Mark Holcomb - Periphery / Haunted Shores: GuitarMessenger.com Masterclass 1 of 2 

So cool, I had no idea that the riff from "Scarlett" was originally a Haunted Shores song. Dig.

It's so nice to how far mark has come since then.

That tone makes me very, very happy.

Is now endorsed by leading brands in recording gear, has his own signature guitar and pickups (and good ones too if I may add). Still humble af, an inspiration to me and I'm sure many others.

Absolutely incredible how much Mark has changed since this video was filmed. He's so much more comfortable and relaxed infront of a camera, his voice has changed, his picking style has changed. I always find it fascinating to see people develop as they age. Keep being awesome, Mark!

And 5 years later he is in one of the greatest bands ever , periphery :)

Knowing theory dosent have to diminish creativity , knowing how chords work is useful in experimenting and creating new sounds if you know. Rules you can break them . But still not musicians who are self taught or have little theory knowledge usually have a cool unique sound and create complex sick shit

When I first heard that opening verse riff to Immaterial, my entire world of guitar playing changed forever. Still one of my favorite riffs to this day. Not entirely complicated but the progression is absolutely epic.

I like how one of the greatest and most creative guitarists I've ever seen says shit like "I don't know theory" hahaha

wish I could travel back in time and show him what his life looks like in 2016...

I find it incredibley fucking amazing that mark is able to come up with so many amazing sounding chords that flow so nicely together without knowing theory

This man gave me a fist bump during a meet and greet when Periphery visited India to play a festival. To this day, I think of how kind, vibrant and zen he was then and always has been. Love you Mark.

This was Mark’s greatest distorted tone imo. The High end is so rich and it sounds amazing compared to the alpha and omega setZ

TABS HERE: www.guitarmessenger.com/artist-masterclasses/haunted-shores-mark-holcomb-masterclass-part-1/

i love it when a musician such as yourself admits to not knowing theory but you could never assume that by listening, just shows the natural grip you have on the direction you go for

I was learning Pale Aura and now I see where that chord comes from during the intro riff! haha

Haunted Shores is so under rated i loved periphery most of all because mark joined , mark is one of the few guitarist i've heard that has such a unique style and when i show people haunted shores they fall in love with the band.

Mark, you truly are an inspiration. Ever since i saw this video, ive wanted to be able to create such amazing chords, and use them HALF as well as you do. You really are having an impact with Haunted Shores. Well done.

this dude takes the term riffage to a new level. he is truly a riffsmith.

Who gives a fuck if he doesn't know theory?! He writes music that sounds amazing - and that's all that matters!!!!

Love Mark! Also love the Holdsworth Signature guitar. Makes me want to get one. They are a little high end for me but that helps with the heavier sound. As he's talking I can't help but be reminded of Keanu from Bill and Ted - Excellent!!

So glad Mark was brought into Periphery! This stuff is amazing!

I love watching videos of these musicians. There's always a diamond if the rough, now i found one of my new favorite bands.

I am in LOVE with the tone. My sweet God, it gives me goosebumps.

Hi, I'm Mark. I guitar in Haunted Shores and...." wait let me stop you there. You play for Periphery now. Welcome to one of the most progressive newer bands today. You will be remembered for decades as "one of the guitarists for Periphery".

I really love his style, so elegant and clever.

Dude writes some of the most interesting riffs I've heard in a long time.

I dig Periphery but, fuck i miss Haunted Shores.

What I love so much about this post is how many people got the reference.

just discovered this channel, I love it!

love the tone!

I love mark! Absolutely a great guitarplayer! Huge inspiration!

Mark seems a lot more chilled out these days. He comes across a little nervous here

masterful guitar player

with this great guy in the band im sure the next records of periphery are going to be awesome

Great chords. Really helps to add atmosphere while still retaining the metal aspect.

i try to play with these chords a lot

Interesting chords, well done Mrak. Xx

he remind me of scarecrow from batman

Awesome sense of melody.

I'm still hoping to one day hear Periphery recycle Immaterial into one of their albums just like they did with Scarlett. The first time I ever heard Immaterial I was totally fucking mind blown. I was listening to your typical metalcore stuff at the time like As I Lay Dying, Parkway Drive, stuff like that in the late 2000s. Randomly stumbled onto Haunted Shores when I was an active member of the harmony central forums and people were talking about it in the gear/rig section because Djenty tones had all of a sudden surged in popularity with the axe-fx becoming a thing, etc. I had heard nothing like what Mark was playing on Immaterial. Totally reshaped my approach to playing. Pretty much made me hit the reset button on guitar.

I love how he plays all these chords that I immediately recognise in Periphery II songs. Prime example: 2:31, Mile Zero, middle section c:

so right dude elliot coleman's vocals are just fantastic, best I've ever heard I think I can say but spencer is amazing as well, and fits periphery perfectly in my opinion

i jusgt fel in love with the main riff from passenger! more videos like this please

Really cool chord voicings. This dude is awesome!

i love when bands write by what sounds good and not what some music teacher taught them... i love when mark says they are basically in the same scale

love the guitar

brilliant stuff. why are all those masters so shy and down to earth...

