“Jaco’s groove is like a fingerprint – nobody can duplicate it”: Listen to Jaco Pastorius’ isolated bassline on Weather Report’s Barbary Coast By Chris Jisi published 19 March 24 Weather Report’s 1976 cut introduced the world to the full-tilt boogie of Jaco Pastorius
“At some point I might come up with a new single-cut unique enough not to upset anybody”: Nik Huber on the perils of riffing on the classics and the evolution of his powerhouse boutique brand By Dave Burrluck published 18 March 24 There’s always the risk that someone might object to a maker’s designs. In the case of Nik Huber’s Krautster, it came 15 years after the guitar was introduced…
“If you’ve ever seen Slash give that look to whoever when they hit a bad note… You get that look once, man. You don’t want it twice”: Gilby Clarke survived a baptism by fire in Guns N’ Roses – but one day the pay checks stopped coming By Andrew Daly published 18 March 24 The guitarist played with GN'R during their chaotic Use Your Illusion era. Now he discusses his heart-stopping audition, the early-’90s Guns album that never was and why he was never actually fired from the band
“I’m now running a dual rig – it’s like hearing Queens of the Stone Age and Guy Ritchie movies mixed together!” Meet Kid Kapichi – the UK beat-punks busting out Chuck Berry moves and opening for Liam Gallagher By Amit Sharma published 17 March 24 Ben Beetham is a pedalboard thrill-seeker whose tones make Kid Kapichi one of the most vital bands on the UK rock scene
Best free online guitar lessons 2024: Where learning guitar costs nothing By Simon Fellows published 15 March 24 Many of the finest online guitar tuition sites, apps and channels are yours for free. The only investments you need to make are time and effort!
“If the mini-humbucker had remained exclusive to Epiphone, it may have been a mere footnote. It developed a following because they ended up in Gibson guitars”: The mini-humbucker’s surprising history – and why it deserves more love By Huw Price published 15 March 24 Often passed over in conversations about the greatest electric guitar pickups, the mini-humbucker has a unique tone of its own, its story inextricably linked to Epiphone and Gibson
Best guitar audio interfaces 2024: our top picks for every budget By Chris Schwarten last updated 15 March 24 These are the best audio interfaces for taking your guitar recordings to the next level, regardless of your budget or experience
Best practice amps 2024: 10 great picks for honing your guitar and bass chops at home By Chris Corfield last updated 15 March 24 These are the best practice amps for enabling you to keep the noise down when getting in some essential practice time with your electric guitar or bass
“Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, Ry Cooder, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jeff Healey and Buddy Guy... I naturally gravitated towards a Strat because my main influences were all playing them”: Philip Sayce on why the best studio magic is live By David Mead published 15 March 24 Returning with new solo LP The Wolves Are Coming, the blues ace discusses big studio energy during downtime for the world, his enduring guitar heroes, and his exacting standards for the Strat
“I was young, I had never been in the studio, and I had no idea what to expect…I took a lot of inspiration from Tom Scholz’s ’board”: Grand Funk Railroad’s new guitarist Mark Chatfield goes way back with the band By Andrew Daly published 15 March 24 His recently resurrected school band The Godz was produced by Don Brewer, before Chatfield fell in and out with Bob Seger, rejected then embraced Mesa/Boogie, and finally became Brewer’s bandmate in Grand Funk, replacing Bruce Kulick
“I was scared to death. Miles didn’t say a word to me. Afterwards, I asked what he thought of my playing. He said, simply, ‘It was cool’”: T.M. Stevens on playing with Miles Davis and James Brown – and what went wrong on Vai’s Sex & Religion project By Chris Jisi published 14 March 24 Vai hired the “flashy bassist with the long hair” after spotting him in a Joe Cocker video
“We lived on a train for 15 days and played 65 shows. The boxcar was a stage, and we would pull into towns that don’t get live music very often”: How Tenille Townes is taking her country sound to the people By Glenn Kimpton published 14 March 24 The Canadian country star's latest EP is a journey in every sense, written on the road as she toured the country, playing boxcar gigs and raising money for a good cause
“Fretless guitars are freeing. I’m trying to convince more bands to experiment with them. You can escape from whatever box you’re in”: Fretless guitars can change your perspective on the instrument – just ask Dead Poet Society’s Jack Collins By Phil Weller published 14 March 24 After butchering his Schecter 7-string as a teenager, Collins turned to his Frankensteined fretless to break the spell of writer’s block. He explains how it has gone on to define his monster riffs in Dead Poet Society – even if some of his ideas make his bandmates laugh at first
Best beginner bass guitars 2024: starter basses for beginners By Jonathan Horsley last updated 14 March 24 The best beginner basses for young players, newcomers and the budget-conscious – featuring Yamaha, Squier, Ibanez and more
Best punk guitars 2024: straight-shooting, no-nonsense guitars for punk By Daryl Robertson last updated 13 March 24 From Gibson to Eastwood, Fender to Music Man, here’s our expert pick of guitars to help you cause some anarchy at your next DIY show
“I was gonna have a year off after Knebworth, but when John rang up saying, ‘Look, I’ve got these tunes,’ I thought, ‘I’m in, mate’”: Liam Gallagher on why John Squire is like Hendrix and the best guitarist of his generation By Henry Yates published 13 March 24 The former Oasis frontman talks Gallagher/Squire and pays tribute to the Stone Roses guitar legend in an interview that is 100 percent gold
“There’s a different dynamic to distorted slide playing – a fully distorted slide guitar is an incredibly noisy beast”: Meet the guitarist fusing Western slide and black metal – with devastating results By Michael Astley-Brown published 13 March 24 Wayfarer are the self-proclaimed “pre-eminent Western American metal band”, and the roots-infused style of guitarist Joe Strong-Truscelli is integral to their radical fusion. He reveals the unique challenges of playing slide over high-gain metal and why Gilmour is his new guitar god
“I had no idea what the hell I was doing! I couldn’t speak English. But Paul was so kind. Through a translator, he said, ‘Just relax. I love the way you play’”: How Bakithi Kumalo became go-to bassist for Paul Simon, Cyndi Lauper and Tedeschi Trucks Band By Andrew Daly published 13 March 24 The versatile South African bassist is best-known for his epic bass break on You Can Call Me Al, recorded on the cheapest fretless he could get his hands on. He shares his unlikely low-end journey to Graceland, how he mentors the next generation – and why he has 12 albums that no-one knows anything about
Best Gibson Les Paul 2024: The greatest Gibson singlecuts for every budget and style By Daryl Robertson last updated 13 March 24 We break down the latest offerings from Gibson to help you pick the right Les Paul for you
“I must admit, it looked and sounded phenomenal, but the poor girl was crushed to smithereens… I was totally heartbroken”: How Ted Nugent accidentally destroyed his first Gibson Byrdland By Phil Gajewski published 13 March 24 An archtop jazz box was a strange choice for a young rocker like Nugent, but as he explains here, it was the making of him, and it was all about the tone