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October 2024
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122 articles
- October 17
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- “We decided, ‘Let's take the Jazzmaster out and put the Meteora in there to see if it's gonna work’”: Why Fender chose the Meteora over the Jazzmaster for its American Ultra II series
- “One of the world’s most recognizable guitars”: Rory Gallagher’s 1961 Fender Stratocaster sells at auction for a whopping $1.16 million
- “Clearer, louder, and more resonant sound”: Furch challenges Gibson, Ibanez and Taylor acoustic innovations with the Booster Soundport – which promises to change the way you experience the acoustic guitar
- Two of today’s brightest guitar talents, Marcus King and Grace Bowers, team up for a surprise solo-fueled rendition of a Kris Kristofferson classic on stage in New York
- “You get that Guild sound at an incredibly accessible price”: The 300 Series brings that rich Guild tone, prized by everyone from Stevie Ray Vaughan to Paul Simon and Eric Clapton to a $299 acoustic build
- “Arguably one of the most significant Beatles and Lennon artefacts to come to market”: John Lennon’s first Vox amp – used at the Cavern and to record Please Please Me – is headed to auction
- “Name a jazz player that means something. You can be respected by musicians, but the rest of the world doesn't care. That music is intended to show off how well you play”: Gene Simmons on why technical skill doesn't really matter
- “I got to meet the new British Rock Royalty tonight”: The Last Dinner Party's Emily Roberts moonlighted as Brian May in a Queen tribute band – now the guitar legend is endorsing her band
- “One of Japan’s most well-loved guitarists”: Epiphone’s latest Takahiro Matsumoto signature is based on a hugely desirable 1955 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop – and honors the player behind Japan’s best-selling musical act
- The Doors’ Robby Krieger ditches his Gibson SG for a cardboard Telecaster to deliver his own take on a blues classic
- October 16
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- “They’re all little pieces”: AI-aided Eddie Van Halen solos could be a possibility, according to Alex Van Halen
- “Lee embraced the athleticism of the ’80s while remaining rooted in the hard rock fundamentals of the ’70s”: Friedman and Jake E. Lee’s signature IR-J looks to deliver the guitar tones of “two great eras” in a single pedal amp
- “He was backstage in the Marquee cleaning off his guitar and said, ‘Look!’ The paint was starting to come away in chips – he was almost crying”: How Rory Gallagher's 1961 Strat got its now-iconic relic’d finish
- “I was quite enamored by Gretsch guitars. Over the years, I started to collect them – I probably own most of them”: Gretsch honors Depeche Mode icon Martin Gore with a stunning signature based on one of his prized vintage guitars
- “Chris was in a very fragile part of his life. He started playing bass… He got so into it he started bleeding. I said, ‘This is the man you want.’ And then he died”: Alex Van Halen reveals his and Eddie’s secret jams with Chris Cornell
- “The moment I said we gotta acknowledge Ed, Dave popped a fuse… The vitriol that came out was unbelievable”: Alex Van Halen reveals the real reason why the Van Halen tribute didn’t happen – and the advice Brian May gave him about the tour
- “As familiar and enjoyable as your favorite pedals”: Fractal unveils the VP4 – an effects-only 'virtual pedalboard' launched to take on the Line 6 HX Effects
- October 15
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- Former Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Jake E. Lee shot multiple times in Las Vegas – now “fully conscious and doing well in an intensive care unit”
- “What we have in common is that we don’t shred for the sake of it. In my case, it’s because I can’t!” Brian May on his unlikely guitar kinsmanship with Steve Cropper and Billy Gibbons
- “He seemed to get so much out of so little, didn't he?”: Former Primal Scream guitarist Barrie Cadogan reacts to playing Rory Gallagher’s golden-era Gibsons
- “Designed to provide unmatched freedom and sound clarity”: Xvive’s U8 clip-on wireless system comes ready-mounted with a mic – and it could be a serious problem solver for acoustic players
- “The sports car versions of all our classic models”: Fender’s new top-of-the-line American Ultra II guitars are more advanced than anything it has produced before – and feature its fastest necks yet
- “They’re a lot tighter and smoother. You can hear more guitar, and these are far superior to all the other versions of these tracks”: Never-before-heard Jimi Hendrix demos are up for auction – and expected to sell for $260,000
