Feature archive

April 2026

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90 articles

April 30
- “What’s that headless bass that looks like a toothpick? I really liked the sound, but I hated the bass”: How bassist Cliff Williams landed the gig (and found his sound) with AC/DC
- “It was three people watching us in a bar and grill, and two of them were working behind the bar!” Zakk Wylde on his Ozzy Osbourne tribute, his Led Zeppelin epiphany, and the triumphant return of Black Label Society
- “We’ve always been big fans of Nickelback – their guitarist came to see one of our shows and asked if we’d support them”: How UK riff-slingers Don Broco ended up recording with Muse’s bass rig – and collaborating with Nickelback
- “I unbolted the neck and put it in a suitcase to save baggage. Then we saw all our stolen gear posted for sale in Eastern Europe”: Indie band survival stories with Ratboys and The Beths
- “Billy said, ‘I've never played a high-gain amp that I like.’ It was a tall order”: How a Smashing Pumpkins superfan made the only amp Billy Corgan has ever truly loved
April 29
- “I’d be in the middle of a tough show, look over at the side of the stage and there’s Nels Cline, one of the best guitar players ever to play rock and roll”: White Denim’s James Petralli has learned to roll with rock’s punches
- How to change strings faster – with rock solid tuning stability
- “Nobody had ever made that kind of noise on record before”: The life and times of Mike Vernon, the British blues legend who got Eric Clapton his Bluesbreakers tone
April 28
- “The letter read, ‘This was our mom’s guitar. It’s worth a lot of money. We want you to have it’”: How actor turned musician Morgan Nagler got her 1977 Martin acoustic, wrote with neighbor Phoebe Bridgers, and finally made a solo album
- “The comments I got were from people digging the way I was playing, or asking ‘What song is this?’ which I thought was funny. It’s where modern rock started”: Meet Amani Burnham, the budding blues-rock hero blending fingerstyle technique with SRV tone
- “That song ended up being my homage to Jimmy Page... There’s this Celtic thing that we were tapping into. Like the Bert Jansch recording of Blackwaterside”: Rich Robinson on The Black Crowes’ triumphant second act
April 27
- “Gibson said, ‘We really can’t reproduce that wah effect,’ so they went to Chandler and bought all of the ones they had in stock”: Joe Perry on how Jimmy Page inspired his custom ‘90s Black Burst Les Paul Standard
- “Kirk Hammett was definitely influential. Seeing a player of that caliber using one of our guitars helped people realize we were serious”: How Tom Anderson changed the guitar industry
- “Bob Rock said, ‘Don’t worry, I’m gonna help you become a guitar hero.’ And he did!” Billy Duffy on how The Cult made their most challenging hit single
- “The bass strings broke – I had to tie them together. I would slide down the strings, cutting my fingers and getting blood all over the bass”: Bakithi Kumalo looks back at his formative years touring South Africa
April 26
- “Weather Report belonged to the three of us. When it ended, they didn’t pay me – they just took it”: Miroslav Vitous on his departure from Weather Report (and his thoughts on the bassists who replaced him)
- “Not only was John a virtuoso on guitar, harp, singing and choosing songs, to me it felt like he was totally possessed by the blues”: The life and times of John P. Hammond, the blues genius who inspired Bonnie Raitt and countless others
- “I’d seen pictures of Keith Richards playing it. I figured I’d try one out”: How Joe Perry found his ultimate slide guitar
April 25
- “People would hate us, bully us, throw stuff at us and threaten to beat us up, but they wouldn’t leave. We thought, ‘Okay, we’ve got something’”: Devo’s Bob Mothersbaugh on accidental hits, audience provocations and the de-evolution of guitar
April 24
- “My friend’s mom told Harry Nilsson, ‘You gotta hear him play!’ I played and he asked, ‘What are you doing next Wednesday?’”: Val McCallum’s accidental introduction to session work
- “He got hit in the face with a beer… We’re all a little mad when we get pelted – I don't understand why they throw cans at us”: Inside the rabble-rousing country rock guitar madness of Treaty Oak Revival
- “My dad said, ‘Take a seat – a band is coming in to make a record.’ I spotted a guitar case entering through the side door… carried by none other than B.B. King”: Billy Gibbons on how B.B. King changed his life
April 23
- “Absolutely essential listening for any would-be rock bass player”: How Rainbow bassist Craig Gruber galloped his way through a hard-rock classic alongside Ritchie Blackmore and Ronnie James Dio
