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April 2024
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303 articles
- April 30
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- “A mechanical riff so crushingly heavy that it will give you the bends”: April 2024 Guitar World editors' picks
- “Bigger, wider and cleaner than anything we’ve been able to achieve in the past”: Strymon’s BigSky MX promises to usher in the next generation of reverb pedal
- “He was devastated when he was no longer able to play his beloved guitars, but he continued to write songs”: Veteran guitarist and producer Robin George dies at 68
- Electro-Voice’s new ZLX G2 portable powered loudspeaker is the perfect companion for practice or gigging
- “We’re honored to watch the advent of this musical journey and hope you, too, enjoy the chorus of Mirador”: Jake Kiszka has started a new band – and they’re on tour with Greta Van Fleet right now
- “Dramatically improve the punch, dynamics and definition of guitar tones processed with multiple effects”: Endorphin.es Golden Master Multiband Mastering Processor review
- “I never would have dreamed that I would hear this song performed by two of the guitar gods who inspired it”: Joe Satriani and Slash team up for anthemic riffs and “super-intense” solos on wild rock concept epic
- “If you are into anything aggressive, you owe it to yourself to check these out”: Seymour Duncan issues reconfigured alt.metal Blackouts – specifically tailored for low-tuned metal riffs
- “Blending the best of his blues rock chops with an unmistakable Deep Purple sound”: Deep Purple share their first single with new guitarist Simon McBride
- “From my dorm room in college to stages with Harry Styles, this guitar has been with me through all of it. I’m truly devastated”: Guitarist’s 20-year-old Martin wrecked after flying Delta
- “I remember feeling happy in my heart when I first heard a pedal steel”: Meet Pedal Steel Noah, the teenager going viral with country-fied covers of everything from Judas Priest to Nirvana and My Bloody Valentine
- “The pedals I’ve collected take me on a trip through all sorts of beautiful spaceship sounds”: Isaiah Mitchell of Earthless reveals what’s on his pedalboard
- “There’s nothing wrong with a good honest E, C# minor or B, but sometimes it’s nice to give things a twist”: Make like Joni Mitchell, Steve Hackett and Steve Howe and freshen up your chords with alternative voicings
- “I’m really sorry we didn’t get to work together”: Mark Knopfler and Jeff Beck were planning a collaborative album before Beck died
- “I think he’s an incredibly talented singer and guitar player. I would jump at an opportunity to collaborate with him for sure”: Wolfgang Van Halen reveals the collaborations at the top of his bucket list
- April 29
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- Learn to play guitar – and have fun doing it– with the feature-packed Gibson App
- “I had a Gibson deal at one point where I could get Les Pauls at factory prices. I would sell them at pawn shops and put the money towards older Les Pauls”: Mike Ness on fighting cancer and the roots influences behind Social Distortion’s self-titled LP
- “I was extremely hungover. The producer called me into the studio and had me sit at the desk and do the solo. I was really in pain, but I pulled it off”: Adrian Smith on how Iron Maiden went beyond epic with Powerslave
- “Ravaged by floods and fires, but back from the dead”: The 'Methstang' is the most heavily trashed vintage Mustang we've ever seen – and it's been miraculously restored
- “Its simplicity makes it a compelling, easy-to-use pedal – one that can inspire you to create new music in an organic way”: Sheeran Loopers Looper + review
- Johnny Cash is one of the all-time songwriting greats, but his ‘boom-chick’ acoustic style is worthy of more attention – as is his ‘train on the tracks’ string-muting trick
- “I can’t play without looking at the dots”: Soul guitar icon Steve Cropper explains why he still looks at the fretboard after nearly 70 years of playing – and reveals he’s tapped Brian May and Billy Gibbons for his new album
- “He opens the case. I see the guitar. He says, ’This is John Lennon’s guitar from ‘Help’“: LA-based guitar repairer Ryan Schuermann on how he landed the guitar repair gig of a lifetime
- “This Blink-182 classic is a belter!” Robert Fripp and Toyah take a pop-punk detour with mad “elderly edition” of Blink-182’s Dammit (aka Growing Up)
- “I played my guitar in every imaginable way to convey the depth of the game”: 20 of the greatest guitar moments in video games – from Guitar Hero to surprise Joe Satriani soundtracks
- “I was very appreciative to be there. But when he transitioned to Let’s Dance, I wasn’t called back. I eventually squared with it, but it was painful”: George Murray on his bittersweet ride with David Bowie
- “At that tempo it was like playing a brand-new song. I had to watch Bernard Purdie’s foot!” How Jerry Jemmott stayed on top of Aretha Franklin’s Respect – and recovered from his mistakes – at the Fillmore West in 1971
- “The professionally recorded Profiles are highly authentic and augmented with quality effects”: Kemper Profiler Player review
- April 28
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- “There isn’t much guitar at all for the first three tracks. Nobody gave me the memo about what a record should sound like”: How Steve Vai revolutionized guitar with his debut album, Flex-Able
- “Rick Nielsen would come into my dressing room with a guitar and say, ‘Joe, you really should buy this one’”: Joe Perry on the ’57 Gretsch Duo Jet that recorded Dude (Looks Like a Lady)
- April 27
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- “When I recorded with Jason Becker, he was still able to speak… he articulated exactly what he wanted, down to every pinch harmonic, vibrato and out-of-tune note”: Shrapnel veteran Michael Lee Firkins reflects on the final days of shred
- “In the ’80s, I was very much into playing fast and wanting to be the best. Later on I realized it was just a waste of time”: Europe’s John Norum on the one guitar he kept from the Final Countdown era, and what he learned from Don Dokken
- “Sometimes I make the bassline too complex and too noodly, but Thom is good at putting the brakes on that”: How Colin Greenwood came up with his deceptive stop-start bassline on Radiohead’s Airbag
- Download and stream the audio from Total Guitar 384
- April 26
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- “The whole audience’s heads snap and look at the stage, and I go, ‘Oh my God, I can't forget this riff’”: Randy Bachman on how a broken string inspired his iconic American Woman guitar riff
- “If you walk through a Guitar Center, you see an awful lot of $300 guitars. If I’m a serious musician, it doesn’t feel like the right place for me anymore”: Guitar Center’s new CEO explains why the firm’s future must prioritize premium guitars
- “I already know it's gonna be a stunner”: Vernon Reid is working with Reverend on a new signature guitar – and it’s set to be the firm’s first Floyd Rose-equipped build
- “It made me realize how grateful I am to have the guitar in my life”: I applied to be the new Smashing Pumpkins guitarist – I didn’t get the gig, but it was one of the most life-affirming experiences of my musical career
