Features archive

May 2024

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118 articles

May 31
- “Space Guitar has to be heard to be believed. If one track could carve a path up to and beyond Hendrix, this is it”: The life and times of Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson, the true guitar original who inspired Zappa and SRV – plus Ice Cube, Jay-Z and Mary J. Blige
- “People are always surprised that I’m playing a P-Bass and he’s playing a Stratocaster – it’s crazy just how heavy they can be”: Meet husband-and-wife guitar team Spotlights, the dreamsludge tonesmiths championed by Mike Patton
- “I had an existential crisis with my pedalboard after leaving the Smashing Pumpkins”: Jeff Schroeder reveals his epic post-Pumpkins pedal rig, inspired by Rival Sons’ Scott Holiday
May 30
- “It was the first kind of ‘bass solo’ I’d been allowed to throw on a Rush song. I wanted to trade off with Alex, but he didn’t want to get into that”: Geddy Lee offers his track-by-track guide to Vapor Trails – the album that saved Rush
- Fender currently makes over 100 Stratocasters – here’s how to choose the Strat that’s right for you
- “Glenn is all over this album. He’s playing on a lot of the songs, but those moments where he wasn’t able to, Richie is carrying that metal torch for him”: How Judas Priest made a blockbuster new album in the face of adversity – and became unstoppable
- “It’s a five-string guitar, since I don’t use a high E string. That came from when I broke a tuning peg”: Pat Beers honed a one-handed, five-string guitar technique so he can cause more onstage chaos with The Schizophonics
- “I use the Tube Screamer because of the tone knob. You can turn it on slightly to get a Guitar Slim tone”: The Tube Screamer that Stevie Ray Vaughan really used – and why it may not be the one you expect
May 29
- “You can put the best solo in the world in an average song and nobody is going to care. Put an average solo in a great song and you’ve still got a great song”: Rich Robinson on why he reunited the Black Crowes – and revitalized their guitar lineup
- “I knew my pentatonic scales before I went to Berklee – and 90% of the time that’s what I’m called upon to play”: For the third time in his career, Chris Chaney has landed one of bassdom’s most coveted gigs – a slot in the re-energized AC/DC
- ESP vs LTD Guitars: What's the difference?
- Download and stream the audio from Guitar Techniques 362
- “I was trying to be Dave Navarro or Vito Bratta – those moments where you go into the spotlight with wind blowing”: Terry Corso on how he finally fused ’80s shred with nu metal for Alien Ant Farm’s surprising comeback
- How we test beginner acoustic guitars
- “Music is such therapy for me. When I’m writing a song I’ll say something I didn’t know I was bothered about”: For Darius Rucker, the industry has brought joy and cut him to the bone. Now he’s written a book on living with his mental health challenges
- Download and stream the audio from Total Guitar 385
- “People started saying I looked like Voldemort!” Joe Satriani and Steve Vai look back at their classic Guitar World covers – and the star guitars they loved and lost
May 28
- “If we lose the amp-making business, we lose everything. We’ve got to go back and show the guitarist community that Marshall truly cares about them”: From digital amps to modelers and mods – Marshall’s new CEO has big plans to win back guitar players
- “Chuck Berry’s manager said, ‘Nobody’s allowed to play any Chuck Berry songs.’ We started Roll Over Beethoven – he ran onstage and tried to stop us”: The Liverbirds played alongside the Beatles and the Rolling Stones – and paved the way for women in rock
- “Randy indirectly got me the gig. He told Kevin, ‘Hey, you should check out this guy. My students are saying he’s really good. Give him a call for Quiet Riot’”: Carlos Cavazo forged ’80s hair metal excess, replaced Randy Rhoads and riffed with Ratt
