This month we are taking a look at the hard rock and metal style of Nita Strauss. A descendant of Austrian composer Johann Strauss, Nita left high school in her junior year to pursue music full time. Her career began by touring with her own band Lia-Fail, and the Iron Maiden all-female tribute band, The Iron Maidens. In 2014, Nita was hired to replace Orianthi as Alice Cooper’s touring guitarist, and continued in that role until July 2022, when she announced her departure from the touring band.
In 2018 Nita launched a Kickstarter campaign for her debut solo record Controlled Chaos. The campaign was successfully funded in two hours, and eventually raised eight times its initial goal. Nita produced the record herself, including the majority of the engineering work, and played all of the guitar and bass on the record. Earlier that year she became the first ever female Ibanez signature artist with her own model guitar, the Ibanez JIVA10. Nita regularly features in Guitar World and Guitar Player magazine, and is ranked #1 on Guitar World’s list of ‘10 Female Guitar Players You Should Know’. In addition, becoming the first female rock solo artist in 32 years to hit number one on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Chart with her song ‘Dead Inside’.
To introduce you to Nita’s style of guitar playing, I have transcribed one of her signature guitar licks to help and inspire you to develop some hard rock and metal techniques. This ascending guitar lick can be performed using palm muting or in a legato style. Learning to play this lick will help you develop accuracy, timing, phrasing, palm muting, alternate picking and speed within your playing. Practice this lick to a metronome, and watch your playing level improve almost instantly. Enjoy discovering the sounds of Nita Strauss this week!
