Features archive
January 2024
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96 articles
- January 31
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- “Digital stuff is valid and has a great musical tone… the day to replace tube amps is here”: 50 years on, Buck Dharma is proud of Blue Öyster Cult’s ride, but he isn't afraid to change things up from night to night
- “Duane Allman played a great solo, came back, and Eric says, ‘Well, I want to do mine again!’ This went on for at least an hour or two”: How Eric Clapton went from God to all-round guitar genius in the ’70s
- 11 reasons every beginner guitar player should take lessons
- January 30
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- “Geordie was a true inventor of a massive sound that has influenced so damn many of us”: Remembering Geordie Walker, the sonic maverick whose playing could brutalise and beguile
- “A bass overdrive gives me more control over which frequencies push forward when I want to take more risks”: Yvette Young spills the secrets of her pedalboard – and names the one stompbox she could play an entire show with
- January 29
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- “What Ace Frehley and Joe Perry do isn’t precise, there’s some sloppiness, but they know how to create a wide sound... it’s unlike anyone else”: Low-end veteran Chris Wyse on his Metallica audition and his love of the Gibson Ripper L-9 and Tech 21 SansAmp
- “We just tuned to whoever’s guitar sounded most in tune. That’s how green we were in the studio!” Jake Burns on Wilko Johnson, mistranslations, and Stiff Little Fingers’ punk classic, Inflammable Material
- January 27
- January 26
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- “A lot of the pedals I use are to make guitars sound less like guitars”: Travis Johnson reveals the PS-3 secrets behind Activity’s sound, and what’s next for Trap Door Electronics
- “90 percent of my guitars are in mint condition – untouched and unmolested... The last 10 percent – those are the ones I play on the road”: Joe Bonamassa on his legendary collection, perseverance, and how he picks his touring guitars
- January 25
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- “Before me it was classic Fender Jazz, but I showed up with a bunch of Yamaha basses. Billy Corgan was totally cool with that… it’s never been, ‘Do what I say or else’”: How Jack Bates splits his loyalties between Smashing Pumpkins and his dad, Peter Hook
- “It’s not like Exodus where it’s 95 percent crunching guitars. I had to really concentrate on not playing so many notes”: Rick Hunolt on his cinematic second act with DieHumane
- “I had a couple of solos mapped out, but for the most part I just go for it... I think that you lose all the soul if you think about it too much”: Roy Z on keeping things simple and song-serving with Bruce Dickinson and Rob Halford's solo bands
- January 24
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- “Nobody in my school listened to bands like Cacophony. They were into emo and goth, but I became obsessed with metal and shred guitar”: How Cobra Spell’s Sonia Anubis is keeping the L.A. ‘80s metal guitar flag flying high
- “Nobody in Decca studios had ever witnessed somebody setting up their guitar and amp and playing at that volume. People in the canteen were complaining”: How Eric Clapton revolutionized electric guitar in the ‘60s
- January 23
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- “When 18 and Life played back and I heard Scotti play the first three notes in the solo, I got chills. I called Jon Bon Jovi and said, 'Do you ever get chills listening to your own music?'”: Snake Sabo and Scotti Hill on Skid Row's massive debut album
- “Bass should stand on its own. It’s as powerful as the guitar”: Conrad Lant on his disdain for Ampeg SVTs and how he bought Andy Fraser’s Gibson EB-3 for £50 – “It was the exact one he played on All Right Now!”
- “We were auditioning for bass players, but most of the guys who came in were too good. One day I just said, ‘What if I play bass?’” Shavo Odadjian on why he switched from guitar to the bass
- “All there was left for me in Minneapolis was to work for Prince, and I had no desire to – I’d heard too many stories. I got bored… I quit playing guitar for two years”: How Binky Griptite reinvented himself – and ended up playing with Amy Winehouse
- “Session players don’t get the credit they deserve. Some of the signature licks they come up with are ones people won’t know they wrote”: Brent Mason on why session guitarists deserve more respect, and how he became Nashville’s hottest hired gun
- “It looked cool – especially when you took acid… those horns looked like the devil!”: The Doors’ Robby Krieger on his love of the SG, studio accidents and a challenging move away from his signature fingerstyle
- How the Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress became the go-to flanger for David Gilmour and Andy Summers, and remained a pedalboard staple for nearly 50 years
- January 22
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- “The message for tube nostalgists is clear: enjoy today what may not be here tomorrow”: Can the tube amp survive in the digital era?
