Total Guitar is Europe’s best-selling guitar magazine, crammed full of songs to learn plus backing tracks. From the latest metal and indie hits to classic rock from the likes of Led Zeppelin and AC/DC, TG has more songs than ANY other guitar magazine!. Please note: This digital version of the magazine does not currently include the covermount items or content you would find on printed newsstand copies
Welcome…
Total Guitar
HAIL TO THE CHIEF
EXPERIMENTAL. CHAOTIC. FEARLESS. • LED BY MERCURIAL GUITARIST GEORDIE GREEP, BLACK MIDI HAVE CREATED THE MOST EXTRAORDINARY ALBUM OF 2021
“THE LOWER THE TUNING, THE BIGGER THE RIFF!” • TIGERCUB LEADER JAMIE HALL IS A BIG GUY – SEVEN FEET TALL – MAKING A BIG NOISE WITH PLENTY OF “HARD, SAUSAGE-Y SLAB!”
“I’D JUST PLUG-IN, TWIST KNOBS AND SEE WHAT SOUNDED GOOD!”
YOU COULD BE MINI • Meet one of the classiest mini-amps you’ll see this year
UP CLOSE
THE BLACK KEYS • Coal Black Mattie
GET THE TONE
WHAT’S IN A SHAPE? • The four most important barre chords you need to know
GETTING STARTED WITH... FULL BARRE CHORDS • Play more notes with fewer fingers, and get to grips with essential rock ’n’ roll, funk and soul shapes
“I WANT YOU TO FEEL THAT RAGE” • Mdou Moctar has been hailed as ‘the Hendrix of the Sahara’. And in his new album, Afrique Victime, he channels the spirit of revolution – with a tremolo-picking technique that has to be heard to be believed...
“I’M PRETTY LIMITED WHEN IT COMES TO PLAYING SOLOS. BUT I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I’M DOING WHEN I PLAY A RIFF, WHICH IS CRUCIAL...” • Joe Duplantier is the mastermind who has made Gojira the most exciting metal band of the modern age. A self-taught guitarist who says, “I like to explore the instrument from a slightly different angle”, he tells TG about his new signature model and Gojira-branded plug-in, and discusses the creation of Fortitude – arguably the best metal album of 2021...
Billy Gibbons • ZZ TOP’S LEGENDARY GUITARIST LEARNED FROM THE BEST. NOW, WITH A NEW SOLO ALBUM, BILLY GIBBONS IS PASSING ON HIS WISDOM TO TG READERS, INCLUDING ONE VERY SIMPLE, MONEY-SAVING DIY TIP: “SAW OFF THE LEG OF A KITCHEN STOOL,” HE SAYS, “AND YOU’VE GOT A NICE METAL SLIDE!”
KEEP IT LIGHT
BEING A MONEY PLAYER
THE DARK ART OF PINCH HARMONICS
SINGING IS WONDERFUL, BUT THERE’S SOMETHING VERY CATHARTIC AND ZEN ABOUT PLAYING LEAD GUITAR” • Myles Kennedy is best known as a singer – for Alter Bridge and for Guns N’ Roses legend Slash. But on his new solo album, he’s taking the spotlight as a guitarist
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO GET GIG-READY
“The novelty of a postlockdown music environment is new for everyone. We’re starting to enjoy music again” • In a small town in Wiltshire, something magical is happening. A band is playing a gig! And not just any old band – it’s Squid, whose new album Bright Green Field is arguably the best debut of 2021. Guitarists Louis Borlase and Anton Pearson tell TG how “lucky” and “emotional” they feel to be playing live again, and explain the band’s improvisational ethos: “It’s about putting adventure over precision.”
TG’S GIGGING PRACTICE PLAN • Shape up your playing and focus on the skills you need to be the best live guitarist you can be
THREE TIPS FOR BETTER CHORD CHANGES
THE MAGIC SCALE ONE SHAPE, TWO KEY SIGNATURES!
JAM TRACK CRASH COURSE • You’ve honed your playing, now apply what you’ve learnt and play along to three bespoke jam tracks
“IT WILL BE TWO YEARS SINCE WE PLAYED A GIG. THAT’S THE FIRST TIME THAT’S HAPPENED SINCE I WAS FIFTEEN” • As the Manic Street Preachers prepare to tour again, guitarist/ vocalist James Dean Bradfield speaks to TG from the band’s rehearsal space in Wales and reveals how he gets his chops up - by jamming...