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July 2024

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328 articles

July 31
- “I was determined to avoid hailing him as the future of shred, but I simply cannot do it”: July 2024 Guitar World editor's picks
- “Faster, smarter and more accurate than any human”: Neural DSP unveils TINA – a robot that promises to revolutionize the digital amp modeling world forever
- “He’s taught me a lot about the guitar, but not from showing me stuff on the neck or talking about picking”: How Steve Vai helped Jacob Collier become a better player without even touching a guitar
- “A sound I’ve used many times on all sorts of tracks going back years”: David Gilmour demonstrates his trademark “swell” technique – one of the secrets of his emotive soloing approach
- “A perfect example of interpretive genius from a visionary guitarist”: The 20 greatest guitar cover versions
- “Bringing multi-effects processing to the masses”: Mooer cements itself as the accessible amp modeler maker to beat with upgraded GE200 Pro
- 6 scales from around the world that every guitar player should know – and how to use them
- “When I hear a heavy metal guitar player there is that raw emotion that can maybe sound a little angry… I feel like bluegrass is more friendly competition”: Bluegrass virtuoso Molly Tuttle on the differences between metal and bluegrass shredding
- “Dirty Deeds… has some more complicated ideas that go up in an Eddie Van Halen kind of way. It reminds me of the kind of things Steve Hackett was doing in 1972”: Black Midi’s Georgie Greep on the high-voltage genius of Angus Young
- “It was used on the sessions for Blues For Greeny. It just sounds incredible”: The ultra-rare TV Yellow 1961 Gibson SG Junior that Gary Moore used to record Showbiz Blues is going up for auction
- Maple vs rosewood fretboards: what’s the difference?
- “I’d cover the strings in cheeseburger grease, barbecue sauce – even blood. I didn’t want the bass to sound like a friggin’ guitar!” Crosby, Stills & Nash’s 1969 debut took bassist Stephen Stills on an unlikely tone journey
- “I love the romance of a guitar with a story. But if you can find a good setup guy, you can take a piece of junk, and it’ll play as good as anything you’ve ever touched”: Larkin Poe’s Rebecca Lovell on why she’s loyal to Fender Stratocasters of all levels
July 30
- “I will never play this guitar in the same way”: This firm has invented a removable B-Bender that can be fitted to practically any acoustic – and it actually works like a charm
- “We wanted to take these timeless classics and add some funk to it in order to reach a younger and different audience”: B.B. King Blues Experience tour announced for 2025 in honor of the late blues great’s 100th birthday
- “The dude is so cracked. He comes up with the most insane sounds you’ve ever heard”: Polyphia’s Tim Henson names his favorite new guitar player
- “It’s time to reclaim your performance space”: D’Addario just launched a mic stand that attaches directly to your pedalboard – and only takes up the space of one standard stompbox
- “Leo Fender got it wrong and Hendrix corrected it”: Richard Fortus explains the simple tweaks used by Jimi Hendrix and Joe Perry that improved the Stratocaster beyond its original design
- “I’m sure our paths will cross”: Sammy Hagar on whether we’ll ever see Wolfgang Van Halen join the Best of All Worlds tour
- “Gibson turned conventional design upside-down by using straight lines and angular body shapes, changing the way electrics could look and creating a rare set of future collectibles”: The history of Gibson guitars in 20 defining moments
- “The Steve Morse stuff is very different to the early Ritchie Blackmore stuff. Nobody can do it better than them”: Simon McBride on how he’s made the Deep Purple catalog his own – while paying homage to the icons who came before him
- Understanding and recognizing guitar intervals is a fundamental musical skill – this lesson will train both brain and ear and enhance your melodic sensibility
- “You hear two notes and you know who it is. What a unique thing he created. Without singing a note in his entire life – what a voice”: The life, times and twangin’ tones of rock ’n’ roll pioneer Duane Eddy
- “My band joke that my pedalboard should be called ‘50 Shades of Gain’!” Chris Buck on how a fetish for dirt led to his new signature pedal from ThorpyFX
- “Fender sent me a Jazzmaster and I didn’t play it. I thought it was awkward-looking”: Jim Root helped Fender create the most radical Jazzmaster ever – but he didn’t like the offset design at first
- “Spark 2 is like taking Madison Square Garden wherever you go”: Positive Grid is launching its groundbreaking Spark 2 desktop amp with a live premiere event featuring Nuno Bettencourt and Periphery's Jake Bowen – watch now
July 29
- “You tell me, Professor, when you’re ready to go!” Conan O’Brien invites Jack White – and his wild custom Fenders – to swap solos on White Stripes and Eddie Cochran classics at the Newport Folk Festival
- “That was something else”: Gojira’s Joe Duplantier sparks rumors he’s signed with another guitar brand after swapping his Charvel for a custom ESP during the band’s Paris Olympics opening ceremony performance
- “In my experience, 70% of vintage guitars are clunkers – a new guitar will beat their sound and how they play. But if you get that diamond in the rough, it’s next-level”: Wayne Sermon is sneaking vintage guitars into Imagine Dragons’ blockbuster pop-rock
- “He was driven internally to build a home base where he could record everything he felt”: 38 unreleased Jimi Hendrix tracks recorded shortly before his death are set to be released for the first time
- “I couldn’t find one live clip of Eddie playing the same song that was remotely similar”: Joe Satriani watched other guitarists cover Eddie Van Halen to prepare for the Best of All Worlds tour
- “An instrument that strives for a dialogue between old and new”: He’s one of shred guitar’s most original players – now Jakub Żytecki has released 2024’s high-performance offset to beat with Mayones
- “Deified is a heavier, more medieval track”: Tony Iommi has dropped his first new single in three years – and it’s accompanied by a signature fragrance
- “One of Mooer’s most versatile products to date”: Mooer takes the fight to Positive Grid once again with another streamlined Spark rival – the SD10i
- Matteo Mancuso’s otherworldly technique has blown the minds of Al Di Meola, Steve Vai and Joe Bonamassa – in this exclusive video masterclass, he shares the secrets behind his breathtaking fingerstyle approach
- “It’s such a beautiful instrument. I think when people started hacking them up and putting humbuckers in them, it ruined the look”: Yngwie Malmsteen explains what makes the Stratocaster the perfect electric guitar (and why he scalloped the frets anyway)
- “Can genuinely hold its own in any genre, with direct tones that stand up to market-leading amp modelers”: Mesa/Boogie Mark VII 1x12 Combo review
- If you can’t play syncopated rhythms, you can’t be a funk guitar player – and improving your groove will help your playing in all styles
July 28
- “The boys thought the bass needed more bottom-end. So I laid on the floor and punched the organ pedals with my fists”: How Bill Wyman transformed a landmark Rolling Stones track