- “I remember running over to Carlos Santana and asking him to bless my pick to allow me to cross through the portal of his powers”: Porno For Pyros are NOT over – but Peter DiStefano already has a lifetime of tales from the band
- “I got a call from David Bowie’s people to record Let’s Dance. I became a big advocate of Stevie Ray Vaughan in the studio. Nobody else could play like him”: Session bass great Carmine Rojas shares the stories behind his awe-inspiring resume
- January 19
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- Stratocaster vs Telecaster: What’s the difference between these legendary guitar siblings?
- “We didn’t realize we were breaking up as it was happening”: The Beatles intended to go back to their roots on Let It Be – instead, they documented the collapse of their magical creative partnership
- “No brand comes close to Suhr as far as quality. My guitar also has an actual Fender bridge, even if it’s challenging to keep in tune… I’ve been playing out of tune live for years anyway!” Fusion master Scott Henderson on why he’s not a jazz guitarist
- Meet the Lightning Bar, the new Gibson Les Paul mod that might have just settled the top-wrapping debate once and for all
- “Guitar was harder than I thought, but things clicked once I learned Sweet Child O’ Mine… my teacher thought I’d want to learn Taylor Swift!” With help from Bumblefoot and Tracii Guns, Sierra Levesque, 18, stakes a claim as the future of rock ’n’ roll
- “We joke about people that aren’t into this kind of music, and how it all sounds the same to them – it’s all ‘devil, devil, devil!’ – but heavy music brings a lot of people joy”: End Reign’s Domenic Romeo on the extreme-metal supergroup’s ripping debut
- January 18
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- “We tried to sell it and the guy in the shop said it was the worst guitar he’d ever seen in his life”: The Pretenders’ James Walbourne on a shocking first guitar, gear regrets and the big sounds of single coils
- “Ben Cote wanted a bottle opener on his strap, which is something every guitarist needs whether they know it or not!” Inside the rise of Fairfield Guitar Co., strap company to the stars
- “We didn’t expect to be playing gay pride festivals, but drag queens and DJs took to us… a great song is great, no matter who plays it”: How GayC/DC took AC/DC classics and “turned up the volume on the sex and aggression”
- “I couldn’t play the Hydra and I was in a lot of pain. Then things shifted into gear. I felt like I’d reached another dimension of performing”: Steve Vai on his Inviolate tour struggles, upcoming G3 reunion and first-ever music with Joe Satriani
- January 17
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- “Slap bass got too technical. I stopped when it became all about triplets”: Preston Crump on gaining fame with Outkast and why he stopped playing slap bass
- “When you’re the bass player and it’s time for the solo, you go nuts, because you’ve been playing rhythm for everyone else for so long!” Tony Visconti on David Bowie’s The Man Who Sold The World
- “When Noel asked me to join High Flying Birds, he said I could use any of his gear. I asked if he still had the Epiphone Sheraton, and he said, ‘Yeah.’ I said, ‘OK, I’ll join’”: Gem Archer on playing with Oasis – and both Gallagher brothers’ solo projects
- “Having one ’board makes for less anxiety and lets me focus on what matters most”: Laur Joamets of Lore and Drivin’ & Cryin’ reveals what’s on his pedalboard
- “What bass would Neo play? An upright bass. He’s going to want to play some jazz. With Morpheus on drums. We’ll be a power trio with Agent Smith on keys”: We interviewed Keanu Reeves about bass guitar – and it was a musical conversation unlike any other
- January 16
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- “Some bass parts are functional and some are creative: you don’t need to play Rachmaninoff when the band wants Al Green”: The man behind Elvis Costello’s finest albums recalls his life as a main Attraction
- “I want to hit every single note on an entire tour’s worth of gigs – then I want to write a symphony that people will listen to for a long time”: Ryujin shredder Ryoji Shinomoto has lofty ambitions – and his astonishing technique could make them a reality
- “I’m trying to chase a sound I’m hearing in my head – and basically, whatever everybody else is doing, I try to run away from”: Stevie Ray Vaughan inspired him to get serious. Now Ariel Posen is blazing his own trail
- “Tony Hicks from the Hollies popped into the studio and said, ‘That’s my guitar.’ I thought, ‘F**k me, I’ve bought a stolen Les Paul!’” Steve Diggle of the Buzzcocks on the making of their 1978 punk classic, Another Music in a Different Kitchen
- “I tend to think if you wouldn’t sing it, don’t play it”: Session player turned Mamas Gun guitar slinger Terry Lewis on the enduring majesty of the 335 semi-hollow and what he learned from Larry Carlton
- January 15
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- “A lot of people think I came out of the womb playing guitar. I’ve been around it forever because of my dad”: Meet Amber Wild, the twin-guitar rock supernova featuring Evan Stanley
- “The Rise solo was anointed by whatever DNA I grabbed from Edward that day. Whatever kiss he gave me on the lips, I went back into the studio and brought it with me”: Nuno Bettencourt unpicks the guitar solo that kept Van Halen’s fire burning
- “If I’ve written a section for an epic ‘John Petrucci on a mountain’ solo, I’d rather do my best impression for the self-satisfaction”: Plini maintains he’s “still a greedy lead player at heart” – so why did he give a solo to Tosin Abasi on his new EP?
