Sophie Lloyd on the pros and cons of being 2023's reigning shred queen – only in the new Guitar World

I hereby welcome Sophie Lloyd to the GW cover club! It’s a joy to watch guitarists spring up, basically out of nowhere, to achieve such high levels of acclaim in this, um, interesting modern age of ours.

I joined GW in early 2011, and I’ve witnessed a few bright careers in the making since then, including occasional GW cover stars Billy Strings, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Jake Kiszka, Rob Scallon, and Wolfgang Van Halen (although Wolf did share a GW cover with his dad in 2008…).

OK, back to Sophie: Somewhere in Joe Bosso’s interview in this issue, Lloyd says, “People always say, ‘You haven’t paid your dues,’ but I feel as though I’ve done that in a different way.”

I agree. And what does “paying your dues” even mean in 2023? Isn’t building a massive online following over the course of several years paying your dues? Isn’t somehow shifting from the digital realm onto major brick-and-mortor stages like Madison Square Garden, Wembley Arena and the awesomely named KFC Yum! Center "paying your dues"?

Lloyd’s is definitely a unique story, and although I have very little inside information, I can promise you that her current stint with Machine Gun Kelly is still just the beginning.

Speaking of Lloyd, in this jam-packed issue you will find…

Welcome to the Machine: Lloyd discusses the joys – and the very public pitfalls – of her wild trajectory from popular online creator to Machine Gun Kelly’s arena-rocking secret weapon. (by Joe Bosso)

Exclusive Lesson with (and by!) Sophie: Lloyd breaks down her main riffs and solo in Do or Die and offers some useful playing and practicing tips – with tab and video. (by Sophie Lloyd)

Surfing with the Sophie: Lloyd chooses the 10 albums that changed her life. (by Andrew Daly)

Pop Goes the Shredder: 10 respected rock ’n’ blues guitarists who – for at least a little while, anyway – boarded the pop train. (by Andrew Daly)

This issue (AKA the September 2023 issue of Guitar World) is available right here, right now!

Elsewhere in this issue...

Famous rock recluse Vito Bratta discusses some of his greatest White Lion guitar solos, a poignant conversation with Eddie Van Halen and how he wound up using Jimi Hendrix’s Strat.

On their back-to-basics new album, Greta Van Fleet guitarist Jake Kiszka heads for the hills and cranks up the volume!

Warren Haynes and Gov’t Mule return with Peace…Like a River, a sublime example of longform rock ’n’ soul that draws inspiration from George Harrison, the Doors, and the multipart masterpieces of Kansas and Queen.

How did a Swedish death metal band end up releasing one of the greatest progressive rock masterpieces of the modern age? Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt looks back on 20 years of Damnation.

On Truth Killer, Sevendust's guitar-packed new album, guitarists Clint Lowery and John Connolly ponder the musical question – “How low can you go?”

Biggie smalls! Ten diminutive practice amps that’ll actually inspire you to practice.

In our Columns section, Joe Bonamassa discusses the finer points of the 1959 Gibson ES-345, Andy Aledort shows you how to weave four-part guitar harmonies, Josh Smith shows you how to use diminished phrases to connect chords in a blues tune, and Andy Timmons shows you how to describe a chord progression in a solo.

Besides Lloyd's transcribed Do or Die lesson, this month’s transcriptions are You Never Give Me Your Money by the Beatles, Will of the People by Muse, and Symphony of Destruction by Megadeth.

We have reviews of the Boss SDE-3000EVH Dual Digital Delay pedal, the Furch Violet D-SM acoustic, the Jackson X Series Dinky DK3XR HSS, the Apogee Jam X and Fishman’s Fluence Tim Henson Signature Series and Scott LePage Custom Series pickup sets.

In Power Tools, Chris Gill explores the history and allure of the 1983-85 Roland SDE-3000 Digital Delay.

OK, later!

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