Latest articles by Henry Yates
Daniel Kessler on making Interpol classics, the lessons he took from Fugazi and the art of six-string minimalism
As the New Yorkers set out on the anniversary tour for their 2004’s classic second album, we catch up with Kessler to talk rejection, hollowbodies, and why you won’t catch him playing major chords
Brian May on reworking Queen’s regal debut, bad reviews, and Jimi Hendrix’s “Voodoo Magic”
As the new Queen I boxset drags once lost songs into the daylight, May tells us about poverty, parental disapproval, the Red Special’s first runout – and the perils of playing through Jimi’s Marshall stack
Jim D’Addario on the history, innovations and future of the world’s biggest string manufacturer
As D’Addario celebrates its 50-year anniversary, we speak to its current chairman about the company’s roots, breakthroughs and next moves, and learn how the family has been making strings for centuries
Johnny Marr on his signature Martin and why the Smiths were a Patti Smith-influenced folk band
Tearing up the blueprint with an octave G string, Johnny Marr’s new seven-string Martin signature model is a distillation of all the British icon’s most rebellious opinions on acoustic
Brian May fought to add a rhythm guitarist to Queen in their early years – and several players would eventually grant his wish
While May got into the habit of playing lead and rhythm at the same time, he did sometimes get the extra helping hand he had envisioned – including from Freddie Mercury himself
Mary Spender on the tones, tunes and heartache behind her debut breakup album
Featuring a guest spot from Ariel Posen and some of the most gourmet tones you'll hear all year, Super.Sexy.Heartbreak. finds Spender processing a lifetime of broken hearts through fingerstyle guitar
In 1969, a young Brian May hid in a venue to speak to Rory Gallagher – and it led to his tonal breakthrough
The Irish blues rock legend gave May a tonal template that he says he’s never bettered
D’Addario recruits players to help test its strings – and there's one jazz veteran who is more reliable than most
This particular player, who has been a D'Addario artist since 1982, is instrumental in analyzing the nitty gritty of in-progress guitar strings
Brian May issues health update after suffering ‘minor stroke’ last year
The Queen guitar hero suffered a health scare late last year, which left him briefly fearing he might not be able to pick up the guitar again
The remarkable untold story of Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Lady Studios – from the man who helped him build it
Founded by Hendrix just months before his death, Electric Lady Studios was a mind-expanding creative mothership where his guitar playing reached new heights...
“It sounded awful. I could hardly play”: Brian May on the one time he experimented with a Marshall stack
The Vox AC30 amp/Red Special guitar combo is one of the most iconic in rock, but the Queen guitar hero didn't solidify that setup straight away
“You’re playing that fast that you need to have a satin neck? Wear it down yourself!” Why Johnny Marr isn’t convinced by the satin neck trend
The Smiths icon and vintage gear lover has some choice words for guitarists who prefer satin finish treatments – and anyone who artificially ages their gloss necks
Vic Flick played sessions for The Beatles, Tom Jones and Dusty Springfield – but the iconic Bond riff is his legacy
Remembering the veteran gun-for-hire who played the tough, wiry riff from the James Bond theme
Martin Barre on Jethro Tull’s pioneering ’70s era, the Aqualung sessions – and supporting Jimi Hendrix
A signature-shifting collision of bucolic folk and frayed-edge rock, Jethro Tull’s Aqualung is one of the ’70s’ most daring records. Barre takes us on a deep dive back to those fabled sessions, from winging his parts to snubbing Jimmy Page
A guide to everything David Gilmour used on his new solo album, Luck & Strange
Gilmour's tech, Phil Taylor, provides GW with an exhaustive list of the guitar gear used to record the prog icon's first solo album in nine years – and there are some surprising pieces of kit
Adrian Thorpe on how he made Chris Buck’s awesome, tube-equipped signature pedal, Electric Lightning
Adrian Thorpe of ThorpyFX remembers the flight path – and turbulence – behind Chris Buck’s Electric Lightning overdrive/boost, named after a fighter jet and packing a bona fide valve
David Gilmour on his mindset for epic guitar solos and why one Black Strat is as good as another
Luck and Strange, Gilmour’s first solo album in nine years, came together in a barn, features late Pink Floyd keyboardist Rick Wright, a rotating cast of vintage guitars, and a producer who challenged him to take his sound to new places
Parlor Greens’ Jimmy James on biggest musical lessons and why, like Hendrix, he's all about rhythm
“Driving the locomotive” in new supergroup Parlor Greens might be the Seattle soul man’s finest hour yet, and it finds him happiest when holding it down on rhythm guitar
Martin Barre explains why his early days with Jethro Tull were a trial by fire
Jethro Tull went on tour with Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and Vanilla Fudge right after Barre joined the band
“I just turned my back”: Martin Barre on the time Jimmy Page nearly cut him off mid-Aqualung solo
“I think it was take two,” the Jethro Tull guitarist recalled, “and if I hadn’t got it in two then it would have been a flute solo”
David Gilmour explains why he still uses a 30-year-old Zoom multi-FX for his home demos
He may have once had a guitar worth $4 million, and you'll still see physical heads and cabinets at his live shows, but when laying tracks down at home, the Pink Floyd legend's tastes are far from expensive
David Gilmour says he can't tell the difference between his signature Fender and his original Black Strat
Unbothered by letting go of his most famous – not to mention valuable – six-string tool, Gilmour tells GW that his signature Fender Black Strat does the job of the original perfectly well
Ani DiFranco on the dark arts of acoustic – and why she’s over online ‘performers’
Percussive and heavily processed, the US troubadour’s new album, Unprecedented Sh!t, burns the playbook of acoustic folk