- “The original prototype took a good beating all over the US. If a guitar can pass the test of touring you've got a winner”: Solar Guitars honors heavy metal stalwart Kirk Windstein with a super-spiky signature that pays tribute to New Orleans
- “That was the biggest regret. I booked the helicopter, and I stopped at Richie Friedman’s We Buy Guitars and sold it”: Ace Frehley sold his 1959 Gibson Les Paul to fund a gambling trip
- “When Van Halen came out, I thought it was the greatest sound I’d ever heard. Eddie was like, ‘Nah, I never really liked the sound of that record’”: Mike McCready recalls meeting Eddie Van Halen – and tries his hand at playing Eruption off the cuff
- Score a FREE Fender pedal when you buy two at full price with this insane Hammertone offer
- “I never thought little ol’ 15-year-old me playing metal guitar in my bedroom would amount to this moment”: Smashing Pumpkins name social media shredder Kiki Wong as new guitarist after 10,000 applications
- “It was midnight. Quincy Jones said, ‘Ritenour, this is Q. You gotta get down here right now. We gotta fix George's solo’”: Lee Ritenour sets the record straight on fixing George Benson’s Give Me the Night solo
- “When I first played Jump for the guys nobody wanted anything to do with it. Dave said I was a guitar hero and I shouldn’t be playing keyboards”: The story of Van Halen’s 1984 – the Flying V, the synths and the end of the David Lee Roth era
- “The start of a brand new chapter”: Mötley Crüe share their first new single with John 5 – and as promised, it marks a heavy return
- He recorded with Bob Dylan, toured with Tom Waits and replaced Jimmie Vaughan: Duke Robillard is American blues guitar royalty
- “I try to score Tommy Shelby’s inner voice with my guitar. I’d play with a bow or hit the strings with the guitar on the ground, all sorts of weird stuff”: How Anna Calvi threw out the guitar rulebook to write the Peaky Blinders score
- “I was all about Eddie Van Halen and George Lynch. But John Sykes really got me – he changed my world through his tone and vibrato”: How Fozzy’s Rich Ward took a shred attitude and funk-metal mindset to invent Stuck Mojo
- 10 legendary blues guitars, from Lucille to Lucy and the ‘Loch Ness Monster of Les Pauls’ – a priceless Gibson that has been missing for more than 50 years
- April 25
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- Flatwound vs roundwound bass strings: What’s the difference?
- “Three of those were made. I had one. Ry Cooder had one. Edward Van Halen had one”: Dweezil Zappa on the high-tech custom model that EVH dubbed “The Super Pluto Guitar”
- “The Pink Floyd legend rolls back the years for a mighty comeback”: David Gilmour shares the lead single from his first solo album in 9 years – and it features one-and-a-half minutes of all-out soloing
- “An entire Friedman rig in a compact pedalboard-friendly package”: Friedman’s expanded IR-D puts a cult classic amp mod into a tube preamp pedal without breaking the bank
- “He’d got it down to a tee. He wore one of my jackets, a wig, a mustache and I’m playing behind him”: Tony Iommi once dressed his guitar tech up as himself and sent him onstage as a prank on Sabbath singer Tony Martin
- John Mayer and Kenny Wayne Shepherd are two of the biggest names in modern blues – and boy, do they know how to introduce a guitar solo
- “Ace Frehley is very good at creating a song within a song when it comes to solos, and I've always thought along those lines”: Rock City Machine Co. went from KISS Army to KISS collaborators. Now they're going it alone.
- “Metal guitars have more bite, but they lose some of the meat on the attack. Les Pauls are very meaty – there’s a big chunk of tonal range there”: Why a baritone Les Paul is proving the perfect prog metal weapon for Wheel’s James Lascelles
- “A domesticated drive with a broad range of fattened boost, crunchy speaker breakup and muscular distortion”: EarthQuaker Devices Zoar Dynamic Audio Grinder review
- “Plenty of great functionality to make your life easier and assuage any fears of signal or battery loss”: Boss WL-50 review
- “I never learned any barre chords... all I’ve ever learned was ‘oompah oompah’. It drove me to either give up guitar or start writing music”: Josh Homme reveals how learning polka as a kid developed his off-kilter guitar playing style
- “I use pedals for timbral changes on guitar – it’s like a horn where your breath affects the tone”: Meet Ava Mendoza the punk-reared jazz guitar maverick turning breath work to fretwork
- “Dad would never touch the gunk that had built up on the fingerboard. He told me, ‘The dirt keeps the funk’”: Inside the sound and style of Motown master James Jamerson
- “I instinctively dislike ‘try hard’ musicians. I pretty much learned my bass rudiments from Led Zeppelin II”: Why Squarepusher is an artist in a vast left-field league of his own
- April 24
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- “He said things like, ’Well, why does there have to be a guitar solo there?’… He has a wonderful lack of knowledge or respect for this past of mine”: David Gilmour’s first solo album in 9 years features a new producer tearing up the rulebook
- “He was a big driver of the band… I would consider him very underrated, too”: Jason Isbell and Luther Dickinson pay tribute to Dickey Betts with an extended take on In Memory of Elizabeth Reed
- “Smile and keep going. That’s my message”: Watch the moment Kiko Loureiro’s strap falls off mid-solo – in front of Guthrie Govan
- “When we were trying out drummers none of them worked out because their drumming just didn’t click in with Johnny’s guitar style”: Tommy Ramone on why Johnny Ramone's playing forced him to switch from managing to drumming
- “The relic on this guitar represents the destruction in Ukraine”: Guitarist whose home was hit by a Russian airstrike has finished his first build – and it's made with remnants of his destroyed apartment
- Gallop guitar is the metal equivalent of riding to war on horseback – and Iron Maiden are masters of the craft
- “Eddie’s death rocked his son’s world, but Wolfgang solidified his music career with a sound all of his own while continuing to honor his father’s legacy”: New Behind The Music episode puts Wolfgang Van Halen's story front and center
- “We had to come up with the songs pretty quickly – Stevie wasn’t a fluent songwriter”: Tommy Shannon and Chris Layton on the making of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Couldn’t Stand the Weather
- “People have always gravitated to guitars by Fender Japan because you get so much more choice… The build quality is the best Fender makes outside the Custom Shop”: How the Japanese Fender offset conquered the world
- “Honoring Jimi Hendrix, the greatest guitar player of all time”: The Experience Hendrix Tour is returning for the first time in 5 years, with a mega lineup including Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Eric Johnson, Samantha Fish and Zakk Wylde
- “Marvel said, ‘Whatever you’re playing has been floating around in the universe for a while…’ I said, ‘Well, why don’t you just mess this guitar up?’” Kevin and Michael Bacon on trashing Taylors for Guardians of the Galaxy and love of Fender Acoustasonics
- “Your voice has been heard”: At long last, left-handed versions of John Mayer’s PRS SE Silver Sky are officially on the way – and they’re arriving sooner than you might think
