After Pat Smear suffered a “bizarre gardening injury” in January 2026, the Foo Fighters needed a capable replacement for their three-guitar brand of sonic chaos. Luckily, Jason Falkner – St. Vincent and Beck guitarist, and long-time pal of Dave Grohl – was up for the challenge.

“I’m a fan of the band,” Falkner tells Guitar World. “I wasn’t familiar with their entire catalog, but what I’d heard I loved. I got the first two records when they first came out. I was definitely curious to size up another one-man band guy!”

His curiosity paid off as he learned 23 songs at lighting speed, leading to his Foo Fighters debut 10 days after Grohl asked him to fill in. “Needless to say, that was a bit hectic,” Falkner says.

But it didn’t take him long to find his feet – and then the shows became a blast. “Dave’s amazing,” he says. “The atmosphere he creates is super-fun, as you can imagine. It’s just the right amount of energetic looseness, but the arrangements are tight. A perfect juxtaposition!”

He played his final show with the Foos in Manchester, UK, in February, with Smear ready when the band returned to action for new album Your Favorite Toy. But if Falkner is needed again, he says, “they all know I’m down.”

How were you asked to fill in for Pat Smear?

I was getting ready to rage per usual on New Year’s Eve, when Dave called and told me about Pat's injury. He asked if I’d be interested in filling in and obviously, I said yes. Then he told me I had four days to learn 23 songs at home before we started five days of rehearsals on January 5, with the first show in Mexico on January 10.

Why do you think Dave called you?

Well, I’ve known him for quite a while. I’d like to think he and Pat knew I’d rock out in this situation. And Dave had called me in 2018 for a single show at Warren Haynes’ Christmas Jam, where we played Dave’s opus Play. I think he knew I’d fit in quickly.

I was truly chuffed when he said that he and Pat had thought of me basically at the same time. I’m a Pat fan going back to the Germs, so it’s all just really cool.

What did you find interesting about Pat’s playing?

His guitar playing rules – it’s direct and heavy and I don’t want much more than that! He’s famously a Hagstrom guy, and I have quite a few ‘60s Hags, as well as a collection of oddballs, so we clearly share an interest in the obscure.

I spent four days at home learning the records, trying to get comfortable enough that I could leave space or not, depending on what Dave and Chris were doing live.

The one mistake I made was not listening to the live versions earlier – they can be quite different from the record's arrangement. I learned that the hard way at full band rehearsals!

Were you able to make the parts your own, or did you play them straight as Pat does?

Pat was incredibly sweet. We talked a lot, and he texted info and tech support when I had a question. I feel like I started from the angle of trying to do what Pat does; but once I got comfortable I stretched out a bit.

Was it tough to integrate with Chris and Dave, seeing as those fellas have long-term chemistry?

Not really – Dave or Chris would tell me when Pat lays out or when he steps out in front musically. It was a lot to learn in a short time, but the communication made it easy. I didn’t just have to know it all from minute one.

What was the key to finding your own chemistry with Dave and Chris?

Whenever I’m asked to be a part of something, I’m very aware that there’s a significant chemistry that has existed long before my involvement. Being sensitive to that is important. But in this case I felt pretty comfortable, since I knew the guys to varying degrees already.

Did you have to alter your rig from your usual gear and approach?

Luckily most of the set is pretty maxed out sonically, so I used the same ’board I use with everything. I’ve got several gnarly distortion pedals on that, so I used my judgment as far as what to engage song by song – it wasn’t always the same.

These were stadium gigs. Was that nerve-racking?

Well, my first show was 10 days after Dave called me, so that was pretty nerve-racking! The first show was in Mexico, and even though I was out-of-body pretty much the whole time, it went very well. I had done a lot of work at home, learning everything, so all that paid off.

What did playing with the Foo Fighters teach you?

It reminded me that I enjoy nipping on Jägermeister on stage! We parted with sweet sorrow – the last show in Manchester was a bit emo, knowing it was my last. I certainly hope I work with them again.

With their newly released 12th studio album, Your Favorite Toy, Foo Fighters are returning to the raw sound of their early material, and Dave Grohl has once again relied on his “lucky guitar” to bring it to life.

Grohl’s riff-writing totem is the guitar that gave his namesake Gibson DG-335 signature model many of its cues: a 1967 Gibson Trini Lopez he bought in his Nirvana days.

“I have a lucky guitar, and it was the first Gibson Trini Lopez that I ever purchased,” he tells the Tape Notes podcast. “I bought it at a guitar shop in Bethesda, Maryland called Southworth Guitars. It was like a museum; you'd walk in, and you'd see all of these beautiful classic guitars.

“I was still in Nirvana, and I just wanted a hollowbody to put in my lap and sit on the couch and just mess around,” he continues.

“I'm looking at this row of old Gibson ES-335s, and they're all beautiful,” he says of that fateful guitar store visit. “And there's this one that had this funny headstock, and it looked the body shape and design was the same, except it had these diamond F-holes and a different headstock. I was like, ‘Oh, that's kind of cool,’ so I bought it and brought it home and just played it on the couch.”

History dictates, of course, that he did more than “mess around” with the guitar in the comfort of his living room. It became the cornerstone of the Foo Fighters’ sound and has been used on every Foos record to date. It’s a left-field workhorse he wouldn’t dare be without.

“We've never made a record without that guitar. It's almost like a superstition to me: we couldn't have made this record without that guitar, because I don't want to make a record without that guitar.”

Grohl hails its percussive, dynamic nature as key to his songwriting and playing style – which makes sense, given his role as drummer in Nirvana.

“It's very dynamic. The harder you play it, the harder it sounds, the more gentle you play it, the more gentle it sounds. It's it's reactive to touch, more so than a lot of other guitars that I have.

“It also has this exposed bridge thing that can act as almost like a snare. It becomes this additional percussive element to whatever riff you're playing, and it has a chime to it.”

Once described by Gibson as “probably the most exciting young star in the music business”, Trini Lopez was one of several hotshot jazz players to collaborate with the firm to produce signature archtops in the early to mid ’60s. Lopez’s model arrived in ‘64.

Its diamond-shaped sound holes were a key aesthetic distinguisher, as was its more Fender-esque headstock – two features that drew Grohl to the guitar in Southwork's museum. Only 300 Deluxe models and 2,000 Standard models are believed to have been made.

Grohl has recently reflected on the impact Kurt Cobain's passing had on him as a musician, and how his stepping away from the drum kit towards his Trini Lopez guitar marked a vital new chapter in his life and career.

With Foo Fighters fresh from the release of their 12th studio album, Your Favourite Toy, Dave Grohl is looking back on his decades-long career.

Specifically, he’s reflecting on his roots with Nirvana – and how the pain that came with Kurt Cobain’s death, plus the band’s end, led to a whole new guitar-driven chapter he didn’t necessarily expect.

“There was a time once, when Nirvana ended, where I'm like, ‘I don’t know if I want to do music anymore… that hurts,’ and I'm like, ‘No, what am I talking about?’ That's the thing that always saved my life,’” he says in a new interview with the Broken Record Podcast. “I have to do it.”

Grohl also touched on his transition to Foo Fighters and being the sole songwriter in his then-fledgling post-Nirvana project.

“Time went by where I was just like, ‘God, what do I do? If I sit behind the drums, it makes me sad. If I listen music, it makes me sad,’” he says. “Then I wrote songs – [like] when I was a kid with those stupid journals. I wrote my way through it.”

Adamant on not becoming just another drummer-for-hire, Grohl re-acquainted himself with the guitar – the instrument he had started out with and served as his companion since age 10.

“When Nirvana was on tour, I'd bring a guitar with me," he told Guitar World in a 1997 interview, “so in hotel rooms, late at night, I'd have something to do. I love playing the drums, but you can't really sit down at home with a snack and play the drums.

“So I've never been without a guitar. Eventually, I was living with a person who had an 8-track in the basement. And these songs just started coming out.”

In more recent news, Grohl revealed why he never expected Pat Smear – who, back then, was Nirvana’s touring guitarist – to accept his invitation to join the band he was going to call the Foo Fighters.

Dave Grohl wanted to get back making music after the tragic end of Nirvana. He had ideas and had written some songs and put them onto tape. But he needed a guitarist. The big question was, who was he going to get in the band?

Speaking to Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Grohl describes his headspace in the months following Kurt Cobain’s death.

The manner of Nirvana’s ending sent Grohl and bassist Krist Novoselic into survival mode.

“I think that we all wound up in places that felt... I don’t want to say comfortable, but safe,” recalls Grohl. “And so when I went into the studio and recorded that stuff by myself, I felt safe there. And I can’t speak for Krist, but I think at that time it was like we were just trying to get our feet back on the ground. For me, that’s something that I thought, 'Okay, well, music is the thing that’s going to rescue me.'”

The Foo Fighters frontman believes Novoselic found his feet by taking a step back from music and regrouping. And Grohl didn’t push him. “We didn’t really ever have that deeper, longer conversation,” he says.

