Latest articles by Alan di Perna
Assembled on 24 hours' notice, this John Lennon-led supergroup marked the beginning of the end of the Beatles
Though the band's set at the 1969 Toronto Rock and Roll Revival was ragged, it confirmed in stone a hugely consequential decision Lennon had made just before the festival
How Dick Dale made the Stratocaster the ultimate surf-rock weapon
The surf guitar king was not only a Fender man to his bones – he had a close working relationship with Leo Fender himself
How Ric Ocasek formed an unlikely partnership with an alt-rock icon
For what would become his fifth solo album, Ocasek reached out to Smashing Pumpkins mastermind Billy Corgan, and came away impressed by his arranging talents and technical abilities
The creation and evolution of the Stratocaster
Timeless, iconic, yet also indisputably a product of the era in which it was designed, the Stratocaster was shaped in huge part by a few oft-overlooked players – one of whom suggested the whammy bar so he could get more money as a session guitarist
How one of rock's most storied Les Pauls changed hands from one guitar hero to another
Page had known Joe Walsh, then a budding guitar hero with the James Gang, since his pre-Zeppelin days with the Yardbirds. And Walsh had a proposition for him
For David Gilmour, Pink Floyd’s wildly ambitious the Wall tour was a blast – and a challenge
Used to experimenting and improvising onstage, Gilmour suddenly found himself juggling a multitude of new responsibilities, and, on one occasion, dodging burning drapes...
When Rory Gallagher was asked to fill Eric Clapton's shoes in rock's pioneering power trio
As Cream began to disintegrate barely two years into their existence, the enormously successful band's managers were desperate to keep them going
The making of the album that virtually invented a new genre, sold 30 million copies, and changed rock forever
One of the best-selling albums of all time, Nirvana's Nevermind re-shaped popular culture and guitar-based music almost overnight. This is how it was made
Through 50 years of triumph and tragedy, they remain hard rock's greatest titans
AC/DC's Angus Young traces the lineage of one of rock's greatest bands – from his air-tight six-string chemistry with his brother Malcolm, that time he tried one of Malcolm's guitars, and why he avoided Strats at all costs
Released weeks before his murder, John Lennon’s final album paired him with some of the era’s finest session guitarists
Hesitant to step back into the spotlight but powered by renewed creative energy, the former Beatle joined forces with Earl Slick, Hugh McCracken, and – though their collaborations weren't released for a number of years – Cheap Trick
The mod that made Kurt Cobain's $6 million MTV Unplugged Martin one of a kind
According to Nirvana guitar tech Earnie Bailey, Cobain was far from a vintage guitar fiend, and had no qualms with making his already weird D-18E even more unusual
“We knew we didn’t want to do an acoustic version of Teen Spirit”: The story of Nirvana's seminal MTV Unplugged set
Resisting network pressure to simply play the hits, Kurt Cobain, Pat Smear, Krist Novoselic, and Dave Grohl pulled together a remarkable and eclectic set that served as the haunting apex of Nirvana's final chapter
“I remember my first lesson with Joe. I had a guitar and a set of strings. I’d never really played. I didn’t know how to tune or string it”: Steve Vai and Joe Satriani discuss the evolution of guitar playing, and what they taught each other
In 1990, Steve Vai and Joe Satriani sat down for an extensive discussion with Guitar World, during which they joked that – when they were older – they would record a song called The Sea of Emotion. Now, more than three decades later, that premonition has come true
“We didn’t realize we were breaking up as it was happening”: The Beatles intended to go back to their roots on Let It Be – instead, they documented the collapse of their magical creative partnership
A mix of rootsy, spirited rockers, stunning ballads, and unfocused jams, Let It Be captured the Fab Four looking to find their footing as a group again
“When Keith and I are together, we talk through our guitars. We never say, ‘You do this and I’ll do that.’ We weave”: How Brian Jones, Mick Taylor and Ronnie Wood made the Rolling Stones what they are today
The story of three different eras and three different players, all bound by the ability to bob and weave through Keith Richards' unforgettable riffs and drive the Stones ever-forward
“It was considered a no-no to chain two Fuzz-Tones together. But I saw Hendrix chain five of them!” Billy Gibbons remembers opening for Jimi Hendrix with his pre-ZZ Top band the Moving Sidewalks
Before the long beards, sold-out arenas, spinning fur guitars and MTV stardom, Billy Gibbons cut his teeth in a psychedelic group called the Moving Sidewalks, who opened for – among other A-tier rock acts – one James Marshall Hendrix...
“For me, Wish You Were Here is the most satisfying album. I really love it. I'd rather listen to that than Dark Side of the Moon”: David Gilmour opens up on the creative tension that built Pink Floyd's classic records
In this classic GW interview, the Stratocaster icon discusses the “egocentric megalomaniacal tension” that shaped Dark Side of the Moon, how he constructed the Comfortably Numb solo, and the time he used a mic stand leg as a slide
“I knew exactly what I wanted to do in every respect”: How Jimmy Page built Led Zeppelin from the ashes of the Yardbirds
Using knowledge gleaned from his time as a first-call session pro – and his brief but crucial tenure alongside Jeff Beck in the Yardbirds – Page formed a rock colossus from the ground up
The Lovin’ Spoonful's Zal Yanovsky is one of the Sixties' most overlooked guitarists – here's how he fearlessly blended genres to forge the 'Americana' guitar sound
Yanovsky brought the weird, wonderful and the none-too-serious to Good Time Music, and was a genius player, but did he get the credit he deserved?
Keith Richards: “They haven't really improved the electric guitar since Les Paul and Leo Fender put their touch to it. Everything else is trying to sound like them”
In this classic interview from 2002, The Human Riff reflects on the key guitars, songs, and sounds from 40 years with The Rolling Stones
How Indian slide maestro Debashish Bhattacharya made the 24-stringed chaturangui come alive on The Sound of the Soul
Bhattacharya is a genius of slide guitar whose new album is an uplifting twist on Hindustani classical ragas, featuring “the best instrument to unify cultures”
Custom Flying Vs, strange open tunings and massive bends: how Albert King created his own strain of the blues – and inspired Hendrix, Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan
A left-hander, King flipped a right-handed guitar upside down, put it in an unorthodox tuning, and forged a style steeped in steely drama and epic bends
Jeff Beck – the ultimate interview: one of the electric guitar's most prolific innovators reflects on his sprawling career
In this classic 2009 Guitar World interview, the guitar legend waxed lyrical on his formative years with The Yardbirds, how his radical technique inspired a new era of instrumental guitar, and his musical relationships with Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton
