moment: We Can Be One is a rich tapestry of tight single-note lines and syncopated wah stabs, with aching overdriven lead lines that add a cinematic flair to proceedings.

For fans of: The Fantastic Negrito, The Roots, The Meters

– Michael Astley-Brown

Cleopatrick – OK 

What is it? While making their way around North America with rock royalty Royal Blood, heavy alt-rock duo Cleopatrick took to their tour van to produce OK: their second single of 2022, which is big on rumbling riffs and “digitally abused” guitars. Produced with the goal of sounding like it was “recorded and produced using a sentient IBM computer from 2002”, OK is no nonsense, no frills rock at its finest – guttural guitar breakdowns, lo-fi licks and eardrum-rattling chords.

Standout guitar moment: OK was written with “no regard for the rules”, and while that rings true for the most part – peep those indecipherable sonic screams of the chorus – it’s the opening riff that gets our attention. A perfect aperitif for the ensuing mayhem.

For fans of: Royal Blood, The Pale White

– Matt Owen

Frankie Cosmos – Aftershook

What is it? The second single from Inner World Peace, the new album from Greta Kline’s beloved Frankie Cosmos project. Reflecting on the past with a touch of anxiety, Aftershook is a disarming guitar-pop tune that you can approach from a number of angles.

Standout guitar moment: Taken in context with its subject matter, Aftershook’s solo has a woozy, hall-of-mirrors like quality – mildly disorienting but fun all the same.

For fans of: Snail Mail, Soccer Mommy, Alvvays

– Jackson Maxwell

Devin Townsend – Moonpeople

What is it? The first single from Townsend’s forthcoming 21st studio album – yes, you read that right – Lightwork. With such a wealth of musical material under his belt after decades in the business, Devin Townsend has set a high-bar for himself, but he vaults over it in spectacular fashion on the ethereally space-y Moonpeople.

While the track’s first half is devoid of electric guitar, HevyDevy injects the arrangement with some wide-panned palm-muted lines in its climactic second half, as well as some subtly placed clean leads as the track approaches gratifying conclusion.

Standout guitar moment: The enveloping cleans that decorate the track's outro highlight Townsend's penchant for subtler electric guitar playing, in addition to the heavier riffing he's built much of his career on.

For fans of: Opeth, Leprous, Dream Theater

– Sam Roche

The Amazons – There’s a Light 

What is it? Festival favorites and popular British indie rockers The Amazons are not far away from releasing their third studio album, and though fans probably didn’t need another reason to get hyped for the “anthem-packed” effort, There’s a Light will most definitely add to the anticipation. Blending ballad-y verses with speaker-smashing choruses underpinned by growling guitars and melodic percussion, the single further proves why The Amazons are one of today’s foremost indie guitar bands currently operating in the UK.

Standout guitar moment: It’s not a solo per se, but the interlude section that sees the vocals drop out in favor of some fuzzy, swelling six-string action is a particular highlight of the track. Definitely one for the live sets.

For fans of: Kings of Leon, Sundara Karma

– Matt Owen

“It’s nice to be home for a couple of days. I haven’t been here since January,” grins Nita Strauss when she connects with Guitar World via video link. It's been a whirlwind year for Strauss, who has well and truly been living up to her Hurricane nickname – touring American and European arenas with Alice Cooper, and then heading out with her solo band whenever a gap in her schedule presented itself. 

But the big news came in July, when she dropped the bombshell that she would be not be performing on the shock rock veteran’s fall tour, and even going as far as canceling all of her own solo dates. “I’ll be on stage again much sooner than you think,” she teased, adding, “but that’s news for another day”.

Rumors soon circulated that Strauss would be joining Demi Lovato’s all-new live line-up, which was put together for a world tour to support the pop star's newest album, Holy Fvck. In turn, the record itself would supposedly take more cues from rock and guitar-based influences – a far cry from the Disney star’s past releases.

This was confirmed when Lovato and her band performed new single Substance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, with Strauss sharing an advert for Lovato’s upcoming tour dates soon after. So, how exactly did this all end up happening?

“I got the call back in May,” reveals Nita, whose studio room backdrop is packed with Ibanez headstocks. “I was on tour with my solo band opening up for Black Label Society. It was a tough tour to be on. There were a lot of cancellations. That didn’t have any bearing on my decision, but I guess it made me think what else might be out there. 

“It was the very last day of that tour when I got a call saying Demi Lovato wanted to go in a rock direction and she was putting together an all-female band. They wanted to know if I’d be interested, and I thought, ‘Yeah, of course!’ What guitar player wouldn’t be excited for that kind of opportunity? Bringing this type of music that we love so much to a more mainstream audience…” 

Having been in the Alice Cooper band since 2014 – a dead-cert dream gig for any rock guitar player – it wasn't a decision to be taken lightly. But when we inquire as to whether she lost any sleep over it, Strauss points out that the clickbait headlines and overzealous rumor mill may have been somewhat misleading, at least to a certain degree.

“You know, I think it’s been blown up into a much bigger decision than it was,” she admits. “There was a lot of speculation from people who didn’t have all the information about what was going on. When I got the call, I went straight to Alice in person and talked to him in his hotel room. I said, ‘Look, I have this opportunity, it doesn’t conflict with this tour but I will have to miss the fall tour. Are you cool if I go and do it?’”

With Coop’s reputation as one of the nicest rock 'n' roll stars on the planet, it’s hardly surprising to learn Strauss was given the support a player of her stature so clearly deserves. In fact, doors were even left open for a potential reunion later down the line, if the stars so aligned.

“He gave me a big hug and said, ‘Absolutely, go do it, we’ll see what happens from there, we are excited for you and proud of you.’ I think his exact words were, ‘Go and shine your light there, bring what you’ve learned to the world.’ So from my point of view, it was never like, ‘Peace, I’m out!’ I asked if I could take a step back to try this thing and Alice told me to go have fun. 

“Then it became this big fiasco. Maybe in hindsight I could have made a statement making things more clear, but I didn’t really think I owed it to anybody. I wanted to try this new gig out and see where it goes from there.”

Aside from the obvious hits, what were your favorite Alice Cooper tracks to play live?

“I love the Kane Roberts tracks, like The World Needs Guts, Teenage Frankenstein or Roses On White Lace, so it was very surreal to hear that he was coming in to do the fall tour. I talk to Kane all the time, or at least a few times a month. He’ll ask me about what part I played or what tone I got. It’s so cool to think I learned these songs watching him and now he’s listening to what I did to learn the new arrangements.”

You also played on Roberts’ last solo album, which a lot of people might not know. That makes it even more full-circle, don’t you think?

“I did, yes. I played on this really cool song called King of the World. There’s so much synchronicity. We’re on the best of terms, there’s so much mutual respect and admiration. We’ve always gotten on so well. As a fan, I’m so excited to see him step into that role and play these classic Alice songs again.”

Were you following Demi Lovato’s music before this point or did you need to deep-dive as part of your homework?

“I definitely did my homework, for sure. I knew about her as a super-talented singer and had read all the same headlines everyone else had read about everything she’s gone through and achieved in life. It was interesting going back and listening to her older music, coming out of this Camp Rock and Disney world. 

“You can hear a rock fan being put into a pop genre. Even as a teenager, she was writing lyrics like, ‘Who said I can’t wear my Converse with my dress?’ It was her saying, ‘Let me be me and let me rock!’ Now she’s just turned 30, she has a lot more say in her career choices and style of music. It’s exciting to be a part of bringing that vision to life.”

It looks like the reaction to your career news has gone down well – most people sound pleased to see you taking your talent to new areas and different stages.

“You and I are looking at different social media feeds! It is what it is. In a way, I feel very cared about – people are so protective of me and my career that they want to weigh in on my decisions [laughs]. If people didn’t care, they wouldn’t say anything. I’m choosing to look at the bright side of things. I’m very excited about the opportunity. I haven’t been to Brazil to play a gig since 2017. I can’t wait to crush these shows. 

