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November 2024

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323 articles

November 30
- Here’s a list of Cyber Monday deals on guitars, amps, pedals and more that were all highly-rated by our reviews team
- I have no need for a new guitar, but my weakness for retro-styled hollows and semi-hollows has me considering this whopping Black Friday discount on D’Angelico's sleek Premier Bedford SH
- This travel guitar had our expert reviewer questioning the concept of tone woods. Now it’s dropped to $279 – its lowest-ever price on Amazon – and I think it’s the time to buy
- From guitar straps to wireless systems, I've scoured the internet for the best guitar accessory deals this Cyber Monday so you don't have to
- Sweetwater’s epic Cyber Monday Gibson deal is so good I had to do a double-take. Last chance to grab $600 off a Gibson Les Paul Standard plus two FREE Maestro pedals!
- Years of testing capos on tour led me to this Fender x Kyser Quick-Change electric guitar capo – and it's massively discounted for Black Friday
- I’ve hand-picked this year’s top beginner guitar, bass and amp Black Friday deals – including $60 off my favorite Squier Strat and $70 off a top-tier Yamaha acoustic
- Looking for dirt-cheap guitar pedals this Black Friday? I've found 5 awesome stomps under $40 at Amazon
- Learn bass for less with beginner basses from Squier, Yamaha and Music Man hitting the low-end on price for Black Friday
- This Squier Sonic Strat serves serious Tom DeLonge vibes and blew me away when I reviewed it – now it’s even cheaper at just shy of $140 for Black Friday
- “We never would have written guitar harmonies like that without Cliff Burton”: James Hetfield credits Metallica’s original bassist with expanding the band’s horizons
November 29
- Schecter’s stunning Traditional Pro guitars nod to its ’80s custom shop legacy – but Sweetwater is knocking 40% off the list price for Black Friday
- The PRS SE NF3 was deemed one mod away from perfection in our review. Now you can grab one for $679 on Black Friday – and save $120 for the tweaks
- This is not a typo – you can save more than $1,000 on a Universal Audio guitar effects bundle in what is hands-down the biggest Black Friday gear deal you’ll come across this year
- Fender drops highly limited new Eclipse Strat and Precision Bass for Black Friday – plus big discounts on the American Professional II range
- I've toured globally with this Fender cable and it hasn't let me down – and now you can buy it for a crazy-low price
- Switching to a wireless system made me a better performer – and with big savings on the Positive Grid Spark Link for Black Friday, now is the time to cut the cord
- This Black Friday hack at Musician’s Friend gets you an iconic EHX reverb circuit and a Klon-style drive – for a fraction of the usual price
- The Beatles ’64 doc is essential viewing for every Fab Four fan – and you can sign up to watch it on Disney+ for just $2.99 a month in this Black Friday streaming deal
- Fender Play is the best online guitar lesson platform for beginners – get your or a loved one's guitar journey started for 60% off this Black Friday
- I’ve just unearthed a true gem amongst Sweetwater’s 14,000+ Black Friday deals – and it will only cost you $19.95
- With a whopping $6,000 off this guitar, Sweetwater is looking to seek and destroy all other Black Friday deals with the most drastic price drop we’ve ever seen
- “Available for the first time ever”: Fender launches the Tom DeLonge ‘Padre’ Strat – reviving a super-rare prototype that predates the original TD signature Stratocaster
- “That thing rips! It has a permanent home in my backpack”: Nita Strauss' favorite mini amp is on sale this Cyber Weekend
- It’s one of the all-time sleeper tube amps – and now there’s $100 off the Peavey Classic 20 at Sweetwater for Black Friday
- I went completely ampless for the first time this year – and with huge Black Friday discounts on Line 6 Helix, TONEX, and Quad Cortex modelers, now is the perfect time to join me
- “This is the bit where we’d normally introduce this month’s expertly curated playlist… But we won’t be doing that today”: November 2024 Guitar World editors’ picks
- “When you start looking at Paul McCartney, you start playing the song wrong”: Chris Shiflett on what it's like to share the stage with Macca – and Brian May
- Think you can’t afford a Fender amp this Black Friday? You can snag one for $29 if you act now
- He's one of the most technically proficient of all prog rock guitarists, and his guitar parts would take several lifetimes to fully comprehend. Dare you enter the court of the Crimson King, Robert Fripp?