- “You might not be fooled into thinking it’s a tube amp, but it’s close enough for silent practice”: Blackstar amPlug 2 FLY review
- “I wanna say thank you Michael for an unbelievable catalog of music that has changed the history of rock 'n' roll”: Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt play Van Halen hits with ex-VH bassist Michael Anthony
- “TONEX ONE represents a revolution for guitar and bass players”: IK Multimedia’s new $179 pocket-sized TONEX pedal packages the firm’s game-changing amp and rig modeling powers into an absurdly small format
- Download and stream the audio from Guitar Techniques 361
- Guitar Center reveals Seymour Duncan-loaded Fender Player models in exclusive Daytona Blue finish - meet the Saturday Night Special Tele, Strat and P-Bass
- “I can’t play like me. There are things I can’t do”: Mahogany Rush legend Frank Marino injured his finger while building pedals for his new company – and it’s affected the way he plays guitar
- I’ve played IK Multimedia’s nano modeling amp, the TONEX One – and it could be the ultimate pocket-sized pedal platform
- April 23
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- “I’ve had years of listening to that Goldtop and now, I own it”: Sum 41's Deryck Whibley and Dave Baksh talk perfect guitars, going from amp stacks to profilers – and the difficult decision to say goodbye
- “Nobody said, ‘You need to play five-string,’ but for stadium gigs there’s nothing cooler than hitting a low B and feeling it in your core”: Kenny Chesney bassist Harmoni Kelley on why five-strings rule for modern country players
- “Bob Dylan says he’s one of the greatest writers of all of American written music and I agree. I want to put that in the forefront”: New posthumous Johnny Cash album features Marty Stuart and Dan Auerbach – and puts the spotlight back on the Man in Black
- “To Doc, love and prescriptions, Keith Richards”: A mahogany Telecaster used by Keith Richards throughout the Rolling Stones’ iconic Some Girls era is up for auction (without its original neck) – for $400k
- “Is it wrong in every possible way or do you dig it?” This guitarist transformed their John Mayer PRS signature guitar into a Stevie Ray Vaughan Number One Strat tribute – and now we really want a sunburst Silver Sky
- “I was standing in line at the bank when Dickey called: ‘Hey, listen – my guitar player just quit and the tour starts in a week. Do you want to do it?’” How I went from guitar journalist to Dickey Betts’ right-hand man
- 5 signs your guitar cable needs replacing (and 6 ways to make it last longer)
- “The best solution for getting big valve amp tones onto recordings and for home practice in a small, portable format”: Blackstar promises classic tube tones from compact amps with the upgraded MK III Series
- “We thought it was lost forever. This could be the guitar that sets a new world record”: John Lennon’s missing Help! Framus acoustic has been found in an attic after 50 years – and it could become one of the most expensive guitars ever sold
- “Most stakeholders in the blues world are killing it instead of keeping it alive”: Athlete turned guitarist Emanuel Casablanca approaches guitar with a competitive mindset – and he’s on a mission to stop the blues all sounding the same
- “When I’m in the studio I’m playing most of the instruments. Onstage, it’s a different thing”: Alt-country guitarist du jour MJ Lenderman shares his tone secrets and explains why there’s life in the live album yet
- “We played a bunch of really awkward shows with both of us staring at our tuners the whole time and then we broke up for 15 years”: Math-rock pioneer Mike Kinsella on his unlikely journey to cult guitar hero status with American Football
- “Us guitar players in the West, we all have the same base vocabulary, the same handful of stereotypical licks. But Mdou’s music, it’s almost free of that stuff”: Mdou Moctar finds a new fan in Metallica’s Kirk Hammett
- “I was able to dial in tones that came damn close to Lifeson’s late ’70s/early ’80s sounds”: Lerxst CHI head and 1x12 cab review
- “The media is controlled and I’m out of control”: Artist who smashed guitar at Coachella pulls out after backlash
- April 22
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- “A lot of people don’t know cheap guitars require the same energy, and resources to make as an expensive guitar”: How this Danish guitar company is turning factory rejects into some of its finest builds
- “No-one had brought an electric guitar in the church before… it caused a bit of a stir”: Patti Smith on her controversial first gig – and why rock belongs to the people
- “I began playing on the simplest old guitar, which was nearly impossible to tune – some of the tuning pegs even fell off!” Meet Tasha S, the Ukrainian guitar phenom whose nonchalant covers have won her millions of followers
- “An exceptional guitarist and cultural touchstone”: Peter Frampton has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – along with Ozzy Osbourne and John Mayall
- “The first 4 songs are played so often that staff in guitar stores can no longer hear them”: New research reveals the world’s most Googled guitar riffs and chord progressions
- “Continues to set the standard for eco-conscious innovation in the musical instruments industry”: Martin’s DSS Biosphere II is a fully FSC-certified, 100% plastic-free build that raises awareness for sustainability in the guitar world
- “His style is so specific and refined. It's not something I could just jump into”: Steve Vai explains the hardest part of replicating Robert Fripp’s playing style
- “I was gobsmacked. I was 60 and I’d had a wonderfully diverse musical life when Mick called and said, ‘We’ve got rid of Lindsey – would you play with us?’” Neil Finn on how he ended up joining Fleetwood Mac
- “It’s kind of sad that sax or trumpet players can get up there and play like Miles and people appreciate it. But if a guitar player does that, some people think, ‘Oh, that guy has no chops’”: Scott Henderson on virtuosity and musical journeys
- Introducing jump blues, the pioneering guitar style that set the scene for rock ’n’ roll by melding swing, jazz and blues
- “I’ve actually sat in a room with her and a guitar. Watching those tiny hands finding all these weird jazz chords. And her strumming patterns... crazy, off-kilter timings”: Pete Doherty remembers Amy Winehouse’s unique guitar playing style
- “Carlos Santana said, ‘I’ll play bass – you play guitar.’ I said I couldn’t, but he told me whatever I played belonged to me. I could own it”: Super-producer Raphael Saadiq on how he switched to guitar and earned his signature Fender Telecaster
- With Full For Your Lovin’ and Here I Go Again, Whitesnake wrote some of rock’s best-loved anthems – and founding members Bernie Marsden and Micky Moody were a classic guitar partnership
- “Beck wanted something distinctive and driving. Like the bass was coming unhinged at every turn”: Listen to Justin Meldal-Johnsen’s bassline on Beck’s Sexx Laws
- “Hypnotic and mesmerizing”: Crazy Tube Circuits’ White Whale is an all-analog reverb/tremolo pedal based on classic Fender amps – and it just got a serious upgrade
- April 21
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- “It’s Chuck Rainey’s concept of ‘what you don’t play is as important as what you do play’”: After decades of studio sessions with artists ranging from Eric Clapton to Usher, Nathan East reflects on the business of bass