“And it’s not just about me, it’s an amazing all-female band: Brittany Bowman on the drums, Leanne Bowes on the bass, Dani McGinley on the keys. If we can reach this next generation of passionate and intense fans, and inspire them to play music, isn’t that a wonderful thing? They might pick up a guitar or bass, try out drums or see Dani on keys and think, ‘I could do that!’ Some of these younger fans might not have been reached through a traditional rock show.”

A lot of virtuoso guitarists have paired up with pop stars in the past, from Jennifer Batten and Greg Howe working with Michael Jackson, to Nuno Bettencourt playing with Rihanna.

“I’ve gotten to play with Jennifer. She’s amazing and it was very humbling. Yeah, there’s a long tradition of rock players in pop acts. There’s Justin Derrico with Pink, Nuno Bettencourt with Rihanna. Greg Howe did NSync as well as Michael Jackson.

“Then there’s Monte Pittman playing with Madonna while simultaneously playing with Prong, which no one seems to care about in terms of juggling both. And you know why they don’t care? Because they shouldn’t!”

Especially when he’s teaching Madonna how to play things like A New Level by Pantera, which she surprised fans with on her Sticky & Sweet tour.

“I know, that’s so crazy. It’s amazing that Monte gets to be the incredible musician he is across different genres and platforms. I’m excited to join that rank: the lucky people who get to stretch their wings and do something a little different. Demi has been taking lessons with me since we started rehearsals. She’s playing an Ibanez on stage and really going for it. 

“She’s a total metalhead. I’ve been quoted saying that a lot and it’s true. We did the first gig only a few weeks ago in Springfield, Illinois. I walked past a dressing room and could hear somebody listening to Megadeth, and it was Demi. There she was, getting ready for the show.

“She’s not trying to fool anyone with air guitar or any kind of act; she’s finally being her genuine self. It’s a big move for Demi, you know? She had a very safe pop career that she didn’t need to mess with but she chose to step out and play the music she loves.”

What kind of advice and exercises have you have been giving her?

“Mainly it’s just been getting her ready for tour. We’re not going through modes or any theory yet. I want her to feel as comfortable as she can playing these songs on stage because she’s coming from a different world. 

“It’s been more about practicing standing up, keeping the fretting hand in the right position. She was doing this thing a lot of younger players do, with her thumb over the neck, and strumming more over the neck than over the pickup. It was just little things like that: the building blocks of riffing.”

It makes sense for her to leave the blistering harmonic minor shred to you... that’s what you’re known for, after all.

“She’s not doing that on this tour, but maybe next time. She’s a very good learner, which surprised me because I’ve taught in the past and I’ve never had a student who didn’t need to be told the same thing twice. 

“Eventually, one thing will leave their mind and you’ll need to remind them, ‘Don’t forget, keep your thumb at the back!’ With Demi, I’ve only told her things once and she gets it. She’ll retain that information and instruction like a sponge, which is really cool.”

What are the main differences for you as a player? It feels like the Alice Cooper set is more classic rock and ultimately blues-based, while your new gig might fit in closer to the punk world.

“It’s really interesting playing through so many years of Demi’s catalog. The early stuff is more Paramore-sounding pop-punk. The middle years were her bread and butter years – Heart Attack, Sorry Not Sorry or Cool For The Summer. They weren’t simple songs, but they were more straightforward in terms of guitar chords. 

“This new record is so riff-y and heavy, there’s so much interesting stuff going on guitar-wise. Tying it all together with Demi’s Musical Director, Stacy Jones, has been so much fun – taking that middle era of music into something that makes sense with the current stuff. 

“We couldn’t just do Sorry Not Sorry as recorded on the album because it wouldn’t have fit in with this rock show. Everything has been 'rockified'. Solos, double kick drums and more have been added, with Demi singing her ass off.”

Clearly, it’s time to crank the gain.

“We’re definitely cranking things up. The first time I went to Demi’s house, she had an amp with no distortion channel. I ended up leaving my practice amp there for her to use, one of those little battery-operated Nux ones. Marshall just sent her a Code 50, so now she’s got that to crank. It’s like rule number one for a guitar player: get a Marshall and turn it up loud!”

And how is your rig looking – is there anything new or different to the Alice Cooper shows?

