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May 2020

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245 articles

May 30
- Kiss, Meat Loaf and W.A.S.P. guitarist Bob Kulick dies aged 70
May 29
- From politically charged genre crossovers to avant-garde blasts, here are this week's essential guitar tracks
- The world’s first click-and-save guitar knob promises to help you hit your electric’s tonal sweet spot every time
- The guy who bought all of Dave Mustaine’s guitars on Reverb has begun putting them back up for sale
- Save 50% off one year of Fender Play online guitar lessons with this $44.99 discount!
- Flea's 10 craziest bass licks revealed as YouTuber slap, pops and picks his way through 'em all
- Are YouTube guitar lessons under threat?
- Sick Riffs: Chris Kang teaches you the genre-fluid riff of Huntsmen's Ride Out
- Taylor Builder's Edition 324ce review
- Olivia Jean: "I always wanted to play a Gretsch 6120, but with the amount of dirt I use, that was never going to work!"
- Beginner guitar scales: learn the most important patterns
- The secrets behind Prince's tone on Let's Go Crazy
May 28
- Iron Maiden’s Adrian Smith explores the final frontier of fishing in Monsters of River & Rock memoir
- Add personality to your playing with Eric Johnson’s string stretching and vibrato techniques
- Send your blues into overdrive with this fully tabbed lesson on Joe Bonamassa’s blazing pentatonics
- Sick Riffs: Inter Arma drummer - yes, drummer - TJ Childers teaches you Citadel's sludge colossus
- Grez unveils the Smugglers Bridge Folsom, a guitar made from 1,000-year-old reclaimed redwood
- Led Zeppelin’s Celebration Day concert film to be streamed for free on YouTube
- Tony Iommi: "I've got hundreds of riffs - new music is going to happen"
- Boss DD-3T and DD-200 Digital Delay review
- Slash dishes the dirt on his sessions for Ozzy Osbourne's Ordinary Man
- The history of the Gibson ES-330
May 27
- Channel swirly Leslie cab goodness in a plugin with Eventide’s new Rotary Mod
- Bucky Baxter, pedal steel great who played with Bob Dylan, dies aged 65
- The Big Dawg is back: American Idol’s Randy Jackson rejoins Journey as bassist
- The Beatles' break-up in 1970 yielded some of its members' best work - and these 9 albums prove it
- Sick Riffs: Yvette Young teaches you the celestial fingerpicking of Covet’s Parachute
- $20k Swarovski-encrusted Zakk Wylde Les Paul Custom Bullseye appears on Reverb
- Faith Neptune Blue Moon review
- Payton Smith: "It’s really important to me that people realize I’m a guitarist as much as a singer"
- How to install a kill switch on your guitar
May 26
- How to quickly install guitar strap locks
- Watch musicians put the modular, body-less Jammy EVO through its paces
- Joe Satriani is working on two very different new albums in quarantine
- PRS resumes guitar-building operations - with social distancing and lots of hand sanitizer
- 7 of the greatest 7-string guitar songs
- Sick Riffs: Pat Reilly teaches you the revolving arpeggio-heavy lead line of Dead Eyes
- Ibanez reveals J Custom 2020 guitars with stunning all-over finishes inspired by the elements
- Metallica, Megadeth and Def Leppard guitar techs discuss survival on the road and life 20 feet away from stardom
- Fiokee on how he became Africa's most in-demand guitarist and the secret to writing guitar parts that connect
- PRS unveils limited-edition Fade finishes for the SE Custom 24
- Gretsch G6120T-BSSMK Brian Setzer Nashville '59 'Smoke' and G6120T-HR Hot Rod review
- Blues maverick Jonathon Long shows you how to get more mileage from your guitar licks
- Prince's long-lost Purple Rain “blue angel” identified as Cloud guitar currently up for auction
May 25
- Brian May suffers heart attack amid excruciating pain - and thinks his guitar strap could be to blame
- Sick Riffs: Arran Day teaches you the classic-rock lead lines of These Wicked Rivers' Floyd
- Electro-Harmonix Ram's Head Big Muff Pi review
- Mike Mushok: "If there’s gonna be a solo, it needs to make the song better - not just, ‘Look what I can do!'"
