Features

Texas blues legend Jimmie Vaughan on longevity, Strats and collabs with a Beatle on the Porky’s Revenge OST

By Andrew Daly published 22 January 26

A new Fabulous Thunderbirds box set is bursting with powerful stuff by Jimmie Vaughan & Co. – including an entire unreleased album from 1978. Here, Vaughan talks T-Birds and Strats and Fender amps, and tells us what flips his switch

Reb Beach on the story of his ’90s Ibanez signature guitar – and the mystery behind its sequel

By Andrew Daly published 22 January 26

The year is 1990 and Reb Beach is on the cover of Guitar World with his Ibanez WRB-3, a super-cool weird shape electric. But what happened to the WRB-1?

Kool & The Gang’s Robert Bell on how he laid down three top 10s in a single session – and became one of the most sampled artists in history

By Andrew Daly published 21 January 26

The funk masters’ only surviving original member explains the humble beginnings of most of their hits, how they put them together and why he isn’t going back to big rigs even if everyone else is

How the Velveteers' Demi Demitro learned to speak through baritone fuzz riffs

By Jim Beaugez published 21 January 26

With Dan Auerbach at the helm once more, the Velveteers' A Million Knives holds the brute force of low-end guitar and melody in equilibrium while two drummers pummel their way through the mix

Keith Urban tells the tale of the Dumble that got away – and why he let down the buyer of his ’Burst

By Andrew Daly published 21 January 26

The country superstar shares his love for holy grail amps, writing riffs on cheap guitars, and the Nocaster once owned by Cinderella’s Tom Keifer that’s “worth every cent”

Randy Holden’s 1970 album pioneered doom metal. But he was never told it had been released

By Andrew Daly published 20 January 26

Two decades after he’d been sickened enough to quit playing, Holden discovered he was a guitar hero. He picked up the guitar again straight away, but he’ll never return to the industry that burned him

Kevin Jonas on his love for the Dove, and why you’ll almost always find the Jonas Brothers in DADGAD

By Bruce Fagerstrom published 20 January 26

It turns out Kevin Jonas – yes, the Kevin Jonas of pop superstars the Jonas Brothers – lives and breathes guitar, and it all started with a ‘teach yourself guitar’ book and a cheapo red electric

Eric Clapton was Cream’s biggest star, but Jack Bruce sang most of the band’s classic tracks

By Nick Wells published 20 January 26

In later years, Bruce jokingly referred to Cream as Da Creams, in a nod to the band’s supergroup status

How Måneskin’s Thomas Raggi channeled Led Zeppelin and RHCP into his raucous, all-star solo album

By Jenna Scaramanga published 20 January 26

On a mission to merge generations and start a new scene, he united friends from Guns n’ Roses, The Prodigy, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Struts and Kasabian to make the most old-school cool album imaginable

Larry McCray on rubbing shoulders with blues royalty and playing through Joe Bonamassa’s epic rig

By Amit Sharma published 20 January 26

Living blues legend Larry McCray is keeping on keeping on and keeping the blues alive, and on his latest LP, Heartbreak City, he's taking his guitar to places his voice can't reach