- “I’ve used it on many sessions. It has become a quiet MVP in the studio”: Joe Bonamassa reveals his new pedal obsession
- I'm sorry, my beloved AC30, but I've found $150 off your digital replacement this Cyber Monday, and that means your days are numbered
- “I always try to sneak in little things. There was some Super Mario and Inspector Gadget on the last album”: Forget six-string superheroes like Yngwie et al – Joe Cocchi is repping the X-Men for Within the Ruins’ comic book-inspired sequel
- “These guitars make Donner a firm competitor with other major brands in the sub-$500 category”: Donner DST-600 and DST-700 review
- “We hit the stage, and there’s Paul McCartney. He looks at me and he says, ‘Hey, Duff’. All I can think is, ‘Paul McCartney knows my name. How the hell did that happen?!’” Duff McKagan recalls his real-life Spinal Tap moment and meeting his heroes
- “I don’t believe he had any idea how rare it was before he bought it”: Kurt Cobain's $6m MTV Unplugged Martin was a historic guitar even before its Nirvana association, but a mod inspired by one of his guitar heroes made it one of a kind
November 28
- Epiphone’s Taylor Swift acoustic guitars are here – but they’re not what we were expecting (and they’re already sold out)
- “Eric, I know I can bring out something great in you”: In 1971, John Lennon wrote to Eric Clapton asking him to help form a new band – now that letter is going up for auction
- “By the third or fourth 'JUNT' from the guitars my son was in tears”: Knocked Loose and Poppy shock late-night TV viewers with hell-raising performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
- “I couldn’t process playing any familiar songs but strummed chords. The whole experience was fascinating”: Guitarist undergoes eight-hour brain surgery – and plays his acoustic during the operation
- “Dave Navarro speaks so romantically when he’s talking about playing guitar – it definitely gave me some inspiration”: Crawlers’ Amy Woodall talks EBows, PA disasters – and what they took from that ill-fated Jane’s Addiction support slot
- “Perfect for campfire songs or late-night singalongs”: If you play acoustic guitar, you need to learn how to strum – here are 5 essential strumming patterns for beginner players
- “Once modded, it can take you from delicately sparkling cleans to ferociously thrilling crunch”: The Watkins Westminster Mk II is the affordable vintage tube amp you can turn into the best little Marshall you’ve never heard
- “An OCD through a Marshall is the Pixies sound”: Joey Santiago on why he’s a stompbox convert – but still hates the “coffee shop” chorus pedal
- “Goes above and beyond in providing a well thought-out and comprehensive configuration of gig-worthy, pro features”: Peavey Invective .112 combo review
November 27
- “Streamlined, pro specs and built for brutal chug”: The ESP LTD Deluxe EC-01FT is a no-nonsense tone machine that asserts single-pickup supremacy
- “Kossoff damaged his own '59 Les Paul and borrowed Ramm's for the encore. He agreed to swap it for his damaged guitar once it had been repaired”: A 1968 Gibson Les Paul played by Free's Paul Kossoff is up for auction
- January 2025 Guitar World lesson videos and more
- Guitar lessons are an investment in your playing – these 6 Black Friday deals from Guitar Tricks, Fender Play and more will help you save cash and break through into 2025
- “Live, I like to mostly play on the E and the A strings. I could pretty easily get away with playing a two-stringed bass”: How bassist Dave ‘Phoenix’ Farrell found his sound with Linkin Park
- “More versatile and expressive than ever”: Gibson introduces the latest evolution of the Hummingbird – giving the iconic acoustic a rare cutaway overhaul
- “Jethro Tull would rehearse at a strict time every morning and then break for lunch. It was like going to work. In Black Sabbath, we never did that”: Tony Iommi on hanging out with Jimmy Page and Brian May, early Sabbath – and his time with Tull
- “I told her, ‘This is Purple Haze’, and she said, ’No, it’s not. I saw Jimi Hendrix live, and Purple Haze didn’t sound anything like that!” When Richie Kotzen learned a Hendrix classic wrong, his mom called him out
- “I’d go into this antique store every day to play it. One day the owner just gave it to me”: How The Linda Lindas’ Bela Salazer got her first electric guitar for free
- “I used to get into fights with kids at school who thought Ace wasn’t as good as Jimmy Page. I’d fight for his honor”: Dimebag Darrell and Snake Sabo on their love of Ace Frehley, and how the Kiss legend shaped their playing
- The ultimate Superstrat just got an amazing discount in the Sweetwater Black Friday sale – save a huge $400
- “This is really emotional and personal for us”: $18 million of fake Gibson guitars seized by US Border Protection officers in biggest counterfeit instrument bust on record
- “It’s the old rockers’ guitar. You can wear it all night!” It weighs under 6lbs, has a honeycomb chambered body, you can swap out the pickups, and Billy Gibbons loves it – meet the Newman Honeycomb Junior GT-40 Guitar-X ‘Ultimate Billy’
