Features archive
August 2024
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87 articles
- August 31
- August 30
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- “I use a million guitar tones in a show. Quite a few are just noises – one is labeled ‘Ew’ on the pedalboard”: Meet Venus Grrrls, the UK goth grungers tackling cancer with intense songs, wild tones and Courtney Love’s guitar
- “How did my life end up here, chatting to Alanis and seeing Joan Jett watching my whole set? That’s crazy!” Morgan Wade on famous fans, oversized Gibson acoustics and why country is just “four chords and the truth”
- August 29
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- “To me, this is the highest level of craftsmanship, like Swiss watches or high-end leather goods. These people are just the best at what they do”: Behind the scenes at Marshall Amps with new CEO Jeremy de Maillard – and how he plans to win back guitarists
- “My ’board is sort of a hybrid now. I’m getting closer to a single mono sound, so let’s discuss how I do that…” Steve Morse reveals what’s on his pedalboard and the secrets behind his wet/dry rig
- August 28
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- 11 Best DistroKid Features
- “It is without doubt the most exciting, inspiring and moving guitar amp I have ever heard or played”: When That Pedal Show got their hands on an iconic Dumble, it changed everything they thought they knew about great tone
- “Bluegrass is friendly competition – who can play the fastest, who can play the hottest licks”: Molly Tuttle on training her brain to catch her fingers and the pursuit of speed, feel and acoustic guitar virtuosity
- “When called for, I try to get into that ‘stoopid’ mindset, like not even knowing the names of the strings. Physically, I'll even use a cruder, rougher approach”: Chris Wood unpacks his playing – both schooled and unschooled – with Medeski, Martin & Wood
- August 27
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- “I remember hearing Doolittle and Surfer Rosa and that incredible songwriting… Being in this position is quite a ‘pinch yourself’ moment”: New Pixies bassist Emma Richardson on how landing her dream gig made her switch to picks – and ditch the pedals
- “Classical-flamenco percussive playing is not a gimmick – it’s a level-up of the guitar world”: Steve Vai mentored him, Tim Henson lent him his talents, and now he’s invented his own “semi-open” tuning – Marcin is on a mission to redefine acoustic guitar
- “Atmosphere has always been more interesting to me than who can do the quickest solo – I’d rather make people feel uneasy or happy with the parts I play”: After supporting Arctic Monkeys in stadiums, The Mysterines rewired their tones – and abilities
- “We’re taking guitar amps to where they should be in the 21st century”: Inside the incredible rise of Blackstar Amplification, from vintage-inspired beginnings to cutting-edge digital tech and the world's lightest tube amp
- August 26
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- “There’s no point trying to compete with Steve Morse or Ritchie Blackmore… One of the things that the guys in the band like about me as a player is I do my own thing”: How Simon McBride brought new color to Deep Purple's iconic sound
- “This shadowy cut features what could be perhaps Page’s last great guitar solo”: Jimmy Page’s 10 greatest guitar solos – that weren’t in Led Zeppelin
- “I’m always true to the melody but I try to do something unique with it. That makes it sound like me, even if it’s a Paul McCartney or John Lennon song”: Tommy Emmanuel on the art of arrangement, performance and why there’s no shortcut to virtuosity
- August 25
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- “Eric Gales’ rendition of Hendrix’s Little Wing sounds like the gates of heaven opening up”: Melanie Faye names 13 guitarists who shaped her sound
- “If you hire me for a studio session, I’ll be finished within the hour. Either way, I’m going to take your money!” How Cameo bassist Aaron Mills provided the backbone for two of OutKast’s biggest hits
- August 24
- August 23
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- “When you first pick up a Tele or a Jazzmaster, you’re not thinking about neoclassical scales or shredding. But the more you play them, it’s like, ‘Wow! They kinda rip!’” Jim Root on upsetting metalheads and Fender purists, and his amp modeling conversion
- “Whenever a guitar student of mine brings up BPMs, I’m like, ‘Oh no!’ That mindset is not a musical mindset... that’s the wrong door to get in the building”: Paul Gilbert is teaching guitarists how to become musicians
- August 22
