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March 2026

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124 articles

March 14
- “A lot of people said it was Ozzy’s worst record ever. By the late ’90s, I thought, ‘I guess it was. I just really sucked on it’”: Jake E. Lee on his battle to make Ozzy Osbourne’s The Ultimate Sin – and how he learned to love it in spite of the critics
- “One of the coolest things we saw at Fender’s invite-only NAMM event”: All the guitar gear that has caught my eye this week – including the answer to all your modeler tone woes
- “My comfort zone is big volume and lots of blues”: Motörhead guitarist Phil Campbell has died aged 64
- “There was a lot of mythology around there being ‘secret drugs compartments’”: How 2,000 hours of work and some of the world's most exotic tonewoods birthed Jerry Garcia’s “Tiger”
- “We thought, ‘He’s a massively successful artist – what could possibly go wrong?’ We really didn’t like the results, so we didn’t give permission for it to be released”: The folk-rock album recorded with an ’80s mega-star that never saw the light of day
March 13
- “Elevates one of Gibson’s most beloved modern designs”: Gibson revives and refreshes its Songwriter Recording Artist acoustic range
- “She told me, ‘That Les Paul’s too heavy for you, honey. You’re not gonna be able to do that.’ So she took me to Norm’s Rare Guitars”: When Bonnie Raitt took Melissa Etheridge guitar shopping – and convinced her to swap her Les Paul for a Strat
- “Instead of firing me and getting somebody who could really play, he would throw me solos every night”: How John Mayer helped Doug Pettibone sharpen his pedal steel skills
- “People wanna assume the worst and say he’s some kind of dictator and forced me to do it. It was totally not like that”: Steve Di Giorgio sets the record straight on what it was like to sideman for Dave Mustaine and Megadeth
- “Joe Walsh and I go on guitar safaris. He’ll say, ‘You only bought one!’ I say, ‘But it cost more than the 10 of yours!’” If the Eagles quit this year, Vince Gill will leave with gratitude and great memories
- “Inspired by the creativity, community, and chaos of the Seattle music scene”: Mike McCready has spent 20 years making a rock opera that explores an alternate history of grunge – and it’s finally ready
- “An evocative track reflecting the social and political unrest of Britain”: The Specials’ Ghost Town bass fetches thousands at auction – having been bought for just £200
- “Lot after lot we felt like we were making history”: World record for most expensive guitar shattered three times in one night as Jim Irsay auction sees David Gilmour's Black Strat fetch $14.5m
- “I feel like I’ve been molded for this gig. Trent has been an influence on me from the beginning”: How new Nine Inch Nails bassist Stu Brooks went from pop royalty to one of rock’s most sonically adventurous gigs
- “It was the first production guitar with three pickups. Gibson only made 22 that year – one became the instrument T-Bone Walker used”: How the Gibson ES-5 paved the way for a new wave of electric blues (and maybe even the Strat, too)
- “Left-handed necks of that era typically say ‘Custom’ or ‘Special’ because they were so seldom made and used”: What Kurt Cobain’s record-breaking 1969 ‘Competition’ Mustang tells us about Fender’s guitar building in the ’60s
- “A lot of deceptively clever craft, all presented in faultless style”: Duesenberg Starplayer CBR review
March 12
- The Jim Irsay Collection sale live: David Gilmour's Black Strat sells for record-shattering $14.5 million in the biggest guitar auction in history
- “Every once in a while a pedal comes along that takes you by surprise. It’s a pedal I didn’t even know I needed”: Electro-Harmonix Effects Interface review
- “I threw my guitar off mid strum, dove into the crowd and began strangling him to the ground”: Billy Corgan on the first time he met future Smashing Pumpkins bassist Melissa Auf der Maur
- “I kept saying, ‘I’m not the guy. Call Nuno’”: Joe Satriani put Nuno Bettencourt’s name forward for failed EVH tribute tour with Alex Van Halen and David Lee Roth
- Who's the best guitar player you've ever seen live?