July 27
- Cotten picking, ‘picking and flicking’, open tunings, Travis picking and banjo techniques on guitar – learning Americana guitar styles opens up a whole new world for your acoustic playing
July 26
- “The beautiful thing about the Telecaster is there’s not a formula about how it’s supposed to sound”: Julien Baker explains why the Tele is the most usable electric guitar there is as she demos Fender’s new Player II model
- “I still have my uniform on, and I said, ‘I’ve been at work all day and I cut off all my hair.’ Gary said, ‘Bring your guitar. I’ll see you at six’”: Steve Morse quit music to become an airline pilot – until Lynyrd Skynyrd persuaded him to return
- “Three songs in, we got into a physical altercation and I decided, ‘I’m done playing this show.’ I took all my Ibanez guitars and threw them into the audience”: Dave Navarro on why he switched to PRS – and Jane’s Addiction’s unlikely rebirth
- “I hear depth in the amp that’s mic’d – I hear so much that I don’t hear in the digital plugin, which seems almost pasted onto the screen”: Alex Lifeson explains why digital amps can’t match up to the real thing
- “Who knew Billy could play guitar?” Billy Joel rocks a Strat with Axl Rose in surprise cover of AC/DC’s Highway to Hell
- “He made the guitar cry. It has the same spirit and the same soul that a human voice has”: Breakout TikTok guitarist Towa Bird channels her hero Jimi Hendrix with The Star-Spangled Banner performance ahead of 2024 MLS All-Star Game
- “This record is a serious piece of work… I think it’s some of my best songwriting and playing”: Jerry Cantrell taps Guns N’ Roses and Metallica bassists for new solo album I Want Blood
- “It was going to be thrown out… Sting says, ‘Go on then, make it your own.’ I did it in one take”: The Police were set to ditch Every Breath You Take before Andy Summers added his riff – now the original demo has surfaced after 42 years, you can hear why
- “I’d like to dedicate this to Lucy-Bleu”: Slash pays tribute to his late stepdaughter with emotional instrumental performance
- “I’d never played a Strat before. But when Audioslave was forming, I was looking for a new guitar. I went into a Guitar Center and found this Strat on the wall. It spoke to me deeply”: Tom Morello on the origins and mods of his Soul Power Strat
- 5 easy ways to make open chords more interesting
- “Nothing was even mic'd up through the P.A. – they just listened to our amps and the two vocal mics. Sometimes we'd just play rubbish”: The Beatles on their struggles to be heard over the screams of Beatlemania – and the toll it took on their performances
- “I never practiced – never practiced ever”: Yngwie Malmsteen may be one of the most accomplished players of all time, but he didn’t develop his superhuman guitar skills by practicing, apparently
July 25
- “It's meant to be a noise gate... It actually makes it noisier when it shuts off”: That time Steve Albini listed all of his worst pedals and why he hated them
- “He reminds me of Joe when Joe was a young man”: This 12-year-old guitar prodigy is destined to be a blues great – and he just jammed with Joe Bonamassa (and Lowell George’s Dumble)
- “I was inspired by one of my favorite players – you may recognize some of his signature licks”: Matteo Mancuso, one of the hottest guitar players on the planet right now, has written a virtuosic tribute track to Paul Gilbert… on baritone
- “You will never find this shape ever, it’s unique”: Jackson debuts a brand-new baritone body design in its road-warrior signature model for JinJer guitarist Roman Ibramkhalilov
- “There’s nothing quite like it. It’s my favorite new amp”: Joe Satriani devised the perfect amp to harness Eddie Van Halen’s greatest tones – and you can get a plugin version right now
- “Thank you for rescuing me when I decided that I was going to quit music”: Eric Clapton pays emotional tribute to his Bluesbreaker bandmate and blues mentor John Mayall
- “I nearly got crushed by an elephant while holding it… That guitar has definitely seen some stuff”: Orianthi tells the remarkable story of the rhinestone-encrusted PRS Custom 24 she played with Michael Jackson, 50 Cent… and an elephant
- “I’m guessing he wasn’t in, otherwise he would have quite obviously invited us in for a jam”: America’s Got Talent star Old Grey Guitarist plays Whole Lotta Love… outside Jimmy Page’s house
- “The most well-known user of this instrument was universally beloved for having one of the heaviest guitar tones of all time”: Joe Bonamassa explains why you can rule the world with one pickup
- “Kim Thayil is one of the coolest and most inventive guitar players ever… Chris Cornell is definitely in my Mount Rushmore of singers”: Mark Tremonti weighs in on the biggest bands of the ’90s (including Creed)
- “It can sing like a Les Paul, bark like an SG and spank like a Flying V”: The Explorer chugged for Hetfield, sang the blues with Clapton and made the Edge sound ginormous – is it still Gibson’s most underrated electric guitar?
July 24
- “No brand-new guitar sounds quite as good as an old one in my experience”: David Gilmour reckons vintage guitars are superior – and he’s got a theory as to why
- “A wonderful guy that changed the game for all of us”: John Mayall, 1933-2024 – the guitar world pays tribute
- “I didn't record with compression or any of that. I just taped a doubled-up piece of felt over the strings at the bridge”: How Carol Kaye set the tone for Quincy Jones’ Hikky-Burr, the theme for The Bill Cosby Show
- “We've played around with this idea, which people don't do very often”: Martin has teamed up with Reverb for a unique limited-edition Custom GP Blonde – priced at $7,999 apiece
- “This guitar is irreplaceable and special beyond words”: Thieves make off with prized family heirloom 1977 Gibson Les Paul… months after its owner’s house was destroyed by a tree
- “A fretboard with a flatter radius makes it easier to enjoy a low action with buzz‑free bends”: You should never underestimate the impact of fretboard radius – it dramatically affects the way your guitar plays
- “Billy Gibbons pulls out this big-ass yellow 17-string bass and he’s like, ‘Okay, we’ll play it for a song, right?’” ZZ Top’s Elwood Francis on teching for Joe Perry, lying to Steve Vai – and the curse of playing that viral 17-string bass
- “Let the healing begin”: Guitar virtuoso Jimmy Herring's cancer diagnosis leads Widespread Panic to cancel upcoming dates
- “I do wonder if shoegaze getting pushed into the mainstream might send it down a similar path as grunge… I hope not”: Blushing are riding the TikTok shoegaze revival with a Johnny Marr Jaguar and an ex-Smashing Pumpkin
- “Keep on playing the blues somewhere, John. We love you”: John Mayall, the Godfather of British Blues, dies aged 90
- He taught John Lennon to fingerpick, shaping future Beatles classics, while the ’60s music press compared him to Bob Dylan – why Donovan is an under-appreciated acoustic guitar great
- “A hard-rocking Superstrat that harks back to the golden age of the genre”: Charvel Pro-Mod Relic San Dimas Style 1 Relic HH FR PF review
July 23
- Download and stream the audio from Total Guitar 387
