Lamb of God's Mark Morton and Willie Adler on creative kinship, staying power, and trading heavyweight riffs By Jeff Kitts One of the most formidable guitar tandems in metal unpack the story of their explosive new album, Lamb of God
Vote for the greatest metal guitarists of all time! By Total Guitar editors Total Guitar magazine are running a series of polls to discover who YOU think are the greatest guitarists of all time. The question this time: who are the best metal guitarists?
This Black Dahlia Murder guitar playthrough showcases the very best of modern extreme metal By Sam Roche Guitarist Brandon Ellis shreds his way through the band's latest single, Verminous
Darkthrone's Nocturno Culto: "I would like Metallica to record on our equipment. What would they do to express themselves through that gear?" By Jonathan Horsley In this rare interview with the Darkthrone guitarist, Ted Skjellum muses on the Fender combo’s black-metal magic and why he doesn’t miss playing live…
How to tap like Eddie Van Halen, Randy Rhoads and Reb Beach By Martin Goulding Learn some tapping licks in the styles of three of the technique’s most celebrated practitioners
Randy Rhoads-Style Melodic Tapping Exercise Using Common Tones By Richard Rossicone Not only will this exercise get your fingers moving, but it will get your brain moving too.
Odd Couplings: More Approaches to Soloing in Odd Meters By Dave Davidson There’s something very cool about a sudden shift in the music that throws the listener for a moment, followed by a return to the groove.
How to Reinvent a Modal Melody by Changing Only One Note By Metal Mike Chlasciak Learn a simple, effective way to take any Aeolian line and change and mutate its character.
More Open-String Lick Ideas from Metallica's Kirk Hammett By Kirk Hammett In this classic GW lesson, Kirk Hammett demonstrates some lead ideas that use open-string notes.
Mastering the Modes of G Major with Three Notes Per String By Nita Strauss This approach offers an economical way to cover a lot of fretboard ground while broadening the availability of notes within a given position.
Examining Five Essential Minor Mode Scale Patterns By Metal Mike Chlasciak Focus on two essential minor modes, Dorian and Aeolian, with these scale patterns.
Discovering New Ways to Use the Minor Pentatonic Scale By Metal Mike Chlasciak How to break away from the “bluesy” sound with which the scale is so often associated.
Outside-the-Box Shred Lesson: A Tribute to the Late, Great Shawn Lane By Mike Orlando Learn some great Shawn Lane-style licks with this lesson.
How to Incorporate Suspended Chords into Heavy Metal Rhythm Guitar Parts By Metal Mike Chlasciak Learn a few different examples of rhythm-guitar ideas that jump around harmonically and also feature the incorporation of suspended chords.
Randy Rhoads' Scales, Blues Licks and Daring Chromatic Maneuvers By Tom Kolb Learn the scales, blues licks and daring chromatic maneuvers of Ozzy's late, great axman.
Moving Across the Fretboard in Unusual Ways to Produce Unique Runs By John Petrucci This kind of “positional wizardry” can be used to generate interesting melodic patterns that can be used in a variety of ways.
Using Syncopation to Disguise the Meter By Dave Davidson Learn how unexpected rhythmic shifts and syncopations can obscure the meter.
Using String Skipping to Create Angular, Sweep-Type Sounds By Jacky Vincent These string-skipping techniques will help you nail some fast alternate- and sweep/economy-picked phrases.
Add Some Staccato, Jake E. Lee-Inspired Licks to Your Arsenal By Will Wallner Learn a double-picking technique Jake E. Lee used to great effect during his time with Ozzy Osbourne.
Learn the Guitar Habits of Buckethead By Tyler Larson Learn the habits of a mysterious guitar genius.
