Latest articles by Ellie Rogers
FINNEAS on bringing guitar back to pop – and why he loves Fender’s Acoustasonic Tele
The producer and guitarist shares his recording insight, his new Fender signature model, plus the playing discussions he has with Billie Eilish
Meet Daniel ‘Dafreez’ Johnston, the “blues rave-up” pioneer combining folk fingerstyle and EDM
Teaming classic Strat sounds with tightly sync'd delays in My Baby, Daniel ‘Dafreez’ Johnston is a mercurial guitar talent
“Her number one piece of feedback is to be quieter”: FINNEAS reveals his guitar technique debates with Billie Eilish
The artist and super-producer recalls recording guitars on Eilish's latest album, HIT ME HARD AND SOFT, and why the Fender Acoustasonic is a key tool in his production toolkit
The 50 greatest acoustic guitar songs of all time
As voted for by you, this list spans some of the most significant acoustic moments ever committed to tape – and features a controversial winner…
How Thunder Mother’s pregnant guitarist Filippa Nässil changed her rig to suit her bump
The Swedish hard rocker details the challenges of staying on the road into her third trimester – and why it proves you can have everything you want
Meet Heartworms, the six-string experimentalist who went from busking for rent to playing the Royal Albert Hall with St. Vincent
Self-taught and self-motivated, Jojo Orme expresses herself through her complex pedal arrangements and quest for uncomfortable riffs
Susan Tedeschi on the making of her long-awaited signature Telecaster and the next generation of blues guitar heroes
The blues powerhouse’s first signature Fender has been a long time coming. She explains why it has finally given her confidence in her guitar playing – and names the up-and-coming players she’s keeping an eye on
Meet husband-and-wife guitar team Spotlights, the dreamsludge tonesmiths championed by Mike Patton
Dreamsludge, doomgaze, doomsludge… Whatever you call them, Mario and Sarah Quintero are producing some of the heaviest tones in the business. They reveal how they do it – and why couples who riff together, stay together
Meet Anthony Pirog – the John Frusciante favorite who’s jamming with Fugazi’s rhythm section
The D.C. virtuoso has joined forces with his heroes as The Messthetics
Mike Kinsella on his journey to cult guitar hero status with American Football
As his latest Owen album looms, the guitarist reflects on how he discovered the tunings that made him so influential, doing it all without pedals and why he can only play Teles
12 blues guitar albums that chart the genre – and the instrument’s – evolution
From Son House to Eric Gales, John Lee Hooker to Albert Collins, these classics highlight how blues guitar has changed over the years – its stories, tones and techniques all passed down and reinvented
“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
As the pop-shred maestro honed his fruit-inspired instrumental math-rock technique, Ibanez warned him his neck-pickup-only AZ might look bad – but it turned out to be his perfect guitar
How does a Welsh rock band that trades in “filthy, nasty guitar tones” end up writing a song with Brian Johnson of AC/DC? Himalayas’ Mike Griffiths explains the story behind their “unexpected gift”
The Welsh rockers’ debut album, From Hell to Here, is essential listening for those who like rock from the garage and the desert – especially where the guitar “sounds quite wild a lot of the time”
“I’ve always picked up my dad’s guitars, but I wasn’t that serious about it. Then I realized it was natural to me – it was so deep in my soul I didn’t have a choice”: Thurston Moore loved her demos. Now Devon Ross is journeying from actor to guitarist
Inspired by ‘60s pop and ’90s alt-rock alike, the Fender Mustang-toting Irma Vep star – and daughter of Lenny Kravitz guitarist Craig Ross – brought her debut EP to fruition with help from the Sonic Youth icon
“Technical playing can get cleaner, and that’s possibly even more challenging than just being faster”: We met the academics who study shred guitar for a living – they explained why it’s changed dramatically since the ’80s, and the 3 ways it can develop
A new study documents the challenges facing modern-day virtuosos, who not only have to balance perfection and authenticity, but now have to be “10 things that used to be 10 full-time professions”
“I love Gibson – I always have. Even though people like Slash play Les Pauls, for me they work better in a jazzier sound-world”: Jimmy Page was bowled over by her playing. Now Rosie Frater-Taylor is injecting jazz solos into pop for an all-new sound
Inspired by jazz-go-pop stars like George Benson and Pat Metheny, the Pickup Music tutor and rising star has a unique guitar-meets-vocal vamping style
“Sometimes it’s not really about complexity. There are some jazz tunes that are incredibly simple like AC/DC”: How Matteo Mancuso is redrawing the frontier for guitar and unlocking the fretboard one chord at a time
The fingerstyle fusion phenom talks technique, the illusion of jazz complexity – the reality of the guitar's complexity – and why everything is okay so long as you land on a good note
“Basically, I climb up telegraph poles late at night, tear down the cabling with my bare hands and use that to string my guitar!”: Jon Gomm on how he's using wild tunings, giant strings, and lessons from Jeff Beck's whammy work to redefine the acoustic
If you want to be a revolutionary player, you need a revolutionary attitude, and Gomm says that means looking for sounds you have never heard before
“It’s a little bit softer and you get a different attack”: Matteo Mancuso took the guitar world by storm with his otherworldly playing style – now he’s revealed the secret to his flawless fingerpicking tone: fake nails
He's already given his advice on crafting better lead lines. Now, the young virtuoso has kindly revealed how you can get natural tones to match
“In trying to make this huge sound, she ended up with this ‘one-person band’ approach that was completely different to the guitarists that’d gone before”: Jon Gomm on how Joni Mitchell changed progressive acoustic guitar forever
One acoustic hero pays tribute to another, with Gomm pinpointing the pioneering approaches championed by Mitchell that make her one of the most influential acoustic players of all time
“Eric Clapton played with a stately authority. It’s missing in guitar today. It seems every great player has to play very fast. It can be distasteful, honestly”: Scott Holiday says Slowhand’s slow hand is still the gold standard for expressive playing
Clapton remains an ever-present force in the Rival Sons star’s own sound – here’s why Holiday views his hero as one of the most influential guitarists of all time
“When you’re playing pop, you need to get the ego out of the way. You’re trying to elevate the song, rather than be heard as a guitar player”: The key to good pop guitar, says MUNA guitarist Josette Maskin, is to play less than you actually want to
Inspired by Jeff Beck and session legend Paul Jackson Jr, Josette Maskin explains how MUNA balances three guitar players, how they ended up using fuzz more than distortion, and why label boss Phoebe Bridgers is underrated as a guitarist
“Eddie was like a new sun appearing in the sky. You could sense that the world would never be the same”: From the big bang of Eruption to tone tips and warm-ups – Paul Gilbert shares the knowledge gleaned from a lifetime studying Eddie Van Halen
The shred icon salutes his greatest influence – with the insight of a fellow guitar obsessive
“A Whammy pedal might be sacrilege on a vintage National, but live, it’s really interesting!” Troy Redfern may play slide guitar, but he doesn’t want to sound like Derek Trucks – and his bold solo approach blazes a new blues trail
There's already a lot of hype about the British blues maestro's new Kickstarter-funded album. Redfern checks in to share his unconventional gear pairings, and how his solos are informed by Frank Zappa's musical philosophy
“It was so fun to learn how to play the doubleneck – there’s so many switches and knobs that it was essentially like learning another instrument”: Emily Wolfe is expanding her guitar arsenal – and processing rage through gnarly tones
The Epiphone signature artist isn't missing any targets on new album The Blowback, turning up the fury with a jerry-rigged DIY guitar sound that's set to blow
