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December 2023
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215 articles
- December 31
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- “So much music has been inspired by the sound of these little boxes. When BOSS released a new pedal, you simply had to try it out”: How BOSS pedals shaped guitar culture
- “This is going to sound really f**king strange”: Joe Bonamassa says his go-to BOSS dirt pedal is the Metal Zone – here’s why the blues ace rates the metal monster
- How Jimi Hendrix’s groundbreaking techniques are still influencing the modern rock, blues and R&B styles of today’s players
- December 30
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- The most valuable BOSS pedals ever made
- JHS Pedals simply can’t make enough of its $99 DIY Notaklöns to keep up with demand, but I managed to get my hands on one – does the Klon clone live up to the outrageous hype?
- Tech 21 SansAmp Street Driver 48 review – a new Frank Bello signature amp pedal that delivers the full range of the Anthrax bassist's tones, and then some
- The history of Gretsch electric guitars: how guitarist, demonstrator and designer Jimmie Webster’s innovations of the ’50s and ’60s shape That Great Gretsch Sound to this day
- December 29
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- “It’s the only delay that can make those OK Computer sounds”: Ed O’Brien explains why one BOSS pedal was integral to Radiohead’s landmark ’90s albums
- From de-glossing your neck to swapping out tuners, here are 6 easy ways to mod your electric guitar
- Slide guitar is the ultimate test of feel – see if your skills are up to scratch and fine-tune your expressive playing with these genre-hopping licks
- “As far as solos? I’d turn up, light a spliff, open a beer, and crack on”: Steve Cradock on his relaxed approach to lead work in Ocean Colour Scene, playing with Paul Weller – and why he’s too scared to play the mod legend’s guitar
- December 28
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- “Bass players seem to like that feeling of the sound pushing against their legs, but if you stand too close to your amp, you’re never sure what it sounds like”: Mike Watt offers his advice for putting some teeth into your live sound
- How BOSS became one of the world's biggest guitar amp companies in under a decade
- “Blade approached me to do a signature model, but I’ve been disappointed by the lack of contact since I agreed. They still owe me a guitar!” Cheap guitars, Joni Mitchell chords, punk influences – Steve Rothery isn’t like other prog guitarists
- “We determined, ‘Boy, with that checked finish, the acoustic guitar – which is a box that vibrates – really rings’”: Gibson's Tom Murphy on how Murphy Lab acoustics are taking aged guitars into new sonic territory
- Understanding alternative chord shapes and inversions can have massive benefits for your lead playing – take a break from scales and give your solos a boost by incorporating these shapes
- “Joe Bonamassa texted me and said, ‘I know you love that black Les Paul. It’s at Carter Vintage right now. Call them ASAP!’”: Kirk Hammett says he only got his ultra-rare Factory Black ’59 Les Paul thanks to the help of his collector friend
- December 27
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- Why Guild’s 12-string design is one of the greatest engineering feats of the 20th century – and how it became a go-to acoustic for Jimmy Page, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Brian May
- “So many ‘latest’ and ‘greatest’ pedals are coming out that I had to get off the train… most of them were trying to do things that had already been done”: Ian Thornley knows what tones he’s looking for – but he’s still searching for the perfect song
- December 26
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- A new in-depth look at Eric Clapton in the '60s, '70s and '80s – only in the new Guitar World
- Remembering the guitarists we lost in 2023
- “We see it as a commitment to serving musicians, music lovers, artists and fans. That’s the Gretsch religion”: Fred W. Gretsch tells the remarkable inside story of the family behind one of electric guitar’s oldest names
- Anybody who has picked up the electric guitar owes something to B.B. King – learn how to incorporate his lyrical style and immaculate phrasing into your own playing with these must-try solos
- Game-changers, taste-makers and trend-setters: here are 2023's guitarists of the year
- Why should keyboard players have all the fun? A history of BOSS guitar synths
- December 25
- December 24
- December 23
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- Jazzmaster back scratchers, tweed amp humidors and, erm, shower curtains: Here are the wild Joe Bonamassa collectibles you didn't know you needed in your life