- How to add warmth to digital amp modelers: 5 must-try tricks for introducing presence, thickness and sparkle to your signal chain
- April 20
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- “It has an obvious appeal to Gilmour fans… authentic-sounding Hiwatt tones from clean to everything-on-10 crunch”: Crazy Tube Circuits Hi Power review
- How to upgrade your Jazzmaster and Jaguar: modding tips and setup tricks for Fender offset guitars
- “This Stromberg is so overwhelmingly loud, it’s kind of like a grand piano because it sounds so big”: Why the 1946 Stromberg Master 400 is a jazz guitar to rival anything from Gibson and D'Angelico
- April 19
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- “Amps played by legends”: Zoom looks to provide bassists with the most affordable – and portable – all-in-one rig on the market with the upgraded $142 MS-60B+
- “It felt like I was daydreaming!” Matteo Mancuso joins Joe Bonamassa onstage to trade arena-worthy solos
- “I liked to go to this old abandoned graveyard by the river to write songs. The gravestone next to where I was sitting said, ‘In Memory of Elizabeth Reed’, so that became the song’s title”: The 25 greatest Allman Brothers Band songs
- “Dumble would refuse to build them for a lot of people, but for whatever reason, he agreed to make four for me”: Pearl Jam used Dumble amps on new album Dark Matter, reveals producer Andrew Watt
- “John Lennon said, ‘Girls don't play guitars’”: The Liverbirds, one of the world’s first all-female rock groups, recall their first meeting with The Beatles
- “Whichever type of rock you associate with the ‘70s, the StarCrash Collection has you covered”: Catalinbread's StarCrash Fuzz and SideArm Overdrive give olden-era gain tones a fresh twist
- “Going to see an all-girl rock group, one has to bring a mixture of condescension and paranoia. What if they are good?” New study reveals how female guitarists have been denied credibility in the music press for over 60 years
- “We thought Ramblin’ Man was too country to record. We put it on the album, and it became a hit. Then it more and more became Dickey’s band”: Dickey Betts and Gregg Allman tell the full story of the Allman Brothers Band, one of rock’s greatest groups
- “I grow the nails on my right hand as long as I can, so I can get that trebly sound”: Steve Harris delivered one of the coolest bass guitar intros in the history of metal on Iron Maiden’s Wrathchild
- “Its cutting-edge pickups put it beyond any guitar in its class”: Yamaha Pacifica Professional P12M review
- “If you’re a rock or metal guitarist looking to up your game, then JTC Guitar is an incredible resource”: JTC Guitar review
- “For years we have been trying to find it”: Mark Tremonti’s cherished ‘My Own Prison’ Les Paul – which helped kickstart Creed’s career – has been found almost 26 years after it was stolen
- “He was one of my greatest heroes… His attack, tone, vibrato and melodic sense was peerless”: Joe Bonamassa pays tribute to Jeff Beck as he shares his favorite licks from the guitar icon
- “With a bit of spit ’n’ polish you might have a ‘gateway’ guitar on your hands”: Classical guitar setup – how to get the most out of your nylon-string
- I played the Tom DeLonge Starcaster and expected to feel nostalgic – but this smartly designed signature has given one of Fender’s most unpopular guitars a new lease of life
- “The Bigsby Standard actually made by Paul Bigsby is one of the most special – there’s only 25 or so known to still exist”: Meet Amy Rose Mills, the accidental luthier who sets up some of the rarest guitars on the planet
- “The guitar is still a very healthy ingredient in pop music. You get Ed Sheeran, and even Taylor Swift is playing a guitar”: Steve Vai answers the question ‘Is guitar music dead?’
- A parent's guide to buying a guitar for your child: kickstart their playing journey right with our 5 essential tips
- April 18
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- “Jimi Hendrix came down to see us – he came up to me and said, ‘Shake my left hand, man, it’s closer to my heart’”: King Crimson’s Robert Fripp on the time he met Jimi Hendrix
- “Dickey was larger than life, and his loss will be felt worldwide”: Dickey Betts, legendary co-founding guitarist of the Allman Brothers Band, has died aged 80
- “A solid and luxurious look”: Fender Japan’s new Sandblast range is the firm’s tamest release in ages – but, thanks to a quirky finishing technique, also one of its most desirable
- “My ’57 Gretsch was stolen in 1978. Getting that guitar back and playing it so much got me thinking about the other guitars in my possession”: Over 200 of Randy Bachman's iconic guitars are up for auction
- “A free-flowing processor filled with pro performance tools”: Boss is back in the bass multi-FX business, bringing updated tech to its retro-styled ME-90B
- He's one of the greatest slide guitarists in rock history – now a tribute album to Little Feat and Mothers of Invention guitarist Lowell George is on the way
- “When I play the trill with my finger, my hand is not on the neck at all. It all comes from the wrist”: The story of B.B. King, the greatest blues guitar player of all time
- “Raises professional bass amplification to the next level”: Boss has unveiled its first-ever Katana bass head – and it might have just changed the game for bass players
- "This American institution has not only changed the face of the guitar forever but has shaped the course of popular music": 5 Fender innovations that changed the world of guitar
- “Once in a while, we would start playing a Beatles song, and John would go, ‘Cut that out!’” Session guitar legend Earl Slick on fast times with John Lennon and David Bowie – and saying no to Whitesnake
- “John Paul Jones is one of the only musicians I’ve been around where I was starstruck. I asked him some stupid questions about Achilles Last Stand… but he was very kind!” Pearl Jam’s Jeff Ament names 11 bassists who shaped his sound
- April 17
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- “I didn’t want them to be traditional”: Martin's Satin Black M/0000 is the first of a Reverb-exclusive line of experimental builds – and a glimpse at the future of one of America’s oldest guitar brands
- “You can find all the guitars I was using with Megadeth. All the tours, and also the recording of The Sick, The Dying… and the Dead!” Kiko Loureiro is selling his Megadeth gear on Reverb
- “They’re the all-in-one stop for what I'm looking for”: Seymour Duncan debuts signature Blackouts for Trivium’s Corey Beaulieu, treating its active metal humbucker to a distinct sonic twist
- Fender's guitar models explained: we break down the entire Fender line-up from Player to Custom Shop, to help find the right one for you
- “Every note I play now is so much more important, because I know one of the notes will be the last I play”: Peter Frampton is prolonging his performing career to savor his remaining playing days
- “Very much at home with syncopated djent chugs, fast thrashy power chord riffing, and blazingly quick lead work”: Jackson JS22-7 DKA Dinky HT review
- “An excellent fuzz with wide-ranging tonal variation and performance tricks that set it apart from the crowd”: Beetronics Abelha Tropical Fuzz review
