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April 2025

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April 30
- “Dylan asked, ‘What’s the least amount of notes you can play?’ I said, ‘I could play one.’ He goes, ‘Do that’”: Fred Tackett compares his gigs with Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, and Bob Seger, and recalls his friendship with Lowell George
- “Alternative metal reimagined for solo acoustic? The results are quite mesmerizing”: April 2025 Guitar World Editors' Picks
- "An excellent speaker worthy of any guitarist's home studio": PreSonus Eris Pro 6 Review
- “I emailed Brian Ball. I was like, ‘Hey, can you just slap six strings on there and a humbucker and send me one?’ He’s like, ‘No, I can’t’”: Cory Wong was on a quest for the perfect humbucker guitar – when an iconic bass design sparked a collaboration
- “Dime is in there. I have a big Eddie Van Halen influence. The same goes for Eric Clapton. It all channels back to the blues”: Mark Morton explains why he’s jamming with Grace Bowers and Jason Isbell on his solo album – and those Gibson signature rumors
- “He mostly played bass. I had a ’64 Strat that I got for $200. Tom didn’t really have a good electric, so I let him use that one”: How Mike Campbell and Tom Petty developed their Heartbreakers sound – with the help of some choice early gear picks
- “I’d go into a soundcheck, there’d be all these cases open and they’d say, ‘Choose one. We’ll give you a guitar.’ I’d be like, ‘No, thanks. I have a guitar’”: The Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde and James Walbourne on what it takes to be a real guitar hero
- “I was auditioning guitar players. One guy comes in with that turquoise guitar. I looked at it and I thought, ‘That’s my guitar’”: Lita Ford had her prized B.C. Rich Mockingbird stolen – but crossed paths with it in the most bizarre circumstances
- “Vintage looks and performance at an accessible price”: Epiphone expands its high-end Inspired by Gibson Custom Collection – and introduces a key upgrade to its 1959 Les Paul Standard reissue
April 29
- “Muddy Waters and BB King, I knew ’em before they passed away, and they told me, ‘Man, if you outlive me, just try to keep the blues alive’”: Buddy Guy is still on the road – and he’s back on the big screen in Michael B. Jordan’s Sinners
- I’ve been involved with guitars for decades, and in all that time I can probably count on two hands the vintage instruments I’ve seen with half the finish gone. Has guitar relic'ing gone too far?
- “I must’ve played hundreds of Les Pauls, and I can safely say this is up there with the best sounding of them – it even gives my own Gibson Les Paul Standard a run for its money”: Epiphone Inspired by Gibson Custom 1957 Les Paul Goldtop review
- “Stevie came to my 5th birthday and gave me a pawnshop Harmony. It didn’t have a gig bag, it had two paper grocery bags on either end”: Tyrone Vaughan descends from blues greatness – and SRV helped him start his guitar journey early
- “Live right up to the last breath and stay positive about the world, your family and the environment you live in”: Mike Peters, frontman of the Welsh band, The Alarm, has died aged 66
- Only one day left to save! Guitar Center’s massive Guitar-A-Thon sale is nearly over, but there's still time to score $600 off a Gibson Les Paul, as well as hundreds of Fender, Martin and more
- “I can’t believe how complicated the parts she’s playing are. You just never know how those are coming to be in the studio”: FINNEAS reveals his surprise guitar hero whose playing left him scratching his head
- “It could be something you could bequeath to those you love”: Red Witch’s Apothecary pedals could outlast every other stompbox on your ’board – and even become family heirlooms
- “I’ve been to guitar shops and played fancy guitars and cheaper ones. I just don’t understand why people pay so much money”: Tashi Dorji explains why he sees little value in expensive instruments – but views improv guitar as anarchy
- “Take a lunar journey”: Guitar Center continues its big-brand collaborative hot streak and takes Fender on a Moonlight Drive with a trio of limited-edition Player II models
April 28
- “Balance problems aside, this is a hugely playable guitar and one I had a lot of fun with. It seemed to just produce riffs out of nowhere”: Jackson X Series Surfcaster SC HT6 review
- “Anyone can dial in a really fat, thick, saturated guitar tone for single notes, but what happens when they palm-mute? Does it just fall apart? A lot of the time it does”: Adam ‘Nolly’ Getgood busts myths about how to get great high-gain tone
- “Tom Morello comes back and says, ‘Guess what? Ozzy wants to sing No More Tears’”: Sammy Hagar reveals how many songs Ozzy Osbourne will perform at his final show
- English folk icon Wizz Jones – guitar hero of Keith Richards, Eric Clapton and Thurston Moore – has died at 86
- “He combined the passion of Gary Moore with riffs inspired by Zeppelin and Deep Purple, plus unexpected melodic twists like Ritchie Blackmore”: He was one of ’80s rock’s great journeymen – and his searing hot lead work inspired Marty Friedman
- “There are people out there that had paid £2,000 for a guitar…and we were still getting emails from people saying, ‘Where’s my stuff?’”: What happens when a guitar store goes bust? A former employee at one of the UK's biggest guitar stores tells all
- “Damn, that guy could shred. Can you imagine what that would have sounded like?” Wednesday 13 says the late Alexi Laiho once came close to joining him and Slipknot’s Joey Jordison in Murderdolls
- “Their music gave a voice to generations and influenced many artists that followed in their footsteps”: One of the most iconic session players of all time has been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, alongside The White Stripes and Soundgarden
April 27
- “I left without a penny to my name. I was bitter for a while, but I’ve got a great legacy”: Though Pete Quaife gets credit for jumpstarting the Kinks bass chair, John Dalton and Jim Rodford pushed the band forward on many of their classic albums
