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YOU WONT BELIEVE: Plini - What They Never Told You

“You go into a forest and you're like, ‘What am I going to see? What will be out here?’ That’s the same thing I try to put into the music”: Plini answers the call of the wild in search of instrumental guitar’s new frontier

The Australian virtuoso on dream collabs with John Mayer, high-BPM workouts, and what happened when he imagined “a cello player in a huge, empty concert hall playing this difficult arpeggio”

Guitar World

“My idea, John, if you’re reading this, would be to write an odd-time signature song”: Plini is manifesting a collaboration with John Mayer – and has issued an open call to make it happen

The prog metal virtuoso has a wild vision for what their joint single could potentially look like

Guitar World

Cool new proggy sounds you need to hear from Plini, Chimpan A, William Gilmour & John McGuigan, Playgrounded and more in Prog's brand new Tracks Of The Week

Ace new prog from Oh Hiroshima, Telepathy, The Prominent Citizens and more in all new Tracks Of The Week

Louder

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“The Stratocaster has been around for 70 years and it’s perfect. Now we come along and say, ‘You’re wrong!’ They don’t like it”: True Temperament wants to disrupt an industry built on heritage, but do its necks actually fix the guitar’s biggest flaw?

Crooked frets, designed to solve the instrument’s biggest intonation issues, have won over some big-name players (even if they’re keeping quiet about it). Is it a revolution or just a fad?

Guitar World

“Nuno’s shoutout was an emotional moment for me. I was gobsmacked. Without my brother showing me Extreme’s music, I would never have been there”: From Plini to Polyphia, how Rick Graham quietly became one of progressive guitar’s most influential names

From Guthrie Govan, through to Jason Richardson and Andy James, Rick Graham has garnered friends, fans and guest-spots with guitar’s most technical talents – and helped a huge chunk of players to hone their craft along the way

Guitar World

“I had a raincoat with a squiggly design on the back and I thought it would cool on a guitar”: Strandberg and Plini team up for signature version of Boden Standard with glow-in-the-dark Mirage graphic finish

Introduced at NAMM, now available to buy, Plini's limited edition twist on the headless electric looks even better in the dark

MusicRadar

“It felt like a boot camp... It tested what we were made of”: Fresh off of Jared Dines' ‘instant band’ documentary, Musician Mansion, Chena is ready to introduce her intricate, highly melodic playing to the world

The Jackson and Strandberg fan, who takes inspiration from Marty Friedman, Eric Johnson, and others, keeps the work rate high as a solo artist and member of two bands

Guitar World

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“I rarely do straight down strokes. I haven't played Metallica in a while”: Tosin Abasi and Plini give a masterclass in virtuosity after writing and recording a song in a day

Having recently partnered with Kiko Loureiro and Matteus Asato, it seems the Aussie has met his match as Neural DSP challenges the elite shredders to fuse their talents together

Guitar World

Vikram Shankar’s Five Favorite Instrumental Prog Albums

The keyboard player with instrumental US prog rock trio Lux Terminus, who recently released second album, Cinder, picks his best of instrumental prog

Louder

“I like that their appearance intrigues non-guitar players and bothers old-fashioned people”: Despite early love from Eddie Van Halen and Allan Holdsworth, headless guitars became a punchline – yet in 2025, they’re more popular than ever. We found out why

With wider options across a variety of price points and more signature artists than ever, has the headless axe’s time finally come?

Guitar World

“I think people are cottoning on to the fact that it’s just a good idea”: Why are so many players turning to headless guitars? We asked Plini, one of the biggest names in the game, to find out

Ibanez, Kiesel, Schecter and Strandberg are all flying the flag for headless electrics, which have reached an unprecedented level of popularity in recent years

Guitar World

“I sent this to Strandberg to get the wiring done and when they sent it back they included this”: Plini shows us his modded signature Strandberg Boden – but what’s that hiding in the tremolo springs?

Plini was hanging around at ArcTanGent 2024 waiting for his set to start. We asked him what was new with his Strandberg, pointed a camera at him, and this is what he told us....

MusicRadar

“We were surrounded by bands like Animals As Leaders, Meshuggah, Plini… and the crowd could clap in time over a 7/8 time signature, too!” From a virtuoso Tool support to Rabea Massaad’s new supergroup, meet the next generation of progressive guitar heroes

The UK’s ArcTanGent Festival is the world’s biggest celebration of heavy progressive music, and this year’s lineup featured epic sets from Meshuggah, Mogwai and Explosions in the Sky. Could these 5 bands be the headliners of the future?

Guitar World

“There is a legitimate straight line from me being intimidated by John Petrucci to picking up the acoustic guitar”: Mike Dawes names 10 guitarists who shaped his sound

One of today’s foremost acoustic virtuosos names the players who inspired his awe-inspiring percussive style and changed the game – and offers his pick for “the most criminally underrated name in guitar”

Guitar World

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Guitar World

“Regardless of who picks one up and what they do with it, the Strat continues to excel in every environment”: The Fender Stratocaster can thrive in any genre – and these cutting-edge guitarists prove it

The Strat might be turning 70 this year, but its story is only just getting started – and these are the players writing the next chapter in its history

Guitar World

“As soon as I heard the demo, I knew it would be crucial to add rock elements”: Justus West reveals how he sneaked Tosin Abasi and Plini onto the new Beyoncé album (sort of)

The prolific session guitarist and producer pulls back the veil on Cowboy Carter’s high-profile recording sessions – and the surprisingly progressive gear he used on Beyoncé’s country album

Guitar World

“Saying it was an honor to be up there is a wildly drastic understatement”: Joe Satriani, Eric Johnson and Steve Vai have wrapped up the G3 2024 tour – here are the biggest guest guitarists who joined them along the way

Progressive pioneers, heavy rock royalty and even Satch's son took to the stage with the G3 trailblazers at various points across the hotly anticipated tour

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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Guitar World

Layla gets the two-hand tapping cover treatment and the Spiritbox x Megan Thee Stallion collab you never knew you needed: This week’s essential guitar tracks

Must-hear jams from Marcin, Plini and Tosin Abasi, WILLOW, Robby Krieger, Caligula’s Horse, Ty Segall, The Struts and loads more…

Metal Hammer

And So I Watch You From Afar, Plini, Textures and more announced for ArcTanGent Festival 2024

ArcTangent cele brates its tenth anniversary at Fernhill Farm, Somerset between August 14-17

Guitar World

Palm-muted gut-punches and Strandberg shred that sounds like Plini meets Mario Kart: This week’s essential guitar tracks

Fresh, guitar-driven cuts from Bleed From Within, The Joy Formidable, Ottto, Angra, James Bay, Eliza McLamb, and loads more

Guitar World

5 game-changing guitar techniques you can learn from Plini

The Aussie maestro's radical style is a rhythmic and technical challenge for any player to master, but by doing so, it might just change how you look at the instrument

Inverse

'Zelda Tears of the Kingdom': The Best Music to Listen to While Playing

Game music is great and all, but sometimes groove is in the heart (container).

Guitar World

Meet ambient shredder Jakub Zytecki – the trailblazing virtuoso who picks plugins over pedals and plays a Kurt Cobain-inspired 8-string

The Polish wunderkind explains why Polyphia and Plini have reignited his guitar fire and how he channeled John Petrucci on his stellar new album, Remind Me

Guitar World

Deftones’ Stephen Carpenter is now playing Kiesel guitars – but will continue endorsing ESP at the same time

The Deftones guitarist’s new model lineup begs the question: are dual-brand endorsement deals the future for signature artists?

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