If getting a band back together was part of the process for putting his heart back together, Grohl would have to start recruiting. Everyone knew him as the drummer from Nirvana. The last full-length album he released was In Utero and that was Seattle trio at their most confrontational.

The songs Grohl was putting together, none of them sounded like Scentless Apprentice. These were, well, poppy. And he’d have asked Nirvana live guitarist Pat Smear if he wanted to play in this band he was going to call the Foo Fighters, but no way would he say yes.

“The funniest thing is like, I didn't think Pat would be our guitar player. I just sent him a tape. I sent him one of the early cassettes,” says Grohl, expecting… Well, Pat Smear is a punk at heart. Grohl expected a polite thanks but no thanks. Smear was duly shocked. But his reaction was altogether more positive than Grohl could have hoped for.

“He was like, ‘Oh my God, it’s so poppy.’ And I’m like, ‘Is it? Okay, is that a good thing?’ And to Pat, that is a great thing,” says Grohl. “I was like, and I had already started jamming with Nate [Mendel, bass guitar] and William [Goldsmith, drums] and I was like, ‘Hey if you want to play guitar… I didn’t expect that he would, you know. And then he decided that he would jam with us. And it was great.”

The rest is history. The Foo Fighters returned with their 12th studio album, Your Favorite Toy, which is out now via RCA, their first to feature new drummer Ilan Rubin. Following the death of Taylor Hawkins in 2022, Grohl recorded all the drum parts for 2023’s But Here We Are.

In conversation with Lowe, Grohl reflects on what it’s like to have a back catalog that he felt was almost out of bounds, songs that he was scared to revisit – for any number of reasons but especially the obvious one, that playing something of, say, Nevermind was going to be too painful.

But he says there is nothing quite like those occasions when he, Novoselic and Smear have got together to perform Nirvana tracks.

“It’s such a weird thing to feel afraid to play songs. And for a long time it's like I was even afraid just to sit down at a drum set and play the opening riff to Smells Like Teen Spirit,” he says “It just seemed sort of forbidden. And so the few times that Krist and Pat and I have gotten together to do it, it’s a trip… the noise that the three of us make together, you don’t really get that noise anywhere else.

“The way that Krist strums his bass lines, the bass that he uses, the equipment he uses, his sense of feel and time, it’s like all of those things combined with Pat like with that crazy Germs/Pat Smear guitar thing. And then some loud-ass drums, when it happens, you're just like, oh fuck, I remember this. Shit, I haven’t heard this in 35 years. It’s a really beautiful sound and a beautiful feeling.”

You can watch/listen to the full Dave Grohl interview on The Zane Lowe Show on Apple Music.

Jason Falkner might not be a household name, but he's played with some of the best. Alongside being Beck's touring guitarist for years, he's recorded with Paul McCartney, Cheap Trick, and Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, and has also toured with St Vincent.

Recently, he added another name to the list, having been drafted into the Foo Fighters as emergency cover for Pat Smear.

Smear was sidelined from the Foo's latest run of shows after a “bizarre gardening accident” left him with a broken leg earlier this year. Grohl and co turned to Falkner for help.

“I was getting ready to rage per usual on New Year’s Eve when Dave called me and told me about Pat's injury,” he tells Guitar World in a new interview. He was more than willing to step in.

“And then, he told me how soon everything was kicking off. I had four days to learn 23 songs at home before we started five days of rehearsals on the 5th of January, with the first show in Mexico on the 10th!”

That first show, at Velaria de la Feria, León, Mexico, went off without a hitch, as Grohl’s faith in Falkner paid off. But what made him the man to dep for Smear?

“Well, I’ve known Dave for quite a while,” Falkner says. “I’d like to think he and Pat knew I’d rock out in this situation. Dave called me back in 2018 for a single show at Warren Haynes’ Christmas Jam, where we played Dave’s opus, Play.

“So, I think he knew I would fit in quickly, but I was truly chuffed when Dave told me he and Pat thought of me for this basically at the same time.

“I’m a Pat fan going back to the Germs,” he adds. “Pat's guitar playing is direct and heavy. I don’t want much more than that!”

Between agreeing to the gig and that first rehearsal, Falkner listened to a lot of Foo Fighters as he got the songs under his fingers. But there was one small issue.

“The one mistake I made was not listening to the live versions earlier because they can be quite different from the record's arrangement,” he details. “I learned that the hard way at full band rehearsals!”

Meanwhile, Rush has credited Foo Fighters for kickstarting their reunion, while GW scribe Daryl Robertson has gone to painstaking lengths to deliver the ultimate Dave Grohl gear guide.

Falkner’s full interview will be published online in the coming weeks.

The Canadian math-rock wizards Angine de Poitrine have gone viral over the past couple of weeks – thanks to their unique brand of angular and microtonal rock, wrapped up in a mysterious facade of papier-mâché masks and polka-dotted costumes – that captivated viewers who tuned in to their already-iconic KEXP session.

Among their many new fans is Dave Grohl, who, in a recent interview with Logan Kelly on Logan Sounds Off, raves, “I just have to try to say this correctly because it was sent to me yesterday by a friend, and it absolutely blew my fucking mind.

“It’s called Angine de Poitrine… And I don’t know how to explain it other than you just have to watch these people. And it’s all instrumental.”

Grohl goes on to gush over the duo's setup. “That person has a double neck that’s a bass guitar on the bottom and a guitar on the top,” he notes. “And you’ll see the bank of pedals that they’re stepping on. And they’re looping every one of these riffs. It’s so completely insane.”

Like so many others, the sheer novelty of the project – from its oddball outfits and expansive gear setup, to its unorthodox approach to microtonal music – has captivated Grohl.

Speaking to Noize recently, drummer Klek de Poitrine – a stage name, of course – gave more insight into the Frankensteinian creature that captivated millions.

“I built the first microtonal guitar we used myself,” he said. “I added more frets on a guitar with a saw. The moment we started playing it, we just laughed. But since I’m not a guitarist, I wasn’t using the instrument’s full potential.

“I brought it to Khn [the guitarist/bassist], and I told him, ‘You have to try this, it makes absolutely no sense.’ The moment we started playing with it, we just laughed because of the friction created and the proximity of the notes.”

Angine de Poitrine have just released their new album, Vol. II, and announced a series of upcoming North American live dates, including debut performances in a number of US cities.

Back in October, Rush delighted prog rock fans worldwide by announcing the Fifty Something reunion tour across North America. What's more, they recently added UK, Europe, and South America shows to the bill, with 24 shows across 13 countries slated for 2027.

Jeff Beck’s drummer, virtuoso Anika Nilles, will be filling in for the late, legendary Neil Peart, alongside Loren Gold, who has worked with the likes of The Who, Roger Daltrey, and Don Felder, on keyboards.

And while the legendary band has already sold over half a million tickets for the North American leg of the tour, reuniting as Rush was far from an easy decision. In fact, it has been years in the making.

“I think the first attempt that Alex [Lifeson] and I had of thinking about another tour was after we played here in London at Taylor Hawkins tribute concert with the Foo Fighters,” Geddy Lee tells Planet Rock.

“That was an incredibly emotional day – and there was such an easy, happy, loving environment backstage between the musicians that, when we finished our set, we gathered with a bunch of them backstage, all of them encouraging us to go back on tour.”

He continues, “So when we got back to Toronto, we were still kind of high from that moment, and we started talking about it, because it felt like, in some way, we had denied our participation in Rush once the band stopped, and so playing again with different drummers, we sort of reclaimed the music.

“It was important to recognize that it didn't just end in 2015 [after Peart's retirement from touring] – there's still some joy to be had playing our own songs.”

Lee goes on to say that, despite the initial enthusiasm, Lifeson wasn't so keen, and the “whole idea fizzled out”.

“We just carried on being friends, which is a full-time job – trying to keep him out of my wine cellar is hard,” he quips.

Lifeson carried on working on his other projects, which included featuring on Marco Minnemann’s 2017 record, Borrego; forming the supergroup Envy of None, whose debut album was released in 2022; and even working on his own solo material.

“There was an opportunity to get together [with Lee] for a project,” the guitarist explains. “So we did that – we just kind of jammed, trying to get the fingers in shape. The next thing we knew, we thought we'd play some Rush songs. We really hadn't played them in a few years, and it was just so much fun.

“When we began talking about it more seriously, the whole idea started to gather steam, and it turned into this great project to get back into shape and to become a full-time player of Rush music."

However, it wasn't as easy as the two had expected – especially considering all the decades they spent playing the Rush repertoire.

“When you do it every day for 40 years, you can read a newspaper while you're playing, but when you get away from it and revisit it, you suddenly realize, those songs are hard!” he concludes.

Lifeson and Lee – together with Nilles and Gold – have been practicing relentlessly for what is bound to be a historic return.

Tickets for the newly announced shows go on sale on February 27 at 10 am local time. For more information, head to Rush's official website.

