Artist Lessons

A set of electric guitar strings is no match for the bicep-curling, iron-pumping purveyor of blues power. He shows us how he makes his guitar scream

In his inaugural Guitar World column, the Blackberry Smoke guitarist declares his love for a tuning that he learned, aged 12, when checking out Honky Tonk Women

Step back from the overdrive pedal, dial the gain back, and that extra clarity could well sound heavier in a band mix

The funkmeister puts Direct Flyte under the microscope to deliver a masterclass in arrangement. It's funk, sure, but there's some operatic influence in there, too, because that's just how Wong rolls

Ditch the pick and crank the amp for this Jared James Nichols masterclass in blues solo composition

In Foley's final column in the series, she completes her turnarounds masterclass – an essential skill for any blues player

What makes the Gibson ES-350 so good for rock? Bonamassa says they are a real live wire, with “a lot of pop” and no shortage of low-end

Using a Fearless Flyers classic as a case study in baritone layering, the funk-master GW columnist peels away the onion to explain how these individual parts all stack up

Whether you call these solo ideas minor blues or embellished pentatonic/blues scale, the effect is the same, freeing you up from established patterns to hold your audience's attention

This masterclass in turnarounds explores different ways to approach an essential blues technique, so of course it finishes up with a look at how the master of turnarounds did it back in the day