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May 2026

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261 articles

May 31
- “I find that the electric guitar is almost a separate species”: Why being an acoustic guitarist doesn't necessarily make you an electric player – according to Eric Bibb
- “The riffs are precision-engineered steel. The whiplash solos deliver mind-melting dexterity in the vein of classic-era Megadeth. And it’s catchy as hell, too”: May 2026 Guitar World Editors' Picks
May 30
- “It won’t leave your tap water tasting of hot dogs. It won’t make your Hershey’s bar taste of starfish”: This week's hottest new guitar gear – featuring Wes Borland's Jackson and a Korn pedal
- “I sold the guitar to Bob Rock like an idiot for $10,000. Then Slash blew up, and I immediately missed out on about $150,000": Billy Duffy on the one guitar he wish he never sold
- “Jaco made a great contribution, but what came after was all these idiots trying to sound like him. That's why bass players today are so lame”: Bill Laswell gives his unfiltered verdict on modern bassists
- “I had people from the woodworks reach out… I hadn’t talked to them for years, and they're like, ‘Hey, how's it going? We should get a coffee’”: Yvette Young on ending up in a Super Bowl commercial she didn't know about – and the realities of going viral
May 29
- “Built on the same ingredients that forged the sound”: Korn have released another pedal that channels the sound of their genre-defining debut record due to overwhelming fan demand
- “Billy has been an incredible mentor... He has such a vast knowledge of pedals”: Smashing Pumpkins’ Kiki Wong on how Billy Corgan led her down the stompbox rabbit hole
- “David wanted my solos a certain way. The record we wrote, he said to Joel Hoekstra, ‘Play whatever you want, Reb – I'm going to take you under my wing’”: Reb Beach on working with David Coverdale, and what comes next now Winger and Whitesnake are over
- “I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if I could go back and emulate all those guitar sounds I had from those records?’” Alex Lifeson used TONEX and Fractal to recreate classic Rush tones – and he’s taking them on tour
- “These are pieces conceived to be contemplated, not gear for a rock player to throw over his shoulder”: Meet Fabrizio Paoletti from Paoletti Guitars – the Italy-based luthier turning Renaissance art and architecture into one-of-a-kind electric guitars
- “I was sobbing for eight minutes. After that I was like, I don't care so much about guitar solos anymore”: Why Paul Gilbert started prioritizing quality songwriting over crazy guitar solos
- Roasted maple necks on a $185 S-style? Harley Benton’s refreshed and relaunched ST-Modern HH goes all-in on value
- “I was starting to get tired – as much as I hate to say it – of the very predictable Marshall sound”: Slash took his new favorite amp brand on the Guns N’ Roses tour without telling anyone
- “I’ve had arguments with producers, who say, ‘We A to B’d the modeler blindly, and we couldn’t tell the difference.’ I’m like, ‘Well, I can hear it!’” Sully Erna is optimistic for Godsmack 2.0, and he can't wait for you to hear their new guitarist
May 28
- “I probably have a little more facility with my fingers than my dad – but I don’t think I’m as good a songwriter as him!” Sean Lennon on too many pedals, embracing Acoustasonics, and caring for his dad’s instruments
- “It’s a guitar that can indeed be a singer-songwriter’s tool, or a guitar for chugging metal”: PRS SE Ed Sheeran Hollowbody I Piezo Baritone review
- “I thought, ‘I’ll show him how to do Blackbird.’ I think he knew it better than I did!” Paul McCartney on the time he gave Paul Mescal a Beatles guitar lesson
- “A lot of guitar players are like, ‘Oh, well, Jimmy Page was fine with that, so I guess I don’t need more fret access, or I don’t need better balance’”: Tosin Abasi on the art of designing cutting-edge instruments that keep the guitar’s core
- "Ambitious in its vision, flawed in its execution. This might not be the guitar/bass hybrid you were hoping for": Fender Vintera III Early '60s Bass VI review
- Guitar Center just launched an awesome acoustic guitar sale with discounts hitting up to 30% off premier strummers from Taylor, Martin, Gibson, Yamaha, and more
- “I spent the next 45 years trying to get someone to replicate that”: John Fogerty on the long-lost amp that was the key to his Creedence Clearwater Revival tone
- “Bright, lively, and surprisingly loud, it projects with a clarity and presence that belies its compact footprint”: Faith Nomad Mini-Neptune Trembesi review
- “It’s not a guitar where you grab the strings and bend them, Albert King-style. I tried twice and broke two strings!” Derek Trucks on the challenge of playing Jerry Garcia’s Tiger
- “The company disagrees with Fender’s assessment”: PRS has been hit by a cease-and-desist from Fender – bringing John Mayer’s Silver Sky into the center of the S-style legal dispute
- “Once John’s back in the picture, it’s like the other records don’t exist”: Why Josh Klinghoffer feels his Red Hot Chili Peppers contributions have been erased from history
- “I will never forget looking across the sound booth in the studio and seeing Paul smiling, and I’m playing guitar to Ringo’s drums”: Ozzy Osbourne producer Andrew Watt on what it was like to play with two Beatles in the studio
- “Lenny Kravitz and Prince were doing American Woman. Two of my all-time favorite artists, and there they were, jamming stuff that came out of our heads”: Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings on the Guess Who’s fight to return to the stage
- “It felt new and exciting. You don't even have to have gain on the distortion pedal. The vibrations alone make it sound distorted”: How tuning down and jamming Eagles and Skynyrd unlocked the return of Swedish doom heroes Monolord
May 27
- “A pedal that leaves players saying, ‘WTF!’”: DOD and Morley team up for the triple threat Wah-ocTo-Fuzz pedal
- “I’ve been trying to prove myself constantly. When you get billed as some hotshot player, people will stand with their arms crossed as if to say, ‘Prove it’”: How Jared James Nichols took Blues Power to Dave Grohl's Studio 606 and super-sized his sound