- “So well-versed in the art of blues that B.B. King said ‘he was like another one of my sons’”: 12 blues guitar albums that chart the genre – and the instrument’s – evolution
- “Without him, there would be no Metallica”: James Hetfield has had Lemmy's ashes tattooed onto his middle finger
- “I never felt any pressure to be or play like Randy. I only knew Randy as the guitar player for Ozzy”: How Carlos Cavazo became the guitarist who replaced Randy Rhoads in Quiet Riot – with the help of Randy Rhoads himself
- “B.C. Rich guitars were God back then. They weren’t like a Strat or a Les Paul – they were something different. They had so much power”: Lita Ford on her trailblazing guitar journey – and that time she nearly joined Led Zeppelin
- April 16
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- “Percussive attack, lively dynamics and the distinctive resonance that swamp ash is known for”: the PRS SE Swamp Ash offers the full tonal package in one guitar
- “This bona fide bird can’t wait to elevate Gibson amplifiers to the stature they’ve always deserved”: Gibson debuts all-new flagship Mesa/Boogie-designed Dual Falcon 20 combo
- Al Nesbitt is the next big name in instrumental acoustic guitar
- “I strongly believe that if you give a guitar to five different players – same guitar, same amp – each one of them is going to sound different”: Alex Lifeson takes us behind the scenes at Lerxst to talk gear, tone and the possibility of new music
- Shred to impress with these fast guitar licks that sound harder than they actually are
- “It always hurts to see the poor instrument face the wrath of these wannabes”: After another destroyed guitar controversy at Coachella, is guitar smashing simply not cool anymore?
- “Combines cutting-edge technology with time-tested craftsmanship to deliver unparalleled performance”: Schecter’s super-stealthy Black Ops guitars might be the most metal T-types you’ll see this year
- Joe Satriani & Steve Vai – America's hottest new instrumental duo! Only in the new Guitar World
- “A lot of kids are getting millions of hits because they can play Eruption. If you want to impress me, write Eruption”: Jesse Dayton is glad he didn’t have a hit years ago – it might have taken away his freedom
- “It’s the coolest guitar ever made… It goes to space and expands your mind”: Fender’s much-anticipated Tom DeLonge signature Starcaster signals another big shift for the guitar giant
- “When companies have success, or they have iconic models, we can tend to get lazy... Consumers and artists deserve better – they need to feel like we’re working hard”: How Martin made its groundbreaking Inception acoustic
- “As guitarists, we’re used to looking at wood on our guitars, but its role in shaping the cabinet’s sound is as important”: How does guitar cabinet material affect the sound?
- “The one beside it is actually $1,000, so it was surprising to see him take the wrong one”: Thief steals $300 Epiphone instead of the $1k guitar sitting next to it in strange Canadian guitar robbery
- “He’d pull off bass riffs that were just amazing – he doesn’t just follow the roots”: Listen to Geddy Lee’s “flamenco” strumming technique on Rush’s Snakes & Arrows
- Antigua is back in the USA: Fender’s divisive finish has been revived for four limited-edition Squier ’70s Classic Vibe models – including the first ever Antigua Bass VI
- “He fell in love with this guitar. He played it the entire night and it sounded phenomenal”: A lost first-year Gibson Les Paul Junior has been brought back to life against all odds – and Jared James Nichols wants to buy it
- April 15
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- “I feel like such an idiot”: Flea regrets his bass-smashing antics in Red Hot Chili Peppers’ earlier years
- “You know how much I had to beg for the last 30 years to get any of the other guitar players to learn somebody else’s solo?!” Dave Mustaine says new Megadeth member Teemu Mäntysaari is the guitarist he’s “been looking for for a very long time”
- Sophie Lloyd's pyrotechnic style will banish six-string imposter syndrome and teach you to shredify any song, any time
- “The chord changes in K-pop are a lot more interesting than what's been happening over the last few years”: Nile Rodgers makes surprise appearance at Coachella with K-pop group Le Sserafim
- “A quality tone conditioner to have in front of your amp”: Boss BP-1W Booster/Preamp review
- A Stratocaster master and stompbox pioneer with an astonishing vibrato, Robin Trower's blues guitar style is up there with the best
- “British rock ’n’ roll history”: Eric Clapton’s original Live Aid Marshall JCM800 amp has been put up for sale
- “Clyde McCoy was duly paid $500 to endorse a pedal he probably never used”: The wah pedal changed the sound of electric guitar – but was originally intended for the trumpet
- “Achieve incandescent levels of distortion”: Mahogany Rush guitar legend Frank Marino has now launched his own pedal company – and is building each unit by hand
- “He preferred what was readily available – and affordable. And when he measured responses, he didn’t really see differences between woods”: Leo Fender didn’t think tonewoods made much difference to solidbody guitar tone
- “As visually effective when silent as it would be sonically in the hands of a skilled musician”: Faith Guitars' new additions to its Nexus acoustic guitar series promise warm and balanced tones for days
- “I send two delays out to an amp each and pan them. You get this glorious wash that makes you feel like you’re on drugs”: With Oceansize, Mike Vennart influenced a generation of progressive guitarists – and he’s not ruling out a reunion
- “Some of the sounds and combinations of effects can be hard to imagine”: Great Eastern FX’s XO Variable Crossover could blow your pedalboard wide open
- April 14
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- “As a guitarist you can come in after the one without the house falling apart. But as a bass player, you always have to be there”: How Jonas Reingold switched from classical guitar and became Steve Hackett’s go-to bassist
- “We started at a slow tempo, but as the session wore on, people were heading to the bathroom and sniffing stuff, and the tempo got to be almost twice as fast!” Klaus Voormann’s bassline on John Lennon’s Whatever Gets You Thru The Night is a must-listen
- April 13
- April 12
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- “Johnny Depp was the worst guitarist I'd ever seen”: The moment the man who discovered Mötley Crüe and Guns N' Roses knew Depp wasn't meant to be a rock star
- “The work ethic gifted to me by the Pumpkins helps me get prepared… I’m excited to be playing with these amazing, legendary musicians”: Ex-Smashing Pumpkins bassist Ginger Pooley will join Garbage on their upcoming tour
- “We started thinking, ‘Well, who could possibly be in the band?’ The only person I could think of was Steve”: Adrian Belew on how he and Steve Vai are forming a new guitar partnership ahead of a King Crimson supergroup tour
- “When I look back, The Strokes were like this tentpole. They led me to learn how to accompany myself and made me want to start my own band”: Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield found her country voice via indie and riot grrrl
