Scream for me, Long Beach!

If you were a metal fan in the 1980s and you didn't know this rallying cry, then you weren't a metal fan in the 80s. It really was that ubiquitous. Released 36 years ago this week, Live After Death is, quite simply, the best live heavy metal album ever made. Filmed over 4 nights at Long Beach Arena (not too far from Huntington Beach) in California, late in the year-long "World Slavery Tour" to promote the near-perfect Powerslave album from the Golden Age of Iron Maiden (with an additional 20 minutes recorded from 4 nights at Hammersmith Odeon in the UK), Live After Death is a ferocious picture of Iron Maiden in their glorious prime, with an equally ferocious Derek Riggs illustration of "Eddie the 'Ead" bursting from the grave, a bolt of lightning devastating the bolt holding his skull together after the full lobotomy represented on the Piece of Mind album cover. This is probably my favorite album cover of all time.

My cousin Bobby, who sold me my first used guitar (An Aria Pro II "explorer" style fixed bridge beauty in black), was a huge Maiden fan. By the mid-80s, I was still into the more radio-friendly "metal-lite" fare, like Def Leppard and Quiet Riot, with a few other similar bands sprinkled in. I was still fairly new to the scene, and new to guitar, but Bobby pushed me to dive into Maiden. I bought Powerslave on vinyl, because I had a record player in my room. I remember pulling the album out of the sleeve and putting it on, gorging myself on the Egyptian imagery as I laid down on the bed with the dust jacket draped in song lyrics.

About halfway through Aces High, the guitar solo kicked in, and it was so much longer than any solo I'd ever heard before that I had to wonder if they'd simply NOT used the rest of the lyrics printed on the sheet and finished the song as an instrumental. Of course I was wrong. By Two Minutes to Midnight, the gruesome lyrical imagery ("jellied brains" and "feed them to our babies," etc) made this the most "evil" thing my young mind had ever been exposed to (so far). Maybe they really WERE satanic??? Back in the Village was among my favorite tracks on the album. The riff was just crazy. So fast, so powerful. The nearly 14-minute Rime of the Ancient Mariner was amazing, though I thought it was a bit too repetitive and the slow section in the middle just way too long (and I got my literature teacher to play the song, in its entirety, in our class when we studied Coleridge).

That album changed my life. Seriously. And the cover had so many "easter eggs" all over it. I studied it for days.

Soon after came the live album, Live After Death. I asked for this album for Christmas, and to her credit, Mom (disgusted by the cover art as she was) wrapped the vinyl double-album in Santa paper to put it under the tree. I absolutely devoured it. For all the songs that weren't on Powerslave, these versions were the very first ones I heard, and therefore they will always be THE proper versions of the songs. Hearing the studio versions of songs like Revelations later made them seem slow, and dull. Lifeless. Everything on LAD was absolute ferocity.

Then there was the home video of the entire show. So much to see, from the Eddie props, to the Egyptian backdrop, to the live performance, with each and every one of the members on top of their game. Watching Dave and Adrian trade licks, Adrian leaning on Dave's shoulder. It wouldn't be until over 30 years later that I could actually see them do the same thing in-person from about as close, and I was as giddy as a schoolboy when I did. Bruce running the massive stage end to end over and over again, never missing a note (and I can confirm, he can STILL fuckin do it, even over 60 years old and recovered from throat cancer!).

When I got a little older and had a car, I bought LAD again on cassette. Then when the CD came out, I bought it yet again, without realizing the entire 4th side (The Hammersmith songs, some of my absolute favorites on the album) weren't included because they wanted to keep it to one CD. Eventually, the 2-CD version was released and I bought it YET AGAIN.

Favorite tracks: Revelations, Hallowed be Thy Name, 22 Acacia Avenue, Children of the Damned, Phantom of the Opera
Dislike: No "Back in the Village," and the ripping version of "Sanctuary" on the companion home video release is not included.

Hey Kids! Happy October!
I need some help. I've been toying with the idea of doing some live dates up here in Vermont and was thinking of doing acoustic/vocal with a loop pedal - just for fun.
My usual deal is with backing tracks - and even though I've recorded some killer backing tracks, it feels old fashioned and a bit like guitar karaoke.
So here's the deal. I don't have a loop pedal and I've never used one. lol.
Does anyone here have experience with using one - the ins and outs, tips, problems, constraints, reasons I should use one, reasons I shouldn't use one, best pedal to get, etc. ???
Maybe links to videos of players who are nailing it with a looper?

