Best patch cables 2023: tidy up your ‘board with our pick of the best patch leads By Alex Lynham last updated 20 March 23 Need to organize a messy pedalboard? Patch cables are a simple and creative cable solution for your guitar pedals
Rudy Sarzo: "Randy didn't live long enough to be the best Randy Rhoads. There was so much more inside of him that we never got to see" By Andrew Daly published 20 March 23 The LA bass legend reflects on the legacy of his Ozzy Osbourne bandmate, 40 years of Quiet Riot's Metal Health, and explains why you can't compare Eddie Van Halen and Randy Rhoads
Best Strat pickups 2023: Upgrade your tone with a new set of pups By Richard Blenkinsop published 20 March 23 Treat your prized old battle axe to a set of the best Stratocaster pickups – single coils and humbuckers included
Remembering the Boss TU-1000 – the gigantic, pedalboard-dwarfing tuner pedal that launched a hundred memes By Michael Astley-Brown published 20 March 23 One of the largest pedals ever released, the enormous tuner quickly became the subject of guitarists’ ridicule – but it did eventually find an audience
The 50 greatest guitar riffs of all time By Amit Sharma, Jonny Scaramanga, Ellie Rogers, Grant Moon, Jonathan Horsley, Sian Llewellyn, Henry Yates, Matt Frost, Joel McIver last updated 20 March 23 From metal to rock, punk to grunge, these are the best guitar riffs ever recorded, as voted for by you
The Lowlist: Jamiroquai’s Emergency on Planet Earth was a solid platinum gem for all bass players By Mike Brooks published 18 March 23 An appreciation of the album that introduced the young Stuart Zender
Jet Harris was Britain’s first bass guitar player, the first to own a Fender Precision, and its first rock’n’roll hellraiser too By Tom Poak published 18 March 23 Fights, car crashes, affairs with starlets – Jet Harris set the template for British bass players and bad behaviour, and along the way inspired everyone from McCartney to Lemmy
Bruce Kulick names 10 guitarists who shaped his sound By Andrew Daly published 17 March 23 The hard-rock guitar slinger names the unlikely influences behind a number of his best-known Kiss riffs, and the player he likens to "a race car champion with the soul of a great blues musician"
Daddy Long Legs' Murat Aktürk on his open G anarchy: “I keep all six strings on there, unlike Keith Richards who takes off the low E – I have to work harder” By Ellie Rogers published 17 March 23 There's something rotten in the Big Apple and it's the hot guitar sound of Daddy Long Legs, offering street-wise rhythm and blues for a new generation of big city punks
Andy Fraser: “It was me trying to impersonate Pete Townshend, who was, to me, the all-time greatest chord king” By Nick Wells published 17 March 23 How Free’s worst ever gig inspired one of the most iconic bass solos in rock
Watch the moment Derek Trucks receives the biggest compliment possible from B.B. King after dazzling him with his slide skills By Matt Owen published 17 March 23 Susan Tedeschi and John Mayer were also in attendance when the blues guitar hero labeled Trucks' slide solo “as good as I’ve ever heard”
The Mu-Tron III: “Without it, there ain’t no Bootsy” By Nick Wells published 17 March 23 Everything you need to know about the iconic stomper from Musitronics
Isaiah Mitchell: "I played Les Pauls, Teles and Strats with the Black Crowes, but with Earthless, Strats are my number one. They're the most versatile guitars out there" By Andrew Daly published 17 March 23 The Earthless founder on 22 years of freeform inspiration, his arsenal of high-wattage amps and why he's no longer with the Black Crowes
Best modeling amps 2023: recreate iconic guitar tones with these top amplifier picks By Richard Blenkinsop last updated 16 March 23 Our pick of the best modeling amps from Boss, Fender, Line 6, Blackstar and more
The rise of the Gibson Les Paul/SG Standard By Rod Brakes published 16 March 23 How the timeless rock machine found a user base that numbered some of the world's greatest players, and became a mainstay of the Gibson catalog
How Dave Friedman became Steve Stevens and Jerry Cantrell’s favorite amp builder – and built one of the world’s best best boutique amp companies By Charlie Wilkins published 16 March 23 Friedman is an amp legend who has been been building high-end guitar amps for more than two decades – we joined him to learn more about his design process and working with some of the biggest names in guitar
Best classical guitars 2023: nylon-string guitars for every budget By Chris Corfield last updated 15 March 23 From classical, flamenco and crossover, to acoustic-electric models and beyond, these are the best nylon-string guitars around right now
Inhaler’s Elijah Hewson and Justin Jenkinson: “People are like, ‘Oh that riff sounds a bit like the Edge,’ and it’s like, ‘Yeah, well who f**king cares? The Edge is good!’” By Jenna Scaramanga published 15 March 23 What do you do if your dad is Bono and you want to make a name for yourself? Well, do as Elijah Hewson does. Don't make a secret of it, write the songs, find your sound, and build an audience...
Slipknot’s V-Man: “At first the mask was a bit weird, but the LEDs make the sides of the bass neck easier to see!" By Joel McIver published 15 March 23 Slipknot’s Alex ‘V-Man’ Venturella reveals how he got the (literally) hottest gig in metal
How Jeff Beck changed guitar music forever By Amit Sharma published 14 March 23 Guitar’s own Pablo Picasso, Jeff Beck was the guitar hero’s guitar hero, whose pioneering style hot-wired the instrument and made it succumb to his spell