- “When I was very young I didn’t have access to Western music. In 2016, I was first introduced to Eddie Van Halen and Jimi Hendrix”: Mdou Moctar is one of Africa’s premier guitar heroes – and he’s using his Stratocaster to spark a revolution
- “The people I listened to most are the guitar players from the 1920s, who are some of the best that ever did it”: Charlie Hunter has played with John Mayer, D’Angelo and Frank Ocean – just don’t call him a session guitarist
May 27
- “People always want to go to extremes. And if you go to the edge, you must be prepared to fall off”: Phil Lynott’s 5 best basslines with Thin Lizzy and beyond
- Taylor Swift, Phoebe Bridgers and Bob Dylan are all fans of the rubber bridge guitar. I played one for a month to find out what the hype was about – and it wasn’t at all what I expected
- “The coach of the Dallas Mavericks came up to me after the show and said, ‘What’s your dream guitar?’ I said a 1960 Fender Stratocaster. A few days later one showed up at my house”: Tyler Bryant on his remarkable Strat stories
- “I dreamt I was listening to a live Allman Brothers album, and they were playing exactly what’s heard on the record. I woke up and thought, ‘That’s not an Allman Brothers song!’” Andy Aledort on creating his Satriani and Vai-endorsed blues album
- “I never want to be boastful – I don’t like being the center of attention. Even my guitar playing is like that”: Cameron Griffin has gone from construction worker to UCLA linebacker and, now, a multi-platinum producer and guitarist
May 26
- “That Les Paul became my thing. Its neck has broken three different times! That’s why I call it my workhorse – it just keeps going”: Collective Soul’s Dean Roland on his long-serving gear – and why he’s never rested on the band’s ’90s success
- “Riders on the Storm started off as a surf tune – then it somehow morphed into what it became…” Robby Krieger on honing his Doors guitar tone, overcoming “dentist’s syndrome”, and why slide guitar is the ultimate way to express yourself as a player
May 25
- “I came up with slap bass out of necessity. I was basically trying to play drums on the bass”: Larry Graham recounts the birth of “thumpin’ and pluckin’”
- “There’s always been an open door… We were the only ones that knew what it’s like to have that extreme kind of fame, so that created a bond”: 10 times the Beatles and the Rolling Stones collaborated together
May 24
- “I never understand when someone’s in a studio, using their own stuff. I’m pulling out everything – we used 100 guitars on the previous record”: Sadie Dupuis on making Rolling Stone’s top guitarists list – and getting a guitar in the Rock Hall of Fame
- “Tom Morello is my idol! The way he approaches guitar in a non-traditional way was really inspiring”: Introducing Glytsh’s Claire Genoud, the London shredder taking “horrible” sounds and turning them into alt-metal bangers
- “The Strat, for me, is like an old friend. I can get a lot of personality and expression out of it. But had I been there when the guitar was designed…” Hank Marvin on what he loves about the Fender Stratocaster – and what he would he change
- “It breathed new life into a guitar I hadn’t played in years”: I top-wrapped my Les Paul to find out whether it actually made a difference – and I wish I’d done it sooner
May 23
- “My green Kramer is the first electric I had. I didn’t know what locking tuning was, so I was like, ‘Oh, it’s broken – you can’t tune it!’” Meet Dehd, the indie-rockers building a wall of sound from ’80s shred machines and out-of-tune basses
- “It started out as a 1962 Fender Jazz Bass, and then I got bored and did this to it”: Why Lee Sklar hand-carved his pre-CBS Fender
- “The AC30 works in a different way from most guitar amps”: Used by The Beatles, Brian May and The Edge, the Vox AC30 is one of the all-time great amp designs – but what makes it sound so good?
