Features archive
August 2025
Filter
80 articles
- August 30
- August 29
-
- “Cat Stevens asked me to play on his recordings… it never got to the point where I felt like I could add as much as I wanted”: Eric Johnson reflects on his early session career with Carole King and Christopher Cross – and getting fired by Donald Fagen
- “I was 18, strung out on meth and drinking every day. But I’d hear a song I loved by Slayer or Exodus, and it would save my life”: Robb Flynn set out to make Machine Head’s shortest record – but he hopes its four-minute songs will have a lasting impact
- “All the shiny, pointy guitars were gone, and this one was still on the wall… something just drew me to it”: How Khruangbin made Fender history with signature models of the first guitars they ever bought
- August 28
-
- “Tony Iommi didn’t want a song by another guitarist on a Sabbath record. I never saw the money. But hearing Dio perform my song was unforgettable”: Jimi Bell may have lost out to Zakk Wylde in his Ozzy Osbourne audition, but he has no regrets
- “It suffered a broken headstock, was completely refinished, refretted and had P-90s replaced with humbuckers”: Untangling the history of Jeff Beck’s Oxblood Les Paul, the most expensive Gibson Les Paul ever sold at auction
- August 27
-
- “I’d been playing guitar full-time for 25 years, and when I got to play on a Deep Purple album it was just one chord!” Meet Tommy Denander, the session guitar great who’s worked with everyone from Jeff Beck and Michael Jackson to Joe Perry and Ace Frehley
- “People say Eurythmics are a synth-pop duo, but a lot of those songs started with me playing electric guitar. Even Sweet Dreams is a blues song, really”: Eurythmics legend Dave Stewart on gigging folk clubs underage and drinking sake with Bob Dylan
- “Do modelers have a place? Yes. Are they going to put me out of business? I don’t think so”: Mike Zaite on the secret to the Dr Z sound, making custom amps for James Walsh’s shows at the Sphere and the enduring appeal of the tube amplifier
- August 26
-
- “The big thing was the neck shape that Clapton wanted. We made about a dozen neck samples for him to play”: From Slowhand’s Strat to “tongue-in-cheek” relics, this is the hidden history of the Fender Custom Shop
- “I was all over the place. But when I first heard Randy play, it was poetry in motion. I thought, ‘Wow, I’m onto a good thing here’”: Ozzy Osbourne couldn’t play guitar. Yet he changed the guitar world by introducing some of its greatest heroes
- “My guitar was slightly out. Steve Vai walked past and said, ‘Your low E was four cents flat.’ And he’d been in the green room!” Meet Derek Day, the swaggering virtuoso who went from busking on the streets to touring with his hero
- August 25
-
- “To surprise me, they put my name on the headstock in gold lettering – but they spelled it wrong”: The Cars’ Elliot Easton on the Flying V that Tim Shaw built him – a “gorgeous” guitar (even if Gibson slipped up on his name)
- “When you strip it down to the essentials, I believe it mostly comes down to the wood and the strings”: Why do some guitars sustain better than others? It’s complicated
- “Learning to play with a pick was like dancing with two left feet. I had to entirely relearn the bass”: Having played in the Pixies, Zwan, and A Perfect Circle, Paz Lenchantin knows a thing or two about the bass guitar and its role in rock
- “He handed me that famous pink Strat. That riff is the first thing I played – it had that riff in it. I’m lucky to be the guy it came out for”: Mark Morton on his all-star solo album feat. Grace Bowers, Tyler Bryant and a perfect solo from Jason Isbell
- August 24
-
- “We went to Waffle House and I saw a sugar packet. Those songs went from being the third Bob Mould solo album to being by a band called Sugar”: Bob Mould on Hüsker Dü's rise and fall, and what changed when he swapped his Ibanez Rocket Roll for a Strat
- “Originally retailed for around $250, they can now fetch up to 2,500 times that”: 1959 Gibson 'Burst Les Pauls sell for a king's ransom, and have been played and cherished by everyone from Jimmy Page to Billy Gibbons – but what exactly makes them special?