In more recent Rush news, Lifeson revealed his biggest challenge when preparing for the Rush reunion tour.

This is a call to all Foos fans! With the Foo Fighters back in the headlines, fresh off the drop of their raucous new single Your Favorite Toy, teasing a soon-to-land album, and currently tearing up the UK with a string of secret, sweat-soaked club shows, we thought it was the perfect time to dive deep into the stompboxes that power Grohl’s massive sound.

Now, Dave Grohl is the king of making a simple setup sound stadium-sized. He might not be the world’s flashiest pedal-tweaker, but he does regularly rely on a few stomps to achieve his signature tone. From the fuzzed-out, face-melting distortion of the ProCo Rat to the subtle modulation of the famed Phase 90 and the spacey delay of the DM-2, Grohl’s arsenal is all about simple, affordable, and reliable pedals.

In this Guitar World collection, I’ve hand-picked the secret weapons on Grohl’s pedalboard, from classic dirt pedals to the wildcards that sneak in for special songs like the talkbox used on Generator. Armed with these stomps, you’ll be able to easily recreate those legendary anthemic tones from just about every era of the Foo Fighters' massive 30-year career. So, this one’s for all the cows, get ready to breakout and play everlong with your new favorite toy.

Watch the Foo Fighters perform the new single Your Favorite Toy live below

Foo Fighters have kicked off 2026 with a new guitarist, playing their first show with stand-in Jason Falkner, in León, Mexico.

Former Nirvana touring guitarist Pat Smear, who has been a key figure in Dave Grohl’s band since their formation in 1994, is currently out of action after a “bizarre gardening accident.”

That’s seen Falkner, a respected session musician and touring guitarist for Beck and St. Vincent, sworn in ahead of their appearance at the open-air show Velaria de la Feria.

The scale of the gig, though, looked like water off a duck's back for the guitarist, who rose to prominence with Jellyfish in the late ’80s and early ’90s. From barnstorming opener All My Life, to My Hero – which Grohl dedicated to his injured compatriot – he locked in with Grohl and Chris Shiflett with ease.

It looks like he opted for a Hamer The Special Jr. for the show, despite his association with Fender Jazzmasters. Dave Grohl was, unsurprisingly, sporting the new white version of his celebrated Epiphone ES-335 signature.

“I don’t know if you’ve heard, but our guitar player, Pat Smear, broke his fucking leg,” Grohl said (via Loudwire) before playing the latter. “Been there, done that.”

In June 2015, the band was forced to cancel shows after Grohl broke his leg. Soon after, he returned to the stage on a specially-designed throne, à la Axl Rose with AC/DC and Ozzy at Back to the Beginning. So he can empathize with the bed-bound Smear.

“Tonight, we couldn’t have Pat here, so we called our dear friend Jason Falkner to play for you,” Grohl then adds as Falkner blows kisses to the crowd. “I’ve known Jason for decades. [He’s an] amazing player. He’s played with everybody, so he really saved us and rescued us tonight.”

Falkner’s temporary stay in the band comes after drummer Josh Freese – and successor to the late Taylor Hawkins – confirmed his departure from the Foo Fighters last year.

Foo Fighters guitarist Pat Smear has had to pull out of the band's upcoming live shows as he recovers from a “bizarre gardening accident” – and his temporary replacement has been announced.

In a social media post that gave a not-so-subtle nod to Spinal Tap, the band wrote, “In the classic tradition of rockstars having bizarre gardening accidents, Pat Smear has apparently rung in the new year by smashing the shit out of his left foot.

“This means he’ll unfortunately be missing a few shows while the multiple broken bones in his foot heal. We’ll miss our beloved Pat as much as you will, but we want him fully healed and back on his feet as soon as possible.”

“Smashing the shit” sounds like it could be a rather accurate medical diagnosis. A photo that accompanies the post shows the Foo Fighters guitarist strapped to a wheelchair and, what we presume, an X-Ray of his ankle.

This is Guitar World, not Medicine World, but there certainly looks to be some gnarly fractures there. If only Foo Fighters had, say, a purpose-built throne that Smear could sit on for the upcoming shows.

Oh, wait, they do. Or, at least, they did – when band leader Dave Grohl broke his leg in 2015, he famously took the stage atop a grand guitar-themed throne. That throne was later loaned to Greyhawk bassist Darin Wall.

Whatever the case, the throne is apparently M.I.A., and even if Smear did have it, there’s then the small order of having to stomp on his pedalboard. So perhaps a brief rest on the sidelines is the most sensible option.

He’ll be out for Foo Fighters’ next few shows, and the band have already hired his temporary replacement: “Beck and St. Vincent guitar wizard Jason Falkner will be filling in for Pat while he’s on the mend,” the post concludes.

Falkner will step in for the band’s upcoming shows in Mexico, California and Australia on January 10, 14, and 24, respectively.

In 2024, Guitar World caught up with the journeyman session guitarist, who looked back on the moment he unexpectedly received the call to try out for St. Vincent’s band.

Gibson has relaunched its mega-popular DG-335 Dave Grohl signature guitar – but it’s been given an elusive cosmetic overhaul.

The DG-335 probably doesn’t need much introduction in the digital pages of Guitar World. By now, its popularity is borderline the stuff of legend. A Pelham Blue Beauty that takes cues from the Trini Lopez model, it is, quite simply, one of Gibson’s most in-demand electric guitars ever, let alone one its most in-demand signature guitars.

Only ever the recipient of limited-edition reissues, the Gibson DG-335 commands some eye-watering prices on the second-hand market. At the time of writing, one is listed on Reverb for $20,000.

Indeed, fans can’t seem to get enough of the DG-335, and to (temporarily) quench the insatiable demand for yet more models, Gibson Custom has given it a reissue.

However, instead of bringing it back in Pelham Blue, Gibson instead has treated it to an elusive Alpine White colorway that has been heavily favored by Grohl for his own DG-335s on stages since 2021.

In fact, it’s the first time this finish has been made available to fans. It may be the finish that many most closely associate with Grohl, given his penchant for using it on stage, but the DG-335 has only ever been launched in Pelham Blue, Ebony, and Metallic Gold.

There’s a catch, though. Only 50 have been made. Oh, and each one has been signed by Grohl. So, if you miss out on this ultra-exclusive run – available from Gibson.com or Gibson Garage locations only – expect to see them going for well over the asking price in the not-too-distant future.

Alpine White finish aside, it follows the source material. There’s a three-ply maple/poplar/maple body, diamond-shaped f-holes, a solid maple center block, and single-ply cream binding. It also has a mahogany neck, carved to the Trini Lopez profile, a bound Indian rosewood fingerboard with split diamond inlays, and 22 medium jumbo frets.

A Firebird/Trini Lopez headstock, Grover Mini Rotomatic tuners, a TonePros ABR-1 bridge with nylon saddles, and unpotted Custombuckers complete the build. It is, as always, a delightful combination of the Lopez and ES-335 models.

“With past DG-335 editions selling out rapidly and commanding premium prices on the vintage market, this limited run of just 50 guitars – each signed by Dave Grohl – is expected to disappear just as quickly, offering fans and collectors a rare chance to own a piece of rock history before it’s gone,” Gibson notes.

Now, if Gibson could now just launch an Alpine White Epiphone DG-335, that’d be grand. If we were being bold, we wouldn’t rule it out.

After all, Epiphone answered players' prayers last March when it launched its own DG-335, which took inspiration from the original. It was a hugely high-profile release. When news of the Epi DG-335 first broke, it was reported that it was the brand’s most demanded signature in its 151-year history.

We won’t hold our breath, though. In the meantime, the Alpine White Gibson DG-335 is available for $11,999.

Head over to Gibson for more.

In related Gibson news, the company recently announced plans to open its third physical retail store in Miami.

• The Epiphone DG-335 is currently $300 at Sweetwater for Black Friday. Visit our guide to the best Black Friday guitar deals to browse more unmissable gear savings.

Before Nick Raskulinecz became the go-to producer and engineer for bands like Rush, Alice in Chains, Ghost, Deftones, Evanescence, Halestorm, and Mastodon, it was an encounter with Dave Grohl that opened up the opportunity for him to produce the Foo Fighters' 2002 album, One by One – followed by 2005’s hugely successful In Your Honor – which subsequently led to work with a huge roster of A-list bands.

“I had recorded the Foo Fighters at Sound City [Studios, the LA studio which has seen the likes of The Grateful Dead, Johnny Cash, Fleetwood Mac, and Bob Dylan record there],” he tells Rick Beato. “I was an assistant on a session they had done. I was an assistant a couple of times because Dave really loved Sound City, because he recorded there with Nirvana.

“We just kind of became friends. [We come from] very similar backgrounds. He grew up in Virginia, I grew up in Tennessee. We had a lot of the same common interests. So a little budding friendship started along with the recording thing.”