- “The neck is as thin as Gibson could go without the liability of it snapping”: Jake Kiszka talks us through his new Gibson SG signature, a devilishly thin-necked beast built to galvanize the next generation of rock kids
- “Danny Gatton and Jimmy Bryant have the otherworldliness that I saw in Dimebag Darrell and Randy Rhoads”: Baroness shredder Gina Gleason on 75 years of the Fender Telecaster, the magic that binds its players, and why it works for metal
- “I said that if we’re gonna make another Lamb of God record, it’s really gotta be worthy of being in the catalog we’ve created. That sets the bar high”: Willie Adler and Mark Morton take us inside metal’s premier riff machine
April 22
- “When I started this business, I had two kinds of people: those who believed in it and those laughing at me”: Who is buying $15 million guitars? One of the world’s leading dealers lifts the veil on the collectible guitar market
- “On tour, the soundman is always on me to turn down. So I wanted to make sure the amp stays full and articulate, even at lower volumes”: The making of the Blackstar Doug Aldrich Signature DA100 Ruby
April 21
- “The record label hid my name in a very small font size behind the CD. It took a long time to find!” You may not know who played guitar on some of Avril Lavigne’s biggest hits. It was Corky James
- “No-one believed in us. The manager said, ‘You can only play for a few minutes.’ The entire audience jumped up on their tables”: The story of Fanny, one of the world’s first all-female rock bands
- “I love it and it’s my friend forever. If I had to, I’d f**k it”: Keith Richards on his enduring love affair with the guitar, the effects of arthritis on his playing, and why he’s still learning the instrument at 82
- “I love this guitar so much – if something happened to it, I’d stop playing”: Fingerstyle phenom Laura Snowden on the guitar she can’t live without, how downtuning makes classical guitar “creepy” and what she learned from the great Julian Bream
April 20
- “I’d put his riffs up against anyone in rock today. He’s as good as Homme or Morello”: First he got a DM from Pearl Jam, now Stone Gossard is hailing him as one of the best riffers in the business
- “People phoned in, saying, ‘If you play that song again, I’m going to firebomb your station!’” How XTC battled the “rottweiler” Todd Rundgren and their record label to make their breakthrough
- “I never liked the electric guitar. I’m just not drawn to it”: The life and times of Ralph Towner, the endlessly curious frontiersman of acoustic jazz who worked with everyone from Bill Bruford to Robben Ford
- “The best times of heavy metal were over… My concept was a new guitar design in the style of the ’40s or ’50s”: How Duesenberg Guitars became a major player with original old-school designs – and a little help from Mike Campbell
April 18
- “A Strat with a P-90 at the bridge and a Jazzmaster pickup at the neck is not going to sound like anything else Fender makes”: Ariel Posen on Jeff Beck, amp strategies and how his thirst for fresh tones inspired one of the most unorthodox Strats ever
- “I was on a summer break from music college. Suddenly, I had a DM asking if I would be interested in a gig with Little Mix”: From Raye to Zara Larsson, how session pro Liv Thompson learned to nail pop’s biggest gigs
April 17
- "Modeling tech has gotten so good I doubt many guitarists would be able to tell the difference": Analog vs. digital rig build challenge - here’s how two very different players would spend $2,500
- “For King, there was nothing particularly special about the show… It would go on to rank among the best live albums of all time”: The life and times of B.B. King
- “It’s a little bit of an odd duck, but it is cool and I would love to use it for recording. It would be a monster in the studio”: Decoding the mysteries of the 1967 Martin D-35S with the slotted headstock
- “Paul McCartney likes to control things under the guise of saying, ‘Play as free as you like.’ Then he’ll start to pick it all apart”: Chris Spedding’s favorite sessions
April 16
- “We bounced around the idea of having everyone from Joe Cocker to Phil Collins to Mike Rutherford sing”: Out went David Lee Roth and Frankenstein, in came Sammy Hagar and Kramer – the story of Van Halen’s rebirth
- “Chuck Schuldiner called me. The next thing I knew we’d rented a rehearsal room in Miami. I would just burn a joint and play”: Steve DiGiorgio’s life with Death – and why he wouldn’t trade Testament for Megadeth
April 15
- “Woodstock ’94 was overwhelming… I was in awe at how many famous people were in one place”: From touring with Aerosmith and Metallica, to filling Geddy Lee’s shoes, they were the ’90s Seattle band that did it all – without taking the grunge tag
