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Brazilian Kiko Loureiro recently played a Masterclass at London's The Institute of Contemporary Music, and the Guitar Institute's master of ‘world guitar' Tolis Zavaliaris was on hand on 11^th March 2008 to ask a few pertinent questions to this exciting new guitar star. Kiko is a genuinely fresh new addition to the ranks of virtuoso metal based guitarists, bringing an eclectic mix of influences that reflect his South American heritage - and these combined with a world class command of the modern rock guitar idiom results in a genuinely cutting edge axeman.

Back in the mid 1990's Symphony X surfaced from the fertile breeding ground for virtuoso rock and shred/metal guitarists that is New Jersey, USA. One of those very rare bands whose signature sound and approach was pretty much fully formed from day one, Symphony X emerged with a stunning blend of precision metal riffing, soaring melodies and show stopping solo passages from guitarist Michael Romeo and keyboardist Mike Pinella that provided the previously unchallenged Dream Theater with a viable contender for the throne of the ultimate prog metal band.

When we sat down and conceived Alloutguitar.com back in 2005, I had a wish list of players that I really wanted to feature. Phil Hilborne was right at the top: for anyone learning to play rock guitar growing up in the 80's and early 90's in the UK, Phil was pretty much omnipresent. As music editor of Guitarist magazine, and latterly co-founder and Music and CD Editor of Guitar Techniques, Phil influenced and taught a whole generation how to play - and play properly....