- “Chuck Berry's not a very good guitar player. He's a clown. He runs all over the guitar, just like any one of these old rock players would do, and makes no sense”: Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown pulled no punches when speaking about his fellow guitar heroes
- “I said, ‘Merle, do you remember this?’ and I played him his song Sweet Bunch of Daisies. He said, ‘I remember it. I've never heard it played that good’”: When Roy Clark met his guitar hero
April 26
- “I asked Marcus to sing on it. As amazing as he is on bass, I think he’s underrated as a vocalist”: Having earned lofty status in bass-hero circles, Marcus Miller lent his vocal chops to Hadrien Feraud’s solo album
- “My brother's trying to knock Norm down in price. He's worth $800 million. He goes, ‘I'll give you a bottle of whiskey on top’”: Frank Stallone on the prized vintage Epiphone that Sylvester bought him – and the guitar's mysterious origins
- "They said, 'We don't have a direction yet, but you got the gig!' I said, 'Well, let me think about it'": Yngwie Malmsteen on why he turned down UFO
April 25
- “A huge shake-up in the amp modeler market”: These are the gear releases that have caught my eye this week – and the ones you might have missed
- “I loved working with David Gilmour… but that was an uneasy collaboration”: Pete Townshend admits he’s not a natural collaborator – even with bandmates and fellow guitar heroes
- “You’ve gotta lose the fuss. You grab the new guitar, you scratch it. Grab the key right away": Kiko Loureiro on why players shouldn’t be too precious about their guitars
- “It was the first and last time I've ever argued with Brian May. He was so adamant about us not doing it”: Nuno Bettencourt recalls Extreme’s rebellious Queen medley at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert
- “I was playing stuff I don’t think James Brown understood. He told me, ‘You have to play the one – you’re playing too much’”: Six years after he quit touring, Bootsy Collins reflects on James Brown and George Clinton, and what he gets out of playing today
- “He brought something out of me that just ain't the same without him”: The song Sammy Hagar wrote with Joe Satriani after dreaming about Eddie Van Halen is here – and as promised, it features some stellar guitar work
- “This guy kept calling saying, ‘I’ve never been in a band before, but I’m the best guitarist ever.’ When I heard him play it was like a fire from heaven”: The life and times of Killing Joke visionary Geordie Walker – the guitar hero’s guitar hero
- “More people play stop-tails than guitars with locking tremolos. We dig both”: EVH delivers on its hardtail promise and launches the Wolfgang Standard T.O.M. – which vows to take Eddie's legacy to new heights
- “There’s no doubt in my mind that Mark Sampson was the father of the boutique amp revolution”: An interview with the late, great Mark Sampson, the trailblazing amp designer behind Bad Cat and Matchless
- “Its superpower is punching your guitar tone with presence, thickened gain and sustain”: SoloDallas SVDS Boost review
April 24
- How to get better at guitar – 10 proven ways to improve your playing fast
- “I knew the spirit of the Alice Cooper group was back – what we were making was very much an album that could’ve been in the '70s”: Original Alice Cooper lineup reunites after more than 50 years – and announces brand-new album
- “Such a rare piece”: Dave Navarro has chosen the guitar he’s using to record his first post-Jane’s Addiction material – and it’s a historic build
- “The best guitar player I ever heard”: Nashville guitar extraordinaire Mac Gayden – who worked with Bob Dylan, Elvis, Linda Ronstadt and Simon & Garfunkel – dies at 83
- “I’ve never bought a guitar and I’m quite proud of that! I always tell people when they’re learning: there’s a guitar not being played”: Meet Sacred Paws’ Ray Aggs, the dextrous Tele-wrangler inventing new chords and capturing Thurston Moore’s imagination
- “Jimi was staying at a hotel in Times Square. He had his hair set in pink curlers and we would just talk band drama”: Electro-Harmonix founder Mike Matthews on befriending Hendrix, booking Chuck Berry and the birth of pedal culture
- “An affordable and extremely useful creative tool for podcasting, streaming and studio or location recording”: Shure MV7i Smart Microphone and Interface review
April 23
- “Even standing with the guitars is tricky”: Ritchie Blackmore's health sparks concern after update from wife and musical partner Candice Night
- 5 lo-fi guitar chords to add to your progressions
- “The rest of the world didn't know that the world's greatest guitarist was playing a weekend gig at this place in Chelmsford”: The Aristocrats' Bryan Beller recalls the moment he met Guthrie Govan and formed a new kind of supergroup
- “Our answer to everything players have asked for and more”: Neural DSP’s Nano Cortex had one major drawback – but now it’s been addressed with a huge free firmware update that takes on Kemper and TONEX
- Carlos Santana hospitalized following pre-show medical emergency
- “I didn’t use any amps. The pedal that saved me was the Boss Super Overdrive”: How Yves Jarvis made 2025’s most exciting experimental record so far with a $50 Explorer knockoff and an unbelievably weird tuning
- “Chess was cussin' when I got to the session with Muddy. But when he heard me, he just sat there with his mouth open”: Leonard Chess wanted to cash in on the folk boom, and asked Muddy Waters to bring him an old acoustic bluesman. He brought him Buddy Guy
- “One of the most genuinely unique guitar tones I’ve ever heard”: Submarine Pickups Subsix review
- “I didn’t think anybody would believe I got it from George Harrison. I figured they’d call me a liar”: Vintage guitar guru Norman Harris names the 5 most memorable guitars that have come through Norman's Rare Guitars
April 22
- “The musicians, shops, and brands who use Reverb have always been at the center of all that we do”: Reverb has been acquired by two new investors – and will once again become an independently operated company
- "A guitarist's ticket to easier home recording": PreSonus Quantum HD 2 review
- Weezer’s first show was opening for Keanu Reeves’ band Dogstar. Now the John Wick star is set to play a villain in the Buddy Holly hitmakers’ forthcoming mockumentary
