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Billy Sheehan explains his three-finger plucking technique
After almost 60 years of playing bass, Billy Sheehan is still learning – and still flooring listeners
“Sometimes the guitar will tell you what it likes the best”: How to choose the right strings for your guitar
String guru Curt Mangan busts myths and drops knowledge that will help us make better decisions when it comes to the most fundamental gear purchase we routinely make
How Peter Nordin navigated a 172bpm maze of nightmarish polymetric riffs on Meshuggah’s Future Breed Machine
Original Meshuggah bassist Peter Nordin breaks down the tech-metal trailblazers’ 1995 underground classic
How rising Gen Z guitar star Alfie Templeman wound up with Nile Rodgers on his new album
With Rodgers guesting on his second album, the 21-year-old is committed to Strat-ing his way out of his comfort zone – preferably without TikToking all the time
Meet LA Priest, the inventor-guitarist questioning everything you know about tone
UK musician and tonal pioneer Sam Eastgate is using a pile of self-built pedals, an obscure guitar and an amp he literally found in a dumpster to create a sound unlike anything else
The Pineapple Thief’s Bruce Soord on crossing the Rubicon with Porcupine Tree’s drummer
It Leads to This finds Soord and company working in weird time signatures and towards the point of mental exhaustion in search of new sounds
The unsung guitarist who transformed James Brown’s music, and laid a funky path for Nile Rodgers, John Frusciante, Cory Wong and countless others
Overshadowed by the flamboyant frontman for whom he worked, Jimmy Nolen created a singular rhythm style that can still be heard all over pop and rock radio today
How Gibson’s SJ-200 acoustic wowed Elvis, Dylan and more to become ‘King of the Flat-tops’
The J-200 is Gibson’s most iconic flat-top – and these vintage examples include one of the first ever made, and the very last Gibson acoustic to be manufactured in Kalamazoo
Rusty Anderson on his session journey – from supporting Van Halen to joining Paul McCartney’s band
The Gibson signature artist on why a rack makes most sense on tour, his approach to session work from Elton John to the Bangles, and how to keep feeling challenged with solo work
HAAL are turning UK post-hardcore upside-down with anti-breakdowns, eight-minute songs and amp-exploding fuzz pedals
Custom fuzz with +100dB boost? Check. Modernized T-style? Check. Music that makes people feel “weird”? Check. As Alfie Hay explains, the HAAL sound is something different entirely