- “There’s no player of my generation who doesn’t remember when they first heard that almost one-second delayed repeat. It was truly epic”: How BOSS's trailblazing delay pedals changed the world
- December 22
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- “I had no idea he was coming. I was like, ‘This is the last song that I wanted to play’”: Joe Satriani recalls his first and only meeting with Eddie Van Halen – a surprise visit when he was tackling a tricky track in the studio
- Budweiser bodies and a new kind of competition stripe? Feast your eyes on Fender Japan’s early Christmas present: the Wasted Youth Telecaster and Mustang Bass collection
- “When you’re playing pop, you need to get the ego out of the way. You’re trying to elevate the song, rather than be heard as a guitar player”: The key to good pop guitar, says MUNA guitarist Josette Maskin, is to play less than you actually want to
- “Big jets moving, bombers, people in battle, distress, crying – the Vietnam War added a lot of darkness to his playing”: Kirk Hammett on how Jimi Hendrix’s guitar style helped birth metal and psychedelia
- “At four in the morning, I got a call from David Bowie. He said they needed a guitar player for Iggy Pop’s album”: As right-hand man for everyone from Mark Knopfler to Eric Clapton, ‘Session Man’ Phil Palmer more than earned his nickname
- Make your guitar sing with this harmony-laden rock arrangement of classic Christmas carol, The First Noël, in the style of Steve Vai and Brian May
- December 21
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- Alien rhythms, god-level chops and samurai guitar duels: these are the best guitar albums of 2023
- Inside the new issue of Total Guitar: The best of 2023!
- Discover Joe Bonamassa’s “secret weapon” and the delay pedals key to Radiohead’s signature sound in BOSS’ monumental 50th Anniversary supplement
- “Eric’s Les Paul gets stolen, and he knows I’ve got the other one. He starts calling me relentlessly. I charged him £200. It’s worth about two million now”: Andy Summers recalls selling Eric Clapton his Gibson Les Paul ‘Burst for a bargain price
- “The nuances and features of Morgan amps for anyone to access”: Neural DSP brings coveted modern boutique amp tones to its latest plugin
- “Whenever people visited my house and saw the guitar, their faces would light up”: Guitar gifted to Jason Becker by Eddie Van Halen sells for $110,000 at auction
- “When I listened to Danny Gatton’s mind-boggling licks, I realized that they depended on a different technique. It just wasn’t possible to flatpick most of them”: Josh Smith presents a crash course in hybrid picking and fast-paced jump blues soloing
- “Bob Marley didn’t want to hear my jazz-rock… I had to start all over again. I needed to play slower and add more feeling. Once I did, he told me, ‘That’s it, man!’” Al Anderson opens up on his tumultuous time with a reggae icon
- “Eddie was like a new sun appearing in the sky. You could sense that the world would never be the same”: From the big bang of Eruption to tone tips and warm-ups – Paul Gilbert shares the knowledge gleaned from a lifetime studying Eddie Van Halen
- December 20
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- The turnaround is a cornerstone of any good blues or jazz solo – and YouTube guitar tutor royalty Tim Lerch will up your game with these must-learn licks
- “I wouldn't be here right now if it wasn't for Master of Puppets”: Mark Tremonti on how Metallica's classic record changed his life – and how James Hetfield's right hand shaped his picking style
- “Who knows?! There are tapes that I would love to get my hands on…”: Eddie Kramer isn’t ruling out using Beatles-like AI techniques to restore more lost Jimi Hendrix tapes
- “People romanticize the old sound, but you want your sound brought into the 21st century”: Billy Corgan reveals how Tony Iommi inspired his approach to signature gear
- “At its best, the solo can tell a story, give us a sense of spectacle, and even offer a window into a player’s soul”: These are the best guitar solos of 2023
- “The first collaboration between Slash and an amp brand in years”: Slash’s flagship Magnatone signature amp has arrived
- “Jimi turned round and said, 'Hey man, mind if I play the guitar for a while?' We played for about half an hour. That was probably the last time I saw him”: Andy Summers recalls his “outrageous” jams with Jimi Hendrix
- “Essentially a souped-up Guitar Hero for adults”: A New Zealand brewery has invented a beer vending machine that lets you pay with your guitar skills
- “The arena-grade touring rig that fits in every guitar bag”: Kemper’s new Profiler Player might just be the ultimate compact all-in-one rig – and it doesn't even need a screen
- December 19