- January 12
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- 13 essential things to learn when you first start playing the guitar
- “We’d love to be plugging PRS guitars into Mesa/Boogie amps, but for now it’s an old, worn-out Gibson Les Paul Studio”: Return to Dust’s brand of grunge metal has millions of views on TikTok. Now they face the challenges of entering the real world
- Short-scale vs long-scale bass: what's the difference?
- “It was a huge risk – to this day I’m wondering if I pulled it off or not. But it was how I felt inside. I didn’t want picture-perfect solos”: Kirk Hammett reflects on his all-improv lead approach – and explains why he doesn’t sweat onstage mistakes
- January 11
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- “Lars said, ‘You’re not really used to this kind of music, are you?’” Les Claypool on his failed Metallica audition
- “We never went into this band with any expectations, so we’ve never been disappointed… We just love making music together”: Teenage Fanclub on fame, perseverance and ice cream with Nirvana
- “My dad showed that the bass can play an equal role in melodic and rhythmic invention”: Heavenly Cream mastermind Malcolm Bruce doesn’t use Jack Bruce’s gear, but he can tell you how to easily get his father’s sound
- “If I’m working with another person watching me, I feel like I have to make them happy. When I’m alone, if I f**k up, I can say ‘F**k it’ and go home”: George Lynch is done with big studios – and he won’t build a Mr. Scary guitar for Michael Sweet
- Everything guitar players need to know about reverb, from the history of the effect to how to get the best from your pedals
- Fender Jaguar vs Mustang: What’s the difference?
- January 10
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- “As a kid, I became fascinated: blues, banjo playing, English traditional music, Scots music”: How Martin Simpson is reworking trad Appalachian standards and turning them into folk guitar masterworks
- Download and stream the audio from Total Guitar 380
- “Eric Clapton’s a great guitarist, but Gary Moore’s a more exciting player”: Jack Bruce on the brilliance of Gary Moore and why Cream’s real chemistry was between Bruce and Ginger Baker
- “Tommy Bolin said, ‘Joe Walsh quit the James Gang. He wants to start a new band, and I told him you’re the guy’”: Kenny Passarelli has played with rock royalty, but it’s his recordings with Bolin that would “blow you away” – if he could let you hear them
- “I had two viable options: to be in Megadeth or not. I chose my personal life. No regrets”: Kiko Loureiro opens up on what he meant by “freedom,” how he trained up his replacement, and why he suggested Marty Friedman should return
- January 9
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- “I had a couple of passes at the solo, and that was it. Keith’s playing great – and it’s unusual to hear me playing at full acceleration outside of Led Zeppelin”: Jimmy Page on his surprise Rolling Stones collaboration, and the gear that made rock history
- “I don’t like outward complexity – I enjoy being stealthy about it, and Steely Dan are beacons for that”: Meet Sam Vallen, the shredder swiping yacht rock chords and turning them into one of 2024’s best prog-metal albums with Caligula’s Horse
- “It’s been interesting doing the avatars so far... it’ll take some time to get the imagery where we want it to be”: Tommy Thayer looks to a virtual future with Kiss, and considers “options on the table” because he’s not ready to retire yet
- “I still love that idea of a solo singer-songwriter being able to communicate with just their guitar and vocal”: Christina Martin on making the leap from cheap Gretsches to fancy Duesenbergs, and why pedals stress her out
- “Wherever we travel, people say how important we were in terms of influencing them. When I was growing up, there was only Suzi Quatro to look up to”: Girlschool’s Kim McAuliffe and Jackie Chambers on 45 years of a great British rock institution
- January 8
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- “The SA-126 is way beyond a typical semi-hollow. There’s nothing else like that guitar. It’s like a hot rod, but with a souped-up modern engine”: Wolfgang Van Halen on building the supersized sound of Mammoth II (with some help from Eddie’s Frankenstein)
- “Playing with Victor Wooten? It’s always as much fun as a challenge. But I quickly learned that you should go first when it comes to soloing!” From the Allman Brothers Band to Dave Grohl, Oteil Burbridge has played with them all