- “It’s a really good guitar, especially for the price”: Jake E. Lee has added Yungblud’s signature guitar to his collection
- “I was the only guy playing that guitar. It was their version of a semi-hollow”: How Robben Ford helped Fender design their short-lived answer to the ES-335
- “I thought, ‘Well, it couldn’t hurt…’ It did hurt”: Noodling alone at home is fine. But you’ll never be a great guitar player unless you join a band
- “Why an SG? Perhaps he was fed up that his two Les Paul ’Bursts had been stolen”: The history and preservation of Eric Clapton’s The Fool SG
- “It was just unbelievable. I’ve literally never heard anything like it my whole life”: Jacob Collier on what happened when he gave his 5-string acoustic to Julian Lage and Chris Martin
- “This can be the area that spawns the most intimidating names”: 5 altered chords you need to know – and how they get their names
March 11
- “I set about them with a wood burner”: Pat Metheny asks Ibanez to send him “cheap” versions of his own signature guitar – to turn them into artworks
- “I don’t think anyone has changed the world as much with their guitar”: Grammy-nominated Malian changemaker Fatoumata Diawara reveals her biggest guitar hero
- “Using the same techniques, and even some of the same machines”: Gibson unearths the only known Kalamazoo factory footage from the ‘Golden Era’ of guitar building
- “Bridging the gap between digital rigs and real valve amps”: Victory says its new PowerValve 200 is a better companion for your amp modeler than any FRFR cab could ever be
- I just discovered savings of up to 26% off Boss pedals in the Amazon Spring Deal Days sale – get big money off a Waza Craft Metal Zone, the versatile DD-8 digital delay, and the flagship GT-1000CORE multi-effects pedal
- “I’d wake up in the morning and I wouldn’t be able to move my pinky. I’d think, ‘Is this the end?’” Joe Satriani opens up on the hand injury that forced him to relearn how to play his songs
- “The tune was inspired by legendary bassist Jaco Pastorius’ Teen Town”: Cory Wong on why doubling the bassline is one of the “most badass” things a guitarist can do
- “All I need is insurmountable odds. Give me your worst guitar, an amp made in a garage and a pedal that’s not meant to be there. We’ve got something”: Josh Homme is finally ready to talk tone
- Amazon is the home of dirt-cheap pedals from brands you've never heard of, but their Spring Deal Days sale just brought stomps from Vox, Ibanez, Boss, MXR, and more into budget territory
- “This guy comes over, leaning on me. He said, ‘I’m sorry my guitar is such a pain in the butt’”: That time Eddie Van Halen visited the EVH workshop while they were building the Wolfgang
- “I’ve spoken to a lot of people about it – many of them think it will make more this time around”: David Gilmour’s Black Strat could be about to break records all over again
- My highest-rated beginner acoustic guitar just had 15% knocked off in Amazon's Spring Sale – alongside major Squier savings on the Debut and Affinity series'
March 10
- “I'm probably gonna get 150 guitarists telling me how I'm doing this wrong, but this is just what works for me”: Samantha Fish reveals the “cheat” she uses to emulate a pedal steel guitar
- “I had no idea who they were. My manager said, ‘You should talk to this guy named Trent Reznor’”: How Adrian Belew ended up working with Nine Inch Nails
- “I freaked out. I couldn’t believe it. Nobody else was doing that at the time”: The Beatles made the Leslie speaker an iconic guitar tone. But a pioneering “all-female” rock band were one of the first to take it out on the road
- “There are a lot of amazing guitars, but none are as versatile as the Telecaster”: Fender’s radical John Osborne Telecaster brings the B-Bender back to its ranks for the first time in over 20 years
- With deals starting from just £8.07, it's time for a total rig refresh as the Amazon Spring Deal Days sale launches, delivering massive savings on strings, multi-tools, patch cables, and more
- “We couldn’t play those songs properly. It’s a bunch of kids, playing a lot of chords, not always successfully”: Glenn Tilbrook on the resurrection of the Squeeze concept album that never was
- “A cost-effective way of accurately amplifying your modeled tone, which is exactly what many guitar players need”: Blackstar Artist FR Special review
- These rare Ibanez discounts on electrics, acoustics, basses, and pedals are amongst the biggest bargains for guitarists in the UK Amazon Spring Deal Days sale
