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November 2024

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129 articles

November 24
- “John Mayer said I was one of his favorites on guitar”: One of John Mayer’s favorite contemporary guitarists has been named – and he’s lent his virtuosic skills to Beyoncé, Mac Miller, John Legend and Ariana Grande
November 23
- “A new model as limitless as the artist with whom it was created”: Dream Theater keyboardist Jordan Rudess has a new signature guitar – and it’s a stunning Sustainiac-loaded Strandberg
November 22
- “When he saw the guitars, he goes, ‘John’s going back to the Chili Peppers.’ I said, ‘No way is he ever going back’”: John Frusciante’s former guitar tech on the moment he realized the guitarist could be rejoining the Red Hot Chili Peppers
- “Of all the rare custom Fenders introduced over the decades, few have inspired the kind of cult following that this has”: The original Mary Kaye Stratocaster – one of Fender’s most iconic builds – has sold at auction for over $220,000
- Our highest-rated online guitar lessons service just launched its best subscription bundle of the year – and it includes a massive $800 in savings
- Guitar World deals of the week: get a half-price EHX pedal, $280 off a Fender Player Series guitar, plus all the best deals ahead of Black Friday
- “I never want to forget the feeling of excitement I had when I first got a PRS”: PRS honors hard rock Japanese guitar hero Kanami Tōno with her first-ever signature guitar
- Thomann's massive up to 70% off Cyber Week Sale has landed, with hundreds slashed off Gibson, Yamaha, Taylor, PRS, Harley Benton and more
- “Push comes to shove, then some guys pulls a knife. They arrested him – but that was my introduction to Dave’s band”: Alex Van Halen on the first time he and Eddie met David Lee Roth at a show that nearly ended in violence
- “Day two, Dave Grohl says, ‘You’re going to need more guitars.’ We walk into the shop and he’s going, ‘Get whatever you want.’ I was so freaked out”: Chris Shiflett on his guitar shopping spree when he first joined the Foo Fighters
November 21
- “One of the most important guitars in rock and roll history”: George Harrison’s Futurama smashes auction estimate and sets a new record with staggering $1.27 million sale
- “The tube amp brought into the 21st century”: Blackstar’s St. James 100 looks to set a new benchmark with its most powerful and lightest 100-watt amp yet
- 25% off all JHS Pedals at Sweetwater might just be the Black Friday pedal deal of the year - and yes, it includes the newly released Lari Basilio Violet
- “We’re doing my first-ever gig with Nirvana on SNL. What I didn’t know was there was a discussion about my guitar like, ‘No, we can’t let him on stage’”: Pat Smear’s first Nirvana appearance almost didn’t happen – because of his guitar
- I wasn't going to buy any more guitar pedals for Black Friday until I saw these half-price Walrus Audio deals
- “I wasn’t gifted with enormous speed on the guitar. There were years when I thought I could get that if I practiced enough. It wasn’t ever really going to happen”: David Gilmour explains the origins of his lauded ‘feel’ playing technique
- “Punch and power in a flyweight build”: Boss goes head-to-head with Positive Grid with the $149 Katana-Mini X – one of the firm’s most portable practice amps yet
November 20
- “We’ll say, ‘You’re a master shredder. We want to hit this moment on screen with some type of arpeggio or shred lick’”: Polyphia's Tim Henson revealed as the virtuosic guitarist behind the fast-paced, flamenco-inspired piece in Cobra Kai's final season
- Bassmans, a Klon Centaur clone, and a brand-new effect, dubbed the Glooper: Fender just dropped a game-changing Tone Master Pro update – making its flagship modeler more competitive than ever
- “What I do with the trem arm is not an exact science. It’s more like an absurdist alchemy”: Imperial Triumphant guitarist Zachary Ezrin showcases his wild whammy technique on Eye of Mars – and a Gibson with the Midas touch
- “He came out to the studio, sick, did the solo and killed it after a couple of passes. I tried to pay him some money, but he wouldn’t accept it”: Jim Suhler on the time Joe Bonamassa played on one of his tracks – and delivered a searing solo while sick
- With up to 80% off at Reverb this Black Friday is it time to forget about new models in favour of second-hand?
