Ryan Reed

Ryan Reed

Ryan Reed is a Knoxville, Tennessee-based writer, editor, musician, record collector, prog junkie, and former college professor. In addition to Guitar World, he's a contributor at SPIN (current title: senior editor), Rolling Stone, TIDAL, Relix, Ultimate Classic Rock, Revolver, and many other outlets. He's also the author of 2018’s Fleetwood Mac FAQ: All That’s Left to Know About the Iconic Rock Survivors.

Articles by: Ryan Reed

A B/W image of Adrian Belew with his number one Strat, circa 1981

“Seymour Duncan went to work. He dragged it through the grass. Put motor oil on it. Chipped it. Frank Zappa said, ‘If you wanted to ruin your guitar, Adrian, why didn’t you loan it to a friend?’” Adrian Belew’s number one Stratocaster has lived a life

By Ryan Reed published

Is this the first relic'ed guitar? Belew says so, and it's graced records by Zappa, Talking Heads, David Bowie and King Crimson. It has been on the cover of GW. It is still in service

Adrian Belew of King Crimson, portrait, at Tent, Olympisch Stadion, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 6th September 1982

“He took the lighter fluid, squirted it on the guitar and set it on fire. That might be the first relic’d guitar – and you can thank Seymour Duncan for that”: That time Adrian Belew DIY aged his Strat with a screwdriver, spray paint and motor oil

By Matt Owen published

Belew bought a brown sunburst Strat to take on tour with Frank Zappa – but it wasn't deemed fit for purpose until going through a drastic cosmetic overhaul

Adrian Belew live onstage with King Crimson in 1984

“Robert had a plan laid out that we would do three records in three years”: Adrian Belew on how King Crimson made an underrated prog classic in “this industrial musical junkyard we created”

By Ryan Reed published

Adrian Belew reveals what went on behind the scenes during the making of the band’s dual-personality 10th album, Three of a Perfect Pair – the final studio release from the Fripp/Belew/Levin/Bruford crew

Adrian Belew flexes his muscles onstage with his signature red Strat

From King Crimson to A-list hired gun with Talking Heads, Frank Zappa and David Bowie, Adrian Belew created his own language on the guitar – here are his 10 greatest guitar moments

By Ryan Reed published

With King Crimson, Talking Heads, as a solo artist, it didn't matter: Adrian Belew manipulated the guitar like no-one else, bending sound into new shapes

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez

“I’ve never considered myself a guitarist, and I’ve never liked the guitar”: Omar Rodríguez-López is one of electric guitar’s most reluctant heroes – here are his 10 greatest Mars Volta guitar moments

By Ryan Reed published

The last thing Omar Rodríguez-López wants is to be called a guitar hero, but sorry Omar, it’s true – and here are 10 reasons why...

Adrian Belew performs onstage

“I’ve always had a knack for emulating sounds or creating new ones”: Adrian Belew on the weird, wonderful and utterly unique tones behind his new solo album, Elevator

By Ryan Reed published

The former Frank Zappa and King Crimson guitarist keeps putting his decades-old knack for sonic invention to good use

Robert Fripp

Robert Fripp’s 20 greatest guitar moments

By Ryan Reed last updated

No style was off limits for Fripp, who gave shape and form to progressive music with King Crimson and beyond

Anthony Garone

Author Anthony Garone on his epic journey to master Robert Fripp's most challenging King Crimson track, Fracture

By Ryan Reed published

It took 22 years but Garone has wrapped his head around the the “moto perpetuo” techniques and documented the arduous journey in a new memoir-cum-instructional book