Ellie Rogers

Ellie Rogers

Since graduating university with a degree in English, Ellie has spent the last decade working in a variety of media, marketing and live events roles. As well as being a regular contributor to Total Guitar, MusicRadar and GuitarWorld.com, she currently heads up the marketing team of a mid-scale venue in the south-west of England. She started dabbling with guitars around the age of seven and has been borderline obsessed ever since. She has a particular fascination with alternate tunings, is forever hunting for the perfect slide for the smaller-handed guitarist, and derives a sadistic pleasure from bothering her drummer mates with a preference for “f**king wonky” time signatures.

Articles by: Ellie Rogers

Mike Kinsella

“We played a bunch of really awkward shows with both of us staring at our tuners the whole time and then we broke up for 15 years”: Math-rock pioneer Mike Kinsella on his unlikely journey to cult guitar hero status with American Football

By Ellie Rogers published

As his latest Owen album looms, the guitarist reflects on how he discovered the tunings that made him so influential, doing it all without pedals and why he can only play Teles

Albert Collins, John Lee Hooker, Eric Gales

“So well-versed in the art of blues that B.B. King said ‘he was like another one of my sons’”: 12 blues guitar albums that chart the genre – and the instrument’s – evolution

By Ellie Rogers published

From Son House to Eric Gales, John Lee Hooker to Albert Collins, these classics highlight how blues guitar has changed over the years – its stories, tones and techniques all passed down and reinvented

Marcos Mena of Standards

“I asked Ibanez for a Telecaster-style guitar with a single neck pickup. I was expecting them to make fun of me and say no!” Standards’ Marcos Mena is bringing joy to virtuoso playing with his custom mint green tapping machine

By Ellie Rogers published

As the pop-shred maestro honed his fruit-inspired instrumental math-rock technique, Ibanez warned him his neck-pickup-only AZ might look bad – but it turned out to be his perfect guitar

Mike Griffiths

How does a Welsh rock band that trades in “filthy, nasty guitar tones” end up writing a song with Brian Johnson of AC/DC? Himalayas’ Mike Griffiths explains the story behind their “unexpected gift”

By Ellie Rogers published

The Welsh rockers’ debut album, From Hell to Here, is essential listening for those who like rock from the garage and the desert – especially where the guitar “sounds quite wild a lot of the time”

Devon Ross

“I’ve always picked up my dad’s guitars, but I wasn’t that serious about it. Then I realized it was natural to me – it was so deep in my soul I didn’t have a choice”: Thurston Moore loved her demos. Now Devon Ross is journeying from actor to guitarist

By Ellie Rogers published

Inspired by ‘60s pop and ’90s alt-rock alike, the Fender Mustang-toting Irma Vep star – and daughter of Lenny Kravitz guitarist Craig Ross – brought her debut EP to fruition with help from the Sonic Youth icon

Tosin Abasi of Animals as Leaders performs during Swanfest at Heart Health Park on April 23, 2022 in Sacramento, California.

“Technical playing can get cleaner, and that’s possibly even more challenging than just being faster”: We met the academics who study shred guitar for a living – they explained why it’s changed dramatically since the ’80s, and the 3 ways it can develop

By Ellie Rogers published

A new study documents the challenges facing modern-day virtuosos, who not only have to balance perfection and authenticity, but now have to be “10 things that used to be 10 full-time professions”

Rosie Frater-Taylor

“I love Gibson – I always have. Even though people like Slash play Les Pauls, for me they work better in a jazzier sound-world”: Jimmy Page was bowled over by her playing. Now Rosie Frater-Taylor is injecting jazz solos into pop for an all-new sound

By Ellie Rogers published

Inspired by jazz-go-pop stars like George Benson and Pat Metheny, the Pickup Music tutor and rising star has a unique guitar-meets-vocal vamping style

Matteo Mancuso playing a Yamaha Revstar

“Sometimes it’s not really about complexity. There are some jazz tunes that are incredibly simple like AC/DC”: How Matteo Mancuso is redrawing the frontier for guitar and unlocking the fretboard one chord at a time