- “He turns back to where all the guitars are and the double-neck is gone, stolen from the stage while the lights are down”: Nuno Bettencourt’s custom Washburn N-8 double-neck was stolen from an arena stage – but made a remarkable return
- “I worked on that crazy Fender Twin and never understood how it made such fabulous noise”: Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Twin Reverb amp, used in the recording of Texas Flood, Bowie sessions and live shows is up for sale... for over $600,000
- “A man bought this signed Taylor Swift Guitar at a charity auction for $4000, then proceeded to smash it with a hammer”: This Taylor Swift-signed guitar was smashed at auction and went viral – now it has been sold at an even higher price
- October 14
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- “As if its tone has been perfected over years of fireside strumming”: Guild has given its retro DS-240 Memoir series a makeover for the first time in five years with two classy new colorways
- “Probably the broadest, most accessible guitar mag in the world... It has been an absolute privilege”: Total Guitar to close after 30 years in print
- “I wanted to sound like Jimi Hendrix on his first album. It was good to have that there for a while”: Brian May reveals the off-the-wall Red Special mod from his pre-Queen days that he ended up removing
- “I wrote that riff on the Fender six-string bass. I saw Peter Green with Fleetwood Mac pick one up. I thought, ‘I’m gonna get one’”: Joe Perry on how he ditched his Les Pauls and Strats to write an Aerosmith classic
- “It never existed before, at least to my knowledge”: Jacob Collier’s custom five-string Taylor – which paved the way for his game-changing Strandberg – has been launched as his latest signature guitar
- “I was truly terrified. In the first few months, I was on the same stage as every one of my heroes: Mike Bloomfield, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix”: Martin Barre explains why his early days with Jethro Tull were a trial by fire
- “I was broke and working in a car wash, and saw an ad in the paper for a ’52 Telecaster. I went to the guy’s place – it turned out to be Norm from Norman’s Rare Guitars”: The Band's Jim Weider on how he bagged his career-defining Fender Telecaster
- October 13
- October 11
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- “The same high-quality performance at an even more budget-friendly price point”: Harley Benton has made its absurdly affordable ST-Modern lineup even cheaper with a range of $200 HSS S-types
- “I took the neck off my Strat, put it on a Tele, and ended up with my ‘FrankenTele’”: Steve Morse modded the heck out of his first serious guitar, and it became the blueprint for his signature Ernie Ball Music Man model
- “Unparalleled playability with a fuller, more robust metal tone”: Strandberg extends its Boden Metal lineup with new finishes – and a series-first spec
- “What a ride…” Guitar Techniques magazine is closing after 30 years of in-depth tuition from some of the world’s greatest guitarists
- “A finish that’s a true work of art”: Tosin Abasi and Ernie Ball Music Man’s Kaizen has a new Gallium finish that features actual silver – and it uniquely oxidizes depending on how you play it
- “I doubt there’s going to be another Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page or Eddie Van Halen”: Joe Perry on why the age of the guitar hero might be over – even though the instrument still has a bright future
- “Billy had already played half a solo. The producer said, ‘Can you play the other half?’ I said, ‘Can’t you give him a whole solo and me a whole solo?’” Brian May explains why he was reluctant to share a solo with Billy Gibbons – and what changed his mind
- Guitar World deals of the week: save a massive $500 on a Schecter, nearly $400 off a Gibson, plus all the week's best post-Prime Day guitar deals
- “The idea behind this pedal is to make clean guitar as fun as overdriven guitar”: Chase Bliss is on a mission to make you rethink clean guitar tones with the “very fun” Clean compressor
- “The world's most authentic amp models, no UA hardware required”: Universal Audio takes its Edge-approved amp pedals to the digital realm for the first time with $299 plugins
- “I played a Gibson SG Junior. It was the guitar I used in my punk band – when my apartment got broken into in New York, it got stolen”: Yes, Rick Rubin played the opening riff on Beastie Boys’ No Sleep Till Brooklyn – he looks back at recording a classic
- “Blazes a trail into new sonic territory”: Fender gives the Cabronita Telecaster a radical mini-humbucker revamp by loading the Gretsch/Fender hybrid with new high-end pickups
- “There seems to be an idea among guitarists that something as remarkable as a box that creates a perfect echo is old, played out or overused”: Why Jonny Greenwood downsized his rig to just a guitar, amp and delay pedal to write the Smile’s new album