- Adam 'Nergal' Darski: "If you have something to say, you'll say it through your instrument regardless of whether you know theory"
May 22
- Fender’s MTG Tube Tremolo promises authentic vintage amp trem from a pedal
- Eric Johnson teaches you Cliffs of Dover-style chord-based improv in his latest mini-lesson
- Blackstar's HT Club 40 MkII Black and Blue Edition amp is a knockout
- From acoustic puzzles to terrifying shred: here are this week's essential guitar tracks
- Watch members of Judas Priest, Halestorm, Alice in Chains and more absolutely nail Thin Lizzy’s Bad Reputation
- The genius of Andy Gill: paying tribute to the post-punk pioneer who influenced a generation of guitarists
- Jared Dines' top 10 tips for beginner guitarists
- Sick Riffs: David Rybka takes you on a trippy psych-rock journey with Deepshade's Monster
- Rigs of Dad unleashes the Kugescreamer - the only overdrive pedal with controls for Tone, More Tone and Most Tone
- How to play guitar like Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong
- Cornell Explorer 10 Head review
May 21
- Recording King’s Dirty 30s Deluxe acoustics team vintage styling with all-solid construction
- Source Audio's EQ2 might just be the most powerful EQ pedal on the planet
- Positive Grid seeks to turn your iPhone into the “ultimate all-in-one guitar effects processor” with the BIAS FX 2 Mobile app
- Sick Riffs: Learn the monster 12/8 groove from All Hail The Yeti's Cold Dead Leaves
- Sammy Hagar predicts Van Halen “will probably be on tour next year”
- A new photo of Robert Johnson - the third in existence - has been uncovered
- Marshall launches classy Black and Brass finish for its Stockwell II portable speaker
- Watch Justin Johnson unbox a beautiful new PRS P20E parlor acoustic
- Best Gibson SGs: Our budget-spanning picks of Gibson’s famous Solid Guitar
- Kim Gordon: "If dissonance is something we added to the vocabulary of indie rock, from a legacy standpoint, that’s pretty cool"
- Duff McKagan and Chad Smith discuss Andrew Watt's touch of genius on Ozzy Osbourne's Ordinary Man
- CLT DRP’s Scott Reynolds makes ring modulators cool again with this badass EDM-influenced playthrough
May 20
- Catalinbread’s Giygas promises to unleash torrents of “brawny and fierce” fuzz
- Two Notes' Torpedo Captor X could be the best all-in-one amp recording solution yet
- Could the next-gen Roadie 3 automatic guitar tuner be the fastest way to tune your guitar?
- Sick Riffs: Adam Thistlethwaite shows you the mood-elevating riff of Massive Wagons' In It Together
- Watch Ryan "Fluff" Bruce tear it up on a new Dean Thoroughbred Select Quilt Top
- Yngwie Malmsteen installing Yngwie Malmsteen pickups is the most Yngwie Malmsteen thing you'll see today
- John Mayer teaches you how to play Crossroads in this classic GW lesson
- Tash Sultana: "I can play different instruments, but my home is the guitar"
- Sound Stone Guitar Sustainer review
- Matt Bellamy: “As long as the guitar can keep up with making interesting sounds, it will always remain relevant”
- Alter your musical perspective by learning to solo using the Superlocrian mode
May 19
- Sick Riffs: Learn Unleash the Archers' power-metal freight train The Matriarch
- Only guitarist in your band? The OPFXS Asteroide sampler and harmonizer could be a game-changer
- The greatest 12-string guitar songs of all time
- KMA Machines launches “versatile and vibrant” limited-edition Logan Desert Transcend Drive pedal
- PRS announces its first-ever parlor acoustics - and they’re affordable, too
- Gibson Les Paul with "stove top spiral" finish spotted for sale on Reverb
- US bluesman Lucky Peterson dies aged 55
- Can't Swim's Danny Rico names his favorite riff of all time as he reveals his Rifflist
- Lâg Guitars Tramontane HyVibe THV10DCE review
- Fender unveils hardtail Strat bridges, black painted headstocks and Inca Silver finish options for Mod Shop guitars and basses
- The secrets behind Tony Iommi's classic Black Sabbath guitar tone
- Audio Kitchen’s Steve Crow: "Distortion is something you can hide behind. When you dial it back, it forces you to up your game"
- Nick Johnston, Lari Basilio and Plini on the genius of Joe Satriani
May 18
- Woodpecker Instruments introduces woody 36-inch Mini Jumbo acoustic
- JHS’s Legends of Fuzz pedals pay tribute to the “most important fuzz circuits ever made”
- Nice distortion, bro: J. Rockett’s Broverdrive conjures dirt tones that go from “mild to wild”
- Sick Riffs: Did Coles shows you the intricate acoustic lines of Empyre's Drive
- Jeff Schroedl: "I like to think of my style as guitar gumbo - I focus on the things that set me apart"
- Can Tsakalis AudioWorks’ MultiCab MKIII pedal deliver tube tone without the amp?
