Articles by: Henry Yates

Guitar World

Henry Yates is a freelance journalist who has written about music for titles including The Guardian, Telegraph, NME, Classic Rock, Guitarist, Total Guitar and Metal Hammer. He is the author of Walter Trout's official biography, Rescued From Reality, a talking head on Times Radio and an interviewer who has spoken to Brian May, Jimmy Page, Ozzy Osbourne, Ronnie Wood, Dave Grohl and many more. As a guitarist with three decades' experience, he mostly plays a Fender Telecaster and Gibson Les Paul.

Articles by: Henry Yates

“My Foo Fighters setup is the kind of beast you have when somebody carries your s**t around for you!” Chris Shiflett on his double-life as a jobbing solo artist and lead guitarist in the world’s biggest rock band

By Henry Yates published 26 October 23

The Foo Fighters stalwart tells us about the “blasphemy” of his new backline, holding his breath when he solos and why the kind of guitar playing he loved “became pretty much illegal”

“When I played Here I Go Again to Jon Lord he had a certain look in his eye. He said, ‘You’re a clever little sod, aren’t you?’”: Remembering Bernie Marsden, 1951-2023

By Henry Yates published 18 October 23

The Whitesnake co-founder and lifelong bluesman left us on 24 August. Guitarist remembers an all-time-great player, writer, collaborator, collector, mentor and friend

Chris Shiflett performing live on stage in 2020

“It feels like total blasphemy!” Chris Shiflett on why he joined the modeler movement and switched from tube amps to amp sims

By Matt Owen published 16 September 23

The amp aficionado flipped the script for his recent solo tour, which demanded an entirely new approach to guitar setups from the Foo Fighter

Steve Vai called him “the evolution of the guitar” while Al Di Meola said his playing was “light years ahead”. We meet Matteo Mancuso, the young guitarist redefining virtuosity

By Henry Yates published 15 September 23

The Sicilian virtuoso is at the forefront of technical guitar playing, but as he explains, “I’m not a shredder and I’m not a jazz player – I listen to a lot of different stuff and I wanted it all in my music… You need to be open-minded”

Bare Knuckle Rabea Massaad Triptych single coil Strat set

“It’s really taken off – Rabea Massaad has introduced players to a new way of delivering tone from a Strat”: How Bare Knuckle redefined the sound of the Stratocaster with its radical new Triptych single coils

By Henry Yates published 4 September 23

How the tones of Stevie Ray Vaughan, John Mayer and Philip Sayce informed a signature set of single-coil pickups for one of guitar's most progressive players

Jimmy Page's Non-Reverse Gibson Firebird III

“It needs a tune – but we’ll do that free of charge!”: Meet the Gibson Firebird that Jimmy Page lost in a drinking game with John Bonham

By Jamie Dickson published 28 August 23

This heavily modified Non-Reverse Gibson Firebird III is a lost Led Zeppelin guitar with a fascinating history – we get the story behind the Page-owned beauty and the buoyant market for Gibson’s under-appreciated cult hero

“Everyone else had walls of Marshalls, but Rory just turned up, put a Vox AC30 on two folded-out chairs and let rip”: Rory Gallagher – the gear behind the legend

By Henry Yates published 25 July 23

As we rebuild the exact rigs from the late Irishman’s most famous live periods, using historic gear loaned by his estate, Daniel Gallagher looks back over his uncle’s lifetime onstage

Rival Sons’ Scott Holiday: “I don’t need to play all the notes at a very high speed. I can appreciate that in players, but I’m looking for texture and color”

By Henry Yates published 27 June 23

As the Californian rockers return with Darkfighter, Holiday invites us into his guitar room to talk mad-scientist fuzz pedals, his adventurous new doubleneck, and why he mods no more

Marty Stuart: “It started with my Clarence White Telecaster. That old guitar is kinda like an invisible band member. It has a tone of its own”

By Henry Yates published 6 June 23

The country legend on channeling the Byrds’ guitar tones, how YouTube helps him cope with the loss of Johnny Cash and finding the amp he’d been searching for all his life

Graham Nash: “The acoustic guitar touches the heart faster. It’s much more human and personal than electric guitar”

By Henry Yates published 1 June 23

As the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young legend releases the “most personal record” of his half-century career, he tells us about speaking truth to power, selling his Woodstock Martin D-45, and making up with David Crosby

Scott Holiday playing guitar live on stage

Run out of ideas? Try Scott Holiday's 'mind eraser' songwriting method

By Matt Owen published 31 May 23

Sometimes it's the simplest fixes that yield the greatest results

Rival Sons’ Scott Holiday on his greatest gear hits and misses: “You can basically install a pair of EMG active pickups into a cardboard box and get the same sound”