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- "AI could potentially do anything from teaching us better technique, to switching effects via the power of our minds." 9 AI guitar amp features we predict will revolutionize the way you interact with your amp
- “Everybody was trying to make money off us, and we were oblivious. I thought everybody understood what we were doing. We weren’t trying to be Nirvana”: Page Hamilton on Helmet’s 1994 classic Betty – the unsung curveball the critics tried to kill
- “Rory Gallagher’s a saint in my house. There’s even a saintly painting of him above where I hang my guitar”: Meet Louise Patricia Crane, the solo-loving songwriter, seeking new prog sounds with King Crimson’s Jakko Jakszyk
- August 21
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- Download and stream the audio from Total Guitar Annual 2025
- “Ian broke his wrist. We took him to the hospital and he got a cast put on. And we knew the session was coming up…” Up close with the 1974 Les Paul Custom that Ian Bairnson used to play the solo on Kate Bush’s Wuthering Heights – with his arm in a cast
- “The Go-Go’s asked if I could play bass. ‘Sure,’ I said. I had never been the bass player in a band, but I figured how hard could it be?” Kathy Valentine switched away from guitar for The Go-Go’s – until her solo skills were called upon again
- “It’s an expansive and beautiful-sounding guitar that’s been flawlessly executed”: Meet the Tamar, a futuristic headless multi-scale electric from UK builder Yarde Guitars to rival Strandberg
- August 20
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- “They wanted to create a moment similar to the Eddie Van Halen solo in Michael Jackson’s Beat It”: Unmasking the Paris Olympics’ mystery guitar virtuoso, who shredded his way through the closing ceremony in front of millions
- “Brian May is my main influence for writing guitar parts. I like how melodic and catchy his playing is. It’s not trying to show off”: The Last Dinner Party’s Emily Roberts on bringing jazz into pop, and how St. Vincent shaped her playing (and her gear)
- “Robert Plant said, ‘We’re going to do Rock And Roll by Led Zeppelin.’ I said, ‘I’m not doing it – I don’t want to be in Jimmy Page’s graveyard!’” UK songwriting icon Richard Hawley talks big name jams, guitar shopping – and restoring Scott Walker's Tele
- August 19
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- “Jeff was the ultimate ‘tinkerer’, always changing the look, feel and sound of his guitars”: Up close with the Gibson Custom Shop reissue of Jeff Beck’s ‘YardBurst’ 1959 Les Paul Standard
- “The guitar is a metaphor for so many things that happen in life. When your life is completely out of balance, you have to find ways you can retune it”: How Michael Franti fought back the darkness with a 25-year-old acoustic named after his grandma
- From feeling the Kenergy with Ryan Gosling and Wolfgang Van Halen, to jamming with Dolly Parton and Demi Lovato – here are 10 of the best recent Slash collaborations
- August 17
- August 16
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- Download and stream the audio from Total Guitar 388
- “Morgan has the actives, and I use Grandpa’s guitar. That defines Kittie’s tone”: The nine lives of Morgan Lander and Tara McLeod – and how swapping ’00s-era Hamers for a Solar V helped supercharge their revival
- “I still say to him, ‘If you’re ever getting rid of that guitar, I’d love to have it back,’ but he always says, ‘No way!’” Gem Archer on letting go of the Gibson Firebird he played in Oasis – and why he absolutely loves the JHS Pedals Notaklön
- August 15
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- “He doesn't get a writer's credit for Melissa, but Berry was an integral part of the band's chemistry”: Cut down in his prime, bassist Berry Oakley was behind some of the Allman Brothers Band’s most groove-savvy movements
- “There’s no denying that the thought of Robben Ford playing on a Kiss album is weird”: A brief history of Kiss’s session guitarists – featuring Bob Kulick, Dick Wagner, Rick Derringer and more...
- “There are so many layers of Jimi that we didn’t see portrayed before”: Jimi Hendrix as a cosmic traveler and rock-star? We go inside the making of Purple Haze – the graphic novel reimagining guitar’s greatest player
- “I hear bad intonation from some bassists, and that bothers me. I have no intention of being out of tune”: How Chick Corea bassist Avishai Cohen landed one of the most coveted gigs in jazz
- “We had so much fun recording Rated R and Songs for the Deaf. We’d do mushrooms, and the next day, we’d be drinking. We’d be being creative, wild and crazy – that led to some great moments”: Nick Oliveri on Queens of the Stone Age's “definitive” era
- August 14
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- Positive Grid Spark 1 vs Spark 2: which one should you choose?