- “You can get a little bit formulaic sometimes when you know where to go next, and alternate tunings definitely take that away”: Soccer Mommy on the power of alternate tunings in pushing her songwriting capabilities
- “The missing link”: Line 6 keeps up the pace with the Fender Tone Master Pro by adding EVH 5150-inspired amps for the first time in free bumper Helix update
- “I put a crushed cigarette packet underneath it to get it nearer the strings... It helped give the guitar a mysterious sound”: Vic Flick, the guitarist who played the iconic James Bond riff, dies aged 87
November 19
- “I don't have a vast collection of notable guitars, but I'm open to that idea”: Tom Morello’s ‘Arm the Homeless’ guitar is one of his most iconic instruments – and it could be revived as a signature run
- “The crowd got ugly – they were just being assholes, throwing mud at us the whole set, hitting us hard on our bodies and on our guitars”: Donita Sparks tells the story of L7’s infamous set at 1992’s Reading Festival
- “When Chicago hit the scene, it stuck out like nothing else”: Steve Vai lays down a smoking alternative solo for South California Purples in this rare fret-melting guest spot at Chicago’s Live at 55 show
- “It’s been road-tested, kicked around, X-rayed… We’ve made a guitar that's adaptable to all situations”: Fender and Chris Shiflett cut no corners in creating the new signature ‘Cleaver’ Telecaster – a long-awaited replica of his Masterbuilt model
- A Taylor acoustic for the price of a pair of sneakers? Buy one Taylor and get a second for as little as $99 in the ultimate Black Friday deal for acoustic players
- Paul McCartney joined by Jack White and St. Vincent for a raucous rendition of The Beatles’ The End during record-breaking set at Mexico’s Corona Capital Festival
- “For guitar fans who understand the historical importance of the woman, the finish, and the Fender Stratocaster itself”: The original Mary Kaye Strat became one of the most iconic Fender builds of all time – now it’s heading to auction
- Sweetwater and Guitar Center have launched their Black Friday sales earlier than ever this year – with up to 80% in savings, here’s the deals you should care about
November 18
- “I walk smack into him and he goes, ‘See you’re practicing, are you, mate?’ He takes the guitar – he’s lefty and I’m righty – and starts to play it”: Richie Sambora on how Paul McCartney helped him mix a Bon Jovi track
- “One of our first and most important Cry Baby artists”: Eric Clapton was one of the Cry Baby’s earliest champions – now he’s been awarded a gold signature version of his favorite wah pedal
- “We’re very into shredding and treating the guitar the way Yngwie Malmsteen or Eddie Van Halen would treat a guitar”: Syncatto's Charlie Robbins is the latest virtuoso to feature on Cobra Kai’s guitar-driven soundtrack
- “I walked right past Stevie Ray Vaughan when my dad was talking to him. My dad called me back and said, ‘There’s somebody here you want to meet’”: George Thorogood guitarist Jim Suhler on the first time he met SRV – and the profound advice he received
- “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
- “The woodiest overdrive tones I've ever heard”: Pedal Pawn’s Cowboy King is a “Tube Screamer on steroids” based on Stevie Ray Vaughan’s personal TS9
- Sweetwater's gargantuan Black Friday sale is even bigger than last year – save up to 80% on guitars, amps, pedals & more
November 16
- “I was just learning to play – I started strumming the chords and ran upstairs and said, ‘Guys, I think I just wrote a song!’”: Gwen Stefani on the only No Doubt song she's ever written on guitar
November 15
- “These guitars were his great love and almost two years after his passing, it's time to part with them as Jeff wished”: Over 130 of Jeff Beck's guitars, amps, and gear – including his Oxblood Gibson Les Paul – are heading to auction
- “Reimagines and elevates the original to new heights”: Mono releases next-gen soft cases for traveling guitarists with industrial-grade tech
- “A domineering and interactive fuzz and natural overdrive with a dark side”: IDLES' Lee Kiernan encourages EarthQuaker Devices to revive its Gray Channel overdrive and fuzz pedal for his signature stompbox, Gary
