Author: Martin Holland

The worst thing that can happen for a guitarist at a gig is breaking a string. We go through 8 reasons this happens, and how to avoid them.

What makes an Ibanez a shred machine? For many, it’s the legendary Wizard neck. We take a look.

Jatoba wood saw increased use in guitars after CITES regulations had a huge impact on the availability of rosewood. We take a look at this lesser known guitar wood.

PLEK machines have been the talk of the town for the last few years, but few people have actual hands on experience with them. We walk you through what they do and whether they’re right for you.

When people think of fingerpicking, they typically think of an acoustic guitar. However, for beginners, learning to fingerpick on an electric can actually make for a much easier path. We go through some of the considerations.

Depending on what you’re trying to do with your guitar, you might find the extra price of flatwound strings is justified. We walk through some of the reasons they might be right for you.

Understanding scale length and how it effects a guitar’s playability can be a key component of buying the right guitar for your playing style – you probably don’t want a baritone for country, or a short scale guitar for djent. We walk you through scale length and how it effects you.

If you’re a left handed writer thinking about picking up a guitar, you might be wondering if you should try a right or left handed guitar. While there are no left handed pianos, there are many guitars for lefties. Let’s walk through your options.

One of the great things about music is there are no rules, right? Well, almost. Many people think of acoustic and “classical” guitars as a close paring, but swapping out the strings can be risky business. We go over the reasons why.

Chorus seems to have fallen out of fashion in the last few years, but with a resurgence of grunge and shoegazing, it’s making a resurgence. We discuss the effect (no pun) of putting it before of after your delay pedal.

Some pedal orders make total sense, and then some are really a matter of taste. EQ and compression is one of the latter, and while most go compression first, we’re going to arm you with the knowledge to decide what works best for you.

The next in our series of pedal order articles, we look at two of the effects you’ll find most often on people’s pedal boards. As always these things are down to personal preference, but we give you the knowledge to find the sound you’re looking for!

While any guitar provides a wealth of tuning opportunities, adding on a seventh string opens up a ton of doors. Few bands playing 7 strings stick to any one standard tuning, so why should you? We’ve pulled out some of our favorites to get you going on the road to 7-string domination!

In the first of our series on individual pedal order, we look at how swapping wah and compressor in the signal chain will alter your final sound. Conventional wisdom says wah first – but what happens if you go the other way with it?

What happens when a gifted guitarist’s promising career is brought to its knees by an incurable degenerative disease? Does he succumb to his vegetative fate of confinement to a wheelchair? Or does he go on to write music that becomes a beacon of hope for a new generation?

There’s a point where music is loud enough to blow your hair back, but there’s also a point where an amp is loud enough to blow your eardrums to shreds. We walk through the mechanics of loudness, and talk about the volume of some classic amps.

Many players look to change the characteristics of their amps by swapping out tubes to get a different warmth, or in some cases more headroom – or even less. We walk you through the differences between two of the more popular tubes on the market, the 6L6 and the 6V6.

OHSC is a common term in guitar listings – especially when you’re looking at mid four figures and up – but for newbies it can be confusing. We walk you through what OHSC means, and why it’s important.

Gibson’s VOS line represents the custom shop’s passionate tribute to the golden era of Gibson guitars. We walk you through all of the aspects of the VOS line that make it so special.