- Jimmy Herring has lent his talents to the Allman Brothers Band and Derek Trucks – he’s a play-anything virtuoso who can fuse jazz, blues and rock together like no other
- “A vintage-inspired instrument that drips with 1970s tone and a superb feel”: Ernie Ball Music Man brings old-school style to a premium modern platform with the Retro ‘70s StingRay
- “I know what it’s like to wake up and not having anything to eat… My blues comes out differently than somebody who just plays the blues because they like it”: Cedric Burnside on living the blues – and why he plays guitars built by a brain surgeon
- “Like so many of Leo Fender’s products, these instruments ended up being wildly successful at producing sounds that ran contrary to his intentions”: The history of Fender offset guitars
- “Plant let us know he usually hated people’s covers of Stairway, but he liked that one. Jimmy Page goes, ‘You nailed the guitar part!’” That time Heart performed Stairway to Heaven in front of Led Zeppelin – and reduced Robert Plant to tears
- “When my dad passed, I didn’t know what happened to his ’55 Tele. I got a call: ‘I need you to check something out.’ When I walked in, there’s a guitar case on the floor…” Nashville session master Rob McNelley on Lady A, Buddy Guy and an emotional reunion
- “It is in absolutely remarkable shape, exactly the way Chuck left it”: A custom shop B.C. Rich Stealth owned by Chuck Schuldiner has been put up for sale – and it's already passed the $20k mark
- “When I was a kid, I thought bass playing was about throwing up and cutting yourself – I blame Gene Simmons and Sid Vicious”: Bad Religion’s Jay Bentley on his bass-playing influences and the “best-sounding P-Bass he’s ever heard”
- “When I go onstage and have a guitar, I feel like no-one can touch me”: Why Amy Winehouse's passion for guitar was key to her distinctive songwriting style
- April 11
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- “Bought by Bernie Marsden in New York at the end of the ill-fated Whitesnake, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden USA tour in 1981”: The rescheduled Marsden guitar auction offers insight into the journey of the famed collector
- “Every element has been carefully sourced and crafted to deliver the ultimate playing experience”: Heritage's Core Collection H-575 is a fresh-yet-familiar high-end hollowbody inspired by one of the most popular jazzboxes of all time
- “I’ve always loved Fenders. I’m almost working against a design that has been around since the ‘50s – I don’t know if it’s going to cooperate with me”: Pissed Jeans’ Bradley Fry on why he loves awkward offsets and solid-state Peavey amps
- “Packed full of great sounds and options, yet remains easy enough to navigate that newbie guitarists won’t struggle to get their heads around it”: NUX MG-300 review
- “The solo is an attempt to conjure the screaming lost souls of social justice struggles past”: Tom Morello reunites with Bruce Springsteen for some show-stopping leads
- “I had forgotten something – I don't know what. As I came back, I heard my father say, ‘Wait a minute, here he is!’” George Murray became part of David Bowie’s famous D.A.M. rhythm trio – but almost missed the call-up because he had to catch a bus
- “What makes a great blues player is taking on influences that aren’t blues-based”: Joe Bonamassa explains why the best guitarists always look beyond the blues
- “I know some guitarists that will work on a 30-second soundbite for days before filming it in a way that looks off the cuff”: How social media is affecting our perception of guitar playing
- “We found the damn thing!” Jerry Cantrell’s original G&L Rampage wasn’t stolen after all – it had just been misplaced
- “A true high-performance 7-string designed for players with exceptional chops and a discriminating ear”: Jackson Pro Plus Dinky MDK HT7 MS review
- “It’s one of my favorite basslines. I don’t know how I came up with it – doing the session was like floating in space”: Verdine White picks his top 5 Earth, Wind & Fire basslines
- April 10
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- “The original Hentor brought a mix of tone and playability that empowered me to explore sounds I had never attempted before”: Alex Lifeson’s LERXST Limelight pickguard provides the transferable tones of one of his most iconic instruments
- “That embodies the attitude of shred, and if you don’t put that into your performance, it’s a sin”: Joe Satriani names the Neil Young solo that shreds – despite only featuring one note
- Learn the greatest licks from over 100 years of trailblazing blues guitarists, from Robert Johnson to B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Eric Gales and more
- “For many wah enthusiasts, Clyde McCoy wahs are considered the ‘Holy Grail’, and Xotic has replicated its tonal recipe”: Xotic XW-2 Wah – Red Limited review
- “Without reservation, this is the finest instrument I have ever played”: Schecter unveils zesty signature model for Tori Ruffin – the Freak Juice guitarist who has played with Prince, Michael Jackson, Mick Jagger and more
- “I heard Eruption by Van Halen and I was like, ‘What is that?!’ I love to push the boundaries, and I love when it sounds crazy”: Meet Emi Grace, the Trashy Tone Thursday pioneer tearing up the shred rulebook and taking on the haters
- One of our favorite practice amps is 10% off and there's free shipping on everything in Positive Grid’s massive guitar month sale
- “This disease won’t beat me and I will continue writing and playing for as long as I can”: Glenn Tipton explains how Richie Faulkner and a ‘no surrender’ mindset has helped him adapt his Judas Priest role
- “10,9,8,7…”: Tom DeLonge’s Fender Starcaster signature guitar is actually happening – but it might look a little different to the Blink-182 man’s main guitars
- “We’re offering a reward to anyone who can help us locate the guitar”: Jerry Cantrell’s original G&L Rampage – one of grunge’s most important guitars – has been stolen
- “Noel Gallagher gave me one of Peter Green’s Gibson Les Pauls. Johnny Marr had given Noel a guitar, and maybe he felt it was customary that he do the same”: Bill Ryder-Jones on his ascent to UK indie rock royalty
- “Playing at the Super Bowl is the easy part. It’s the musical director responsibilities leading up that’s stressful”: Adam Blackstone heads up the biggest gigs on the planet – now with a 5-string Jackson bass named after his grandmother
- “I could have headed towards blues or shred. I chose blues… Fast-forward to 2020, I decided to become a 12 year-old learning guitar again – I went the other way and got an Ibanez with a Floyd Rose!” Gary Clark Jr. is finally unleashing his inner shredder
- April 9
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- “The combination of them all can be turned to on a dime, according to the feel and vibe that I'm going for”: Seymour Duncan’s Eric Gales signature pickups promise balance across all five positions
- “During Covid I took an Olympic Pearl White body, took apart one of my signatures, and made the first prototype”: Fender honors influential worship guitarist Lincoln Brewster with a new-look signature Strat – and it’s even more desirable than his first
- “A true unicorn”: Joe Bonamassa has just acquired one of the rarest Fenders ever made – a 1954 Blackguard Tele with a huge factory-installed Paul Bigsby pickup
- June 2024 Guitar World lesson videos