- “I said, ‘It’s everything I need. Can I borrow it to do my demo?’ They went, ‘Let me ask Ern’”: Steve Morse on how a gear nightmare lead him to Ernie Ball – and the signature guitar of his dreams
- “The focus is on products that completely replicate the exact body design”: Fender is finally speaking out on its cease-and-desist strategy. We reveal the company’s endgame, how it plans to work with rivals and who it’s really going after
- “It’s about time!” Wes Borland’s Jackson King V went from factory floor reject to Limp Bizkit icon – now it’s been released as a signature guitar
- “He called and said, ‘I don’t like what’s going on with Ritchie Blackmore. I’m looking for an escape’”: That time Ronnie James Dio offered to front ’70s glam-rock outfit The Sweet
- “It's hard to overstate how influential this album was. It’s the connecting glue between me, Misha and Periphery”: How Adam ‘Nolly’ Getgood went from Sikth super-fan to playing in the band
- “We were heavily in debt. Either we go home, and I go work for my dad as a plumbing assistant, or we just say screw everybody”: Alex Lifeson on the Rush “protest record” that saved the band – and won them their independence
- “A great way to break away from the typical blues soloing sound of pentatonic scales”: How to use dominant 7 arpeggios in a blues guitar solo
- “I was in Norman’s Rare Guitars in LA when I spotted the Les Paul. I played it for hours in the shop”: The unlikely fate of Big Country frontman Stuart Adamson’s ‘Peace in Our Time’ Les Paul
- “No guitar does everything, but this comes dangerously close”: PRS DGT Semi-Hollow review
May 26
- “In the ‘90s I changed my approach entirely. I gave all my guitars with tremolo systems away”: Tyler Bates on creating chaos with Reba Meyers in Marilyn Manson, and the gear he uses to score Hollywood blockbusters
- “I wanted to have the most Steve Vai song possible on the record”: Matteo Mancuso reveals the advice his hero gave him – after they ended up working together
- “I might even refer to him in my mind, as if we’re still writing together”: Paul McCartney explains how John Lennon is still inspiring his songwriting six decades on
- 6 reasons why Fender won’t win its Stratocaster legal campaign – according to the lawyer who beat them before
- “In my older age, I’m thinking, ‘Maybe I shouldn’t have been playing Marshalls for 35 years…’” Why Graham Coxon is questioning his classic Blur guitar rig
- “He had an electric guitar, and his mom wouldn’t let him plug into the amp”: David Lee Roth fights tears as he recalls his partnership with Eddie Van Halen
- “Would you rather we didn’t listen to customers? That we just hide in our offices and listen to some corporate shirts pontificate on pickup choices?” Guitar Center CEO responds to backlash over the brand’s in-house guitar project
- Some gear was designed specifically with Teles in mind – and these amps and pedals work especially well with Fender Telecasters
- EarthQuaker ZEQD-PRE review – the ultimate tube-equipped tone-sculptor for your pedalboard?
- “The idea of a hand-wound Patent Applied For, which you see in the market all the time… if we’re being brutally honest, it’s not a thing”: The mystery of Gibson’s first Patent Applied For humbuckers
May 25
- “A strange and weird anomaly that stands apart not only from most known octave fuzz designs, but also from fuzzes full stop”: JHS Coyote review
- “There was a big commotion – alarms going off and fire engines circling – so I went straight to the closet, looked at my four Les Pauls…” The time Billy Squier had to pick one guitar to save from a burning building
- “Kirk Hammett gave me one of his Greenies. I’ve been having fun with that”: Alex Lifeson is taking a Metallica signature guitar on the road with him for Rush’s reunion
- “I couldn’t tell who it was. When he turned around, I went, ’Oh my God! That’s Jimmy Page!’” The words of encouragement a Led Zeppelin legend gave Gus G after he joined Ozzy Osbourne’s band
- I've been covering Memorial Day guitar sales for 6 years. If you really want to save on guitar gear today, these are the 7 sales you need to check out – and it’s an Amazon-free zone
- “You’re not going to get the perfect guitar just because it’s old and cool and original and worth money”: Eric Johnson tells us why vintage is not always best (even if he regrets selling his ’54 Strat)
- “My first show was 10 days after Dave Grohl called me… I was out-of-body pretty much the whole time”: How Jason Falkner went from St. Vincent and Beck to a last-minute tour with Foo Fighters
- “I didn’t know much about Rory until I went to music college. I fell in love with his style right away”: Meet Spencer Mackenzie, the Canadian blues-rock maestro covering Rory Gallagher and learning when to unleash his “ginormous” lead tone
- “I had a little too much Jack Daniels and went to sleep. Early the next morning, I woke up to Eric and George playing ukuleles at the foot of my bed”: The first time session pro George Terry met a Beatle
- “Gary walked in and goes, ‘Alright, today’s the day.’ At the end, he came over, shook my hand, and goes, ‘Unbelievable job. I couldn’t ask for any better’”: The first time Rickey Medlocke played Lynyrd Skynyrd’s iconic Free Bird guitar solo
May 24
- "I would prefer to see Fender tweak the pickups rather than the aesthetic": Fender Vintera III Mid '60s Telecaster review
- “They had already gone through a lot of guitar players, but there were only a few they liked. One of them was this kid, Zakk Wylde”: The guitarist who lost the coveted role to Zakk Wylde on what it was like to audition for Ozzy Osbourne
- “There was no master plan apart from we didn’t want to do the Thin Lizzy/Status Quo blues bendy thing”: Bruce Watson on the birth of Big Country, Stuart Adamson’s legacy and the secret to bagpipe guitar
- “I’d be there with bass pedals, a triple-neck guitar and keyboards, and Robert Plant would ask, ‘Can you sing, as well?’” How John Paul Jones became Led Zeppelin’s ultimate wingman