- “At the end of the day, back in ’88, when I was in the studio singing Youth Gone Wild, I was making a record that I loved myself”: Sebastian Bach recruits his 11-year-old stepson on guitar for a rendition of the Skid Row classic
- “I called John immediately and said, ‘Dude, you have to join us for a song. I’m not going to let you not play with us’”: Dave Navarro on how he and John Frusciante finally played together for the first time after decades of friendship
- “That amp quite literally changed my life”: Damon Johnson explains why finding the right amp kickstarted his career
- “I play an SG Junior because growing up musicians that were important in my life were Angus Young and Billie Joe Armstrong”: Yungblud’s first-ever Epiphone signature guitar is here – and it’s the best Epi SG Junior you can currently buy
- “If you can play a song on the piano or guitar and make people feel something then that’s great... If it doesn’t pass that test, then it’s not good enough”: Conchúr White on going solo, McNally guitars and finding a new voice with fingerpicking
- Jerry Miller, influential Moby Grape guitarist who Eric Clapton called the “best guitar player in the world”, has died aged 81
- “The all-in-one music creation companion”: Donner’s IR-loaded, FX-equipped Hush-I Pro could be the hi-tech headless travel guitar you actually want
- “Eric Clapton’s roadie brought a Strat with him. I said, ‘Do you want to sell that guitar?’ He said, ‘I’ll sell it to you for £60’”: Ritchie Blackmore on why he switched from the 335 to the Stratocaster – and the one he used to record Smoke on the Water
- “A musically rich fuzz that makes me want to say ‘ciao!’ to my other fuzz pedals”: Dophix Medici More Fuzz review
- “Describe the tone you’re imagining, and Spark AI will bring it to life”: Positive Grid has unveiled the Spark 2 – here’s how it plans change the amp game… again
- “It is more evolution than revolution, but Positive Grid have delivered everything guitarists have been asking for and more”: Positive Grid Spark 2 review
- “There’s nothing that over-washes the natural sound of the guitar and amp – it’s more or less to embellish it”: Eric Gales shares his stompbox philosophy and reveals how Eric Johnson inspired his pedalboard
- “Virtually indistinguishable from valve amps”: Blackstar reckons its latest affordable solid-state combo nails tube tones, at home or on stage
July 22
- “A new era of decadent saturation”: Jam Pedals’ Rattler MkII looks to elevate the ‘80s-era distortion pedal favored by Dave Grohl, James Hetfield and David Gilmour to new heights
- “I bought a yellow one and I went straight on stage with it. I didn’t hesitate. I think the guy has got a breakthrough guitar with this one”: Andy Summers on the new electric guitar that has impressed him enough to put down his Fenders
- “When somebody signs up to listen to a guitar-led band, they might assume it's going to be a bunch of shredding”: Cory Wong subverts expectations of what a lead guitarist should sound like during rare acoustic set
- “He was like, ‘Come on down to rehearsals.’ I’ll never forget it. I was blown away”: John 5 on the time he got to watch Van Halen at an intimate reunion rehearsal – and played through Eddie Van Halen’s guitar rig
- “He had an incredibly clean technique, which was very, very rare. I’ve never found it in any other guitar player”: Alan Parsons on why late Project and Kate Bush guitarist Ian Bairnson was unlike any guitarist he’d ever encountered
- “Hendrix came in at two o’clock in the morning. I can still remember the audience – Rod Stewart, The Beatles, the Small Faces – all of them were silent when Jimi was done”: Junior Marvin on joining Bob Marley – and the night Hendrix shook his hand
- “The last time I played that song was 30 years ago”: Krist Novoselic revisits three Nirvana classics as he joins FooVana hybrid tribute act
- “I'm just going to use them as they were built from the factory”: Deftones' Stephen Carpenter admits he prefers amp modeler factory presets to his own tone creations
- “Josh Homme’s guitar playing is very learned and proper. I’m self-taught, and my style is more unorthodox. My guitar is untamed.” Brant Bjork made his name as Kyuss’ drummer – but he found his voice on guitar
- Slash cancels four S.E.R.P.E.N.T. tour dates due to “unforeseen circumstances”
- “Pentatonic ideas are always the best way to reach an audience. Those tend to be the notes they feel even if they don’t even know why”: Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram on why the pentatonic scale is still the GOAT
- “I’m still predominantly a Tele player, but I felt like my guitar playing had got a bit stale. I switched to a Les Paul for a year and I think it did the trick”: Joanne Shaw Taylor on rewiring her playing and conquering ADHD in the studio
- “The way the Strat just tore that amplifier up, it was different from anything I’d heard before”: Robert Cray on why he fell in love with the Fender Stratocaster – and how Buddy Guy’s younger brother started it all
- He gave B.B. King “the cold sweats”, replaced Eric Clapton in the Bluesbreakers and founded Fleetwood Mac – how Peter Green changed the course of British blues-rock guitar playing
July 21
- “You could argue that Cream was the first fusion band. Eric Clapton was our Ornette Coleman – we just didn’t tell him!” How Jack Bruce tapped into his jazz roots with fusion supergroup Spectrum Road
- The guitar riff changed the course of popular music in the 1950s and remains a powerful force today – we chart its development over the decades, and what you can learn from its evolution
July 20
- “If you couldn’t play that solo, you weren’t a bass player – you couldn’t get a gig”: How Bob Babbitt laid down an epic first-take solo on this under-appreciated Motown classic – with the help of a damp household sponge
- “Wanna get popular on YouTube? Play mind-blowing solos and post ’em up. Wanna get employed with a touring band? Play mind-blowing rhythm parts”: Alice Cooper guitarist Ryan Roxie on why nailing rhythm guitar is the key to landing big gigs
July 19
- “Joe has taken the essence of Eddie's guitar solos, and he puts his heart and soul into it… it's so much better than a guy just mimicking him exactly”: Sammy Hagar can’t believe how good Joe Satriani sounds playing Van Halen songs
- Watch Johnny Depp and Andrea Bocelli pay tribute to Jeff Beck – accompanied by a recording of the late guitar hero
- “It was in quite a parlous state… Scott’s blood was on there – his physical remnants were on the guitar”: Richard Hawley on how he came to own Scott Walker’s Fender Telecaster
- “Vibrant new color options, tonewoods, and the classic Spector growl”: Spector unveils three new basses – featuring fresh tonewood and finish options and a gnarly preamp created with Darkglass
- “A solution to quiet practice with pedals that you’ll have a hard time wearing out”: The Porter is a headphone amp designed to work with your favorite guitar and bass pedals – and its creators reckon it’s practically invincible
- “I was recording a solo and didn’t have much direction for it, so I was just swinging in the dark. Luther Dickinson gave me this piece of advice…” How a former Black Crowe changed Samantha Fish’s soloing style forever
- Should you buy new or second-hand for your first acoustic guitar?
