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April 2026

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248 articles

April 30
- “It’s going to piss off anyone drilling their sweep picking, but it’s brittle and human and alive in a way that I adore”: April 2026 Guitar World Editors’ Picks
- “I get a call from Guitar Center in New Jersey. They go, ‘Your Explorer was in here. We just sold it to some guy’”: Richie Sambora hired a private detective to recover his stolen Gibson
- “The power went out, then this horrible rainstorm came. I got the chills. I said, ‘Dude, I think Gary Moore’s here’”: The supernatural experience Jared James Nichols had when he played through Gary Moore’s old amp
- “What’s that headless bass that looks like a toothpick? I really liked the sound, but I hated the bass”: How bassist Cliff Williams landed the gig (and found his sound) with AC/DC
- “It was three people watching us in a bar and grill, and two of them were working behind the bar!” Zakk Wylde on his Ozzy Osbourne tribute, his Led Zeppelin epiphany, and the triumphant return of Black Label Society
- “My idea, John, if you’re reading this, would be to write an odd-time signature song”: Plini is manifesting a collaboration with John Mayer – and has issued an open call to make it happen
- “He said, ‘We have this Michael Jackson tune.’ I looked at Quincy and said, ‘What does it need? Who should we…?’ Then he said, ‘Carlton’” Session legend Larry Carlton on how he ended up playing on a Michael Jackson hit
- “We’ve always been big fans of Nickelback – their guitarist came to see one of our shows and asked if we’d support them”: How UK riff-slingers Don Broco ended up recording with Muse’s bass rig – and collaborating with Nickelback
- “I unbolted the neck and put it in a suitcase to save baggage. Then we saw all our stolen gear posted for sale in Eastern Europe”: Indie band survival stories with Ratboys and The Beths
- “Billy said, ‘I've never played a high-gain amp that I like.’ It was a tall order”: How a Smashing Pumpkins superfan made the only amp Billy Corgan has ever truly loved
April 29
- “The new vibrato only adds to the appeal – it’s easy to see how this guitar could do the business equally well for metal, jazz-fusion or function gigs”: Strandberg Boden Standard N2.6T review
- Heirs of Jimi Hendrix's bandmates lose years-long royalties dispute against the Hendrix Estate and Sony Music
- “I’d be in the middle of a tough show, look over at the side of the stage and there’s Nels Cline, one of the best guitar players ever to play rock and roll”: White Denim’s James Petralli has learned to roll with rock’s punches
- “The original idea was Steve Stevens, but he was busy with Billy Idol”: How Steve Vai ended up joining David Lee Roth's post-Van Halen band – thanks to Billy Sheehan
- How to change strings faster – with rock solid tuning stability
- “The owner saw something in me. He said, ‘You know what? Just pay me back for it later’”: Jake Kiszka on the time he walked out of Chicago Music Exchange with a $25,000 guitar – which would become his Number 1 SG
- Dare you join us at the crossroads? Welcome to the acoustic blues masterclass
- “Nobody had ever made that kind of noise on record before”: The life and times of Mike Vernon, the British blues legend who got Eric Clapton his Bluesbreakers tone
April 28
- Steve Vai’s LA property – and his Harmony Hut guitar sanctuary – has been listed for $11.7 million
- “You thought, ‘Who are these people?’ They've only been playing for a year, and they're proud that they can't play”: Adrian Smith on how Nirvana and grunge negatively impacted Iron Maiden's career trajectory in the ’90s
- “The letter read, ‘This was our mom’s guitar. It’s worth a lot of money. We want you to have it’”: How actor turned musician Morgan Nagler got her 1977 Martin acoustic, wrote with neighbor Phoebe Bridgers, and finally made a solo album
- Former Kiss guitarist Bruce Kulick recovering from heart valve surgery
- “Pedal history is in danger. ChatGPT is rewriting fact”: Josh Scott of JHS Pedals interrogated AI on the pedal industry – and what he found should alarm us all
- "The AI-assisted future of guitar effects pedals? In its current form, not quite. But its ambition is massive": Polyend Endless review
- “The comments I got were from people digging the way I was playing, or asking ‘What song is this?’ which I thought was funny. It’s where modern rock started”: Meet Amani Burnham, the budding blues-rock hero blending fingerstyle technique with SRV tone
- “I do have a pedalboard now. But I wasn’t allowed one for a very long time”: Radiohead’s Colin Greenwood on why he was barred from having a ’board – and the advice Johnny Marr gave him to cover up mistakes
- “I wanted to be a little bit like Joe Strummer, a little bit Bruce Springsteen, a little bit punk”: A “hammer” with strings? Fender teams up with Brian Fallon for limited edition ’59 Telecaster Custom
- “That song ended up being my homage to Jimmy Page... There’s this Celtic thing that we were tapping into. Like the Bert Jansch recording of Blackwaterside”: Rich Robinson on The Black Crowes’ triumphant second act
- “Mick was a star. It felt like replacing Keith Richards. I shat my pants”: Earl Slick on the fear he felt replacing David Bowie’s most iconic guitar player – and how Bowie calmed him down
April 27
- “I find it to be a very playable guitar indeed, despite its huge dimensions”: Danelectro Dan O Cool Baritone review