Appreciate any help you can give.
Cheers!
pg

Hello everyone, I hope you're all doing good!

Today I wanted to share with you a video and I highly believe that this is one of the MOST important video any of you who wants to be a professional musician could watch.
See, the music industry is a complex beast that requires an understanding of it in order to be most prolific. One of my biggest issue in general with artist who wants to be pro is that they focus so much on the art and completely neglect to look into the business side of things so that they can understand properly what they are doing.

Contracts and rights are a subject that I believe that every single musician who releases their music professionally SHOULD know. The labels company are know to be vicious and will screw people over which is why it's important to know YOUR rights and the terms of a contract to understand properly and thoroughly what you are doing.

And so I wanted to share with you this video made by one of my favorite channel on youtube: LegalEagle. This guy is a real practising lawyer and his videos are always so informative and really well done. Now, I must say that he practices US law and so it might not be exactly the same around the world BUT I think this is a great starting point for anyone who seeks to be more knowledgeable and understanding of music law in general and to understand the different rights that circles around music so they can look into the law of their own country. In this video he talks about Taylor Swift and how she took control back of her music and how this is a very important step moving forward in the music industry.

If you need any more convincing, Rick Beato is featured in the end and from my understanding, LegalEagle has represented him over disputes he had on youtube so... enjoy!!!

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I've seen recently a lot of people talking about how they feel like they aren't making progress and are becoming unmovtivated to play. I've been there and I know it sucks, but personally whenever I see that I am making progress whether during practice or even another day and have those "wow I couldn't do that before!" moments, it makes me really happy and I show all my friends even if they don't know wth i'm talking about it just makes it worth it to me haha. It wasn't always like this for me though I did a lot of research and learned to "practice, with the intent to get better", having that in my mind made all the difference for me so please save yourself years of frustration and think about that next time you get your guitar and start to practice and see how much faster you improve.

It's good to just have fun and improvise but if you're really trying to get better you need to dedicate time to that specifically, ideally every day, and not make the mistake of just noodling around and not pushing your limits, or you will just be noodling at that same level for ever, which is why I decided to make this 1 hour practice schedule and pass this knowledge that helped me on to all of you who read this and hopefully can help you to become a better player and make better use of this amazing resource we have here.

Try to do this or even your own variation of this everyday with the intent to get better

PART 1 - WARM UPS (Ideally warm ups that get you better as well as you're doing them)
5 minutes - Left hand warm up (legato phrases are great for this as they help you get better as well as warm up your left hand)
5 minutes - Right hand warm up (alternate picking phrases/scales/chord shapes for the same reason as above or even just chromatic runs ie. 1-2-3-4 up and down)

PART 2 - VOCABULARY BUILDING (To learn neck and epic shred licks)
15 minutes - Go learn and memorize a lesson/phrase from the course
15 minutes - Practice scales and arpeggios you already know, even if what you just learned is the all you know, start at BPM you're comfortable with, make sure you can play it clean 5 times at least, then increase metronome anywhere from 1-5 BPM and if you can't play it clean within a couple tries it would be smart to lower BPM a few to get it cleaner and start from there

PART 3 - IMPROVISATION/TECHNIQUE
20 minutes - The fun part! Apply what you've learned and jam over the backing tracks to really lock in what you learn. If you select recordings on the lessons there are backing tracks to play over, or you can even use that to figure out the key of what you're looking for and look up backing tracks on youtube, there are so many cool ones in different styles, bpm, etc. This will eventually allow you to shred and bust out these techiques you are learning on the fly.

PART 4 - REWARD YOURSELF, YOU'RE DONE!
Train your brain to WANT to practice more

PART 5 - RINSE AND REPEAT NEXT DAY
Usually after I do this routine I end up jamming/writing for a while or maybe if i'm really into it that day i'll keep practicing for even longer, maybe the same thing again or change it up a bit, and sometimes it's all I do that day, but it's okay because I know that I spent that hour improving mah skills.