- “I made a deal, paid him in cash, and he died two months later. His last text to his daughter was, ‘I buried the money in the desert’”: Joe Bonamassa tells the story of the strangest guitar deal he ever did
May 23
- “Jon offered me the gig and I turned him down. It still amazes me how close I came to not following this path”: Roger Glover’s path to bass greatness with Deep Purple
- “We were going to open for the Descendents on a huge summer tour… and our singer decides he’s going to go do graduate school”: The rise and fall of Dag Nasty – and the making of a melodic hardcore classic
- “New S-styles from Ibanez? They company probably couldn’t believe its timing”: This week's hottest new guitar gear – including a pedal you can wear on your wrist (sort of)
- “He looked at it, closed the case and said, ‘Let’s get out of here before they realize what they’ve sold you’”: How Rory Gallagher grabbed his iconic 1963 Gretsch Corvette for the princely sum of $150
- “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
May 22
- “The bass you think of when you go to pick a bass. It’s magic and it really has no limits”: Fender celebrates 75 years of the Precision Bass with three stunning anniversary models
- “The ultimate pedal demo guitar”: You’ve seen it in the JHS Pedals demos – now you can get a signature version of Josh Scott’s custom Bilt Relevator
- “Gene Simmons said we were his new favorite band. He wanted us to do a record – and to do things we didn’t want to”: Gary Klebe on Shoes’ near miss with the Kiss star, inspiring Butch Vig into production, and how his band got with Hamer
- Welcome to the future, people – Donner just unveiled a headless electric guitar with an onboard amp, effects, Bluetooth and a detachable speaker
- “I made an S out of it because it sucked”: Raven Slaughter was a ’70s Cleveland rock icon who sawed up a Gibson into his own custom guitar – now a hospice patient, he has visited his “old friend” at the Rock Hall
- I've found the only Amazon Memorial Day deal for guitarists worth caring about – score an impressive $190 off this 4.5-star retro offset that you'll fall in love with
- “Mick came in with his Les Paul, plugged in to my amp and fiddled with the controls. All of a sudden there it was, the full Ziggy Stardust tone”: The post-Bowie career of Mick Ronson, rock ’n’ roll’s most quietly spoken guitar hero
- Nuno Bettencourt and Rick Beato form unlikely partnership to rip through a Thin Lizzy classic at the Six-String Sanctuary
- “Fender wants a showdown”: What is Fender’s endgame in its cease and desist campaign against S-styles? This video might have the answer
- “We’ve got the company on a good trajectory. Now we’re playing offense”: Guitar Center has joined forces with the founder of Reverb – what does this mean for the retail giant?
- “A lot of people say, ‘I can drag a guitar behind my car and then sell it for that price.’ It’s like, ‘OK, go do it then!” In the court of the Master Builders – Fender’s Custom Shop gurus spill the secrets of their trade
- “Reminiscent of Joni Mitchell’s jazzier moments… but no strings were retuned to create it!” 5 chords that sound like they’re in an open tuning (but aren’t)
May 21
- “I can’t imagine anyone other than dedicated metalheads and Gojira megafans finding loads to love here”: Jackson Pro Plus Series Signature Christian Andreu Rhoads RR24 EVTN6 review
- “Deputies hit all the right notes bringing this case to a close”: Police officers in California recover $60,000 worth of stolen guitars – still with Guitar Center price tags on
- “If this isn’t a 10 out of 10 announcement, I don’t know what is”: The Smashing Pumpkins reunite with Siamese Dream producer for the first time in 32 years
- "It looks like a lost relic from Rupert Neve’s ‘to-do’ drawer": Walrus Audio Mantle Analog Bass Preamp & DI review
- “This is a PR disaster that will haunt Fender for years”: Two of guitar’s biggest YouTubers are cutting ties with Fender over its cease and desists
- “You go into a forest and you're like, ‘What am I going to see? What will be out here?’ That’s the same thing I try to put into the music”: Plini answers the call of the wild in search of instrumental guitar’s new frontier
- “I’ve never even been on a yacht... I don’t even know what ‘yacht rock’ is supposed to mean. It just seems absurd to me”: The Doobie Brothers on their many imitators, their many hits, and the making of Long Train Runnin’
- Guitar Center’s Memorial Day sale has officially landed with up to 30% off the best guitar gear – including $250 off a PRS SE Silver Sky and $599 off a Gibson J-45
- “He began drinking and smoking pot and wanting to change parts. I told him he should have come to rehearsals. The next day I got the phone call – I was out”: Bob Daisley recalls his rollercoaster years with Ozzy Osbourne
May 20
- “The final piece of the puzzle”: Misha Mansoor completes his Juggernaut jigsaw with new Jackson that introduces a firm-first feature
- “A cherished figure within the Zappa community, where fans embraced him not only for his talent but for his generosity”: Ike Willis, long-time guitarist and vocalist with Frank Zappa, dies aged 70
- “It’s comic book level villainy”: Your reactions to Fender’s cease and desist strategy – and how it could transform the S-style market
- “I am not comfortable playing with the band under the current circumstances”: Rhea Thompson sets the record straight on her Tailgunner departure amidst allegations against band’s bassist
- “One of the last guitar solos he recorded”: Before he died, Brent Hinds recorded a solo for a Marcus King track – and it’s been released
- Ibanez’s S-style lineup gets a serious expansion with 6 sleek new AZ models
- “The guitar is the instrument of the people”: The IGF Summer School moves to the historic spa town of Cheltenham for its 31st year
- “He fired a shotgun out of a window. We said to our tour manager, ‘You need to take that gun off him! If we go in there, he might shoot us’”: The moment glam-rock icons The Sweet knew they had to part ways with their singer
- “I asked my dad’s friend where guitarists like Mississippi John Hurt got the idea to play in this way, and he said, ‘I think they’re trying to imitate the sound of a player piano on a riverboat’”: Charlie Starr on how to play fingerstyle guitar
