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Roy Khan says that he has never regretted his decision to leave KAMELOT.
The 52-year-old Norwegian singer announced his exit from KAMELOT in April 2011 after taking several months off to recover from a “burnout.”
After his departure from KAMELOT, Khan, who is a devout Christian, joined a church in t…

Fan-filmed video footage of Geoff Tate’s October 14 performance at Gagarin 205 club in Athens, Greece can be seen below. The show saw Tate playing many of QUEENSRŸCHE’s biggest songs, including early classic “Queen Of The Reich”, which originally appeared on the band’s debut EP.
Tate had previously…

In a new interview with Meltdown of Detroit’s WRIF radio station, TRIVIUM frontman Matt Heafy spoke about how he and his bandmates prepare for the shows on their current U.S. headlining tour. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “We definitely put the time in. I think we prep more than any…

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Fan-filmed video of HELLOWEEN’s October 13 concert at Arena Armeec Sofia in Sofia, Bulgaria can be seen below (courtesy of Bernd J. Schuster’s YouTube channel).
As previously reported, HELLOWEEN will embark on the “United Forces” tour of North America in May 2023. Support on the 13-date trek will co…

METAL GODS, described as the ultimate ode to JUDAS PRIEST and DIO featuring Tim “Ripper” Owens (JUDAS PRIEST, ICED EARTH, KK’S PRIEST) and Simon Wright (AC/DC, DIO), kicked off its Australian tour last night (Friday, October 14) in Brisbane. The METAL GODS band also features the talents of James Mor…

Sharon Osbourne has opened up about husband Ozzy’s Parkinson’s disease diagnosis.
Ozzy was first diagnosed with the neurological disorder back in 2003, but the legendary singer didn’t disclose that he was stricken with the disease until a January 2020 appearance on “Good Morning America”.
Sharon was…

Z2 Comics has announced “In Flames: The Jester’s Curse”, a graphic novel celebrating the legendary Swedish melodic metal institution. The book expands the post-apocalyptic fantasy behind the quintet’s world, following the band’s grim mascot, Jesterhead, as he emerges from the Wasteland. He soon find…

Likely the first melodic device any improvising musician learns is the pentatonic scale. It’s a simple pattern to learn on guitar, it’s easy to play, and it always sounds “correct.” It contains mostly the “good” notes and usually you don’t need to think too much about which notes to avoid. What’s not to love? After a while, however, a certain sameness begins to emerge, and one begins to wonder, “Is there something more here?” Well, it has much more to offer than what you see on the surface.How do you play a pentatonic scale? One of the first shapes that guitarists learn when starting to explore the pentatonic scale is the ubiquitous box in Ex. 1. And why not? It’s a simple pattern to memorize, it’s easy to play, and you can get musical sounding results almost immediately. In fact, if you play these notes in just about any order, play in time, and exercise some logical phrasing, you can’t really mess it up.There is a wealth of guitar vocabulary in this simple device. Eric Johnson, Eric Clapton, Eric Gales, and other legendary guitarists not named Eric have demonstrated this for decades. However, the two-note-per-string nature of the pattern can limit your phrasing. Let’s dive into a few simple things we can do to inject some articulations into an otherwise choppy march across the fretboard.This isn’t a “Stop doing this and start doing that” proposition but rather a supplement to your bag of badassery that you’ve accumulated. Let’s remap some of the notes found in Ex. 1 to other strings to elongate the scale along the neck rather than simply march across it (Ex. 2). Notice that we alternate between two notes on a string and three notes on a string. Add some strategic slides into the mix and our little fretboard square dance gets a welcome dose of swagger. Naturally, we will need to practice this descending pattern (Ex. 3) as well. These fingerings have a certain hipness that the box lacks.Ex. 4 features a nice blues gesture that exemplifies the articulations that this fingering invites. Judicious use of bends, slides, hammer-ons, and pull-offs make the magic happen.Double-Stop the Presses The slippery fourths found on adjacent strings combined with an eighth-note delay summon an early ’80s funk/pop feeling. Play Ex. 5 with long legato notes and have a glass of chardonnay on hand for a funky smooth-jazz vibe.Two often-used tricks are the sliding fourths/hammer-on double-stop phrases in Ex. 6. Once again, it’s the strategic use of slides, hammer-ons, and pull-offs that make the slinky goodness happen. These tasty double-stop licks are useful chordal accents in your solos or R&B-style rhythm parts. Even though Ex. 6 is a bucket of pentatonic scale phrases over a I–VIm–IIm–V chord progression, the double-stops provide a harmonically informed sound. Think Mateus Asato, Stevie Ray Vaughan, or Jimi Hendrix.Get Louder … Without Turning UpDid you know that two notes are louder than one? How ’bout that? Next time you’re playing at your local blues jam and the well-intentioned but way-too-loud rhythm player tempts you to turn up your amp, don’t do it. You’ll just add to the problem. Instead try some double-stops (Ex. 7). It transforms otherwise basic melodies into majestic, purposeful, and yes, louder statements without adding to a never-ending volume war.Peace, Love, and UnderstandingPlay some nice rhythm guitar without banging out all those barre chords. Yes, barre chords are useful but sometimes it’s just way too much. Guitarists already have to deal with the stigma of being eye-rolling loud. Why is that? The bottom portion of the chord (the power chord part) is an essential sound if you’re in a rock band. But in a blues, R&B, jazz, or country setting, it can sound muddy (and kinda stupid). The low-register notes are getting in your bass player’s way and the keyboard player, by default, is already annoyed at you. Let’s be friends with these folks and sound better in the process. Reimagining the pentatonic box will add depth and vibe to your playing. And using smaller double-stops versus banging out giant fists-full of notes not only tends to make the band sound better but they’re easier to play too. As a bonus you just may find that your solos sound fuller and more interesting. Don’t forget to acknowledge the perceptive audience that applauds your tasty masterpiece.