Via Guitar World: Throughout her highly successful career, singer-songwriter Melissa Etheridge has left the guitar solos to other players. But no more: In the video above, she describes how longtime collaborator John Shanks, who produced her latest album, The Medicine Show, pushed her to develop her lead guitar chops. 

“For the past 10 years, I’ve been working on and practicing how to become a better lead rock ‘n’ roll guitar player,” Etheridge says. “I realized on stage I really wanted to step out and play and share that. I never did – I really always held that back. John Shanks really helped me. He’s a great teacher on what to play. He helped me bring out the best out of that guitar.” 

Etheridge played every lead solo on The Medicine Show, but she’s still an enthusiastic rhythm guitarist. Check out her expressive and exuberant strumming (on a 12-string acoustic) in this intimate performance of one of the new album’s dramatic tracks, “Wild and Lonely.”