- “The graphic was designed by artist John Taylor Dismukes, who did a lot of famous album-cover artwork for the Grateful Dead and other big bands”: George Lynch on his custom ESP that’s too valuable to leave the house
May 19
- “I've never found the perfect solution for combining analog pedals with a digital rig before – this could be it”: IK Multimedia Tonex One+ review
- “We were getting gold records from countries around the world. I had a DJ tell me that when he put it on for the first time, the phones lit up after 20 seconds”: Berton Averre on writing My Sharona – and why the Knack were never the next Beatles
- “Finding a twin humbucker guitar that looks and sounds as good as this is far from easy”: Schecter Nick Johnston Traditional HH review
- “He falls on the floor in a fetal position and puts his hands on his ears. ‘Oh my god, I can't believe it! That was in my dream’”: The time Jimi Hendrix was knocked off his feet by Eddie Kramer’s tonal technique
- “There was graffiti all over the walls. Pleas for help saying, ‘God, save us’”: Charles Spearin on his unlikely favorite jam – and how Broken Social Scene embrace “the ridiculousness” of everyone playing guitar
- "For all the guitar people out there who look at me as not an electric player, don’t let the person behind the guitar fool you”: Ed Sheeran and PRS drop a new baritone – and they’re even gunning for metal and jazz players
- “I practiced more for Billy's first lesson than I've ever practiced for one of my own”: How Billy Strings’ guitar mentor approached the challenge of teaching the “monster” bluegrass player
- 14 ways to improve your Telecaster: tried and tested methods to get more out of Fender’s original mod platform
- “If we were in the black when we finished a tour, we’d party into the red”: Dr. Hook’s enigmatic guitarist and vocalist, Dennis Locorriere, dead at 76
- You don't have to wait for the Memorial Day weekend to save big because Fender just jump-started the sales with up to $600 off guitar gear - here’s my 5 standout deals, including $230 off an all-solid acoustic and $74 off an underrated fuzz pedal
- Musician’s Friend just surprise-dropped their Memorial Day sale early, saving you up to 60% off big-name brands – there's $500 off an eye-catching Gibson, $250 off a gorgeous PRS, and up to 45% off must-see pedal deals
- “Many drummers reached out to me in the aftermath of Neil’s passing. That was most distasteful to me”: Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson on the drummers that tried to force a Rush reunion on them
- “I was worried about amp sims when Rick Beato says nothing sounds as good as a tube amp. Then he posted our song and said, ‘Sick guitar tone!’” When one of indie-rock’s hottest guitarists fooled Rick Beato with amp sims
- “Ozzy and Sharon were skeptical about my guitar shape. They felt it looked too weird”: When Ozzy Osbourne tried to convince Gus G to change his guitar of choice
May 18
- “This movie will absolutely happen... We're full steam ahead”: Jack Osbourne confirms Ozzy Osbourne biopic is still in the cards
- “Despite its unassuming looks, I think this is a lot of guitar for the money”: Charvel Standard Series San Dimas Style 2 SD2 HH HT Gloss Black review
- “I'm not a failed guitar player turning to bass. I am a real bassist. I do a six-minute bass solo on stage – and, I might add, not an easy one!” Suzi Quatro on the spirit that’s driven her, and the moment of fate that made her a bassist
- “My newest creation”: A luthier has made a headless version of Brian May’s Red Special, and it’s dividing opinions online
- “This case could set a precedent, impacting countless other builders and musicians”: Fender escalates legal campaign against S-style guitars, issues first cease and desist to US builder
- Epiphone announces its first ever signature guitar for a Korean artist
- “It’s a bit of a mystery. I’ve found that at my age it’s time to pull back on touring”: Ritchie Blackmore issues health update – and explains how he’ll get back to live gigs
- “It’s one thing to try to plan it, but the way we play together is something you can’t really calculate”: Backed by Fugazi’s rhythm section, even guitarist Anthony Pirog can’t signpost the turns in The Messthetics’ avant-jazz sound
- “I was on tour, doomscrolling. I got a targeted ad, and it showed a picture of this guitar”: The time Misha Mansoor found his lost Jackson Juggernaut signature guitar in a Guitar Center
- “I got a Vox teardrop reissue for $500. I tore everything out and off except for the neck”: Joe Perry on the weirder guitars in his collection
May 17
- “I didn’t have a guitar, so he let me play this Strat that he got from Jimi’s old guitar tech. It was the best-playing guitar ever”: My Chemical Romance's Ray Toro was strictly a Les Paul man, until he got his hands on one of Jimi Hendrix's Strats
- “I played that on just about every Eagles record”: Don Felder names the most important guitar in his 300-strong collection
- “You can get a little bit of everything”: Grace Bowers’ tone tips to get the most out of the Gibson SG
- “Learning how to be a good second guitar player is essential”: Veteran producer Dann Huff on the unsung art of session guitar
- “I heard him say in some interview that if you only play electric guitar, you're half a guitar player”: Her guitar playing had already reached the ears of millions, but a key piece of advice from mentor Johnny Marr re-shaped her approach
May 16
- “Paul played a lot of terrific bass with Wings that’s still under-appreciated. I don't think he even recognizes it himself”: Paul McCartney’s greatest post-Beatles bassline
- “We once came close to an Angine de Poitrine tribute guitar. This might be the next best thing…” All the guitar gear that caught my eye this week – including a Sting-approved limited-edition Fender
- “I thought it sounded lifeless. We really didn’t like the results, so we didn’t give permission for it to be released”: How Richard and Linda Thompson regrouped to record a folk-rock classic after Gerry Rafferty tried to turn them “pop”
- What was your first guitar?