- Mark Tremonti is collaborating with “the best guitar player on Earth,” Eric Gales
- July 2020 Guitar World lesson videos
- Slash and Gibson's Cesar Gueikian share the origins of the new Slash Collection of Les Pauls and J-45 acoustics
- Gretsch Electromatic Jet G5260, G5260T and G522 review round-up
- Jonathan Wilson: “Timing and rhythm is what makes you money, not speed and tons and tons of notes”
May 15
- Allow yourself some escapism with this exclusive, guided tour of the Martin Guitar Museum
- Guitarist Jorge Santana, younger brother of Carlos Santana, has died aged 68
- From lush, pedal-driven soundscapes to an unearthed country-folk gem: here are this week's essential guitar tracks
- Danelectro reissues the ‘66-12 12-string semi-hollow
- Pretty Things frontman Phil May dies aged 75
- Cort offers a “modern take on the oldest form of guitar” with the Gold-OC8 Nylon acoustic
- Old Blood Noise Endeavors debuts versatile, slider-equipped Fault V2 overdrive/distortion pedal
- Matt Bellamy just bought Jeff Buckley’s ‘Grace’ Fender Telecaster – and plans to use it on the next Muse album
- Pedal tone riffs: kickstart your playing with these simple riffs
- Brothers Osborne: "I can’t just think about blowing guitarists away when I come up with a solo - I try to think big-picture"
- Sick Riffs: Deerhoof teach you the hypnotic indie-rock stylings of Damaged Eyes...
- Martin X Series DX1E-04 review
May 14
- Save over $200 on the Blackstar HT-20R MKII with this ridiculous deal
- Ichika Nito and Covet’s Yvette Young keep the playing smooth and the tones clean in this jazzy quarantine jam
- Invaders' 720 Britt amp offers 20 watts of British-voiced clean and crunch in customizable colors
- Sick Riffs: Austin Cressey teaches you the chunky bassline of Movements' Deep Red
- Eric Johnson is giving guitar lessons to support food banks during COVID-19 pandemic
- Joe Bonamassa is livestreaming a performance and tour of his Fender guitar collection to support musicians affected by COVID-19
- Save 50% on Orange's 4 Stroke 300W bass amp head over at ProAudioStar
- Whitesnake's Joel Hoekstra, Kiss’s Bruce Kulick, Sepultura’s Andreas Kisser and more jam The Police’s Synchronicity II
- Seafret's Harry Draper: “We wrote Oceans in an hour after being in the pub. Now we go all over the world and play it”
- Green Carrot Pedals Comfortably Plum review
- Nita Strauss: "No matter your skill level, you can always improve on your own style and personality as a guitar player"
- 7 creative ways to use a looper pedal
- Classic gear: Hofner Verithin
- 5 guitars that defined Billie Joe Armstrong's career in punk
May 13
- Add a new dimension to your acoustic's sound with GHS Strings
- Gibson releases nicely priced Modern Collection Les Paul Special Tribute
- BandBond is a new, free smartphone app that connects metal bands to fans
- Members of Clutch, Cave In, Carcass and more absolutely destroy AC/DC’s Riff Raff in quarantine
- Brandon Ellis plays the Titanic theme Black Dahlia Murder-style as he reveals his Rifflist
- Dean goes for gold with piezo-equipped Colt Bigsby
- Nuno Bettencourt tears it up alongside Phil X and Orianthi on 68-musician cover of The Beatles’ Let It Be
- Sick Riffs: Jon Miller teaches you the harmony-driven clean lines of Fire In The Radio's This is my Document
- How to play fingerstyle blues with alternating bass and melody
- Timo Somers: "The latest Delain album has more of a guitaristic eye and is more my vision"
- Cort KX500MS review
- Ozric Tentacles’ Ed Wynne: "George Harrison used to come to our house for dinner and sit there playing guitar!"
May 12
- Sick Riffs: Learn the gnarly blues slide swagger of Crown Lands' Spit It Out
- Could you finally enjoy playing guitar with headphones using Blue Cat Audio's Re-Head plugin?