- “I had no idea who Thin Lizzy was. I’d never seen a picture of these guys, never heard their music. But I was told they’d had a hit with Whiskey in the Jar…’” Scott Gorham on his Thin Lizzy audition – and the moment The Boys Are Back in Town “exploded”
- “A relentless speed and accuracy rarely heard before on the electric guitar”: Al Di Meola’s peerless alternate-picking style changed the landscape of guitar playing – just ask John Petrucci and Nuno Bettencourt
- “The White Falcon is a guitar of extreme beauty... there’s just no other way of looking at it. But I really couldn’t get on with it”: Darrel Higham on his Gretsch highs and lows – and why a 21st century rockabilly ace has a cheap Zoom multi-FX in his rig
- “A lot of metal players won’t care – they just want to play metal. But cleans are important to me”: Mark Tremonti on what his signature PRS MT 100 amp has in common with his Dumbles – and why it does more than breathe fire
- “Futuristic circuitry, significant improvements, and an augmented design”: Mooer stuffs a pedalboard's worth of effects and futuristic features into its next-gen intelligent guitar, the M810
July 18
- ”Much like Lollar’s other fantastic pickups, the DC-90 is expressive, musical, and now, quieter”: Lollar's new DC-90 pickup gives you that classic P-90 snap, without the pesky noise
- “The evolution of the revolution is here”: Positive Grid confirms the Spark 2 will arrive within weeks – and, yes, it has a looper
- “Delivering the goods at an affordable price”: JOYO's BSK-80 is the state-of-the-art portable amp modern buskers need
- “I was at a King Crimson show, I was signing autographs and somebody handed me Mariah Carey’s record and said, ‘Would you sign this?’” How Adrian Belew ended up on a number one single without even knowing
- “An extra-reliable wireless experience for even the most nomadic of musicians”: Xvive has upgraded its flagship affordable wireless system, so how does it stack up next to challengers from Fender and Positive Grid?
- “The best Katana models to date”: From functional updates to an all-new amp mode, BOSS has taken its Katana amp range to unprecedented heights with overhauled Gen 3 lineup
- “The first thing they’ll try and do is make one of the six-string guitar shapes work. It's a car crash!” Jacob Collier on how his 5-string signature Strandberg guitar is forcing guitarists to rethink their approach to playing
- “We use 3D modeling tools to design guitar bodies to have target tonal and resonance characteristics”: The innovative tech that brought Yamaha’s groundbreaking 2024 Pacificas to life
- “I’m not using conventional chord sequences but things that give me a fresh feeling and opportunities to improvise”: Steve Howe’s new solo album, Guitarscape, is a love letter to the instrument that has held his attention for so long
- “Music means everything to me, and this charity believes in sharing the power of music with everyone who needs it”: Mark Knopfler is giving away an extremely rare acoustic guitar to raise funds for charity
- “Completely melted the faces off of the entire continent of Europe”: 13-year-old Roman Morello proves his father right – he can shred circles around him
- “People quickly realized my guitar was cheaper than a Mexican Strat and better made… I still don’t know how they make it at that price point”: Nick Johnston on how his signature Schecter conquered the world
- “Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page didn’t think a Strat could play the blues. But they all went to buy Strats after they saw me”: Buddy Guy on why the Strat is damn right a blues guitar
- “Faithful reproductions at affordable prices miles below their vintage counterparts”: Warm Audio Warm Bender and RingerBringer review
- “I said to Billy, ‘We should order one of these, and I’ll play it. It’ll be hilarious.’ Then it went viral. I hate playing that bass. Now I’ve got to play it every night”: Elwood Francis on why he regrets his 17-string bass becoming a ZZ Top staple
- Missed out on Prime Day? Here's 16 guitar gear deals that are still live right now
- Download and stream the audio from Guitar Techniques 364
July 17
- “We set up Eric and Duane in the studio, so they were face-to-face about two feet apart. They could literally touch each other’s guitars if they wanted to”: The Albert Brothers on recording Hendrix, Clapton, the Allman Brothers – and that Layla session
- “It’s in a tuning that I call ‘Lazy Keith Richards’”: Melvins’ Dale Crover invents a new guitar tuning – and lands a Kim Thayil guest solo – for his new single
- “A tribute to the creative soul of the Stratocaster”: Fender debuts the perfect summer accessory – Strat sunglasses
- “You'll have to be a straight badass just to carry it let alone play it – I want to see what someone can do with it”: Jason Newsted is selling the 10-string Alembic bass used on Metallica’s Black Album tour – and more than 60 other instruments
- “In the Smiths, I used to take 14 guitars out on the road. In The The I’d just take two Strats”: The custom Fender Strat that helped launch Johnny Marr’s post-Smiths career is up for auction
- “A multi-effects pedal on steroids”: Catalinbread’s Bitters reimagines Alesis’ cult sound-mangling DJ effects unit as a guitar pedal – and adds one crucial fix
- PRS has dropped its objection to Gibson’s Theodore trademark – but the dispute continues outside of the courts
- “There's one little lick which annoyed me for a long, long time”: Deep Purple’s Simon McBride on the Ritchie Blackmore lick he found most difficult to learn
- “Your ultimate companion for musical adventures on the go”: Meet the Guild Traveler, a solid mahogany travel acoustic that costs under $250 – and can fit in a plane’s overhead compartment
- “When we lost Taylor, it was very painful for me… I'll be honest, I didn’t pick up the guitar for about a year”: Dave Navarro finished an album with Taylor Hawkins – then he lost his friend, his band and his love of guitar playing
- “I can’t think of any current guitar heroes that I have. All of my guitar heroes are into their seventies or no longer with us”: Towa Bird is one of Gen Z’s biggest guitar stars – and she built her own brand of energetic rock from classic influences
- “I’m checking my sources, but it’s possible that we snapped here”: Vulfpeck guitarist Cory Wong joins anarchic electronic artist Marc Rebillet for a surprise frenzied funk guitar jam
- $500 off a range of stunning Breedlove guitars at Guitar Center is by far the best Prime Day acoustic deal we've seen this year
- Dimebag Darrell wrote the book on the art of shredding – but his rhythm style took metal riffing to a new level
- “Be yourself and play what moves you. James Jamerson said it best: ‘If you don’t feel it, don’t play it’”: Parlor Greens’ Jimmy James is putting the soul back into guitar, groove by groove
- “What does the Strat mean to me? I’ll say this: my grandson is named Fender. What does that tell you?” Los Lonely Boys’ Henry Garza would like you to meet Tejana – a guitar so good even Carlos Santana wanted to play it
July 16
- These 5 easy upgrades will supercharge your Strat – and they're all on sale for Amazon Prime Day
- Sick of spending too much on guitar strings? Stock up for less with these Prime Day discounts from Ernie Ball, D'Addario and more
- “After much reflection, I no longer feel it is appropriate to continue”: Jack Black cancels Tenacious D tour after bandmate Kyle Gass jokes about Trump assassination attempt
- “These guitars are more than just eye-candy – they take a ton of care to make, and they are made to be played”: PRS has finally released one of its most head-turning limited runs worldwide
- “A million guys could have done it. Walk into a music store and you see a 12-year-old playing Eruption, but he doesn’t necessarily know what he’s doing”: Sammy Hagar on why Joe Satriani is the perfect player to step into Van Halen’s shoes
- “You can hear the influence of those riffs on Guns N’ Roses, but I’m sure it’s not a conscious thing. It’s in our subconscious, ingrained in our DNA”: Richard Fortus on how Aerosmith changed his life, and what he and Slash learned from Joe Perry