- “I was a good bass player, and I am proud of my Celebrity Skin work, but oh my God, it changed my level of musicianship forever”: Melissa Auf der Maur on what she learned from playing with Billy Corgan and The Smashing Pumpkins
- “Reinforces the value of originality”: Fender secures legal ruling to protect the Stratocaster body design
- “Every lick he plays sounds perfect, like it’s etched in stone. But I’m sure that he simply improvised everything”: How to play B.B. King’s greatest song (with some help from Joe Bonamassa)
- “He felt a responsibility to look after these things. He was aware that you can’t be buried with them – you are but the temporary custodian”: Inside the greatest guitar auction of all time
March 9
- “Amp and cab models that surpass some expensive units from bigger brands”: Blackstar ID:X Floor Three review
- “I would go by John’s room and he’d be working on alternate picking to a metronome. I’d never seen anyone do that before”: He arrived on the shred scene with Paul Gilbert, Jason Becker and John Petrucci… then he vanished
- Janelle Monáe’s new guitar of choice is the cheapest Epiphone Les Paul ever released
- The most advanced lap steel ever? Verso looks to revolutionize the lap steel slide guitar with the Log – a radical new take with freely movable pickups
- “One of the great troublemakers in guitar history”: Eastwood bravely recreates Mike Bloomfield’s mangled Bob Dylan Telecaster – the guitar that killed folk
- “All of the guys in Metallica, except for the guitar player, told me what a great guitar player I was”: Candlebox guitarist on touring with Metallica and Aerosmith in the early ’90s – and receiving the ultimate praise from his heroes
- “I was a little uncomfortable, to be honest”: Why Myles Kennedy felt uneasy using Jeff Buckley’s Telecaster to play Hallelujah
- “Joe said, ‘Check this out.’ It just so happened to be a quarter-of-a-million-dollar guitar that got the job done”: How Eric Gales enlisted Buddy Guy, Kingfish, Joe Bonamassa (and his guitar collection) to pay tribute to his brother
- “I never know what might come across my desk, but this was a taker”: Steve Vai has recorded a new solo over Van Halen’s Jump – which has been crowned the official World Cup 2026 anthem
March 8
- Bopping blues and greasy grooves: Ally Venable's rhythm guitar tips and secrets
- “Sometimes David had suggestions. If he wanted a specific thing, he'd ask for or try to explain it. Lenny's the opposite – he wants it to sound exactly like he did it!” How Gail Ann Dorsey honed her bass craft with David Bowie and Lenny Kravitz
- To celebrate International Women’s Day, we highlight 8 signature guitars that deserve your attention – including models from Fatoumata Diawara, Susan Tedeschi, St. Vincent, Yvette Young, and more
- “He was in a terrible factory accident that cut his fingers off at the knuckles”: Melissa Etheridge reveals the most important lesson she learned from her “scary” first guitar teacher
- “I never saw myself as a bassist. I haven’t played bass since the last Sonic Youth gig”: Why Kim Gordon has stopped playing the bass – despite being an icon of the instrument
- “We’d get a note from the tour manager, ‘Prince is here and would love to play with you.’ It was like, ‘What? Here, take my guitar, please!’” Vicki Peterson on a gift from the Bangles’ most famous fan – and their garage approach to an ’80s pop classic
- “When everyone’s staring at you, you can’t run off and cry. You just gotta deal with it”: Witch Fever’s Alisha Yarwood on superhero stompboxes, dream tours with IDLES, and why ‘That Great Gretsch Sound’ was doom-punk all along
- “Great neck shape, playability and setup – and it’s gig-ready, something we don’t always say about Epiphone, or indeed Gibson”: Epiphone Fatoumata Diawara SG review
- “I hate bass player albums. It's an ugly instrument, solo-wise. Probably the only person I can tolerate is Marcus Miller”: Grammy-winning bassist Meshell Ndegeocello favors restraint over fretboard theatrics – but Marcus Miller (and Jaco) get a pass
March 7
- “It offers the holy grail amp sounds beloved by John Mayer, SRV, and more for just $150. A must-try for Dumble fans”: All the new guitar gear that has caught my eye this week – including the angriest fuzz pedal you will ever come across
- “We played it at CBGB’s. The label guy said, ‘That’s a single.’ We said, ‘Oh, no... That’s not going on the album. That’s a joke song!’” It was nothing more than a throwaway jam – then they were playing it at the Grammys in tuxedos
- “He goes, ‘The audition is in Nashville tomorrow. Here’s 45 songs you’ve got to know by then’”: Her manager didn’t like him. But Doug Pettibone grinded to land his dream gig with Lucinda Williams