- Danelectro equips its classic-cool ’57 single-cut with two fresh finishes
- Smashing Pumpkins are working on not one but two new albums, according to guitarist Jeff Schroeder
- Microwave's Nathan Hardy delivers furious drop-tuned riffs and grungy arpeggios in this exclusive playthrough
- The inside story of The Beatles' turbulent break-up - and what came next
- A signed Bucky Pizzarelli D’Angelico archtop is being auctioned to support the Jazz Foundation of America
- The Black Mountain Thumb Pick combines a traditional flatpick with a spring-loaded thumb ring
- John Mayer reveals two simple tips that will change your blues guitar solos forever
- David Rainger: "Do things the ‘wrong’ way if you like - then you’ll come up with the best stuff creatively"
- Wampler Terraform review
May 11
- Live Nation will explore "fan-less concerts and reduced capacity shows," with return to full-scale operation projected for late 2021
- Watch an animated Weezer shred the Simpsons theme song
- Musician turns his guitar into a synth… by playing it with a hairdryer
- Behold Mark Morton's impeccable fingerstyle technique in this enrapturing playthrough of The Fight
- Schecter unveils Corsair, PT Fastback, Tempest Custom and C-1 Exotic Spalted Maple electric guitars
- Kurt Cobain’s iconic MTV Unplugged Martin acoustic set to be auctioned for $1 million
- Sick Riffs: Learn the savage death-metal dissonance of Ingested's Invidious
- Joey Landreth: “The first time I heard Derek Trucks was like, ‘Oh, s**t. That is really inspiring!’”
- Everything you need to know about power amp types
- Vox Cambridge 50 review
- Jäger Volant's Ronnie Day: "The key to a great guitar sound is in how you play and how you phrase"
May 9
- Little Richard, rock ’n’ roll trailblazer, dies aged 87
May 8
- The hunt for alternative tonewoods: how guitar luthiers are looking to save the planet
- TC Electronic Flashback 2 Mini & Hall Of Fame 2 Mini review
- Orange’s Crest Edition Wireless Headphones promise “superb levels of detail, rumbling bass and natural-sounding highs”
- The Experience PRS 2020 celebration is back on – as a virtual event
- Brian May tore his buttocks in a freak gardening accident: “The pain is relentless”
- From (Van) Weezer to Lianne La Havas: here are this week's essential guitar tracks
- Former Bad Company frontman Brian Howe has died aged 66
- Achieve maximum blues power with Blackstar’s limited edition Jared James Nichols JJN-20R MkII amp
- Get an exclusive, VIP tour of Martin's amazing Pennsylvania factory
- Sick Riffs: Learn the chromatic-flavored riff and dazzling solo of Toothgrinder's ohmymy
May 7
- Buy a Positive Grid Spark amp or BIAS software pack in May and support musicians affected by coronavirus
- Bathe your sound in classic delay at a discount with this awesome deal on Ibanez's ES2 Echo Shifter
- Neural DSP’s Fortin Cali Suite promises everything from vintage cleans to high-gain distortion
- Highly Suspect: "Basically every guitar we use onstage is something we've built!"
- Norman Guitars launches redesigned line of acoustics “rooted in innovation, with classic detail and design”
- Unlock “rich repeating delays, thick modulations” and more with Eventide’s MicroPitch plugin
- Gus G reveals what he thinks of Andrew Watt's playing on Ozzy Osbourne's new album
- How to use modulation pedals on bass
- Slash collaborates with Jerry Cantrell... to solve the Alice in Chains guitarist's rattlesnake problem
- Sick Riffs: Learn to play the monster Drop A hook in Marishi Ten's Enemy Now
- Why do guitarists love the Ibanez Tube Screamer? The story of the classic overdrive pedal
- Upgrade your leads by learning to solo over non-diatonic blues chord changes
- ThorpyFX Heavy Water review
- Tom Morello’s wrong: young people are practicing guitar – but they’re trying to forge careers, too
May 6
- Ernie Ball Music Man unveils dreamy John Petrucci 2020 signature models
- Protect your pedals from “beer showers” with RockBoard’s PedalSafe covers
- Sick Riffs: Brett Newski teaches you the chord progression behind self-dubbed "loser wave" track, D.I.Y.