May 15
- The Strokes guitarist Nick Valensi takes “temporary break” from the band's upcoming world tour – and his replacement has been announced
- "Pimple-faced boys were giving us the finger all night. Dave Mustaine would come out, grab the mic and go, ‘I personally picked this band to be here. Listen!’” When Stone Temple Pilots supported Megadeth and Dave Mustaine defended them from his own fans
- “We have spent more than $100,000 in tariffs since April 2025”: EarthQuaker Devices CEO calls for musical instruments to be exempt from tariffs as industry continues to be negatively hit
- Mateus Asato pictured with mystery Fender offset – could this be his new signature model?
- “Links the exhilaration of shaping guitar sounds to the everyday act of checking the time”: You can now get an official Ibanez Tube Screamer watch
- Pocket mammoth savings on some of our favorite stompboxes in Sweetwater's ginormous pedal sale - including popular units from UAFX, Beetronics FX, DigiTech, Keeley, Maxon, and so much more
- “He actually signed it for me on the back of the headstock. That’s the most magical bass”: How Victor Wooten got his hands on his biggest hero’s bass guitar
- “I figured nobody would pay any attention to me. But those kids, they jumped on me, started yankin’ my hair. They tore off my shirt”: From Pet Sounds to playing Brian on tour, Glen Campbell’s hair-raising tenure as the Beach Boys’ guitarist
- Fender and Pac-Man team up for a limited-edition Telecaster (and no the dot inlays are not edible)
- “I don’t know if I got better or worse. Sometimes I can’t believe the things I was able to play years ago. But I’m also like, ‘Wow, what was I thinking?’” Jazz guitar legend Bill Frisell on the album inspired by a dream
- “I think it’s hard for blues artists to get endorsement deals… but hey, if someone at Guild is reading this, give me a call!” Larry McCray on his Albert King-inspired Flying V, touring with Gary Moore and his life in three guitars
May 14
- “The sound and fury of a classic Marshall amp, but in a format that’s incredibly easy to get the best from”: Synergy SYN-20IR Amp Head with Marshall JCM 800 and JMP preamp modules review
- “I saw a line of people wrapped way down the block. I thought maybe Bill Clinton was in town, but it was for our show”: How a young Blind Melon made it big with No Rain
- “I walked in at 2pm and George Harrison and Kim Basinger were there hanging out. I noticed this little guy wearing leather gloves and a hooded surfer's sweater”: When Bob Dylan invited Slash to record with him
- “I bent up from the 21st fret and broke the first string – I played the rest of the solo without it”: Hidden for four decades, the story behind the (almost) unheard outro solo on John Farnham’s smash hit, You’re the Voice
- “It was just in my closet, and one day I pulled it out, turned it on, and thought, ‘Wow… this is a sound that I’ve been missing’”: How Mike Campbell ended up reconnecting with a classic piece of Heartbreakers gear
- “Chaka Khan decided to fire the whole band – I don’t know why. But the week after she fired us, Prince called”: How Andrew Gouche rose from playing church halls to become the guru of gospel bass with Prince
- “None of it sat well with him. The further we went into rock, the less he liked it”: When the Eagles’ founding guitarist knew it was time to leave
- “I’ve sat down with other guitarists – you just end up playing blues licks all day and not writing anything. But we went to work straight away”: Richie Kotzen and Adrian Smith on absurd volume, improv and how long a solo should be
- “For the most part, people seem to really like it… others have been very vocal about hating it”: The making of the Telecasso – the Telecaster-Picasso mashup that has driven guitarists crazy
May 13
- “They’ve been stuck in London customs for a month”: Paul McCartney's guitars allegedly held up in England ahead of major Rock & Roll Hall of Fame exhibition
- “He had a flat full of headless basses. He’d figured out a way he could nick them”: The crazy method a thief used to steal 50 bass guitars – including one belonging to Guy Pratt
- “We were spent, burnt, totally out of it... We started to see The Black Parade as the enemy – one we wanted to kill”: My Chemical Romance's struggle to follow up their biggest success
- “You could scrape that guitar, smoke the residue and get strung out”: Walter Trout’s life in three guitars
- “You’ll see the return of some of our most iconic products from the past”: The metal amp brand beloved by Dimebag Darrell, Kirk Hammett and Scott Ian is on the cusp of making a comeback
- “Despite its toy-like dimensions, it comes across as a very grown-up guitar indeed”: Taylor BT1e Baby Taylor review
- I saw Angine de Poitrine live – and witnessed the greatest polka-dot guitar hero since Randy Rhoads and Buddy Guy
- “We did call him because we owed him that. He was important for the band”: Alex Van Halen says they tried to recruit Michael Anthony for Van Halen’s David Lee Roth reunion
- “One of the best electrics out there, at any price”: Yamaha Pacifica SC Professional and Standard Plus review
- July 2026 Guitar World lesson videos and more
- “My main issue with this riff rock world is that it’s derivative and boring. Let’s be honest – at this point, most riffs have been written”: How the hunt for clicks has made the lone guitar intro obsolete
- “Some believed she drove her car off a cliff in Canada. Others claimed she started a new life in Brazil”: She was a pioneering singer-songwriter who disappeared without a trace – now 50 years on, Connie Converse is finally getting her dues
- “For many players, including me, the variations in sound, feel and texture are indispensable”: Joe Bonamassa breaks down the differences between P-90s and PAF humbuckers
May 12
- “For about 11 months, I had no guitar and no amp. It felt like having part of my nervous system removed”: How to survive setbacks when music is your identity, not just your job