- “Fender always presented these options in a very low-key way – it was added in very small print in the corner of one page”: Meet the vintage Jazz Bass that's a true Fender unicorn
- “Sometimes it’s not what you play, it’s how you play it”: Palm-muting is the secret to good funk guitar – here’s how you can use it to funkify chords, double-stops and single notes
- “Modding for dummies? Well, some of you more experienced guitar tinkerers might be having a chuckle, but this levels the playing field”: How Gibson’s Quick Connect pickups are the Les Paul mod pretty much anyone can do – no soldering required
November 26
- Take your band from local to viral with up to $250 off Zoom’s pro recording gear and cameras in the Amazon Black Friday sale
- Squier’s beginner Strats are killer for the price – and this stunning Olympic White Affinity Series model just got even cheaper, dipping under $200 for Black Friday
- “I'm so fortunate to always have such great musicians to work with”: Orianthi will re-join Alice Cooper’s band on tour as a fill-in for her successor, Nita Strauss
- “If you lined up Jimmy Page, Jonny Greenwood, and Will Sergeant, I’d pick Sergeant every time”: Courtney Love on why Echo & the Bunnymen's Will Sergeant is her “favorite guitarist on Earth”
- “All three of these guitars have their own sonic character – all of them great”: Gibson’s ES Supreme might be the ultimate modern semi-hollow, but it still feels alive
- "Yes, the price is more reflective of the fact this is a signature model with the added 'celebrity tax', but it delivers on all fronts.": Jackson Pro Series Signature Diamond Rowe Monarkh DR12MG review
- “The wait is over”: Schecter and Synyster Gates’ much-anticipated seven-string headless signature guitar has landed – and it’s available as a lefty, too
- “In the weeks leading up to the show, Deryck and I talked about our mutual love for the Sex Pistols. That’s when we planned the special moment”: Sum 41's Deryck Whibley plays Steve Jones’ Sex Pistols Les Paul at the band's last-ever European show
- “Before, if you had a bad gig, or were drunk and puked on the stage, maybe somebody would tell the story, but there was no video proof. Now, everything is recorded”: Matteo Mancuso on why nobody in the contemporary guitar scene can afford a bad gig
- “This poses a risk of serious electric shock”: Blackstar has announced an immediate recall of Debut 100R amps with these date codes
- “I only picked up guitar in the first place to impress my father. I didn’t have a true desire to play that great players like Joe Bonamassa did”: Billy Corgan opens up on his guitar insecurities and being cast as the Smashing Pumpkins’ “big, bad Dracula”
- “The thread is I must’ve suffered at their hands because I wasn’t allowed to write anything. I was still a guitar player, still writing the whole time through Pixies and Breeders”: Kim Deal on why she has always been both a guitarist and a bassist
- "D'Angelico would make one of the most remarkable comebacks of any guitar brand": Everything you need to know about D'Angelico and why Black Friday is a great time to pick one up
- Fender’s red-hot Black Friday sale has up to 50% off over 70 guitars - we've hand-picked 8 outrageous deals you'll love
- “I was out with Katy Perry doing a show in Italy, and I got the call to to join Chappell Roan last minute. I had two days to learn the show”: Devon Eisenbarger plays with the world’s biggest popstars – but still jams covers in amusement parks
- “I played the tapped section on the demo almost as a joke, but my engineer said, ‘That has to be on the record!’” Tapping on a country album? Don't knock it ’til you’ve tried it, says Andy Wood
- “I irresponsibly generalized that the reason people don’t learn theory is because they are lazy. There is another, better reason to not learn it”: That time John Frusciante wrote in to Total Guitar magazine to share his thoughts on music theory
November 25
- “To hear one song once was enough... I think they’re boring live”: Sex Pistols bassist Glen Matlock says he turned down a chance to join Oasis after seeing them live
- “I wondered if we took some of the electric guitar energy that’s on the pop version and stripped it back, would I find another level to the song?” Lady Gaga guitarist Tim Stewart shines as the pop icon unveils a Suhr-fueled take on her recent single
- Trump Guitars hit with cease and desist from Gibson over use of Les Paul body shape
- "Positive Grid’s Spark 2 is without a doubt the best practice amp I’ve ever played": Score a first-time discount on the Positive Grid Spark 2 this Black Friday
- "It’s not all about the name on the guitar, it’s how you gel with it." Why you don’t always need a big-name brand on your headstock – and 6 guitars that deliver superb value for your money
- “I played my first Flying V ironically as a joke… It was considered a very ‘metal’ guitar, and I could not shred”: L7’s Donita Sparks on why she opted to play a Flying V – despite it being a “shredder guitar”
- “When Clarence White entered the band, it elevated their guitar work. White and Roger McGuinn were electrifying”: Christian Parker on the Byrds’ legacy as folk-rock trailblazers, gear innovators and righteous players in their own right