- Blues-rocker Hamish Anderson delivers a fuzz-fueled playthrough/lesson of You Give Me Something
- No Fa-fa-fa-foolin’: Phil Collen endorses ergonomic chair that promises the "ultimate guitar playing experience"
- Acoustic guitar sales and electric upgrades are soaring during the coronavirus quarantine
- John Mayer’s guitar gear: what you need to nail the super-smooth six-stringer’s sweet blues tones
- Tom Morello: “I’m disgusted that a lot of young people aren’t willing to practice the electric guitar for eight hours a day”
- 12 mind-blowing guitarists reveal the techniques they struggled to master, and how you can improve your guitar playing faster
- Gibson Slash Les Paul Standard review
- Go from Steve Cropper to Steve Vai with this hot lick six-pack
May 5
- Watch Justin Johnson unbox three gorgeous Furch guitars
- Luna Guitars conjures up “rustic looks and thunderous tone” with the new Art Vintage Jumbo acoustic-electric
- Sick Riffs: Learn a clutch of killer blues licks with Jackson Stokes’ Slave For Your Love lesson
- Geezer Butler recalls the B.C. Rich bass so sharp it cut his thumb open at Live Aid
- Fender releases Fullerton ukuleles in Tele, Strat and Jazzmaster shapes
- The mystery behind Kirk Hammett’s taped picking hand - revealed!
- An original, stage-played Prince Cloud guitar is hitting the auction block
- Gibson launches free Virtual Guitar Tech Service - and we put it to the test
- Learn the awe-inspiring licks behind Moon Tooth's Awe At All Angles in this super-in-depth playthrough and lesson
- Epiphone teases stunning new Prophecy Flying V and Explorer models with Fishman Fluence humbuckers
- Lettuce's Adam “Shmeeans” Smirnoff talks Resonate, approaching guitar like a percussionist, and why he plays a Les Paul for funk
- Here are the 6 fresh guitar artists you need to hear this month (May 2020)
- Jonathon Long: "I love Teles because they're virtually indestructible - if a boat broke down I'd use mine as a paddle!"
- Audient Sono guitar recording interface review
- St. Vincent plays spellbinding acoustic cover of Led Zeppelin’s Dancing Days
- Guitto’s GGP-02 pickup promises to deliver chorus, delay and reverb sounds direct from your acoustic guitar
May 4
- Conjure a “leviathanic wall of fuzz” with Red Witch and Reverb’s new Seraphina pedal
- FU-Tone launches none-more-purple titanium tremolo inserts and hardware to upgrade your trem's looks and performance
- Mick Mars: "I have about 100 guitars. I like to have a lot of different things to play around with"
- Metallica share stripped-down acoustic reworking of Blackened in quarantine
- Ask Joe Satriani anything in his new Club Joe Streaming Sessions
- Azusa deliver an ultra-tight guitar and bass playthrough of Kill / Destroy
- Learn to play Tool’s Pneuma, straight from Adam Jones himself
- In a time of crisis and isolation, here's why we need guitar more than ever
- Sick Riffs: Caleb Miller teaches you the feel-good hammer-on licks of King Calaway's Rivers
- Cesar Gueikian reveals the inside story behind Gibson's exhaustive Tony Iommi 'Monkey' SG replica
- Source Audio Collider Delay+Reverb review
- Mark Morton: "I think it’s healthy to write on acoustic, because it doesn’t lend itself to the technical focus of electric"
- PRS brings the versatile S2 Studio back for a highly limited run
May 1
- Watch Jared Dines discuss, jam on Martin's revolutionary SC-13E offset with Paul Riario and Fred Greene
- Machine Gun Kelly aims to inspire kids to pick up the guitar with his new album
- From Machine Gun Kelly to Alain Johannes: here are this week's essential guitar tracks
- Turns out Rage Against the Machine's Killing in the Name sounds just as heavy when played on a Weissenborn lap slide
- Sick Riffs: Nick McLernon of Make Them Suffer teaches you his gnarly pre-show warm-up riff
- The Fern Phoenix is the world’s first all-wood modular guitar
- Mad Professor’s Sweet Honey Overdrive with Fat Bee mod boasts “bottom end tweaked to the limit”
- Warwick’s modular RockStands might just be the smartest guitar stand designs we've seen yet
- Jim Root: "Guitar solos are stressful!"
- Ryan "Fluff" Bruce's Rifflist: the YouTube star reveals his grunge roots as he plays his first riff, favorite solo and more
- How great guitarists can inspire - rather than intimidate - your playing
- Takamine TSP138C TBS and Takamine TSP178AC SBB review
- Funk up your blues with these rhythmic solo ideas