March 6
- “A compact powerhouse that turns inspiration into endless possibilities”: Laney unveils the Prism-Mini, a feature-packed modeling amp and Bluetooth speaker that looks to steal the Spark Mini's crown
- "The sound of six figures”: IK Multimedia models two vintage – and VERY expensive – Dumble amps for the $249 TONEX One Double Special
- “I got a call from a manager who was trying to drag him out of obscurity. We jammed daily, but he was away with the fairies”: Rick Fenn on the time he tried to help bring Peter Green back into the limelight
- “We could hold our own with any company. It didn’t bother us if we were put on the bill with Crimson or Zeppelin. Nothing phased us”: Remembering the late Mick Abrahams, co-founder of Jethro Tull and purveyor of “good, honest music”
- “How I rap correlates with how I play. There’s a lot of syncopation and dead notes”: Ando San on marrying hip-hop with prog, thumping, and his eight-string guitar personally spec'd by Jeff Kiesel
- “We’re in tune, baby. It’s literally a dream come true”: Blind guitarist couldn’t tune his guitar without help – now a vibrating tuner pedal has changed his life
- “I said, ‘Where is it from?’ He says, ‘I don’t know. It’s been here for the last 20 or 25 years...’” Jake E. Lee was on tour with Ozzy Osbourne when he stumbled upon the gear bargain of a lifetime
- “I can put them in every guitar, and it’s gonna sound exactly like I need it to”: Metallica has rolled out something special to help celebrate 50 years of EMG
- “These dominated stages behind some of the biggest names in rock”: Mesa/Boogie brings back the fire-breathing Triple Rectifier in a classic finish – reviving one of the most impactful amps it ever created
- “A detailed, room-filling tone from a remarkably compact body”: Laney continues to redefine the competitive battery-powered amp market with its small footprint powerhouse, the PRISM-MINI
- “I remember he had these massive hands… I said, ‘Mr King, my name is Joanne and I’m 13, and I think I’m going to be a blues guitarist’”: Joanne Shaw Taylor’s life-changing first meeting with the great B.B. King
March 5
- “He played guitar like an orchestrator, arranging in real time around his own voice”: Jeff Buckley is an underrated guitar genius – and deserves a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
- “When I heard Train Kept a Rollin' I said, ‘Man, Joe Perry and Brad Whitford have gotten really good!’ After Steven left, Jack Douglas said, ‘Don’t say anything, but that’s not Brad and Joe’”: Angel’s Punky Meadows on why he didn’t join Kiss or Aerosmith
- "I was just shy of crying from pain that was in my right arm. I couldn’t even move it": Stephen Carpenter sheds light on the health struggles that have impacted his playing
- “It may not have the same EQ options as other FRFRs, but the Laney LFR-110 amplifies your digital tone in a way that will easily get you heard on stage”: Laney LFR-110 review
- Which guitarist should every beginner listen to?
- “I was asked to sit in with Buddy Guy. John handed me his 1930s National and smiled while I struggled to get anything out of it”: Joe Bonamassa leads tributes for musical troubadour John Hammond, who has died aged 83
- “Rick Rubin heard something. He had to convince those guys – they were kind of tentative. But Aerosmith was up for anything”: Joe Perry on how Aerosmith and Run-D.M.C. united rock and rap – and the secret role the Beastie Boys played
- “They already had Buckethead. I was thinking, ‘Who’s the craziest and the best?’ I knew there was only one guy”: Joe Satriani on the guitar ace he recommended for the Guns N’ Roses gig
- “Ed was under the same pressure we all were. You can play your old gear, but it sounds old”: Billy Corgan on what drives guitar heroes to change their tone – and how it led him to package his sound in a pedal
March 4
- "It’s fast-feeling, streamlined, and distressed already, so go ahead and beat it up - this under $700 guitar is geared for many road miles and serious shredding": Fame Custom ST RW review
- “He was like, ‘Who's your favorite guitar player?’ I said, ‘Django Reinhardt.’ He’s like, ‘Wrong answer – go home!’”: The key Berklee lesson that kept giving to Big Thief's Buck Meek as he built his new solo album
- “The most organic amp tones ever captured”: Kemper rolls out the latest evolution of its Profiling tech – and this update is free
- “He was horrified, saying, ‘Doug, your tone is atrocious!’”: Sideman to the stars Doug Rappoport reveals the classic rock icon who persuaded him to up his gear game
