News archive
December 2023
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92 articles
- December 31
- December 29
- December 28
- December 26
- December 22
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- “I had no idea he was coming. I was like, ‘This is the last song that I wanted to play’”: Joe Satriani recalls his first and only meeting with Eddie Van Halen – a surprise visit when he was tackling a tricky track in the studio
- Budweiser bodies and a new kind of competition stripe? Feast your eyes on Fender Japan’s early Christmas present: the Wasted Youth Telecaster and Mustang Bass collection
- December 21
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- Inside the new issue of Total Guitar: The best of 2023!
- Discover Joe Bonamassa’s “secret weapon” and the delay pedals key to Radiohead’s signature sound in BOSS’ monumental 50th Anniversary supplement
- “Eric’s Les Paul gets stolen, and he knows I’ve got the other one. He starts calling me relentlessly. I charged him £200. It’s worth about two million now”: Andy Summers recalls selling Eric Clapton his Gibson Les Paul ‘Burst for a bargain price
- “The nuances and features of Morgan amps for anyone to access”: Neural DSP brings coveted modern boutique amp tones to its latest plugin
- “Whenever people visited my house and saw the guitar, their faces would light up”: Guitar gifted to Jason Becker by Eddie Van Halen sells for $110,000 at auction
- December 20
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- “Who knows?! There are tapes that I would love to get my hands on…”: Eddie Kramer isn’t ruling out using Beatles-like AI techniques to restore more lost Jimi Hendrix tapes
- “People romanticize the old sound, but you want your sound brought into the 21st century”: Billy Corgan reveals how Tony Iommi inspired his approach to signature gear
- “The first collaboration between Slash and an amp brand in years”: Slash’s flagship Magnatone signature amp has arrived
- “Jimi turned round and said, 'Hey man, mind if I play the guitar for a while?' We played for about half an hour. That was probably the last time I saw him”: Andy Summers recalls his “outrageous” jams with Jimi Hendrix
- “Essentially a souped-up Guitar Hero for adults”: A New Zealand brewery has invented a beer vending machine that lets you pay with your guitar skills
- “The arena-grade touring rig that fits in every guitar bag”: Kemper’s new Profiler Player might just be the ultimate compact all-in-one rig – and it doesn't even need a screen
- December 19
- December 18
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- Free yourself with the NUX B-8: the problem-solving Professional Wireless System
- “I'd move mountains for your sweet embrace”: A scammer is attempting to woo Joanne Shaw Taylor using a fake Joe Bonamassa profile – and it’s not going very well
- Ed Sheeran goes electric as he joins The Darkness on stage in London, and riffs on a Lowden model with a story to tell
- “I played about eight different guitar tunings – I threw the idea of patterns and scales out the window”: Kim Thayil hits back at being called a “sloppy” guitarist
- Fender proves it's the season of giving - score an extra $75 when you buy a $500 gift card this Christmas
- December 15
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- Devastating displays of double-neck tapping and Joe Bonamassa’s Christmas single: here are this week’s essential guitar tracks
- “I hate to say it, but non-musicians – who are the majority of the listening world – are not going to remember guitar solos”: Kirk Hammett says it doesn’t matter how good or flashy a solo is – most people are going to forget them anyway
- “I’m not supposed to talk about these”: Rabea Massaad lifts the curtain on his two new Music Man signature guitars – and they’re looking mighty fine indeed
- “The Tube Screamer for players that don’t like Tube Screamers”: Original Tube Screamer designer Susumu Tamura unveils modded Ibanez TS808 that “throws all pre-conceived TS notions to the wind”
- “Some of the most-heard guitars in the history of popular music”: Gibson’s latest Certified Vintage drop raids the vault to offer some of the cleanest vintage Epiphones you’ll ever see
- “When the G.O.A.T. gives you a call, you say ‘when and where’”: Mateus Asato reveals his heavy side as he shreds over Linkin Park with an EMG-loaded Suhr
- December 14
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- Guitar Center just added new deals to its huge 35% off sale and you can save right up to Christmas eve
- “When Kiesel built me the first one, I was like, ‘Man, this is amazing’”: Kiesel and Deftones’ Stephen Carpenter launch new Vader signature model – a mean, clean headless metal machine that’s “exceptionally difficult to produce”
- “In keeping with Billy’s directive to ‘retain the gain or feel the pain’”: Billy Gibbons has helped Magnatone develop the Baby M-80 – its smallest and lightest tube amp yet
- “It looked like it was geared towards children. And it’s not rock and roll”: Ace Frehley isn't convinced by Kiss' plans for digital immortality through avatar tech
- December 13
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- Eastman’s gorgeous Juliet LA is a “stunningly beautiful and original guitar” that provides an upscale performance experience
- The world’s biggest amp brands are not who you think they are: these are Reverb’s best-selling guitar amps of 2023
- “Compact but mighty, designed for guitarists on the move”: Harley Benton launches a super-short-scale HSS Strat-a-like for $89
- “People are hearing my sound – I might gain some fans, I might lose some fans, but what they’re hearing is all me”: Mick Mars reveals second track from his debut solo album
- “A traveling museum of rock music”: The Jim Irsay Band is playing a free show in LA next month featuring Buddy Guy, Billy Gibbons, Kenny Wayne Shepherd – and some of the world’s most valuable guitars
- “A groundbreaking digitally controlled analog booster”: Is the OPFXS Twin Boost the future of boost pedals?