@TheBlackDahlia815 The first riff is Scarlet by Haunted Shores. Scarlet will also be on the next Periphery album.

So happy this guy's in Periphery now

Pretty much instantly became my favourite guitar player. Wow

Just to think, a year after this video was uploaded, this would be a Periphery song.

simplicity is amazing

Oh mark. Before you even knew you'd end up designing the most balanced/aggressive sounding Seymour Duncan pups ever created.

Mark is a magician and his guitar is basically his magic device! Change my mind.

if anyone is wondering how he gets his tone, and why it sounds different, is because when he strums chords on the treble strings, hes basically holding his pick as if he were doing a pinch harmonic, but strummed instead of individually picked.

amazing chords

@Spliffor The voicing of chords is pretty much how you make the chord. I mean like if you take a normal G major chord, it contains the notes G,B and D. Now i can make a couple of different voicings with that. I can have the G note as my bass note (lowest note) then a B and then a D, or i can have the B in the bass and then a D and a G. It's really taking one chord any playing it in different ways.

The pickups is especially something people like to argue against. I like their pickups. I put an M22SD in an old cheap guitar once and it sounded killer with it.

I have been trying to work this stuff out for the longest time, cheers...amazing shit

i wish someone had the full tab of passenger. like EVERYTHING. it's an awesome song

it was originally a haunted shores song which was a project with mark and misha but they adapted it into a periphery song since they're both in the band now :D

I love his tone.

That one chord is basically the Achilles last stand opening chord. Jimmy adds his twist at the end. Pretty sick to hear it last generationally. Two of my all time favorite bands makes sense lol

i can't believe he doesnt know theory, hes just so good. one of my favorite guitar players!

I love when mark stated extol as his main influence..i can tell there's a lot similarity on mark/ole borud playing 🤘🏻

I was just going to ask that, thanks dude!

he does. Haunted Shores is a side project. Misha and Mark are main members but they can invite whoever they want for songs, Spencer for example. etc

Maybe because they re-recorded it for Periphery II, plus Mark is in Periphery now. The song Passenger is also from Haunted Shores I believe.

nice, the world needs more players like this

that opening riff is used in one of the periphery update vids.

Yay! An actual answer! Thanks :D

fun learning these chords

He played live with Periphery on the Frak the Gods tour!

OMG!!! He's my favorite :) Genius ...

@SmileyMcGee900 Thanks man! I actually didn't notice there was a chart that came with the video, and I see that kind of chord (A chord lookin m7#5) when I play jazz a lot. So I just generalized what it was, but I guess it could be called a Gm11..I think it looses luster when it does. hah

Make him do another one of these please

Looks like a stock carvin holdsworth signature guitar. Sounds amazing. Goes to show that a good amp and awesome player is all you need to get a wicked tone.

OH MY GOD HE'S A LITTLE BABY

@Cairnivore haha me too. After seeing this it sounds even cooler than it did before.

If you'r talking about the rhythm solo, there is a video of him tracking it in the studio update, so your assumption is invalid. How do you know he didn't write more of the song? I def here mark in there. He was a big part of the album for sure. And Im really glad he is in Periphery as well.

dig that tone a lot

He may not know theory, but he knows how to play... AND THAT TONE. It makes me moist.

Awesome

Hey guys, I just learned the tuning for scarlet. It's like drop C, CGCEGD.

@PedroMirrordead well i played these chords in drop b, it just sounded really beefy and deep. so i'd imagine that in drop a it would sound even more heavy, if you have the strings set to a decent action

@PhantomNote I understand what you mean. Although i always look it the other way around. Theory is derived from what we play and what we hear. ^^

I love hes taste in music

Also The Gods must be Crazy was written mostly by Jake, trying to write like Mark. He said his main influence was Mark's writing technique. Also if you listen to it, it has many of the same chords/progressions as Immaterial.

incidentally the best tracks on the album imo :D

@cheepy91 its actually Csus2 tuning

@basedgod293, you're right. What I'm saying is that a lot of people like to make the argument that carvin does not produce guitars, especially the holdsworth model, that will work for metal. This video helps prove those people wrong.

@Cambrand i'm not sure but most songs i've heard are in drop C#

Haunted shores is a side project setup by Misha with Mark in. Since Mark and Misha are now both Periphery, and it didn't look like Haunted Shores was going anywhere with the success Periphery is having, they decided to use Scarlet. Haunted Shores was basically just another recording project of Misha's which I think he didn't want to associate with Periphery or Bulb. Scarlet was so popular and Spencer's vocals fitted so well that they just decided to record Sacarlet as a Periphery tune.

This man is beast.!

tried to find it out for myself. looks and sounds pretty good! i think it's a model from the SC90 series

That tone....

please read my comment, he is a fantastic musician and guitar player, he just doesn't speak the standardized language I'm used to, and I agree with you, whenever I compose I avoid theory whenever possible I only bust it out when I get writers block, and thats one of the reason I love Periphery, because they don't know what they are doing (in the context of theory) they get a lot of really interesting sounds that make sense sonically but not theoretically

I always thought that too!

An actual answer! Thanks! :D