Favorite Solos: Alan di Perna (Associate Editor)
1) Rolling Stones “Sympathy for the Devil” 2) John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers “Have You Heard” 3) Jeff Beck “Blue Wind” 4) Brian Eno “Baby’s On Fire” (lead by Robert Fripp) 5) White Stripes “Icky Thump”
Get The Pick Newsletter
All the latest guitar news, interviews, lessons, reviews, deals and more, direct to your inbox!
Thank you for reading 5 articles this month**
Join now for unlimited access
US pricing $3.99 per month or $39.00 per year
UK pricing £2.99 per month or £29.00 per year
Europe pricing €3.49 per month or €34.00 per year
*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription
In a career that spans five decades, Alan di Perna has written for pretty much every magazine in the world with the word “guitar” in its title, as well as other prestigious outlets such as Rolling Stone, Billboard, Creem, Player, Classic Rock, Musician, Future Music, Keyboard, grammy.com and reverb.com. He is author of Guitar Masters: Intimate Portraits, Green Day: The Ultimate Unauthorized History and co-author of Play It Loud: An Epic History of the Sound Style and Revolution of the Electric Guitar. The latter became the inspiration for the Metropolitan Museum of Art/Rock and Roll Hall of Fame exhibition “Play It Loud: Instruments of Rock and Roll.” As a professional guitarist/keyboardist/multi-instrumentalist, Alan has worked with recording artists Brianna Lea Pruett, Fawn Wood, Brenda McMorrow, Sat Kartar and Shox Lumania.
“It was the first day of the tour and I put them on this guitar I’d had for a while. Suddenly this alternate universe appeared for me”: Pat Metheny recently discovered an all-new Argentinian guitar string – and it inspired him to write an album
“I was about 11 – not old enough to understand how impactful it was. I understood what happened, but music took away the eerie mood”: Ethan Kahn learned to play after a high school shooting – now his band is championed by William DuVall and Rob Halford