- “I gotta tell you, it was emotional singing it, because it’s about Eddie”: Sammy Hagar has written a tribute song to Eddie Van Halen with Joe Satriani – and says a recent meeting with Wolfgang gave him “goosebumps”
- “With this band, you learn not to make plans”: Dave Navarro on his fight to beat Covid, and the Jane’s Addiction reunion that – little did he know – was about to come off the tracks
- “Delivering the original's legendary transparent boost overdrive with huge dynamic range”: Behringer has just released its own Klon clone – and at $69, it's one of the most affordable you can buy
- “He was able to make each note sound so big. When I formed my first trio the first place my mind would go was the sound of Leslie West’s guitar”: Jared James Nichols explains why Mountain man Leslie West was the “king of heavy”
- “AC/DC signed my Strat. I had everybody sign it: Neil Young, Jeff Beck… When Angus saw Beck’s signature he said, ‘Oh, the bouffant!’” Jim Suhler on being married by Billy Gibbons, the advice SRV gave him and why he didn’t pay Joe Bonamassa for a sick solo
- “Anyone with a troublesome Tele, whatever style you play in, needs to hear these”: Bare Knuckle Nomads Set review
November 24
- “My dad called me a ‘rhythm bassist’, but all he taught me was a power chord and an AC/DC drum beat”: Wolfgang Van Halen on calling the shots in rock’s royal family
- “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
- "As ridiculous as it might seem to recommend a product with Hello Kitty on the front as a decent option for woolly stoner metal riffs, we’re going to do it": Fender Hello Kitty Fuzz pedal review
- “A lot of guitar players switch to bass, but I feel like I was born a bass player – it’s in my bones”: Weezer’s Scott Shriner shares his bass tone secrets
- “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
- “Dumble told me to bring it to him because he had a mod he could do. It’s the only Dumble Fuzz Face that I’m aware of”: Kenny Wayne Shepherd on unicorn stompboxes, the quest for feel and why budget guitars can make you a better player
- “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
- Blues-rock legend Michael Landau has made harmonic changes his calling card – and this lesson in his sophisticated soloing style demonstrates how you can, too
- “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
- “Certain to become a standard for home studio engineers seeking a very versatile first mic”: Shure SM4 Home Recording Microphone review
- “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
- “It dishonors that brand to say, ‘Now we’re King Crimson.’ But we do have the ability to say, ‘Look, this is legitimate – half of the band is onstage here”: Adrian Belew, Steve Vai and Tony Levin on how they made Beat – with Robert Fripp’s blessing
- “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
- “I had to learn all the B-52s’ songs on a red-eye to New York. The tuning was hard to figure out – especially on a plane without a guitar in my hands!” Session pro Greg Suran explains what it takes to play on American Idol – and trade licks with Joe Walsh
November 21
- "This is an upgrade in every sense": Boss Katana-Mini X guitar amplifier review
- “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
- 6 AI-powered guitar tools to supercharge your guitar-playing
- I wasn't going to buy any more guitar pedals for Black Friday until I saw these half-price Walrus Audio deals
- “You’ve got three guitars, and nothing to prove”: Stephen Malkmus, Emmett Kelly, and Matt Sweeney discuss the country tracking tricks, experimentation, and East German fuzz pedal clones that power The Hard Quartet's self-titled debut album
- “This amp easily turned in a convincing Van Halen ‘brown’ sound, a feat many would assume out of range for an affordable solid-state combo”: Laney LFSUPER60-112 Combo review
- “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
- “I wouldn’t normally be caught dead with a Tele because I think they’re ugly, but that’s the only guitar I used”: Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt and Fredrik Åkesson on their love of “stupid riffs,” and “recapturing that old death metal magic”
- A master of making major key licks sound moody, Mark Knopfler is one of guitar’s true alchemists – take your melodic phrasing to new heights with this lesson in the Dire Straits icon’s soloing style
- “It would've been almost two hours to get home in traffic. I said to myself, ‘You’re here. Just write a song.’ Within 30 minutes, Pumped Up Kicks revealed itself to me”: How a ’59 Jazzmaster and capture-the-moment attitude keep Foster the People in gear
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
- “My experience with the Boss GX-10 is a real tale of two halves”: Boss GX-10 review
- 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
- “A great-looking guitar that’s just a few minor tweaks away from being as good as its style suggests”: Gretsch Electromatic Pristine Ltd Jet Single-Cut with Bigsby review
- “I don’t practice, because I don’t think that practicing in itself is necessary”: Yes icon Steve Howe on why he rarely runs scales, thrashing acoustics – and why you won’t catch him playing unfamiliar guitars