Hope this helps someone that needs it, good luck as me anything.
I have some warm ups that helped me a lot i do pretty much every day that personally I think are worth gold that i'll try to get around to uploading for you guys too.

What’s up Synner’s !

I’m sure you all have already seen the Synner Song of the Week, "The Heart Collector" by Nevermore.

I wanted to share with you guys a demo of Jeff Loomis'(Nevermore guitarist) signature Jackson guitar by the one and Only Ola Englund ! I absolutely adore Ola's demo videos because more often than not when we see any metal guitarist's gear being demoed....they don't play metal lol. Ola always delivers, and he’s pretty damn entertaining too.

I've never personally played a Jackson but love the look and sound of this beast.

I'd love to hear you guys' opinions.

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Is it normal to feel uncomfortable while playing a different guitar then usual or is it just me because iv'e been using nothing but my syn custom for a long time but then when i switch to my schecter omen 6 walnut satin it feels completely different and uncomfortable to play does anyone else have this problem or is it just me

Just saw this video on the perfect chord progression the Beatles wrote and it's pretty nice!
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:syngates:Yo Family! This months #AOTM is A Night At The Opera by the legendary Queen. This was a record my dad had at our house but funny enough I didn’t get into it until Wayne’s World dropped and the Bohemian Rhapsody skit came on. I was immediately hooked. It took one listen to solidify this song as my favorite of all time.

I had never heard anything like it and I loved every part of it. Freddie Mercury’s voice was my favorite, Brian May’s guitar work was my favorite, Roger Taylor’s playing and voice was my favorite(he does all the super high shit, incredible), John Deacon’s bass playing was my favorite. The arrangement and style blew my mind. What a fucking song!

I quickly referred to my dad for every piece of music made by this incredible super group as well as all the information he could provide about this band and the genius that poured from their pen.

A Night At The Opera was the first record he introduced me to. I fell in love with the entire thing immediately. The opener, Death On Two Legs, was brilliant. The intro into the super heavy smash still blows my mind. Such an amazing choice of instrumentation and sounds.

Love Of My Life could very well be my favorite ballad of all time. Brian May’s cello-esque guitar lines make me cry.

The Prophet Song was the only track that took a sec to get into and it’s one of my favs on the record.

The record shows just how talented each member is at songwriting. ‘39 by Brian May, You’re My Best Friend by John Deacon, I’m In Love With My Car by Roger Taylor, all bangers.

If you take nothing from this record save one thing, let it be this; every member contributed well beyond just playing their instrument. They wrote, arranged, sang, and produced. Some army shit, “be all you can be”.

Can’t wait to hear your thoughts!

All my love,
SYN
:syngates:

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So lately I haven't been active at all for at least the past month and even went as far as to cancel my legend membership (temporarily). This is because on September 9th at 11:50pm my son Mason Grey finally arrived in this world! This past month has been a very challenging but also rewarding experience and I couldn't be happier with how life is going right now. I probably wont be that active over the next few weeks/months but I continue to practice every day and hope to have some new videos to release when I'm finally able to come back regularly. I'm even currently in the process of talking with some people about creating our own home studio so we can get some better recordings in some videos. Anyways I wish everyone the best of luck and hope everyone enjoys the upcoming holidays!!!

Hey guys, hope you're all well!

I'm need of some advice and suggestions:

So the band have our big comeback headline show this Saturday and I'm already starting to feel the nerves. I know that they're only going to get more extreme as the show gets closer too. This is something I constantly have to battle every gig and it's hell!

A typical gig experience for me usually goes something like this:

- Load in, terrified to speak to anyone but my bandmates - imposter syndrome sets in.

- Soundcheck - Feeling even more tense, overanalysing my playing, feeling self conscious while other bands watch. Tripping over sentences talking to the sound guy, feeling like a nuisance to everyone.

- Show starts - Waves of anxiety, forgetting things I've been prepping and practicing for weeks & making strange slips & mistakes in songs. My hands feel different, my Guitar looks different, my mouth dries up.

- Show ends - People are telling me how good the set was and in my head I'm like 'You're lying to me, that was dogshit ' I immediately want to drown my sorrows at the bar out of embarrassment

I've tried so many things to curb my gig anxiety and I feel like it always gets the upper hand. I just really want our comeback show to be a carefree experience & I want to feel confident and in control of the whole night.