- “I have Marshall, Orange and Victory amps, but they just don’t have the bark I need for this project. The 5150 is what metal sounds like to me”: Meet Jaguar Throne, the UK metal big beasts following in the hoofprints of Mastodon
- “Some people use one guitar, one amp, and then, ‘This is what I am going to use for the rest of my life’... We change it up as much as we can”: The Gaslight Anthem are on an eternal tonal quest
- All your favorite guitarists know how to lock into a groove with their leads – and learning to solo deep in the pocket will elevate your style immensely
- “This guitar has been with me since 1988”: Gibson unveils the Slash ‘Jessica’ Les Paul – a replica of the factory second that has become his go-to stage guitar for more than 30 years
- April 8
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- “Monster lineup here”: Eric Johnson and Michael Landau honor Jeff Beck with a fretboard-burning Freeway Jam cover
- “The metal elements in the finish will give a vintage-looking patina specific to each guitar”: Solar has launched a metal guitar that literally oxidizes depending on how you play it
- “I wanted him to be very successful because he seemed pretty nervous”: Original Tool bassist Paul D’Amour recalls coaching Justin Chancellor to be his replacement – and giving him an in-depth lesson in his wild pedal protocol
- “I just need one good sound and I’m set. A lot of players forget that”: Gus G’s tone and soloing philosophy is always evolving – and right now, it’s full of Floyd Rose divebombs
- I used Fender Play for 8 weeks to learn the guitar from scratch – here’s how I got on
- Martin Miller literally wrote the book on Modern Rock Guitar Soloing – so who better to show you how to get more from your minor pentatonic and blues solos?
- “Ideal first amps, loaded with features for hours of fun and inspiration”: Blackstar ID:Core V4 Stereo 10, Stereo 20 and Stereo 40 review
- “It was found in the trunk of a car. They had sanded it to make it look like it wasn’t mine”: Tyler Bryant's stolen Pinky One Strat was played by Jeff Beck, inscribed by Steven Tyler – and, miraculously, returned to him five years after it was taken
- “I thought something had exploded. It was a pretty violent shock”: See the moment this guitarist’s jam was interrupted by a 4.8-magnitude earthquake
- “Those virtuoso guys can do anything. But sometimes it’s more fun to hit one note and see if it can mean as much. Sometimes it can mean even more”: Rich Robinson on earning AC/DC’s approval, losing guitars to a hurricane, and The Black Crowes’ return
- “It gives me a ton of fresh ideas, and enables me to cover more ground with fewer strings to cross”: Is Jacob Collier’s crazy five-string Strandberg custom guitar about to get a signature release?
- Wrestling with noisy pedals? One simple trick made my pedalboard whisper-quiet – and it didn’t cost me a thing
- “If you’re not reaching as deep as possible when you’re playing, you’re not fully being yourself. Finding your voice is not being afraid to let out exactly what you’re feeling”: Ariel Posen on telling the truth through music
- April 7
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- “It was always magical playing bass with Tony Iommi. To me, he's the greatest guitarist ever”: Geezer Butler’s 10 best basslines with Black Sabbath
- How to play bass guitar for beginners: start playing today
- “He already had his signature tone and touch, and a few of his signature licks, too”: A year before he was discovered, Jaco Pastorius laid down this classic R&B bassline on Little Beaver’s 1974 hit, I Can Dig It Baby
- April 5
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- “It’s not the world’s greatest solo, but we spent hours on it”: Session legend Dann Huff recalls recording with Michael Jackson and Shania Twain – and begging Michael Bolton to let him play a solo with a Peavey acoustic
- “I’d be there with bass pedals, a triple-neck guitar and keyboards, and Robert Plant would ask, ‘Can you sing, as well?’” How John Paul Jones became Led Zeppelin’s ultimate wingman
- “Even in the face of adversity he still plays with complete joy and positive intent”: Andy Timmons wrote a song in tribute to Peter Frampton – then his hero ended up playing on it
- “Designed for guitarists seeking the best tones ever produced by analog gear”: DSM Humboldt unveils the Simplifier X – “the most advanced analog amp simulator ever made”
- “The initial thought was, ‘What the hell am I gonna play?’ There are so many players on this track, and so much is going on, but they just let me be me”: Steve Lukather takes you behind the scenes of Mark Knopfler’s Guitar Heroes
- “Start building your dream bass”: Ernie Ball Music Man launches The Custom Design Experience – allowing players to customize every single spec of its StingRay Special bass
- You don’t need to bury your head in books to decipher the secrets of the fretboard – you can learn the CAGED guitar system in just 10 minutes
- “Pristine with warmth and definition… and the output level was more than loud enough for club stages”: Seymour Duncan PowerStage 100 Stereo review
- “Steve Vai is always evolving… he continues to achieve what others thought impossible, and he finds new things to try every day”: How Philip Bynoe keeps up with the world-leading virtuoso
- April 4
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- “The amount of functionality Boss has packed into a Compact series pedal is just staggering”: Boss IR-2 Amp & Cabinet review
- “Jimi Hendrix will not invite or incite the audience at the Royal Albert Hall to remove their clothing”: A newly unearthed archive of Hendrix material offers revealing insights into the guitar hero’s mailbag – plus a host of unheard tapes
- “I got made fun of because I walked in proud with an Ibanez Blazer and a solid-state Crate amp”: Gary Clark Jr. says he was mocked at early club gigs for using entry-level shred guitar gear
- “Completely shatters the expectations for a guitar geared toward modern metal”: PRS SE Mark Holcomb SVN review
- “It was Clarkin alone who fed the band, writing the entirety of Magnum’s catalog and admitting in 2002 that he thought of little else”: Remembering Tony Clarkin, the driving force behind a British rock institution
- “The future of players and creators, we're thrilled by the creativity and innovation they bring to the scene”: These are the 25 guitar acts Fender thinks you should hear in 2024
- “If you can handle the fanned frets, this is a bass you’ll cherish for decades”: Dingwall John Taylor Signature review
- “I’ve always favoured humbuckers. They’re what my heroes used – Clapton, BB King and Paul Kossoff”: Connor Selby on his greatest gear hits and misses, and the Gibson ES-125 that was the bargain of the century
- “It can produce the most horrific fuzz in the universe”: Alex Lifeson debuts his second stompbox, the LERXST Snow Dog – paying tribute to the fuzz tones championed by Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck
- “This is an intensely crafted ‘Super Guitar’ with a separate piezo output…”: Dweezil Zappa’s huge gear auction is full of utterly unique guitars, including his Hot Rats Gibson Les Paul, a Madonna-clad Jackson and a true one-off custom PRS
- “There does seem to be something of an obsession with lighter guitars”: Do lighter electric guitars sound better?
