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BIZARRE: Berklee - What They Never Told You

“We would roll into, say, Portland, and go to the pawn shops. You could find a ’57 Les Paul for $200!” Melissa Etheridge learned more from a grouchy old man who’d lost his fingers than she did at Berklee

The veteran hitmaker charts her evolution from acoustic to electric and back again and explains how she went digital, how she keeps her classic songs fresh, and how her family deal with her incredible guitar collection

Guitar World

“I thought it was a prank, so I didn’t answer!” She put a video of herself playing bass on YouTube. Then Prince called

Having caught the attention of Prince and Bootsy Collins, Alissia is riding a new wave of recognition with her debut single featuring Nile Rodgers and EarthGang

Guitar World

Bob Dylan honoured with honorary doctorate from the Berklee College of Music

Bob Dylan was "pleasantly surprised" to be bestowed with such an honour from the world-leading institution.

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“If my tone or phrasing sounded awkward my teacher would make me do push-ups!”: David Immerman on moving from pure shredding to playing with American Idol stars and Avril Lavigne – and why he never wanted to start his own band

The session and production specialist reveals how indulging his ‘90s dreams evolved into touring gigs with A-list pop-rockers, and what he does to match the studio sounds of Lavigne’s timeless hits

Guitar World

“Even if you learn to play bass from YouTube videos, you’re still not self-taught. Autodidactic learning is awesome, but everyone needs a teacher”: How Esperanza Spalding created the most complex music of her career under the guidance of an alter ego

With help from producer Tony Visconti, one of the brightest stars of 21st century bass found a brand-new source of inspiration

Guitar World

“The Kennedy Center thing was a wild experience – being around that many famous people and shaking Robert DeNiro’s hand at the White House”: How Goose took flight to become the world’s hottest jam band

Rick Mitarotonda and Peter Anspach play without fear, reading the room, letting their improv instincts guide them. But those rooms are getting mighty big. Just how did a Connecticut jam band reach Madison Square Garden?

Guitar World

“My father was a big Pat Metheny fan – hearing him started to make me obsessed with the idea of playing music”: Berklee-educated and endorsed by Strandberg, meet Camilla Sperati – the fusion phenom hand-picked to open for Steve Vai

Is Sperati the next big name in fusion? Here she discusses moving to America (maybe), why she loves digital amps, and life as an educator

Guitar World

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“I went to Chuck Schuldiner’s house and auditioned. I’m sure I played some of it wrong, but I guess it was close enough!” How Bobby Koelble brought his jazz chops to Death – and made one of the greatest metal albums of all time

He left his mark on 1995 album Symbolic, and while he moved on to jazz, he still keeps metal sensibilities within his playing

Guitar World

“I wasn't familiar with PRS. If anything, I was like, ‘The birds are too flashy!’ But the moment I played one I was like, ‘Whoa, I can play faster now!’”: Meet Mei Semones, the Berklee graduate reimagining New Orleans vibes with an intricate indie flair

With her debut album out now, she explains her move from piano to classical nylon to PRS electric, her pinch-harmonic pointers, and mastering the Stairway To Heaven solo at 12 years old

Guitar World

“The main acoustic is a $100 Fender – the strings were super-old and dusty. We hate new strings!” Meet Great Grandpa, the unpredictable indie rockers making epic anthems with cheap acoustics – and recording guitars like a Queens of the Stone Age drummer

The mercurial Seattle indie rockers have returned with their first album in six years, Patience, Moonbeam – they tell us how their lush, multifaceted arrangements all begin on the humble six-string

Guitar World

“For me to be so appreciated, I think I can start to feel guilty and pressured. But I guess it’s a good problem to have”: From playing Steve Vai's guitars to playing with him onstage, Tosin Abasi's rapid ascent made him one of the biggest names in guitar

Speaking to Guitar World in 2014, the Animals As Leaders maestro recalls the grueling salmon cannery and poop-scooping dog kennel jobs that helped him save for his first Vai signature model, and discusses how to adapt to seven- and eight-string models

Guitar World

He’s the fearless, Strat-wielding counterpart to icons like Pat Metheny, John Scofield and Allan Holdsworth – and Wayne Krantz forged a raw, rhythmic approach to fusion guitar

A lesson inspired by the jazz great that will help the advanced players out there take their improv chops to the next level

Guitar World

“Zoom discontinued that pedal because nobody bought it – but bass players are always coming up to me wanting to know how I got those sounds”: Remembering jazz great Victor Bailey, who used an unsung multi-FX pedal for his cover of Prince’s biggest hit

From his ’80s heyday with Weather Report through to his mid-’90s stint with Madonna, Victor Bailey earned his stripes as one of the world’s greatest bass players

