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.
Latest articles by Ellie Rogers
Elizabeth Moen on what makes her ’68 Gibson ES-340 her Excalibur, why she gets anxious when she's away from the guitar for too long and the pedal she will die with
By Ellie Rogers last updated
She's a hired gun with Kevin Morby and Squirrel Flower, and taught slide guitar for Fender, but the Chicago singer-songwriter capitalizes on her self-taught skills on new solo album Wherever You Aren’t
Amon Amarth on what drew them to baritone tunings over 7-strings and why no amount of pimping can polish a turd of a riff
By Ellie Rogers published
The Swedish Viking metal stalwarts' Olavi Mikkonen and Johan Söderberg unpack the particulars of a brutal sound that has taken a turn for the dark on their latest, death metal-inflected epic, The Great Heathen Army
Mark Tremonti embarked on a quest to “try every pick ever made” in a bid to improve his tone – and reveals the one that “made a huge difference”
By Sam Roche published
“The pick is the thing that you’re interacting most with on your guitar,” the Alter Bridge man muses
Minnie Marks on mastering the dance between guitar and drum for a solo sound that takes retro styles in bold directions
By Ellie Rogers published
The Aussie multi-instrumentalist breaks down her approach to guitar, and how she augments slide guitar with pedals and sets it to the beat of her own drum
The Amazons' Chris Alderton: “Is it boring if I go with three distortion pedals? I do like things quite loud!”
By Ellie Rogers published
The British indie-rock sensation's lead guitarist explains how pedals, pedals and more pedals helped build the sound for their life-affirming new album
The Bobby Lees on how no-holds-barred songwriting and a musical molotov cocktail helped them create primal new album, Bellevue
By Ellie Rogers published
Sam Quartin and Nick Casa dissect the band’s in-your-face, garage rock songcraft and explain why the guitar is just as important as a limb – even if it might not be the most enjoyable to play
The Big Moon’s Soph Nathan: “When I first started playing, I thought I should be noodling over everything. But space is really important”
By Ellie Rogers last updated
The indie rock band's lead guitarist explains how motherhood and lockdown helped The Big Moon write Here Is Everything – their most confident album yet
The greatest guitar albums of the 2010s
By Ellie Rogers published
A new generation of guitar heroes greets the stalwarts as we look at the decade's best albums from Slash, Ghost, The Black Keys and more – as voted by you
Introducing Momma, the '90s-inspired guitar duo behind one of 2022's best alt-rock albums
By Ellie Rogers published
They don't own their own amps. They use "crappy" guitars. But together, Etta Friedman and Allegra Weingarten produce a sweet and sour sound that's audio catnip for Generation X and Z alike
How The Beths made their latest record with the help of some seriously weird amps – and a strict "more distortion" mantra
By Ellie Rogers published
The New Zealand indie-rock quartet are chasing tone gold in strange old amps and guitars that no-one else plays... and it sounds terrific
Erja Lyytinen: “I didn’t want to restrict myself to making radio hits. If the song required a longer guitar solo, I let it happen!”
By Ellie Rogers published
The Finnish blues-rock guitarist checks in to discuss the evolution of her style, her setup for slide, and why it pays to double up when it comes to pedalboards
Tim Henson: “Between every album, I think: how can I level my s**t up?”
By Ellie Rogers published
The Polyphia virtuoso on going unplugged with a new nylon-string Ibanez signature, taking lessons from Tosin Abasi, and the never-ending search for new ways to augment guitar music
Madison Cunningham: “As guitar players, we should be challenging ourselves and hurting our brains a little bit”
By Ellie Rogers published
The Grammy-nominated songwriter and guitarist tells us “the complexity knob was turned up” for new album Revealer
Spice’s Ian Simpson on how he built a rock-grunge sound around a “tonally juicy” modded Jazzmaster, a well-stocked ‘board and a pop sensibility
By Ellie Rogers published
Carrying the torch for San Francisco’s East Bay DIY rock lineage, Spice augment that urgent tradition with textured guitar tones inspired by post-rock’s “big noise experience”
Grace Cummings: “There’s a certain warmth that you get out of an older guitar that’s been played and played and played”
By Ellie Rogers published
The Australian singer-songwriter checks in to talk songwriting, influences and her musical philosophy, and insists from the get-go that she is a guitar player not a guitarist
Metallica’s Kirk Hammett on Pink Floyd’s Shine on You Crazy Diamond
By Ellie Rogers published
The metal god discusses the British prog rock icons nine-part epic and watching David Gilmour play
How James Bay made Fender history with his rule-breaking Pink Lemonade Mustang
By Ellie Rogers published
The UK singer-songwriter on his partnership with the Big F for a unique offset, and what to expect from new album Leap
Kirk Hammett: “I was pretty active during Covid, writing a ton of different types of music. I wrote Metallica music, Portals music – all different types of music”
By Ellie Rogers published
The Metallica guitarist on his horror-inspired instrumental solo EP, Portals, the evergreen joy of musical discovery, and why the omens look good for a new album from metal’s biggest band
Drug Church’s Nick Cogan on his alt-rock conversion from Les Paul to Jazzmaster, and the three secrets to his sound
By Ellie Rogers published
Melodic, volatile, concise, and riddled with super-premium guitar tones, Drug Church’s new album Hygiene is “catchy music through the lens of chainsaw guitars”
Fantastic Negrito on the near-fatal car crash that changed his approach to playing and the forces behind his powerful new album, White Jesus Black Problems
By Ellie Rogers published
The Grammy-winning songwriter discusses the quirks of his unique strumming technique, his historic punk rock heritage and how Masa Kohama became the perfect foil for his unorthodox style
Halestorm’s Lzzy Hale and Joe Hottinger on the restorative power of Gibson guitars, Marshall amps, and volume
By Ellie Rogers published
The Halestorm guitarists discuss their “everything on 11” policy, making new album Back From the Dead, and working with Gibson on a fresh Explorer Bird guitar design
Joanne Shaw Taylor: “I phoned Joe Bonamassa and was like, ‘You do know I’m not bringing s**t to this session?’ Who goes to Nerdville and takes their own gear?”
By Ellie Rogers published
The UK blues sensation on making a new album of blues covers with JoBo and Josh Smith – despite not considering herself a blues artist
Geese’s Gus Green and Foster Hudson on turning dad rock influences into their urgent NY post-punk guitar sound
By Ellie Rogers published
It’s all about “rhythmic guitar interplay” and “nice abstract melodies” – and two guitarists who couldn’t be any more different in style
Nilüfer Yanya: “It could be the most amazing guitar in the world, but it only matters how you’re playing it”
By Ellie Rogers published
The London-based Jazzmaster enthusiast shares her six-string wisdom on how to beat lockdown blues, find your sound, and explains why one guitar can be enough
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