Features

Van Halen, Jacob Deraps, and the making of a YouTube shred superstar

By Adam Kovac published 19 February 26

This is the origin story of Jacob Deraps, the player whose brain exploded when he heard Eddie Van Halen for the first time, and he never looked back

Swannell Guitars makes an electric like an acoustic with tones that will blow your mind

By Dave Burrluck published 19 February 26

Jamie Swannell makes some seriously high-end acoustics and has applied that knowhow to the IA, a super-versatile, vibey electric that might just be the boutique slide machine of your dreams

Meet the psych-rockers merging Hendrix with Hindustani classical music – who count Jimmy Page among their fans

By Janelle Borg published 19 February 26

Frontman and lead guitarist Sameer Khan explains how hotly tipped London psych-rockers Karma Sheen are sticking to their guns, honoring their heritage, and building a bridge between ancient traditions and contemporary sounds to give rise to a new form of Hindustani rock fusion

Converge’s Kurt Ballou on mixing pedals with amp modelers, guitar recording hacks and reclaiming metal’s authenticity

By Phil Weller published 18 February 26

Fifth album Love is Not Enough sees the producer-guitarist embracing modern gear while opposing modern music’s “data-entry” trends – and returning to a jam space filled with Christmas lights and Iron Maiden flags

“It just floored me”: Inside Fender’s mission to bring the ’62 Super Amp back from the dead

By Charlie Wilkins published 18 February 26

Long hidden in the shadows of Fender history, the early ’60s brown-panel Super Amp has reemerged. Senior product manager, Rick Heins, talks us through its rebirth

How Pavey Ark are reinventing acoustic guitar with pedals, fake nails and a $60 nylon-string that holds its own in any company

By Amit Sharma published 18 February 26

Neil Thomas’ adventurous playing and ear for unorthodox tuning finds the English collective exist between two worlds of traditional and neo-folk

Meet Mary in the Junkyard, the classically rooted alt-rockers making mind-bending indie with Elliott Smith’s tunings

By Cheri Amour published 17 February 26

London songwriter Clari Freeman-Taylor explains the eureka moment of moving to electric from classical guitar, her blood-sealed bond with a new Epiphone, and why she keeps leaving pedalboards on Lime bikes

Bernard Allison grew up surrounded by blues legends – and hid the fact he was learning guitar for years

By Andrew Daly published 17 February 26

Luther Allison’s son played with Stevie Ray Vaughan for his 16th birthday, toured in a band where pedals were forbidden, and achieved his ambition of being in his father’s band, and even leading it

How classical-schooled Derek Gripper rehabilitated himself with 21-string West African technique

By Tanay Gokhale published 16 February 26

The South African musician spent a decade translating the centuries-old repertoire of the West African kora. He emerged with a unique sound that isn’t restricted to the grid of the staff or the notes on a page

From sleeping in tents to Woodstock, rock ’n’ roll's ‘Forrest Gump’ Leo Lyons shares the story of Ten Years After

By Henry Yates published 16 February 26

The Ten Years After bassist survived Hamburg’s Star-Club, sparked the blues boom, achieved immortality at Woodstock – and is still going strong at 82. “Music,” he says, “it’s a drug…”