- “Jimmy Page was in the control room window, waving madly. I was in the middle of the solo, and I thought, ‘Sorry, but I can’t stop.’ I just turned my back”: Martin Barre on the time Jimmy Page nearly cut him off mid-Aqualung solo
- October 10
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- “He had it in a case and said, ‘I don’t play it. Do you want it?’ I was like, ‘There’s no way I can take that from you’”: Olivia Rodrigo guitarist Daisy Spencer reveals how a stroke of good luck landed her the 1972 Fender Strat she plays onstage
- “I’ve always said that I don’t play the guitar, I play the string”: John Mayer ends years-long search for his ultimate string set with the Ernie Ball Silver Slinky – a new signature set that brings the guitar hero’s custom gauge to the masses
- “The world's greatest guitarist is what everyone says. It's kind of a dicey title. You never liked it”: Alex Van Halen reveals the unease Eddie felt with being labeled the best guitar player on the planet in new excerpt from tell-all memoir
- “It's tough for me to talk about giving them up... They came in my life at different times, but they all had meaning”: George Benson is selling his studio-and-tour-used rare and vintage guitars
- “I don’t think he was very happy about the situation. I would hope he might have thought, ‘Oh well, at least somebody that can write a good song has taken my part’”: Crowded House’s Neil Finn on replacing Lindsey Buckingham in Fleetwood Mac
- “There was this thing I was trying to create that didn't exist”: Gretsch and super-producer Jack Antonoff combine the Fender Jazzmaster with an oddball vintage Gretsch to create the Grammy-winner’s “dream” signature guitar
- October 9
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- “When Guitar Player made its debut in 1967, it marked a new era for guitar”: Guitar Player magazine to cease print publication
- “The entire creative process in a single guitar”: Yamaha takes on LAVA with a new TransAcoustic that delivers smart guitar specs in a traditional high-end build
- Watch Neil Young and John Mayer trade solos in a ferocious rendition of Rockin’ In The Free World with Stephen Stills
- Mooer's massive up to 30% Amazon Prime Day effects sale includes Devin Townsend's formidable Ocean Machine II
- “Early Telecasters tend to get a bit muddy. It's hard to get a really nice, punchy bright front pickup”: Joe Bonamassa fits a budget Squier Tele with his new Seymour Duncan 1950 Broadcaster pickups – and tests it against the vintage Fender original
- “Ash and mahogany bodies available in never-before-seen colors”: Fender’s Player II range has been expanded with new tonewoods and forgotten finishes unearthed from the archives
- Positive Grid’s Spark Go just dropped back to its insane pre-order price for Prime Day
- “The game shaped my experimental approach to guitar. On really tricky levels, I’d put the controller in my lap and hammer the buttons super-fast”: Yasmin Williams on how Guitar Hero inspired her lap-tapping acoustic technique
- October 8
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- “It's every bit as good as a Flying V of old, except you don't have the liability of bringing out a unicorn guitar”: Joe Bonamassa's 1958 “Amos” Flying V was owned by Norm Harris and featured in Spinal Tap – now it's been recreated by Gibson's Murphy Lab
- “Paul can often be heard saying, ‘This is our time’”: PRS just gave its affordable SE range a huge overhaul – from the long-awaited lefty John Mayer Silver Sky to a daring new piezo design
- Guitarists, the Amazon Big Deal Days are all about accessories - here's 7 essential picks for you
- “Once the modelers caught up to tube amps in their tone, it was all over for me”: Mark Hoppus explains why he switched to Kemper and Quad Cortex for blink-182’s mammoth arena shows
- Get ahead of the Black Friday game with the Beat the Rush sales event on Reverb– up to 44% off guitar gear
- Amazon who? Sales at Guitar Center, Fender, Positive Grid and Sweetwater are kicking Prime Day to the curb
- “I apologize for what’s about to happen”: Steve Morse becomes the latest guitar hero to pay tribute to the late Jeff Beck with a stirring rendition of his signature tune, Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers
- “He said very politely, ‘Can I get up on stage with you and use your guitar?’ It was very overwhelming to play with a Beatle”: That time Ritchie Blackmore and George Harrison jammed Little Richard at a Deep Purple concert
- With $200 slashed off the Fender Tone Master Pro, I'm considering ditching the amps and finally going digital
- “People might think, ‘Oh, that's so easy. There's nothing happening. It's only three chords.’ But it's not – it's as exciting as you make it”: Blues veteran Sue Foley on why turnarounds are essential to any great blues solo