He continues, “I wouldn't see him again for a while, and then he'd come in and record, and we'd have a blast, and then, totally randomly, I ran into him one day, and he was looking to make a record at his house in Virginia, in the basement.

“He had built a basement studio, and coincidentally, I had just finished assistant engineering a record in a house. And I was just like, ‘I'm down.’ He was like, ‘I can't find anybody that wants to come to Virginia to make a record in my basement,’ because he was talking to all the big producer guys, and none of them wanted to do it.

“He was willing to take a chance. Making that record changed everything for me.”

As for Grohl's guitar playing, Raskulinecz agrees with Beato in his conviction that he's “such a tight guitar player.” The producer even asserts that, “I had no idea how good of a guitar player he was when we started recording. I was just blown away at how good of a guitar player he was.

“Most of the guitar is him on the records, and then Chris Shiflett comes in and kind of adds his bits and solos and stuff. But all the core foundation of that stuff is Dave.”

Dave Grohl’s very own Gibson DG-335 signature guitar prototype has surfaced – and it has been listed on Reverb for $300,000.

Listed by Skylight Guitars out of Bakersfield, California, as a consignment for its current owner (one of Grohl's old guitar techs) this is the first prototype that was made for the Foo Fighters' bandleader.

It was built in Gibson's Custom Shop in Nashville and featured heavily on stage and in the studio between 2005 and 2007.

“This Prototype was played on Echoes, Silence, Patience, Grace as well as toured from 2005 until the first production guitars were delivered in 2007,” says Grohl’s then guitar tech. The instrument subsequently retired, but notably also featured at Live Earth at Wembley Stadium in July 2007.

The semi-hollow electric guitar is in “near-perfect shape” and features a maple body with a Pelham Blue finish, a set mahogany neck with rosewood fingerboard, and twin humbuckers. Letting go of the axe hasn't been an easy decision for its owner.

“The selling of this guitar is an emotional endeavor, as it was given to me by the best boss and one of the most wonderful human beings I have ever known,” they say. “This is the most valuable thing I own in terms of emotional attachment.

“This is the original, hand-made at the Nashville Gibson Custom Shop, prototype DG 335. It is inspired by Dave's favorite guitar: the Trini Lopez '67’s signature ES-335.

“My part in the manifestation of this guitar is partly in the design, neck shape, pickups, and choosing a more road-worthy tailpiece than the original Trini's trapeze, even at Dave's protestations,” they continue. “I started this project in 2001 after Dave expressed an interest in his own signature guitar.

“It wasn't until 2005 that we finally got this prototype for him to play and approve for the first limited production run of 300 guitars. [It was] a very slow process that nearly dissolved several times.”

For whoever is willing to part with $300K for this one-of-a-kind guitar, it comes with a fitted Anvil hard case. Its current owner says the case is “pretty much bulletproof” and, just to sweeten the deal, he “will also include the disgusting, dried sweat-soaked guitar strap that was used from 2005 to 2007.”

Head to Reverb for more.

One of the UK’s cultural institutions, the annual music extravaganza that is Glastonbury Festival, has just kicked off – and while tents have been pitched, flower crowns assembled, and the artists are up and running showcasing their wares on the highly coveted stages, The Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde is giving her two cents about the impact of global warming on the festival season.

“I trust you’re all surviving the heat waves,” writes Hynde in a recent Instagram post. “I'm remembering the last couple years when we supported Guns N’ Roses, and then the Foo Fighters in stadiums (to pay for the clubs which I prefer playing). It was so hot I had to strap ice packs around my waist. And I realized then that outdoor events are going to come to an end. It’s too hot.”

Over the past week, the National Weather Service (NWS) issued several extreme heat warnings and advisories due to high temperatures and humidity blankets engulfing much of the central and eastern U.S.

Bonnaroo 2025 was, in fact, recently cancelled due to extreme weather, with organizers stating that the weather forecast was showing unsustainable conditions for campers.

As for Glastonbury, this year's festival could be one of the warmest on record, with the BBC reporting that, “Sunny spells will once again break through though and it'll be warmest day of the festival [on Sunday] with a high of 28°C (82°F). Quite a way off the Glastonbury record of 31.2°C (88.2°F) in 2017. Regardless, it’ll still be one of the warmest festivals in its history.”

Nevertheless, the legendary festival is already off to a good start, with a plethora of guitar-wielding acts to boot – including all three of this year's headliners: The 1975 on Friday, Neil Young on Saturday, and Olivia Rodrigo on Sunday.

Josh Freese has taken to Instagram to confirm his departure from the Foo Fighters, just two years after he was selected as the permanent successor to the late Taylor Hawkins.

He joined Dave Grohl and co. with a hefty resume that boasted stints with Guns N’ Roses, Nine Inch Nails, and Devo, and his appointment was announced with a little help from Chad Smith, Tommy Lee, and Danny Carey. Now, though, Freese's time with the rock heavyweights has come to a somewhat unexpected end.

“The Foo Fighters called me Monday night to let me know they’e decided to go in a different direction with their drummer. No reason was given,” he says in his post, not wanting to skirt around the facts. “Regardless, I enjoyed the past two years with them, both on and off stage, and I support whatever they feel is best for the band.”

His dismissal may feel like unfamiliar territory, as Freese goes on to reveal: “In my 40 years of drumming professionally, I've never been let go from a band.”

“I'm not angry – just a bit shocked and disappointed,” he expands. “But as most of you know I've always worked freelance and bounced between bands so, I'm fine. Stay tuned for my ‘Top 10 possible reasons Josh got booted from the Foo Fighters’ list.”

A look at Freese's career shows that he's never been short of an opportunity, and never shy to take them up.

He's worked with Dweezil and Ahmet Zappa, A Perfect Circle, and Weezer, and recorded for Good Charlotte, Avril Lavigne, and Kelly Clarkson as a session artist. Though being axed from Dave Grohl's global force will be a shock to his system, he will likely be back in action again very soon.

Freese had joined the band after the release of their first post-Hawkins album, 2023's But Here We Are, on which Dave Grohl played drums. That means he never had the chance to record with the band, but did enjoy a world tour that saw him jam Hot For Teacher with Wolfgang Van Halen.

It did, conversely, also include “the saddest thing that's ever happened” in Dave Grohl's life, after his guitar stopped working in front of 50,000 people.

Freese’s last show was reportedly a humble affair last September. The band had played a private event at House Of Blues Anaheim for Anaheim Duck owners, Henry & Susan Samueli.

As for the Foo Fighters, it will be interesting to see what the change of direction Freese has alluded to will mean. Aside from playing with the Foos, Grohl has played a handful of Nirvana reunion shows recently, including one with a revolving cast of superlative female talents.

“When you have a new guitar in your hands, it makes you feel good. When you’re playing and messing around with sounds that are inspiring, that’s when the ideas come.”

That’s Chris Shiflett – veteran Foo Fighter, thriving solo artist and Shred With Shifty podcast host – waxing lyrical about his all-new, American-made Fender signature model.

It’s a rollout he’s been teasing since early spring, when prototype versions started appearing on his social media and onstage with him at Foos shows in the US. Now, road tested to perfection and ready to hit guitar stores, meet the Fender Chris Shiflett Cleaver Telecaster Deluxe.

Available in Dakota Red or Charcoal Frost, it comes loaded with two Custom Chris Shiflett Cleaver Noiseless CS-90 pickups and features a resonant alder body with a comfortable belly cut. It boasts a large, ‘70s Strat-style headstock, a speedy 25.5” scale maple neck with a 12” radius rosewood fingerboard and 21 medium jumbo frets.

It promises gutsy stadium-sized tones as well as the twangy cleans that you’re much more likely to find in Shiflett’s countrified solo sets.

It’s not his first rodeo with Fender signatures – in 2012 he teamed up with the company to launch a wallet-friendly Mexican Tele Deluxe, before going full bells and whistles on a more exclusive Masterbuilt variant in 2019.

Dubbed “The Cleaver” for its ability to slash through the mix – thanks to a pair of high-end Fralin P-90s – the Masterbuilt has been one of his main weapons of choice ever since. But he admits it was “crazy expensive” to make, and not suited to any kind of mainstream rollout.

Thus, the new Cleaver Deluxe was conceived to bridge the gap between the two previous models in terms of spec and price point.

Before we get onto the new Cleaver Deluxe, what do Telecasters mean to you, and what are your most enduring associations with them?

“Going way back, Keith Richards is probably the first person I associated with the Telecaster. Then Joe Strummer, of course, is a huge one. Then you get into all the country pickers. The Telecaster is so closely associated with country music – it's the gold standard of honky-tonk guitar playing.

“I think of it as the perfect workhorse guitar. You can’t really break them. You can drop them or kick them and they just keep coming back for more!”

What sets this signature model apart?

“The pickups. The original production model had humbuckers. This one has Fender pickups that are modeled after the Lindy Fralin noiseless P-90s I have in the Masterbuilt one.

