Class Acts

A Rundown Of The Explosive Playing Styles Of Our Top-four Cover Stars — Mark Tremonti, Tosin Abasi, Gary Clark Jr. And Nita Strauss.

- Jimmy Brown

MARK TREMONTI

ALTER BRIDGE’S MARK Tremonti is a true modern guitar hero who not only shreds his ass off with the best of them, but also writes great rock riffs and song parts, from the gentle and elegantly majestic clean-tone intros to such hits and fan favorites as “Blackbird,” “In Loving Memory,” “Broken Wings” and “Words Darker Than Their Wings,” to the roaring, intense crunch riffs featured in songs like “Metalingus” and “Wouldn’t You Rather.”

Tremonti often employs non-standard tunings, mostly drop-D (low to high, D A D G B E) and its down-tuned equivalents, which he has used to craft many of his most powerful riffs, many of which incorporate quickly shifting one-finger power chords, strummed octaves and single-note melodies pitted against a ringing low pedal tone, as in such Alter Bridge songs as “Open Your Eyes” and “Isolation.” The guitarist’s collaborative writing efforts with vocalist and guitarist Myles Kennedy have proven time and again to be very successful and prolific, and the latest Alter Bridge album, Walk the Sky, features lots of well-written songs, such as “Dying Light” and “Take the Crown.”