- “I had a couple of drinks and started thinking, ‘I wonder if they have an Ovation Breadwinner…’” Jake E. Lee on the ultimate ’70s oddball guitar – and how he found a holy grail Marshall for $80 while touring with Ozzy
April 14
- “It started from watching my father. That’s why my rhythm guitar emulates his. Because his rhythm guitar was wicked”: Ziggy Marley on what he learned from his dad, why the guitar can be a weapon, and how music can still change the world
- “This guitar has been on albums that sold probably eight or nine million copies, and I bought it for about $200!” Steve Rothery on the guitars that changed his life – and why you don't have to spend big to find the guitar of your dreams
- “I thought, ‘That’s the guitar Mike Bloomfield played…’ I just had to buy it”: The mistake that led Robben Ford to buy his first great instrument – and how Miles Davis and Jeff Beck took him to the Strat
April 13
- “She had no idea this was going on. They came out with this guitar case and said, ‘Close your eyes.’ We opened it up, and she turned beet red”: Joe Perry on how the most romantic thing he has ever done involved a custom-painted guitar
- “IDLES were bigger supporters of me than I was. I thought, ‘I'm not capable.’ They were like, ‘You just need to commit to it’”: Masca’s Tina Maynard on how three months in IDLES reinvented her playing – and why Teles are underrated grunge tools
- “Jeff Beck arranged delivery with Marshall’s first factory arrival into the States, loading ZZ Top’s stage with stacks”: Billy Gibbons tells the tale of how an accident with a knife – and a British guitar great – set them up to conquer the ’80s
- “When I talked to the Warner A&R guy he said, ‘Oh man, Prince really screwed up. It sucks’”: The story of Prince’s underrated 1986 classic – and the lip-smacking hit single that scared his record label
April 12
- Before he went solo, Ronnie James Dio had already worked with two guitarists etched onto heavy metal’s Mount Rushmore. But players can also learn plenty from the oft-overlooked shredders who anchored his solo band
- “The SG sound is very unique – it forces you to play to what you’re hearing”: Warren Haynes on the mid-’90s SG behind his early Gov’t Mule tone
April 11
- “At home, you’re tempted to go over the top with everything. ‘Maybe if we put on another double guitar part – that’ll fix it.’ You can spend forever making a song worse”: Paul Gilbert on how the original POTUS's words opened new frontiers for his guitar
- “I’m a heavy hitter, so I had to calm down my attack. In the studio we nicknamed it ‘self-compressing’”: How fretless bass master Steve DiGiorgio embraced frets on Testament’s 2016 metal masterstroke
April 10
- “Protect your body and mind the way you would protect your gear”: How to stop burning out before you stop the music
- “I’ve never been a real hot player, and a lot of kids are hot players. I’m slow because I walk slow, talk slow, sing slow”: B.B. King in his own words – the blues’ greatest guitarist on heroes, influences and his philosophy
- “I have an original Klon – three or four of them. I can’t go anywhere without it”: Joe Perry on the pedals he can’t live without and his top tip for boost and drive pedals
- “After hearing the finished track, I thought, ‘Wow, I never knew how busy playing one note could sound’”: The story behind the deceptive bassline on a politically charged ’70s anthem that was later covered by the Red Hot Chili Peppers
April 9
- “We wrote it on the board as ‘The Loudest Riff Ever Recorded by a Human.’ We had to put the mic four feet away”: Corrosion Of Conformity pushed hard on their new album. And the Bee Gees helped
- Joe Satriani called her version of Always With Me, Always With You “the most impressive” he's ever seen. Meet Andrea Krakovská, the “aerial guitarist” combining fretboard acrobatics with real acrobatics
- “It was a very conscious decision on Peter’s part to come up with material that would make a very good and accessible record”: Guitarist David Rhodes on the making of Peter Gabriel’s chart-smashing classic So
- “If they were around in 1983, they would have been very popular. They have an unashamed appreciation for what came before them”: How K.K. Downing ended up working with fast-rising British metal stars Tailgunner
- “I don’t think that bassline is playable by anyone else”: How Stevie Wonder recorded one of the funkiest basslines in existence
April 8
- “On our earlier recordings, we experimented with low tones that only dogs can hear”: Sunn O))) on the challenge of working with 130 guitar tracks and why their live shows are like jumping into a frozen lake