- “I bought a right-handed Hofner, re-strung it and learned to play like a lefty, which was a nightmare”: How The Bootleg Beatles’ Steve White became a carbon-copy Paul McCartney
- “I asked Ibanez for a Telecaster-style guitar with a single neck pickup. I was expecting them to make fun of me and say no!” Standards’ Marcos Mena is bringing joy to virtuoso playing with his custom mint green tapping machine
- “Martin is doing his own stuff. He should be having a whale of a time, instead of being embittered about Jethro Tull”: Ian Anderson seemingly rules out the prospect of a ‘Tull reunion with Martin Barre
- April 3
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- “This is my guitar. I'm absolutely buzzing”: Epiphone is set to release a Yungblud signature SG Junior – and one of its prototypes is already up for grabs
- “The Firebird V is closing in on Gibson’s own price points… however, there’s nothing we don’t love about these guitars”: Epiphone Inspired By Gibson 1963 Firebird I & V review
- “Thrash metal legend unlocks his tonal secrets”: KHDK and Kreator’s Mille Petrozza claim to have created the “perfect overdrive”, the Deathscream – and it could also solve a common digital modeling amp headache
- “Now with the rich sonic allure of rosewood”: Three timeless Gibson acoustics have received a rosewood reinvention – bringing new visuals and tones to the table
- “Bro is a living breathing ‘Hell yeah’”: Bass player rips Cliff Burton’s iconic (Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth solo while squatting 225lbs
- “When I struggle with live sound, I think, ‘Oh God, I can play so much better when I’m just in a room and I can hear myself…’ But that’s when I dig in and try harder”: Tommy Emmanuel and Molly Tuttle give a tone, technique and touring masterclass
- “The ultimate dual overdrive”: Beetronics combines Bluesbreaker and Klon tones in its latest pedal – but there’s a clever twist
- “I was tired of not being able to hear my guitar when I played. I got a Gretsch Country Gentleman, and that changed the game for me”: Vincent Neil Emerson’s star is rising fast – whether he’s playing a Chet Atkins electric or rare George Harrison acoustic
- “Some guitars are just that little bit special that they work their way in, you know?” Mark Knopfler on why he had to keep his Sultans of Swing Strat – despite selling his Money for Nothing Les Paul and the rest of his collection
- “The S2 Series now carries more PRS DNA than ever”: PRS just relaunched its mid-tier, USA-built S2 range with a significant high-end tonal upgrade
- “The first time I saw Ronnie, he was playing a Strat through two Super Reverbs – the sound was larger than life”: Joe Bonamassa reaches for his dream guitar to dissect the brilliance of East Coast blues great Ronnie Earl
- “If you don’t have good tone with just your amp and your guitar, ain’t no pedal gonna help you”: Sue Foley is dropping truth bombs and nylon-string blues in her tribute to the pioneering women of guitar
- April 2
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- “Robert Fripp is one of our historical geniuses… I will be putting my best foot forward to respect this great music”: Steve Vai, Adrian Belew, Tony Levin and Danny Carey reveal full details of new King Crimson supergroup tour
- “You were the glue that held the band together. You were the logic in the madness and the madness in our lives”: Ultravox bassist and Vienna co-writer Chris Cross dies at 71
- "I was ill and when I picked the guitar up again, I wasn't playing Joe Satriani stuff – I was struggling to play Oasis!" Jack J. Hutchinson on how illness changed his playing style and his Black Crowes-inspired pedalboard
- “Now you get to decide when it arrives”: Chibson created an actual pedal for April Fool’s Day – the Priority Delay, which has been 4 years in the making
- “We’re trying to avoid sounding like a conventional guitar band… Our goal has always been to expand what guitars can do”: Idles’ radical guitar duo dissect their “violent, dark tones” and explain why modeling is “wack”
- “A guitar we really can’t fault. Try one of these before someone realizes they’ve made a mistake with the price”: PRS SE CE 24 Standard Satin review
- “Updated and more authentic than ever”: Epiphone rolls out the Gibson headstock for its latest high-end Inspired by Gibson Custom Shop drop, including a new 1959 Les Paul Standard – and a pink J-180
- “John was constantly seeking better solutions, which manifested as astonishing woodwork and innovative electronics”: Remembering John Diggins – the luthier who built guitars for Tony Iommi and the first Red Special replica
- “I felt Jimmy's excitement for music... He played with absolute conviction and passion and power at all times”: Rich Robinson reflects on the time Jimmy Page performed with The Black Crowes
- “The quality of bands is much higher than it used to be… There’s something going on here that we cannot describe”: Why is Australia turning out some of the most amazing prog metal guitarists on the planet?
- April 1
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- “Fingers are crossed that once I start playing Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love, it'll be like, ‘I'm here, I'm in the zone’”: Joe Satriani is working with 3rd Power on the ultimate '86 era Van Halen amp
- “With Marvin Gaye, we could feel we were onto something extraordinary. We could feel the magic of Let’s Get It On from the beginning”: Meet Motown mainstay David T. Walker, the session guitarist behind some of music’s all-time classic albums
- “When we first came to New York, we'd play four times a day. I only had one guitar, so I'd have to break it and fix it four times a day”: Pete Townshend talks guitar smashing, and what he had to do to keep his gear functioning
- “The guitar duel scene with Ry Cooder wasn’t working. Ry called up Guitar Player and asked who the new hotshot on the block was”: Steve Vai on how he got the career-defining Crossroads gig
- 5 rock ’n’ roll ending chords you need to know
- “I’m constantly going back to Davey Graham… He is massively neglected as an insanely creative player. For me, he’s like Jimi Hendrix – his stuff should be analyzed in forensic detail”: Henry Parker on his journey from metal to virtuoso folk
- “A hugely creative tool with the power to unleash spooky, ethereal sounds, or take you on a full-on psychedelic hippie freakout”: Electro-Harmonix Pico Attack Decay review