- “He says to me, ‘You’re a legend.’ I said, ‘Are you kidding? You’re a legend. You’re the new Leo Fender. You’re the new Les Paul. You’re the new Orville Gibson’”: Randy Bachman on the guitar builder who’s up there with the greats of the industry
- “If you would have told me 15 years ago that Paul Gilbert’s main amp in the future would be a solid state Fender Twin, I’d have said you were off your rocker”: Paul Gilbert is the latest big name to switch to Fender Tone Master digital amps
- “Gibson said, ‘We really can’t reproduce that wah effect,’ so they went to Chandler and bought all of the ones they had in stock”: Joe Perry on how Jimmy Page inspired his custom ‘90s Black Burst Les Paul Standard
- “Kirk Hammett was definitely influential. Seeing a player of that caliber using one of our guitars helped people realize we were serious”: How Tom Anderson changed the guitar industry
- “I heard it snap over the screaming crowd! Sounded like a damn 2x4”: Billy Strings forced to reschedule tour after breaking leg in skating accident
- “Bob Rock said, ‘Don’t worry, I’m gonna help you become a guitar hero.’ And he did!” Billy Duffy on how The Cult made their most challenging hit single
- “The bass strings broke – I had to tie them together. I would slide down the strings, cutting my fingers and getting blood all over the bass”: Bakithi Kumalo looks back at his formative years touring South Africa
April 26
- “I wasn’t a fan. The only thing I knew was Ace Of Spades. I knew it was going to be rough... I couldn’t distinguish one track from another”: Why Thin Lizzy’s Brian Robertson knew his stint in Motörhead was doomed
- “Weather Report belonged to the three of us. When it ended, they didn’t pay me – they just took it”: Miroslav Vitous on his departure from Weather Report (and his thoughts on the bassists who replaced him)
- “I’d seen pictures of Keith Richards playing it. I figured I’d try one out”: How Joe Perry found his ultimate slide guitar
- “Not only was John a virtuoso on guitar, harp, singing and choosing songs, to me it felt like he was totally possessed by the blues”: The life and times of John P. Hammond, the blues genius who inspired Bonnie Raitt and countless others
April 25
- “I didn’t think Pat would be our guitar player. I just sent him a tape. And he was like, ‘Oh my god, it’s so poppy’”: How Pat Smear surprised Dave Grohl and joined the Foo Fighters
- Who's the most exciting up-and-coming guitar player?
- “I read the other day that I hated him. I can’t believe they said that”: Ritchie Blackmore sets the record straight about his relationship with Jimmy Page
- “It might be the cleanest SG I’ve seen in quite some time. It’s dream guitar material”: All the guitar gear that caught my eye this week – including a new accessory that could change the game for guitar swaps
- “People would hate us, bully us, throw stuff at us and threaten to beat us up, but they wouldn’t leave. We thought, ‘Okay, we’ve got something’”: Devo’s Bob Mothersbaugh on accidental hits, audience provocations and the de-evolution of guitar
- “You hear the ‘Lowden effect’ immediately – even the simplest of chords seems to ring for days”: Lowden GL-J 2026 review
April 24
- “I think this might just be the missing analog link to complete your amp modeling rig”: Victory PowerValve 200 review
- $96,000 for an Epiphone acoustic? Noel Gallagher’s signed Wonderwall EJ-200 smashes pre-auction estimate
- “My friend’s mom told Harry Nilsson, ‘You gotta hear him play!’ I played and he asked, ‘What are you doing next Wednesday?’”: Val McCallum’s accidental introduction to session work
- “Love at first sight”: Fender Japan drops its MIJ Hybrid II 2026 Collection – and we can’t get enough of those new finishes
- “COVID happened. I’m like, ‘I’m not going out there’”: Former Korn bassist Fieldy finally opens up on why he left the band
- “It’s extremely bizarre. It’s made by this very strange guy, who disappeared. No one knows where he is”: The mystery pedal that became a Sean Lennon favorite
- “Jimi got it into his head that he wanted to do All Along the Watchtower. He said to me, ‘That’s the coolest song! …You want to come and do it with me?’” When Dave Mason met Jimi Hendrix and played on the greatest cover of all time
- “He got hit in the face with a beer… We’re all a little mad when we get pelted – I don't understand why they throw cans at us”: Inside the rabble-rousing country rock guitar madness of Treaty Oak Revival
- “My dad said, ‘Take a seat – a band is coming in to make a record.’ I spotted a guitar case entering through the side door… carried by none other than B.B. King”: Billy Gibbons on how B.B. King changed his life
- “Something I’ve always needed, but has never existed”: The Flipjack is a cable that can go from straight to angled in an instant – and it could solve your guitar-swapping woes
April 23
- “Absolutely essential listening for any would-be rock bass player”: How Rainbow bassist Craig Gruber galloped his way through a hard-rock classic alongside Ritchie Blackmore and Ronnie James Dio
- “I wanted a bicycle for Christmas, and they gave me a guitar. It pissed me off”: Jeff “Skunk” Baxter has played with everyone from Steely Dan to Dolly Parton – but he didn’t even want to be a guitar player
- “I’m deeply uncomfortable with the amount of old men here. I’m no longer interested in playing blues or whatever the hell keeps attracting y’all”: Grace Bowers has quit YouTube over the number of “old ass creeps”
- “The neck is as thin as Gibson could go without the liability of it snapping”: Jake Kiszka talks us through his new Gibson SG signature, a devilishly thin-necked beast built to galvanize the next generation of rock kids