By Henry Yates published 8 May 23

Holiday is no fan of active pickups, and his life in gear involves a flaming Line 6 amp, a foolish trade that said goodbye to some PAFs, and the epiphany that TV Jones Filter'Trons are all you ever need

Remembering David Crosby, a giant of American songwriting who gave the ‘60s a voice

By Henry Yates published 17 April 23

As architect of two ‘60s supergroups – and spokesman for the peace and love generation – Crosby will be remembered for his contribution to the counterculture, not the darkness in his life

Bruce Foxton: “We once butchered some Rickenbackers, putting in P-Bass pickups to make it sound like a Precision. But all it did was screw up a lovely guitar”

By Henry Yates published 7 March 23

The former Jam bassist checks in to discuss his tonal experiments, writing with Paul Weller and why the Beatles can't sue him for the Start! bassline

Paul Weller and Bruce Foxton performing live onstage, singing at same microphone, Wembley Arena, December 1982

How The Jam's Town Called Malice turned a cheeky Motown steal into a bona fide bass classic

By Tom Poak published 17 February 23

Bruce Foxton on destroying Rickenbackers and the band's history of borrowing bass parts – plus, how to play Town Called Malice

Marty Stuart: “I appreciate the Stratocaster, but I really can’t do it justice. It’s two different planets, two different universes – and I’m a Tele guy”

By Henry Yates published 16 February 23

Telecaster master Marty Stuart recounts a half-century love affair with the snub-nosed Fender model, from falling for the twang and surviving the honky-tonks, to the spookiest session with his iconic ‘Clarence’ Tele and snapping up Mick Ronson’s ’52 Esquire

Francis Rossi: “You really need to be a s**t-hot player to make a Telecaster sound good. Particularly when playing lead”

By Jamie Dickson published 14 February 23

Status Quo’s Francis Rossi on baiting the purists, swapping guitars with Badfinger, and why he’s not an all-time-great Tele player

John Osborne: “The Telecaster is the most versatile guitar out there… Its simplicity allows you to find your voice. It’s a desert island guitar”

By Jamie Dickson published 13 February 23

The Brothers Osborne guitarist on how he discovered the Tele, trading up and why bad B-Bender technique is like too much cologne…

Simple Minds’ Charlie Burchill: “Edge had his AC30, his delays and his black Strat. I picked up his Strat – and I sounded like Edge! I thought, ‘Jesus, it’s in the gear as well…’”

By Jamie Dickson published 12 January 23

The Glasgow guitar legend talks vintage Gretsch, the rise of Simple Minds as a pop behemoth, eschewing powerchords, and what happens when you play through the Edge's epic rig

Lzzy Hale: “When you get your first Gibson, it feels almost like it could play itself because there’s some kind of intangible magic”

By Henry Yates published 30 September 22

Hale talks cult guitars, her identity crisis, the darkness behind new album, Back From The Dead – and the drinking session that inspired her purist-baiting signature Gibson Explorerbird

Jeff ‘Skunk’ Baxter on recutting his classics, mad-scientist modding and hustling Guitar Center for parts in the ‘70s

By Henry Yates published 8 August 22

The Steely Dan and Doobie Brothers legend sits down to share gear war stories, explain what makes a good session player, and discuss his first solo album, the brilliant Speed of Heat

Ida Mae’s Chris Turpin: “Most guitars are good for something. Even bad guitars can be fantastic because they force you to play a different way”

By Henry Yates published 28 July 22

The British folk-blues guitarist talks lost Teles, ugly SuperStrats and the gear treasure trove that is Norwich Cash Converters...

Joe Satriani onstage with his Marshall amps

Joe Satriani on his love of Marshall amps: “If there was ever an amp that makes you feel self-conscious yet emboldens you to play like a giant, it’s a Marshall”

By Henry Yates published 11 July 22

The virtuoso on the sound that made him stop in his tracks – and also realize that there was no hiding place at high volume

Andy Summers: “The Every Breath You Take riff has become a kind of immortal guitar part that all guitar players have to learn”

By Henry Yates published 7 July 22

The Police guitarist takes a trip down memory lane, opening up on how the band found their sound, being too good for punk, and why the creative tension was something to be embraced

Joe Satriani: “I’m not trying to sell myself as a guitar technician. I write songs because I want them to become the soundtrack to people’s lives”

By Henry Yates published 6 April 22

Returning with The Elephants of Mars, the virtuoso king tells us about turning his back on amps, winging it on sitar and what he really thinks of Steve Vai’s triple-neck Hydra guitar

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