- “Even the thought that Clapton might have seen a few seconds of my video feels surreal. But I’m truly honored”: Eric Clapton names Japanese neo-soul guitarist as one to watch
- “You better be ready to prove it’s something you can do”: Giacomo Turra got exposed – but real guitar virtuosos are being wrongly accused of fakery, too
- One of the UK's biggest guitar stores has sold its stock and website to online retailer Gear4music for $3.2 million – after weeks of speculation over its future
- “Imagine the roaring intensity of Meshuggah’s live performances echoing through your rig”: Meshuggah’s world-ending guitar tones are now available in a signature pedal
- Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong tackles one of Randy Rhoads’ most iconic solos – tapping and all – in live cover of Ozzy Osbourne’s Crazy Train
- “It’s not meant to be anything more than a thank-you – with love, with respect, and with one hell of a guitar solo”: Sammy Hagar set to release track inspired by a dream he had about Eddie Van Halen, co-written with Joe Satriani
- “I was really broke. The only way I could get to New York to try out for Talking Heads was to take a family who were moving there in the band van”: Jerry Harrison on making Talking Heads’ 1977 debut and rejecting blues-rock to shape the CBGB guitar sound
- “What blew me away was that everyone wanted the curly maple top. People were calling, saying, ‘I’ve got to have the bird inlays’”: Paul Reed Smith on raising the Standard 24, finally cracking the noise-free guitar and why John Sykes is a tone hero
April 21
- “I was playing in the living room, he walked past and shot me this look of ‘Do that again.’ So I bent the string up and he gave me this nod of approval”: Jack Moore on lessons learned from his father, Gary
- “I heard the Money solo and thought, ‘This is amazing!’ So I sent David a telegram saying, ‘Remember me? I'm in a band now called Roxy Music’”: Phil Manzanera on his friendship with David Gilmour, and the key to the Pink Floyd man's unmistakable tone
- “It’s really quite genius, but also hard to learn – it sounds insane, but sometimes the easiest songs still get me nervous”: Kiki Wong reveals the Smashing Pumpkins song she had the most trouble with
- That time Stevie Wonder jammed with Stevie Ray Vaughan... and played SRV's number one Strat
- “Freddie King would ask me why I never tried using thumbpicks... I really like digging in with my fingers”: He replaced Jimi Hendrix in Little Richard's band, was idolized by Stevie Ray Vaughan, and is one of the most underrated Tele slingers of all time
- “When I heard Sonic Youth, I was like, ‘I need a Jazzmaster, and I’m gonna put duct tape on it!’”: Bartees Strange on working with superstar producer Jack Antonoff, his vintage guitar collection, and emulating Neil Young’s “spluttery” guitar sounds
- "The ability to use this as a midweight MIDI brain for a gigging setup is what makes it unique.": Walrus Audio Canvas Clock review
- “We hadn’t really rehearsed. As we were walking to the stage, he said, ‘Hang on, boys!’ And he went in the corner and vomited”: Assembled on 24 hours' notice, this John Lennon-led, motley crew supergroup marked the beginning of the end of the Beatles
- “Among the most sought-after of all rhythm guitars… a power and projection unsurpassed by any other archtop”: Stromberg has made a long-awaited comeback, and we got our hands on its new Master 400 – a holy grail archtop with a price to match
- “I pushed myself to down-pick faster and make the riffs more aggressive. Maybe it’s the old man in me struggling to feel young and fighting back against aging”: How Killswitch Engage went to thrash metal bootcamp to deliver their face-ripping return
April 20
- “The name holds a clue – this pedal is ideal for blues players”: J Rockett Blue Note Select review
- “I always felt like that record could have been better if we had worked on it some more”: Looking for a blockbuster comeback album, Aerosmith turned to Van Halen producer Ted Templeman. For Joe Perry, it served as a learning experience
- “If you’ve ever wondered what unobtanium looks like in amp form, this is it”: Played and revered by Stevie Ray Vaughan, Carlos Santana, and John Mayer, Dumble amps have an almost mythical reputation. But what's all the fuss really about?
April 19
- Guitar World Discussion: Who is the most underrated guitar player of all time?
- Ozzy Osbourne’s solo band has long been a proving ground for metal’s most outstanding players. From Randy Rhoads to Zakk Wylde, via Brad Gillis and Gus G, here are all the players – and nearly players – in the Osbourne saga
- “If, or when my current power supply fails me, I’ll probably look to this exact unit as a replacement”: Harley Benton PowerPlant ISO-10AC Pro review
April 18
- “I could be blazing on Instagram, and there'll still be comments like, ‘You'll never be Richie’”: The recent Bon Jovi documentary helped guitarist Phil X win over even more of the band's fans – but he still deals with some naysayers
- “I just learned them from the records. I don’t read tabs or anything, I don’t read music – I learned by ear”: How a teenage Muireann Bradley put a cover of Blind Blake’s Police Dog Blues on YouTube and became a standard bearer for country blues
- “The Strat was about as ‘out’ as you could get. If you didn’t have a Floyd Rose, it was like, ‘what are you doing?’”: In the eye of the Superstrat hurricane, Yngwie Malmsteen stayed true to the original
- “He got that from me. I used to throw my guitar as high as I could, like, 20 feet, and my guitar tech would catch it”: Dez Dickerson on Prince, his iconic Little Red Corvette solo, and why he left the Revolution
- Guitar World deals of the week: save $250 on a Gretsch semi-hollow guitar, bag a budget busting EQD delay pedal, plus all the best deals on guitar gear over the Easter weekend
- “I’d always seen the guitar as a thing for really accomplished people like Jimi Hendrix – watching Nirvana on MTV Unplugged exploded my brain”: Studio nerd Corinne Bailey Rae broke through after moving on from her punk roots. Then she went back
- “It combines unique aesthetics with modern playability and impressive tone, creating a Firebird unlike any I’ve had the pleasure of playing before”: Gibson Firebird Platypus review