- “I haven’t heard anything this cool in a generation”: Nuno Bettencourt names the up-and-coming guitarist who has blown his mind
- “Danny Gatton and Jimmy Bryant have the otherworldliness that I saw in Dimebag Darrell and Randy Rhoads”: Baroness shredder Gina Gleason on 75 years of the Fender Telecaster, the magic that binds its players, and why it works for metal
- “I said that if we’re gonna make another Lamb of God record, it’s really gotta be worthy of being in the catalog we’ve created. That sets the bar high”: Willie Adler and Mark Morton take us inside metal’s premier riff machine
- “Tight harmonies that can sound like two (or three!) guitars playing together”: Electro-Harmonix Pico Intelligent Harmony Machine review
April 22
- “For those who stand at the crossroads of Hell and rock ‘n’ roll”: Jackson’s Diablo crossover Kelly is inspired by the Lord of Hatred – but you’re still going to love it
- “I talked my folks into buying me a plane ticket to London. I took my guitar and some songs, and I ran into some people…” How the Beatles launched the career of one of the all-time great songwriters
- “When I started this business, I had two kinds of people: those who believed in it and those laughing at me”: Who is buying $15 million guitars? One of the world’s leading dealers lifts the veil on the collectible guitar market
- Suspect linked to organized crime ring targeting Guitar Center stores across the US arrested
- “There were two camps. I came out of the Yardbirds camp – the Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck kind of things”: Why Todd Rundgren chose to play Gibsons over Fenders
- “I had a two-neck guitar, then Steve Vai came out with his three-neck guitar. My label wanted me to challenge Steve to a duel”: Michael Angelo Batio on the origin of his four-neck guitar
- “I was very fortunate to have played with so many great artists, even just for a moment”: Dave Mason, Traffic co-founder who played with Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and George Harrison, dies aged 79
- “On tour, the soundman is always on me to turn down. So I wanted to make sure the amp stays full and articulate, even at lower volumes”: The making of the Blackstar Doug Aldrich Signature DA100 Ruby
- “The playability is good. The ‘great’ lies in the pickup swapping – you can change pickups in seconds”: Cream T Crossfire LT review
- “Think The Pretenders, Tom Petty or Sam Fender”: 5 easy open-position alternate chord voicings that will give you extra jangle
April 21
- “The record label hid my name in a very small font size behind the CD. It took a long time to find!” You may not know who played guitar on some of Avril Lavigne’s biggest hits. It was Corky James
- “When Ozzy approached me, there was an inner warning light that said, ‘Don’t do that’”: Why Michael Schenker turned down Ozzy Osbourne
- “A lot of people say he sounds like Hendrix, but to me, he doesn’t really”: Prince’s long-time bassist on teaching guitar to the Purple Rain hitmaker – and why the Jimi Hendrix comparisons are inaccurate
- “I was so poor. I was pushing 50 years old. I thought, ‘I might have to get a job again’”: Guitar wizard Nels Cline was about to get a day job before Jeff Tweedy changed his life and asked him to join Wilco
- “No-one believed in us. The manager said, ‘You can only play for a few minutes.’ The entire audience jumped up on their tables”: The story of Fanny, one of the world’s first all-female rock bands
- “I love it and it’s my friend forever. If I had to, I’d f**k it”: Keith Richards on his enduring love affair with the guitar, the effects of arthritis on his playing, and why he’s still learning the instrument at 82
- “A unique symbol of punk’s emergence in the UK”: The Damned frontman Brian James’ iconic Gibson SG, the guitar that defined the sound of early UK punk, already set to exceed estimate at auction
- “I love this guitar so much – if something happened to it, I’d stop playing”: Fingerstyle phenom Laura Snowden on the guitar she can’t live without, how downtuning makes classical guitar “creepy” and what she learned from the great Julian Bream
- “Every Gretsch from the mid-’90s onwards is a copy of one I had in my collection”: How Randy Bachman saved Gretsch after its factory burned down
- “I didn’t see it for 18 or 19 years. It disappeared, and it broke my heart”: Jerry Cantrell looks back on the guitar gift from Eddie Van Halen that went missing
April 20
- “It can easily be seen as a gimmick, but it's much more than that. As a guitar, it’s superb; as a MIDI controller, it’s uncanny”: Strandberg x Jamstik Chameleon review
- This browser-based amp and effects generator creates guitar tones based on text prompts – and it’s free to use
- “I really wanted to see Ozzy one last time, to give him one last hug”: Gus G opens up on missing out on Back to the Beginning
- “I would get up in the middle of the night, play it in the middle of the night, in the dark, no light”: Billy Corgan trained himself to play in pitch black
- “A growing global movement to ensure his legacy is never forgotten”: Petition launched for Randy Rhoads memorial statue in his hometown of Burbank
- “I’d put his riffs up against anyone in rock today. He’s as good as Homme or Morello”: First he got a DM from Pearl Jam, now Stone Gossard is hailing him as one of the best riffers in the business
- “I couldn’t believe he was a guitar player”: Ritchie Blackmore says most guitarists aren’t nice people – but names one player who bucks the trend
- “People phoned in, saying, ‘If you play that song again, I’m going to firebomb your station!’” How XTC battled the “rottweiler” Todd Rundgren and their record label to make their breakthrough