- “IRs that faithfully capture the tones of two cabinets used extensively by Tony Iommi”: Celestion’s first Artist Series IRs bring Tony Iommi’s early- and latter-era Black Sabbath tones to the digital sphere
- “We're aware that an overdrive pedal this tiny is a bit ridiculous, but it also makes it pretty awesome”: Meet the Olinthus Cicada, the world’s smallest overdrive pedal with “the roar of a lion”
- Guitar World deals of the week: the Black Friday sales are live and kicking - get all the best deals of the week here
- With pedal deals this good, there's no excuse for lousy tone - pocket big savings on our favorite Universal Audio UAFX pedals ahead of Black Friday
- “You don’t want the soul to be detached from things because you’ll just have gratuitous shredding”: Marcus King on the current state of the guitar scene – and why there's hope for the future
- The Black Friday deals have finally arrived in the UK and Europe thanks to Thomann - grab up to 70% off in the early Cyberweek sale
- “I'd try to bust out my best hot and fastest licks, and Joe would always be so helpful. He'd say, ‘All those licks are cool. But just slow it down, man. Tell a story’”: Lionel Richie guitarist Greg Suran shares the solo advice he received from Joe Walsh
- “The world may not be ready for this”: Meet the D.U.M.Bucker – a fully functioning, monstrous eight-coil pickup that you might actually be able to buy
- “A simple and beautiful guitar that is like a warm piece of furniture”: Fender Japan leans into the gear furniture trend with the Fragment Telecaster – a fresh take on the traditional rosewood Tele template
November 14
- “John, Paul, George, Ringo, the first time they ever performed together in the Cavern Club, this amp was what they used”: Hear the amp said to be John Lennon’s first Vox put through its paces – with Noel Gallagher’s Les Paul
- “The bass isn’t looked at as a ‘cool instrument’. It’s always seen as the ‘backbone’ of a band. I think I’m trying to shed new light on it”: Blu DeTiger on how she's changing people’s perception of bass players
- “It was Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, and the engineer. Quincy said, ‘Go in there, and do what you want’”: Steve Stevens on following in Eddie Van Halen’s footsteps to record the ‘spiritual successor’ to Beat It
- “He said, ‘If you got in the band, what would you do?’ I said, ‘I always wanted a White Falcon.’ Everything I owned, I put into that”: Billy Duffy spent his life savings on his first Gretsch – now he’s got a signature model to mark 40 years of The Cult
- "Our lowest prices of the year": Guitar Center's gigantic Black Friday sale is officially here and sees up to 50% off some of the most popular guitars of all time
- “I’m making mistakes in the guitar a little bit but I went home and wept that night. It’s a song I’ve been living with for years and could relate to deeply”: Timothée Chalamet on playing guitar in the Bob Dylan biopic – and the song that made it all click
November 13
- “From January 2024 to now, we sold 334 units. I went after it, but it plummeted”: Why JHS Pedals is discontinuing Ross Pedals – just over a year after resurrecting the legacy brand
- “A wealth of features not seen on a Klon-style circuit before”: Walrus Audio wades into uncharted waters with a fresh take on one of the world’s most cloned overdrive pedals
- I’m well beyond beginner level, but Til changed my mind about online lessons - now you can save $20 off your first lesson with a pro player
- “We wanted to pay tribute to Grace Under Pressure by building off of my favorite guitar from that period”: Alex Lifeson celebrates 40 years of a Rush classic by launching a next-gen Sportscaster replica
- “Every time I have the opportunity to play bass, if possible, I try to redo Taxman, Come Together... something in the Paul McCartney style”: Renowned session bassist Sean Hurley on taking inspiration from The Beatles bassist for a John Mayer session
- “A stunning tribute to an iconic design”: PRS preps for its 40th Anniversary with two new models – unveiling all-new features and an intricate 207-piece Dragon fretboard inlay
