Latest Features
An interview with the late, great Mark Sampson, the trailblazing amp designer behind Bad Cat and Matchless
Just before he died, guitar amp guru Mark Sampson sat down us to discuss his reunion with Bad Cat, and with the storied US amp company's John Thompson, he laid out a future vision for what boutique amps should be
“I’ve never bought a guitar and I’m quite proud of that! I always tell people when they’re learning: there’s a guitar not being played”: Meet Sacred Paws’ Ray Aggs, the dextrous Tele-wrangler inventing new chords and capturing Thurston Moore’s imagination
The self-taught songwriter on their singular six-string path, working with alt-tuning icons Glenn Branca and Thurston Moore, and the shift to big choruses on new album Jump Into Life
Electro-Harmonix founder Mike Matthews on befriending Hendrix, booking Chuck Berry and the birth of pedal culture
The EHX pioneer is one of the guitar world's most colorful characters. He tells us what happened when Hendrix bought one of the first Big Muffs, how the Rolling Stones got him started in the pedal biz, and why the "overdesigned" POG3 is an unlikely triumph
How Yves Jarvis made 2025’s most exciting experimental record so far with a $50 Explorer knockoff and an unbelievably weird tuning
Channeling Bowie and Sly Stone, and recorded entirely on Audacity, All Cylinders is an idiosyncratic masterpiece
Leonard Chess asked Muddy Waters to bring him an old acoustic bluesman. He brought him Buddy Guy
Knowing his Mississippi roots, Chess essentially wanted Waters to find for him his own Robert Johnson. Waters had other ideas
![[from left] George Harrison with his Gretsch Country Gentleman, Norman Harris of Norman's Rare Guitars holds a gold-top Les Paul, John Fogerty with his legendary 1969 Rickenbacker](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/TuH3nuhn9etqjdn5sy4ntW-840-80.jpg.webp)
Norman Harris names the 5 most memorable guitars that have come through Norman's Rare Guitars
As owner/operator of Norman's Rare Guitars, Harris has seen some guitars in his time. This five, featuring a John Fogerty Ricky and a Gretsch owned by a Beatle, are the ones that stick in his mind
Giacomo Turra got exposed – but real guitar virtuosos are being wrongly accused of fakery, too
More and more accusations are being thrown at players for doctoring their chops to gain clout on social media. So how much of it is true – and where should you draw the line?
Jerry Harrison on Talking Heads 1977 debut, the spirit of CBGB and Lou Reed’s advice on “hairy arms”
Granting a rare interview to promote Talking Heads’ newly reissued debut album, the new wave pioneer holds forth on everything from the thrills of the CBGB scene to the perils of mimicking your heroes