- “I was practicing with it in the dressing room and it was feeling too good to put down”: John Mayer honors Jerry Garcia by performing with a replica Alligator Strat at The Sphere – but says he wasn't ready for its “unbridled fury”
- Harley Benton promises two “no frills rock machines” with its new SG-inspired DC-Custom II guitars – including a Jimmy Page-esque double-neck and stainless steel frets – starting from $244
- 5 things people with organized pedalboards always do – and what they buy from Amazon
- “Paying homage to classic American amplifiers”: British builder Blackstar turns the dial towards vintage Fender tone with the TV-10A
- “There’s a great picture of me on my knees ripping a guitar solo, and the guitar is bigger than me”: Andrew Watt on the time he shredded at his own bar mitzvah – and what’s next for his Rolling Stones collaborations
- The 50 greatest acoustic guitar songs of all time
- “I had an injury from from using my fingers too much… using the pick actually saved my hands”: Social media bass sensation April Kae burned out her hands from nonstop playing, producing and editing – playing with a pick was her saving grace
- “This five-string electric guitar is a literal dream of mine”: Strandberg and Jacob Collier’s game-changing signature guitar finally arrives this summer
- “I had to step away from the pointy era. I chose the Strat because I like the way they look and the way they sound… everything about them is me”: Mick Mars on how he found his thrill with the Fender Stratocaster – and the 1954 unicorn that broke his heart
- “A rubber bridge acoustic with softly muted tones that are nothing short of inspiring”: Orangewood Guitars Juniper Sunburst Live review
July 15
- “I would love to keep it in Ireland if we could”: The Irish government wants to ensure Rory Gallagher’s iconic Fender Strat remains in the country
- “It has become impossible to continue business”: Fernandes Guitars – the company behind iconic electrics played by Billie Joe Armstrong, Kirk Hammett and Robert Fripp – has filed for bankruptcy
- “John Mayer, you’ve been sleeping on a good jam”: Tash Sultana publicly invites John Mayer to a guitar duel
- “He played the guitar at the shop right after Bille Joe Armstrong”: How Yungblud came to play Steve Jones’ iconic Sex Pistols Les Paul onstage in Paris
- Accessorize your guitar playing with these 5 cheap early Prime Day deals
- “You really know how to play guitar?” This superfan travelled 7,000 miles to see Pearl Jam live – and wound up playing guitar on Yellow Ledbetter
- Fender's Prime Day-beating sale has up to 10% off the Ultra range and Squier Contemporary models as well as 20% off many Squier Affinity guitars
- “I played the slide part of Layla with Eric Clapton… 15 minutes later I was back in the office making copies”: Brian Wilson guitarist Probyn Gregory on living an incredible double life, between desk job and rock star
- “You don't get many opportunities to own your guitar hero's amp, let alone the one and only...” Joe Bonamassa puts Lowell George’s Dumble amp through its paces – 45 years after it was last played publicly
- “I look up and he’s sitting right next to me. He was super-fascinated with the EBow”: Pop session great Michael Thompson on the time he recorded guitar for Michael Jackson – and the King of Pop walked in mid-session
- “Some of the phrases here are played at breakneck speed”: Grammy-winning virtuoso Ardeshir Farah is a nylon-string acoustic wizard who fuses Iranian and Western music – and his techniques will expand your solos’ horizons
- “It’s no wonder Eddie had so much fun playing this!” Joe Satriani tackles a wealth of Van Halen classics in the first footage from the Best of All Worlds tour
- “I understand how it may be perceived as our answer to the Stratocaster, but that’s not my intention with this guitar”: How PRS made the SE NF3 – and what makes it different from the Silver Sky
- “I wish I didn’t get paid. I wish I took a quarter point or something, ‘cause now I would be a rich man”: Slayer’s Kerry King on what he regrets about his solo on the Beastie Boys’ No Sleep Till Brooklyn
- “I played on about a billion records, and that guitar was on all of them”: Steve Lukather’s Robot Strat is one of the 1980s’ most-heard guitars, and started life as a vintage Fender – before it was modded beyond all recognition
- “Despite having guitars twice the price in our possession, we found ourselves reaching for the MS-1 more often”: Soloking MS-1 Custom review
July 14
- “If you heard the first demo of that song you wouldn’t believe it!” How Led Zeppelin’s legendary multi-instrumentalist took flight with Them Crooked Vultures
- “We’d all been struggling with the track – I remember Ralph MacDonald’s hands were bleeding!” Longtime David Letterman bassist Will Lee recalls his toughest recording date in NYC
July 13
- Dan Auerbach is one of Ohio’s greatest guitar players, bringing blues roots to the mainstream with a major-league soloing and riffing style
- “People have long talked to me about that bass solo, but I never gave it a lot of thought”: Andy Fraser names the forgotten song that marked the pinnacle of his bass playing with Free
July 12
- “This is the Epiphone evolution I wished we had when I was growing up”: How does Epiphone’s Inspired By Gibson Custom Les Paul compare to the standard model that’s $500 cheaper?
- “Mercifully he is now out of danger and will soon return home”: Jonny Greenwood hospitalized for emergency treatment, forcing The Smile to cancel tour dates
- “When I saw the FVZZ IPA come out, I thought, ‘There should be a pedal to go with that!’” This pedal company was so inspired by an indie beer brew that it launched a companion fuzz
- Forget waiting for Prime Day to start, here are 5 massive savings on guitar pedals available right now at Amazon
- “This is the stuff of dreams”: 11-year-old wows Kiko Loureiro with her solo skills at the ex-Megadeth shredder’s guitar camp
- “The surest way to keep straps straight”: Joe Satriani and D’Addario have designed a $20 guitar strap that could completely eliminate the dreaded twisted strap problem
- “You’re not hearing the click of the pick as much, and I’m able to float across the strings a lot faster”: Guthrie Trapp shares the picking hack that could help you play faster – and sound better
- “I get more volume and power when I play with a pick. I’d never be able to play Highway Star with my fingers”: Roger Glover’s isolated bassline on Deep Purple’s Highway Star is a masterclass in high-velocity picking
- “As soon as Joe saw that, he said, ‘I have your uncle’s bass!’” Rick Beato reunited with his late uncle’s bass after 50 years – with the help of Joe Bonamassa
- “If you’ve seen them play live the crowd goes off! It looks a lot like some of the big bands of the ’90s”: Måneskin’s Thomas Raggi joins Tom Morello on stage in Italy – with a special appearance from Morello’s son Roman
- “I can’t explain what it is about a guitar that makes it special. This one is different”: David Gilmour couldn’t bear to sell this guitar at auction – now it’s all over his new solo album
- “Blues is really thriving and alive and fresh at the moment, whereas it’s few and far between for me to find interesting things to listen to in rock”: Slash was so impressed by this UK blues guitarist that he personally paid to bring him to the US
- “The Strat is a reflection of me – it’s the one thing that’s been consistent in my life”: How her family’s sacrifice started Ana Popovic’s lifelong love affair with the Fender Stratocaster
- “Fans think it’s very cool to see a pregnant lady playing. People are saying I’m the real Thunder Mother!” Thundermother’s Filippa Nässil is riffing and touring all the way through her pregnancy – she explains how she’s adapted her rig to suit her bump
- “Producers and engineers were freaked out by the 12-string. They said, ‘No, that sounds like crap – go back to the Precision direct’”: Cheap Trick’s Tom Petersson on how he pioneered the 12-string bass and influenced a generation of players
- “The build quality and voice of a fully fledged professional instrument”: McNally S-32 review