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- “There was bass before Jaco and after Jaco; his playing turned my whole life around”: How Norman Watt-Roy brought a bit of Jaco to Ian Dury’s Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick
- “We called that riff ‘The Batman Riff’”: Kirk Hammett admits Metallica lifted the Batman theme on 72 Seasons
- “The smallest element can be the basis of a cool riff. That’s pretty much how I wrote Sweet Emotion”: Tom Hamilton reveals the inspiration behind one of the most iconic bass riffs in rock
- “A pedal no-one else has and a tribute to my dad”: Red Witch releases 60 one-of-a-kind pedals as the company’s founder pays tribute to his late father
- February 2024 Guitar World lesson videos
- “It was the last years of the dictatorship and imports were prohibited, so my first guitar was awful and my amp was my stereo system”: Angra’s Rafael Bittencourt had humble gear beginnings – but they inspired one of prog metal’s most dependable players
- “I got a call: 'Peter Frampton needs a bass player. Can you do it?' This was Tuesday. By Friday, I was playing my first show”: Bass legend John Regan reflects on his career with Frampton and Frehley in his final interview
- “Those were some deep demons that were trying to exorcise themselves. He played with such bad intention. Even when he was playing the quiet stuff”: Joe Bonamassa on what made Gary Moore a guitar legend – and how he got him hooked on Les Pauls
- Dinosaural Cogmeister review – with three gain sections, can this triple threat cover all your dirt needs?
- “A Whammy pedal might be sacrilege on a vintage National, but live, it’s really interesting!” Troy Redfern may play slide guitar, but he doesn’t want to sound like Derek Trucks – and his bold solo approach blazes a new blues trail
- “A rhythmic motif so simple that even the most basic living organisms on this great planet can get down to it”: These are the best guitar riffs of 2023
- December 18
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- Free yourself with the NUX B-8: the problem-solving Professional Wireless System
- How to play the Holly and the Ivy on acoustic guitar
- “It was so fun to learn how to play the doubleneck – there’s so many switches and knobs that it was essentially like learning another instrument”: Emily Wolfe is expanding her guitar arsenal – and processing rage through gnarly tones
- “I'd move mountains for your sweet embrace”: A scammer is attempting to woo Joanne Shaw Taylor using a fake Joe Bonamassa profile – and it’s not going very well
- Best laptops for music production 2024: portable computers for recording guitar
- Ed Sheeran goes electric as he joins The Darkness on stage in London, and riffs on a Lowden model with a story to tell
- “I played about eight different guitar tunings – I threw the idea of patterns and scales out the window”: Kim Thayil hits back at being called a “sloppy” guitarist
- Fender proves it's the season of giving - score an extra $75 when you buy a $500 gift card this Christmas
- “We had no idea it was going to perform the way it did – or if it was even going to be shown to anyone”: How Cardboard Sessions’ Dave Lee convinced Billy Gibbons, J Mascis and Keanu Reeves to slam on his Fender-approved cardboard guitars
- “It was down to Slash and C.C. DeVille – I don’t even think they even tried anybody else out. They wanted to go in a glammier direction, and C.C. fit that style”: Matt Smith was Poison’s original guitarist – and helped to choose his successor
- December 17
- December 16
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- “Before BOSS, there just wasn’t a wide enough selection of pedals. They kicked it into high gear, eclipsed everything else…” How BOSS changed the soundscape of modern music in five decades
- “When Keith and I are together, we talk through our guitars. We never say, ‘You do this and I’ll do that.’ We weave”: How Brian Jones, Mick Taylor and Ronnie Wood made the Rolling Stones what they are today
- December 15
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- Devastating displays of double-neck tapping and Joe Bonamassa’s Christmas single: here are this week’s essential guitar tracks
- Learn to play In the Bleak Midwinter with this festive jazz-blues guitar arrangement that really sleighs
- “I hate to say it, but non-musicians – who are the majority of the listening world – are not going to remember guitar solos”: Kirk Hammett says it doesn’t matter how good or flashy a solo is – most people are going to forget them anyway
- “I’m not supposed to talk about these”: Rabea Massaad lifts the curtain on his two new Music Man signature guitars – and they’re looking mighty fine indeed
- “I’d not played for 17 years. I put all my guitars in the loft and never touched them. I didn’t think I knew how to play anymore”: When Happy Mondays split, Mark Day gave up guitar – and was surprised to find he could still play when he returned
