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WHO DOESN’T LOVE to learn a great new lick? I don’t know if people do it now, but when I was in my youth and bumping into fellow guitar-playing nerds, someone was always going, “Do you know this one?” and playing you a new lick that they’d learnt. What exciting times they were. Perhaps as we get more proficient we’re less willing to share our secrets, wishing instead to retain any musical advantage we think we might have.

And that’s where GT comes in. Since we are the caring, sharing magazine we invited Jim Clark to dig deep and come up with 25 of the juiciest licks he could imagine - nothing horrendously difficult to play but just the kind of thing you’d want to add to your personal lickbag. And the great thing about licks is, change a note here and there, bend instead of sliding, pick instead of hammering and, hey presto! Brand new lick! So this feature really is the gift that keeps on giving.

Queen and Brian May have been in the news a lot lately - the sold-out arena tour with Adam Lambert, the potential of Brian becoming an MP (who wouldn’t love to see that?) and the resurrection of previously unheard tracks with Freddie. So we thought it about time we tabbed a great Queen tune, since we haven’t done so for some time.

Now I’m Here is a brilliant track. From the huge opening chord to Brian’s screeching bends, that awesome riff and his Chuck-meets-Angus style rock and roll solo, it’s packed with great things to learn. As usual, Steve Allsworth does an amazing job, sonically and tab-wise, so you should have hours of fun learning this.

And speaking of rock and roll, we were recently chatting about the range of rhythm styles you find in the genre - from Bo Diddley and the aforementioned Chuck Berry, to Scotty Moore and Status Quo. So we thought it would be perfect as this month’s third main feature. And, as Jon Bishop plays with 80s rock and roll star Shakin’ Stevens, who better to do it for you? And as usual, that’s only the tip of the iceberg: the magazine is packed with superb tuition in all manner of styles and pretty much all levels. So dig in, have fun and I’ll see you next month.