By Ellie Rogers published

The fingerstyle fusion phenom talks technique, the illusion of jazz complexity – the reality of the guitar's complexity – and why everything is okay so long as you land on a good note

Jon Gomm

“Basically, I climb up telegraph poles late at night, tear down the cabling with my bare hands and use that to string my guitar!”: Jon Gomm on how he's using wild tunings, giant strings, and lessons from Jeff Beck's whammy work to redefine the acoustic

By Ellie Rogers published

If you want to be a revolutionary player, you need a revolutionary attitude, and Gomm says that means looking for sounds you have never heard before

Matteo Mancuso

“It’s a little bit softer and you get a different attack”: Matteo Mancuso took the guitar world by storm with his otherworldly playing style – now he’s revealed the secret to his flawless fingerpicking tone: fake nails

By Matt Owen published

He's already given his advice on crafting better lead lines. Now, the young virtuoso has kindly revealed how you can get natural tones to match

Jon Gomm and Joni Mitchell

“In trying to make this huge sound, she ended up with this ‘one-person band’ approach that was completely different to the guitarists that’d gone before”: Jon Gomm on how Joni Mitchell changed progressive acoustic guitar forever

By Ellie Rogers published

One acoustic hero pays tribute to another, with Gomm pinpointing the pioneering approaches championed by Mitchell that make her one of the most influential acoustic players of all time

Eric Clapton and Scott Holiday

“Eric Clapton played with a stately authority. It’s missing in guitar today. It seems every great player has to play very fast. It can be distasteful, honestly”: Scott Holiday says Slowhand’s slow hand is still the gold standard for expressive playing

By Ellie Rogers published

Clapton remains an ever-present force in the Rival Sons star’s own sound – here’s why Holiday views his hero as one of the most influential guitarists of all time

Josette Maskin

“When you’re playing pop, you need to get the ego out of the way. You’re trying to elevate the song, rather than be heard as a guitar player”: The key to good pop guitar, says MUNA guitarist Josette Maskin, is to play less than you actually want to

By Ellie Rogers published

Inspired by Jeff Beck and session legend Paul Jackson Jr, Josette Maskin explains how MUNA balances three guitar players, how they ended up using fuzz more than distortion, and why label boss Phoebe Bridgers is underrated as a guitarist

Eddie Van Halen and Paul Gilbert

“Eddie was like a new sun appearing in the sky. You could sense that the world would never be the same”: From the big bang of Eruption to tone tips and warm-ups – Paul Gilbert shares the knowledge gleaned from a lifetime studying Eddie Van Halen

By Amit Sharma published

The shred icon salutes his greatest influence – with the insight of a fellow guitar obsessive

Troy Redfern

“A Whammy pedal might be sacrilege on a vintage National, but live, it’s really interesting!” Troy Redfern may play slide guitar, but he doesn’t want to sound like Derek Trucks – and his bold solo approach blazes a new blues trail

By Ellie Rogers published

There's already a lot of hype about the British blues maestro's new Kickstarter-funded album. Redfern checks in to share his unconventional gear pairings, and how his solos are informed by Frank Zappa's musical philosophy

Emily Wolfe

“It was so fun to learn how to play the doubleneck – there’s so many switches and knobs that it was essentially like learning another instrument”: Emily Wolfe is expanding her guitar arsenal – and processing rage through gnarly tones

By Ellie Rogers published

The Epiphone signature artist isn't missing any targets on new album The Blowback, turning up the fury with a jerry-rigged DIY guitar sound that's set to blow

Hawxx

“It’s not about how fast you can play. It needs to sound like pain or it needs to sound disgusting – it’s about what the guitar needs to convey”: Introducing Hawxx, the feminist metallers out to “de-wankify” heavy guitar clichés

By Ellie Rogers published

Jackson-wielding guitarists Anna Papadimitriou and Hannah Staphnill channel feminist rage into pummeling riffs on their debut face-ripper, Earth, Spit, Blood & Bones