- “I never liked the electric guitar. I’m just not drawn to it”: The life and times of Ralph Towner, the endlessly curious frontiersman of acoustic jazz who worked with everyone from Bill Bruford to Robben Ford
- “The best times of heavy metal were over… My concept was a new guitar design in the style of the ’40s or ’50s”: How Duesenberg Guitars became a major player with original old-school designs – and a little help from Mike Campbell
April 19
- “Their first record was very different from the record they made after they met me and the guys in Metallica”: Dave Mustaine on the influence he had on the Big Four of thrash metal
- “I thought I’d got over my Mk.gee-inspired Jaguar hype, but Fender has sent me spiraling down the rabbit hole again”: All the guitar gear that caught my eye this week – including the most futuristic Epiphones ever created
April 18
- “When the session was over, Mickie said, ‘Nope, Peter can’t be in your band. There’s only going to be one star, and that’s you’”: Suzi Quatro reveals Peter Frampton nearly joined her band – but was rejected by her producer
- “A Strat with a P-90 at the bridge and a Jazzmaster pickup at the neck is not going to sound like anything else Fender makes”: Ariel Posen on Jeff Beck, amp strategies and how his thirst for fresh tones inspired one of the most unorthodox Strats ever
- “I was on a summer break from music college. Suddenly, I had a DM asking if I would be interested in a gig with Little Mix”: From Raye to Zara Larsson, how session pro Liv Thompson learned to nail pop’s biggest gigs
April 17
- "Modeling tech has gotten so good I doubt many guitarists would be able to tell the difference": Analog vs. digital rig build challenge - here’s how two very different players would spend $2,500
- “Sometimes you’ve gotta use popsicle sticks and put it on some low-budget scaffolding to get it to work”: Joe Bonamassa on how best to set up P-90s – and what sets them apart from humbuckers
- Built to inspire: Yamaha heralds a new era for the Pacifica with long-awaited SC Standard Plus model
- “For King, there was nothing particularly special about the show… It would go on to rank among the best live albums of all time”: The life and times of B.B. King
- “It’s a little bit of an odd duck, but it is cool and I would love to use it for recording. It would be a monster in the studio”: Decoding the mysteries of the 1967 Martin D-35S with the slotted headstock
- “I learned that the hard way at rehearsals”: How Jason Falkner got the Foo Fighters gig filling in for Pat Smear – and the biggest mistake he made in prep
- “I got my first guitar for Christmas at the age of 11. I had a book that said, ‘Tune your low string wherever it sounds good…’”: How Stanley Jordan accidentally stumbled upon the tuning that defined his genius two-hand tapping approach
- “A small yet mighty gig bag hero”: Mesa/Boogie launches powerhouse preamp/DI with all the tone-shaping capabilities of its high-end Subway line
- “His dad got him a guitar. The next day he came back playing Black Magic Woman by Santana. He was obsessed with being great at guitar”: Prince was destined to become a guitar legend as soon as he started playing
- "Nestles naturally against the (female) body in a way many traditional designs simply don’t": Venus Revolution review
- “Paul McCartney likes to control things under the guise of saying, ‘Play as free as you like.’ Then he’ll start to pick it all apart”: Chris Spedding’s favorite sessions
April 16
- "It gives my $2,800 American Vintage II Telecaster a serious run for its money": Fender 75th Anniversary Vintera Road Worn 1951 Telecaster review
- “They said, ‘You have to use Fender parts.’ I said, ‘Alright, I’ll see you guys later’”: Why Steve Morse's ill-fated Fender signature guitar never got off the ground
- “I said, ‘We gotta re-record this. This is terrible. I cannot allow this to happen’”: How Linda Perry saved 4 Non Blondes’ ’90s classic What's Up? from certain doom
- “We bounced around the idea of having everyone from Joe Cocker to Phil Collins to Mike Rutherford sing”: Out went David Lee Roth and Frankenstein, in came Sammy Hagar and Kramer – the story of Van Halen’s rebirth
- “I was nervous enough, and that spring goes flying. I looked for about 15 minutes, and time was running out”: What it takes to tech and tour with Slash, according to a pro guitar technician
- “Chuck Schuldiner called me. The next thing I knew we’d rented a rehearsal room in Miami. I would just burn a joint and play”: Steve DiGiorgio’s life with Death – and why he wouldn’t trade Testament for Megadeth
- “George Clinton said, ‘You just can’t play guitar like that until your heart has been shattered to smithereens and you have lost all hope’”: Flea looks back on his life-changing jam with Parliament-Funkadelic guitar hero Eddie Hazel
- June 2026 Guitar World lesson videos and more
- “All of a sudden, I heard, ‘Morgan!’ I went outside, and I was like, ‘Oh my god! It’s Kim Deal!’” Morgan Nagler on the time Kim Deal showed up on her driveway – and they wound up writing songs together
- "It made me excited to pick up my acoustic guitar again and again": AER Compact 60/4 review
April 15
- “It can be at least as fast as straight flatpicking, if not faster, and also easier to do”: Used by everyone from Brad Paisley to Buckethead, hybrid picking makes impossible-sounding licks a reality – here's how to introduce it into your lead playing
- “As fun as it can be, I’m struggling to see where it would fit into my rig longterm”: Casio Dimension Shifter review