- “I gave it to a tennis pro friend years ago. That was a mistake, as he’s left-handed!” Alex Lifeson might have given his Sportscaster to a sportsman, but not before he wrote it into rock history – here’s how a Strat became his go-to for his Rush sound
July 11
- “Unapologetic, fearless with their own musical and personal style and really able to challenge the conventions of what hard rock music is”: Tom Morello reveals his two favorite contemporary hard-rock bands
- “You all might know this tune, I think”: Eric Gales calls upon Slash and unleashes his inner Hendrix for Purple Haze jam
- “We are proud to present this bespoke genealogy to you, told in a new and innovative way”: Shania Twain presented with a stunning handmade guitar in celebration of her musical legacy and Irish heritage
- “I’m sure people will say, ‘What’s this doing here?’” Joe Satriani reveals the one mod he’s made to all his EVH guitars ahead of the Best of All Worlds tour – and the vintage Music Man Wolfgang he’s taking on the road
- “The serial number was the same as John Lennon’s amp. I couldn’t believe it”: John Lennon’s first Vox amp – used on early Beatles recordings and Cavern gigs – was lost for 60 years. Now it may have been found, covered in black paint, on an auction site
- “Mick Ronson was the guitarist prior to me. He was one of my heroes, so when I joined that band I had some pretty big shoes to fill”: The Fixx’s Jamie West-Oram on his journey from distorted rocker to new wave guitar hero – and why he's big on Suhr
- Using a voice-leading approach is a surefire way to make your guitar solos more melodic – Andy Timmons, a master of the craft, shows you how
- “Seymour Duncan went to work. He dragged it through the grass. Put motor oil on it. Chipped it. Frank Zappa said, ‘If you wanted to ruin your guitar, Adrian, why didn’t you loan it to a friend?’” Adrian Belew’s number one Stratocaster has lived a life
- “We need to become the custodians of that magical guitar”: €1,000,000 campaign launched to buy Rory Gallagher’s iconic 1961 Fender Stratocaster and keep it in Ireland
- “I don’t know what I’m trying to portray, but it’s always going to be uncomfortable and vulnerable”: Meet Heartworms, the six-string experimentalist who went from busking for rent to playing the Royal Albert Hall with St. Vincent
- Ex-Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer sued for wrongful death
- “Extended dynamic response that’s not possible with traditional analog designs”: Boss rolls out its biggest GT-1000 update in years – introducing all-new amp models that go beyond what tube amps are capable of
July 10
- “The first three records of our career, everybody was talking about how we were going to fail. Each next step was going to be a disaster”: Mark Tremonti and Scott Stapp on the unlikely rebirth of Creed – and why they’ve always been cool
- “Eric called and said, ‘Buddy Guy, George Harrison and I are playing tonight. You’re going to come and jam’”: Richie Sambora recalls receiving Eric Clapton’s spontaneous invite to a star-studded jam session
- “Some of the greatest sounds were created on junk!” Joe Bonamassa reveals the secret to getting great tones from affordable gear
- "A well-rounded acoustic guitar that offers a lot of value for its price": D’Angelico Premier Gramercy review
- “Yamaha doesn’t flood the market with new guitars, but when they’re this good, you can see why”: Yamaha Pacifica Standard Plus PACS+12M review
- “David Gilmour had been playing the riff. I said, ‘And then what happens?’ And he said, ‘No, that’s it.’ I said, ’Do you mind if I see what happens next?’” Roger Waters reflects on writing Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here – and the meaning behind it
- “Monumentally flexible and practical”: Walrus Audio Monumental Harmonic Stereo Tremolo review
- “This is a complete vindication”: Dean Guitars maker has won the right to a retrial in Gibson trademark dispute – but what does that really mean?
- “I woke up with those words, ‘Smoke on the Water’, on my lips. I mentioned it to Ian and he said, ‘Sounds like a drug song, we better not do that’”: Deep Purple just played Smoke on the Water on the lake that inspired it – with actual fire in the sky
- “You should be recording your guitars with a DI so your tone can be rescued if needed”: Sleep Token and Tesseract’s mixing engineers reveal how to improve your guitar recordings – and it starts with ditching your ego
- Best in-ear monitors for guitar players 2024: stay in tune and on time
- “Dusty is their bass player. I'm not the bass player. I shouldn't be in the band”: Elwood Francis replaced Dusty Hill in ZZ Top – but he still feels uncomfortable about it
July 9
- “That was the coolest thing about Eddie for me. That’s why nobody could ever touch him”: Slash explains why Eddie Van Halen was really a blues player at heart
- “Man, could he play the guitar or what?” Stevie Ray Vaughan stuns David Letterman in newly uploaded footage of his Late Night show debut
- “It is no longer an option to continue”: Queens of the Stone Age cancel tour dates as Josh Homme is rushed to emergency surgery
- “I’ve always missed being in Kiss, but if that meant being the Spaceman like Tommy, I wouldn’t want to do it”: Bruce Kulick was never invited to rejoin Kiss – and he's OK with that
- “I can put an amp up and 10 minutes into the show it’ll be on fire. It’s just how Joe rolls”: The secrets behind Joe Perry’s awe-inspiring guitar rig by our man on the inside, guitar tech Darren Hurst
- It's a blues extravaganza starring Slash, Kingfish, Samantha Fish, Gary Clark Jr. and Billy Gibbons – only in the new Guitar World
- “Two stone-cold classics that provide effortless playability and iconic guitar tones at a pretty reasonable price”: Fender Player II Stratocaster & Telecaster review
- “The Player II Series is not just an upgrade. It’s a detailed re-imagining”: Fender has overhauled its most popular range in response to requests from guitarists, with never-before-seen body options – and the return of rosewood
- “Even when Freddie was nothing and nobody, he was Jimi Hendrix in his mind. And I enabled him to have that at his fingertips”: Brian May on his symbiotic songwriting relationship with Freddie Mercury – and the guitar innovations he never got credit for
- “The world’s most versatile guitar just became even more versatile”: Gibson’s ES Supreme adds full-body Burst finishes and flexible switching to the firm’s classic semi-hollow build
- “If Mick Jagger held a gun to my head, telling me to play Satisfaction I'd have said, ‘Just shoot me’”: Joy Division hero Peter Hook looks back on his genre-defining legacy
- “I’ve heard Jimmy Page liked my attention to detail. So do the work, kids – it pays off!” From Joe Perry to Sheryl Crow, Audley Freed has played with the greats – but nothing beats jamming with Jimmy as part of the Black Crowes
- “The most powerful amp modeler for its size, bar none”: IK Multimedia TONEX ONE review
- “I was watching my best friend get eaten alive by heroin. It was amazing how far gone he was, physically, but he was still able to play the shows”: Failure’s Ken Andrews looks back on the fraught creation of 1996 cosmic epic, Fantastic Planet
July 8
- “The ID:Core V4 combos are obviously ideal first amps”: Blackstar’s cream-of-the-crop ID:Core practice amp has just been given a fitting finish update
- “He said, ‘This is the only lap steel I would go out and play rock and roll with... so this one's for you’”: Cage the Elephant's Nick Bockrath got his lap steel – and some of the best buying advice of his life – from Bob Dylan guitarist Bucky Baxter
- “He said, ‘I never want the band to go by the wayside and the music just disappear’”: Rickey Medlocke defends Lynyrd Skynyrd’s decision to continue with no original members
- “It's my mod on Frankenstein. Eddie's gonna come back and kill me!” Joe Satriani fears Eddie Van Halen will haunt him for what he’s done to his Frankenstein design
- 5 weird chord shapes that will add mystery, suspense and drama to your songwriting
- The guitar greats describe a good solo as a “song within a song” – here’s how to make it happen and craft a solo that makes a statement