“It’s actually the exact same rig. I took my same Kemper and kept the same sounds. There are definitely more tones in this set. With Alice, it was mainly one block of five sounds: clean, rhythm, rhythm with a little distortion, a lead and then a lead with a wah.

“With Demi, there are so many different tones, like a brighter JCM800-ish sound with the gain turned really low that I need a lot. It’s not something I would have dialed in outside of this gig, but it works so well for spanky or washy cleaner tones. There are also a lot of long delays and big reverbs, so we’ve had so much fun experimenting with the tones. 

“There’s an octaver on some of the new album solos, which I haven’t used much before, so I’ve been enjoying that. It’s more interesting guitar-wise than a lot of people might think. The Kemper is doing everything with the Mission Control on the floor and my [signature Ibanez] JIVA models are my workhorse.”

We’re guessing pickup positions two and four have been coming in handier than ever, right?

“I haven’t used position two this much in my entire life [laughs]. There are times when our MD might say, ‘Can you clean that tone up a little bit?’ and I’ll just click it over and it’s perfect. Position two to the rescue! Being the only guitar player is also very new for me. I’ve been playing in two- or three-guitar bands my whole life. 

“It’s interesting being the one that has to cover everything instead of organizing which octaves to play with other people. I might think, ‘If only one of these parts get played, which one is it going to be?’ It’s tightened my rhythm playing up so much because it’s just me. There’s nothing else there to mask any imperfections.”

You just released a new song called Summer Storm. With its brutal beatdowns, Phrygian Dominant shred and blazing pentatonic runs, it seems to have everything people would want from a Nita Strauss song.

“I feel like on both of my albums there’s one track that seems to encompass everything that I’m about as a player. For the first album it was Our Most Desperate Hour and for this one it’s Summer Storm. And I agree, it really covers all the bases of my playing. Everything that makes me sound like me. It’s catchy, shreddy, emotional and a little chaotic.

“It tells a story. After the success of Dead Inside with David Draiman, I think everyone else – from my label to a lot of my fans – expected another vocal song next. But I love surprising people and wanted to stay true to who I am as a player, which is why it was time for another instrumental.”

Speaking of which, there’s a great arc to the solo you played on Dead Inside – that opening line pedals off the perfect fifth and ‘cries’ by bending the second up to a minor third, building and building from there…

“Yeah, I probably learned that kind of stuff from Marty Friedman. When I write solos, I’ll improvise several times and then start refining it, taking this beginning and linking to this other middle part. I’ll eventually get to a whole thing and record it properly. And what ended up on the final recording was my first pass after having pieced those parts together. I looked at the producer and we both felt it sounded cool. It came out very organically.”

In terms of technique, what are you working on right now? Is there a current drill or exercise?

“To be honest, all my practice time has been in tour prep recently. I’m always rehearing for the next tour while still on the previous one. I started my year on my solo tour, while getting ready for the Alice tour. I went to that and was rehearsing for the next solo tour. Then I finished that and got back on an Alice tour, learning songs for the Demi tour. And now that’s just started.

“My practice time has been just trying to keep my head out of the water. There’s always so much to learn on guitar. I just barely have time to do it.”

Is there a style you’re hoping to spend more time on when you do get the opportunity, like Al Di Meola-ish flamenco or gypsy jazz à la Django Reinhardt?

“Oh, totally. Flamenco is always something I want to get better at. I was first exposed to it through Steve Stevens’ Flamenco A Go-Go album, which is a total masterpiece. That’s my dinner party album – if I’m having people over, we will definitely end up listening to it. I enjoy it so much and would love to learn more of that kind of stuff, as well as jazz. 

“I’d love to improve my metal playing, too. There’s still so much to learn. I’m a more left hand-dominant player, using a lot of legato and fast trills. I’d love to catch my right hand up and get more into economy picking. I do a little, but I could do more. It’s a never-ending quest, this instrument that we love so much. It’s a lifelong affair.”

• Head over to Demi Lovato's website to find out when Nita Strauss will next be performing live.

Nita Strauss has had quite a summer. 

