Sophiel loyd

TODAY I'D LIKE to talk about downpicking — picking or strumming consecutive downstrokes — and why it can be so musically effective. This is something I learned from studying the riff-writing style of

The month’s best guitar music – a hand-picked selection of the finest fretwork on wax

Alex Bishop journeys up to Yorkshire for the inaugural String Break UK luthiers’ summit

FOR A HALF-CENTURY AND COUNTING, THE THIN LIZZY SOUND HAS BEEN FORGED AND RECAST BY SCOTT GORHAM AND THE GREATS WHO PARTNERED HIM ON DUELLING LES PAULS, INCLUDING THE LATE JOHN SYKES. GORHAM LOOKS BACK ON THE HIGHS, LOWS, JOY AND PAIN OF HIS CLASSIC PARTNERSHIPS

OVER THE LAST two columns, I’ve demonstrated a handful of what I consider to be essential “blues approved” licks that work well both as embellishments to rhythm parts or as phrases within a solo. Our

This trio of Los Angeles musicians fuse the rhythms of Havana, Medellín and Lima with the sounds of 60s surf music – though their sound has more in common with Latin folk music than Dick Dale. We join them to talk about their debut album, fibreglass guitars and tropical psychedelia