- If tone is really in guitarists’ hands – then we need to pay more attention to our picks
- “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
- “Billy Corgan literally said he wanted the ‘Sabbath note.’ He wanted that midrange that Tony Iommi has that really cuts through”: Reverend Guitars’ founders on their wild signature collabs with Smashing Pumpkins, Vernon Reid and Reeves Gabrels
- “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
- “Was smoking Hendrix’s Strat my wildest studio experience? Oh, certainly not! We always went full tilt. There was never a dull day!” Steve Cradock on his star-studded session with Paul McCartney, SGs vs Teles – and the joint he laced with Hendrix’s guitar
- “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
- “I don’t trespass on people’s style. It’s like, ‘Oh, God, you sound like that guy... Why?’ We’ve already seen that painting, don’t do that. It’s boring”: Pixies guitarist Joey Santiago on living life as an outsider guitar hero
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
- “Everyone knows Take My Breath Away, the chart-topping ballad from Top Gun. But there’s a good chance you haven’t heard this seven-minute anthem”: David Gilmour's 10 greatest guitar guest appearances, from folk legend Roy Harper to Paul McCartney
- “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
- “I stopped caring what people thought. I stopped trying to sound like other people and my sound emerged. It was literally timed with my transition”: Ella Feingold gigged with Erykah Badu and jammed with Prince, but her transition made her a player
- Yngwie Malmsteen’s Rising Force changed the game with its jaw-dropping display of mechanical mastery, classical themes, and reckless, extended soloing – celebrate 40 years of his essential debut with this neo-classical shred masterclass
- “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 lot of my peers have turned to modelers. I’m not there yet. It still feels like an electronic toy to me”: Jerry Cantrell on his love of guitar duos, vibing off Jeff Beck on his solo album – and why he remains a digital tone skeptic
- 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
- “We knew we didn’t want to do an acoustic version of Teen Spirit, that would’ve been horrendously stupid”: The story of Nirvana's seminal MTV Unplugged set
- “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
- “Could this be one of the most unique and musically inspiring electric guitars we’ve ever encountered?” Powers Electric A-Type review
- “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
- “Each provides the flavor of the amp they’re modeling. In some cases the range of sounds is extended”: TC Electronic AmpWorx Series review
- “I was about 11 – not old enough to understand how impactful it was. I understood what happened, but music took away the eerie mood”: Ethan Kahn learned to play after a high school shooting – now his band is championed by William DuVall and Rob Halford
- “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
- “I don’t think Bill Carson played it that much. In contrast, I’ve had a couple of George Fullerton’s – and I could tell he smacked his guitars around”: Unpacking the mystery of this one-off 1960s prototype Telecaster, built for a Fender icon
- Sweetwater's gargantuan Black Friday sale is even bigger than last year – save up to 80% on guitars, amps, pedals & more
- “I’m playing a nice old Gibson ES-335 through Lowell George’s Dumble amplifier…” Joe Bonamassa brings out the holy grail gear to explain how to get into a slow blues jam – and, crucially, how you can get out of it
November 17
- “A futuristic instrument that soundly improves the potential instability of wood-constructed acoustics”: Klōs Carbon Timber Grand Cutaway Mini review
- “If he were just a pop guitar player, he would be a legend – this cat is arguably one of the greatest players to ever exist”: Cory Wong and Andy Timmons on the brilliance of George Benson, and his essential contributions to the guitar vocabulary
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
- “Jaco was Joni’s liberator, but she wanted the bass to play a greater part in holding down the groove”: Larry Klein on how he handled the challenge of replacing Jaco Pastorius in Joni Mitchell’s band
November 15
- A working knowledge of adventurous chord alternatives is a crucial yet underrated skill. Here are 5 ideas for how you can revoice guitar chords, and enhance your progressions
- “Quite possibly the ultimate busker’s tool”: Yamaha TAG3 C TransAcoustic review
- “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”
- “I had some friends make fun of me – they would call me the ‘Crazy Tube Guy,’ although in Greek”: Crazy Tube Circuits' Christos Ntaifotis on how his passion for collecting tube amps has inspired one of the most exciting stompbox brands in the world
- 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
- “I got a call from Glenn Frey. I just said. ‘Where do I sign?’ Here they were asking me to join the Eagles without playing one lick of music with them”: Timothy B. Schmidt joined the Eagles at the height of Hotel California – and didn't even audition
