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Richard Bienstock
Richard Bienstock

Rich is the co-author of the best-selling Nöthin' But a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the '80s Hard Rock Explosion. He is also a recording and performing musician, and a former editor of Guitar World magazine and executive editor of Guitar Aficionado magazine. He has authored several additional books, among them Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, the companion to the documentary of the same name.

Articles by: Richard Bienstock

Close-up Yamaha Pacifica 112V electric guitar in blue

Best beginner electric guitars 2021: kickstart your musical journey with these epic electric guitars for beginners

By Chris Corfield, Richard Bienstock

Get started with the best beginner electric guitars from Squier, Yamaha, and Epiphone with prices starting from only $179

Jake Dreyer of Witherfall

Witherfall's Jake Dreyer: "We don't sit down and say, ‘We've got to make this the hardest thing to play ever.’ It just happens to sometimes come out that way"

By Richard Bienstock

The Witherfall guitarist on the eclectic range of influences that forge the band's new album, Curse of Autumn

Yngwie Malmsteen

Yngwie Malmsteen: “I’ve never practiced in the true meaning of the word. From the first time I picked up a guitar when I was 7, in my head I was a performer”

By Richard Bienstock

On this year's Parabellum, everyone’s favorite Ferrari-driving guitar legend tackles all the vocals and instruments (except drums). The result? An Yngwie-on-steroids shred extravaganza

Tom Morello

Tom Morello: “I’ve tried to create this alloy between two worlds – you don’t know where the guitar ends and the EDM begins. That feels like an exciting future for the electric guitar”

By Richard Bienstock

The Rage Against the Machine icon explains how recording big, gnarly guitar riffs into his iPhone became his "life raft for sanity" on new album, The Atlas Underground Fire

Metallica Blacklist Artists

St. Vincent, Ghost, Royal Blood and Rodrigo y Gabriela discuss covering metal classics for the Metallica Blacklist

By Richard Bienstock

Exit light! Enter some of the biggest names in popular music, whose interpretations of their favorite Black Album tracks helped celebrate its 30th anniversary

Dave 'Snake' Sabo

Dave “The Snake” Sabo: “I said to Kramer, ‘How about something like a snake coming out of a grave, with my birth date on there?’”

By Richard Bienstock

The Skid Row six-stringer unpacks the design choices behind his serpentine signature Kramer Baretta

Tracii Guns

Tracii Guns: “When it came to doing a signature guitar, there was no point in doing something ordinary, you know what I mean?”

By Richard Bienstock

The LA Guns guitarist walks through the design of his super-shreddable signature Kramer Gunstar Voyager

Metallica

Metallica’s James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett look back on 30 years of The Black Album: "It really was the master key to everything"

By Richard Bienstock

How shorter, simpler songs and a bold vision helped the thrash pioneers make the biggest metal album of all time

Charlie Parra with his signature Kramer Nite-V Plus

Charlie Parra: “I love tapping so much. The main reason I use a V is because there’s basically no wood between my tapping hand and the fretboard”

By Richard Bienstock

The Peruvian shred whiz discusses the shreddable design of his signature Kramer Nite-V Plus

John Mayer

John Mayer shares his advice on how to write the perfect guitar solo

By Richard Bienstock

You've got to build a ramp. And a rollercoaster. Then you've got to stick the landing... Easier said than done

Kramer electric guitars

The hard-rocking return of Kramer Guitars

By Richard Bienstock

The top dogs at the new (and improved?) Kramer Guitars are looking back to their hairspray heyday while simultaneously concocting ultra-modern axes for today’s shred royalty

Jinjer

Jinjer's Roman Ibramkhalilov: "I almost feel sorry for anyone who comes out to our shows, because we are going to smash them"

By Richard Bienstock

How the prog-metalcore stalwarts dialed in the power for new album Wallflowers

Black Pumas

Black Pumas’ Eric Burton and Adrian Queseda on how two “rhythm players“ found an unintentionally retro sound