- “I’ve always found them to be extraordinarily versatile guitars – you can play any kind of music on them”: Rockabilly great Darrel Higham on why he uses only Gretsch guitars – and that time he bought a 6120 he found lying around Jeff Beck’s house
- “I think about Van Halen a lot. I have to play some treacherous licks, so I need the right kind of inspiration. I’m overplaying to an extent – it’s gotta be huge and bombastic”: Brendon Small on writing Dethklok’s brutal final act
- “You’re always trying to get rid of buzzes when recording, so I came up with the idea of trying to make them groove instead”: How Victor Wooten created a groove without touching his bass guitar
- January 5
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- “They counted me in and I ripped through the first solo that came to mind. They stopped the tape, and Paul Stanley went, ‘Dude… will you wear high heels?’” Steve Farris on his close call with Kiss before he formed Mr. Mister (who he might rejoin)
- “I never really loved just playing chords. They eat up so much space, sonically and rhythmically. Doing things that were sparse was more effective to me”: Dante DeCaro on firing up his Jazzmasters for his Hot Hot Heat return
- “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
- January 4
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- “When someone wants to rehearse before the session, that’s the kiss of death”: Watch Lee Sklar’s playthrough of Steve Lukather’s Stab in the Back
- “I've always played with a pick, but up until the fifth Foo Fighters record, I never played downstrokes”: How Nate Mendel changed the way he played bass to “support Dave’s songs as best as possible”
- Tired? Bored? Small hands? These are the top 8 excuses for avoiding guitar practice – and how to beat them
- 10 mistakes every beginner guitarist makes
- Download and stream the audio from Guitar Techniques 357
- “The process with Robert was so intense – I feel like I helped create almost a new genre with King Crimson with each piece of music we made”: Trey Gunn on what he learned from Robert Fripp – and how to tame the Warr Guitar
- “Django Reinhardt was our god – I played a Selmer Maccaferri-style guitar, grew a mustache, wore a suit... the whole thing”: Big Thief’s Buck Meek names 10 guitarists who shaped his sound
- “People think his playing is all about the big riffs, but I always loved his jazzy playing – listen to Planet Caravan. You can hear a lot of passing tones”: Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt says there’s way more to Tony Iommi’s guitar style than riffs alone
- Get your acoustic guitar sounding its best by solving these common saddle and bridge pin problems
- January 3
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- “A lot of kids think drop-tuning is this new thing that just came out and it’s like, ‘No way, Jimi Hendrix was doing that stuff a long time ago!’” Eric Gales on the lasting influence and innovations of the ultimate electric guitar icon
- “I feel like if you have an expensive amp, you can make any guitar sound good”: Robert Jon & The Wreck’s Henry James Schneekluth on his modded Epiphone workhorse, his best gear buys – and a Dragon Tele that lacks fire
- I love the sound of a good neck pickup – but practicing on the bridge pickup has made me a better guitarist
- January 2
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- The world’s most influential guitar gear designers: meet the pioneers behind the innovations that changed the electric guitar forever
- Anatomy of a BOSS pedal: 10 ingenious design features that changed stompboxes forever
- “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
- The 20 greatest bass solos of all time – from the fastest ‘lead bass guitarist’ to the only bass solo James Jamerson ever recorded
- “I was worried my Magnatone was going to be too much, but Neil’s little Fender Deluxe is loud as f**k. That thing is tiny but mighty”: Micah Nelson is son of Willie Nelson and plays guitar for Neil Young. Here’s what he learned from those elder statesmen
- “I’ve never had a guitar lesson. I was born with a certain technique that many people, namely Tommy Thayer, can’t duplicate”: Kiss guitar icon Ace Frehley on why new album 10,000 Volts is the best he’s ever made – and a wake-up call for his ex-bandmates
- January 1
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- “If a modern player delivered a Jimmy Page solo, they’d get crucified”: Nita Strauss discusses the Led Zeppelin icon’s unique ability to play the right thing in any situation
- “People who play solidbody guitars don’t have this happen. The whole thing shakes. You feel it. It’s the best thing in the world, for me”: Brian Setzer on his lifelong love of Gretsch guitars