The unexpected announcement of her departure from Alice Cooper's band in July was quickly followed by the news that Strauss had landed a gig as the lead electric guitar player for pop superstar Demi Lovato.

Now, Strauss has followed up those major career moves with a ferocious new solo single, a pummeling instrumental appropriately titled Summer Storm. 

The follow-up to Dead Inside, a collaboration with Disturbed frontman David Draiman, Summer Storm is highlighted by brutal riffage and dazzling pentatonic fireworks, but also has a strong melodic element that shows the enduring influence of Iron Maiden (fitting, given that she's a veteran of the all-female Iron Maiden tribute band The Iron Maidens) on Strauss' playing. You can check out the song's music video below. 

In a new interview with Guitar World, Strauss explained how the track is a perfect window into her playing, and why she picked it in particular to follow up the hugely successful Dead Inside.

“I feel like on both of my albums there’s one track that seems to encompass
everything that I’m about as a player," Strauss said. "For the first album it was Our Most Desperate Hour and for this one it’s Summer Storm... it really covers all the bases of my playing. Everything that makes me sound like me. It’s catchy, shreddy, emotional and a little chaotic (laughs).

“It tells a story," she continued. "After the success of Dead Inside with David Draiman, I think everyone else from my label to a lot of my fans expected another vocal song next. But I love surprising people and wanted to stay true to who I am as a player, which is why it was time for another instrumental.”

We still have no concrete details – beyond Dead Inside and Summer Storm – on Strauss' highly anticipated second solo album, but representatives for the guitarist say that more news on it will come "soon."

For now, keep your eyes on Strauss' website for more on the guitarist.

Nita Strauss has refused to rule out a return to Alice Cooper’s band in the future, asserting she hasn’t necessarily “left” the band despite taking up a new role as Demi Lovato’s touring electric guitar player.

Last month, Strauss canceled her solo festival appearances for this summer and announced she would not be joining Cooper’s band for their upcoming fall tour. After some speculation, it was later confirmed Strauss would be joining pop star Lovato when the pair performed together on Jimmy Kimmel Live!

However, speaking to Louder about her career shift, Strauss has said her absence on Cooper’s fall tour does not equate to her official departure, with the Ibanez signature artist leaving the door open for a potential return to the lineup.

When asked about her departure from the band, Strauss challenged the choice of words, saying that only those outside the band have used the terms “quitting” or “leaving”.

“It’s an interesting thing that everyone’s picked up saying it’s a ‘departure’ but I don’t feel, necessarily, that I left,” Strauss observed. “I took a step back and I’m stepping back from this upcoming tour but I don’t think anyone has ever used the word quitting or leaving outside of other people.”

Instead, when Strauss played her last shows with Cooper, the latter hosted a “Hiatus Dinner” and made it clear to the guitarist that she was welcome back any time. To this end, Strauss has hinted that a return could happen as early as next year, depending on her touring commitments.

“There’s no shutting of a door and changing of the guard, it’s just I’m taking a step back a little bit,” she continued. “Depending on what the schedule looks like next year, I may have the chance to come back, I may not. But it definitely doesn’t feel as final to me and to the people in Alice’s band and the inner circle as it has been portrayed out in the world.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Strauss reflected on her new job with Lovato, and revealed she was singled out by the pop star’s musical director with the proposition that Lovato was planning to assemble an all-female rock band.

Strauss continued, “I actually got a text from Demi’s musical director… and essentially what it said was what we all know now: Demi is a huge rock and metal fan. And Demi wants to go back to her roots and wants to put together an all-female rock band. 

“She’s really one of the biggest stars in the world and she wants to take a step into our genre and this style of music that we love so much. When you get that text, that somebody wants to bring that type of music to the forefront, how do you say no? 

“How do you turn down this opportunity to bring this style of music to so many more people? So I was thrilled to hear about it and I jumped at the opportunity.”

Strauss has already been able to introduce her shredding skills to multiple audiences with Lovato, and even ventured as far as to say that her solos generated a level of adoration from fans that she’s “never heard before”.

