Not only do Protest The Hero's Tim MacMillar and Luke Hoskin compose some of the most finger-twistingly exhilarating licks in modern prog-metal, but the pair have also set out to improve technique everywhere via publishing venture Sheet Happens.

The company issues tab books for artists who might not otherwise get notation to the masses, including Lamb Of God, Periphery and, of course, the band's own work. Happily, business is booming.

“It's going well,” Tim enthuses. “We've tapped into a niche, and not many people are focusing on music.

“The one tricky part that we are dealing with now is trying to offer other formats of music. We recently introduced Guitar Pro files for download with any of our books, and I think people are enjoying that.

When Sheet Happens first started, I was transcribing or editing a lot of the books

“We haven't made a decision if we should start selling Guitar Pro or other MIDI-based files on their own. Feels a bit weird, but we also want to stay current, and we use that software to write all the music so the files are made.”

The whole process has been a useful learning experience for Tim, too.

“When Sheet Happens first started, I was transcribing or editing a lot of the books, so in those cases I would learn a lot by this process,” he recalls.

“One artist that I can remember really learning from was Propagandhi. They have pretty unique chord voicings and play in a way that I always admired, so playing through the books unlocked some of those mysteries!”

Through his transcription work, the guitarist has spotted an uplift in the quality of technique across the guitar world, but he has a keen eye for faults in his own playing.

“I'm really bad at playing with my fingers,” he concedes. “Either hybrid picking or fingerstyle. I like learning jazz standards, and usually you can use your thumb for bass notes and the rest of your fingers for the chord.

“It's an entirely foreign way of playing for me, but it also sounds very different to the typical stuff I write, so it would be nice to be able to use the technique in the future.”

Speaking of the future, Tim reveals there's nothing set in stone for PTH, after their last release, Pacific Myth, was made available to fans via a subscription platform.

“We have no concrete plans,” he says. “We are just going to write, and once we have enough material we will figure out how to release it. We will be releasing Pacific Myth to the world outside of the subscription by the Fall, so that will be a more traditional release plan.”

In the meantime, Protest The Hero will be headlining the Saturday night at the UK's Tech-Fest, and Tim's excited to be pairing a cutting-edge set of pickups with his tried-and-tested amp rig.

“At the moment, I'm using an ESP Horizon guitar with Fishman Fluence pickups,” he says. “The Fishmans have been an interesting development in the pickup world, and I like how you can charge them with a micro-USB adapter!

“For amps, I've been using the Axe-Fx II with the MFC-101 foot controller. I've really been impressed with the foot controller and how easy it is to set up a setlist of patches that you can seamlessly switch between.”

Here, Tim counts down nine guitarists that have impacted his playing - and what fine choices they are…

Protest The Hero headline Tech-Fest on Saturday 9 July - tickets are available now.