- “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
- “Slash came to the studio, and told Axl that he was on his way to do this with me – Axl was keen to sing a few songs”: Michael Schenker on celebrating UFO with Axl Rose, Slash and Dee Snider, and why he's come full circle with Gibson
- “At the end of a tour Bert said to his roadie, ‘Do you want a guitar? Take your pick.’ And the guy said, ‘Well, I’d like that Fylde...” Gordon Giltrap on why Bert Jansch changed his life – and how he ended up with the folk icon’s ’70s acoustic
November 14
- “You should know the music so well that you could still play it perfectly while someone is screaming in your ear”: 15 pro guitarists share their tips for memorizing music
- “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 Who, Van Halen – the whole thing where there’s a separate singer from the lead guitar player. That started with Hubert Sumlin and Howlin’ Wolf”: Vernon Reid on the 7 riffs that inspired him, from Hendrix to Chic, Cream, and more
- “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
- “People warned me, ‘If you work with Ritchie Blackmore, you could last 5 minutes. He could chew you up, spit you out. You could end up with nothing.’ So I did have to think about it”: Bob Daisley on Rainbow, Ozzy – and pairing up with Randy Rhoads
- “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
- “A tasty fuzz that’s worth making a tuna-can-shaped space on your pedalboard for”: Beetronics Tuna Fuzz pedal review
- “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
- "Thumping low-end that doesn’t muddy up, and all the throatiness that the real thing does so well": Universal Audio UAFX Knuckles '92 Dual Rec amp pedal review
- “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
- “His style draws from the best of the best of jazz guitar through the ages”: This in-depth tutorial inspired by the great Bruce Forman will expand your lick vocabulary and harmonic understanding, and boost your improv skills
- “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
- “We were opening for ZZ Top at Madison Square Garden. I told the guys, ‘I’ll go out there and blow for 60 seconds, then we’ll go into the first tune.’ I hit the first chord and my Marshall blew up”: Richie Sambora on Bon Jovi's nightmare arena debut
- “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
- “My first real gig with The Band was in front of 25,000 people and we had no real rehearsal… We just flew out to Dallas and opened for Crosby, Stills & Nash”: Jim Weider on replacing Robbie Robertson – and the ’52 Tele he got while working at a car wash
- “$499 is incredibly high value for a guitar you can go and buy, and go and gig it. And that’s what I want: it’s not a toy”: PRS’ Jack Higginbotham reflects on the history of the SE line
- “Tom Morello ended up flying to Seattle and doing the vocals with Layne Staley. Tom came back and was like, ‘He’s in really bad shape. It’s scary’”: Martyn LeNoble on a career spent working with alt-rock icons – and the kindness of John Entwistle
- “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
- “I was a Brian May obsessive. I had the Star Licks video and had learned it all by the time I was 14”: Hooked on “bombastic lead rock guitar” before catching the songwriting bug, Seb Wesson is on a search for songs with meaning
- “My friend talked to Joe Walsh and gave him my number. Awhile later, I got a message: ‘Adam Jones, this is the Talk Box fairy. Give me a call’”: Tool's Adam Jones on taking cues from Meshuggah, unorthodox pedals, and the trick he learned from Robert Fripp
- “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
- “Verböten played right across the street from Wrigley Field. Dave Grohl came with his sister when he was 13 and saw us play”: Jason Narducy on inspiring Dave Grohl, getting R.E.M. cover tips from Peter Buck – and being Bob Mould’s bassist
- “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
- "It’s fair to say that the design of this model will divide people, but what isn’t up for debate is this Strat’s build quality": Squier Limited Edition Hello Kitty Stratocaster review
- 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
- “My solos are more like rolling scales than the call-and-response of blues riffs... I used to analyze the progression. If I didn’t like what was available, I’d play as weird as possible”: How Randy Rhoads reinvented classical guitar for metal
- “I love driving people crazy. They come and say, ‘How did you do that? I’ve been working for months trying to get that.’ And I say, ‘It’s just a pedal!’” A guide to the untapped guitar playing of David Gilmour’s solo albums
- “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
- “My custom-made classical guitar with the synth module was stolen while we were on tour. I got it back thanks to some people who worked with Joe Bonamassa”: Steve Morse on gear-buying, his ‘FrankenTele’ and why he needs four pickups – no more, no less
- “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
- “Was that open-string a mistake or pure brilliance? Who cares? It’s a masterpiece”: Did bass maestro Willie Weeks miss a note on this Donny Hathaway classic?