- “Nostalgia for a time when digital was still new”: How Mk.gee is bringing back a ’90s-era modeler favored by Joni Mitchell, David Lynch, and Sting
- “The essential Les Paul concept, refreshed for today’s musicians who want something more personal”: Gibson gives the Les Paul Studio the Double Trouble treatment
- “John 5 was probably the only other dude who was playing a Tele in metal. By nature, it was designed for country and chicken pickin’”: Why Jim Root eschewed traditional metal guitars and made the Telecaster his main Slipknot instrument
- “Woodstock ’94 was overwhelming… I was in awe at how many famous people were in one place”: From touring with Aerosmith and Metallica, to filling Geddy Lee’s shoes, they were the ’90s Seattle band that did it all – without taking the grunge tag
- “Bold by design, built for modern guitarists”: Epiphone gives Gibson designs a fierce and affordable modern makeover with all new Futura series
- “I had a couple of drinks and started thinking, ‘I wonder if they have an Ovation Breadwinner…’” Jake E. Lee on the ultimate ’70s oddball guitar – and how he found a holy grail Marshall for $80 while touring with Ozzy
- “50 years since you last played that”: Watch the moment Paul McCartney was first reunited with his long-lost Höfner bass – half a century after it was stolen
April 14
- “Taylor has said that this is easily its most plug-in-and-play version of the 324ce and we’d heartily agree. It will certainly take some beating”: Taylor Next Generation 324ce review
- Yuichiro Yokouchi, founder of one of the world's largest guitar manufacturing companies, dies at age 98
- “It started from watching my father. That’s why my rhythm guitar emulates his. Because his rhythm guitar was wicked”: Ziggy Marley on what he learned from his dad, why the guitar can be a weapon, and how music can still change the world
- “Music’s highest honor”: 2026 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees announced – and there’s a long overdue nod to some British heavyweights
- “This guitar has been on albums that sold probably eight or nine million copies, and I bought it for about $200!” Steve Rothery on the guitars that changed his life – and why you don't have to spend big to find the guitar of your dreams
- “A level of historical accuracy previously unseen”: The Fender Vintera III line is here – and sets a new benchmark for its vintage-inspired guitars
- “I thought, ‘That’s the guitar Mike Bloomfield played…’ I just had to buy it”: The mistake that led Robben Ford to buy his first great instrument – and how Miles Davis and Jeff Beck took him to the Strat
- “I like to keep things simple, as the saying goes: It’s only rock ’n’ roll”: Never mind the modelers, here’s a Sex Pistols Marshall amp
- “Time is of the essence”: Joe Bonamassa issues public plea to help session player Mason Stoops recover his stolen vintage guitars
- “With a roomful of classic Fender amps, perhaps surprisingly, it was this Blackstar that was the most-used”: Blackstar TV-10 AH & TV-10 BH heads review
April 13
- “It's a struggle every day. The good news is I can still play music. I can still play guitar”: No Doubt's Tom Dumont reveals Parkinson's disease diagnosis
- “She had no idea this was going on. They came out with this guitar case and said, ‘Close your eyes.’ We opened it up, and she turned beet red”: Joe Perry on how the most romantic thing he has ever done involved a custom-painted guitar
- “The whole idea of the band was to assume a bit of a satirical approach to rock music”: Angine de Poitrine, the viral math rock band, reveal that their microtonal approach started as an “inside joke”
- “IDLES were bigger supporters of me than I was. I thought, ‘I'm not capable.’ They were like, ‘You just need to commit to it’”: Masca’s Tina Maynard on how three months in IDLES reinvented her playing – and why Teles are underrated grunge tools
- Watch Alice Cooper deliver a shock rock version of Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit, with some help from new guitarist Anna Cara
- “His work helped shape the sound of generations of musicians”: Lyndon Laney, founder of Laney Amplification, has died aged 77
- “Jeff Beck arranged delivery with Marshall’s first factory arrival into the States, loading ZZ Top’s stage with stacks”: Billy Gibbons tells the tale of how an accident with a knife – and a British guitar great – set them up to conquer the ’80s
- “When I talked to the Warner A&R guy he said, ‘Oh man, Prince really screwed up. It sucks’”: The story of Prince’s underrated 1986 classic – and the lip-smacking hit single that scared his record label
- “I got a call one evening, and they said, ‘Dumble’s in the Valley. You’ve got to go over’”: Larry Carlton on the first time he met a legendary amp maker – and received a private concert from a guitar great
April 12
- Before he went solo, Ronnie James Dio had already worked with two guitarists etched onto heavy metal’s Mount Rushmore. But players can also learn plenty from the oft-overlooked shredders who anchored his solo band
- “A piece of rock and roll history”: Guitars gifted, played and modded by Eric Clapton, Eddie Van Halen and Keith Richards are all going to auction – and expected to sell for more than $1,500,000
- “The SG sound is very unique – it forces you to play to what you’re hearing”: Warren Haynes on the mid-’90s SG behind his early Gov’t Mule tone
April 11
- “I’ve literally waited years for this to come out. It’s even nicer than I imagined it would be”: All the guitar gear that has caught my eye this week – including another potentially game-changing AI practice amp