Does anyone have any good tips to minimize those anxious over-analysing feelings you get before you perform?

Any advice would help so much!

What's up my friends? Haven't been on here in a while... But for a good reason. Decided to get a job over the summer and finally get myself a proper guitar that will have everything I need. So I present you... My Jackson RX10D Rhoads. It's everything I've always wanted. Plays so fucking well. Now is the time to practice, practice, practice. It's good to be back.

In case anyone was curious Man plays with 1 string only ha

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Hi guys, I'm looking to build a basic pedal setup that I can then add on later. I had a basic cheap multi-effect before.

I play mostly A7X but would also like to be able to achieve some more aggressive tones. I would definitely like a delay pedal in there.

Here are some that I found would work for me, please suggest up to 3 that I should pick from initially:

• Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer or TS808
• MXR MC401 Boost/Line Driver
• Boss CS-3 Compression Sustainer
• MXR Carbon Copy Analog Delay
• MXR Custom Comp CSP202
• MXR ZW44 Zakk Wylde Overdrive
• Boss SD-1 Super OverDrive

Thanks!

So hello. I took another kinda mini break from here and from guitar playing. Without going too much into my personal life I have been struggling, and am still struggling, really badly with my mental health due to my living situation and due to family members making my life really miserable, and because of that I took another mini break from guitar and really everything. But I recently picked up the guitar again and have rediscovered my love for it, again....after another mini break, so I'm back in a way! So hello, I missed this community! I hope everyone has been doing well lately!

Anyone who knows me knows that I've been a Def Leppard fan for DECADES, and I still jam on plenty of their classic tracks. I really don't care for their new stuff, and a lot of the radio single fluff (Pour Some Sugar on Me, for example) I really don't like much at all, but if you listen to most Def Leppard albums, even the recent ones, there are a handful of tunes that you'll never hear on the radio, and they'll never play live. They're not radio songs. No singles. No drippity dippity stupid lyrics. Deep tracks. Tracks that hint at the band they used to be. The band that just wrote what they liked and performed it full of piss and vinegar. The band that modern Def Leppard has all but disowned.

Back in 1979/80, drummer Rick Allen still had both arms, bassist Rick Savage's face wasn't sagging on one side from a degenerative disease, singer Joe Elliot had a horrific perm on his dark brown hair, Steve Clark was alive, and wore his Les Paul below his fucking knees, while trying to keep pint-sized alcoholic firebrand Pete Willis sober enough to play a solid set. Phil Collen, long before he was cut up like aging beefcake, was off in lipstick and eye shadow playing for a glam band called Girl. Before they met Mutt Lange and refined their sound for American audiences.

That's the band that made On Through the Night. The band that lived up to their genre - NWOBHM. The New Wave of British Heavy Metal. THAT band was spoken in the same sentences with Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, and others, and they weren't doing it ironically or with a wink.

The production is pretty spartan, and it sounds like an album made for little money in 1979, but the brilliant songwriting and arranging was there. The performance was there. Def Leppard were FIRE in 1980. From the opening salvo of Rock Brigade, to the semi-balladry of Sorrow is a Woman, the first hints of epicness in When the Walls Came Tumbling Down - so much energy. So much FIRE. So much talent. Amazing lead guitar work from Willis and Clark.

As we get into side 2, opening with more spitting venom with Wasted and Rocks Off, before wrapping with Answer to the Master and the truly epic closer Overture...

Man, I just love this record.

The first two "heavy" albums I ever had were Quiet Riot's Metal Health and Def Leppard's Pyromania in 1983. I quickly moved past QR, but Def Leppard had some older shit I wanted to mine. Lots of people say High N Dry is their best record - Mutt was in there helping, but he hadn't fully taken over yet. High N Dry is awesome, too, and I love it, but man, when I heard On Through the Night? THAT was my gateway into heavier, proggier stuff like Maiden and that opened a million doors that my ears couldn't get enough of.

Give it a listen, and let me know what you think. Like all albums from that era, it's not long AT ALL by today's standards - probably 40 minutes, tops. It's a totally different Def Leppard than you're used to.

