Latest articles by Jackson Maxwell
“He said, ‘I've never heard it played that good’”: When Roy Clark met his guitar hero
Speaking to Guitar World in 1984, Clark painted a picture of a master musician who nonetheless remained incredibly humble despite his success, and the massive shadow he cast over country (not to mention folk and bluegrass) guitar playing
Leonard Chess asked Muddy Waters to bring him an old acoustic bluesman. He brought him Buddy Guy
Knowing his Mississippi roots, Chess essentially wanted Waters to find for him his own Robert Johnson. Waters had other ideas
Assembled on 24 hours' notice, this John Lennon-led supergroup marked the beginning of the end of the Beatles
Though the band's set at the 1969 Toronto Rock and Roll Revival was ragged, it confirmed in stone a hugely consequential decision Lennon had made just before the festival
One of Davey Johnstone's favorite guitars was once a piece of upscale decor for his superstar bandmate
Johnstone did end up with the '50s-era beauty in the end, though not for a happy reason
How Dick Dale made the Stratocaster the ultimate surf-rock weapon
The surf guitar king was not only a Fender man to his bones – he had a close working relationship with Leo Fender himself
“Clapton is God” graffiti made him a guitar legend when he was barely 20; he says he felt he deserved it at the time
Speaking to Guitar World in 1994, Eric Clapton said that at the time – though he would grow more humble over the decades – he was “unbearably arrogant”
After being pulled from the wreckage of a car crash, John Sykes ran back to his burning vehicle to save his beloved '76 Les Paul
What would ~you~ do for your favorite guitar?
Michael Hurley, guitarist and singer/songwriter known as the ‘Godfather of freak folk,’ dies at 83
Influential to a number of alt-rock luminaries, Hurley's songs were covered by the likes of Cat Power
When Bob Dylan played with an LA punk band to promote the album he made with Mark Knopfler
1983's Infidels, Dylan's first secular album in half a decade, was graced with a bounty of sweetly tasteful leads from the Dire Straits man. To recreate two of its songs on Late Night with David Letterman, Dylan hired LA punks the Plugz
Amadou Bagayoko, singer and Malian guitar great, dies at 70
Half of the enormously successful duo Amadou & Mariam, Bagayoko developed a powerful guitar style that blended classic rock influences with more traditional West African sounds, jammed with David Gilmour, and collaborated with Damon Albarn
He started playing at the age of three, at 13, he came across something that would help define his unique sound
One of the most distinctive (and underrated) blues guitar players of his era, Jeff Healey adopted his radically unconventional approach to the instrument at a very young age
Once Allan Holdsworth picked up a headless Steinberger, there was no turning back
Though he'd also later work with Carvin, Holdsworth remained a headless guitar devotee for the rest of his life, telling Guitar World in an interview just days before his death, “Once you play a headless guitar, you’ll never want to play a regular guitar again”
The April Fools Day guitar gags are out in full force this year – and we've rounded up the best
Andertons, Orange, Positive Grid, and more have all taken the festivities seriously this year, with a range of silly stompboxes and wacky gadgets that will tickle your funny bone
March 2025 Guitar World Editors' Picks
A round-up of March's best and most exciting guitar-led cuts from the likes of YUNGBLUD, Sleep Token, Samantha Fish, Great Grandpa, Rachel Chinouriri, Joe Bonamassa, Mickey Callisto, and many, many more
Crossroads is an essential piece of '80s guitar lore, but not every guitar legend was a fan of the film
A guitarist with a particularly vested interest in Robert Johnson and Crossroads (the song), expressed his distaste with the movie of the same name in the pages of Guitar World
How Ric Ocasek formed an unlikely partnership with an alt-rock icon
For what would become his fifth solo album, Ocasek reached out to Smashing Pumpkins mastermind Billy Corgan, and came away impressed by his arranging talents and technical abilities
Gibson emerges victorious in copyright infringement retrial with Dean
A Texas federal jury once again sided with Gibson, rejecting Dean's argument that the former's Flying V, Explorer, and SG guitar shapes are generic in the minds of the guitar buying public
Why some of the guitar parts on Ozzy Osbourne's Diary of a Madman made Randy Rhoads “cringe”
Ever humble, the late guitar legend told GW in a 1982 interview that he felt many of his contributions to the album “lack feeling”
“He was very frightened”: When Nigel Tufnel jammed with Joe Satriani
Given that this was a guitarist who had already broken new ground in amp volume, the intimidation Satriani felt was definitely understandable
When Stevie Ray Vaughan met his oft-overlooked, pioneering, V-wielding guitar hero
Though their respective brand and model loyalties stood in the way of them swapping licks on that particular evening, that show sparked a years-long musical relationship that would span the stage and studio
George Harrison typically sketched out his solos in advance – his lead break on this classic Beatles track was an exception
Harrison told GW that while he was happy to improvise when needed, when it came to laying something down in the studio, he was far more comfortable charting out a path in advance
How one of rock's most storied Les Pauls changed hands from one guitar hero to another
Page had known Joe Walsh, then a budding guitar hero with the James Gang, since his pre-Zeppelin days with the Yardbirds. And Walsh had a proposition for him
When Shane Fontayne had to play the Stairway to Heaven solo – in front of Jimmy Page
As a member of the Kennedy Center house band, Fontayne – best known for his tenures with Bruce Springsteen and Lone Justice – played lead guitar on Heart's legendary cover of the none-more-iconic eight-minute epic
Shane Fontayne on the unenviable task of filling the shoes of Stevie Van Zandt and Nils Lofgren in Bruce Springsteen's band
Springsteen had seen Fontayne perform with Lone Justice on Saturday Night Live years before, and was impressed. When the time came to put together a new band, Fontayne was one of his first calls