- “I felt like I was being used. I’m not a puppet that you can put your hand up its ass and make do stuff”: The signature gear Josh Homme turned down
- “I would have loved to get together with Wolfgang”: Eddie Van Halen once asked Paul Gilbert to give Wolfgang a guitar lesson – here’s why it never happened
- “To create something from nothing is one of the greatest feelings”: Why Prince turned down a deal with Guitar Hero
- I spent the weekend testing the best guitar gear of the year at The Guitar Show in Birmingham – these are the 9 hottest products you can buy right now
- “There was a big snowstorm. The governor asked him to postpone the show. He wouldn’t do it. He goes, ‘I told them I’m going to be here and I’m here’”: Joe Bonamassa on his friendship with the ultimate bluesman, B.B. King – and paying the ultimate tribute
- “I was using my Line 6 POD. He said, ‘I’ve got something that may work better.’ He sent me two things in the mail…” When Joe Satriani volunteered to help Dethklok mastermind Brendon Small with his home recording
- “A collaboration that’s nothing short of extraordinary”: Pat Metheny, Al Di Meola and more of the biggest names in jazz and fusion are playing in London this year
March 3
- “A long-term model to support the future of live music”: Marshall pledges to donate a percentage of gear sales to support grassroots venues
- “The pickups are so often the Achilles heel of more affordable guitars, and that’s no different here”: Cort Space G6MS review
- “Don Henley’s looking at me like I’m crazy, and finally I said, ‘What?’ He goes, ‘I thought you were a bluegrasser…’” Vince Gill on the importance of versatility – and how the Eagles enabled him to flex his hidden rock chops
- “He said, ‘I hear you’re going to make a record. If there’s anything I can do to help you guys out, let me know’’’: They were alt-rock legends who had to follow up a classic debut – then R.E.M.’s Peter Buck offered to lend a hand
- “It turns out you all really love a wildcard”: The hottest new guitar gear releases of February 2026 – according to Guitar World readers
- “Combining two of my favorite things”: Teemu Mäntysaari shreds Megadeth… while ice skating
- Big jumps for a bigger sound: Steve Morse’s masterclass on wide intervals
- “You never want to pull out cases and have no recollection of when, where or how you acquired it”: Joe Bonamassa is cutting back on his gear collecting habit
- “I gave it away… I thought I didn’t need it any more”: Cult Japanese guitar hero Masayoshi Takanaka gave away his iconic surfboard guitar. Now he’s got it back for his first-ever world tour at 72 years old
- Eric Clapton announces US tour – and he’s bringing another blues guitar hero on the road with him
March 2
- “I took the one lesson and left and never went back. I got to learn how to play guitar by myself”: Joan Jett on defying stereotypes and teaching herself guitar by playing along to Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath records
- “There’s more to life than just guitar. Once you've had a heart attack there’s always that thing in your mind that it could happen again”: How Al Di Meola’s heart attack led to his anti-ICE concert with Tom Morello and Bruce Springsteen
- “That’s why I don’t like old Les Pauls”: The reason Adrian Smith isn’t keen on some vintage Gibsons
- “He is truly one of the best players in the new generation”: Matteo Mancuso names the emerging virtuoso that you need to know about
- “One day, my mom went to Costco and was like, ‘They’ve got these guitars on sale. Let’s get it for your dad’”: Kiki Wong on how a cheap Yamaha and a Metallica classic changed her musical trajectory
- Zakk Wylde leads all-star Ozzy Osbourne tribute at the BRIT Awards – with the help of Robert Trujillo and Robbie Williams
- “Steven grabbed it and wanted to throw it out into the audience. I had to wrestle him for it”: That time Joe Perry had to rescue a broken guitar from Steven Tyler in the middle of an Aerosmith gig
- “It’s the only guitar I’ve kept from then. I paid $900 for it. Today it might be worth $45,000”: How Europe’s John Norum learned to love The Final Countdown – and the guitar he used to track its iconic solo
- He wrote chart-topping hits and one of the greatest Christmas songs of all time, but all he wanted to do was play deep slide blues – remembering the late, great Chris Rea
March 1
- “In Mötley Crüe I always used a pick, but I’m a better bass player when I use my fingers”: Nikki Sixx names his biggest weakness as a rock bassist