- “At home, you’re tempted to go over the top with everything. ‘Maybe if we put on another double guitar part – that’ll fix it.’ You can spend forever making a song worse”: Paul Gilbert on how the original POTUS's words opened new frontiers for his guitar
- “I’m a heavy hitter, so I had to calm down my attack. In the studio we nicknamed it ‘self-compressing’”: How fretless bass master Steve DiGiorgio embraced frets on Testament’s 2016 metal masterstroke
April 10
- “Own a piece of grunge history”: The backline used on Nirvana’s Bleach tour is to be auctioned off today
- “The amount of songs that were coming out of him is almost unprecedented”: Noel Gallagher's workhorse Epiphone – featured in the Wonderwall music video – is expected to exceed expectations at auction
- “This amp exists for one reason – to put my real tone in a box… No watered-down version, no extra junk”: Zakk Wylde’s signature Berzerker amp is here and it is a vicious 50-watter weighing under 5lbs
- “A guitar that sits at the intersection of love, collaboration and some of the most influential songwriting of the late 1960s”: The 1913 Gibson used to write Here Comes the Sun and Let It Rain – owned by Eric Clapton – is now up for auction
- “Protect your body and mind the way you would protect your gear”: How to stop burning out before you stop the music
- Mooer takes on JBL with its own AI stem separation tech – and it could change the way you practice your favorite songs
- “Bob let him play one overdub, then cut him off. George said to me, ‘Don’t let him do that again’”: The time Bob Dylan and a Beatle were at odds over a guitar solo
- “I thought it was a bit too bizarre, but you all went crazy for it”: The hottest new guitar gear releases of March 2026 – according to Guitar World readers
- “It’s a workhorse guitar. Say a producer in Nashville needs an SG, and they pick that thing up; this will do anything they want”: Sadler Vaden’s new signature SG is a working player’s guitar – and it could be Gibson’s 2026 sleeper hit
- “I’ve never been a real hot player, and a lot of kids are hot players. I’m slow because I walk slow, talk slow, sing slow”: B.B. King in his own words – the blues’ greatest guitarist on heroes, influences and his philosophy
- “I have an original Klon – three or four of them. I can’t go anywhere without it”: Joe Perry on the pedals he can’t live without and his top tip for boost and drive pedals
- “After hearing the finished track, I thought, ‘Wow, I never knew how busy playing one note could sound’”: The story behind the deceptive bassline on a politically charged ’70s anthem that was later covered by the Red Hot Chili Peppers
- “I feel like I get one lawsuit served every week”: Neal Schon sets the record straight on claims made by Journey singer Arnel Pineda that he was pressured to go on tour against his will
April 9
- Elvis’ 1968 Comeback Special Hagstrom Viking II is heading to auction (again) – and is now expected to sell for more than $1 million
- “We wrote it on the board as ‘The Loudest Riff Ever Recorded by a Human.’ We had to put the mic four feet away”: Corrosion Of Conformity pushed hard on their new album. And the Bee Gees helped
- “It’s an honor to enter this journey”: Mateus Asato confirms he’s joining Fender – and might have given us the first look at his signature guitar
- Calling all guitarists! You have less than 24 hours to secure up to 30% off at the Guitar Center Guitar-A-Thon – here's 11 of the best final-day deals including a massive $700 discount on a flagship Gibson Les Paul
- “I’ll find an hour-long Swedish massage video and turn off the sound”: Why tapping genius Stanley Jordan practices guitar by soundtracking massages on YouTube
- Joe Satriani called her version of Always With Me, Always With You “the most impressive” he's ever seen. Meet Andrea Krakovská, the “aerial guitarist” combining fretboard acrobatics with real acrobatics
- “It was heartbreaking. I remember the day I saw that album and those erroneous credits for the first time. It was like a punch in the solar plexus”: Bob Daisley on not receiving credit for playing on Ozzy Osbourne’s Diary of a Madman
- From guitars to amps, picks to pickups, a Slash fanatic shows you how to nail his iconic tone at home at various price points
- “People are gonna be like, ‘What is that?!’” PRS is championing a new tonewood – and it’s already been adopted for an artist signature
- “It was a very conscious decision on Peter’s part to come up with material that would make a very good and accessible record”: Guitarist David Rhodes on the making of Peter Gabriel’s chart-smashing classic So
- “If they were around in 1983, they would have been very popular. They have an unashamed appreciation for what came before them”: How K.K. Downing ended up working with fast-rising British metal stars Tailgunner
- “I don’t think that bassline is playable by anyone else”: How Stevie Wonder recorded one of the funkiest basslines in existence
- “A friend of mine called me up and said, ‘I’ve got a couple of guitars you might be interested in…’” Joe Bonamassa’s storied Lazarus Les Paul, which was once brought back from the dead, has been bought by a pop-punk guitar hero
April 8
- “They were sending me leftovers that other people hadn’t picked up. After Ultimate Sin, I felt I should have something a bit more personalized”: Charvel pays tribute to Jake E. Lee’s Ozzy Osbourne era with newest signature model
- “I hope this journey inspires more young musicians from our region to pursue their passion”: Ibanez welcomes its first-ever female Indian endorsee – fast-rising guitarist, Imnainla Jamir