By Richard Bienstock

Burton and Queseda are looking to the future with album number two, where a Mobb Deep track may have as much influence as a Stax classic

Whitechapel playthrough video

Watch deathcore heroes Whitechapel rip through crushing new single Lost Boy in this exclusive playthrough video

By Richard Bienstock

The band’s eighth studio album, Kin, ​is out October 29

John Mayer

John Mayer: “We’re all in the same boat. We’re all sitting down with an electric guitar alone in a room, hoping to trip over something that we’ll never forget”

By Richard Bienstock

In this exclusive interview, the blues-rock superstar unpacks the '80s influences behind new album, Sob Rock, and celebrates chorus pedals, pink guitars and Journeyman-era Clapton

Jake Cinninger, is the guitarist in the band called "Umphrey's McGee". They are performing on their third sold out performance that week end at Red Rocks Ampitheater in Morrison, CO. on June 23, 2019

Umphrey’s McGee's Jake Cinninger: "I was trying to get that live feel, so it was nice to be able to cut loose on the album guitar-solo wise"

By Richard Bienstock

COVID-19 may have kept the American jam band off the road, but their new effort, composed entirely from live-set intro soundbites, was recorded specifically with the stage in mind

Guitarist Billy Duffy from the band The Cult performs onstage at La Riviera on August 21, 2019 in Madrid, Spain.

Billy Duffy on Coloursøund's "unfinished business" and masterminding an all-new Gretsch guitar, the Falcon Junior

By Richard Bienstock

The Cult guitarist has teamed up with The Alarm’s Mike Peters for their first album in more than two decades, Coloursøund II

Jackson Guitars has unveiled its 2021 MJ Series

Jackson unleashes metal mayhem as it launches new made-in-Japan MJ Series Rhoads, Dinky and Soloist models

By Richard Bienstock

Fresh 2021 offerings boast DiMarzio and Seymour Duncan pickups, sculpted shredder’s neck heels and sleek finishes

Joe Bonamassa

Joe Bonamassa stops by Guitar World for an exclusive first look at his signature Limited Edition Fender '51 Nocaster, “The Bludgeon"

By Richard Bienstock

The $8,500 model, handmade in Fender's Custom Guitar Shop by legendary luthier Greg Fessler, launches today as part of an ultra-limited run of just 100 units

George Harrison All Things Must Pass 50th anniversary

George Harrison’s estate announces massive All Things Must Pass 50th anniversary reissues

By Richard Bienstock

The legendary Beatle’s landmark solo album is bolstered with previously-unreleased tracks, memorabilia and…garden gnomes

Breedlove Phoenix

Breedlove Guitars celebrates three decades in business with the luxurious 30th Anniversary Phoenix acoustic

By Richard Bienstock

Updated Concert model boasts sustainable sinker redwood top, ziricote back and sides

Brian May of Queen performs live on stage at The O2 Arena on December 12, 2017 in London, England

Brian May explains why he uses a sixpence as a pick

By Richard Bienstock

“The more rigid it is, the more you feel what's happening at the string in your fingers,” the Queen legend says

Eddie Van Halen plays Amsterdam

Watch Eddie Van Halen play the riffs from Amsterdam years before its release in newly unearthed 5150 studio footage

By Richard Bienstock

The song eventually appeared on Van Halen’s 1995 album, Balance

Mike McCready

Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready looks back on 30 years of Ten: “It was the first time I was in a situation where everybody was firing on all cylinders“

By Richard Bienstock

In this exclusive interview, McCready, discusses early gear, his Muddy Waters/Stevie Ray Vaughan roadmap, the Ten sessions and being a reformed shredder

St. Vincent plays her new Ernie Ball Music Man Goldie signature guitar

Ernie Ball Music Man releases reimagined St. Vincent signature Goldie guitar

By Richard Bienstock

Annie Clark's popular signature model has been updated with gold foil mini humbuckers, fresh finishes and more