- “Nails the personality of one of history’s quirkiest combos”: Origin Effects’ Deluxe 55 pedal repurposes the tones of the Fender amp beloved by Neil Young, Mike Campbell, and The Eagles
- Bag 100 monstrous metal tones completely FREE this Black Friday when you buy a Tonex amp modeler pedal
November 12
- “Bruno would send me records, and I would send him records. Eventually, he asked, ‘Would you want to play on a song?’”: How Ella Feingold got working with Bruno Mars – and how it differed from her Prince audition
- “It’s one of the few instruments in my collection that I’m actually scared to play”: Joe Bonamassa’s museum-grade 1941 Martin has been meticulously reissued as a five-figure signature model
- Enter the tonal thunderdome with a whopping 75% off Tonex and AmpliTube 5 Max software this Black Friday
- “We all turned up and laid down the backing track. Then, they told me that maybe Paul McCartney would be coming down”: Steve Cradock on that time he recorded with a Beatle – using Paul Weller’s Epiphone Casino
- “I told Ibanez, ‘You make wonderful instruments, but you have nothing original.’ They said, ‘That’s why we’re here’”: How George Benson helped take Ibanez to the next level in the late-’70s
- “An ultra-rare, Golden Era signature model, now available for everyone”: Gibson honors trailblazing guitar hero Mary Ford by reviving her one-of-a-kind 1958 Les Paul Standard Goldtop
- Despite over 2 weeks to go until Cyber Weekend, Fender has decided to slash hundreds off a huge range of guitars, including $200 off the highly-rated American Professional II
- Paws what you’re doing: Fender’s viral Hello Kitty Stratocaster is officially back, along with a Hello Kitty fuzz pedal, as part of a bumper 50th Anniversary release
November 11
- “I don’t really relate to the guitar anymore. I don’t like its nature. Honestly, guitar is the least interesting thing about the record to me”: Mk.Gee and his Fender Jaguar take center stage on SNL – alongside a mysteriously spec'd Charvel
- “Bringing back the classic rock tones that started a revolution”: Behringer rolls out a $65 Tone Bender copy – promising the fuzz sounds of Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Pete Townshend in an ultra-affordable format
- “I used an SG Junior and it would never stay in tune. Felix had this old beat-up Junior and said, ‘Try this thing,’ and I never gave it back’”: Leslie West on giving his Gibson Les Paul Junior to Pete Townshend after tracking three songs with The Who
- “We’d be on the phone and he goes, ‘It’s too metal. I gotta get it on pop radio! Use the small amp, not so much distortion’”: Steve Lukather on how Quincy Jones saved Michael Jackson’s Beat It from becoming a metal track
- “No one has ever played these instruments live other than Gary”: Gary Rossington’s ‘Free Bird’ Les Paul/SG will be loaned out for a series of A-list gigs – and Blackberry Smoke have already used it for a Lynyrd Skynyrd medley
- “Unprecedented customization”: Brubaker merges headless guitar hype with modern modular designs for the NBS Series – which offers switchable high-end preamps
- “This is why we want to show up at NAMM”: Marshall is returning to NAMM for the first time in 5 years – and has teased some blockbuster launches
- “The second night after I arrived in Miami, I went to a jazz club. This guy played bass for one tune and it was like he had dropped out of a spaceship”: Pat Metheny tells the story of how he met Jaco Pastorius – and their formative years in Miami
November 10
- Guitar Center just kicked off this year’s Black Friday Epiphone deals super early with up to $150 off Les Pauls, SGs and ES-335s
- “A lot of people are feeling the same way. They're like, ‘I’m covered with Superstrats and Strats, but I don't have an offset…’”: Misha Mansoor on the emergence of offsets in metal music – and why he should have seen it coming
November 8
- “I wanted a portable amp that I could use backstage before a show to warm up with. I like to plug my PRS right into it – there are no pedals required”: Orianthi and Orange team up to create the 20RT, a portable, versatile amp with high gain tones aplenty