Guitar World

“When I hear a great guitar solo on a tune in 2024, I get very excited”: John Mayer praises top-tier lead effort from young Berklee grad as one of this year’s must-hear guitar solos

Mayer used his SiriusXM radio show to highlight the guitar talents of a British Berklee graduate, who's currently working as a session player in Nashville

Guitar World

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Guitar World

“I told him to quit college immediately and come back when he had succeeded as a songwriter”: Tomo Fujita on what it was like to teach John Mayer – and how he indirectly helped him write Neon

The guitar professor lifts the lid on his early lessons with Mayer and explains how Neon was born from his signature slap guitar technique

Guitar World

“Bluegrass is friendly competition – who can play thefastest, who can play the hottest licks”: Molly Tuttle on training her brain to catch her fingers and the pursuit of speed, feel and acoustic guitar virtuosity

One of bluegrass's most gifted guitarists, Tuttle checks in to discuss the evolution of her style, and why it pays to subvert received wisdom and practice flat-out as fast as you can go

Guitar World

“In my experience, 70% of vintage guitars are clunkers – a new guitar will beat their sound and how they play. But if you get that diamond in the rough, it’s next-level”: Wayne Sermon is sneaking vintage guitars into Imagine Dragons’ blockbuster pop-rock

You’ll hear a small but special collection of vintage instruments on Imagine Dragons’ recorded output – even if you don’t know it – as jazz-schooled, Berklee-trained Wayne Sermon pursues the holy grail of serving the song

Guitar World

“I played the solo perfectly – and there was silence in the room. It was crickets. Everyone was looking down, I couldn’t believe it”: Elliot Easton on The Cars’ early years – and the guitar solo that moved him to tears of rage

From playing a ukulele aged 3 to discovering the organic nature of signature guitars, he shares his secret to choosing the perfect gear first time round

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Guitar World

“Steve Vai is always evolving… he continues to achieve what others thought impossible, and he finds new things to try every day”: How Philip Bynoe keeps up with the world-leading virtuoso

The Berklee grad on what drew him to six-string basses over fours and fives, why sometimes it’s important to compromise on tone, and modern playing techniques versus the joy of “a simple melody you can’t stop humming”

Guitar World

“I’ve done gigs where they’re like, ‘You’re good for an Instagram guitarist.’ I was like, ‘I’m not one!’” Meet George Collins – the Bieber-backed British Berklee grad navigating Nashville as part of the next generation of session players

The young guitar ace discusses how guitar lessons from Neil Young (no, not that one) shaped his love of music, the best tips he learned from Berklee and how he's carving out a career in one of music's most competitive session scenes

Guitar World

“It’s an anti-establishment statement – I’m trying to make it okay for jazz guitarists to go out with their metal guitars”: Meet Cecil Alexander, the prog-loving jazz guitarist who’s challenging elitism by shredding bebop on a Jackson

The Michigan-born virtuoso shares his secrets for getting the perfect jazz tone on a metal guitar, the parallels between jazz and prog, and why jazz guitar isn’t as scary as it seems

Reason

Conviction for Threatening (in the U.S.) Supporter of Democracy in China

From yesterday's Justice Department press release: A Berklee College of Music student, who is a citizen of the People's Republic of China (PRC), was convicted by a federal jury in Boston today of stalking and threatening an individual who posted fliers in support of democracy in China around the Berklee…

Guitar World

“I think about Van Halen a lot. I have to play some treacherous licks, so I need the right kind of inspiration. I’m overplaying to an extent – it’s gotta be huge and bombastic”: Brendon Small on writing Dethklok’s brutal final act

You can cancel Dethklok but you can't kill them. As the world's biggest fictional metal band return, Small reveals how he takes inspiration from Reb Beach and Eddie Van Halen, why stand-up comedy helped his guitar performance, and what he hopes to learn from Nili Brosh

Guitar World

Think metal guitars can’t handle jazz? Cecil Alexander just shredded a set of Wes Montgomery classics on a Jackson Soloist – and his tone has guitarists raving

The jazz guitarist is proving you can shred bebop with clean and distorted tones on his Jackson Soloist, mimicking a semi-hollow guitar in extraordinary fashion

Guitar World

“There was no way I was shredding like them – I had to find my space in their universe”: Meet Shubh Saran, the shred chameleon whose jams with Jakub Zytecki and Mark Holcomb helped him find his voice – and left Plini asking, “What the f**k is happening?”

Armed with a Fender John Mayer Strat and a host of diverse musical projects, Saran’s guitar approach draws from blink-182 and Allan Holdsworth in equal measure – and his unique solos have blown his shred peers’ minds

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