
Jackson Maxwell
Jackson is an Associate Editor at GuitarWorld.com. He’s been writing and editing stories about new gear, technique and guitar-driven music both old and new since 2014, and has also written extensively on the same topics for Guitar Player. Elsewhere, his album reviews and essays have appeared in Louder and Unrecorded. Though open to music of all kinds, his greatest love has always been indie, and everything that falls under its massive umbrella. To that end, you can find him on Twitter crowing about whatever great new guitar band you need to drop everything to hear right now.
Latest articles by Jackson Maxwell

Brian May on his unlikely guitar kinsmanship with Steve Cropper and Billy Gibbons
By Jackson Maxwell published
Recruited for the recent Cropper tune Too Much Stress, May says the three masters fit together better than you might think

Cream were one of the loudest rock bands of their time – that excessive volume helped tear the band apart
By Jackson Maxwell published
During Cream's late '60s heyday, and again during their brief reunion in 2005, drummer Ginger Baker felt that both his – and even Eric Clapton's – contributions were often drowned out by bandmate Jack Bruce's

“I got a call: ‘I’m putting a super band together’”: How Les Dudek joined Journey “for two hours”
By Jackson Maxwell published
Recruited due to his stellar resume – which included studio work with the Allman Brothers Band and Steve Miller – Dudek turned down the gig to pursue a solo career

Steve Morse modded the heck out of his first serious guitar, and it became the blueprint for his signature Ernie Ball Music Man model
By Jackson Maxwell published
Unsatisfied with the limitations of his first proper guitar, Morse took matters into his own hands, a lá Eddie Van Halen

How Jonny Greenwood's renewed love of delay pedals defined the Smile's new album
By Jackson Maxwell published
The sound of the Radiohead offshoot’s latest record stemmed from a challenge the famously tech-savvy guitarist set for himself – and his renewed love of delay

“I just turned my back”: Martin Barre on the time Jimmy Page nearly cut him off mid-Aqualung solo
By Jackson Maxwell published
“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”

Guitar Player magazine to cease print publication
By Jackson Maxwell published
The world's oldest continuously published magazine devoted to guitarists, guitar gear, and instruction, Guitar Player was instrumental to the careers of Steve Vai, Paul Gilbert, and Yngwie Malmsteen, to name just a few examples

Joe Bonamassa's 1958 “Amos” Flying V was owned by Norm Harris and featured in Spinal Tap – now it's been recreated by Gibson's Murphy Lab
By Jackson Maxwell published
A year and a half in the making, the Collector's Edition “Amos” is limited to just 50 examples, and replicates in molecular detail all of the storied original guitar's quirks

How Les Dudek ended up on the Allman Brothers Band's Ramblin’ Man
By Jackson Maxwell published
“Dickey was thinking about harmony guitars, like what he did with Duane,” the veteran guitarist recounted to GW

David Gilmour explains why he still uses a 30-year-old Zoom multi-FX for his home demos
By Jackson Maxwell published
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

Why Grace Bowers prefers the Gibson SG to the Les Paul
By Jackson Maxwell published
Though her preference was originally based on aesthetics and weight, her reasons have – as she's grown more seasoned – expanded to feel and tone

James Hetfield reflects on the anxieties he experienced after stepping away from the guitar for too long
By Jackson Maxwell published
Speaking to GW in 1996, the always-candid Hetfield recounted how Metallica's post-Black Album break left him “vegging”, and out of practice

How Justin Hayward ended up with Lonnie Donegan’s 12-string – before Donegan took it back
By Jackson Maxwell published
Decades later, the guitar would once again end up in Hayward's hands, this time for good

“I don’t have room for them anymore”: Mike Campbell says he's quit buying guitars, despite his continuing “obsession”
By Jackson Maxwell published
“At this point,” the Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers guitar-slinger tells GW, “buying them is kind of pathetic”

“‘What are you doing?’” When Les Dudek guested with Mike Bloomfield (without him knowing)
By Jackson Maxwell published
Caught up in the music and the moment, the veteran guitarist – who played on Allman Brothers Band's Ramblin' Man and Jessica – ran onto the stage while Bloomfield was at the keys, none the wiser

David Gilmour says he can't tell the difference between his signature Fender and his original Black Strat
By Jackson Maxwell published
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

“I have convinced myself that they are the best actual rock band in the world at the moment”: September 2024 Guitar World editors' picks
By Michael Astley-Brown published
Your monthly round up of the freshest new cuts from the world of guitar courtesy of Tetrarch, The Cure, Larkin Poe, Amyl and The Sniffers, Dayglow, and many more

“It was like an insult”: Paul McCartney turned down George Harrison's proposed guitar parts for Hey Jude
By Jackson Maxwell published
Harrison suggested answering each of McCartney's lines with a guitar phrase, an addition McCartney saw as unnecessary

Peter Buck's guitar work defined R.E.M.'s Man on the Moon – and it all started when his bandmate fell off a chair
By Jackson Maxwell published
Michael Stipe's ode to the late comedian Andy Kaufman is driven by a riff of unusual origin, and some reluctant slide work

Positive Grid is launching its groundbreaking Spark 2 desktop amp with a live premiere event featuring Nuno Bettencourt and Periphery's Jake Bowen – watch now
By Jackson Maxwell last updated
Hosted by Guitar World's own Paul Riario, the star-studded event will give viewers an early look and listen to the already-lauded amp

“I was determined to avoid hailing him as the future of shred, but I simply cannot do it”: July 2024 Guitar World editor's picks
By Michael Astley-Brown published
From an eight-string chug-a-thon with blues licks to make Eric Johnson blush, to a baritone turn from the hottest guitar player on the planet right now, this month was soundtracked by some top-tier guitar action

The Beatles on their struggles to be heard over the screams of Beatlemania – and the toll it took on their performances
By Jackson Maxwell published
Technology has advanced light years in the six decades since the frenzy of Beatlemania, and the world of onstage guitar amplification is no exception

“Big riff energy is in this kid’s blood – and he might even solo better than his dad…” June 2024 Guitar World editor’s picks
By Michael Astley-Brown published
From all-star offspring to returning noise-rock icons, a punk trailblazer’s first album in 53 years and the future of blues, this month had it all

The unsung guitarist who transformed James Brown’s music, and laid a funky path for Nile Rodgers, John Frusciante, Cory Wong and countless others
By Jackson Maxwell published
Overshadowed by the flamboyant frontman for whom he worked, Jimmy Nolen created a singular rhythm style that can still be heard all over pop and rock radio today
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