- 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
- “It isn’t unrealistic to try with your usual setup, provided you’re not using eights with a 1mm action”: Upgrade your blues chops now with this lesson in how to play slide guitar in standard tuning
- “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 thought Billy was the coolest guitarist I’d ever heard, and that opinion hasn’t changed in 50 years”: Add some Texas blues sizzle to your lead playing with this lesson in Billy Gibbons' sweet soloing style
- “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
- “Jimi Hendrix was my superhero, and so I threw a bit of his style into the bassline”: How a young Bootsy Collins took the James Brown bass chair to its busiest level on this Bootsy-fied recut from 1970’s Sex Machine
- “Lots of what I play, I wouldn't know how to describe it… I’m following my nose all the time. It’s a process of instinct and desire”: Meet Lazy Day’s Tilly Scantlebury – the UK guitarist-producer summoning sparkling indie tones from secondhand setups
- “A handsome and versatile instrument that deserves its second chance”: Gibson Victory Figured Top review
- “Unprecedented customization”: Brubaker merges headless guitar hype with modern modular designs for the NBS Series – which offers switchable high-end preamps
- “Aqualung was Ian’s riff. The solo was all done on the fly. If I hadn’t got it in two takes then it would have been a flute solo. That’s when Jimmy Page came up to say hello”: Martin Barre on Jethro Tull, the Aqualung sessions – and supporting Hendrix
- “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 9
- Dave Keuning’s uncanny ability to craft huge songs like Mr. Brightside from simple melodies is at the heart of the Killers’ blockbuster sound – here’s how you can use his rhythm approach and hook-filled lead style
- “The idea of lead guitar is that there’s focus put on it, and during this period I just didn’t want any focus to be on me”: How Devin Townsend relied on his production process to deliver his new album from the depths of depression and grief
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
- “Wolfgang knows more Intervals songs at any given moment than I do – on guitar and drums”: Intervals' Aaron Marshall on making the impossible possible, and jamming with Wolfgang Van Halen
- Players like Larry Carlton use chords as a launching pad for improvisation, and you can, too. Learn how polychords and slash chords hold the key to musical exploration, just as scales do
- “An unapologetic approach to thrash rhythmic precision”: Weaponize your picking hand with this lesson in the bruising thrash-stomp riffing style of Anthrax rhythm kingpin Scott Ian
- “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
- “The Janie’s Got a Gun solo had a ratty sound. I had a Chet Atkins signature guitar plugged into a 15-watt Marshall practice amp... the producer said, ‘It sounds terrible’”: Joe Perry on 50 years of Aerosmith, and what it takes to nail his “working tone”
- “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’
- 7 stocking filler gift ideas under $20 that guitar players actually need
- “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
- “It sold for $937,000 to an anonymous buyer who, we assume, doesn't play punk rock for a living”: From Joe Strummer’s Tele to Johnny Ramone's Mosrite, here are the iconic guitars behind the sound of punk – and the modern-day equivalents you can buy today
- “I might have done better in the Bluesbreakers than in the Yardbirds, but I certainly wouldn't have had the same kind of free rein to experiment”: Jeff Beck on his relationship with Eric Clapton, jamming with Hendrix, and turning down John Mayall
- “It took me a while to learn that guitarists can’t play bass. It’s about more than just getting the notes right”: How Mike Rutherford’s ‘lead bass’ approach helped demystify the low-end for prog rock cornerstone Genesis
- “There were nine other bass players. I got the job. Then I was told they were picking me up in three hours for a tour – I had to take it or leave it”: Tony Stevens on his rocky ride with Savoy Brown, Foghat and Midnight Flyer
- “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
- “I took over where Billy Gibbons left off and did my half of the solo, and it was a very rare thing. My wife loves it. She doesn’t love anything I do...” Brian May, Billy Gibbons and Steve Cropper on how the three guitar icons learned to play together
- “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
- “A saturated reverb with a boingy, surf-like character – garage and lo-fi pedal junkies are going to flip over its seductively dark and grungy splash”: Anasounds La Grotte Analog Spring Reverb review
- “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
- “I remember trying to do pinch harmonics on a 30” Dunable in the studio… it was close to impossible. My fingers were all torn up trying!” Meet Gore. guitarist Alex Reyes – the modeler-melting Texan metal player summoning djent riffs from six-strings
- “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
- It worked for the Beatles on Yesterday and it can work for you, too – here’s how to use the melodic minor scale to add intrigue to your songwriting and glide over minor chord progressions
- “You can only imagine the effect this had on the young Keith Richards and Eric Clapton”: 9 must-hear albums that fueled the British blues guitar boom
- “Starting out as a singer, I realized the guitar was the closest instrument to the human voice in terms of expression”: Judith Hill on her journey from backing singer for Michael Jackson, Prince and Stevie Wonder to picking up guitar in her own band