- “Elton said, ‘I'd better buy that guitar just to have in my house.’ I played it and said, ‘Yeah, you'd better buy it, so I can play it when I come by’”: One of Davey Johnstone's favorite guitars was once a piece of upscale decor for his superstar bandmate
- “Leo said, ‘Here, try this guitar.’ I grabbed it, turned it around, held it upside-down backwards and started playing ukulele chords. He almost fell off his chair laughing”: How Dick Dale made the Stratocaster the ultimate surf-rock weapon
- “It's like saying, ‘Give a man a Les Paul, and he becomes Eric Clapton. It's not true’”: David Gilmour and Roger Waters hit back at criticism of the band's over-reliance on gear and synths when crafting The Dark Side of The Moon in newly unearthed clip
- “When I first heard his voice in my headphones, there was that moment of, ‘My God! I’m recording with David Bowie!’” Bassist Tim Lefebvre on the making of David Bowie's Lazarus
- “A new signature for Misha Mansoor, but not the one we’ve been waiting for”: The essential guitar gear releases you might have missed this week, from Chase Bliss and PRS to Jackson and Fender
April 17
- “I said, ‘Let’s get Hendrix to play on it.’ His manager said, ‘Jimi’s playing shows back-to-back.’ So we got Jimmy Page”: The hit ’60s single that was supposed to feature Jimi Hendrix… but ended up with Jimmy Page
- “It was tour, tour, tour. I had this moment where I was like, ‘What do I even want out of music?’”: Yvette Young’s fretboard wizardry was a wake-up call for modern guitar playing – but with her latest pivot, she’s making music to help emo kids go to sleep
- Unlocking the power of 7th chords: expand your guitar chords beyond the basics
- “One of the guys said, ‘Joni, there’s this weird bass player in Florida, you’d probably like him’”: How Joni Mitchell formed an unlikely partnership with Jaco Pastorius
- “There are people who think it makes a big difference to the sound. Stevie always sounded the same whether it was rosewood or maple”: Jimmie Vaughan says your fretboard choice doesn’t matter – and SRV is his proof
- “Jeff Beck used to love seeing him and Lenny play live – it feels full circle”: Lenny Kravitz guitarist Craig Ross has been playing Jeff Beck’s $490,000 Yardburst Les Paul onstage for an entire tour
- “I said, ‘If I could have it my way it would sound like this,’ and I pulled the bass guitar out of the mix”: Why Prince removed the bassline from When Doves Cry
- “You got it!” Rare footage of Andy Summers teaching John Mayer how to play Message in a Bottle emerges
- “I don’t want a guitar that, the moment I play it, sounds like the blues. Sometimes I want a guitar to sound truly horrendous!” For IDLES’ Lee Kiernan, modding guitars is a gateway to sonic chaos – and Fenders make the perfect platforms
- “My hand hit the glass and it broke. It got totally trashed. I can’t feel my pinky from nerve damage”: The freak injury that changed the way Chris Poland played guitar – and ended up informing the sound of Megadeth’s Rattlehead
- “A flexible vintage-flavoured asset for your signal chain”: Beetronics Larva Morphing Phaser review
April 16
- “For the price, it’s pretty much unbeatable”: Harley Benton JAMster Guitar review
- Mark Tremonti’s PRS signature amp is one of the best affordable high-gain heads on the market – and it just got one major upgrade
- “These measures threaten the economic and cultural impact of U.S.-made musical instruments”: NAMM president responds to Trump's tariffs – urgently urging the administration to exempt the musical instrument market
- “The Beyoncé effect is, in fact, real. I got a lot of traffic just from people checking the liner notes”: With three Grammy wins and plaudits from John Mayer, Justus West is one of modern session guitar’s MVPs – but it hasn’t been an easy ride
- How to weave crosspicking and Carter picking into your acoustic guitar playing
- “You might laugh a little. The post office shipped your guitar to Jim Root”: This metal fan ordered a new guitar from Sweetwater – but it ended up with the Slipknot guitarist
- “I hope they never do one of Van Halen. I told Wolfie, ‘Make sure I’m dead’”: Eddie Van Halen's former wife, Valerie Bertinelli, rules out Van Halen biopic
- “The hotshot guitar player at our gig said, ‘Your guitar sounds terrible. You should leave that thing on.’ So I turned on the Big Muff…” How a heckler helped J Mascis unlock his Dinosaur Jr. guitar tone
- “I met Joe when he was 12. He picked up a vintage guitar in one store and they told him to leave. But someone said, ‘This guy called Norm will let you play his stuff’”: The unlikely rise of Norman’s Rare Guitars and the birth of the vintage guitar market
April 15
- “This would make for the perfect first guitar for any style of player whether they’re trying to imitate John Mayer or John Petrucci”: Mooer MSC10 Pro review
- Stevie Ray Vaughan, Simple Minds, Megadeth, the Cult and the class of 1985 – only in the new Guitar World
- “My guitar tech ran in and said, ‘Hey, you want to meet Pete?’ I was too scared”: The Smithereens’ love affair with The Who goes way back – yet when guitarist Jim Babjak got the chance to meet Pete Townshend, he turned it down
- “The most in-demand mods straight from the factory”: Fender’s elevated Player II Modified line brings the firm’s most sought-after guitar upgrades to the masses
- “I used to weigh my guitars and use the heaviest one. As I’ve got older and my back’s got worse, lighter guitars are definitely better”: Lee Malia’s Jackson signature completes a full circle 20 years in the making – and it redefines what a Jackson can be
- “Every tour was the best I could have done. It was only after that I would listen to more Grateful Dead and realize I hadn’t come close”: John Mayer and Bob Weir reflect on 10 years of Dead & Company – and why the Sphere forced them to reassess everything
- “Last time we were here, in ’89, we played with Slash on this stage. I don't remember what we did...” Slash makes surprise appearance at former Hanoi Rocks singer Michael Monroe's show at the Whisky a Go Go
- “I’m inspired”: John Mayer has been spotted playing a Neural DSP Quad Cortex live for the first time – could this be his new amp modeler of choice?
