Favorite Solos: Richard Bienstock

Features
By published

1) Jimi Hendrix “Stepping Stone”

2) Albert King “Personal Manager”

3) AC/DC “Whole Lotta Rosie”

4) Ozzy Osbourne “Over the Mountain”

5) Neil Young “Cortez the Killer”

Richard Bienstock
Richard Bienstock

Rich is the co-author of the best-selling Nöthin' But a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the '80s Hard Rock Explosion. He is also a recording and performing musician, and a former editor of Guitar World magazine and executive editor of Guitar Aficionado magazine. He has authored several additional books, among them Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, the companion to the documentary of the same name.

More about guitarists

“I didn’t know him or trust him. But I gave him all of that money in the hope he would bring me a Strat. I had no idea if I’d see him again”: Rammstein’s Richard ZK on the coffee shop rendezvous in East Germany that got him his first Fender

“I said, ‘You can’t make a guitar as good as my old one.’ They tried and it wasn’t great”: Vince Gill’s 1953 Telecaster is one of the most coveted Teles of all time – but the Eagles guitarist turned down Fender’s offer to make a signature recreation

“This was specifically wanting it to have the sort of grandiosity of a Comfortably Numb-type guitar solo but without really referencing that vocabulary”: Randy McStine reveals all behind his cosmically epic solo on Steven Wilson's The Overview
See more latest
Most Popular
Randy McStine plays a sunburst Les Paul as he performs with Steven Wilson.
“This was specifically wanting it to have the sort of grandiosity of a Comfortably Numb-type guitar solo but without really referencing that vocabulary”: Randy McStine reveals all behind his cosmically epic solo on Steven Wilson's The Overview
Chris Holt
“I play the double-neck and trade solos with Joe Walsh on Hotel California. It’s a bit terrifying, but it’s the greatest thing ever”: Chris Holt landed The Eagles without an audition – but his gigs with Mike Campbell and Don Henley might have helped
Elliott Easton of the Cars plays a black Danelectro singlecut on a stage lit in purple.
“John Lennon hated doubling his vocals. The chief engineer at Abbey Road came up with a way to add a delay and put it onto another track. That’s what that pedal does”: The Cars’ Elliot Easton on the secrets of his pedalboard – and the wizard who made it
Mae Semones
“I wasn't familiar with PRS. If anything, I was like, ‘The birds are too flashy!’ But the moment I played one I was like, ‘Whoa, I can play faster now!’”: Meet Mei Semones, the Berklee graduate reimagining New Orleans vibes with an intricate indie flair
Peter Brewis of Field music is bathed in pink and blue lights as he performs live
“A lot of modern guitarists want to get all the notes right but if you listen to Jimi Hendrix or Jimmy Page, it’s beautiful playing, with loads of mistakes”: Peter Brewis on Field Music’s ‘collage rock’ – and why he owes his career to Robert Zemeckis
A live shot from the side of the stage as Dead Kennedys play the Mabuhay in 1978. East Bay Ray wears a hooped T-shirt and plays a Strat while a shirtless Jello Biafra works the crowd in the background.
“Iggy left the Stooges and had a career – ditto Lou Reed with the Velvet Underground or Morrissey with the Smiths. Where’s Biafra’s solo career?”: East Bay Ray explains why the Dead Kennedys’ chemistry hit its peak on Fresh Fruit... and why it fell apart
The Night Flight Orchestra all glammed-up in stage clothes and photographed against a green backdrop: guitarists Rasmus Ehrnborn [second from left] and Sebastian Forslund [fourth from right]
Faced with the loss of their founding guitarist and creative leader, Night Flight Orchestra are persevering with the big melodies and sonic largesse of rock's golden era
Employed to Serve
“There’s a sleek look to bands like Loathe, Spiritbox or Knocked Loose. Spiky shapes are engrained in our values – we want to wear our influences on our sleeves”: Employed To Serve are re-embracing metal guitars – but dropping amps
There’s no getting away from the fact that many major Japanese brands gained ground by cloning US designs, even fairly niche ones such as this 1972 Ibanez 2380 – a copy of the Gibson Les Paul Recording model of the era
“Tokai’s LS series are probably the best-built Les Paul-style guitars that have ever come through my shop”: How the Japanese guitar market came of age with ’80s Fender and Gibson clones – some that would rival the originals
1964 Epiphone Riviera: By 1964, the earlier ‘Mickey Mouse’ body ears of the Riviera had slimmed. The six-string is an unusual sunburst with narrower dark edges, while the 12-string E360TD-12 is the more common Royal Tan
Played by everyone from Magic Sam and Otis Rush to Stevie Ray Vaughan, Robbie Robertson, Noel Gallagher, and Robben Ford, the Riviera remains Epiphone's semi-hollow superstar