Nick Johnston breaks down five lead-guitar approaches in a new Mastodon-era masterclass
The newly published lesson moves from hybrid picking and legato to sweep picking, tapping and chromatic blues phrasing, with Johnston demonstrating how he connects the techniques musically.
Aug 31, 2026
Credit: Guitar World
Guitar World published a new artist masterclass by Nick Johnston on August 31, built around five lead-guitar approaches he uses in his current playing. The lesson covers hybrid picking, legato, sweep picking, tapping and blues-based phrasing with chromatic notes, with notation and slowed-down demonstrations intended to make the mechanics visible rather than simply presenting a performance.
Johnston ties the vocabulary together in a final example instead of treating each technique as an isolated trick. The lesson arrives in the context of his current work with Mastodon and shows how a player known for polished instrumental fusion adapts that vocabulary to a heavier band setting. It is recent, substantial instructional material rather than a generic evergreen exercise page, which makes it a good fit for Guitar Radar's learning coverage.
Why it matters
Substantial current lessons from active high-level players are easy to miss beside gear launches. This one gives players concrete, transferable technique material and a useful snapshot of Johnston's approach in his Mastodon period.
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