Hotline TNT perform live

“Most people think three guitarists is a lot, but to me, it’s the minimum – it sounds way thicker and heavier”: Meet Hotline TNT, the Jack White-approved shoegaze band who don’t like pedals

By Ellie Rogers published

Think shoegaze is all reverb, delay, fuzz? Well, there's another sonic path, and Hotline TNT are taking it with three guitarists. Will Anderson unpacks the approach behind their acclaimed noise-pop sound

The Vintage Caravan's Óskar Logi Ágústsson performs live

“I got my Telecaster in 2013 and it’s never been cleaned. It’s covered with blood. I like the idea of seeing the work I’ve done”: He’s guitarist for Iceland’s premier power trio The Vintage Caravan – and Óskar Logi Ágústsson’s rig lives up to the name

By Ellie Rogers published

Inspired to pick up the guitar by School of Rock, classic rock acolyte Ágústsson has been leading The Vintage Caravan since he was 12 years old. He explains what makes fans liken his playing to Alvin Lee, how he wrings his tone from a collection of extremely loud vintage Marshalls and why he hates practicing

Serena Cherry

“A lot of solos in metal definitely have a formula... To me, a solo really hits home when you don’t hear the magic coming”: How Svalbard’s Serena Cherry is tearing up the metal guitar playbook

By Ellie Rogers published

Told she was playing guitar “wrong”, Cherry instead took it as permission to embrace the unorthodox and chase metal guitar sounds from the primal to the orchestral

King Falcon's Michael Rubin with a Gibson Les Paul

“Guitar Hero was such an important tool for exposing kids from the late-’90s to the electric guitar. We’ve got some guitar heroes now – 10 years ago, we didn’t”: Michael Rubin went from playing video games to rocking vintage guitars with King Falcon

By Ellie Rogers published

He has an awe-inspiring collection of vintage guitars, all with stories to tell, and he plays in one of NYC’s most exciting indie-rock bands. But as Michael Rubin tells it, it all started with Guitar Hero…

Coach Party's Joe Perry and Steph Norris

They have a guitarist named Joe Perry, bought a Fender Telecaster from a KFC and their MO is to “scream, thrash guitars and put the heaviest overdrive on” – meet Coach Party, the UK’s next great indie-rock hope

By Ellie Rogers published

With four distortion-strong pedalboards and Queens of the Stone Age support slots in tow, Steph Norris and Joe Perry run the gamut of dirty guitar tones – with gear that will end up getting “beat up to f**k”

Gina Gleason live onstage with Baroness at Tuska Festival 2022

“I like the rawness and the vulnerability you get from a cleaner sound... I like having to work for it a little bit”: Gina Gleason explains why Baroness made the switch from humbuckers to single coils – and sounded all the heavier for it

By Ellie Rogers published

Telecasters and Jazzmasters for metal? The former Cirque du Soleil shredder unpacks the heavy institution’s unconventional approach to tone

Graveyard's Jonatan Ramm (L) and Joakim Nilsson (R)

“A humbucker is a lot more controlled, and a single coil is twangy and misses frequencies. The P-90s have the best of the two worlds”: Meet Graveyard, the Swedish classic rockers with tone and vibrato worthy of the ‘60s psychedelic blues explosion

By Ellie Rogers published

Inspired by the likes of Peter Green, Danny Kirwan and Jimi Hendrix, Joakim Nilsson and Jonatan Ramm thrive on P-90 pickups, cranked Marshall Bluesbreakers and world-class vibrato – just don’t call their high-octane rock ’n’ roll “retro”

Madison Cunningham poses with a Fender Vintera II Jazzmaster electric guitar

“Wendy Melvoin is a highly influential guitarist for me. Her feel is unmatched”: Madison Cunningham is the new face of the Fender Jazzmaster – and she has some seriously A-list collaborations in the pipeline

By Ellie Rogers published

Hand-picked by Fender to head up its Vintera II campaign, the Grammy-winning folk-rock trailblazer discusses her spellbinding collab with Prince’s guitar player, challenging the Big F’s premier offset to a game of drop-tuning limbo, and how a mutual love of JHS Pedals introduced her to John Mayer