GUITAR GODS
AND THEIR
GEAR #1
R A E G † S D S† GEA D O G † † R A E G † S D O E G † S D O G † R † GEAR† S D O G G † S D O G † R #2
A T I U G † R A O G † R A T I U G R A T I U G † R EA TAR† G I U G † A T I U G † R A E G G † R A T I U G † A #3
Welcome to Guitar, Gods, and Gear, your number one source into the lives of the guitar gods of metal. We strive to give you up to date information on these shredders and their gear, so that maybe you can pick up a thing or two from them. This magazine will be a little less of an informative issue, as this is our annual Guitar, Gods, and Gear list; where we celebrate the greats in the genre. If you’re not a metal or gear head, you might want to put this magazine down and keep walking. For those of you still here, welcome to the glorious world that is Guitar, Gods, and Gear.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS #6 GUITAR GOD LIST #7 WORD SEARCH #8 10 TIPS TO PICK YOUR AXE # 9-14
GUITAR GOD LIST CONTINUED WHAT ICON ARE YOU QUIZ
#15 #16 # 17-20 #21
ANSWER SHEET
GUITAR GOD LIST CONTINUED COLOPHON
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D O G E DJ ASHBA
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DJ Ashba has been a member in two notable bands, before making a name for himself. He got his claim to fame when we became the lead guitarist of Guns N’ Roses from 2009 to 2015 as well as with a band he co-founded with Nikki Sixx, called Sixx: A.M. Ashba brings 80’s style to the modern day. The tapping, sweep picking, and expertise over pedals he wields bring killer solos to multipe songs such as When We Were Gods and This is Gonna hurt by Sixx: A.M. and helped him recreate / reinvent solos by fellow guitar god, Slash with Guns N Roses. Ashba now spearheads several projects under is last name. Ashba has created a clothing company, housed in the Stratosphere. He also operates a digital media company, responsible for multiple of the art project laid out around the Las Vegas Strip, and Downtown Las Vegas areas.
SCHECTER DJ ASHBA SIGNATURE
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The most notable of Ashba’s guitars is likely his Schecter Signature, more specifically of the matte black rendition. It is a beautiful double cutaway schecter, with a matte black body, broken up by glossy black stripes. The neck of the guitar features ravens to mark where the circles typically mark on the frets. The headstock also bears the Ashba logo. The body has a floyd rose to make killer bends, and holds humbucker pickups.
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GUITAR WORD SEARCH S P I C K G U A R D K P E G S
J A C K M A R S H A L L A T I
Q O K Q M C H B I C A B O D Y
k n a b
V X P J G I B S O N N E C K D
Q V I J A C K S O N I Y U W M
L B C G I W I R E L E S S H S
K C K E P I P H O N E D B A N
C X S C H E C T E R A U A M U
O C C H U M B U C K E R S M O
T U N E R X Z X K O D P J Y Q
F L F R E T Z B E K X G A W Z
I R Y F L L O Y D R O S E O T
H S T A Z Y N C H O R D B H P
R B F E N D E R L I G Q X W I
X J A B I R H E A D S T O C K
Humbuckers
Pegs
Chord
PIckguard
Epiphone
Neck
Body
Wireless
Floyd Rose
Marshall
Pick
Whammy
Headstock
Jackson
Fender
Tuner
Fret
Jack
Schecter
Gibson
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s p i T TO PICK YOUR AXE 10 #1
Physically go to a Guitar Shop I know this seems unnecesarry to mention, but online shopping won’t let you experience the sound and feel of the guitars you are considering
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Look Around the Store to Find your Style Style isn’t everything, but you also don’t want to wind up with a guitar you dislike. Plus this will help you find a good place to start when trying to weed out your baby from the masses.
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Pick an Axe off the Shelf Pick a guitar from your list out to play. Don’t run straight off to the amp yet. Just hold the guitar in your hands. If you don’t like the feel of the weight or neck shape, put the guitar back.
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Take a Seat and Pick Acoustic We still aren’t running off to plug in yet. Take a seat, and try out the guitar first without plugging it in. Your fingers will let you know if you’re comfortable with this shape.
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Rock Out Play that bad boy just like you would a guitar you owned. Play everything, clean tone, heavy riffs, bending solos. Try the different pickups, or little additions the guitar has.
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Find an Amp Similar to Your Own To try out your guitar, you’ll want to use an amp similar to the one you normally play on. This way you can tell if the guitar sounds how you want, or if its the amp effecting its sound.