- "Tired of run-of-the-mill guitars? Well, this may be the six-string for you": Epiphone Futura RD Custom review
- “What began as a niche guitar developed for Californian country has become a musical universal wrench: from metal to jazz, from pop to grindcore”: The evolution of the Fender Telecaster – the original solid-body electric guitar that started it all
- “Tariffs will not shift purchases to US-made beginner instruments. They will price beginners out of the market”: NAMM President John Mlynczak testifies about the impact of tariffs in Washington DC
- “I was like, ‘That’s the guitar I want.’ They said, ‘That’s going to start some s***’”: The real reason Machine Gun Kelly chose a razor blade shape for his signature guitar
- “If I could make it sound like a Floyd Rose, without it looking like one, I’d do that”: Grace Bowers specs out her dream SG – is this what a potential signature Gibson could look like?
- “Hendrix didn’t just play through Marshall amps. He redefined what they could do”: Marshall honors Jimi Hendrix with limited edition drop
- “We were spun out on meth at the time. I’d go to the rehearsal room, crank everything insanely loud and just jam”: Gary Holt and Lee Altus on why Exodus will never be a legacy thrash act – and the song that took 27 years
May 11
- “Slash offered me a lot of money for it, but I said, ‘I’m not selling it!’ He said, ‘If you ever do, promise me I’ll be the first you call’”: Linda Perry on living with the success of 4 Non Blondes’ What’s Up?, and the Goldtop she wouldn't sell to Slash
- “It was a whole library of tapes. It was such great stuff”: Steve Vai on the time Eddie Van Halen played him never-before-released material – at the guitar legend’s house
- A Fender Master Builder, who’s made guitars for Mk.gee and Buddy Guy, has left to start their own guitar company – and their first release is a stunning boutique offset
- "Look past the dated interface, and you will discover killer tones": Kemper Profiler Head MK2 review
- Eastwood launches Angine de Poitrine-inspired double-neck – years after it nearly launched a signature model for the microtonal wizards
- “It got nicked out of the back of the car in Liverpool. I’ve never had a Strat like that since”: Glenn Tilbrook is still mourning the stolen ’59 Fender he bought from folk-rock royalty
- Eric Clapton ends gig early after being hit by object thrown from crowd
- “It all went a bit sour and nasty. Eldritch likes a battle – he thrives on confrontation. Mind you, he told me I was the best guitarist he’d ever worked with”: The difficult birth of The Sisters of Mercy’s trailblazing goth classic
- “As it was going up in the air, I thought, ‘Wow, that looks so cool.’ On the way down, I was thinking, ‘What did I do?!’ Joe Perry on his customized ‘50s Gibson Les Paul Junior that refused to die
May 10
- “It turned out to be the worst time to do an auction – his guitars really undersold”: The celebrity guitar auction where guitars did not sell for what they should have
- “I got it from the Guitar Center behind the steakhouse that I worked at”: Julien Baker reveals the guitar that she got with an early paycheck, which ended up shaping her breakthrough record
- “I always wanted to be thought of as a guitarist. But you have a hit and you know what happens...” A rare look inside Prince's world – record label battles, 3am sessions and wildfire guitar genius
- “Jaco said, ‘If you ever need a sub please call me! I’d kill to play for you guys”: When Chicago’s Peter Cetera met Jaco Pastorius
May 9
- "Some of these guitars have doubled in value between 2019 and now": The modern guitars that have held their value best, according to a Reverb expert
- “It was driving me nuts, bringing 15 guitars on the road. So I started looking at some guitar modeling…”: How Jeff “Skunk” Baxter took his session guitar experience and inspired a radical digital guitar
- “Jaws were hitting the floor when Blackstar was showing off this off at NAMM 2026”: All the new guitar gear that caught my eye this week – featuring EVH shredders and some $99 big fun from JHS Pedals
- “I see bass players trying to play our stuff using all downstrokes, and I think, ‘You're going to ruin your arm’”: How Mike Dirnt honed his signature bass tone for Green Day’s Revolution Radio – and why it all starts with the wrist
May 8
- “If I don’t accept what I have, I’m going to be mad for the rest of my life”: Peter Frampton on how his health diagnosis spurred him to keep playing guitar
- “When the house burned down, I started watching people's hands on YouTube and learned how to play songs to kill time – I didn't have much else to do”: Jackson Dean on playing in Nashville alongside some of the best
- “He's one of the best musicians in the world. He's the only guy who could have filled that space”: Don Henley explains why Vince Gill is such a valuable asset to the Eagles
- “If I didn’t get some kind of help, I was going to die. So I said, ‘You guys, can I have a minute? Please give me a minute.’ And they said, ‘No’”: Jason Newsted explains how addiction struggles led to his Metallica departure
- “Premium gear gets discounted somewhere. Today it's scattered across marketplaces and clearance racks. Musician's Friend pulls it into one place”: Guitar Center relaunches Musician’s Friend as an off-price outlet for premium gear
- “I don’t want to make a record without that guitar”: How Dave Grohl found the “lucky guitar” that appears on every Foo Fighters album
- “I carry it in a sleeping bag – it looks like a dead body”: Angine de Poitrine’s strange choice of gig bag causes problems at airports
- The best-selling mini-modeler now with wireless editing and MIDI – meet IK Multimedia’s TONEX ONE+
- “I start with the melody, and then I start sketching what the chord structure would be underneath. That’s where the interesting things in Tortoise happen”: The long-awaited return of the post-rock trailblazers
- “Quite how many Lucilles there were is unclear”: Everybody knows B.B. King played a Gibson guitar named Lucille – but what model was it really?