- “I said, ‘What about Keith Richards?’ I was just joking... He came with about 600 guitars in a semi-truck. And a butler”: How Tom Waits began a decades-long creative partnership with the Rolling Stones legend
- “His voice was staggering, but the bass playing had to be on a par with someone like Jack Bruce. And Phil wasn’t there yet”: How Phil Lynott narrowly missed the chance to form a supergroup alongside Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore
- August 22
-
- "A simple move up the neck can open up new voicings, textures, and moods you would never get from standard open chords": 5 creative ways to use a capo
- “Paul Reed Smith sent me two amazing guitars because I lost all but one of my PRSs. That’s been one of the upsides”: Larry LaLonde lost his home in the LA wildfires, but Primus' new drummer, and two new PRSs, are keeping him focused
- “John Entwistle and I were at the Rainbow talking about all the guitars we had. We looked at each other and said, ‘You know… we’re idiots’”: Jeff ‘Skunk’ Baxter says he’s going to hell for owning too many guitars – and some of the best ones are dirt cheap
- “I started out on a Baby Taylor, but I coveted Martins because that’s what all my favorite guitar players had”: Molly Tuttle on her new kick-ass band, her jaw-dropping custom Martin – and why she’s taking her sound beyond bluegrass
- August 21
-
- “I’m an oddball when it comes to the metal scene”: Co-leader of Mastodon for a quarter century, Brent Hinds was a one-of-a-kind guitarist who took metal guitar into uncharted territory – because he never considered himself a metal guitarist
- “He triple-tracked his solos. Ozzy told him, ‘Nobody can do that!’ Well, he could. That was just his genius”: Randy Rhoads’ sister Kathy is keeping his legacy alive with a new pedal and old memories
- “They’re hard to sell, particularly when they have issues. The only models that fetch a premium are the White Falcon and Penguin, and the 6120”: Buying a vintage Gretsch guitar can be a gamble – but every pro should have one
- August 20
-
- “I can’t believe the pick scrape became a thing. It was born by mistake”: Gojira’s Joe Duplantier on the origins of his trademark technique, playing Ozzy Osbourne’s final show – and what he’s got cooking with ESP
- “My friend told me if I go to a folk club I have to know how to play Angi. When I played it, they said they haven’t heard it in 10 years!” How seven years of busking and Nick Drake’s influence were the making of England's new folk guitar hero Chris Brain
- “The Japan team is free to create guitars with a fresh perspective”: Fender Japan remains a mystery to the western world. I went behind the scenes and found out why its guitars are so radically different – and what’s stopping them reaching the US
- August 19
-
- “I prioritized music over my health for 20 years. I’ve paid a high price for that”: Hotly tipped alt-rockers Dinosaur Pile-Up were on the verge of success, then frontman Matt Bigland nearly died for his music. He won’t let it happen again
- “Bowie heard we were thinking of packing it in. He wrote a letter saying, ‘I really love your band… would you consider doing this song?’” The life and times of Mick Ralphs, the innovative founding guitarist of Mott the Hoople and Bad Company
- “Each guitar has the Mirador logo inlaid in abalone pearl”: Mirador's Jake Kiszka and Chris Turpin show us their custom one-of-one Martin acoustics
- August 18
- August 17
-
- “I lost everything – the only thing I held onto was my Fender Jazz Bass”: How Tommy Shannon broke a 7-year cycle of jail and halfway houses to record his most famous bassline with Stevie Ray Vaughan
- “Pretty much everyone who used chorus during the ’80s had a Boss CE-2 at some point or another”: How a little dual-knob blue chorus pedal from Boss took over the world
- August 16
- August 15
-
- “Metallica is nearly equal to Ozzy in terms of the respect factor – not all the way, but nearly”: When Jason Newsted swapped bands with Robert Trujillo
- “He’s a master. The way he plays is insane. But he was hesitant to teach me until I showed him how serious I was”: How Iron Maiden icon Janick Gers’ son Dylan went from late-starting guitarist to epic collabs with Thom Yorke’s son Noah
- “A 1952 Les Paul was not a cool guitar to own – I remember these guitars hanging around and fading in shop windows for months on end”: The story of Gibson’s “cursed” 1952 Les Paul and why it was long overlooked on the vintage market
- “While four grand is no snip, this is everything you could want in a top-grade acoustic-electric guitar”: Why we’ve fallen hard for the Martin OM-28E Standard
- August 14
-
- “Sleep Token are big fans of what we did, and they’re the biggest rock band in the world right now. That means a lot”: From Oceansize to Biffy Clyro and now Cardiacs, Mike Vennart is one of the UK’s greatest under-the-radar guitar talents
- “You don’t want your favorite tone. The secret is to set your gain, roll your volume back and challenge yourself to play cleaner”: Joe Bonamassa on defying the blues police, his greatest tone discoveries and why you’re not a success until you’re a meme
- August 13
-
- “We love exciting experimental, electronic music that doesn’t even really allow guitars. The rock thing is something we’re trying to fit in”: The Wants’ Madison Velding-VanDam is reimagining jagged post-punk guitar over a genre-spanning sonic landscape
- “Checking or asking for the weight of a guitar isn’t for cork-sniffers only”: What’s the optimum weight for a Les Paul? And is there such a thing as too heavy?