- “The Tube Screamer for players that don’t like Tube Screamers”: Original Tube Screamer designer Susumu Tamura unveils modded Ibanez TS808 that “throws all pre-conceived TS notions to the wind”
- “Some of the most-heard guitars in the history of popular music”: Gibson’s latest Certified Vintage drop raids the vault to offer some of the cleanest vintage Epiphones you’ll ever see
- “When the G.O.A.T. gives you a call, you say ‘when and where’”: Mateus Asato reveals his heavy side as he shreds over Linkin Park with an EMG-loaded Suhr
- “Jeff Pilson called me and asked if I would play some solos. I had no idea it was for Dokken – I was still in a suit and tie from work that day!” Jon Levin has been shredding with Dokken since ’97 – and has to tackle George Lynch’s scariest solos
- December 14
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- Guitar Center just added new deals to its huge 35% off sale and you can save right up to Christmas eve
- Origin Effects DCX Bass Tone Shaper & Drive review – an exhaustive pedal that will give your bass a range of sounds you never knew you needed
- “When Kiesel built me the first one, I was like, ‘Man, this is amazing’”: Kiesel and Deftones’ Stephen Carpenter launch new Vader signature model – a mean, clean headless metal machine that’s “exceptionally difficult to produce”
- “Things had been good – now there were arguments. At the last gig, Andy and I argued about an amplifier and who would use it”: Original The Police guitarist Henry Padovani explains why he was ousted in favor of Andy Summers – but didn’t mind being fired
- Introducing contrasting open chords – the open-string shapes used by the likes of Alex Lifeson and Jeff Buckley in some of their dreamiest guitar parts
- “We’re always going to keep the proggy elements alive – it’s part of the essence of Soen”: Lars Åhlund and Cody Lee Ford may have scaled down the “eight-minute songs with a million riffs”, but their adventurous guitar playing remains intact
- “It’s not about how fast you can play. It needs to sound like pain or it needs to sound disgusting – it’s about what the guitar needs to convey”: Introducing Hawxx, the feminist metallers out to “de-wankify” heavy guitar clichés
- P90s vs humbuckers: Which pickups should you choose?
- “Sometimes the instrument or the amp takes you where it needs you to go. Older equipment is much easier to use to tell a story”: Baroness are reshaping metal guitar with acoustics, single coils and vintage amps
- “In keeping with Billy’s directive to ‘retain the gain or feel the pain’”: Billy Gibbons has helped Magnatone develop the Baby M-80 – its smallest and lightest tube amp yet
- “It looked like it was geared towards children. And it’s not rock and roll”: Ace Frehley isn't convinced by Kiss' plans for digital immortality through avatar tech
- “Strat or Les Paul? I’m going to go with Strat. The bar has become a big part of the way I play…” Pete Thorn answers the guitar world’s biggest questions – and names the underrated players you need to hear right now
- December 13
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- Eastman’s gorgeous Juliet LA is a “stunningly beautiful and original guitar” that provides an upscale performance experience
- Waylon Jennings was an outlaw country pioneer – and his clever open chord modifications were at the heart of his rhythmic acoustic strumming style
- ThorpyFX ER-2 Uni-Vibe review – the new standard for modern Uni-Vibe pedals?
- “I would never play a bass that has brand-new strings. My strings only leave the bass when they break”: How George Porter Jr. helped put funk on the musical map with The Meters
- It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas… so here's a lesson on how to play Deck the Halls, arranged for classical guitar
- “My goal was to make a modern, metal take on a vintage Jazzmaster shape… I never thought the first track I would use it on would be with Megan Thee Stallion”: Spiritbox’s Mike Stringer on 2023’s most talked-about offsets – and the collab no-one saw coming
- The world’s biggest amp brands are not who you think they are: these are Reverb’s best-selling guitar amps of 2023
- “Compact but mighty, designed for guitarists on the move”: Harley Benton launches a super-short-scale HSS Strat-a-like for $89
- “People are hearing my sound – I might gain some fans, I might lose some fans, but what they’re hearing is all me”: Mick Mars reveals second track from his debut solo album
- “A traveling museum of rock music”: The Jim Irsay Band is playing a free show in LA next month featuring Buddy Guy, Billy Gibbons, Kenny Wayne Shepherd – and some of the world’s most valuable guitars
- “A groundbreaking digitally controlled analog booster”: Is the OPFXS Twin Boost the future of boost pedals?