- "An enlightening instrument that will force you to think about new ways to play the guitar – but it won't be for everyone": Taylor Jacob Collier Academy 22e 5-string review
- “It felt like the worst moment of my life. I walked up to the truck, saw the padlock on the ground, and my heart sank”: The moment Wings’ former sound engineer had to tell Paul McCartney his priceless Höfner bass guitar had been stolen
- Steve Vai, Joe Satriani and Pete Thorn trade solos over Led Zeppelin classic at recent SatchVai Band show
- “I thought, ‘Is the guitar in open G tuning?’ But I soon discovered it wasn’t a standard guitar at all”: Charlie Starr on the magic of the B-Bender – and 5 bender-inspired licks you can play on any electric
- Former Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham’s alleged attacker charged with stalking and threatening his family for years
- “I didn’t expect this to inspire me so much”: Jackson finally releases Misha Mansoor’s Surfcaster – one of the most anticipated offset guitar releases of the modern era
- “I turned up at my first audition with my Squier Telecaster – that was all I owned”: The 18-year-old who replaced one of Britpop’s most revered guitarists
- “On our earlier recordings, we experimented with low tones that only dogs can hear”: Sunn O))) on the challenge of working with 130 guitar tracks and why their live shows are like jumping into a frozen lake
- Yamaha redefines the concept of the modern acoustic guitar with the TAS3 C TransAcoustic – which puts the entire creative process into one instrument
- “He’s not doing any of the lead work he’s known for. He came up with 10 tracks of textures and atmospheres”: His main band went on indefinite hiatus. Now this cult prog guitarist has enlisted Alex Lifeson and Peter Frampton for an all-star solo album
- “I couldn’t be more excited about what’s ahead”: ESP appoints new US CEO – as outgoing head retires after 39 years
- "What if your best song is the one you haven't written yet?" Songwriting For Guitar's free two-day live event will make you a better songwriter - here's how to sign up
- “If I can help wake up a new generation of African or female players, that makes me twice as proud”: Fatoumata Diawara on Hendrix’s genius, the making of her Epiphone SG – and the message she wants it to send
April 7
- “Guitars haven’t changed that much in the last 50 years. We’re about to change that”: Guitar Center is setting up its own in-house guitar brand – and it’s asking players for their help
- “I don’t know how it happened, but somewhere along the way, my right hand just wasn’t doing the job anymore”: Dethklok’s Brendon Small started struggling to play, so he took a lesson with a metal virtuoso
- “I was playing baseball in the backyard when I heard Eruption. That afternoon I decided what my life would be”: How recording in Eddie Van Halen’s 5150 Studios inspired Alter Bridge to make their most riff-heavy statement yet
- “I don’t have any favorite guitarists from the ’90s. I wasn’t following those trends”: He wrote some of the defining anthems of the decade with Smash Mouth. Now Greg Camp is focusing on his Nashville punk-rock supergroup
- “My student tricked me into getting an Instagram”: The off-hand advice from a student that helped kickstart Yvette Young’s career
- “After his funeral, me and my buddy snuck into his house and took the guitar”: Pepper Keenan got his first guitar after a tragic accident
- “It absolutely blew my mind”: Why Dave Grohl is obsessed with viral Canadian microtonal duo Angine de Poitrine
- “The guitar community came through and sent about one million solos to me”: The world’s buzziest guitarists fought to get on this Bilmuri track – now the winning solo has been revealed
- “I got acrylic nails, because my mom told me that’s what Dolly Parton did. It allows me to play in a flamenco style”: Ashley Reeve leads the low-end for everyone from Cher to Filter – and her right-hand tone is her most important asset
April 6
- “Is it worth the higher price tag? For some, it won’t matter, but for others, it is something to weigh on heavily”: Act Entertainment Sterling Vermin RAT Distortion Pedal review
- “Automatically you go into blues when you do that”: Big Country's golden guitar rule that steered them clear of the blues
- “I’d buy a ‘54 Strat, and then I’d sell it, buy one, sell it… I just kept trading them off. I’ve been disappointed in some of those”: Eric Johnson on why a guitar's age, value, and cool factor don't necessarily make it a better instrument
- “The company that handles all our equipment has completely boned us. We have literally nothing to play”: The All-American Rejects cancel show after gear is “mistakenly shipped across the country”
- “I certainly didn’t know how to build a studio. It was all Donn’s magic”: Donn Landee, the engineer who masterminded 5150 Studios, and helped shape Van Halen’s sound, dies at 79
- “I was 8 and Andy was my first guitar teacher – to me he was Mr. Summers with a funny accent!” Doug Pettibone on taking lessons from Andy Summers, touring with Jewel, and not getting fired by John Mayer
- “I put it in the freezer overnight and took a blowtorch to it”: Joe Perry put his “desert island guitar” through hell but it’s still his number one
- “That changed everything for me. ‘It doesn’t hurt. I could play like this all day long. And it sounds great!’’ How a Hendrix hack helped The Collect Pond’s Danny Moffat play through his health issues
- “There are really good ’Bursts, average ’Bursts and some that are not that good at all”: What this pristine 1960 Gibson Les Paul Standard tells us about the myth of the ’Bursts
