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Latest Features

“It’s like playing a concert for millions of people, without stepping on stage”: A guitarist’s guide to sync licensing
By Mike Meiers published
Your guitar belongs on TV, and the way into one of the fastest-growing sectors of the music business may already be in your sights. Emmy-winning composer Mike Meiers breaks it down.

The Fleshtones’ Keith Streng explains what he learned from a misspent youth at CBGB’s – and the merits of pointless practice
By Jim Beaugez published
Streng’s rhythmic garage riffs keep the punk-era legends vital after five non-stop decades
![Chris Poland plays a black BC Rich onstage [left] and goes head-to-head with Dave Mustaine, who plays a black Jackson King V.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/deCUHhAKTwUJYhedNJjMwZ.jpg)
An accident defined Chris Poland’s playing, but it didn’t stop him handling the high demands of Megadeth’s debut
By Andrew Daly published
Chris Poland offers an eye-witness account of a seminal moment in metal history, when Dave Mustaine channeled his fury through his Marshall and debuted with a thrash classic

Why Paul McCartney’s violin bass was essential in creating his most playful bassline on Sgt. Pepper’s
By Karl Coryat published
The Beatles took Lovely Rita into Studio Two of Abbey Road on February 23rd, 1967 – McCartney’s faithful Höfner came along for the ride

Garbage’s Duke Erikson and Steve Marker don't like to look back – but will make an exception for reverse guitar solos
By Andrew Daly published
The pair discuss experimenting without overthinking, how they know when a song is going to work, when to delete a clever guitar part, and why it’s still hard to play one of their biggest hits
![Cradle of Filth’s Marek “Ashok” Šmerda [left], looking a little like Pinhead from Hellraiser, and Donny Burbage, resplendent in corpsepaint.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/Z9d7Mw4qyjZNCd5YcTScBL.jpg)
Cradle Of Filth’s Donny Burbage and Marek ‘Ashok’ Šmerda on landing their theatrical metal roles
By Andrew Daly published
The hands that rock the Cradle reveal the guitar tones behind their theatrical metal mayhem and find modern guitars are weak and false
![Session legend Paul Jackson Jr. [left] wears a white shirt and plays a black single-cut onstage. On the right, a young Whitney Houston performs in 1985 after her self-title debut catapulted her into the A-list.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/RuJoJsQo2ZMwsUhM4HYk9X.jpg)
40 years ago, session ace Paul Jackson Jr. turned up to record with a then unknown singer – her name was Whitney Houston
By Andrew Daly published
Jackson tells us how, armed with the Strat he played on Thriller, he turned up for a studio session that would introduce us to one of the world's biggest stars

The inside story of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble’s Soul to Soul
By Alan Paul published
Chris Layton, Reese Wynans, Tommy Shannon, and Joe Sublett recall the difficult birth of the 1985 classic of Texas blues, as cocaine, whiskey, and fatigue took their toll

Barry Goudreau was there from the beginning of Boston – but has regrets about how things ended with Tom Scholz
By Andrew Daly published
Gibson wielder, who always preferred Marshall to Scholz’s Rockman brand, recalls being edged out but not caring at first, until it led to an angry split and legal repercussions

The Smithereens’ Jim Babjak on how they went from broke to touring with Tom Petty – and became Kurt Cobain’s tonal reference for Nevermind
By Joe Bosso published
Babjak reflects on the remarkable career of the Smithereens, competing with tribute acts, and why he was too scared to speak to Pete Townshend
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