- “I find Les Pauls too heavy – they’re not comfortable to play! I just stick with the Yamaha models because of the sound and the relationship I have with them”: Matteo Mancuso talks tone, technique and Guthrie Govan’s key to improvising
- “Ted Newman Jones builds beautiful guitars. He made some five-strings for Keith. He’s great”: Played by Keith Richards and Billy Gibbons, Newman guitars are some of rock’s greatest secret weapons – and a new model seeks to preserve their legacy
- "My first guitar was a beat-up flamenco-style acoustic that my grandmother had in her closet": Slash, Jimmy Page and more remember the guitars that set them on the path to six-string immortality
- “Tracii has been so important. I’ve always loved his playing – I’m extremely grateful to have him as a mentor”: Schooled by Tracii Guns and serving in three hard-rock powerhouses, Sam Bam Koltun is a Les Paul aficionado to watch
- “There was suddenly no sound. I was on stage all on my own. And this was a heavy metal concert, so the crowd was starting to chant and boo”: Alex Skolnick reveals his most embarrassing onstage moment
May 22
- “I get accused of not learning more – but I’m not one of those guys. I could learn anything if I wanted to, but I just let it go as it is”: Steve Cropper on recording classic Stax cuts with a Telecaster – and why he thinks his Peavey sounds better
- “It’s about finding sounds that enhance rather than distract. I like my guitar to sound big – I record through two amps at once”: New Zealand indie royalty Kane Strang on winning Dinosaur Jr.’s support and how he conveys Office Dog’s cinematic sound
- “Regardless of who picks one up and what they do with it, the Strat continues to excel in every environment”: The Fender Stratocaster can thrive in any genre – and these cutting-edge guitarists prove it
May 21
- “My Blackstar Artist 15 brings such a retro vibe to my single-coil tones… Sometimes it all sounds so good, I forget to start singing!” Meet Morganway, the PRS-loving country-rockers playing John Mayer’s Silver Sky – and an offset called ‘The Badger’
- “I wasn’t playing accurately in the beginning – I was just going crazy. It became a balance of visceral expression and actually trying to play”: Ben Weinman on the Dillinger Escape Plan’s chaotic birth – and unexpected return
- “I went for the lowest-priced one. My heart broke as I handed my jazz box over. However, as soon as I pulled that Strat down, sadness was replaced with joy”: Nile Rodgers on how he found The Hitmaker – and how the Fender Strat changed the world
- “I may not be the absolute best player out there – in fact, I know I’m not! But what I have is an undying love for guitar and heavy metal”: Kiki Wong landed the gig of a lifetime with the Smashing Pumpkins – and she knows she has big shoes to fill
- “Dave Cobb had just done the last Slash record with walls of Marshall stacks, which got ungodly loud – I don’t think we used anything bigger than an 8” speaker!” Blackberry Smoke’s Charlie Starr on why downsizing his backline made for bigger tones
- “Melodies and lyrics moved me when I was really young. It’s a mixed blessing – it allows you to feel things very deeply. But it can be draining”: Session guitarist Jon Conley has faced mental health challenges all his life. Here’s what keeps him going
May 20
- “He was a lover of the blues, but it was the Irish side that helped him stand out against Eric Clapton or Peter Green”: What made Rory Gallagher a true guitar one-off – and how he ended up with his first Fender Strat by accident
- The 20 greatest slap bass songs of all time
- “Among vintage guitar collectors, a changed set of tuners can be a dealbreaker”: Guitar tuning pegs – everything you need to know about the parts that keep your guitar in tune
May 19
- “No guitar has shaped popular culture like the Strat”: How the Fender Stratocaster ushered in an evolution in guitar design – and a revolution in guitar music