- “He’s not doing any of the lead work he’s known for. He came up with 10 tracks of textures and atmospheres”: His main band went on indefinite hiatus. Now this cult prog guitarist has enlisted Alex Lifeson and Peter Frampton for an all-star solo album
- “If I can help wake up a new generation of African or female players, that makes me twice as proud”: Fatoumata Diawara on Hendrix’s genius, the making of her Epiphone SG – and the message she wants it to send
April 7
- “I don’t know how it happened, but somewhere along the way, my right hand just wasn’t doing the job anymore”: Dethklok’s Brendon Small started struggling to play, so he took a lesson with a metal virtuoso
- “I was playing baseball in the backyard when I heard Eruption. That afternoon I decided what my life would be”: How recording in Eddie Van Halen’s 5150 Studios inspired Alter Bridge to make their most riff-heavy statement yet
- “I don’t have any favorite guitarists from the ’90s. I wasn’t following those trends”: He wrote some of the defining anthems of the decade with Smash Mouth. Now Greg Camp is focusing on his Nashville punk-rock supergroup
- “I got acrylic nails, because my mom told me that’s what Dolly Parton did. It allows me to play in a flamenco style”: Ashley Reeve leads the low-end for everyone from Cher to Filter – and her right-hand tone is her most important asset
April 6
- “I was 8 and Andy was my first guitar teacher – to me he was Mr. Summers with a funny accent!” Doug Pettibone on taking lessons from Andy Summers, touring with Jewel, and not getting fired by John Mayer
- “I put it in the freezer overnight and took a blowtorch to it”: Joe Perry put his “desert island guitar” through hell but it’s still his number one
- “That changed everything for me. ‘It doesn’t hurt. I could play like this all day long. And it sounds great!’’ How a Hendrix hack helped The Collect Pond’s Danny Moffat play through his health issues
- “There are really good ’Bursts, average ’Bursts and some that are not that good at all”: What this pristine 1960 Gibson Les Paul Standard tells us about the myth of the ’Bursts
April 5
- “I wasn't trying to make a retro album. I went through a Fractal”: Avenged Sevenfold’s Zachary Baker rides alone on Dark Horse – cooking up a country album with little more than a modeler and an Epiphone acoustic
- “I am 10 times the player when I hold a guitar pick the ‘wrong’ way”: A blues guitar hero showed me how he held his pick – and it changed the way I played guitar
- “I’ve never met Noel Gallagher, but I’ve heard he liked Strange Times”: The unsung 1986 album that inspired the ’90s Britpop boom
April 4
- “It was a lot of trial and error with Dave – a lot of just trying to find out what worked, fine-tune it and then do it again”: Jimmie Vaughan on the Fabulous Thunderbirds’ Top 40 hit that got Al Bundy – and Hollywood’s – seal of approval
- “We continued being friends for 69 years. I don’t think there’s nobody living today that knew him as long as I did”: Bobby Rush salutes his old friend B.B. King
April 3
- “The first time Sonic Youth went to England, people hated us: ‘Oh, you’re playing guitar? That’s so old-fashioned’”: Alt-rock icon Kim Gordon on the secret to making great music on bad guitars and why she never saw herself as a bassist
- “Other groups tell everyone they’re the ‘proper’ metal band on the bill, but they’re all using 8-string guitars”: Tailgunner are flying the flag for old-school metal (with a little help from K.K. Downing)
April 2
- “We would roll into, say, Portland, and go to the pawn shops. You could find a ’57 Les Paul for $200!” Melissa Etheridge learned more from a grouchy old man who’d lost his fingers than she did at Berklee
- “The whole rig went completely silent – 10,000 people started booing me”: The 17-year-old guitar prodigy who flourished with Dio, but got off to a nightmare start
- “Peter had such a glorious touch thanks to his wonderful simplicity. But then he went off the rails and became a gravedigger”: How 10cc’s Rick Fenn ended up working with David Gilmour, Peter Green, Mike Oldfield, and almost all of his other heroes
April 1
- “I got to play with Layne and Chris and Lanegan. Now they’re gone. What would they be doing now? That haunts me to this day”: Mike McCready opens up on his new rock opera, the Seattle jams that changed him, and the future of Pearl Jam
- “The phone rang. It was Paul McCartney. That’s when I knew we’d found it”: We meet the man who reunited Paul McCartney with his long-lost Beatles bass
- “Björn and I met and discussed what it could look like. It had to be shiny and sparkling”: How a Swedish luthier used by Led Zeppelin and Eric Clapton created the iconic ABBA star guitar