- “Precision-designed to get the most out of your modeler”: HeadRush seeks to take the lead in the FRFR arms race with 2 updated speaker cabs – now with Bluetooth connectivity
- “Guitarists appear to be caught in a paradox”: A new study by UK academics says the modern-day guitar virtuoso is torn between perfection and authenticity – and must be a cultural entrepreneur
- December 12
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- Donner takes portable travel-guitar design to the next level with the full-scale, lightweight HUSH-X headless electric
- There’s no beating the Boss: Reverb reveals its best-selling guitar pedals of 2023
- “Eddie Van Halen influenced me both in sounds and vocabulary”: Matteo Mancuso pays tribute to one of his heroes with EVH-inspired You Really Got Me cover
- "My apologies to you, our guitarist broke a finger": Red Hot Chili Peppers forced to cancel KROQ show following John Frusciante finger injury
- “A harmonious blend of vintage tones, contemporary technology and sonic possibilities”: Stone Deaf FX redefines octave fuzz pedals for a new generation with the Rise & Shine
- “Blending themes of pop culture with techniques of the old masters”: Epiphone quite literally tops off the Adam Jones Les Paul Custom Art Collection with Mark Ryden’s Queen Bee – the only guitar in the series to use front-facing artwork
- “Continuing upon the metal legacy pioneered by the immortal Randy Rhoads”: Jackson pays homage to Rhoads’ iconic Concorde model with overhauled Made in Japan models
- December 11
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- “Billy drops the line, ‘I'm sending you some sheepskins. I want you to put them on some guitars’”: Dusty Hill’s iconic fur-covered spinning bass from ZZ Top’s Legs video just sold at auction – and absolutely smashed its estimated sale price
- “Big Cliffs Of Dover vibes”: Sophie Lloyd’s shred version of The Office theme takes the classic intro song into Eric Johnson territory – and we’re blown away by it
- “Ran into an old friend”: Wolfgang Van Halen and Michael Anthony meet up for the first time in 20 years
- Gift great guitar tone this Christmas with a chunky $65 off the Positive Grid Spark amp - plus a free bag worth $60
- 3 Les Pauls, 2 vocalists and 1 broken string: Slash, Billy Gibbons and Warren Haynes trade solos in a star-studded reprisal of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Simple Man at Haynes' Christmas Jam
- “One of their absolute cheapest guitars”: This YouTuber played a beginner Ibanez at a sold-out arena show – and he didn’t even get to soundcheck with it
- A digital detox in amp form: Orange’s OR30 is the must-try tube amp of 2023
- December 8
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- Three “God-like guitarists” join forces and stadium-conquering rockers channel their inner spy: This week's essential guitar tracks
- “I loved Hendrix – he was my first guitar hero... But seeing Stevie Ray Vaughan was transcendent. He made me understand Hendrix better”: Mike McCready says SRV helped him make sense of this Hendrix technique
- Get better faster for only $3.13 per month with Fender Play’s biggest ever discount
- “A rare opportunity to own a piece of tone shaping history”: Wampler brought back the Tumnus using the same germanium diodes found on the original Klon Centaur – but it’s already sold out
- “A revolving collective of Gibson artists”: Guitar brand becomes a guitar band, as the Gibson Band debuts its first single, featuring CEO Cesar Gueikian, Serj Tankian, and a solo from Tony Iommi
- “The Silver Sky reigns supreme”: Reverb reveals its best-selling guitars of 2023 – including the most popular used models, with some surprising results
- December 7
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- “The ultimate amp modeling software”? HeadRush revives the ReValver modeling engine for the first time in nearly 10 years – introducing seamless plugin and pedalboard integration
- Nevermind Teen Spirit, this smells like a great deal to us - save an impressive $270 off the Kurt Cobain Jag-Stang at Fender
- "The almighty power boost meets the blistering high-headroom tube amp": Crazy Tube Circuits delivers the sound of Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here in a pedal with the Hi Power
- “I've had hundreds of thousands of guitars pass through my hands – there's a difference between a good guitar and a great guitar”: The Music Zoo founder Tommy Colletti launches his own USA-built custom guitar line, Colletti Guitars
- Just days after launching his own amp brand with Mojotone, Alex Lifeson gets his teeth into the pedal market with his first stompbox – the LERXST By-Tor