- “Ozzy would never stand in front of the bass rig. He told me to turn it down one night, so for a laugh I turned it up”: Geezer Butler names the Black Sabbath album that captured his favorite bass tone
- “Guitarists need to start bands again – we’re a little caught up in the TikTok world where everyone’s on their own”: Trev Lukather on why he loves St. Vincent’s guitars, and the guitar lessons he learned from his dad
May 18
- “While I was on the phone, there was this loud noise in the background… It was David, who had been working on one note all day long for two weeks”: He’s spent decades chasing David Gilmour’s guitar tone – now Steve McElroy reveals what he’s learned
- “I’ve always been an on-the-one guy, and I knew I could count on Pops to be there every time”: Robert “Pops” Popwell’s basslines rivaled any of his session bass peers – and few are better than The Crusaders’ Sweet ’N’ Sour
- “Until I found the Mu-Tron, I never heard anything that made the bass sound totally wacko”: How Bootsy Collins’ mastery of the envelope filter became the flamboyant funkateer’s signature sound
May 17
- “They can be really useful when trying to tame some top-end”: How hemp cones affect guitar tone and why Derek Trucks, Carlos Santana and Steve Morse are among their fans
- “I played what I could – I keep pushing myself because I believe in ‘no surrender’”: Judas Priest’s Glenn Tipton on defying Parkinson’s and his partnership with Richie Faulkner
- “I love Alter Bridge, but more Myles Kennedy’s playing, rather than Mark Tremonti. Myles goes for the gross notes, which I really like”: Meet James Frankland, the classical-loving instrumentalist fusing Rachmaninoff and Guns N’ Roses
May 16
- “I walked up to Tony Iommi and said, ‘Why don’t you just use my amp?’ He saw it was solid-state and said, ‘No, I’m not going to use that!’” Frank Marino on why solid-state amps make the best pedal platforms and starting his own stompbox company
- “I bought a 1964 Vox AC30 for £300 from a friend whose partner had died. She knew it was worth a lot more, but she wanted me to have it as a memory of him”: Troy Redfern on his most emotional gear finds and his biggest guitar-buying mistakes
- “I’ve written most Erra records with a Line 6 Spider. I’m not precious about any gear – the first priority is writing good songs”: Dirty fret choices and weird bends are more important to Jesse Cash than geeking out on gear
- “All those riffs came out with the Mulecaster. An amazing instrument that weighs a ton but sounds utterly timeless and three dimensional”: Folk great John Smith on his life-changing Mulecaster experience and why the Quad Cortex isn’t just for metalheads
May 15
- “This guy came up to me and said, ‘Hi, I’m Jimi Hendrix, can I sit in with your band?’ I said, ‘Well, I dunno – let’s go and find out’”: In June 1968, Jack Bruce came close to forming a band with Jimi Hendrix
- “When I was younger, I wanted the most expensive stuff… But there’s more character in the player than the equipment”: Loathe’s Erik Bickerstaffe on conjuring impossibly heavy riffs with a Gretsch baritone, Behringer multi-FX and some serious down-tuning
- “I open the door and there’s this 12-year-old kid, a stringless guitar in one hand, a pack of strings in the other”: How Joe Satriani and Steve Vai met, became fast friends, and changed guitar forever
- “Karl Sanders taught me there are way more notes you can play during a solo than notes you can’t”: Meet Belushi Speed Ball, the ‘pizza thrash’ band chasing greasy guitar tones and making a pineapple-friendly racket on rare ‘90s Jacksons
- Dave Grohl's guitars: meet the six-strings behind the Foo Fighters, plus get DG's tone on a budget
May 14
- “It makes me sick to even think that I spent that much money on a guitar. Nile Rodgers was like, ‘What is that?!’” Tash Sultana on the magic of Strats and blowing a guitar legend’s mind with an extremely rare model
- “If you stand outside of the zeitgeist and try to get people gassed up on the guitar, it doesn’t really work. We should be taking the guitar to the public”: Marcus King on mental health, recovery, and the timeless style of vintage guitars