“When I got the first prototype from Fender, I A/B’d it with my Masterbuilt and – to my ears – it sounded literally the same. I think they got that right on the very first pass.”

What other design elements were you most specific about wanting to include?

“I’m always excited by new colors. This comes in Dakota Red, like the Masterbuilt, but we’ve also got it in Charcoal Frost, which is super cool. I love that we painted the headstock. As an aesthetic detail that just appeals to me.

“All the details are spot on. The tint on the neck, the rosewood fretboard, the 500k pots. Those little details make a big difference to me going out on stage and playing all the time. This thing’s great out of the box and there’s no tweaking necessary.”

How did the guitar got its name?

“I think it was my old guitar tech, Sean Cox, or maybe our sound guy. I don’t remember who came up with it, but we called the original one ‘The Cleaver’ because it cut through!

In Foo Fighters we have a lot of sound coming off the stage and as one of the guitar players in the band it’s something I’m always thinking about. Where should my tone sit? The P-90s just have that growl.”

You’ve been using Superstrats onstage as well lately, which feel like the antithesis of the Cleaver Deluxe – or any Telecaster for that matter. So where does the love of shred guitars come from?

“You’re totally right! I’ve gotten a few of those over the years. When I grew up it was the era of Eddie Van Halen, Randy Rhoads, Yngwie Malmsteen and all those full-ripping guitar heroes. But I could never play like that! By the time I was playing in high school bands I’d moved into a different space musically.

“There was a time you wouldn’t have touched a Superstrat, at least in my world – that was very illegal. It’s cool to be able to let go of those old feelings and those silly rules we put on ourselves when we’re young.

“The nice folks at Fender have given me one of those yellow and black Eddie Van Halen Strats. I’ve got a Charvel. I’ve got a regular Strat with a humbucker and a Floyd Rose in it. I’ll go to those occasionally for certain things.”

What other gear is most essential to you right now?

“For my solo stuff I’ve been using a Quad Cortex. For my podcast, I use the Tone Master Pro that Fender put out. It sounds amazing and it’s super intuitive. I like it a lot and I like messing with all that stuff.

“In Foo Fighters I have my real amps, but I also have the luxury of a giant road crew that sets all that stuff up for me. When it’s me on my own on a van tour, I’ll just take the Quad Cortex because it’s so much easier.

“They’re all just tools to get the job done. I think people get really worked up about new technologies, when it’s all just about whatever sounds good in the room.?

Has the experience of interviewing guitar superstars on your Shred with Shifty podcast impacted your approach to playing?

“It has – a lot! The premise of the show is that we’re breaking down one of my guest’s guitar solos. In advance of every interview I have to spend some time trying to figure out how to play the solo.

“First off, a lot of them are just hard and I can’t play them! But even the ones that aren’t as advanced technique-wise, it’s an interesting challenge to try to put somebody else’s phrasing in my hands.

“As guitar players, we’re all kind of doing the same stuff. It’s just our individual feels, where you start the lick; all that kind of stuff that makes your personal style.

“Over the course of a couple of seasons – and we’ve got most of season two in the can now – the idea has been that there’s so much information out there on how to play anything, but it’s almost always wrong!

“The mission was, ‘Let’s go to the source and find out exactly what was played.’ But you do that, and you realize they don’t know! They played it on a record at one point and they don’t remember it exactly.

“The biggest takeaway is that it doesn’t matter; that’s not the point of playing guitar. It’s not about learning anything exactly; but I love putting myself in somebody else’s mindset to try to understand what they did.”

What’s the most valuable thing you’ve learned from a guest?

“I interviewed Wolfie Van Halen, and even though I didn’t fully learn the tapping pattern of the solo we focused on, that definitely inspired me to learn the little tapping bit in Eruption to the best of my ability, and start throwing that into some Foo Fighters sets.”

What guests do you have lined up for season two?

“We’ve got Michael Schenker, Keith Urban, Molly Tuttle, Derek Trucks and a bunch more after that. I interviewed Zakk Wylde just the other day. So there’s some really good guitar players in this season.”

As somebody who’s also shared stages with a lot of legendary players over the years, who has been the most memorable?

“Brian May would be a big one – that was when I first joined Foo Fighters and we played at Brixton Academy. Brian came out and played a song with us. All of a sudden you’re standing next to that dude and you’re like, ‘It’s Brian May! That sounds like Brian May!’

“I love when you play with some of these folks and it reminds you of how much of it’s in the hands. It’s who they are; it’s how they play and it’s that tone.”

Is it difficult to focus on what you’re doing when you’re standing next to people like that?

“Absolutely! When we played at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Paul McCartney came out and we did a song with him. I remember really specifically prepping myself to stay in the moment, look around, breathe deep, take it all in, look at your bandmates, look at Paul McCartney, look at your family right over there.

“And of course, when you start doing that, you start playing the song wrong. So there you go!”

• The Chris Shiflett Cleaver Telecaster Deluxe will retail at $2,499.99 USD / £2,599 GBP / €2,999.

Steve Hill – described by Guitarist magazine as “the 21st century’s answer to the traditional one-man band” – is a wildcard guitarist. With a drumstick stuck to the headstock of his electric guitar and a dogged DIY spirit, there are few players like him.

Recently, Hill took a trip to Foo Fighters’ famed Studio 606 to track his latest album, Hanging On A String – and he had to navigate multiple disasters to get it over the line.

Naturally, Hill made full use of Studio 606’s suite of gear while he was there, and found himself drawn to two of Chris Shiflett’s favorite guitar amps. Alas, he proved too hot to handle for one, sending it to an early, charred grave.

“I’m using Dave Grohl’s bass drum and I’m using their amps,” Hill reveals of the new album. “Chris Shiflett has this great [Vox] AC30 from the 60s; that’s the main amp on the album. That and a Princeton Reverb – until I blew it up and replaced it with a black-panel Deluxe. He probably doesn’t know...”

While the amp trade-off isn’t a terrible one, it seems unlikely that Shiflett – a gear nerd who recently pitted his skills against Joe Bonamassa, and failed – wouldn't notice. But, for now, at least, he seems to have gotten away with it.

It helps his case that Shiflett, who recently received a brand new signature Telecaster, has been experimenting with amp modelers for his latest solo tours. He's bought a Quad Cortex, despite admitting that “It feels like total blasphemy.”

The stealth replacement of the busted Princeton was just one calamity in a long line of fateful mishaps that took place during the tracking of Hanging On A String. The first occured when Hill narrowly escaped death after his tour manager’s house burned down.

“I was sleeping in the basement on a mat that really was not comfortable, but it saved my life because I couldn’t sleep properly,” Hill recalls. “I was dreaming of barbecue and when I opened my eyes there was smoke everywhere. The house was on fire.”

Soon after, Hill was given the chance to record at Studio 606 through his friend Brian Loudenslager, and found himself with “three months to write the album” while juggling a 9-to-5 job, weekend gigs, and writing over a frantic period.

To make matters worse, hours after he landed in LA, the next disaster struck as Hill was involved in a car accident that broke several of his ribs.

“I tried to record the album, but every day, a new nerve would pinch and it was getting impossible,” he says. And so the album’s tracking was postponed. Fortunately, after all that, Hill’s Hanging On A String is out now.

Pick up a copy of Guitarist from Magazines Direct to read his interview in full. It features alongside chats with Orianthi – who is joining Alice Cooper's live band for select shows – and Phil Manzanera.

For Chris Shiflett, joining the Foo Fighters in 1999 quickly turned into a whirlwind adventure.

Within 48 hours of becoming the band’s second guitarist, he found himself guitar shopping with Dave Grohl’s Amex, and not long after that, he was sharing stages with some huge names.

More recently, that’s included jamming Hot For Teacher with Wolfgang Van Halen, but when Shiflett was asked who his most memorable stage-sharers have been in an upcoming chat with Guitar World, a few key names stood out above the rest.

“When we played at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Paul McCartney came out and we did a song with him,” he reflects. “I remember really specifically prepping myself to stay in the moment, look around, breathe deep, take it all in, look at your bandmates, look at Paul McCartney, look at your family right over there.

“And of course, when you start doing that, you start playing the song wrong. So there you go!”

Macca wasn't the only artist to have made an impression on Shiflett. Elsewhere in his GW chat, he also singles out Brian May as a particularly influential collaborator.

“Guitar-wise, Brian May would be a big one,” he says. “That was when I first joined Foo Fighters. We played at Brixton Academy not too long after that and that was the first time I experienced Brian coming out and playing a song with us.

“All of a sudden you’re standing next to that dude and you’re like, ‘It’s Brian May! That sounds like Brian May!’”

May had joined the band for their encore that evening, digging into two Queen tracks – We Will Rock You and Now I'm Here – with Roger Taylor also starring behind the drum kit. What Shiflett heard coming from May’s Red Special guitar taught him a valuable lesson.

“I love when you play with some of these folks and it reminds you of how much of it is in the hands,” Shiflett goes on. “It’s who they are, it’s how they play and it’s that tone.”