- “Sonically excellent… we found that it could be a viable substitute for our vintage 1970s pedals”: Hamstead x That Pedal Show Redwing Analogue Stereo Modulator review
April 14
- “I use a spark plug to play slide. It's a trick Lowell George showed me. It gets incredible sustain – metal on metal”: In the face of sexist skepticism, Fanny's June Millington carved a unique six-string path, and inspired countless players in the process
- “An esoteric boutique vibe, superb ergonomics and a powerful, unique preamp – Tobias is back”: Tobias Growler IV review
- The heaviest acoustic guitar ever made? Two budding builders craft an acoustic entirely from concrete because they “thought the idea was really funny”
- “There’d been three-minute solos, which were just ridiculous – and knackering to play live!” Stoner-doom merchants Sergeant Thunderhoof may have toned down the self-indulgence, but their 10-minute epics still get medieval on your eardrums
- “There’s a slight latency in there. You can’t be super-accurate”: Yngwie Malmsteen names the guitar picks that don’t work for shred
- “David Crosby said, ‘I don't like it, man. That folky 2/4 time never gonna play on the radio’”: The Byrds needed a hit or they’d be dropped. Releasing a cover of Bob Dylan's Mr. Tambourine Man as their first single was a gamble that paid off
- “For years, the only 12-string acoustics I got my hands on, the necks always pulled off after a bit. I earned a lot of money replacing them!” Why one of the UK’s most prolific luthiers is a bolt-on acoustic die-hard
- “The nuisance is exacerbated by the repetition and poor quality of some of the performances”: Buskers banned from London’s Leicester Square as performances likened to “psychological torture”
- “This particular way of concluding Bohemian Rhapsody will be hard to beat!” Brian May with Benson Boone, Green Day with the Go-Gos, and Lady Gaga rocking a Suhr – Coachella’s first weekend delivered the guitar goods
- “I was writing songs from eight years old, but once I got a guitar I began to deeply identify with music… building an arsenal of influences”: How Lea Thomas uses guitars her dad built to conjure a magic synthesis of folk, pop and the ethereal
April 13
- “I liked that they were the underdogs. It was not the mainstream guitar. It was something that was hard to find”: Vox guitars deserve a second look – just ask L.A. Witch’s Sade Sanchez, who’s teaming hers with ugly pedals for nouveau garage rock thrills
- “I suppose I felt that I deserved it for the amount of seriousness that I’d put into it. My head was huge!” “Clapton is God” graffiti made him a guitar legend when he was barely 20 – he says he was far from uncomfortable with the adulation at the time
April 12
- “It holds its own purely as a playable guitar. It’s really cool for the traveling musician – you can bring it on a flight and it fits beneath the seat”: Why Steve Stevens put his name to a foldable guitar
- “I was in a frenzy about it being trapped and burnt up. I knew I'd never be able to replace it”: After being pulled from the wreckage of a car crash, John Sykes ran back to his burning vehicle to save his beloved '76 Les Paul
April 11
- “A virtuoso beyond virtuosos”: Matteo Mancuso has become one of the hottest guitar talents on the planet – now he’s finally announced his first headline US tour
- “His songs are timeless – you can’t tell if they were written in the 1400s or now”: Michael Hurley, guitarist and singer/songwriter known as the ‘Godfather of freak folk,’ dies at 83
- “Finely tuned instruments with effortless playability and one of the best vibratos there is”: PRS Standard 24 Satin and S2 Standard 24 Satin review
- “The future is pretty bright”: Norman's Rare Guitars has unearthed another future blues great – and the 15-year-old guitar star has already jammed with Michael Lemmo
- “I said, ‘Mike, I don’t know how to tell you this, but that’s a note-for-note guitar solo from...” Mike McCready stole his Alive solo from Kiss – but Ace Frehley had already stolen it from another legendary classic rock band
- The guitar gear releases you might have missed this week, from Martin and Fender to Tone King and D'Angelico
- “You run scales so when inspiration and instinct kicks in you're able to keep up with it”: Larkin Poe's Rebecca Lovell explains her “hunt and peck” approach to guitar solos – and how scales can make all the difference
- Epiphone brings one of Gibson’s most desirable one-off finishes to the masses with Guitar Center-exclusive Widow Les Paul – but it’s been given a twist
- “I wanted to play more, and it was inappropriate with Eric or Roger. I was not the lead guitarist, and I wanted to be”: Clapton, Waters, Satriani and me – Andy Fairweather Low on his greatest collaborations and finally taking center stage
- “There are so many sounds to be discovered when you get away from using a pick”: Jared James Nichols shows you how to add “snap, crackle and pop” to your playing with banjo rolls and string snaps
- Celebrated jazz guitarist George Freeman, best known for his work with Charlie Parker and Gene Ammons, has died aged 97
April 10
- “After I made the RD with Epiphone I found it wasn't actually that comfortable to play live”: Bring Me the Horizon’s Lee Malia is no stranger to signature offsets – but he wasn’t too fond of his first
- “Tom would say, ‘Play your guitar with a car key.’ It was very experimental”: Little Feat's Fred Tackett recalls Tom Waits' left-field approach to guitar playing – and his one-of-a-kind studio sessions
- I spent way too long looking through all 372 deals in the Thomann Easter sale – here are the 5 I’d buy
- “Seeing friends and heroes of mine having their solos plagiarized broke my heart”: Giacomo Turra used their solos note-for-note for his own viral content. Now the guitarists who had their playing “stolen” are speaking out
- “Something’s stirring behind closed doors…” Joe Satriani plays For the Love of God? Steve Vai and Satch tackle each other’s most iconic leads in first SatchVai Band rehearsal footage