- “Our most ethereal reverb unit to date”: Catalinbread sets its sights on celestial ambient tones with the Sinkhole Modulated Reverb – which doubles as a clean boost
- December 6
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- “This is unforgettable. This guitar will stay in my private collection”: Paul Stanley played this Gibson Flying V at the final Kiss concerts – now he’s gifted it to a high-profile vintage guitar dealer
- “The iconic solo was about to come up and it's like, ‘Oh god. This is not gonna work out well’”: Bumblefoot says he received death threats after fumbling the Welcome to the Jungle solo – while he was stuck in a stormtrooper helmet
- “Eddie Van Halen handed me a guitar and said, ‘I had to learn that damn riff for Wolfie. Show me how you played it!’” Power Rangers composer Ron Wasserman discusses how he “fooled the master” in his performance of the iconic theme
- “Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons have tried to destroy my reputation over the years. 10,000 Volts is going to make them look like imbeciles”: He may have missed Kiss’ last-ever performance, but Ace Frehley is set to make a statement with his new solo album
- December 5
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- “20 watts, four Galaxies, IR equipped”: Soldano’s Astro 20 is a tech-ed up tube amp that offers another dimension (or rather three of them) for high gain tone
- Denny Laine, Paul McCartney & Wings, Moody Blues guitarist, dies at 79
- “Blending the timeless essence of history with the spirit of the modern musician”: Fender is starting the Stratocaster’s 70th anniversary celebrations early, with souped-up Player and American Professional II models and the return of a beloved finish
- “The future of guitar tuning”: Graph Tech’s new ‘game-changing’ sub-$30 Un-Lock Nut looks to replace the locking nut – and solve your tremolo issues in one go
- “Our first artist model for a female guitarist”: Kramer’s Lzzy Hale signature Voyager makes its debut – with a custom body shape and a blinding Holographic Sparkle finish to match
- Step aside, Silver Sky: PRS’ best-selling guitar of 2023 wasn't John Mayer’s signature guitar – it was its all-new ‘Telecaster’-style NF 53 and Myles Kennedy models
- “The last person to really play it like that was Ed”: Eddie Van Halen personally gifted this guitar to Jason Becker in 1996. Now Norm’s demo whiz Michael Lemmo puts the #69 Peavey Wolfgang through its paces in a killer EVH-style demo
- December 4
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- Achieve out-of-this-world tones with Interstellar Audio Machine’s Octonaut Hyperdrive, Fuzzsquatch Fuzzdrive and Marsling Octafuzzdrive effect pedals
- “3 God-tier guitarists on one track”: Tim Henson, Scott LePage and Manuel Gardner Fernandes make late plays for solos of the year on fretboard-melting new collab
- Quick! There are only 3 days left to take advantage of Sweetwater's unbelievable up to 80% off Cyber Week Sale
- Warren Haynes lends his epic solo chops to Dinosaur Jr. as he jams Neil Young and the Cure with J Mascis
- “He just could not be contained. That was what was so beautiful... If you’ve been tasked with the job of imitating him, it’s like, ‘Well, which moment?’” Joe Satriani says the biggest challenge in covering Eddie Van Halen is pinning him down
- “The new Kiss era begins now”: Watch Kiss close out their 50-year live career with epic last-ever performance – before announcing plans for “digital immortality”
- Myles Goodwyn, April Wine frontman and Canadian rock legend, dies aged 75
- “It’s called Roman because of the Roman numerals I etched into the back”: James Hetfield owns five ’59 Gibson Les Paul Standard ’Bursts – and he’s carved a massive ‘12’ into one of them
- December 1
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- “A never-before-seen price point for the company”: Manson ushers in a new era with its all-new Junior collection – its most affordable series yet, which sees the debut of a Strat-style Verona model
- Harley Benton’s new resonator costs less than $200 – and looks surprisingly classy for it
- 10,000 volt lead licks and the bluesier side of Peaky Blinders: This week's essential guitar tracks
- Wolfgang Van Halen, the year's best gear and 2023's guitarists of the year – only in the new Guitar World
- “It found its right home. Collecting is about what you love and what you are gonna do with it”: Joe Bonamassa confirms he passed up the chance to buy the iconic ‘Greeny’ Les Paul before it ended up with Kirk Hammett