- “He had this ’65 Firebird III hanging on the wall. It was one of the best guitars I’d ever played. Some weeks later, I dreamed about it. I was like, ‘That’s the Holy Grail!’” DeWolff’s Pablo van de Poel on the quest to land his literal dream guitar
- “He had me play a couple of odd muted things and groove for a while, and then he said ‘OK, you're it’”: Esteemed bassist Tom Fowler, best known for his work with Frank Zappa, has died aged 73
- How to test a beginner acoustic guitar in a guitar store: our step-by-step guide to buying your first acoustic in person
- “One piece of rock and roll history that has remained absent for three decades”: Eddie Van Halen’s long-lost Canada flag Music Man has been unseen for 30 years – now it’s going up for auction
- “I try to mimic robots playing guitar. It’s supposed to sound like a machine”: Introducing thall – the metal genre that’s djent’s colder, more evil younger brother
- “On this guitar, he carved out his legacy of being one of the greatest guitarists of all time”: Rory Gallagher’s iconic ’61 Fender Stratocaster is heading to auction for the first time ever
July 6
- “I haven't played much... I thought if I started playing, I would miss playing with the band and doing what we do”: Paul Stanley admits he hasn't picked up the guitar in a while for fear he'll miss Kiss
- “We walk into this music store, and the owner is making sure we didn't turn up with a lawyer – and then Robert Trujillo came in and saved the day!” The amazing story of how Jaco's Bass of Doom made its way back to Felix Pastorius
July 5
- “I knew that if I wanted to express myself, it was going to have to be through the guitar”: Why every guitarist owes something to the first rock 'n' roll guitar hero, Duane Eddy
- “I keep blowing things up. I need things that are very dependable and findable”: IDLES’ agents of chaos Mark Bowen and Lee Kiernan unleashed sonic anarchy on their new record – and coined the indie-rock equivalent of 'djent' in the process
- Joe Satriani shreds and taps through Van Halen’s Poundcake in new Best Of All Words rehearsal footage – and it seems his Ibanez signatures still have a role to play after all
- “I had a ridiculously long, complex chord and key change solo section. And who comes to mind? Steve Vai!” How Billy Morrison assembled a guitar lineup that includes John 5, Steve Stevens and Steve Vai for his triumphant comeback solo album
- “When I learned to drive, I'd drive so fast, and probably quite recklessly, to Appetite For Destruction”: Samantha Fish talks soloing strategies and blues heroes ahead of Slash’s S.E.R.P.E.N.T. Festival
- “When I heard the Rolling Stones, they sounded like a bad high school band to me. I didn't get it”: Tommy Emmanuel explains how a love of Chet Atkins meant he initially struggled to understand The Rolling Stones and Beatles hype
- “You may just want to leave it on all the time”: ThorpyFX Electric Lightning review
- Tim Henson’s Ibanez nylon-string signature guitar was one of 2023’s best-selling acoustics – now, it’s finally been made available as a left-handed version
- “The pinnacle of compact looper development”: DigiTech looks to shake up the looper market by reviving its latest stompbox staple, the upgraded JamMan Solo HD
- “Does anyone know how to play this?”: Yungblud is inviting fans on stage to play guitar – and he's letting them take home his SG Juniors
July 4
- Struggling to get the right feel in your fusion licks? This John Scofield-inspired lesson will teach you how to make your jazz playing strut
- “An essential member of one of the greatest American bands of all time”: Joe Bonamassa pays tribute to an unsung Les Paul legend
- “The whole guitar feels very alive in your hands. There’s punch and power, with a grainy detail to the big voice”: PJD Guitars St John Apprentice review
- “There was an edge-of-your-seat quality about the way my father played. If I have a little bit of that, it’s a great thing”: Duane Betts on balancing the musical legacy of his dad, Allman Brothers legend Dickey Betts
- “Redefining what it means to be a versatile instrument”: The Mogabi V3 is a foldable “electric guitar game-changer” with a built-in speaker – and it’s already smashed its Kickstarter target
- “He’s a guy that really invented electric guitar, and a lot of what people are doing today”: Jennifer Batten pays tribute to Jeff Beck, her former collaborator, with a searing cover of Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers
- “When I went into that fire burn I was thinking, ‘What's the worst that could happen?’” That time Rage Against the Machine's Tim Commerford injected himself with steroids then set himself on fire
- “It’s definitely out of the question. It's not gonna happen”: Two weeks ago, a Sepultura reunion looked likely – but now Max Cavalera has changed his mind
- A guitar with SoCal style: Powers Electric A-Type combines style and playability to inspire even the most demanding guitarist
- The On-the-Go Ciari Ascender guitar - ready for stage, studio, and everywhere in between
- “A lot of dedicated Who fans come to every show in order to see Roger hit me in the face again, for me to smash him over the head with a guitar”: Pete Townshend sets the record straight about Roger Daltrey's comments on The Who's retirement
- “They had spoken to me also. Who knows what was going on in their minds?” Michael Anthony says he and ex-Metallica bassist Jason Newsted were both approached for the failed Van Halen tribute
- “I said, ‘This is what Bill played’ and Mick said, ‘No no, don't play that!’” When he joined the Rolling Stones, Darryl Jones had to change the way he approached classic Bill Wyman basslines
- “It’s a primal, unconscious reaction. An honor bestowed upon only the best riffs”: What’s the science behind a stank face riff? We asked everyone from Mike Stringer to Periphery and Nik Nocturnal to define metal guitar’s ultimate accolade
- Save 80% with Guitar Tricks' best subscription offer of the year – including a free custom lesson plan to get you off to a flying start
- “I would need to show you exactly how to tune your guitar. Even at home, some people have trouble. Young guitarists tell me that regularly”: Mdou Moctar has ignored all of guitar’s standards – and become one of the world’s finest players in the process
- Harley Benton has already dropped the best-value Strat copies of the year – now it looks to do the same for single-cuts with the overhauled SC-Custom III range
- “I foresee a revival in 3-4 years that puts them toe-to-toe with Sweetwater”: Sam Ash Music has been acquired by Gonher Music – here’s what that could mean for the iconic retailer
- “Please know that I absolutely plan to be back on stage in 2025”: Heart postpone 2024 tour after Ann Wilson reveals she is undergoing cancer treatment
July 3
- “It was a half-hearted effort. I knew he would clock it”: Foo Fighters' Chris Shiflett once tried (and failed) to trick Joe Bonamassa into believing he had bought a genuine '59 Les Paul Burst
- Sister Rosetta Tharpe wielded her electric guitar with finesse and ferocity, creating the template for electric blues – this tutorial unpacks her full-force soloing style
- “All my life I’ve carried with me this guilt and feeling of, ‘Jeez, if only I could have stayed in the band and yet done all these other things’”: Steven Van Zandt reflects on leaving Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band just before their breakthrough
- “I sourced all the original microphones that were used on the record”: This Nirvana tone chaser has spent years learning how to nail Kurt Cobain's guitar sound – now he’s released his research in the form of The Utero Sessions IR Pack
- “These are two of the most popular drive flavors out there, tweaked and combined into something greater than the sum of their parts”: Beetronics Wannabee Beelateral Buzz review
- “Hear the difference in sound quality”: Fender amps up its home audio game with a series of Bluetooth speakers designed in collaboration with a German speaker giant
- “A really core thing for me that my dad always instilled”: Wolfgang Van Halen still lives by this crucial guitar solo lesson he got from his father
- Do I need a different guitar cable for studio, live, and practice?
- “That song has a pretty epic solo. I remember scratching my head a bit trying to figure out the harmonizer effects he was using”: This is one of the hardest guitar songs you could attempt to cover, according to cover pro Lord Phobos
- “I lost my footing with the guitar off the hook. I get up thinking, ‘I've broken the guitar.’ I couldn't believe it”: When he was 15, Jared James Nichols played a high-end Flying V at a guitar store – but it almost ended in total disaster
- Fender’s Road Worn guitars are becoming a rarity – but now you can make your own, with new vintage-inspired relic’d Stratocaster and Telecaster bodies
- “Do I get advantages that other collectors don’t? Absolutely! But I just got a 1959 Les Paul from a music store in Boston. Anybody could have walked in and bought it”: Joe Bonamassa on why he’s no ’Burst hog – and putting on his “British hat” with BCC
- “I remember watching Foo Fighters footage and thinking, ‘I need a band like that!’ No click tracks or extras – just real amps, real drums, real everything”: Meet Lowlives’ Lee Downer, the British rocker who just needs a cranked amp – and 169 guitars...
July 2
- “Met my guitar hero last night”: Grace Bowers finally meets Slash – whose Welcome to the Jungle solo inspired her to pick up guitar
- “It wasn’t a conscious decision to invent our own scale! The idea was to do something inspired by Jeff Buckley... but we added a mandolin”: The Last Dinner Party’s Emily Roberts is the jazz-schooled Queen-inspired indie guitar hero you’ve been waiting for
- “I think it sounds very close to vintage amps. If I hadn’t told you that, you probably wouldn’t have guessed, right?”: Foo Fighters' Chris Shiflett explains why he opted for a digital modeler over tube amps on his latest EP
- September 2024 Guitar World lesson videos
- “It reacts like a guitar amp”: Blackstar’s Polar 2 USB audio interface has been designed specifically for guitarists – and it could be the solution to all your guitar-recording woes
- “A nod to our past catering to vintage aficionados”: Antigua acoustics are now a thing, as Fender expands the divisive finish option to its California Vintage range
- “A vibrant Fender-y voice, lightweight feel and original style”: Ancoats Guitars New Islington review
- “There’s nothing like plugging into a great amp without anything in front. It’s like Italian food – it doesn’t have to be complicated, and uses great ingredients”: Richie Kotzen was once a Shrapnel shredder – now he’s moving away from “stun guitar”
- “A quintessential mashup of Fender features”: Squier debuts a new Paranormal Telecaster/Jazzmaster hybrid – and revives Fender's mischievous Les Paul-inspired 'Troublemaker' in a new affordable form
- Instrument cable vs speaker cable: what’s the difference?
- “I got food poisoning. When I’d stopped throwing up, the first thing we did was the solo for Love In An Elevator”: Joe Perry on the unlikely origins of Aerosmith’s greatest guitar moments – and the big regret of his 600-strong guitar collection
- “I had just moved to Olympia, and I heard some ruckus in the street, and then on my porch... it was Kurt Cobain and Dave Grohl”: Bassist Joe Preston on how he joined the Melvins – with a little help from Nirvana
- 6 of the best 4th of July sales for guitarists: Save up to 60% off guitars, amps, FX and accessories
- “I’ve gone from a kid who couldn’t go to the supermarket to playing with Buddy Guy and Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram”: This 16-year-old blues prodigy suffered extreme anxiety, then the guitar saved him – now he’s been called “the next Stevie Ray Vaughan”
- “A handy addition to your pedalboard if you're playing shows with poor monitoring”: Cloudvocal EverSync Wireless IEM review
- “Drawing inspiration from the line that laid way for Fender’s sub-sonic signal processing”: Fender’s flagship Bassman pedal series will help you build the basics of any bass ‘board – and prices start from $99
July 1
- “Pure Bassman tone that’s virtually indistinguishable from the original”: Fender expands the Tone Master range with its first-ever tweed model – and it's a digital repro of the best-sounding Fender amp of all time
- “The most exciting guitar for me in years”: Dweezil Zappa's newest signature guitar is here – and it’s as wacky as you’d expect
- “Full-frequency wireless audio with sparkling clarity”: With the Micro-sized Telepath, Fender is promising to fix your wireless guitar issues
- “This wasn’t Seth Lover’s instinctual way to create a pickup. This was Les Paul in his ear saying, ‘This is what you should do”: The story – and tones – behind Gibson’s distinctive Alnico V ‘Staple pickup’
- “Gary Moore was a formidable character and seemed a bit moody, but I respected him as a guitarist”: Neil Carter discusses his near 30-year relationship with the British blues rock great – and why, when it comes to UFO, he’s learned to never say never
- “Do I ever feel the need to breakout the shred? Absolutely. All the time”: Meet Lime Garden’s Leila Deeley – the UK guitarist refreshing indie-pop with a heavy-strung Jaguar and a $30 fuzz pedal
- “Me not being in Slayer sucks. I want Slayer to exist. This is the only way I know how to do that”: Thrash icon Kerry King on flying solo, the reunion shows that were never going to happen – and why he doesn’t demo with modelers
- Spruce, Sassafras and sugar pine: Fender gets experimental with tonewoods for its new limited edition American Performer Timber models
- “Legendary design and quintessential tone”: Squier just gave the six-string Jazz Bass VI its Affinity series debut – and it costs less than $350
- From the Tom DeLonge-inspired Starcaster Deluxe to its first Thinline Tele and a rare Jaguar appearance – Squier’s affordable Affinity series just got a major new expansion
- “Slash has jammed with B.B. King – not many rockers could hang with the blues OGs like that”: Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram first heard Slash on Guitar Hero – now he’s hitting the road in the GN'R man’s traveling blues show
- “Our hero, forever. One of the most amazing people on Earth”: Michael J. Fox inspired Coldplay to become a band. To say thanks, Chris Martin invited him onstage to play guitar during their record-breaking Glastonbury headline set