- “Precision-designed to get the most out of your modeler”: HeadRush seeks to take the lead in the FRFR arms race with 2 updated speaker cabs – now with Bluetooth connectivity
- “Guitarists appear to be caught in a paradox”: A new study by UK academics says the modern-day guitar virtuoso is torn between perfection and authenticity – and must be a cultural entrepreneur
- December 12
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- Are BOSS's 50th Anniversary versions of the DS-1, SD-1 and BD-2 the ultimate collector’s editions?
- Donner takes portable travel-guitar design to the next level with the full-scale, lightweight HUSH-X headless electric
- “People put too much stock in vibrato. It’s like putting explicit value into one feature on a person’s face”: Angel Vivaldi is exploring the relationship between the human psyche and the guitar via mind-blowing virtuosity
- “I like Firebird Vs the best, simply because this is the model that Johnny Winter played”: Learn Joe Bonamassa’s favorite Firebird licks in this exclusive video lesson
- “You can have all the pedals you want, but the guitar/amp combination makes the sound. Pedals are just some extra paprika”: Rich Robinson reveals what’s on his pedalboard
- There’s no beating the Boss: Reverb reveals its best-selling guitar pedals of 2023
- “Eddie Van Halen influenced me both in sounds and vocabulary”: Matteo Mancuso pays tribute to one of his heroes with EVH-inspired You Really Got Me cover
- "My apologies to you, our guitarist broke a finger": Red Hot Chili Peppers forced to cancel KROQ show following John Frusciante finger injury
- “A harmonious blend of vintage tones, contemporary technology and sonic possibilities”: Stone Deaf FX redefines octave fuzz pedals for a new generation with the Rise & Shine
- “Even John Paul Jones, Geddy Lee, Sting, and Steve Harris dig this guy”: Cordell Crockett of Ugly Kid Joe reels off 5 albums that shaped his sound
- “Charles Manson actually stole one of my Martins years ago and I never, ever got it back”: The Beach Boys co-founder Al Jardine on his musical regrets, favorite guitars, and the acoustic that got away
- “Blending themes of pop culture with techniques of the old masters”: Epiphone quite literally tops off the Adam Jones Les Paul Custom Art Collection with Mark Ryden’s Queen Bee – the only guitar in the series to use front-facing artwork
- “Continuing upon the metal legacy pioneered by the immortal Randy Rhoads”: Jackson pays homage to Rhoads’ iconic Concorde model with overhauled Made in Japan models
- “People think I play super-fast – it’s what you’d expect from a metal guitarist. But I would remind people that I’m very melodic”: King Diamond’s Andy LaRocque on how the Floyd Rose became his calling card – and why Death pushed his abilities to the limit
- “Bass players can solo through changes just like a horn player or a guitarist”: Watch Nathan East raise the bar as a soloist on Al Jarreau’s Our Love
- December 11
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- “Gretsch assumed, because he’s in Nashville, Chet Atkins must be into steers, cacti, and round-ups”: Behind the scenes at the new Gretsch museum
- “Billy drops the line, ‘I'm sending you some sheepskins. I want you to put them on some guitars’”: Dusty Hill’s iconic fur-covered spinning bass from ZZ Top’s Legs video just sold at auction – and absolutely smashed its estimated sale price
- “Big Cliffs Of Dover vibes”: Sophie Lloyd’s shred version of The Office theme takes the classic intro song into Eric Johnson territory – and we’re blown away by it
- Derek Trucks is one of the finest slide players to ever pick up an electric guitar – learn how to add his lyrical soloing style to your repertoire
- “10 years ago, I would need a record deal. But because of my social media following, I don’t need a label’s capital to fund my music”: Meet Jon Dretto – the online shred star whose guitar playing pranks have helped him clock up a billion views
- “Ran into an old friend”: Wolfgang Van Halen and Michael Anthony meet up for the first time in 20 years
- Fender Tone Master FR-12 review – the FRFR cab your amp modeler has been waiting for
- Mod Electronics Phase/Off review – a phaser pedal so good you won't mind assembling it yourself