- “Eric’s standing there drinking an orange juice. He looks at me and says, ‘Been doing this a while, have you?’” When Eric Clapton saw an up-and-coming Tommy Emmanuel play for the first time
- “While the odd corner has clearly been cut, these are true Gibsons with all the individuality that this brand exhibits”: Gibson J-45 Special and Hummingbird Special review
- “It’s one of the most beautiful, living, breathing pieces of art – all the grime has just aged into the wood”: Margo Price on playing Willie Nelson’s Trigger, growing up with Gibson and bringing her signature J-45 to life
- “I’ve got a friend in a well-known band, and he says Martins have unnecessary bottom-end. My retort was always: ‘Well, you need to learn to play properly’”: Johnny Marr on the magic of his 7-string signature Martin – and his fight with capo addiction
- June 2025 Guitar World lesson videos and more
- Don't let chord inversions bamboozle you. It's simply the case of shuffling the notes around
April 9
- “Fender has stripped back the price – but has it gone too far paring back the sounds, too?” Fender Standard Acoustasonic Telecaster review
- “You're getting the most precisely built, easily adjustable guitar we've ever made”: Taylor Guitars just announced a guitar neck innovation that allows players to micro-adjust string height “in seconds” – without removing the neck or strings
- “I was like, 'I'm a kid. I should apply. He's gonna say no, right?' But he said yes”: This 12-year-old heavy metal prodigy never expected to be mentored by a former Megadeth guitar player – but that’s exactly what happened
- “It's like the guitar is built for 10 fingers and two hands and he's got three hands and 17 fingers”: He was called “The Humbler” and regarded as one of the world's greatest under-the-radar guitarists – and he would solo with a beer bottle and a towel
- "A traditionally spec'd, workhorse machine that sounds like a Les Paul should while offering some limited-edition aesthetics": Gibson Les Paul 60s Double Trouble review
- “I asked him to get me four bass strings because I only had a $29 guitar from Sears”: Bootsy Collins is one of the all-time bass greats, but he started out on guitar. Here’s the sole reason why he switched
- “This isn’t just a makeover. It’s a full-on glow-up”: Martin’s Junior Series Dreadnought is the best all-round acoustic electric guitar on the market – now the entire range has been given its most significant upgrade yet
- “I was reluctant, even in Rush, towards the end – I was not playing nearly as many solos. I just wanted to get away from that”: Alex Lifeson on his complicated relationship with guitar solos – and why he cut down on leads in Rush's later years
- “I got that bass for $50 off this coke dealer. I don’t know what Jaco did to it, but he totally messed up the insides!” How Cro-Mags’ Harley Flanagan went from buying a Jaco Pastorius bass on the street to fronting one of hardcore’s most influential bands
- “I don’t only think in barre chords – that’s a slightly arrogant statement to make”: Brian May and Roger Taylor disagree about their guitar contributions to Taylor’s Queen tracks
- “He didn’t sound like any other previous Whitesnake guitarist. His thumbprint is an indelible part of that record”: Remembering John Sykes, the journeyman virtuoso who made his mark on both Thin Lizzy and Whitesnake
- “My worst case of buyer’s remorse? An impulse-buy banjo. I was third-wheeling on a date, and I felt awkward”: Yvette Young on how to buy a guitar, and why – maybe – you should think twice before lending anyone a beloved acoustic
- “It’s the guitar I’ve dreamed of making for years”: Jackson and Bring Me the Horizon’s Lee Malia champion the rise of the metal offset with new signature Surfcaster
April 8
- "I never use my tube amp at home now, because I have a Spark Live": 5 reasons you should be picking up the Positive Grid Spark Live in the massive Guitar Month sale
- “The ‘Destruct’ button really sets it apart from just about any other Tele”: Fender and Mike Campbell recreate the Red Dog – the Heartbreaker’s heavily modded 1972 Telecaster, which he played with Tom Petty and Fleetwood Mac
- “What’s going through our mind is ‘What the…?’ And if you see Bob’s face, you could see he’s thinking the same thing”: When Bob Dylan played with an LA punk band to promote the album he made with Mark Knopfler
- “Trent Reznor told me, ‘You’re by far the best guy that we’ve tried. I would love to have you in the band’”: Richie Kotzen came close to joining Nine Inch Nails – but one detail stopped him getting the gig
- “It’s become a bad habit. I bought a 1955 Tele and turned it over to carve my initials into the back. My friend screamed, ’Don’t do that!’” Kirk Hammett on his favorite Metallica solo and tone – and his most prized purchases from other guitar heroes
- “In the beginning, I was a terrible rhythm player. I avoided it like the plague”: Martin Barre once distanced himself from rhythm playing – but some Steve Lukather wisdom changed his mind
- “Ibanez and Japanese brands in general were irritating the hell out of Gibson, Fender and other US companies targeted by copyists”: From copies to innovations – the origin and rise of Japanese electric guitars (and the truth about ‘lawsuit’ guitars)
- “One of the most unbelievable things I’ve ever seen in music”: Popular social media guitarist Giacomo Turra accused of stealing other musicians’ songs for content
- “That is how you make an entrance!” Jack Black mimes on a Minecraft’d Flying V as Kirk Douglas nails the Sweet Child O’ Mine solo on Jimmy Fallon
- “The original Jordan Boss Tone was probably used by four out of five garage bands in the late ’60s”: Unpacking the gnarly magic of the Jordan Boss Tone – an actual guitar plug-in that delivers Dan Auerbach-approved fuzz
April 7
- “What they do harkens back to classic rock and real musicianship”: Amadou Bagayoko, singer and Malian guitar great, dies at 70
- “They said, ‘The Ace Hotel have you on camera leaving with the guitar.’ I was like, ‘I thought it was a gift!’” Machine Gun Kelly on the time he stole a cheap Martin from a hotel – and was billed $5,000