Plug In Plug in, but don’t play... just listen. We are checking for feedback, listening to hear how much the guitar gives off. Too much feedback indicates a bad guitar, or bad matchup with the amp.
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Make a List (Mental or Physical) of Your Top 5 Picks Narrowing your choices is good, but having backups is important. You may have your heart set on a beatiful guitar but your 5th favorite might wind up being the best quality or best deal.
Try Out Your List Keep trying out the guitars on your list, putting back the ones you don’t like and keeping the ones you do until you have a few options.
Select the Superior Play your top picks back to back and switch them out several times. It will be easiest to figure out which guitar sounds best or is most comfortable to you this way. Purchase the winner.
D O G EDDIE VAN HALEN E
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Now this is a name that needs no introductions, because of his legacy and his recent passing. Born January 26th, 1955, Van Halen just passed away a few weeks ago on October 6th, 2020. Eddie is most well known for his skills in tapping as well as his high-speed arpeggios often executed with both of his hands on the fretboards. Every 80’s kid medal head or not can likely sing “Jump”, “Panama”, and “Hot for Teacher” off the top of their heads if you were to put it on. Eddie has his most notable solo in the song “Eruption” that is an instrumental solo that leads into the song “Running with the Devil” on the album Van Halen . However, one of his less popular solos, but possibly his most inventive comes from a song called “Poundcake”. In this solo, Eddie took a drill to his guitar, creating a brand new sound to an instrument that we believed we knew every form of its playing.
EVH STRIPED SERIES
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Eddie Van Halen is known for his iconic guitars. Even non-fans wouuld have an inkling in the back of their minds when a red base was shown with white and black stripes everywhere. They were definetly well loved before they were retired, there were often worn frets, and peeling paint. Known by the name of Frankenstrats, Eddie often put his own spin on his stratocasters to suit his needs, and his playing style.
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S D O G E
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JAKE PITTS
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Now this is the first slots given to a duo, and the first slot given to a newer age artist. Jake Pitts and Jinxx are the guitarists of metalcore band, Black Veil Brides. While this past decade has seen metal cast into the shadows, these guys are the lights trying to reach out. Jake pitts is most well known for his sweep picking abilities, being able to play highly advanced solos at groundbreaking speeds, while throwing in all of the little tricks popularized in the decades before. He utilizes just about every technique invented, shuffling them into a solo and executing them flawlessly at break neck speeds. Hammer-ons, pull-offs, sweep picking, tapping, and sliding, all get thrown in the mix, and the only person who seems to be able to keep up with Pitts is Jinxx. In several songs such as “The Legacy”, “In the End”, and “Saints of the Blood”, Jinxx joins Pitts in the tail end of his solos, harmonizing
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JINXX above the lead guitarist to attach a haunting melody that proves that not only is he as fast as Pitts, but he can keep his accuracy in timing aligned at the same speeds Pitts is capable of. Jinxx not only is an amazing gutarist but he also contributes piano, violin and cello parts to several of their songs such as “Overture”, “Shadows Die”, and “Coffin”. These combinations of talents between the two of them has made them the most notabable duo in modern-day metal. They also won the Revolver Golden God Award for best guitarists in 2012.
SCHECTER C-1 FR & SCHECTER RECLUSE FR
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Both Jake Pitts and Jinxx get their gear custom made by the Schecter Guitar Research Company. This is not that surprising considering it is the main company utilized in today’s day and age. Jacke pits often sports his Schecter C-1 FR & Jinxx often favors his Schecter Reclus FR. Jake Pitts’s sports their winged logo stamped on the neck, while Jinxx elected to use their pentagram logo in red stamped across the black neck. Jinxx’s body is a glossy black with red accents around the humbuckers. Jake’s guitar is a silver burst to black.
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S D O G E
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KIRK HAMMET
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When you think of metal what’s the first band that comes to your head? We are willing to bet about 90% of you said Metallica, and for good reason. Metallica brought the heavy seen into the spotlight in full force in the 1980’s, topping charts, selling out stadiums, and taking over the airwaves. The main reasons, arguably, Kirk Hammet and James Hettfield. Hammet and Hettfield introduced much of the world to the heart hammering, head banging, riffs of metal, with high speed and a ferocity that was difficult to match. Being led to the march by Hettfield’s
LTD KH-WZ & LTD IRON CROSS
Kirk Hammet seems to favor his LTD KH-WZ guitar the most, it includes artwork from the famous Bela Lugosi horror movie, by the same name as the guitar. Due to its popularity, many replicas of this guitar are now sold by the company. Hammet’s guitar also contains a tuning lock so that he can use his whammy bar without fear of going out of tune.