- Gift great guitar tone this Christmas with a chunky $65 off the Positive Grid Spark amp - plus a free bag worth $60
- 3 Les Pauls, 2 vocalists and 1 broken string: Slash, Billy Gibbons and Warren Haynes trade solos in a star-studded reprisal of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Simple Man at Haynes' Christmas Jam
- “One of their absolute cheapest guitars”: This YouTuber played a beginner Ibanez at a sold-out arena show – and he didn’t even get to soundcheck with it
- A digital detox in amp form: Orange’s OR30 is the must-try tube amp of 2023
- December 9
- December 8
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- Three “God-like guitarists” join forces and stadium-conquering rockers channel their inner spy: This week's essential guitar tracks
- Creed and Alter Bridge veteran Mark Tremonti has put together one of rock's most impressive catalogs of crowd-pleasing riffs and solos. Learn his muscular metal guitar style
- Fender California Series King Vintage review – This guitar is sure to cut through the noise of a busy open-mic night, and there’s an abundance of character in the tone
- “When Van Halen’s first record came out, I was so proud of them – it was awesome. But did Eddie Van Halen affect my playing style? No”: Dave Meniketti on turning down Frampton, and how Y&T might’ve been bigger if they’d opened for themselves
- “I loved Hendrix – he was my first guitar hero... But seeing Stevie Ray Vaughan was transcendent. He made me understand Hendrix better”: Mike McCready says SRV helped him make sense of this Hendrix technique
- Epiphone Kirk Hammett 'Greeny' 1959 Les Paul Standard review – it may be $1.5k, but this is the best-quality Epiphone we've ever played… and better than some Gibson USA builds
- Get better faster for only $3.13 per month with Fender Play’s biggest ever discount
- “A rare opportunity to own a piece of tone shaping history”: Wampler brought back the Tumnus using the same germanium diodes found on the original Klon Centaur – but it’s already sold out
- “A revolving collective of Gibson artists”: Guitar brand becomes a guitar band, as the Gibson Band debuts its first single, featuring CEO Cesar Gueikian, Serj Tankian, and a solo from Tony Iommi
- Best volume pedals 2024: control your tone with these essential pedals
- “When Jimmy Page first saw my 8-string rig, he said, ‘I’m not playing to that!’” John Paul Jones on his 10 greatest Led Zeppelin moments
- Best guitars for small hands 2024: compact, thinline and slim-necked options for all ages
- Squier Paranormal Baritone Cabronita Telecaster review – a bargain baritone that can get properly heavy
- “The Silver Sky reigns supreme”: Reverb reveals its best-selling guitars of 2023 – including the most popular used models, with some surprising results
- "I’ve been using Vigier guitars since 1997. One of their reps had me try them, but I didn’t want to – I’d been playing my own awful, homemade, Swiss cheese guitars!" Failed luthier Ron ‘Bumblefoot’ Thal is busier than ever, but success isn't on his mind
- December 7
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- “The ultimate amp modeling software”? HeadRush revives the ReValver modeling engine for the first time in nearly 10 years – introducing seamless plugin and pedalboard integration
- Nevermind Teen Spirit, this smells like a great deal to us - save an impressive $270 off the Kurt Cobain Jag-Stang at Fender
- "The almighty power boost meets the blistering high-headroom tube amp": Crazy Tube Circuits delivers the sound of Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here in a pedal with the Hi Power
- “I've had hundreds of thousands of guitars pass through my hands – there's a difference between a good guitar and a great guitar”: The Music Zoo founder Tommy Colletti launches his own USA-built custom guitar line, Colletti Guitars
- Just days after launching his own amp brand with Mojotone, Alex Lifeson gets his teeth into the pedal market with his first stompbox – the LERXST By-Tor
- “There was no way I was shredding like them – I had to find my space in their universe”: Meet Shubh Saran, the shred chameleon whose jams with Jakub Zytecki and Mark Holcomb helped him find his voice – and left Plini asking, “What the f**k is happening?”
