Latest articles by Amit Sharma
Tailgunner are flying the flag for old-school metal (with a little help from K.K. Downing)
Tailgunner’s new album, Midnight Blitz, is a love letter to the '80s, Yngwie, Priest, and all things shred – and it's produced by a bona-fide Metal God
How 10cc’s Rick Fenn ended up working with David Gilmour, Peter Green, Mike Oldfield, and almost all of his other heroes
The underrated guitar great looks back on the “improbable serendipities” that punctuate his 50-year career, hails the guitar he’s been playing for almost all of it, and reveals the favorite solos in his catalog
Mikael Åkerfeldt on nearly losing his prized PRS on the way to record a landmark Opeth album
The Opeth mastermind on being robbed as they made Blackwater Park, what he hated about Kurt Cobain’s ’53 Martin D-18 and loved about Hank Williams’ ’40s D-18, the ’90s band he still adores and the ’70s guitarist he still worships
Pepper Keenan recalls the moment he knew he’d failed his audition to be Metallica’s bassist
Keenan was one of many hopefuls to try out for the Metallica gig as James Hetfield and co looked to find Jason Newsted's replacement
With the help of a stunning vintage Gibson acoustic, Jussi Reijonen is giving Western folk an Arabian makeover
The Finnish fingerstylist's acoustic reveries are essential listening for fans of Paco de Lucía, Omar Khorshid, and Lenny Breau
Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt names prog’s great unsung guitar hero
This 1970s player is an influence to many, he says, but doesn’t get the credit he deserves
Best Stratocasters 2026: The best Strats for every budget and playing style
Find your fit with our top pick of the best Fender Strats
Why Myles Kennedy felt uneasy using Jeff Buckley’s Telecaster to play Hallelujah
Kennedy played Buckley’s iconic 'Grace' Tele for a special tribute performance of Hallelujah in 2019
How Eric Gales enlisted Buddy Guy, Kingfish, Joe Bonamassa (and his guitar collection) to pay tribute to his brother
With a little help from Bonamassa and Josh Smith, Eric Gales put together one of the great 21st-century blues albums to honor his brother Little Jimmy King
![Rick Fenn of 10cc plays a Strat onstage [left]; Peter Green plays his Les Paul in the studio back in his Fleetwood Mac days.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/gipBZrkR4mS5DdS2MEf8E6-840-80.jpg.webp)
Rick Fenn on the time he tried to help bring Peter Green back into the limelight
The late Fleetwood Mac guitarist was a hero of Fenn's, so when the call came in to help Green out, there was only one answer. But whatever happened to the music?
How Pavey Ark are reinventing acoustic guitar with pedals, fake nails and a $60 nylon-string that holds its own in any company
Neil Thomas’ adventurous playing and ear for unorthodox tuning finds the English collective exist between two worlds of traditional and neo-folk
Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram has learned from the masters on his road to becoming a modern-day blues great
He might be young, but the Clarksdale, Mississippi phenom has already announced his presence as the world’s bluesman-in-chief
Zakk Wylde recalls his “Spinal Tap moment” during Back to the Beginning
Wylde reveals the crucial moment that could have gone horribly wrong during Ozzy Osbourne's final show...
Eric Gales says he doesn’t understand all the fuss about Dumble amps
Yes, they sound great, says Gales, but they're not the only amp in the world to give you great tone
Meet Eric Steckel, the high-gain firebrand painting a new shade of blues guitar
The Knaggs signature artist has grown an international profile by importing heavy distortion into the blues and bending it to his will
The Rolling Stones guitar tech on the secrets behind their onstage sound
Ryan Bullington has teched with everyone from the Stones to Paul McCartney and Keith Urban. He shares the joy of playing instruments he could never afford, the best amp he’s ever heard, and the invention that’s saved him years of pain
How Zakk Wylde wrote his tribute song to Ozzy Osbourne
Wylde explains how no one expected Ozzy to pass away two weeks after Back to the Beginning, saying that, “Keith Richards, Lemmy, Ozzy... they're like the air you breathe, and you think they're going to be around forever”
How Georgie Hume’s “surf exotica” is taking instrumental guitar into a whole new world
Starting out in a London pub, Georgie Hume and the Pity Party are taking a wayfaring approach to jazz, soul, and surf guitar, and Hume has some help from a left-field “secret weapon” pedal
Larry McCray on rubbing shoulders with blues royalty and playing through Joe Bonamassa’s epic rig
Living blues legend Larry McCray is keeping on keeping on and keeping the blues alive, and on his latest LP, Heartbreak City, he's taking his guitar to places his voice can't reach
The best electric guitars under $500
Our top cheap electric guitars that deliver killer tones, slick playability, and serious bang for your buck from Squier, Epiphone, Yamaha and more
How Italian maestro Andrea Rinciari is reinventing the great American jazz guitar songbook
Soho Sessions is the sound of Rinciari cutting loose and putting his own stamp on the classics, with the help of his one-of-a-kind Fibonacci Ambassador
Why Jared James Nichols stopped obsessing over gear – and honed in on his playing instead
Freedom, says Nichols, is the knowledge you can pick up anyone's guitar and sound like you, and now the Nashville-based Les Paul wrangler is finding that freedom in songwriting
Richard ZK on the coffee shop rendezvous in East Germany that got him his first Fender
The Rammstein riffer wanted a Strat to imitate his hero, Jimi Hendrix – but getting hold of one took some serious work
Paul Reed Smith on how he built his brand, secret PRS players – and why the internet is wrong about tonewood
Once the guitar brand for the one percent, the smash-hit success of the SE line took PRS Guitars mainstream, but for Smith, it’s still about trying to raise the bar and find new sounds
The irresistible rise of the signature guitar company, as explained by Ola Englund
With more artist products available now than ever before, and an entire movement of brands run and owned by musicians, we investigate the evolution of signature guitar gear with a little help from the Solar Guitars founder
