Latest articles by David Mead
Sting guitarist Dominic Miller: “You gave Jeff Beck a tennis racket and a transistor radio, he’d make it sound perfect”
It's not the gear, it's the player says Miller, but then, those vintage Telecasters and ES-335s sure do come in handy
Gibson J-45 50s Faded, J-35 30s Faded and Hummingbird Faded review
A trio of Gibson dreadnoughts with faded satin nitro finishes, vintage appointments and modern-day electronics. Serious players or mere novelty acts? Let the auditions begin…
Takamine LTD2022 review
One of two limited-edition models that celebrate Takamine’s 60th Anniversary, both of which engage the charms of Hawaiian koa in their construction. Let’s take a closer look
Peter Frampton details his farewell tour guitar rig
It's a stereo rig, it's massive, and Frampton feels a little embarrassed by its size. Here, he takes us through the guitars and amps behind his farewell tour
Barrie Cadogan talks about his great gear hits and misses, and explains why the Squier 40th Anniversary Jazzmaster is a winner for fans of old-school offsets
The Little Barrie main man opens up about a stellar deal on a ’62 Epiphone Crestwood and his fondness for P-90 pickups
Chris Buck: “We were shooting for Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon meets Ray LaMontagne”
The Cardinal Black guitarist details the gear behind the gourmet tones on the band's crowdfunded debut album, January Came Close
Peter Frampton on the highs and lows of his remarkable guitar journey, meeting George Harrison, and how David Bowie made him cool again
From early pop stardom with The Herd to Frampton Comes Alive! and finding salvation in Bowie’s band, Frampton reflects on a rollercoaster career and the darker side of fame…
Breedlove Eco Pursuit EX S Concert Sweetgrass review
An acoustic guitar where sustainability and ecological common sense are a design and build priority. But do all these good intentions add up to a great-sounding instrument?
The Proclaimers’ Charlie Reid talks acoustic guitars, songwriting and working with James Dean Bradfield on the Scottish rock institution's life-affirming new album
The Proclaimers are back with their own signature brand of earworm choruses tempered with that familiar Scottish lilt, and it's a sound that takes many Taylor acoustics to put together
Meet Dom Martin, the Belfast-born guitarist who may just be Rory Gallagher’s musical inheritor
They start guitar players young in Ulster. Dom Martin began playing aged 5, but after support slots with Eric Gales and a thrilling new album, is this the next blues-rock great from the six counties?
Fairport Convention’s Simon Nicol looks back on 55 years of the band that transformed British music
Nicol reflects on a guitar journey that went on to change the country's musical landscape, writing new songs that sounded like they had been recovered from the century before
Hugh Cornwell: “I can’t fathom what the attraction is about a relic guitar. It’s battered and beaten up, and suddenly it’s 10 times the price?”
The ex-Stranglers guitarist confesses to being a bona fide Tele addict and talks about the business of buying and selling gear, including a peach of a deal on a ’64 Silvertone
Nili Brosh: “For me, the playability is big... I don’t think anybody’s wish is to feel like the guitar is fighting them and everything is harder to play”
The shred phenom talks gear philosophy, greatest hits and misses, explains the benefits of the high-performance six-string – and how to get the weird sounds Danny Elfman likes
Julian Lage: “A lot of what you hear on this record is first or second take. I like the tape to be rolling when I'm writing because there's a certain sense of discovery”
The guitarist's new album, View With A Room, is full of his signature virtuoso-level guitar playing with splashes of colour provided by special guest Bill Frisell
Cort Flow-OC and Gold-A6 Bocote review
A pair of contrasting all-solid wood acoustic-electrics from Cort’s Chinese workshop with a host of innovative features to their name
John Petrucci talks buying and selling guitars: “I’m completely illiterate in the world of vintage guitars and Les Pauls and Strats and all that stuff”
Dream Theater’s magus of the fretboard on the Les Paul copy that sparked his love of humbuckers and why he might give Django a run for his money…
Al Di Meola on how a legendary live session with Paco de Lucía and John McLaughlin came to light after 40 years
The sequel to a jazz-fusion guitar classic finally arrives as Saturday Night in San Francisco gets restored for an official release
Robert Fripp in-depth: his quest to combine Hendrix and Bartók, what made King Crimson “problematic” and why he has “no interest in gear at all”
In this exclusive interview, we sit down with the brilliant and divisive progressive guitar icon to discuss the art of Guitar Craft and the highs and lows of King Crimson – and get an intimate look at his guitar collection
John Scofield: “When you’re playing without a band, all kinds of subtleties in your playing come out, maybe good and bad… You really hear what you’re doing”
On his latest album, Solo, the jazz guitar luminary plays alone with just a looper for company, and it turned out to be a learning experience that was a lot of fun too
Eastman E20OOSS/v and E20SS/v review
Two models that hark back to the glory days of acoustic guitar making – but there’s a very subtle twist to the tale...
Andrew Gabbard: “My love for Firebirds comes from Neil Young because he had a Firebird pickup in his Goldtop and they just cut through”
The Black Keys sideman and songwriter says good things come in small packages: namely, mini-humbuckers and Fender amps
Larry McCray: “When I saw Gary Moore’s live show and heard the sound that he was getting, I was like, ‘Man, I’ve got to come up with something a bit more powerful’”
The resurgent bluesman discusses the making of his new record, his love of the Flying V and how, despite his concerns, he had the time of his life in the studio with Joe Bonamassa
John McLaughlin: “I fell in love with the guitar and even started sleeping with it, that’s how much I loved it”
The jazz-fusion guitar legend shares stories, reflections and life lessons from a career spent pushing the envelope