Shiflett has just dropped a stunning signature 'Cleaver' Telecaster Deluxe with Fender. The guitar has been “road-tested, kicked around, and X-rayed” to meet the guitarist’s exacting specs.

He’s also recently took a divebomb-friendly custom-built Superstrat on tour with him for the Foo’s latest shows, having gotten the idea from Richie Sambora.

Keep your eyes on GW for the full interview, which includes an in-depth look at his new Tele, essential gear, and the impact his Shred With Shifty podcast has had on his playing.

For Chris Shiflett, being asked to join the Foo Fighters was “a dream come true”. Then, a mere 24 hours later, he found himself going on an electric guitar shopping spree with Dave Grohl – financed by Grohl’s Amex – which compounded that dream into something beyond his wildest fantasies.

In 1999, Shiflett was busy plying his trade in the punk group No Use for a Name when he heard that the Foo Fighters were holding auditions for an extra guitarist.

Though Shiflett aced the audition, Grohl quickly realized that his new bandmate would need more than his sole Gibson Les Paul for the new gig.

“Talk about a dream come true,” Shiflett reflects in a three-way chat with Grohl and Pat Smear on Premier Guitar. “Day two of being in the Foo Fighters, Dave Grohl says, ‘You’re gonna need more guitars, let’s get you some.’”

The band had just tracked their third album, There Is Nothing Left to Lose, and with its supporting tour fast approaching, there was no time to waste.

“So we drive over to Voltage on Sunset and the shops I have been going to since I was a little kid,” Shiflett continues.

For the uninitiated, Vintage is, in its own words, “Hollywood’s oldest, largest, and most established vintage guitar store”. This wasn’t going to be a humble spending spree – and it proved to be a poignant full-circle moment for the guitarist.

“Now I’m walking in there and I’ve got Dave Grohl with me, he’s got his Amex, and we’re going shopping. He’s going, ‘Get whatever you want,’ and I was so freaked out. I couldn’t even think straight, but luckily I got two guitars that are fucking amazing.”

Sadly, Shiflett doesn’t reveal exactly what he bought, but early footage of his Foo Fighters days suggests one may have been a Gibson Explorer in Classic White.

Such reminiscing got Shiflett wondering what that experience would have been like today. Grohl quickly quipped: “You’d be taking your own credit card!”

In the same interview, fellow Foo Fighter Pat Smear recalls how his debut show with Nirvana almost didn’t happen because of his guitar of choice.

In related Shiflett news, the guitarist has just released his long-awaited signature Fender Telecaster after a long process of rugged road-testing.

On September 25, 1993, Nirvana appeared as a quartet on Saturday Night Live. As the story goes, the band’s new guitarist, Pat Smear, had received a call from Kurt Cobain inviting him to join the group as a second guitarist for an upcoming tour. The SNL performance served as an opportunity for the public to witness the updated lineup and experience select songs from Nevermind's follow-up, In Utero.

However, before joining Nirvana, Smear had been playing with German singer-songwriter and actress Nina Hagen, and had been coaxed into acquiring a 1982 Charvel for that particular gig.

When it came to playing with Cobain and co, though, the Charvel – which Smear considered to be his “good guitar” – raised a few eyebrows.

“She had a musical director, and they were snobs, and they hated that there was a fucking punk rocker in their band. They hated it so much,” Smear recalls in a conversation with Dave Grohl and Chris Shiflett for Premier Guitar. “I mean, she didn’t, but the band did, and they’re like, ‘You need to get a good guitar.’ So I end up buying this Charvel.

“It was gorgeous,” he goes on. “I mean, this thing was so pretty. I thought, ‘Okay, now I have a good guitar.’ So we’re doing my first-ever gig with Nirvana [on] Saturday Night Live. And I’m like, ‘Well, better play my good guitar. I’m gonna play my Charvel.’

While he had considered playing his Hagstrom instead, Smear thought his newly acquired Charvel would make more sense for such a highly anticipated appearance with, as he referred to Nirvana, “professional musicians”.

“And what I didn’t know at the time – I don't even know if you [referring to Dave Grohl] were involved – but there was a discussion about me and that guitar like, ‘No, no, no, we can’t let him on stage.’”

“Kurt ended up giving me this rad fucking guitar [referring to the Mosrite Mark V in blue he ended up playing], which is not a Charvel.”

During his (albeit brief) tenure with Nirvana, Smear played several models, primarily Fender Strats purchased for him by Cobain.

According to Nirvana’s longtime guitar tech, Earnest Bailey, three of the main ones were an American Strat in Midnight Blue with a maple fretboard, another American Strat nicknamed ‘Glossy’ – featuring a black DiMarzio pickup and a locked-down Floyd Rose bridge – and ‘Flopsy’, a Mexican Strat in black that Smear further modified throughout the tour by adding nail polish in different colors.

He also played a Hagstrom III in black, a blue Hagstrom I, and a black Hagstrom XII, plus the colorful Harmony Buck Owens American acoustic, which actually belonged to Krist Novoselic, and that stood out during Nirvana’s iconic MTV Unplugged concert.

However, his relationship with that Charvel guitar didn’t end there. Fast forward to 2023, and a serendipitous, full-circle moment occurred during a Foo Fighters SNL appearance with H.E.R “I noticed she was playing a Charvel,” Smear says. “She goes, ‘Yeah!’ [and I said] ‘I have a perfect guitar for you,’ and I sent her that guitar.”

Fender has lifted the curtain on one of its most anticipated launches of the year – the Chris Shiflett Cleaver Telecaster Deluxe.

A long-awaited release that’s been designed in collaboration with the Foo Fighters electric guitar maestro, this particular new signature guitar arrives after months of speculation, which first began when Shiflett confirmed the existence of a new P-90-loaded Tele that he and Fender were working on.

At the time, it was revealed the then-unnamed Cleaver Telecaster had been rigorously road-tested, with Shiflett himself taking to the stage with a Charcoal Frost-finished variant that was inspired by his original P-90 Telecaster.

Indeed, the design brief for the Chris Shiflett Cleaver Telecaster Deluxe was to replicate its master’s Masterbuilt Tele – complete with P-90 pickups – without emulating the Custom Shop creation’s lofty price tag.

To that end, the Corona-made single-cut – which is available in both Charcoal Frost Metallic and Dakota Red colorways – streamlines the spec sheet but works to retain the Tele Deluxe charm of the source material.

That means there’s a classic alder body with a comfortable belly cut, as well as a C-shape maple neck, 12”-radius rosewood fingerboard with 21 frets, and a 25.5” scale length. Other core components include pearloid block inlays, a bone nut, string-through-body hardtail bridge and F-style tuning machines.

According to Fender, though, the magic of Shiflett’s Cleaver Telecaster comes from the pickups, which are a pair of Custom Chris Shiflett ‘Cleaver’ Noiseless CS-90s. Wired to a regular Tele Deluxe control circuit comprising two volume and two tone controls, the P-90-style pups promise “a throaty midrange punch” and the singing highs of a vintage single-coil without any hum.

This tonal versatility is a key feature of the no-nonsense workhorse, which has been aptly named “The Cleaver” for its ability to “positively slash through the mix with a voice that snarls dirty as well as sings clean”.

Naturally, this is imperative for Shiflett, whose body of work – from his Foo Fighters responsibilities all the way to his solo career – runs the entire gamut of hard-hitting rock ‘n’ roll to full-throttle country.

“Going way back, Keith Richards is probably the first person I associated with the Telecaster,” Shiflett tells Guitar World in upcoming interview of his affection for Telecasters. “Then Joe Strummer, of course, is a huge one. Then you get into all the country pickers.

“The Telecaster is so closely associated with country music – it’s the gold standard of honky tonk guitar playing. I think of it as the perfect workhorse guitar. You can’t really break them. You can drop them or kick them and they just keep coming back for more.”

“We put a lot of love and research into creating the American made version of my signature model, The Cleaver,” Shiflett continues in the Fender release.

“It’s been road-tested, dropped on its head, kicked around, x-rayed, strummed, chicken-picked, and arpeggio swept! I’m excited to announce we’ve made a great guitar that's adaptable to all situations. Can’t wait to get this into the hands of players everywhere!"

“Chris has a lot of guitars, plays a lot of styles and demands versatility, and our goal was to capture that spirit in the design,” adds Fender’s Justin Norvell. “This guitar is not just an instrument; it’s an extension of his musical identity and tone that both he and his fans demand

“Fun Fact: we didn’t nickname it ‘The Cleaver’, his Front-of-house person did the first night he played it live, because ‘it cut through the mix like a cleaver,’ which speaks for itself!”

“It was in reference to the sound of the original one,” Shiflett explains to Guitar World. “We called it 'The Cleaver' because it cut through!

“In Foo Fighters, we have a lot of sound coming off the stage and that’s always something – as one of the guitar players in the band – that I’m thinking about. Where should my tone sit? The P-90s just have that growl.”

