Latest articles by Jackson Maxwell
The origins of Pete Townshend's guitar-smashing ritual
The destructive antics began as an unwelcome byproduct of something else the Who guitarist helped add to the guitar lexicon: wild feedback odysseys
August 2025 Guitar World Editors' Picks
With killer cuts from Deftones, Lorna Shore, Big Thief, Young Dervish, Paco Peña, and many more, there was plenty of guitar greatness to pick from this month
Gibson has relaunched its first ever signature pickup – the Tony Iommi humbucker
The resurrected 'bucker is designed to help guitarists emulate the mighty, distorted rumble of the metal godfather's tone, without descending into overcooked, blown-out mush
Adrian Younge’s new semi-fretless signature Fender is perhaps the craziest Jazz Bass the company's ever released
Based on Younge's personal Custom Shop build, the limited-edition Masterbuilt model nods to the past while departing radically from convention
How Tom Waits' offhand joke began a decades-long creative partnership with Keith Richards
Though their string of collaborations sprung from an offhand joke made to record executives, the singer/songwriter best known for his singular, gravelly, time-weathered vocals clicked immediately with the wizened rhythm guitar master who's lived a thousand lives
Co-leader of Mastodon for a quarter century, Brent Hinds was a one-of-a-kind guitarist who took metal guitar into uncharted territory
Hinds was killed in a motorcycle accident on Wednesday, August 20
The colorful backstory of Neil Young's iconic Old Black Les Paul
Much like Young's discography and creative arc, the story of how Old Black became the rugged, howling sonic beast that it is is a twisty one of fits, starts, and strange left turns
Spinal Tap once surprised Nigel Tufnel with an all-star guitar solo tribute – but he wasn't thrilled about it
Explaining (well, bickering about, really) the star-studded Break Like the Wind, David St. Hubbins maintained that the collaboration was merely intended as a friendly gesture from admirers, and that Tufnel misunderstood it
June 2025 Guitar World Editors' Picks
There's been plenty of heat this month, and not just the temperature outside. Check out some of that six-string (and seven-string... and eight-string) fire from Muse, Rafiq Bhatia, Eric Gales & Buddy Guy, Wunderhorse, Haim, and many, many more
Can't Get Enough was Bad Company's breakout smash, and its harmonized leads were perfect for the era
Keyed in by their mentors-of-sorts, Led Zeppelin, Mick Ralphs and co recorded their enormously successful debut album at the legendary Headley Grange house, which certainly provided a certain vibe to the proceedings...
Nile Rodgers on overseeing Stevie Ray Vaughan's final recording session
Having first met the Lone Star State guitar king during the sessions for David Bowie's 1983 blockbuster Let's Dance, Rodgers later produced Family Style, Stevie Ray's posthumously released collaboration with his brother, Jimmie
Mick Ralphs, guitarist and co-founder of Mott The Hoople and Bad Company, has died at 81
Ralphs' bandmate, Bad Company frontman Paul Rodgers, led tributes to the guitar great
Brian Wilson, creative leader of the Beach Boys and transformative figure in pop music, dies at 82
Having gone from writing surf-rock to remarkably complex and intricate masterpieces in just a few years as the Beach Boys' principal songwriter and musical director, Wilson in many ways defined the development of popular music in the 1960s
Sly Stone, restlessly creative giant of funk who led Sly and the Family Stone, dies at 82
The visionary multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter had been battling COPD, according to his family
May 2025 Guitar World Editors' Picks
It's been another incredible month for new guitar-driven music – our favorites include a 12-minute funk/soul/country blowout from U.S. Girls, twisty greatness from Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, and Tony Iommi's collaboration with... Robbie Williams?
The SatchVai Band's new single is an ode to the instrument that made them famous – and it features Glenn Hughes on vocals
Guitar World and Guitar Player have an exclusive premiere of the '70s-flavored track, which arrives a month and change ahead of the band's first tour
April 2025 Guitar World Editors' Picks
From Turnstile’s transformation from hardcore caterpillar to psychedelic New Wave butterfly, to a show-stopping Joanne Shaw Taylor solo, an emo slam dunk from Slow Joy, and a slice of acoustic wizardry from Salif Keita, this month had a bounty of guitar brilliance
“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”
