Bow down and worship at the altar of Uncle Tony Iommi, the godfather of the heavy metal guitar and the single most influential metal axeman that ever applied pick to string in anger.

Every metal guitarist owes a greater or lesser debt to the great Black Sabbath/Heaven And Hell founder, and here TG places him in a chain of inspiration that leads from the mid 20th century to the modern era.

This gallery of riffage has been assembled for us by Joel McIver, whose books ‘Sabbath Bloody Sabbath’ and ‘The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists’ make him the ideal man for the job. It all starts with a legendary player who you may not be expecting…

Total Guitar issue 210 (originally on sale 24 December - 20 January) featured Tony Iommi on the cover and contained 11-pages of Iommi coverage, including an in-depth interview and a complete tab of 'Planet Caravan'.