May 7
- “He called me the night before he passed to tell me how much he loved it”: Posthumous Steve Cropper album announced, featuring some of electric guitar’s biggest names
- “We lost Rob in a car crash there in 1996, when he was driving back to the studio. After that, we didn’t go back. Not for a long time”: Mark Collins on triumph, tragedy, and the long-awaited return of the Charlatans
- “He got the same sound. It’s the way he played – it wasn’t his gear”: What happened when Brian May recorded with Black Sabbath – and played through Tony Iommi’s rig
- "Just the thing to fight back against the rise of amp modeling": Two Notes Torpedo Captor X Plus review
- The simple trick that adds sparkle to your songs: Nashville Tuning explained
- “I played the songs for him, and he said, ‘No… I don’t think we can use any of that.’ I was like, ‘Right. Cheers’”: Damon Albarn rejected an entire album of Blur songs – and accidentally kickstarted guitarist Graham Coxon’s solo career
- “I met this guy who worked at Peavey. He offered me some stuff, and I was broke…” The blue-collar amp that Tyler Bates used on all his albums with Marilyn Manson
- “Purebred music-making machines”: EVH updates the Wolfgang Special line with baked maple necks and ’boards, and colors to dazzle
- “It started showing signs of the color changing… PRS brought it back to life”: This guitarist’s “baby” completely lost its finish – so PRS stepped in
- “I did 40 tours with it, and never had a problem. It’s my favorite guitar on the planet”: The underrated metal guitar that Nervosa’s Prika Amaral swears by
- “A lot of Oasis-related gear has come up for sale... but there can’t be that many pre-CBS Strats that were owned by Noel”: Up close and personal with a '63 Strat and '70s Höfner Violin Bass with Oasis and Ocean Colour Scene connections
- “I was a teenager, so it was just fun. Pretty soon I was getting millions of views – it was crazy”: Laura Cox was a teen guitar sensation. Now she’s throwing the blues-rock rulebook out the window – and finding herself in the process
- Federal court rules in favor of Dean Guitars in Dimebag Darrell Estate’s protracted legal dispute
May 6
- “In the middle there's this mesh we call ‘the ancient form of weaving.’ Sometimes we cross accidentally!” Ronnie Wood explains his guitar dynamic with Keith Richards at launch for surprise new Rolling Stones album
- “This city didn't just embrace the Telecaster, it helped define it”: Fender’s Telecaster 75th anniversary show might be the greatest assemblage of Tele talent ever
- “First impressions are dominated by the incredible color – holy smokes, it’s absolutely stunning in person”: Fender 75th Anniversary American Ultra II Telecaster
- “When I played, it was almost like I made every note count even more. It was rejuvenating”: Why Jared James Nichols has switched to Marshall amps after playing Blackstar for 15 years
- “Without the added bends, this riff would sound a little stale and boring”: Spiritbox's Mike Stringer shows you how syncopated bends can add extra spice to your metal playing
- “I was like, ‘God, what do I do? If I sit behind the drums, it makes me sad. If I listen to music, it makes me sad’”: Dave Grohl on life in the aftermath of Kurt Cobain's death – and how his switch to guitar and songwriting marked a new chapter
- “A momentous union of two storied and unstoppable forces”: DragonForce announce Alissa White-Gluz as their new vocalist in shock move
- “Of all the mini practice amps I’ve tried, this is easily my favorite”: Blackstar Beam Mini review
- “I don’t want to hear someone improvise and stretch out and be completely extemporaneous”: St. Vincent has named her pick for the best guitar solo of all time – and says it should always be played note-for-note
- “This never stops taking my breath away”: Joe Walsh becomes the latest guitarist to take a Yamaha Revstar to the stage as the Eagles hit New Orleans
- “What started as a joke turned into a track that Steve knew had magic in it”: Eric Clapton recorded a song with Steve Cropper before the session legend’s passing – and it will be part of his final body of work
- “We were high with it, and after just a few takes, we had one of our best ever songs – something that felt like pop music and beyond”: The making of the Smiths’ 1986 classic The Queen Is Dead
- “I like classical, gospel, Bruno Mars, the Killers and the Weeknd. And I always go back to David Gilmour! If it doesn’t suck, I probably listen to it”: Why P-Funk legend Michael Hampton is keeping an open mind in search of his solo sound
May 5
- "Who thought we’d look to the kings of gritty bass for silky neo-soul tones?" Neural DSP Darkglass Ultimate review
- “I couldn’t believe it. When I was 15, I would skip school, take the bus into the city, and see the Grateful Dead at the Fillmore East”: Al Di Meola becomes the latest guitarist to play Jerry Garcia's “Tiger” on stage
- “The guitar players barely holding onto control as they go into the corners at top speed are my favorite players”: How the Dirty Nil’s sound runs on vintage Marshall power and a healthy serving of the Rat pedal
- “A solo that felt more like a moving cry of the soul than a musical spotlight”: Rolling Stone has revealed its Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time – and its number one pick corrects a previous injustice
