Matthew Parker

"Life's hard, Testament's harder."

We pit the 'frenemies'* new guitars against each other

Learn the riff from Machine Head's 'Locust' and pick up Total Guitar issue 218 (on sale 5 August to 1 September) for a guide to nailing the guitar tones from the song.

Learning to play more expressively on the guitar is something every player should work on – Steve Lukather shows you how.

Joe rounds off his series of guest lessons by playing licks in the style of two of his greatest heroes, Paul Kossoff and Eric Johnson.

Fun Lovin' Criminals guitarist Huey Morgan rounds off his series with a raucous improvised solo.

To round off RGT's Grade Five series, TG helps you prepare to play alongside other musicians in the accompaniment section of the exam.

In the second part of this section on improvisation Rockschool shows you how to improve your solos by using rests and repeated notes.

Scott Gorham and co appear at Classic Rock's London gig

Total Guitar issue 217 cover stars Thin Lizzy recently reissued three classic albums 'Black Rose: A Rock Legend', 'Bad Reputation' and 'Chinatown'.

On the site and in the mag

Monster riffs, alien overlords and the start of something big: Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson dig into the title track of the album that proved Lizzy's saving grace.

Pick up Total Guitar issue 217 for an exclusive interview with Tom Morello in which he tells TG all about one of Rage's most explosive moments.

Pick up Total Guitar issue 217 (on sale 8 July to 4 August) for an exclusive interview with the modfather himself Paul Weller about the making of the song.

Improve your speed and fluency with TG's alternate picking exercises and pick up Total Guitar issue 217 (on sale 8 July to 4 August) for the accompanying tab and explanation.

Learn the riff from Arcade Fire's 'Speaking In Tongues' and pick up Total Guitar issue 217 (on sale 8 July to 4 August) for a guide to nailing the guitar tones from the song.

Toto guitarist and session ace Steve Lukather joins TG for a series of Guest Lessons with a focus on expressive playing...

Building on last month's major and minor scale lesson, Joe continues the scale theme with an improvised solo taking in numerous scales...

Fun Lovin' Criminals' keyboard player, Fast, steps in to lay down a groove for Huey's 16th note rhythm and lead improvisation...

Capture the Celtic style of Grade Five piece, 'The Ten Penny Bit', with up-tempo flatpicking based on the A Dorian scale...

It's time to take your first steps into the world of improvisation as Rockschool examines the solo section of its Grade Three piece, 'Download'.

A new range of rock-inspired baby clothes is being launched in the UK by Dutch firm Rockabye-Baby.

You can now buy all your TG-branded merchandise direct from our official subscriptions site MyFavouriteMagazines.co.uk. Click-through to view our range of guitar-related goodies...

Following a successful debut last year, the 2011 Bristol Guitar Show will take place on 25 September at Ashton Gate Stadium.

One of African guitar music's most famous exports, Tinariwen, are due to play at London's Koko venue on 26 October.