- “I played him Metallica as an example of what I thought was wrong”: How Rick Rubin shaped the sound of Slayer’s classic Reign in Blood record by ignoring heavy metal norms
- “What you guys probably didn't know was that was the first time I've touched that guitar for two months”: Brian May is back on stage following a recent minor stroke
- Forget Amazon's Big Deal Days sale, Guitar Center's Guitar-A-Thon is primed and ready with up to $430 off select D'Angelicos and up to $300 off Martin
- October 7
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- “I think it makes me sound more like Hendrix, don’t you?” David Gilmour saves Comfortably Numb performance after his Jimi Hendrix guitar strap snaps mid-song
- “When you gonna be a frontman, I like frontmen that play guitars, not bass”: Super-producer Raphael Saadiq on why it's challenging to be a lead singer and dig in on bass at the same time
- “You have to make sure water doesn’t spill out when you’re playing”: Fully functioning aquarium electric guitar becomes reality after luthier brings absurd AI design to life
- “Usually you hear it coming out of your amp. Here, you feel it all around you”: Paul Davids once visited a nuclear power plant to find the world’s most incredible reverb – now it’s been turned into a signature ambient pedal
- “I asked Paul McCartney to play bass on a Rolling Stones song: silence for 10 seconds, then ‘Yeah, I’d love to’”: Super-producer Andrew Watt reveals his secret to convincing music legends to collaborate
- “Precise, immersive sound in any setting”: Positive Grid’s new AI-equipped Spark EDGE might be the ultimate PA for busking guitarists
- “I remember when Fender started doing this, I was like, ‘Why would anyone purchase something that’s pre-worn?’” Solar continues its relic awakening with “extremely worn and torn” Relik Series
- October 6
- October 5
- October 4
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- “It feels a bit wrong to play it. But I don't think anyone who has a guitar that they love would want it to never be played after their death”: Fontaines D.C. guitarist Carlos O'Connell reacts to playing Rory Gallagher's prized guitars
- “This creature has everything but the kitchen sink”: Meet the Koch Ness Monster – Greg Koch’s monstrous new multi-effects pedal, which offers an army of Jam Pedals effects
- “I’m still in shock that I’m getting inducted for a second time”: Wolfgang Van Halen, Zakk Wylde and Andrew Watt to headline Ozzy Osbourne tribute at all-star Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony
- “I felt some responsibility to keep guitar playing alive”: Nuno Bettencourt once vowed to keep Eddie Van Halen’s guitar fire burning – now he’s using his custom Washburn ‘Bumblebee’ to cover Van Halen with Extreme
- “I bought it for £300. I showed it to the then-CEO of Epiphone, and said, ‘These guys over in the UK are having a lot of fun. I want in’”: Joe Bonamassa reveals how a cheap knockoff Les Paul kickstarted his partnership with Epiphone
- “I asked Jimmy for advice, and if it was OK to keep doing what I'd been doing. It could be seen as creepy!” Mr. Jimmy, aka Akiro Sakurai, has dedicated his life to becoming Jimmy Page – and he received some sound advice when he met the Led Zeppelin legend
- “When I picked up a guitar, I held it righty, but the pick never felt right in my hands, so I started to make up my own technique”: Jared James Nichols reveals how he developed his unique fingerstyle technique – and the perks of going pick-less
- “It’s always been such a special song to me, and I just love Jimmy Page’s playing on that”: Grace Bowers is the hottest name in blues right now – and she’s taken a rare acoustic turn to cover Led Zeppelin on her new single
- “He took it on tour, beat the heck out of it, then painted it. This is a family heirloom now”: Joe Satriani gifted Steve Vai his relic’d, custom-painted Ibanez signature – now it’s one of Vai’s most treasured guitars
- “At home I have this thing that’s now 30 years old called a Zoom”: David Gilmour has one of the most revered guitar tones of all time – but he still uses a 30-year-old Zoom multi-FX for his home demos
- Meet the ‘Les Pallet’ – an utterly absurd electric guitar that has been (quite literally) fashioned from a shipping pallet
- October 3
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- “I discovered how I had full access to the neck”: Why Grace Bowers prefers the Gibson SG to the Les Paul
- “Inspired by over a decade of electric guitar string research”: Ernie Ball Music Man’s new Sabre HT features pickups inspired by its guitar string innovations
- David Gilmour tells all, plus Slipknot and Joe Bonamassa's ode to Eric Clapton's Fender years – only in the new Guitar World
- “That thick sound you need for heavy metal – it’s all about the Les Paul. There’s no other guitar with the same kind of bottom-end as a Gibson”: Serj Tankian reveals he has a Gibson signature model on the way