- “Listen to and lock with the drums. Do that and you’ll sound like a pocket genius!” How session legend Neil Jason put on a slap bass masterclass on David Sanborn’s 1979 instrumental classic Hideaway
- “David Bowie and Brian Eno used to laugh at me, saying: ‘You’re not supposed to be able to play that!’” Adrian Belew on Frank Zappa’s lessons, Robert Fripp’s synth guitar, and what’s coming up with Steve Vai
- “I couldn’t believe it… the list of players could have gone from here to Leeds!” Mark Knopfler on how he enlisted Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and dozens more for the all-star Guitar Heroes version of his Local Hero theme
May 13
- “I narrowed it down to the bare essentials and found that three strings were all I needed”: 10 guitarists who played with missing strings on purpose… and the weird reasons why
- “At the beginning of the band, we were all happy to be there. When we got to writing Ænima, we spent a year and wrote five songs. That, to me, was so frustrating”: Paul D’Amour opens up on his Tool exit – and his unsung contributions
- “There’s the Ozzy thing and the Ronnie thing, and then there’s this”: Black Sabbath’s “lost era” didn’t have Ozzy Osbourne or Ronnie James Dio – but it featured some of Tony Iommi’s best guitar playing
May 12
- “I've been trying to complete an over-the-top, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink, double-neck, 6-string bass, but it hasn’t been easy!” How Michael Manring’s search for new sounds led to the creation of his signature Zon Hyperbass
May 11
- “Most bass players are boring, standing at the back. I’m not like that because I was a guitarist first”: Lemmy, the godfather of heavy rock, on why he switched from guitar to bass
May 10
- “My friend called me: ‘You won’t believe this, and it’s probably not gonna happen, but I gave Billy Corgan your number. He might call you, he might not…’” Ginger Pooley reflects on her time with the Smashing Pumpkins – and why she had to give it up
- “I look over to the side and see Joe Walsh while we’re playing Rocky Mountain Way, and I’m transported back to being a kid in my bedroom”: Vince Gill on flying high with the Eagles – and why every vintage gear dealer has him on speed dial
- “James really absorbed the dual-harmony thing and took it to heart. He made it his but it was originally Cliff’s”: Kirk Hammett on Joe Satriani’s influence and Metallica’s ’84 masterpiece Ride the Lightning
May 9
- “If I overplayed behind a singer, there’d be a fight outside the venue, or a guy waiting for me with a knife!” Marcus Miller on why bands need to offer a “little more love and support for vocalists”
- “I care about my guitar’s wellbeing, but they’re meant to be sacrificed”: Knocked Loose’s Isaac Hale on how his new “hell tone”, a custom Ibanez and ancient mathematics helped the Slipknot support picks reinvent heavy guitar for 2024
- “People say, ‘You could afford Buckingham Palace by now if you’d stayed with Genesis.’ But music is its own currency”: Steve Hackett on creative liberation, recording with practice amps and why he used a Brian May Red Special
- “This was one occasion where employing fills and chops in a funk tune really paid off”: Listen to Stuart Zender’s isolated bassline on Jamiroquai's Virtual Insanity
- “I thought I’d make the notes count, like Jeff Beck. It doesn’t sound anything like Jeff, but that was the intention going in!” Phil Collen on how – by accident and design – Def Leppard reinvented rock guitar on classic album Pyromania
- Exercises for bass: 5 ways to improve your bass guitar technique
May 8
- “Unlearning our instruments is definitely something we’ve done – we don’t rely on fretboard technique”: BIG|BRAVE conjure some of today’s most thrilling guitar tones with feedback, open tunings and an awful lot of volume
- Boss Katana:Go vs Fender Mustang Micro: which headphone amp is right for you?