- August 12
-
- “Steve Vai walked me through the process – he’s had it done twice. He introduced me to one of the best surgeons in the US”: Adrian Belew on his carpal tunnel fears and recovery, working with Vai and Frank Zappa, and his next musical adventure
- “I was side of stage, watching Jake with his ‘number one’ SG. It was a crazy, spiritual experience. I hadn’t heard a guitar player like that before”: Chris Turpin on teaming up with Greta Van Fleet’s Jake Kiszka for Mirador and the unplanned magic of rock
- “Interviewers were telling me that I started the whole glam rock, hair metal scene. I said, ‘What? Don’t blame me for that!’” Drugs, guitars, triumph and tragedy – the inside story of Hanoi Rocks
- August 11
-
- “They said, ‘Now it’s time to play the solo.’ I just came up with it on the spot”: Remembering Rick Derringer – the B.C. Rich-toting maverick who brought the fire to Johnny Winter’s band, and was a one-take ace for Steely Dan and more
- “Working on Jimmy Page’s guitar was bucket list stuff for me”: Bare Knuckle’s Tim Mills on how he built the biggest indie pickup brand in the world – and why Page’s ‘Number One’ Les Paul sounds like Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Strat
- “I thought, ‘I’m going to get this guitar, make a few videos then sell it.’ But I found my place as a guitarist”: Rob Scallon on the eight-string that changed his life – and how it helped him become one of YouTube’s OG guitar stars
- August 10
- August 9
-
- “Everybody I know that’s a guitar head is like, ‘Why would you do that?’” The true confessions of Ty Segall – his blasphemous SG mod, exploding a vintage Gibson and why a “dying dinosaur” fuzz is one of his holy grail pedals
- “Whenever anybody says, ‘Can you just follow the root note?’ my immediate retort is, ‘Why don't you just f*** off?’” How Peter Hook re-wrote the rulebook on punk bass – and became “allergic to low notes” in the process
- “With our in-house pickups, we’ve now got real control of how our guitars sound”: PJD Guitars founder Leigh Dovey on the evolution of the UK’s most exciting electric guitar brand
- August 8
-
- “My mom got right in their faces and said, ‘This is my son. He plays guitar and he wants to join a band.’ I was totally embarrassed”: How Return to Dust found their teen guitar phenom and put a fresh face on ’90s grunge
- “People were afraid to get involved, but I’ve no regrets. Giacomo was being a dipstick”: Danny Sapko on social media scandals, his ’80s-inspired AI-generated rock band – and how the ‘Dipstick Lick’ broke America
- “He listened to me play when he was in my belly for 9 months, but now he’s here outside with me and he continues to listen to me play”: Lari Basilio is finding redemption and joy in motherhood and guitar – and she wants to share it with you
- “I’m not a big fan of bands that take themselves too seriously. Look at Angus Young. He’s a grown man who wears a schoolboy uniform”: Justin Hawkins unfiltered – the inside story of the rise, fall and rebirth of the Darkness
- August 7
-
- “We played a local gig and Jeff said, ‘Why don’t we go on tour with Brian Wilson?’” Nicolas Meier was playing in a London jazz club, when he looked up and spotted Jeff Beck standing a few feet away – it proved to be a life-changing moment
- “I missed out on being in one of the biggest rock bands in the world, but I don’t think I had the image!” Session pro and YouTube favorite Tim Pierce never wanted to be a rockstar – but he’s sure made a lot of their records
- “I always wanted to reconcile, tell him there weren’t any hard feelings and end things on a friendly note. I got to do that”: Jake E. Lee had a hero’s welcome at Back to the Beginning – but mending his rift with Ozzy Osbourne was what meant the most
- August 6
-
- “Ghost Guitar is a beam of light coming in through a window and illuminating a big empty space”: Rafiq Bhatia breaks down the experimental techniques that earned him an Oscar nomination for his scores – and why it all stems from Jimi Hendrix
- “I know I’m being judged right now. I read comments saying, ‘You’ve got nothing on Brent.’ I’m not worrying. I feel free”: How Nick Johnston went from instrumental virtuoso du jour to joining Mastodon and playing Ozzy Osbourne’s final show
- “The ego is quite useless in a writing situation. I just ask myself, ‘What does this song want?’” Deacon Blue’s polymath guitar genius Gregor Philp dissects his six-string approach, and reveals his favorite Strat (clue: it isn’t a Fender)
- August 5
-
- “Ozzy looked well. He did not look like he was two weeks away from passing… The feeling was similar to when Randy passed away – that dead void, that emptiness”: Rudy Sarzo on the lifelong kindness of Ozzy Osbourne – and the miracle of his final weeks
- “I thought maybe we’d have 2,000 people show up early, but our first performance was for 10,000 people. I was shocked”: Jake Kiszka on Mirador, his hard-riffing collab with blues brother Chris Turpin – and what it means for Greta Van Fleet
- “Being called a guitar hero was just awkward. Whether I’ve written a good song or not, that’s what counts to me”: Mark Knopfler on 40 years of Dire Straits’ Brothers In Arms – the guitars, the riffs… the pressure of learning to play in time
- August 4
-
- “We read all the complaints. We’re far from perfect, but we’re moving very quickly to get a lot better”: Guitar Center CEO Gabe Dalporto is on a mission to win back guitar players’ trust
- “Glenn Frey said it best when he said we ‘created a monster with Hotel California, and it ate us’”: Don Felder on the making of the Eagles’ The Long Run
- “I wound up joining Spinal Tap in Phoenix and played bass along with Adrian Belew on Big Bottom. It was a huge comedy honor”: The chance encounters that led Abby Travis to play bass with Beck, Elastica, The Bangles and The Go-Go’s
- August 3
-
- “When I played with Jason Newsted, I knew he was the one. Not that Robert Trujillo is a bad bass player, but Jason just has this edge”: In March 2003, Ozzy Osbourne introduced the world to his new bassist
- “It was painful for me to listen to Ian Anderson’s voice. I felt for him a lot”: Dave Pegg on why he quit Jethro Tull, beating Metallica to a Grammy, gigging with John Bonham and working with Nick Drake in a smelly squat
- August 2
-
- “Car Bomb opened me up to playing bass with a pick. Now I’ve been a pick guy for so long I’m afraid to play fingerstyle!” Marrying savage hooks to technical prowess, Jon Modell is proof of just how heavy a 5-string bass can be in modern metal
- “The scene was super-underground. When the music industry developed, everyone got excited to start a band”: Meet Seera, Saudi Arabia’s first public all-female band, who are merging Nirvana and Tool with Arabic influences – and going global
- “Those tubes need to be burning. As I put it to the band, I like to smell dinner cooking”: With his gourmet phrasing and R&B hot sauce, D.K. Harrell is the blues hero you need in your life right now
- August 1
-
- “I wouldn’t be surprised if the guitar moves in a digital direction where it doesn’t have strings”: How Ola Strandberg went from midlife crisis to revolutionizing headless guitars – and what he thinks could be next
- “It’s a daunting task. I’ll always have impostor syndrome… If the fans think it’s jive, we’ll pull it off streaming services!” Jakob Nowell opens up on using his late father’s gear and unreleased jams to create new Sublime music
- “I get a lot more feeling when I play with my fingers. Wes Montgomery was my reference as a kid for not using a pick”: Championed by Fender and signed to Blue Note, Maya Delilah might just be the most melodic guitar soloist since John Mayer
- “There was a blue arc of electricity, and I was shot back off the mic – that encouraged me to get a wireless system!” There are some rock ’n’ roll stories that you couldn’t make up. One is how ‘Grog’ Lisee was electrocuted by an unearthed microphone