- “I want an instrument to give me the start of a song. And, often, getting discomfited slightly helps that process along”: David Gilmour on why the guitar is still a vehicle for giving “birth to new tunes” – decades deep into his career
- “Designed out of pure selfishness”: Brian Wampler conquers a career-long challenge with the Catacombs – a hybrid delay/reverb pedal he almost didn’t release
- “He knocked on the door of his girlfriend’s ex. The guy said, ‘No, man, not my guitar!’ ‘Yep, you’ve got to give it up’”: George Benson on how he got the Gibson that shaped his 1976 chart-topping record, Breezin’
- “The moment I played the first note, I knew we achieved Holy Grail-level results”: John Petrucci’s Majesty signature guitar has hit its 10th Anniversary – and brands are rolling out the red carpet to celebrate
- “I went in there and I was like, ‘I need a really good fuzz.’ And they had this pedal there”: Myles Kennedy names the “secret sauce” stompbox he thinks every guitar player should own
- “I don’t think it’s wrong for certain people to like my style of playing better. It’s about who speaks to you”: Jake E. Lee on comparisons with Randy Rhoads – and what his fellow Ozzy shredder was better at
- With Boss stompbox deals like these, I'm afraid you’re going to need a bigger pedalboard – up to $250 off at Sweetwater ahead of Black Friday
November 7
- “Right before we started the set, Bill Evans called me on a pay phone. He said, ‘I’m bringing somebody to hear you.’ I said, ‘It’s not Miles, is it?’” How jazz guitar legend Mike Stern ended up joining Miles Davis’ band – and had a song named after him
- “Somebody in a trailer park was selling the body – at least it wasn’t a real body”: Nuno Bettencourt explains how his custom Washburn N4 was once stolen from a storage lock-up – and met a grizzly end
- “Prince said, ‘Think more Elton John.’ I was like, ‘Is he clowning? Is he trolling me?’” Session ace Ella Feingold once auditioned to join Prince’s band – and was told her playing was “too funky”
November 6
- “Joe had a semi-truck full of amps and swapped them out every two or three shows. He'd say, ‘What do you think?’ I'd be like, ‘It sounds just like you every time’”: Greg Suran on his time with Joe Walsh – and the Eagle’s passion for tonal tinkering
- “Out of all guitars Sadowsky made for Prince, the purple floral one saw the most use”: Prince’s iconic custom ‘Parade Tour’ guitar, used in the America video, is up for auction – with a price tag of $400,000
- One of our top-rated guitars just got a huge discount in the Musician’s Friend early Black Friday sale – and it's not a Fender or Gibson
- “I thought I’d seen every hack possible over the past 30 years of playing”: Guitarists on Reddit are going nuts for this ingenious pick trick – which could solve your fourth position pickup problems
- I just found the first Boss Gen 3 Katana amp discounts in the wild ahead of Black Friday
- “An incredibly versatile tone shaping tool”: Supercool Pedals puts a new spin on the famed distortion box beloved by James Hetfield, Dave Grohl and Nuno Bettencourt
- “Tabletop titans”: Harley Benton introduces the $42 JAMster amp – one of the most affordable desktop amps to hit the market yet
- “When I brought up that I wanted to do another signature, P-90s became the obvious choice”: Warren Haynes has two signature Gibsons in the works – including a triple P-90 Firebird
- “Designed to handle virtually any style of music you throw at it”: How Ibanez pioneered the high-performance workhorse bass guitar with the SR series – and made low-end more accessible than ever before
November 5
- “That’s true. We smoked Jimi Hendrix’s guitar... I thought it’d be fun to crumble a bit of the wood off and pop it inside a joint”: Steve Cradock once smoked the shavings of Hendrix’s Strat by rolling them in a page from the Bible
- “Harkening back to the late ’80s”: Charvel continues the expansion of its made-in-Japan operations with 3 new high-end MJ Series Dinkys
- “When I worked with Tony Iommi, I had an epiphany... he sounded like him no matter what amp you’ve got him on”: Billy Corgan on how watching Iommi taught him the key to the playing style of Eddie Van Halen