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JAMES HETTFIELD growling vocals, their guitar expertise helped accelerate the band to fame. Some of their most notable performances are in “All Nightmare Long”, “Master of Puppets”, and “One”. Hettfield and Hammet also know how to write a beautifully melodious ballad such as those featured in “Turn the Page”, and “Nothing Else Matters”. One of the most impressive things to note about these two is that they typically only down pick, meaning they are typically going twice as fast at the same BPM as another guitarist would be.
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James Hettfield commonly uses his LTD Iron Cross Guitar. This is yet another popular model that has been replicad and sold a thousand times over, The white guitar contains a simple geometric black pattern along the bottom of the les paul body shape, that draws the audience’s attention through its simple beauty and strength.
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D O G E SLASH
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So... you had to know this one was coming. Slash is one of the most well known names in the guitar world. He not only was the lead guitarist of iconic 80s band Guns N’ Roses, but he is currently releasing music under his own name. How often is a project named under the guitarist rather than the vocalist? His recent collaborations with Alter Bridge frontman Myles Kennedy have also found popularity and critical acclaim in the hot rock charts today such as with their songs “Driving Rain” and “Anastasia”. Some of Slash’s most notable solos with Guns N’ Roses are in the songs “November Rain”, “Welcome to the Jungle”, and “Paradise City”. Slash is not only a gifted guitarist when it comes to shredding solos, he also created one of the most iconic hair metal riffs of all time in “Sweet Child of Mine”. Oddly this riff was created at practice while Slash was doing an excercise on his instrument.
GIBSON SLASH LES PAUL STANDARD
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Slash is known to favor Gibson brand. His ties to the brand helped it grow in popularity and usage through the 1980’s and so on. Several guitarists aspire to get their hands on these guitars in order to become in some ways like their guitar hero. Slash also popularized the sunburst coloring on guitars through his usage of them. His more well-known guitars have mainly included this sunburst effect, making even haters of yellow admire its qualities.
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z i qu #1
What is your favorite pop punk band? A. Blink-182 C. The Offspring B. Green Day D. Sum 41
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Choose a body type. A. Les Paul B. Flying V
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LT S
C. LTD D. Schecter
C. Red D. Green
C. Sustaniac D. Floating Floyd Rose
Choose an amp. A. Fender Champion B. Marshall Origin
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C. C D. D
Pick a color. A. White B. Black
Pick a sick add on. A. Pick Holder B. Wireless Kit
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C. Double Cut Away D. Viper
Who is your favorite classic rock band? A. Aerosmith C. Black Sabbath B. Led Zepplin D. Journey
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Choose a neck style. A. V B. U
Choose a guitar brand. A. Gibson B. Fender
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WHAT ICON ARE YOU?
C. Line 6 D. Orange Crush
Pick your signature accessory. A. Top Hat C. Fingerless Gloves B. Shades D. Your Hair is Your Accessory
On Page 21
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Ans
SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!! h s a l s
You Got:
A: 5-9
s field e m A J Hett You Got: DJ Ashba
You Got:
B: 6-9
c: 6-9
D: 6-9
You Got:
tonyperry
Kirk ammett H You Got: e A: 3-5 i dd e C: 3-5 van halen You Got: A: 3-5 D: 3-5 jinxx A: 3-5 B: 3-5
B: 3-5 D: 3-5
You Got:
You Got:
1-3 All
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Matttuck
You Got:
Mike aget p
wer
s
D O G E TONY PERRY
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Now we return to another modern day guitarist, Tony Perry. While this guitarist does lay on the lighter side of the metalcore spectrum, he is not one to be scoffed at. One listen to his work would discourage that. Tony Perry, like Eddie Van Halen, is most well known for his tapping abilities do to his numerous solos in songs such as “Hell Above”; however, he demonstrates immense range in songs such as “Bulls in the Bronx” where he plays a hispanic influenced, acoustic guitar solo over the breakdown. It created quite the switch up, but beautifully done. He also exhibits heavy, intricate leads over songs such as “The Boy Who Could Fly”, “Dive In”, and “Caraphernelia”. With his help, his band Pierce the Veil, has become one of the most popular rock artists today, especially amongst non-rock fans. More mainstream people will find Pierce the Veil floating in their playlists.