The Chris Shiflett Cleaver Telecaster Deluxe is available now for $2,499.

Visit Fender for more information.

Chris Shiflett is playing a new custom electric guitar on tour with the Foo Fighters, having originally been inspired to test out the rule-breaking six-string by Richie Sambora.

Playing in the Foo Fighters with Dave Grohl is no doubt a dream gig for thousands of musicians, but Shiflett has joked his latest touring guitar may be deemed “illegal” under Grohl’s leadership.

He’s revealed to Premier Guitar that he’s been playing a Charvel-style custom Superstrat on tour with the stadium rockers and has been putting it to good use, abusing its Floyd Rose tremolo and treating his guitar solo on Breakout to some dive bombs – even if that goes against Foo Fighters tradition.

Maybe Mr. Grohl has let the left-field guitar choice slide, as it represents the realization of a longtime dream for Shiflett.

“I always wanted to put together a Superstrat,” he says. “So I did that! I brought it out on tour. I mean, that is so illegal in the Foo Fighters but I’ve slipped it in just a little bit without asking!”

Former Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora – who has twice featured on the guitarist’s Shred With Shifty podcast – and his own employment of a Charvel with a reverse headstock during one of their conversations is partly responsible for Shiflett's shift.

The guitar used by Sambora during his chat with Shiflett was a signature model, but the Foo Fighter was unable to recall whose while speaking to Premier Guitar – evidence suggests it was Henrik Danhage’s Pro-Mod So-Cal Style 1.

The connection between the Evergrey guitarist and the Foo Fighters may seem tenuous, but it inspired a thought in Shiflett's mind.

After sourcing some components for his Eddie Van Halen-inspired creation online, Shiflett tasked Eric Chaz at Ernie’s Guitars in Van Nuys, California, with piecing the parts together.

“I brought it out because there’s a section in the show where Dave introduces everybody, and everybody does a little something, and I sorta worked that in to do a little homage to some of my favorite players,” Shiflett explains of his decision to use the Superstrat on tour.

“I’ll do a little taste of Randy Rhoads, a little bit of Eruption, and a little bit of Thunderstruck, AC/DC, and so I wanted to bring that guitar with me so I could do some tremolo bar dives and stuff.”

The guitar has been given a neat relic’d shell pink finish, and Shiflett's name can be found on the headstock. But all that effort to build a Superstrat just for a small noodle each night seemed too much.

“After getting it out here,” he goes on, “I don’t want to throw it on for just that and then take it off, so I put it on for the song just ahead of that – we usually do Breakout. And then I started doing some divebombs in Breakout just to see if anyone in the band noticed.”

Thus far, his whammy bar acrobatics have gone largely unnoticed, or at least been quietly accepted, by his bandmates.

Dave Navarro has revealed he and Taylor Hawkins had finished recording an album together before the Foo Fighters drummer passed away – and the loss was so painful for the Jane’s Addiction guitarist that he didn’t play guitar for a year.

Last month, Navarro finally returned to onstage action with Jane’s Addiction, having been sidelined for three years following his battle with Long Covid.

The electric guitar hero came down with the condition back in December 2021, mere months after he launched new supergroup, NHC, with fellow Jane’s Addiction bandmate Chris Chaney, and Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins.

The band played live a handful of times together – including one occasion where they were joined by Pat Smear – but the trio continued their collaboration in the studio, where they recorded an entire album together.

However, Hawkins passed away suddenly in March 2022, and Navarro was so devastated by the sudden news that he didn’t play guitar for a long, long time.

In a new interview with Guitar World, Navarro was asked how his Long Covid battle impacted his guitar playing, responding, “If I'm being perfectly honest, I just completed making a record with Taylor Hawkins and Chris Chaney.

“We mixed and mastered it, and then, we lost Taylor. That was in the middle of Covid, and it was actually very painful for me to pick up the guitar after that.”

“I'll be honest – I didn't pick up the guitar for about a year,” he continues. “And because he [Taylor Hawkins] was such an inspiring artist… Not only was he a phenomenal drummer, but he was also an amazing songwriter and lyricist, and he was just one of those humans that everybody loved. Everybody loved him.”

A year after Hawkins’ death, Navarro – who was housebound with Long Covid at the time – slowly got back into the swing of things, and found himself returning to the instrument.

“For the first year after losing Taylor, I didn't play for a long time. Then, about a year into it, I picked up the guitar, started playing some cover songs, and just kind of got used to the instrument in my hand again.”

Chris Shiflett is best known as Foo Fighters' lead guitarist, but he's also a solo artist in his own right. His latest EP, Starry Nights & Campfire Lights, notably features a country version of Thin Lizzy's Cowboy Song and an Americana rendition of Don't You Ever Leave Me by Hanoi Rocks.

However, despite the old-school feel, Shiflett actually did away with tube amps and recorded the whole EP using a Neural DSP Quad Cortex.

“I used a Quad Cortex for all the electric guitars. We recorded everything pretty quick. Truth be told, I didn’t have a lot of time and didn’t want to grab all my old amps and set them up,” he reveals in the latest edition of Total Guitar.

“So I just brought the Quad Cortex, baby. It really did the job… I think it sounds very close to vintage amps. If I hadn’t told you that, you probably wouldn’t have guessed, right?

“I know some guitar players purposefully use things like Fractals on their records because then they have the exact same tones for the live shows. That’s what I was thinking. I’ll record with this thing and then I’ve got those sounds on my little device wherever I go on tour.”

This doesn't mean that Shiflett is a total amp modeler convert, however. “Just for the record, I do want to state clearly that I prefer a real amp,” he says. “But at my advanced age, I’m a lazy motherf*cker and it’s okay to throw a Quad Cortex in.”

In a 2023 Guitarist interview, Shiflett spoke at length about the reasons behind his amp-less live rig, which he's rolled out for a few smaller shows.

“It feels like total blasphemy. But doing my solo shows, I play a lot of shitty bars with shitty PAs, and oftentimes I’m not travelling with my own sound man and it’s a real roll of the dice – sometimes it’s great and sometimes it’s fucking terrible.”

He continued, “I just found that dragging around my old combo amps – because I normally play through a Deluxe Reverb or old Princeton – they’re so susceptible to dirty power and things coloring your tone.”

Another contributing factor was sound engineer inconsistencies, which led him to consider an amp modeler-powered setup.

“I’d bought one of those [Strymon] Iridiums to fuck around with in my studio and just loved the way it sounded. Live, it just cuts out the middle man.”

For more Chris Shiflett, plus a rundown of the greatest guitar cover versions of all time, pick up issue 386 of Total Guitar at Magazines Direct.

Dave Grohl has seemingly suggested that Taylor Swift’s band doesn’t play their material live during shows.

Swift and Foo Fighters were both in London over the weekend. While the former was onstage at Wembley Stadium, Grohl and co were playing at the London Stadium – and it was during these concurrent shows on Saturday night that Grohl made his comments.

“I tell you, man, you don't want to suffer the wrath of Taylor Swift. So we like to call our tour the 'Errors Tour,’” Grohl said, in a nod to the ‘Eras Tour’ name Swift is currently performing under.

“We've had more than a few eras and more than a few fucking errors as well,” he continued. “Just a couple. That's because we actually play live. What? Just saying! You guys like raw, live rock 'n' roll music, right? You came to the right fucking place.”

The comments seemingly made it onto Swift’s radar and, as per the video below, the singer was seen apparently addressing Grohl’s dig during her third Wembley Show on the following night.

“Every one of my band members, every single one of our crew, my band, who’s gonna be playing live for you for three-and-a-half hours tonight, they deserve this so much,” Swift told the audience.

“And so does every one of my fellow performers. And you just gave that to us so generously, we will never forget it.”

Grohl’s comments have drawn considerable attention from not just Swift’s loyal fanbase, but from the wider music community.

The exchange has perplexed many spectators, especially given the fact Grohl and Swift have a rather positive history. Back in 2022, for example, Grohl recalled the time Swift saved him from embarrassment at a party hosted by Paul McCartney.

It’s not the first time a Foo Fighters show has made headlines over the past few weeks. On June 13, during the bands’ show at Manchester’s Old Trafford Cricket Ground, Grohl’s guitar rig stopped working nine seconds into Everlong – in front of 50,000 people.

If you're familiar with the Foo Fighters’ big hits – Monkey Wrench, Learn To Fly, Times Like These, Breakout and so on – you'll know that they specialise in Rock with a capital R, designed for stadiums and beloved of crowds worldwide.

It's all a long way from bassist Nate Mendel's youth as a punk kid from Richland, Washington. “I just wanted to be in a band," he told Bass Player. “I was listening to the Ghost In The Machine album by the Police at the time, and I was hugely into Sting, so when my friend suggested I should play bass guitar I thought it sounded like an awesome idea.” 