April 5
- “I wasn't trying to make a retro album. I went through a Fractal”: Avenged Sevenfold’s Zachary Baker rides alone on Dark Horse – cooking up a country album with little more than a modeler and an Epiphone acoustic
- “I told myself I’d stop buying JHS Pedals gear. At this rate, my pedalboard is going to look like a shrine to the company”: All the guitar gear that caught my eye this week – including the most outrageous Ibanez I think I’ve ever seen
- “I am 10 times the player when I hold a guitar pick the ‘wrong’ way”: A blues guitar hero showed me how he held his pick – and it changed the way I played guitar
- “I’ve never met Noel Gallagher, but I’ve heard he liked Strange Times”: The unsung 1986 album that inspired the ’90s Britpop boom
April 4
- “It was a lot of trial and error with Dave – a lot of just trying to find out what worked, fine-tune it and then do it again”: Jimmie Vaughan on the Fabulous Thunderbirds’ Top 40 hit that got Al Bundy – and Hollywood’s – seal of approval
- “We continued being friends for 69 years. I don’t think there’s nobody living today that knew him as long as I did”: Bobby Rush salutes his old friend B.B. King
April 3
- “Something you’ll hear a lot of is, ‘Oh, you didn’t earn that relicing.’ But people who like it aren't thinking of it like that”: The real reason why relicing is so popular, according to a Fender Custom Shop Masterbuilder
- “He rolled up with his guitar on his back and his Fender Deluxe in his right hand”: Mark Lettieri on his jams with John Mayer, and how they ended up working together on one of the biggest PRS shows in history
- “They’re 16 bars, and that’s it. There’s no extended solos”: Adrian Smith on why making music outside of Iron Maiden lets him stretch his soloing wings
- Philip Sayce: The 5 techniques that define my sound
- “He will be remembered for his unwavering empathy and compassion, and his magnetic, inimitable presence on and off the stage”: Harm’s Way guitarist Bo Lueders dies at 38
- Who is the most iconic Fender Telecaster player?
- “The first time Sonic Youth went to England, people hated us: ‘Oh, you’re playing guitar? That’s so old-fashioned’”: Alt-rock icon Kim Gordon on the secret to making great music on bad guitars and why she never saw herself as a bassist
- “Other groups tell everyone they’re the ‘proper’ metal band on the bill, but they’re all using 8-string guitars”: Tailgunner are flying the flag for old-school metal (with a little help from K.K. Downing)
April 2
- “We would roll into, say, Portland, and go to the pawn shops. You could find a ’57 Les Paul for $200!” Melissa Etheridge learned more from a grouchy old man who’d lost his fingers than she did at Berklee
- “When I was asked who was the best up-and-coming guitarist, I had no hesitation”: Alice Cooper announces new 22-year-old guitarist, handpicked by Nita Strauss to be her replacement
- “It can get loud enough to annoy my partner, which is good enough for home use”: Laney Prism-Mini review
- Yes postpone upcoming tour dates due to guitarist Steve Howe requiring “essential surgery”
- Turnstile co-founder and former guitarist Brady Ebert arrested for attempted murder after allegedly hitting former bandmate's father with his car
- “That way, I can bend notes the way I want, and it also saves my hands”: How Joe Perry is changing his guitar setup to battle the early signs of arthritis
- “The two things I remember are the cool guitar stuff… and this never-ending scream”: Billy Corgan on the first time he met Courtney Love and witnessed Hole live
- “The whole rig went completely silent – 10,000 people started booing me”: The 17-year-old guitar prodigy who flourished with Dio, but got off to a nightmare start
- “Peter had such a glorious touch thanks to his wonderful simplicity. But then he went off the rails and became a gravedigger”: How 10cc’s Rick Fenn ended up working with David Gilmour, Peter Green, Mike Oldfield, and almost all of his other heroes
- “It will take time to build up the accuracy that the riff demands”: Welcome to Mike Stringer’s downpicking bootcamp
April 1
- One of Slash's Guns N' Roses reunion tour Les Pauls expected to fetch up to $400k at auction
- “What happens when you do more with dramatically more?” Quilter Labs unveils The Vamp, a four-wheeled, 200,000-watt guitar amp
- Paul Gilbert: What I learned and taught at GIT
- “Get the data-driven results musicians dream of”: Chibson and Acorn Amps team up for the definitely-not-Google Drive pedal
- “If you talked to me when I was 25 years old, I would have been frightened to take a solo after Joe Satriani…” Why Cory Wong is no longer afraid to trade leads with his heroes
- “Way more rare than a Klon”: JHS Pedals pays tribute to mysterious pedal builder with the Coyote – a new fuzz based on one of the rarest pedals of all time
- “I just remember thinking, ‘I can’t play this thing’”: Why Steve Vai struggled to play Brian May’s iconic Red Special
- “I got to play with Layne and Chris and Lanegan. Now they’re gone. What would they be doing now? That haunts me to this day”: Mike McCready opens up on his new rock opera, the Seattle jams that changed him, and the future of Pearl Jam
- “The phone rang. It was Paul McCartney. That’s when I knew we’d found it”: We meet the man who reunited Paul McCartney with his long-lost Beatles bass
- “Björn and I met and discussed what it could look like. It had to be shiny and sparkling”: How a Swedish luthier used by Led Zeppelin and Eric Clapton created the iconic ABBA star guitar