- “We are dedicated to building a direct connection with the artist community in China”: Fender to open Shanghai Artist Showroom in its latest high-profile move in overseas guitar markets
November 4
- Guitar Center's huge pre-Black Friday sale has almost 5,000 savings. The best one? A massive $700 off a Gibson Les Paul
- “It's different to anything we’ve ever made”: JHS Pedals launches Lari Basilio’s first-ever signature stompbox – and it offers “a new take on distortion and overdrive”
- “The sound quality is incredible; it can be quite hard to tell the difference between the Kemper and a real amp”: Tony Iommi has been experimenting with digital amp modelers – and he’s used one to record new material
- “I yelled, ‘Paul, George, Ringo and John, you guys were just wonderful!’ He said, ‘Ernie, if it were not for the Isley Brothers, the Beatles would still be in Liverpool’”: Ernie Isley on the time he met Paul McCartney – and they jammed Twist and Shout
- “Fender have never done that before. I'm grateful to them for agreeing to do this”: Fender unveils a first-ever Road Worn finish treatment to help Andertons celebrate its 60th anniversary
- “This is an example of us pushing the boundaries of finishes. This is not traditional Fender in any way, shape or form”: Fender reveals its most successful modern finishes – and why it was worth the struggle to create them
- “Heads will roll”: Synyster Gates’ headless Schecter signature is one of the most anticipated guitar launches of the year – and it’s finally been given a release date
- “High-performance specs and aesthetics with the express purpose to inspire”: Harley Benton bolsters its growing signature range with two Agufish custom models – and they’re some of the priciest guitars it currently makes
November 1
- “We sought to take the iconic Tube Screamer and push it further”: Ibanez reimagines its beloved overdrive pedal into its most high-end format yet – with a $300 hand-wired TS808
- “The Dumble amplifier is so transparent that, if you’re not a very refined player, it’s going to expose all of your flaws in your playing”: Kenny Wayne Shepherd on why playing through a Dumble doesn't guarantee a great sound
- Roland Cubes, plastic pedalboards and nothing but Boss: Robert Smith’s 2024 guitar rig flies in the face of modern guitar culture – and sounds all the more majestic for it
- “The most disgusting pitch-shifting pedal I’ve ever had”: Introducing the Noise Pedal – a “new take on the iconic Whammy sound” that transforms your guitar tone into a nightmare
- “Ozzy had been fired from Black Sabbath. People warned me against working with him because he didn’t have the best reputation”: Ozzy Osbourne bassist Bob Daisley on why he decided to bet on the Prince of Darkness’ post-Sabbath career
- Did someone say Black Friday? Positive Grid is already offering a massive up to 50% off smart amps and software right now
- “We’ve made something really unique and special”: Thin Lizzy to release first new record in over 40 years – featuring brand new guitar parts from founding member Eric Bell and unheard Phil Lynott vocals
- “Engineered for those who dare to reach beyond the ordinary”: Schecter serves subtle Rickenbacker energy with the Stargazer – a fresh electric that debuts an all-new body shape
- “The store said, ‘We can’t get an amp before your gig.’ This gentleman walked up behind me and said, ‘You can use mine.’ It was John Entwistle”: Martyn LeNoble was once in desperate need of bass gear – and The Who’s low-end legend came to his rescue
- “I gave my friend a call and said, ‘What have you got for me today?’ He goes, ‘Oh, I have a guitar for you…’” How Kirk Hammett ended up in possession of the legendary ‘Greeny’ Les Paul – and why he had no interest in it at first
- “When I came up with the Jolene lick, all the musicians said: ‘Damn, that’s so good. That’s the coolest little lick’”: Dolly Parton recalls writing Jolene’s iconic guitar parts and pushing the boundaries of her playing (before the long fingernails)
- “Be wary of trying to emulate guitar sounds from your favorite albums with just an amp in the room”: Ghost, Royal Blood and Pixies producer reveals “the biggest mistake guitar players make” when recording