Justin Johnson Shreds Blues on Three-String Electric Shovel Guitar

Justin Johnson has been getting attention with a video in which he plays some tasty slide guitar on a three-string guitar made from a shovel and built by Mississippi Blues Guitars.

Johnson is an international touring and recording artist who’s been dubbed “The Wizard” for his mastery of stringed instruments.

Tracks from his double album Smoke & Mirrors have been featured in Ken Burns’ 2016 documentary about baseball great Jackie Robinson and a Dodge Motor Company advertisement. Johnson has also published educational books on music theory and technique, and released a series of instructional DVDs.

Some of you may recall that YouTube guitar phenom Rob Scallon has also posted some impressive videos of himself playing a shovel guitar, including clips in which he covers Megadeth’s "Holy Wars" and Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing in the Name” using a one-string shovel guitar. We’ve included those below as well.

You can learn more about Johnson at his official website and follow him on Facebook and Twitter. For more of his videos, visit his YouTube channel.

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Christopher Scapelliti is editor-in-chief of Guitar Player magazine, the world’s longest-running guitar magazine, founded in 1967. In his extensive career, he has authored in-depth interviews with such guitarists as Pete Townshend, Slash, Billy Corgan, Jack White, Elvis Costello and Todd Rundgren, and audio professionals including Beatles engineers Geoff Emerick and Ken Scott. He is the co-author of Guitar Aficionado: The Collections: The Most Famous, Rare, and Valuable Guitars in the World, a founding editor of Guitar Aficionado magazine, and a former editor with Guitar World, Guitar for the Practicing Musician and Maximum Guitar. Apart from guitars, he maintains a collection of more than 30 vintage analog synthesizers.

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