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“I bought a 1964 Vox AC30 for £300 from a friend whose partner had died. She knew it was worth a lot more, but she wanted me to have it as a memory of him”: Troy Redfern on his most emotional gear finds and his biggest guitar-buying mistakes
The one-man blues-rock maelstrom explains why Gold Foil pickups are “the best‑sounding pickup across the board” for him, and how he became a “complete casualty” of Steve Vai’s Passion and Warfare
“I wrote most Erra records with a Line 6 Spider”: Fret choices and weird bends are more important to Jesse Cash than gear
New album Cure sees the progressive metalcore outfit working with a producer for the first time to hone their Earth-shattering riffs – it also showcases Cash’s love of Jerry Cantrell’s bending technique, and why he believes string skipping can bypass the need for theory
Folk great John Smith on his life-changing Mulecaster experience and why the Quad Cortex isn’t just for metalheads
As the influential UK folk guitarist gears up to take his new album, The Living Kind, out on the road, he joins us to explain how a shift in his gear and writing process has had a profound effect on his music
In June 1968, Jack Bruce came close to forming a band with Jimi Hendrix
Speaking in 2003, the late Cream bassist Jack Bruce recalled his first encounters with Jimi Hendrix
Loathe’s Erik Bickerstaffe loves budget gear, real amps and thick strings that don’t bite back
While finishing up the djent-shoegaze heavyweights’ new album, Bickerstaffe reflects on kickstarting a craze for baritones, why he’s burned out on P-90s, and what makes amp modelers feel like a step backward
Steve Vai and Joe Satriani on friendship, collaboration and using guitar to “explore the infinite”
After decades of pushing the envelope for instrumental guitar, the two giants of the instrument are touring together, writing together, and new music is coming. Satch and Vai take their story back to the beginning, and tell us where it’s headed
Meet Belushi Speed Ball, the ‘pizza thrash’ band chasing pineapple-friendly guitar tones
Inspired by death metal greats, Belushi Speed Ball’s fourth album is available as an actual pizza, and features two new guitarists to slam home more punchlines – but beneath the silliness there’s escapism in their mad maelstrom
Dave Grohl's guitars: meet the six-strings behind the Foo Fighters, plus get DG's tone on a budget
Want to know what guitars Dave Grohl plays? We unveil the nicest man in rock's guitar arsenal
