
Matt Parker
Matt is Deputy Editor for GuitarWorld.com. Before that he spent 10 years as a freelance music journalist, interviewing artists for the likes of Total Guitar, Guitarist, Guitar World, MusicRadar, NME.com, DJ Mag and Electronic Sound. In 2020, he launched CreativeMoney.co.uk, which aims to share the ideas that make creative lifestyles more sustainable. He plays guitar, but should not be allowed near your delay pedals.
Latest articles by Matt Parker

Guitar Center is looking different this Black Friday with exclusive new finishes on Fender, Gibson, Martin and Schecter models
By Matt Parker published
Fancy an Aurora finish on your Fender, or a taking a Bat to your Les Paul? Guitar Center has you covered...

“The perfect marriage of Aerosmith and the Cult. An Aerocult, if you will”: November 2025 Guitar World Editors’ Picks
By Michael Astley-Brown, Jackson Maxwell, Matt Owen, Matt Parker, Janelle Borg published
The new guitar music that GW editors have been obsessed with this month: fresh names, old hands and trailblazing players

Boss’ Katana:Go Mini is the headphone amp to beat – and now it’s the best value, too – undercutting Fender, Blackstar and IK at just $99
By Matt Parker published
Boss’ headphone amp has got me playing so much more at home – and now it’s cheaper than all of its rivals

50 years ago, Electro-Harmonix set the template for the future of guitar stores – then it disappeared without a trace
By Matt Parker published
Mike Matthews, Josh Scott and key EHX staff reflect on the firm’s boldest idea, which came at the height of its late-’70s powers – and went way beyond pedals

Sub Pop-backed alt-rockers SPRINTS on guitar trolls, nylon-string fuzz wars – and the tonal benefits of olive oil
By Matt Parker published
Second record All That Is Over sees the Irish group adding new sounds, avoiding scales, and continuing to confuse sound techs with their eccentric approach to gear

October 2025 Guitar World Editors' Picks
By Michael Astley-Brown, Jackson Maxwell, Matt Owen, Matt Parker published
Liven up your Halloween with six-string (and five-string) sorcery from Alter Bridge, Mei Semones, Whitney, Karma Sheen, Jacob Collier, Unprocessed, and many more

My pedalboard is so huge it’s got wheels. But switching to modelers costs guitarists their identity
By Matt Parker published
Tom Peters, guitarist for UK math-rock heroes Alpha Male Tea Party, reckons that while we’re losing back pain in reducing the physical weight of our rigs, we’re causing ourselves creative self-harm

September 2025 Guitar World Editors' Picks
By Jackson Maxwell published
With amazing guitar work from the likes of Seera, SPRINTS, Mammoth, Mei Semones, Jay Som, Walter Trout, Jacob Collier, and many more, we were spoiled for choice this month

August 2025 Guitar World Editors' Picks
By Michael Astley-Brown, Janelle Borg, Jackson Maxwell, Matt Owen, Matt Parker published
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

“Nuno Bettencourt isn’t the only one keeping Eddie Van Halen’s fire burning – the most underrated guitarist on the planet just gave him a run for his money”: July 2025 Guitar World Editors' Picks
By Michael Astley-Brown published
New cuts from Deftones, Big Wreck, Wet Leg, Eric Gales and more...

Buddy Guy says he’s not retiring until the blues gets a higher profile
By Matt Parker published
The 88-year-old blues star says the lack of mainstream platforms for blues concerns him – but his Sinners cameo gives him cause for hope

BRONCHO’s Ryan Lindsey has built a career on unique melodic chug, and won fans in Josh Homme and Jack White. But he still owes Steve Stevens an apology
By Matt Parker published
The singular indie-rocker uses a battered Silvertone and budget amps, and chases the demo to the nth degree. He explains how he developed a truly individual tone – and why he’s still traumatized after a run-in with the Billy Idol guitarist’s pedalboard

BRONCHO’s Ryan Lindsey on the time he toured with Billy Idol – and spilled booze on a guitar hero’s pedalboard
By Janelle Borg published
Lindsey has many fond memories from watching Stevens play every night on tour in the US – but one incident involving beer and a pedalboard isn’t one of them

Billy Gibbons shares the story of the “treasured moment” he sat in on a B.B. King session – as a child
By Matt Parker published
Long before he got the chance to pick it up for himself, the ZZ Top man found himself in a truly formative session with an icon of electric guitar

June 2025 Guitar World Editors' Picks
By Michael Astley-Brown published
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

Chris Bird, Guitar World Lessons Editor and former Total Guitar Editor, has died aged 48
By Matt Owen, Matt Parker published
Our friend and colleague first joined Total Guitar in 2007 and spent nearly two decades sharing his passion and knowledge for the craft with readers

April 2025 Guitar World Editors' Picks
By Janelle Borg, Jackson Maxwell, Matt Owen, Matt Parker published
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

Great Grandpa on moving slowly, song-glue – and the charm of $100 acoustics
By Matt Parker published
The mercurial Seattle indie rockers have returned with their first album in six years, Patience, Moonbeam – they tell us how their lush, multifaceted arrangements all begin on the humble six-string

March 2025 Guitar World Editors' Picks
By Michael Astley-Brown published
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

How Clapton collaborator and session great Nathan East is teaming up with Laney on a signature amp unlike any other
By Matt Parker published
Sponsor Content Created With Laney
The lauded bassist has mixed-up a new double trouble head that could be a game-changer for any player with a regular gig

Guitarists need to change their approach in the face of AI. Just ask Charlie Cunningham, the acoustic virtuoso fusing Meshuggah and fingerstyle
By Matt Parker published
In defiance of the huge recent advances in tech, the UK guitarist’s new album In Light focuses on simplified sounds, less technical performance and embracing imperfection in the face of self-congratulatory AI

February 2025 Guitar World Editors’ Picks
By Michael Astley-Brown published
A round-up of the best new guitar releases from the month of Feb, with new cuts from Sam Fender, Tash Sultana, Los Pirañas, and... Buddy Guy and Switchfoot?

Rosanne Cash on her father’s six-string salute to Dylan – and why it’s the ultimate country music honor
By Matt Parker published
The country legend says her father was not precious with instruments – instead, he respected the players

Steve Lukather on his secret supergroup with Eddie Van Halen, Albert Lee and Steve Morse
By Matt Parker published
In a recent chat with Rick Beato, Luke tells the story of his all-star jam band based around a group of Ernie Ball Music Man players

These are the gear trends that will shape your guitar buying in 2025
By Matt Owen published
NAMM 2025 was one for the history books, with an avalanche of surprise announcements as industry titans broke their own rules, the neck humbucker took a backseat and guitar stars started seeing other companies – here’s what we learned
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