- “Our most ethereal reverb unit to date”: Catalinbread sets its sights on celestial ambient tones with the Sinkhole Modulated Reverb – which doubles as a clean boost
- Ciari Guitars Ascender Standard review – a foldable travel guitar that unfolds into a fully fledged pro-level instrument
- Without a truss rod, your guitar would be a lot harder to play – here's everything you need to know, from the history of the truss rod to how to adjust it safely
- “Even if there are only a few sounds, I try to play in a way that directly expresses my feelings and touches our hearts”: Boris guitarist Wata is an experimental rock legend – and three decades on, her playing is still impossible to pigeonhole
- If you're playing in a blues trio, you have an awful lot of freedom with your guitar parts – here's how to make the most of being the only guitar player in the band
- December 6
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- “This is unforgettable. This guitar will stay in my private collection”: Paul Stanley played this Gibson Flying V at the final Kiss concerts – now he’s gifted it to a high-profile vintage guitar dealer
- “The iconic solo was about to come up and it's like, ‘Oh god. This is not gonna work out well’”: Bumblefoot says he received death threats after fumbling the Welcome to the Jungle solo – while he was stuck in a stormtrooper helmet
- “Jimmy sat there for the whole two hours then waited until after the show before he asked me, ‘How did you find out how to make my sound?’” Meet Mr. Jimmy, the Japanese kimono salesman who has dedicated his life to becoming Jimmy Page
- Electro-Harmonix Pico Platform Compressor/Limiter review – small, affordable and makes you sound better
- Stevie Ray Vaughan virtually defined the art of the Texas shuffle – learn the playing style that shaped the sound of blues to come
- “Eddie Van Halen handed me a guitar and said, ‘I had to learn that damn riff for Wolfie. Show me how you played it!’” Power Rangers composer Ron Wasserman discusses how he “fooled the master” in his performance of the iconic theme
- “Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons have tried to destroy my reputation over the years. 10,000 Volts is going to make them look like imbeciles”: He may have missed Kiss’ last-ever performance, but Ace Frehley is set to make a statement with his new solo album
- 10 late ‘90s nu metal albums that don’t suck
- “I had to stop buying records. I stopped being a fan of music – I felt that was affecting my individuality and my style”: SSD were hardcore legends, then Al Barile sold his guitar gear to buy a jet ski. Here’s how he found his way back to his Gibson SG
- Download and stream the audio from Guitar Techniques 356
- “Most people think three guitarists is a lot, but to me, it’s the minimum – it sounds way thicker and heavier”: Meet Hotline TNT, the Jack White-approved shoegaze band who don’t like pedals
- “We had to perform 700 songs in the space of five weeks, but we had to learn 1,200. I didn’t sleep for seven weeks”: Being a guitarist on TV is no walk in the park. Just ask The Voice and The Masked Singer six-stringer Dan Maher
- December 5
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- “20 watts, four Galaxies, IR equipped”: Soldano’s Astro 20 is a tech-ed up tube amp that offers another dimension (or rather three of them) for high gain tone
- Denny Laine, Paul McCartney & Wings, Moody Blues guitarist, dies at 79
- “Blending the timeless essence of history with the spirit of the modern musician”: Fender is starting the Stratocaster’s 70th anniversary celebrations early, with souped-up Player and American Professional II models and the return of a beloved finish
- “The guitar is such an interesting instrument; it can be a sound palette, create harmonies and be presented in endless ways”: Trevor Rabin breaks down the tales and tools behind some of his greatest guitar highlights
- “The future of guitar tuning”: Graph Tech’s new ‘game-changing’ sub-$30 Un-Lock Nut looks to replace the locking nut – and solve your tremolo issues in one go
- Jason Becker hailed his “stunning technique and explosive guitar tone” – now Jien Takahashi is building a unique brand of shred shaped by Ritchie Blackmore, Morbid Angel and a quest to prove “a guitar solo can be as persuasive as a singer's voice”
- “I tend to brutalize electric guitars, so anything I have in my personal stash stays away from the live stage these days”: John Cale opens up about AI, amp exploration and the emotional potential of effects
- “Our first artist model for a female guitarist”: Kramer’s Lzzy Hale signature Voyager makes its debut – with a custom body shape and a blinding Holographic Sparkle finish to match
- “McCartney was fantastic. Mind you, I tried one of those Hofner basses and I thought it was crap”: Judas Priest’s heavy metal veteran Ian Hill picks his top 5 bass albums
