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I think this the scale called 'Byzantine' or something like that, like Harmonic Minor only with a major third, which I'm sure I've heard Marty Friedman use before, at least I think so anyways.

Thanks very much to both of you. I just worried that if I took a basswood guitar on a flight or something, it'd get beaten when I could have bought another that would have held off a tanking for £200 more. As I understand it since I posted earlier, basswood is generally regarded as an alder subsitut...

Hi, I just wondered if anyone knows much about how urable basswood is? I've read that basswood can't take much abuse - sure enough, the top-range RG Prestige guitars don't tend to be made of basswood, with only the JS guitars being made of it at the top end of the price range. I also don't know much...

Hey there, This has been giving me nightmares for a long time, although I think I've found a grip I'm comfortable with I thought that maybe some people here would relate to the way that such a simple thing as this can seem so awkward and tricky and impede your playing. At the moment after much chang...

Hi there, I was just wondering what happens when you need to replace the nut on a locking trem, like when you get clicks and decide to change it - do you need to replace the whole locking mechanism or just the main nut part where the strings pass from the headstock to the neck? I ask as I was consid...

Hi there, I was just thinking about pickups coming in sets (like EMG Zakk Wylde's/81s, DiMarzio Evolutions, Seymour Duncans being combined like with 59/Jeff Becks for instance), which made me wonder if this is to do with balancing the neck and bridge position outputs. Is this necessary? I've noticed...

Just to let anyone who's interested know that Windows in Newcastle has a JEM 7VWH in store for £1899. Could someone please buy it before I do?! They are absolutely awesome guitars but at that price there are some of us who need to be saved from ourselves! Sound Control also has a 555 upstairs if any...

I was thinking about getting an M-II as well - I had looked at the Kirk Hammett guitars (the guitars, not whether or not he is any good before anyone says anything!), but while they seem to have a decent setup in place they look like they've been horribly drawn on with that finish and juvenile skull...

You're welcome Danny. The most important thing though is to make sure that what you're doing is accurate before you rush it. Set yourself goals, but modest ones, like aiming to increase your metronome tempo by five beats per minute each month or every three weeks. I wouldn't really look at putting m...

Hey, If you look at the second page of threads for this parts of the forums you'll find another thread about sweep picking. One of the mods also gave links to other threads about it. It's there, but in any case I've copied and pasted what I posted in that thread below for you. Hope that helps. -----...

Hi, I've ben thinking of buying a new guitar for a while now as I don't have one with a floating trem/locking nut and want to get more into that sort of playing. The thing is, I'm also at the stage now where I don't really want to buy a guitar that's going to be an 'until I can afford this other one...

I just think it would be great to see someone other than ESP doing guitars with EMG pickups. There's the Zakk Wylde Les Paul and Mick's BC Rich but that's almost it. It's like anything with EMGs on it must cost over the odds, there are the Kirk Hammett guitars but they're still expensive and look hi...

Hi, The problem isn't so much finding shapes, it's disciplining yourself to do the early part. I still haven't made it yet! Anyway, the most common shape is a three string sweep using the last three strings of the D major shape - it looks like this when you do it on the 12th fret (so in C major): |-...

Cool. I think that's from the official Ibanez website and it looks like he has the full locking trem on that one. The other picture I saw was from this month's Total Guitar magazine (we get it in the UK, not sure if it's the same magazine elsewhere) and it was in the preview at the back of next mont...

His model does have EMG pickups. See, I'd love a guitar with 24 frets and a locking trem, but I'd also like to try these EMG pickups before I commit to spending a lot of money, so this sounds ideal. Total Guitar has a picture of him on the inside back cover with his new Ibanez, but the locking nut o...