- “I’ve never been a shredder. I’m never going to out-do Yngwie Malmsteen. I’m more from the Schenker and Blackmore school”: Judas Priest’s Richie Faulkner on the secret to headbanger riffs, and half-nailing, half-blagging the Painkiller solo
- “Paul Reed Smith wanted to do something, but I had to explain it was my dream as a kid to have an Ibanez signature. Paul said he’d do anything to make it happen”: Herman Li on his switch to PRS – and the perils of shredding on waterslides
- “Robert had a plan laid out that we would do three records in three years”: Adrian Belew on how King Crimson made an underrated prog classic in “this industrial musical junkyard we created”
May 7
- “You couldn’t sell them and you wouldn’t want to sell them because they’d be just too hard to say goodbye to”: Mark Knopfler on the guitars he couldn't bear to part with, and the six-strings that surprised him on One Deep River
- “The Ford Motor Company had created a color called ‘Daisy Pink’ especially for his aunt. She was famous in her own right and had the paint sent to Fender”: Meet 9 of Fender’s most elusive offset guitars
- “Technically, he was such a gifted and bluesy player. I’m not a really good soloist – but I know how to sit down, learn, and get work done”: Jakob Nowell, son of Sublime’s Bradley, is picking up his late dad’s guitar to reunite the band and the family
- “There’s an early No Doubt song which might as well be full-on heavy metal, if you want to hear Gwen singing for Black Sabbath. And there’s an absolutely shredding solo!” No Doubt’s Tom Dumont names 10 guitarists (and one genre) that shaped his sound
- “I was trying to do the ultimate guitar solo”: Lou Reed once recorded a double album consisting solely of guitar feedback – but his label took it off sale after three weeks
- “The bouncers wouldn’t let the audience stand up. That frustrated me to the point that I destroyed my bass guitar”: The Clash's Paul Simonon reflects on that iconic London Calling moment
May 6
- “They probably only made two or three of them, but there’s a signature Burns Chris Stein Scorpion out there somewhere”: Ahead of a new Blondie album, Chris Stein talks folk and jazz influences, fighting with early effects, and his MIDI future
- “Keyboards started coming up a lot more, and so there was a little more of a fight for space with the guitar”: Alex Lifeson looks back on the difficult creation of Rush’s 1984 classic, Grace Under Pressure
May 4
- “I used to write solos, but there’s a lot of beauty in a more spontaneous take – even an old, known pattern that falls in a different place than usual”: Matheus Canteri is shamelessly blending country with shred – and it’s working
- “Guys would come up and tell me, ‘I can play such-and-such a Tower of Power song note-for-note.’ But who cares?” The magic of Rocco Prestia’s bassline on Tower of Power’s Only So Much Oil in the Ground
May 3
- “From 1993 to 2004 those amps were over half of our business”: How the Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier defined the high-gain guitar sound of the 1990s
- “Ronnie gave me great advice about building a guitar solo... left to my own devices, it would have been a case of how many notes I could fit in!”: Vivian Campbell looks back on the 1984 Dio classic The Last In Line
- “I swear that guitar plays itself… Who’d have thought a 16-year-old girl like me could suddenly have this crazy connection with Jerry Garcia?” Meet Bella Rayne, the guitarist who jumped from Mom’s Strat to wielding Garcia’s Alligator onstage
- Everything you need to know about fretwraps: what are they and do you need one?
May 2
- “I view everything from the pick to the speaker as my instrument”: Meet John Frusciante favorite Anthony Pirog – the boundary breaking guitarist who’s jamming jazz, punk and fusion with Fugazi’s rhythm section
- “I don’t really listen to Prince’s guitar playing – it’s very triggering. But I always feel his spirit”: How Purple protege Judith Hill pushed past her ‘black widow’ trolls to discover a new relationship between her voice and her SG
- “When you blend a Gibson and a Fender together, you get a much thicker sound. That’s a trick I learned from Pete Townshend”: Ace Frehley invites us to his home to talk tone tricks, 10,000 Volts and pawn shop treasures
- “You have to have your own sound, do it with authority and let it all hang out… If you do that you communicate with your guitar”: Duane Eddy reflects on his signature sound, hanging with Elvis and the story behind his go-to Gretsch
- How to sound like IV from Sleep Token: "He likes long necks and heavy gauge strings, with 084-010s his set of choice to provide a thick, rounded tone"
May 1
- “Even Eddie Van Halen – god bless him, I love him – was mainly pentatonic. I was radically different”: Yngwie Malmsteen on Rising Force and the introduction of a neoclassical shred icon
- “It takes $10,000 a day… the goal of getting on the road, playing in front of fans, outweighs the pain of losing the stuff”: Dweezil Zappa on sacrificing his out-there guitar collection, mixing Hendrix and building an immersive rig