- “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
- “McLaughlin’s ferocious picking and mastery of the fretboard raised the bar for what could be achieved on the guitar”: Learn the trailblazing style of John McLaughlin, one of the true pioneers of jazz-rock fusion
- “This album’s the only one where I’ve sat down and planned out a solo. Otherwise, the record button’s pressed, and I just go, ‘Pentatonic scale!’” Orange Goblin’s Joe Hoare on life’s simple pleasures – Les Pauls, Marshall amps and signature beer
- “The most famous high-gain amp to emerge in 1992 was the 5150, and that’s exactly the character the Anti pedal offers”: Universal Audio UAFX Anti 1992 High Gain Amp pedal review
- “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
- “I've not got a huge history with Gibson, but this one I bought to have a different tone”: From a forensic Black Strat replica to a Gibson that caught his ear and a ‘90s Zoom unit, here's everything David Gilmour used on his new solo album, Luck & Strange
- “Harkening back to the late ’80s”: Charvel continues the expansion of its made-in-Japan operations with 3 new high-end MJ Series Dinkys
- “Beat It was interesting. Of course, Eddie Van Halen did the solo. But the rest of the guitars were Steve Lukather and myself...” Session ace Paul Jackson Jr. on how he became Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones’ go-to guitarist
- “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
- “I said to him, ‘It needs to be valve. It needs to have that sag, that compression, that you can’t necessarily get from a solid-state design’”: Adrian Thorpe on how he made Chris Buck’s awesome, tube-equipped signature pedal, Electric Lightning
- “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”
- “For lovers of all things heavy that don’t want to deal with an extra string, it’s utter perfection”: Jackson Pro Plus XT Soloist SLAT HT6 Baritone review
- Think punk is just power chords and rubbish technique? Think again – here are 10 lessons you can learn from the last 50 years of punk
- “I haven't used the Big Muff since 1993. I don’t use that many pedals anymore, but I use them live”: Billy Corgan shares his pedalboard secrets, including the $1,000 pedal he stole from his dad
- “I bought it off a druggie – which I feel terrible about”: From his beloved '59 Strat to his stable of ultra-delicate steampunk guitars, Rick Springfield discusses his guitar journey, and his mission to buy up every instrument he had to part with
- “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
- "The articulation is sensational even with the overdrive knob cranked, and every note rings true no matter what you’re playing”: Universal Audio UAFX Enigmatic ‘82 Overdrive Special pedal review
- “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
- "This is an unusual pedal": Boss SDE-3 Dual Digital Delay review
- “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 3
- Best bass guitar picks: our pick of perfect plectrums for bass players
- “Herbie Flowers was supposed to do the date, but he couldn't make it. So Bowie said to me, ‘You'll have to play bass’”: Trevor Bolder speaks out on his storied history with David Bowie
November 2
- “Frank asked me to transcribe St Alfonzo’s Pancake Breakfast after I told him I’d learned Inca Roads by ear. Maybe it was a challenge to see if I was bluffing!” When bassist Arthur Barrow survived an audition for guitar genius Frank Zappa
- “We did Yellow Brick Road in 16 days! That’s the magic you get with a band like that”: Dee Murray was the centerpiece of the early Elton John band – and the last bassist to play onstage with John Lennon
November 1
- “You just heard how responsive these pickups up are… I love the mojo this guitar has”: The PRS S2 line is now packing USA-made pickups – and you can hear the difference
- “Gretsch’s most exciting release of the year. A genuine joy to play”: Gretsch Electromatic Jack Antonoff Signature "Princess Antonoff" CVT review
- “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
- “It was fun checking out Steve Howe’s gear. He really made the case to me for the guitar stand. You know… the one where your guitar is actually standing!” Hannah Wicklund on opening for Yes and Deep Purple – and her undying love of Anderson Guitars
- “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
- Get the most out of Spotify with DistroKid
- “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
- Holiday 2024 Guitar World lesson videos and more
- “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)
- “The idea of the ‘rhythm’ side and the ‘lead’ side as distinctly separate entities has become somewhat blurred”: Mateus Asato is a modern master of combined rhythm and lead playing – he shares his poetic soloing secrets
- “I’ve never played a barre chord in my life. I hate them. You don’t need more than two or three notes to express a chord”: Andy Summers on his “abstracted instrumental” collabs with Robert Fripp, his dream pedalboard, and what he learned from Béla Bartók
- “Nobody ever came to a gig to watch me play guitar. They came to hear me sing. We didn’t have a rhythm guitar player, so I had to cover everything”: Justin Hayward on the life, times and tones of the Moody Blues, and the undisputed power of a dimed AC30
- “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
- “Gives you control over the relative level of the two pickups – without adding a second volume control”: Radioshop Telecaster Wiring Mod review