- “I thought to myself, ‘Nobody’s done anything with that for at least 25 years. It looks like a piece of medieval torture instrumentation’”: How G7th revolutionized the guitar capo
- Step aside, Silver Sky: PRS’ best-selling guitar of 2023 wasn't John Mayer’s signature guitar – it was its all-new ‘Telecaster’-style NF 53 and Myles Kennedy models
- “The ‘tone stars’ of tomorrow are going to be the ones who can do the most creative programming”: Why digital modeling and AI will be more important than big-name players in shaping the future of guitar tone
- “The last person to really play it like that was Ed”: Eddie Van Halen personally gifted this guitar to Jason Becker in 1996. Now Norm’s demo whiz Michael Lemmo puts the #69 Peavey Wolfgang through its paces in a killer EVH-style demo
- December 4
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- Achieve out-of-this-world tones with Interstellar Audio Machine’s Octonaut Hyperdrive, Fuzzsquatch Fuzzdrive and Marsling Octafuzzdrive effect pedals
- “3 God-tier guitarists on one track”: Tim Henson, Scott LePage and Manuel Gardner Fernandes make late plays for solos of the year on fretboard-melting new collab
- Known for his superhuman technique, Paco de Lucía is one of the all-time guitar greats – learn how to add his Nuevo flamenco flavor to your playing
- Quick! There are only 3 days left to take advantage of Sweetwater's unbelievable up to 80% off Cyber Week Sale
- “Paul McCartney was one of my favorite bass players. I didn’t do him justice”: Paying tribute to the Beatles turned out to be a humbling experience for Donald ‘Duck’ Dunn
- “I had to drive several hours through snow to get to him. He told me this was one of the first Stratocasters, and there were some things I noticed immediately”: This 1954 Fender Stratocaster is one of the most unusual Fender builds in history
- Warren Haynes lends his epic solo chops to Dinosaur Jr. as he jams Neil Young and the Cure with J Mascis
- “He just could not be contained. That was what was so beautiful... If you’ve been tasked with the job of imitating him, it’s like, ‘Well, which moment?’” Joe Satriani says the biggest challenge in covering Eddie Van Halen is pinning him down
- “I do this thing where I literally black out, and then the song’s over. I’m not even registering what I’m doing – it’s beyond muscle memory”: Kyle Seely has been playing the same Telecaster since he was a teen – but Sheer Mag keep evolving
- “The new Kiss era begins now”: Watch Kiss close out their 50-year live career with epic last-ever performance – before announcing plans for “digital immortality”
- Myles Goodwyn, April Wine frontman and Canadian rock legend, dies aged 75
- “It’s called Roman because of the Roman numerals I etched into the back”: James Hetfield owns five ’59 Gibson Les Paul Standard ’Bursts – and he’s carved a massive ‘12’ into one of them
- December 1
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- “A never-before-seen price point for the company”: Manson ushers in a new era with its all-new Junior collection – its most affordable series yet, which sees the debut of a Strat-style Verona model
- Harley Benton’s new resonator costs less than $200 – and looks surprisingly classy for it
- 10,000 volt lead licks and the bluesier side of Peaky Blinders: This week's essential guitar tracks
- How the 1960s Gibson J-200 upset acoustic purists but remained King of the flat-tops in the eyes of the Beatles, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Yusuf/Cat Stevens
- “Eddie Van Halen changed the game. I remember him telling me once, ‘Man, I didn’t mean to start all this madness’”: Steve Lukather on why he’s always championed melody above all else, and how that philosophy informed his new “unabashedly ‘80s” solo album
- Wolfgang Van Halen, the year's best gear and 2023's guitarists of the year – only in the new Guitar World
- With an anthemic, ultra-melodic approach, Neal Schon helped define the sound of ‘80s rock – upgrade your chops with a deep-dive into the Journey virtuoso’s legendary rhythm and lead styles
- Seth Baccus Argonaut Classic and Argonaut Classic Baritone review – not another boutique Fender bender, but a fresh shot at an original offset design
- “We had it in about two takes. The funk was there as soon as we hit it”: Watch Louis 'thunder thumbs' Johnson slap a classic bass solo on the Brothers Johnson’s Stomp!
- “People don’t talk about Ace doing his pick-tapping thing. Considering this was ’77, before Eddie Van Halen did Eruption, it's even more mind-blowing”: Eric Johnson, Nuno Bettencourt, and 40 other guitar legends share their favorite Kiss guitar moments
- “It found its right home. Collecting is about what you love and what you are gonna do with it”: Joe Bonamassa confirms he passed up the chance to buy the iconic ‘Greeny’ Les Paul before it ended up with Kirk Hammett