- “I had never done that before. I thought Jimmy was going to go, ‘Nice one’ – he looks at me and goes, ‘Don’t you ever do that again’”: That time Chrissie Hynde enraged one of her Pretenders bandmates because she stopped playing mid-gig
- “Dave was the master of some of the most iconic basslines in music history”: Dave Allen, former Gang of Four bassist and post-punk heavyweight, dies aged 69
- “I never met anyone who was his own person as much as Al was”: SSD guitarist and hardcore pioneer Al Barile dies aged 63
- “The main acoustic is a $100 Fender – the strings were super-old and dusty. We hate new strings!” Meet Great Grandpa, the unpredictable indie rockers making epic anthems with cheap acoustics – and recording guitars like a Queens of the Stone Age drummer
- “We go and look in the garage – it was there. It hadn’t been looked at for 20 years and was sad and falling apart. It was like, ‘Help me!’” James Dean Bradfield on unearthing his rare “birthright” guitar, gear epiphanies and why Robert Smith is underrated
- “I think Pantera might’ve talked about this in Hot and Heavy”: Kayla Kent nails Eddie Van Halen’s Ice Cream Man solo in the style of Dimebag Darrell
- “The most convincing acoustic tone from an acoustic electric that we’ve yet heard”: LR Baggs AEG-1 review
- “You can almost hear the music in your head when looking at these photos”: How legendary photographer Jim Marshall captured the essence of the Grateful Dead and documented the rise of the ultimate jam band
April 6
- “To be honest, I didn’t like Stevie’s tone as much in the heavy Dumble period. It sounded a little tight to me”: Ian Moore on jamming with the Stones, writing with Billy Gibbons, and discussing those SRV comparisons – with Stevie Ray Vaughan
- “At some country show I was playing, my dad saw one lying on the floor that somebody left or dropped. I had never seen one before”: He started playing at the age of three, and at 13, he came across something that would help define his unique sound
- How to play slap bass: an essential guide to slapping and popping
- “It's the most significant development in the last 50 years. Everything else has just been a little tweak on something Leo Fender or Les Paul did”: Once Allan Holdsworth picked up a headless Steinberger, there was no turning back
April 5
- “I got together with Jeff a few years ago. The famous white Strat was sitting on the couch so I said, ‘Jeff, pick it up and play it!’” Rockabilly rover Mick Rogers on playing with Frank Zappa, touring with Kiss, and rootsy jams with Jeff Beck
- "The Standard Stratocaster has all of the classic Strat sounds at its disposal. You’ll just have to work a bit more to uncover them": Fender Standard Stratocaster review
- Bass chords: shapes that work on bass guitar – and go beyond the power chord
- “Not everybody has a high standard. A lot of indie people think playing too good is a bad thing”: Billy Corgan on the difference between rock and “indie” guitar players
April 4
- “This is a powerhouse of a stompbox that manages to keep things simple while offering endless inspiration”: Strymon EC-1 Single Head dTape Echo pedal review
- “I'd sit there with my guitar and that was my education. This show gave me purpose, it gave me hope”: Gary Clark Jr. dons a Strat to cover Stevie Ray Vaughan classics at Austin City Limits' 50th Anniversary televised special
- “There was never any half-measures with Gary. If he didn’t like something he’d soon tell you to f**k off”: In July 1979, Gary Moore stormed off stage and officially left Thin Lizzy – now, guitarist Eric Bell reveals the real reason why
- “One of the coolest guitars I own”: Dweezil Zappa has some absolutely wild guitars in his vault – but his insane one-of-one fretless Gibson SG is one of his favorites
- “Delivers the same tones that made the original popular with legends”: Rotosound’s ultra-rare fuzz pedal has been reissued – bringing Jimmy Page-approved fuzz magic to the masses
- “Maybe we could buy a 12-string and have it sawed in two”: Kevin Bacon and Jimmy Fallon rewrite Bryan Adams’ Summer of ’69 – and make it all about six-strings
- “It's getting harder for him. But I've seen people younger than him in wheelchairs on stage doing what they do”: Ritchie Blackmore suffered a heart attack last year – and a return to Europe has been ruled out for the time being
- “A classical guitar for the modern era, with all the specifications expected by the seasoned player”: Harley Benton seizes on the Polyphia-led nylon-string revival with a versatile acoustic-electric for under $300
- “That’s the same guitar I’m playing on stage with the band and on tour with Green Day in front of 50,000 people”: Billy Corgan on why he plays off-the-shelf Reverends – and isn’t fussed about playing expensive guitars
- “The guitar work on her tracks is perfectly wonderful without me, so I decided to throw some mud at the wall”: Pete Townshend passes the torch to the next generation as he lends his guitar chops to emerging Dutch guitarist's latest record
- “You have to fight to be heard in metal. But you have to give them something worth fighting for!” 20 metal bassists who took heavy bass playing in new directions
- “What you hear on Stratus is pretty much the first take. Tommy Bolin's guitar playing is some of the best that ever was”: Legendary sideman Lee Sklar reveals the studio secrets behind his incredible career
- “I played the national anthem at a football game on a Les Paul with a Floyd Rose. I turned my back for five minutes and it got stolen”: Orianthi names her favorite guitars – and tells us why her PRS sounds better than a holy grail Les Paul
- “I did the intro to The Killing Moon without thinking. We went for a curry – and the engineer spotted that run and put it at the start”: How happy accidents, disastrous finances and an un-tuneable 12-string made Echo and the Bunnymen’s classic album
April 3
- "The amount of functionality stuffed into this mini pedal is, quite frankly, astounding": IK Multimedia Tonex One Joe Satriani review
- “A new drummer affects everyone in Dream Theater. We all play off the time keeper”: John Myung on how the return of Mike Portnoy has changed the band – and his bass playing