- From Stevie Ray Vaughan, to Hendrix and Eddie Van Halen – the cover song is a musical rite of passage for every great player, but it's not without its challenges... here are 6 tips for nailing a cover version
- Download and stream the audio from Guitar Techniques 365
- “No matter what type of playing it is, the ones that stand out have their own unique personality. Yngwie means it. He owns that. Whether you like it or not”: Slash on reassessing the ’80s “tremolo fiends” – and why Van Halen was a blues player
- “I saw Adrian Belew playing fretless guitar with King Crimson and I got hooked. I began wearing out my wooden fingerboards – the glass fingerboards solved that problem”: Fretless glass-necked guitar pioneer Ned Evett on the risks of being a true original
- “Eric was a bit taken aback”: When Jack Bruce radically reworked Cream hits to Eric Clapton’s surprise – and that time Marvin Gaye asked him to join his band
- Positive Grid Spark 2 vs Boss Katana 50 Gen 3: which practice amp is right for you?
- August 13
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- “Grunge was a much-needed break from the corporate ’80s sound. It literally put electric guitar rock back on the map”: Nancy Wilson explains why Seattle has produced so many guitar heroes
- “Tim FaceTimed me, saying, ‘I’m doing this cover and there’s a part I can’t get right. I think you would do great with it’”: Polyphia’s Tim Henson called him his favorite new guitar player. But RJ Pasin considers himself a producer more than a guitarist
- “Pearly Gates, our long-standing fave-rave six-string, entered the studio to do that righteous thing”: Billy Gibbons on bringing out his legendary Les Paul for Slash’s all-star blues album – and the liquor store run-in that sparked their friendship
- August 12
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- “Gary Rossington came over and played it with me, and 12-year-old me was just floating on a cloud. He and I connected in this real spiritual way”: Marcus King names 6 guitar riffs that shaped his sound – from Lynyrd Skynyrd to his dad's metal moment
- “I had seen Slash on TV, but I didn’t know his name. Then I got Guitar Hero III. That’s how I was able to know who he was. Then I started to actually hear him play”: Christone “Kingfish” Ingram talks touring with Slash – and his hunger to learn guitar
- “My mom would still be bugging me, like, ‘You need to go to college and get a real job.’ I’m in the van, getting baloney sandwiches on 100 bucks a night. And I’m 30!” Bill Kelliher and Mark Morton on how Leviathan and Ashes of the Wake changed everything
- August 11
- August 10
- August 9
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- “I told the guys, ‘Aah, it's just another bassline – I don't really like it.’ But they said, ‘No, no, it's really good – we gotta do it!’” Flea wanted to ditch Give It Away before his Red Hot Chili Peppers bandmates stepped in
- “I don’t have any vintage gear. I’ve always been a ‘new gear’ type of guy. But on this album, I’m seeing the light a little bit”: Marty Friedman on Drama, and how his “love letter” to his audience takes his playing – and gear – into unchartered territory
- “Even when Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf went electric, people were saying, ‘This isn’t blues.’ It’s the artist’s job to push boundaries”: Samantha Fish on the past, present and future of blues
- August 8
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- “There is a legitimate straight line from me being intimidated by John Petrucci to picking up the acoustic guitar”: Mike Dawes names 10 guitarists who shaped his sound
- The 5 most famous acoustic guitars of all time – and how Willie Nelson's Trigger, Cobain's Martin D-18E became guitar icons
- “My favorite British guitar players are amazing, but they all pale in comparison to the original blues guys. That was their own personal technique, from its origin”: Slash on his journey to discover the original guitar heroes
- “I was never fired from Kiss – I was left behind for a wildly successful commercial venture. You don’t have to be an accountant to understand Paul and Gene”: Bruce Kulick shares war stories from Kiss’ no-makeup era – and the reunion that killed it
- “Paul Kossoff goes, ‘I’m not really in the mood. I have a friend here who can cut it.’ If it wasn’t for him I could be working at McDonald’s”: Bob Marley and the Wailers’ Al Anderson on the night he went from an unknown guitarist to tracking Natty Dread
- August 7
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- “Buzz Osborne said to me, ‘You’re both great bass players – but you’re just really weird, and I gotta go with normal.’ I said, ‘I get that’”: Butthole Surfers bassist Jeff Pinkus was too out there for the Melvins – now he’s switched to banjo
- “He had these tiny little picks and his strings were like baby hair but, when he plays, it sounds like the strings are made of bull rope. It was thunderous”: Richard Hawley remembers playing with Duane Eddy