- “I was a kid with very little experience and a huge amount to prove. Critics had written us off before it came out – no-one took me seriously”: The making of Suede’s 1996 Britpop classic Coming Up
- “The idea of singing freaks me out. I hate speaking on the microphone. For my whole life the guitar has been how I express myself”: How fast-rising blues ace Laura Chavez found her voice on guitar
- “These songs are played a lot. They’re often not played well”: Guitar Center reveals the 10 most-played guitar riffs in its stores – and no, Stairway to Heaven isn’t one of them
- 200,000 models, AI stem separation, impossibly big sound: Blackstar just dropped a mini amp that could change the market forever
May 4
- Turnstile co-founder and former guitarist Brady Ebert faces potential life sentence after indictment on attempted first-degree murder
- “I didn’t like playing music because my band were successful, or I’d get noticed as a guitar player. I just played because I missed my dad”: How Sean Lennon's legendary father inspired him to pick up the guitar
- “David Coverdale wanted my solos to be a certain way. He had to kind of approve my solos”: Reb Beach on why crafting guitar solos with Whitesnake was more challenging than Winger
- “When I was in high school, nobody played these guitars. They were completely derided”: Why Nels Cline fell in love with Jazzmasters
- “Ozzy didn’t know I had been a student of Randy’s. He stood right in front of me while I played and afterward told me that my style reminded him of Randy”: How Joe Holmes got the coveted Ozzy Osbourne gig
- “It does those Spaghetti Western sounds just as well as it does the crushingly heavy stuff”: Sterling by Music Man StingRay Baritone review
- “The songs are different every night because he never sings them the same way. I don’t know anyone who knows as many songs as Bob Dylan”: 38 bassists appeared on Bob Dylan albums before Tony Garnier came onboard. In the 37 years since, no others have
- “I always wanted to have hit singles. I thought the hit single was the highest manifestation of rock as an art form”: Marshall Crenshaw on his Karen Carpenter tribute, why collecting is “infantile” and how he was made in Detroit
- “As soon as I saw the Blade Runner, I said, ‘That’s mine. I gotta have that.’ It’s the ultimate pointy guitar”: Joe Perry tells all about that “too cool” electric you saw on MTV when Walk This Way came on
- “Yngwie was replaced for becoming difficult. We auditioned Steve Vai in secret”: Gary Shea’s never-say-never approach to Alcatrazz, New England… and maybe even Vinnie Vincent
May 3
- “My boss said, ‘Paul Simon’s in town, and they’re looking for you in the studio. Here’s the money. Take the bus’”: When Bakithi Kumalo got the call to audition for Paul Simon’s 1986 multi-platinum album
- “Those parts aren’t as easy as you’d think. With his downstrokes, they’re mechanical, right, fast and have one Fender sound”: Josh Hager on the deceptive genius of the late Devo guitarist Bob Casale
May 2
- “This is the one processor that brings me significantly closer to joining the virtual amp modeling dark side”: Nux MG-50Li review
- “They’ve revived B.B. King’s first-ever guitar and made it $349. I know what my next acoustic is going to be”: All the new guitar gear that caught my eye this week – including Chase Bliss’ “most foolish” pedal yet
- “I do the old metal trick where there’s some semblance of a Tube Screamer on all the time”: What’s cookin’ on the Skillet pedalboards? Korey Cooper and Seth Morrison reveal all
- “They were trying to figure out who to get to sing the high harmony stuff for Gene Simmons’ band. They said, ‘What about the guy who opened for us?’” Jason Walker on touring with the Kiss star – who’s a fellow Beatles freak
May 1
- “A new world record for Slash memorabilia”: A Les Paul used during Guns N' Roses' classic lineup reunion tour becomes the most expensive Slash guitar ever sold at auction
- “B.B. King’s first guitar was a red Stella acoustic. That’s the kind of impact we want this brand to continue to have”: Harmony brings the Stella brand back from the dead with a $349 solid-topped parlor
- “She put it under her bed and didn’t play it for 60 years. When I got it, it still had the original strings on it”: Why telling your guitar’s backstory could help it sell for more money
- “I used it in the Damned, playing with Iggy… That guitar was part of me”: The Damned frontman Brian James’ ‘New Rose’ Gibson SG sells for over $95,000
- “He’s like, ‘Where did you find that? Our storage unit’s been broken into. Everything’s been cleared out’” Korn bassist Ra Díaz recovers 15 bass guitars that were stolen from him – thanks to community effort
- “It’s never really about the gear itself. It’s just a tool for unlocking an idea”: American Football’s slow-burning debut album was originally dismissed. Four records in, they’re glad that’s how it went
- David Allan Coe, the outlaw country legend who played with Dimebag Darrell and gave Warren Haynes his break, has died, aged 86
- “We were falling about the studio floor laughing when I was playing. People started coming into the control room, like, ‘What is going on with these three guys? It’s an absolute racket!’” Meet High Fade, the Scottish funk-punk heroes we need right now
- “He would put a lot of treble on his amp to get the sound he wanted out of Lucille. Working and being in his presence was magical”: Jerry Jemmott on playing bass with B.B. King