ESP LTD SLIMER VIPER
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Tony Perry is known for his aesthetic guitars. Every guitar that he uses has an intricate design that accentuates the guitars he plays. One of the most notable of his guitars is his ESP LTD Slimer Viper, more commonly known as the Slimer. Several of his guitars since have been created with different colors of “slime” cascading down the body, but the original Slimer is his most famous; with recreations being sold acroos the internet.
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S D O G E
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MICHAEL PAGET
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Both Michael Paget and Matthew Tuck are guitarists in the wildly popular English metalcore band, Bullet for my Valentine. Like out other duos, Paget and Tuck work best together. They both are exquisite in their own rights, but together they are immense. Michael Paget often takes the reign on lead, and solos, but this doesn’t mean that Matthew Tuck slacks off, as he often is harmonizing with Paget while singing lead vocals for the band. Occasionally Tuck also jumps in to dual solos
ESP LTD MP-600 & JACKSON USA RR1
Michael Paget is commonly known for his favor towards the ESP LTD MP-600 guitar, yet another metalhead reliant on the LTD brand. On the other hand, Matthew Tuck uses a Jackson USA RR1, he is the first and only person on this list to utilize a Jackson guitar as his signature. His choice in doing so helped to popularize the brand amongst the new generation of guitar players, doing what so many artists before him have done for a brand they
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MATTHEW TUCK with Paget in order to add some layers and inject more power into the already expert solos created by Michael Paget. Bullet for my Valentine is known for their fast paced guitars that go at such breakneck speed at all times, not just during solos. When you start a Bullet for my Valentine song, they are 100 percent in until the last known rings out. This is most evident in songs such as “Scream, Aim, Fire”, “The Last Fight” and “Don’t Need You”.
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favor. Several new students of the craft choose to learn on a Jackson guitar due to the influence of Tuck. Both guitarists use humbucker pick ups for their more metal sound. Floyd Roses, Floating Floyd Roses, and wammy bars are all popular additions to their guitars to bend notes to the extreme and tear people’s heads off with their intensity.
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D O G E SYNYSTER GATES
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Our final entry is a more modern guitarist as well, Synyster Gates of Avenged Sevenfold. This is yet another guitarist that we acknowledge due to his range, rather than just his aptitude with soloing, and the tricks those hold. His range can be seen from his top speed in songs such as “Nightmare” to his melodious riffs in “So Far Away” and the slow burn he created with “Shepherd of Fire”. His diversity with the guitar helped propel Avenged Sevenfold to fame. They have become arguably the most popular modern metal band. Every rock fan today will know their name at their mere mention. This band has become rather critically acclaimed as well as being popular among fans, and commanding the airwaves, racking up numerous awards and nominations.
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Synyster Gates is another modern day guitarist known for his skill as well as his beautiful and advanced guitars. One of his most notable guitars is the one pictured here, the pinstripped Schecter Synyster Gates Standard. Not only do his solos capture your attention in Avenged Sevenfold’s music videos, but his beautiful guitars commandf to be seen as well. One look at them explains more than words could.
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Photography:
Guitar, Gods, Gear Inc. Product of Guitar, Gods, Gear Inc.
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COLOPHON
DJ Ashba - Pace Vegas Staff Eddie Van Halen - Paul Natkin Jake Pitts - Ailesse Jones Jinxx - Allison Toon Kirk Hammet - Jack Whatley James Hettfield - Billboard.com Slash - Yakkub88 / Shutterstock Tony Perry - Selene Esquer Michael Paget - Andreas Lawen
Copyright © 2011 by Emily Arrasate All rights reserved. Written in the United States of America. No part of this magazine my be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information address Guitar, Gods, Gear Inc. Written by: Emily Arrasate Edited by: John Doe Designed by: Emily Arrasate
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Photography Continued:
Matt Tuck - Santiago Russo Synyster Gates - David Wolff-Patrick
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R A E G † S D S† GEA D O G † † R A E G † S D O E G † S D O G † R † GEAR† S D O G G † S D O G † R #22
A T I U G † R A O G † R A T I U G R A T I U G † R EA TAR† G I U G † A T I U G † R A E G G † R A T I U G † A #23
Didn’t get enough guitar, gods, and gear? Want more info on the influencial musicians of modern day metal? Visit: https://guitar/gods/gear.com
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Get your daily dose of metal. Perfect for any guitarist, gearhead, metalhead, or awesome dude / dudette.