BONUS TRACKS from other albums that rule: Die Hard the Hunter and Billy's got a Gun on Pyromania, Gods of War on Hysteria, White Lightning and Tear it Down on Adrenalize, From the Inside and Ring of Fire on Retro Active, and Paper Sun and Kings of Oblivion on Euphoria.

Sounding the seventh trumpet tablature book.

Hey everybody!

I just picked up my first guitar today and am having a little trouble trying to tune it. I downloaded a few different tuning apps, but I must be doing something wrong because when I try to just tune it in standard the tuners will say I'm playing a different string than I am. For example, when I try tuning the high E string it says I'm playing B. Not sure what I'm doing wrong, but any help would be greatly appreciated!

Hello everyone!
I hope everyone had good Christmas and new year celebrations!
I haven’t been very active on the school because I have been doing a lot of things with my family and friends in the past month.
I am currently in Italy! My parents have been living here for 4 years now and every year or two I visit them.
Keep in mind that we are from Brazil.
I am having a great time! Missing the guitar though haha.
But anyways!
In the 7th of January it is my 22nd birthday and a really good friend of mine is building a guitar for me as a gift.
Here are some pictures of the current progress;
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I am really excited about it because I wanted a Strat for so long now! And this is kinda special to me because i get to design it as I want!
Don’t get me wrong! I still love my fender tele and my Synyster custom haha.
This is the design I am seeking! Very vintage, but cool nevertheless.
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If you read until here, thank you !
I just wanted to share with you guys my happiness about doing something like this! I am genuinely excited !
Hope you guys liked the design haha.
Have a good start of the year everyone !!
G.

What's up everyone! It's definitely been a while since I've posted, but I thought I would share something interesting I've been thinking about lately, and maybe get peoples' opinions as well.

Recently, I picked up a guitar with a single bridge pickup, and it's been an interesting experience in a really good way. At first it seems like something that would be really limiting, but with very little break-in period it feels really normal. That aside, it also forces you to get creative beyond your equipment to achieve a certain tone. You focus less on your gear and more on your technique and playing to get to the end result. "Tie one hand behind your back, and you get doubly skilled with the other"-type deal, if you will.

I figured I'd write down my thoughts, and maybe hear input from other people!

We all know the similarities in the songs but this mashup is so fucking heavy. I love it.

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Hey Everyone!
I have been looking out in the market for a do it all type guitar. Wanted to know your opinion on the same. Already own a PRS SE. Looking for something to use for recording sessions and live playing.

Hey everyone:

I need your help to identify this guitar that I just got from music store inventory sale today.
I thought it's a legit Schecter Synyster Custom-S guitar but I realized there are some noticeable differences.
First of all, the toggle switch are in different spots than normal custom-s models.
Mine are placed parallel to the stripes but normally they should be slanted.
Also, the knobs have same pictures as the headstock on top of it, which I've never seen on other Synyster Gates models.
I'm not sure it's limited edition or just aftermarket replacements?
And the backplate and control cavity design, I've searched online about how it supposed to look like, and mine looks totally different than the others...

Normally I would thought it's a fake and bring it back to store for refund.
However, I've tested t the guitar, it feels exactly like my old Synyster Gates Custom (white body gold stripes)
The Sustainiac and Seymour Duncan Invader sounds exactly like what they supposed to sound like.
The hardwares look and feel legit, I've owned many Floyd Rose bridge guitar so I know how it suppose to look and feel like.
The fret work, and craftmanship and the feel of the guitar is just like my other Schecter (I've owned a White Synyter Gates Custom, a Hellraiser C1 FR, a PT Hybrid and a Hellraiser C-8 Hybrid in the past)
I do believe this guitar is genuine.
It has hard case and sustainiac manual and wiring diagram included as well.

The problem is, I've search online for the whole day but I couldn't find anyone else has the same spec as mine.
Is it possible a prototype? a limited edition? or a factory leaked model? or something else?
I really hope it's not a high quality replica/fake.
If anyone knows about this guitar please let me know, thanks!

Please enjoy my horrible rendition of HTTK. Had to represent the guys and Syn with my shirt and jacket.

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Thought this article was worth a read for everyone. Myles Kennedy 5 tips for guitarists.
https://www.musicradar.com/news/myles-kennedys-top-5-tips-for-guitar-players-if-i-can-do-it-you-can-do-it