- Joni Mitchell described it as ‘fly fishing’ and Jeff Beck was a master of the craft – learn how to use volume swells like guitar legends Eddie Van Halen, Allan Holdsworth and Larry Carlton
- “I was working with David Gilmour and I said, ‘I can't work out how to play this.’ He couldn't either’”: Phil Manzanera tried to relearn one of his classic riffs after it was sampled by Kanye West and Jay-Z – and even the Pink Floyd hero couldn’t help him
- “I freaked out when I saw it on stage. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s it. That’s the guitar I worked on’”: It went viral with John Mayer, but 50 years before he played it, this mystery Martin began an incredible untold story
- “Slapping was a matter of natural evolution”: 21 slap bass legends who made thumpin’ and pluckin’ their own
- “I could barely play his guitar. He had 12s on the top. It was like a G string. I was like, ‘How do you do that?’”: Huey Lewis and the News' Chris Hayes looks back on his friendship with Stevie Ray Vaughan – and the blues great's notorious guitar setup
- “The Charvel is something Mike had at the house. The idea was to be able to cover pads, synth sounds and faux acoustic sounds”: From Raphael Saadiq to Mk.gee, Andrew Aged is on a quest for guitar reinvention – one guitar mod and off-kilter pedal at a time
- “That was the first time I’d ever listened to one and gone, ‘What is that? I want to learn how to do that’”: Justin Hawkins is known for his rock chops – but a soul and reggae legend inspired him to break the rules
- “My wife heard Locomotive Breath on the radio. She said, ‘I wish you played like that now.’ I was a bit upset”: Martin Barre on revisiting Jethro Tull, Leslie West – and the bootleg Les Paul that bent like a banana
April 2
- “Mick Ronson came to see one of the Springsteen shows, and he was just so proud of me. He had a classic rock ‘n’ roll existence, but I love him for all that”: Shane Fontayne on the kindness of Ronson, serving the Boss – and playing Stairway for Jimmy Page
- “These guys started the band the same year I was born – they have a whole world of history together”: How Nicole Row went from a wild ride in Panic! at the Disco to laying down the low-end in Incubus – and rerecording their biggest album
- “Who doesn't want to hear the recording of Ted Nugent and Eddie Van Halen jamming?” Ted Nugent's colossal archive includes sessions with EVH, Billy Gibbons and the Mothers of Invention
- “I started on guitar because I wanted to be in a band and meet girls. Richie wanted to be a guitar player, because he wanted to play guitar”: Adrian Smith and Richie Kotzen come from different worlds, but it all comes back to the blues
- “It went wrong since Corona”: Bax Music, one of Europe’s largest musical instrument retailers, files for bankruptcy and ceases operations
- “If you’re youngish, cute-ish and can play that axe, you’re for me”: Chaka Khan is holding open auditions to find a new guitar player – but she’s got some very specific requirements
- “I walked in and said, ‘Can I get that guitar, the one at the end there?’ He looked at the name on the credit card and then looked up at me”: Chrissie Hynde on that one time she bought her own signature guitar off the shelf
- “I wasn’t into King Crimson at all. Definitely not my kind of music”: How Andy Summers formed one of the 1980s’ most unlikely guitar partnerships with Robert Fripp – despite not being especially keen on some of his work
- “He fined me 50 bucks and fired me, even though I didn’t mess up”: The bassists of James Brown reveal what life was really like playing alongside the Godfather of Soul
- “If you’re in the market for a single-cut on steroids with vintage charm, this is the one to wield”: Heritage Guitars Custom Shop Core Collection H-137 review
April 1
- “Wins out on battery life, stealthy aesthetics and its well-judged Cable Tone feature”: Blackstar Airwire i58 review
- “Affordable versions of the three best basses I've ever held in my hands”: Sterling by Music Man completes its trilogy of Joe Dart signature models with a trio of made-to-order basses that cost less than $500
- “Blurs your bassist so the mix stays focused on where it really matters”: From feline fuzz pedals to Bootsy Jooce, the April Fools Day guitar gags are out in full force this year – and we've rounded up the best
- “I get asked, ‘What’s it like being a one-hit wonder?’ I say, ‘It’s better than being a no-hit wonder!’” The Vapors’ hit Turning Japanese was born at 4AM, but came to life when two guitarists were stuck into the same booth
- “After his successful election, we sell this kind of guitar in the U.S. We once got an order with 12,000 guitars”: New documentary appears to confirm that Trump Guitars are being manufactured in China
- “The all-in-one music creation companion”: Donner’s HUSH-I PRO offers built-in FX and onboard IRs – and it could be the ultimate travel guitar
- “The bass is the instrument you need to play the longest to become truly funky”: 20 funk bass legends who took low-end groove to new heights
- “There’s an art to simplicity, and Jason Newsted brought that art. Cliff Burton was more aggressive, and a busier player”: The bassists of Metallica
- “We set out to put our thoughts and musical ideas out there, hoping they’d be appreciated. That’s proved to be true”: Sampled by Grandmaster Flash, De La Soul and the Fugees, Cymande shaped the sound of hip-hop. Now they’re back to claim their legacy
- “I got the impression that he needed to be quite forceful to get his songs onto Beatles records”: George Harrison orchestrator John Barham reflects on their shared love of Indian music and being conducted by Phil Spector
- “When I saw it, I couldn’t believe how cool it was”: Joe Satriani is selling one of his rarest guitars – an ultra-ambitious Ibanez Y2K Crystal Planet prototype
- “Our goal is to stay at the forefront of amplification innovation”: How Seymour Duncan set out to create the ultimate bass amp solution by pushing its PowerStage lineup to greater heights