• ISSUE 355 • JANUARY 2024 • CONTENTS
COVER STORY
Enjoy six brilliant Christmas
classics with us!
MerryChristmas!
Learn 6 Christmas carols to liven up the season! Blues, rock, jazz, acoustic, classical & more!
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6 CHRISTMAS CLASSICS!
JOY TO THE WORLD Jamie Humphries
Rock, Brian May and Joe Satriani-style!
14
SILENT NIGHT John Wheatcroft
24
A jazzy take on a much-loved Christmas classic.
DECK THE HALLS Declan Zapala
30
A gorgeous classical rendition for you to learn.
IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER Andy G Jones 38 Tasty jazz-blues licks in a cool arrangement.
THE HOLLY AND THE IVY Stuart Ryan 44 This easy-to-master piece will still impress!
THE FIRST NOEL Martin Cooper
48
An approachable rock version for you to play.
REGULARS
WELCOME
3
Jasongetsfestiveonhisintroductorypage! JOHNNY RZEZNIK 6 Goo Goo Dolls’ guitarist and founder member answers our Q&A in brilliantly witty style. INTRO 8 AllyourregularsincludingJustin,Mitch,Quist, Phil,andRichardBarrett’sSubstitute. MICHAEL THOMPSON 12 This superb US session player and renowned rockguitaristtalksallthingsinstrumental. SUBSCRIPTIONS 36 Superoffersatwww.magazinesdirect.com. BACK ISSUES 62 Missed a print or digital edition? Find it here! ALBUM REVIEWS 81 Six of the latest guitar albums reviewed and rated by Jason Sidwell and David Mead. NEXT MONTH 82 Spice Up Your Chords! Taking inspiration from players past and present we show how to add style to your chord playing. Plus much more!
CONTENTS
THE LEARNING ZONE
30-MINUTE LICKBAG
64
Jamie Hunt has six great licks to help you build a better repertoire, with: Kevin Parker (Tame Impala), John Squire (The Stone Roses), Buck Dharma (Blue Öyster Cult), Tom Scholz (Boston), Vito Bratta (White Lion), and Emily Remler(Americanjazzguitarist). BLUES 66 David Gerrish brings you two stylishly accurate soloshighlightingtheharmonicapproach, bending and vibrato style of perhaps the most important blues guitarist of them all, the man from Indianola, Mississippi, the great BB King. SHRED 70 Charlie Griffiths has another set of six shred licks to challenge and tantalise your digits. This month he tackles the style of Finnish guitarist Mika Tyyskä, and his animated alter-ego the amazingMrFastfinger! MODERN BLUES SOLOING 73 The wonderful Josh Smith wraps up his fourpartseriesuncoveringthesecretsofhisstyle, with a look at jump blues. Using hybrid picking he shows you a range of examples that you can incorporate into your own playing. SLIDE PLAYING 78 SimonBarnardbringsyouanotherlessonin his series designed to improve all aspects of your guitar technique. This month he tackles an approach that can be moving, exciting and evocative: the wonderful world of slide guitar!
VIDEOSMASTERCLASS
TIM LERCH 14 Blues Turnarounds 52 Turnarounds are among the most important features in any blues. They can be modified and used as intros and outros too, and in a great lesson this superb US guitarist brings you 14 of his tastiest turnarounds, guaranteed to spice up any guitarist’s bluesy repertoire.
AUDIO &VIDEO
PLEASENOTE… All audio and video lessons are available online via a bit.ly link (see below) where animated tab versions of every lesson can be found. This includes this month’s six Christmas carols, our Tim Lerch videomasterclass,allthestylestudies featured, and more. Even better, you can view these on any type of computer, makingforamuchmorerewarding experience. All the audio and video is also available to download to your computer (hi or lo res). Simply look for the red links on the landing page. Type the bit.ly link below into your browser to get to the GT page:
https://bit.ly/3LMzFZk
January 2024
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