- “He’s enabled fans to achieve the iconic blink-182 tone they've always dreamed of”: Mark Hoppus combines Jaguar, Precision and Jazz Bass parts on his new Fender signature model – including unique reverse-mounted pickups
- “I think it’s a national treasure that should stay here. I threw in a couple grand into the GoFundMe anonymously”: Joe Bonamassa throws his support behind the movement to keep Rory Gallagher's famous Strat in Ireland
- “A complete all-in-one solution”: IK Multimedia takes aim at the Neural DSP Nano Cortex with mammoth free TONEX upgrade – making the amp modeler more versatile than ever
- “One of the holy grails of historic Beatles guitars”: George Harrison’s Futurama – which starred in over 300 early Beatles shows, including the Fab Four’s historic Hamburg tour – is heading to auction
- “He said, ‘Caleb, I like what you're doing. I've got all this work lined up for Jimmy Page, but he doesn't want to do it anymore’”: How Elton John and Hall & Oates guitarist Caleb Quaye inherited the Led Zeppelin legend’s studio work
- October 2
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- “I went to his house one day, and he said, ‘What’s in my attic? Climb up there and have a look.’ He gave me the 12-string I used on Nights in White Satin”: How Justin Hayward ended up with Lonnie Donegan’s 12-string – before Donegan took it back
- “A historic collaboration”: Tetrarch’s Diamond Rowe becomes Jackson’s first female signature artist with the launch of her groundbreaking new signature guitar
- “I don't think about technique at all now. I want people to hear my guitar tone and be confused about how I got it”: Yvette Young explains why she's rebooting her a solo career – and redefining her guitar playing along the way
- “Mike shows us an acoustic demo on cassette and plays it in the car. It’s what ends up being Drive. It was a great guitar line – I just needed to get the hell out of the way of it”: OG Incubus bassist Dirk Lance on how Drive taught him to stop overplaying
- “A tribute to the era that helped shape the modern steel-string acoustic”: Martin has introduced an all-new body shape that delivers dreadnought tones from a smaller build
- “She said this model was made shortly after Jeff Hanneman passed away and this was a very, very limited edition”: America's Got Talent sensation Maya Neelakantan gifted a rare prototype of the late Slayer guitarist's signature model by his wife
- “Players once again have the opportunity to discover the magic of this classic”: Gibson has brought back the ES-330 – reviving one its most iconic hollowbody models for the first time in years
- “I sold 120 of them because I don’t have room for them anymore”: Mike Campbell says he's quit buying guitars, despite his continuing “obsession”
- October 1
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- “It became my life’s work to eliminate every obstacle to playing live acoustic guitar. The AEG-1 is the realization of this philosophy”: Did L.R. Baggs just unveil this year’s most forward-thinking acoustic guitar design?
- “I’ve seen some unplayable instruments made in this country. I’ve also played some real gems not made in the US”: Paul Reed Smith explains why the country a guitar is made in doesn’t matter
- “Mike’s ’59 Les Paul was sitting on a stand. I thought, ‘What are the chances of this happening again?’ After the song, he turned around and goes, ‘What are you doing?’” When Les Dudek guested with Mike Bloomfield (without him knowing)
- “I always try to get her to play as much as she’s willing to… I really like her sensibilities”: Billie Eilish goes electric with a Fender Telecaster at tour debut, following guitar lessons from brother FINNEAS
- Taylor once released a replica of The Last of Us’ iconic acoustic guitar – in a full-circle moment, the real-life version will appear in season two of the video game’s blockbuster TV adaptation
- “Our philosophy is that you should not be limited to a budget to buy the instrument of your dreams”: Harley Benton is now shipping its ultra-affordable guitar gear direct in the US for the first time via a new Reverb store
- “Any kind of technical guitar playing was mocked and frowned upon”: Mick Thomson explains why his solos were erased from Slipknot’s debut album – and how he reacted
- “I guess we don’t need the wall hanger…” Texas man reportedly pays $4,000 for Taylor Swift guitar – and immediately smashes it with a hammer
- “I can already tell you this sounds better than one of my original ’55s”: Joe Bonamassa’s 12th Epiphone signature guitar is his first with P-90s – and features one of the rarest Les Paul finishes ever made
- “It certainly would pass a blindfold comparison with me. Why wouldn’t it?” David Gilmour says he can't tell the difference between his signature Fender and his original Black Strat