“It is wild, I put up a video of the first show that we did when I was doing a guitar solo, sort of back to back power stance with Demi, and the screaming and cheering from fans is something I’ve never heard before,” she recalled. I’ve never heard a reaction like that at a rock or metal show. People are like, ‘Yeah, guitar, cool.’ 

“But to hear this audience, possibly a lot of them being exposed to that guitar solo, or seeing it in the context of [the live environment], for the first time, it’s just so exciting and cool.”

Nita Strauss has made her first full onstage appearance with Demi Lovato this weekend (August 13) at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield, Illinois.

The guitarist joined Lovato’s live band back in July, having been recruited ahead of the release of the pop star’s rock-oriented new album Holy Fvck, which arrives this Friday (August 19).  

Following the show, Strauss shared on Instagram: “Had a blast on opening night with @ddlovato!” She also shared a clip of the show.

According to Setlist.fm, the 21-song set included live debuts of new tracks Holy Fvck, Freak, Eat Me, 29, Happy Ending and 4 Ever 4 Me, alongside a cover of the Goo Goo Dolls classic Iris and rock reinterpretations of older Lovato tunes, including Sorry Not Sorry, Heart Attack and Cool For The Summer. 

Fan-shot footage of tracks Cool For Summer and Skin Of My Teeth has surfaced and can be seen below.

• Learn the fiery playing style of Nita Strauss

Prior to joining Lovato’s band, Strauss was performing regularly with Alice Cooper – a gig she had enjoyed since 2014 – and had planned festival appearances in support of her solo material. She announced her departure from Alice Cooper on July 11, tellings fans:

“After this absolutely incredible run in Europe, it is bittersweet for me to let you guys know that I will not be joining the Alice Cooper band for the upcoming fall tour. I will also regretfully have to cancel the festival dates my solo band had planned for the rest of the year.

"I am not pregnant! There is no drama whatsoever and my touring year is still very full – in fact, I’m on a flight straight into the next adventure as I post this, and I’ll be on stage again much sooner than you think. But that’s news for another day.”

Soon after Strauss revealed she had joined Lovato’s group and her diary has been packed ever since, with rehearsals, an early appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!  and now tour dates.

The group will head to South America next for a run of dates across Brazil, Columbia, Argentina and Chile, before returning to the US for a fall headline tour.

Head to Demi Lovato’s site for the full list of tour dates.

Since departing Alice Cooper’s live band earlier this month, Nita Strauss has been hard at work rehearsing in her new gig with pop superstar Demi Lovato.

In a new video posted to Lovato’s Instagram feed, the guitarist can be seen rehearsing the singer’s latest single, Substance, from their upcoming rock- and pop-punk-inspired album, Holy Fvck, which arrives August 19. 

Lovato is set to head out on tour in support of the album from August 13 at the Illinois State Fair.

Strauss made her debut with Demi Lovato – still wielding her Ibanez JIVA10 signature model – during a performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! earlier this month.

The guitarist comments on the intensity of the speed at which her career has moved in a new Instagram post.

“It’s been an exhausting but extremely, extremely fun couple of weeks,” she writes. “From jumping right into a live TV performance three days after the Alice tour ended, to crash-learning a brand-new setlist, taking yesterday (the only free day since I’ve been off the road) t shoot a music video for the upcoming album until 2AM and then back into rehearsal this morning.

“While being tired is never fun, there’s something fundamentally rewarding about the exhaustion that comes with getting a lot of stuff done!”

While her move from Alice Cooper to Demi Lovato raised some eyebrows in the guitar world, the direction of Lovato’s latest material makes sense as to why Strauss switched gigs.

Thus far, two singles have been released from Lovato’s forthcoming album: Substance and Skin of My Teeth. 

While the latter marked their stylistic divergence from pop to more of an electric guitar-driven sound, with an early-00s-reminiscent rock arrangement, Substance is thoroughly powerchord-driven, signifying Lovato’s intention to get in on the resurgence of pop–punk, which has been spearheaded by the likes of Machine Gun Kelly, Avril Lavigne and more.

You can catch Nita Strauss with Demi Lovato on the singer's upcoming US tour. For a full list of dates, head to their official website.