- “I put everything on 10 as a base sound. It automatically ruled out full chords with that much distortion”: Meet Pom Poko’s Martin Tonne – the guitarist channeling a “crappy Danelectro”, West African phrasing and jazz chops into a hyperpop sugar rush
- “That song has a Led Zeppelin-meets-Frank-Zappa unison riff up front, but I tried to imagine what Krist Novoselic might play”: Fusion bass great Jimmy Haslip breaks down his 2001 project with Robben Ford and Vinnie Colaiuta
- “We were playing in Germany the day Malcolm died. It dawned on me that he was the reason I’m making a living from rock guitar. I shed a tear onstage that night”: The Darkness’ Dan Hawkins on why Malcolm Young is one of rock’s most underrated guitarists
- “Peter Green is tasked with filling the shoes of Clapton, the man referred to as God”: Tracking the phenomenal guitar lineage of John Mayall in 12 essential releases
- August 6
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- “If Slash had picked up a Strat, or stuck with his BC Rich, Gibson would have taken a different turn… Him playing a Les Paul changed the course of the company”: Behind the scenes of the most pivotal moments in Gibson’s history
- “The last thing I wanted to make was a beautiful but soulless DADGAD album… I wanted bits of spit and sawdust, scuff notes here and there”: Jamie Dickson on the tragedy and joy of his acoustic folk debut – and a Martin deal that felt too good to be true
- August 5
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- “I told Lars, ‘Oh my god, you’re in my favorite band ever.’ He was like, ‘You’re in MY favorite band’”: Metal bassist Becky Baldwin made her name on social media while moonlighting as Cliff Burton in a Metallica tribute band. Then she landed her dream gig
- “Heart pulled it off. But that’s Heart. If anyone else tries this celestial epic, well, they’ll think your stairway doesn’t reach all the way to heaven…” 10 songs you should never cover (or at least think twice before trying)
- “This band is all about putting on a show. We’ll happily play for three hours”: Meet Robin Davey – the stompbox connoisseur who loves long gigs, hates treble and runs a triple-amp rig with blues-folk dynamos Beaux Gris Gris & The Apocalypse
- August 3
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- “I wouldn’t be able to play the technical stuff while wearing the mask. I’ve almost passed out a few times”: Slipknot’s original bassist Paul Gray on holding the middle ground in metal’s most extreme band
- “When this kid plugged into my amp and played this Strat, he was playing louder, better and cooler than me. I was like, ‘Whoa’”: Nile Rodgers on what convinced him to buy a Fender Stratocaster – and why it was the best investment he ever made
- August 2
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- “There hasn’t been one moment I regretted my decision. It’s allowed me to be creative in ways I would never have imagined if I’d stayed”: Jeff Schroeder takes us inside his first music since leaving the Smashing Pumpkins – and admits it’s a big departure
- “With Prince stuff, the parts are easy to play but difficult to play well. His sense of rhythm was incredible”: Ninja Sex Party are one of the biggest, weirdest cover bands on the planet. Guitarist Lord Phobos reveals the secrets to a great cover song
- “I won my first Grammy playing bass with Nas, but the time I had with Prince at Paisley Park was life-changing”: MonoNeon on collaborating with giants, forging his own path – and why he plays with a sock on the headstock of his Fender signature bass
- “I don’t play flamenco at all – I just fake it on an acoustic with a guitar pick. But I’ve always loved that tonality”: Jake Dreyer might not be referencing Paco de Lucía on Witherfall’s new album – but he is thinking what Brian May might do
- August 1
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- “Every time I pick up a guitar, it gives me such physical satisfaction. Playing funk is a direct exchange of good vibes”: Giacomo Turra’s energetic guitar skills evolved from his love of dance – and his self-taught style might just be the future of funk
- “I remember thinking if you’re not careful with what you use, it will sound dated in 10 years. For my first album, I used a Rockman, which makes me cringe now”: Goo Goo Dolls’ John Rzeznik on the legacy of Iris, Dizzy Up the Girl and those weird tunings
- “It never dawned on me that I could make a living playing music. For many years, it was just a hobby, a way I could express myself”: John Mayall changed blues music forever – and introduced the world to some of its greatest guitar players
- “The word on the street was, ‘No-one could be playing that without overdubs.’ Well, the secret’s out. I’ve come clean”: Still copping Victor Wooten’s 20-year-old bass licks? You’d better take another look