It certainly was – so what was that first bass? "I got a Steinberger copy by Cort, because it was the ’80s, and that was what you did when you were 13 back then! I got a practice amp and we messed around a bit, but that band didn't last long. 

“After that I got into punk rock and moved on to an Ibanez Roadstar and a black Kramer, a kind of Travis Bean-style bass. I joined this band called Christ On A Crutch and I bought a P-Bass for $200 from the singer. That's the one I modelled my signature Precision on.” 

So who's bigger than the Foo Fighters, in terms of numbers of gigs played at truly huge venues? No-one in rock apart from U2 and Guns N’ Roses. But there was a time when not everything that Dave Grohl touched turned to gold.

Back in 2004, Grohl admitted to not being happy with the band's One by One album, with the group taking some time out before heading back in to record the electric and acoustic double-disc, In Your Honour, which also included such guest performers as Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme and Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones.

“It was Dave's idea to bring John Paul Jones in, and initially I was like, ‘Okay, so how many songs am I not going to play bass on?’ It was intimidating! – although he did everything in his power to make it not so. But when he was tuning up his Mellotron he played a couple of Zeppelin riffs, so that was great. ”

Jones played mandolin on Another Round, and piano on Miracle. “He is more than just a bass player,” said Grohl. “He's an arranger. He came in, listened to the song, put it on piano, played it a few times and it was done.”

“On the first disc we did things in segments,” said Mendel. “First drums, then scratch guitars, I'd take home a Pro Tools file and write a bassline. I would run it by Dave and the producer, we'd talk about it, make changes, and then put it down. I would usually come in with this elaborate bassline – but over time, I've come to appreciate simplicity and what it can do for a song.”

“When it came time to do the acoustic record, we were running low on time and I didn't have a chance to go and write basslines, so they ended up being much simpler.

“A couple of times, I hadn't even heard the song before – Dave and Chris would put down their guitar lines and I'd be in a room with the bass, and our producer Nick Raskulinecz would go, ‘Okay, let's run it a couple of times and see what happens.’ I was concentrating on just finding the notes and getting the rhythm right.”

As is usually the case when big bands on a big budget go into big studios, there was an enviable choice of gear for Mendel to choose from, including his custom shop P-Basses. “They were made for me in the late ’90s: they're basically what my signature bass turned into.”

“It's a pretty typical P-Bass, but I had different pickups put in, and a thicker bridge. The main thing was trying to get the shape of the neck right. In the batch of 1971 basses that mine came from, I think that they were trying to split the difference between the feel of a Precision neck and a Jazz neck. It's a little wider than a Jazz neck, which for me feels a little crowded.”

Has Mendel ever gone down into five-string territory? “No! In our little camp, five-strings are pretty illegal. It's funny, because I totally understand the value of that fifth string, but it's just one of those lines that you don't cross.”

On June 13, Foo Fighters were just about to wrap up the first show of their 2024 UK tour at Manchester's Old Trafford Cricket Ground, when Grohl's guitar stopped working.

“Oh, my guitar just died!” exclaimed Grohl, as he lived out every guitarist's worst nightmare. His guitar, a gold Gibson Dave Grohl Signature DG-335, gave way nine seconds into Everlong due to a stage power issue. 

He jokingly added, “That's the saddest thing that's ever happened in my life! What are the fucking odds.” The technical hitch didn't dampen Grohl's spirits though, as he handed over guitar duties to Chris Shiflett and proceeded to command the stage and audience “like Bono”.

In addition to the gold DG-335, Grohl was also spotted using his Pelham Blue Gibson DG-335 and Gibson Elvis Presley Dove acoustic guitar throughout the three-hour-long show.

The setlist was chock-full of Foo Fighters hits, including All My Life, Best of You, The Pretender, and My Hero. The band also honored their late drummer Taylor Hawkins, dedicating Aurora to him. 

Moreover, there was the live debut of an unreleased track, Unconditional, which according to the band, “came up in conversation during rehearsals for the UK tour, and all it took was one run-through: the decision was made instantly to share it with everyone in the same way – live.” Furthermore, it was the first new song with Josh Freese as the band's official drummer.

Foo Fighters are currently in the middle of their UK stadium tour. Upcoming dates include two nights at London Stadium on June 20 and June 22, a stop at Principality Stadium in Cardiff on June 25, and a final performance at Birmingham's Villa Park on June 27.

Not many musicians can claim to have transitioned from creating genre-defining drum fills behind the kit of grunge’s most famous band to commanding the center stage as a world-class frontman, guitar player, and songwriter. Yet, this is precisely the path that Dave Grohl has traversed, all the while maintaining a reputation for being the nicest man in rock. 

Over the past three decades, Grohl has been at the helm of the Foo Fighters, transforming them from an underground solo project to a seven-piece mega-band that sells out stadiums worldwide. Together, they have solidified their status as one of the most beloved and enduring bands of all time. Their music, a reflection of Grohl's enduring talent as a songwriter and the band's timeless appeal, has resonated with fans across generations, earning them a place in the annals of rock history. 

Accompanying Grohl along his musical journey has been a slew of – mainly – Gibson guitars, although there are a few notable exceptions. From signature semi-hollows to radical Explorers and a few off-kilter models, Dave’s road-ready axes must be able to withstand the harsh conditions of a relentless touring schedule and deliver a stadium-filling sound night after night – there’s no room for pretenders here. 

Today, we’re going to break down some of Dave Grohl’s most iconic guitars and even give you some affordable models to check out if you fancy recreating the Foo Fighters frontman’s signature sound on a budget. 

Of course, Grohl has used various models over his insanely long career, and there’s a lot to cover, so run and tell all of the angels, this could take all night… 

1. 1967 Gibson Trini Lopez / Gibson DG-335

The 1967 Gibson Trini Lopez holds a special place in Dave Grohl's heart, so much so that he has often referred to it as “the sound of the Foo Fighters.” This guitar, which has been a constant companion on every album, has been used to pen the majority of the band's biggest hits. 

Purchased in Bethesda, Maryland around ‘92, in his previous life as the drummer of Nirvana, this guitar has gone on to define the sound of the Foo Fighters and is arguably more associated with Grohl than with its namesake, Trini Lopez. 

Originally designed as one of two models he crafted with Gibson in the sixties, Lopez merged the body of an ES-335 with the headstock of a Non-Reverse Firebird to create his new signature guitar. He also added distinctive visual elements such as diamond sound holes, split diamond inlays, and a Lopez-branded wooden tailpiece, resulting in a guitar so visually striking that it has gone on to develop a life outside of the sixties singer/ guitarist.  

When it came time for Grohl to retire his beloved Trini from live use, he turned to the Gibson Custom Shop to produce a model spec’d to his exact needs. This guitar would become the basis of his signature model, the Gibson DG-335. 

Over the years, various iterations of this signature Pelham Blue guitar have been released, ranging from a $5,000 model in 2007 to a highly limited edition version in 2014. However, if you're not ready to splurge, don't fret. This year, Grohl has finally collaborated with Epiphone to bring you the highly anticipated Epiphone DG-335, which launched at a more affordable price point. 

2. Gibson Explorer

If you’ve been a fan of Foo Fighters since the early days, you'll likely feel a surge of nostalgia when you recall a young Dave Grohl and Co. tearing up the stage with a dangerously slow-slung ebony Gibson Explorer hanging from his shoulder, a sight that has become synonymous with the band's formative years. 

Likely a late ‘90s model, this beaten-up black Explorer was a staple of Dave’s live rig from around 1995 to the early 2000s and quickly became his calling card axe before he moved on to a Firebird and eventually his signature semi-hollow. 

Famed for its ostentatious design and larger-than-life sound, the Explorer is the ideal guitar for a stadium rock setting. Utilizing its mid-range bark and top-end snarl, Grohl used this guitar to its full potential to deliver his gut-punching riffs live.

3. Gibson Les Paul Standard / Gibson Les Paul Custom

Back in the band's early days, while Dave was still finding his feet as a frontman and guitarist, he would often be seen with a Gibson Les Paul around his neck. Again, he has used many models, but the most notable ones are his beloved Tobacco Burst Les Paul Standard and Alpine White Les Paul Custom. These guitars are known for their rich, warm tones and comfortable playability, making them ideal for both studio recordings and live performances.

Grohl used his sunburst Les Paul from the very beginning of the band from 1994 to 1997 and has said that it was used throughout the recording of the first record.  Around the same time, he would also rely on a yellowed-out Alpine White Les Paul Custom, which was a mainstay at early live shows. 

4. Gibson Elvis Presley Dove

When it comes to acoustic guitars, Dave has been known to use many models from the Taylor 814-CE and 410, to the favorite flat-top of his former band leader, Cobain, the Martin D-18. That said, there is one model that he is most associated with live and that’s the Gibson Elvis Presley Dove – I guess Dave loves playing other people’s signature models as much as his own. 

Fashioned after a customized 1969 Gibson Dove that was gifted to Elvis by his father, this unique blacked-out square-shouldered dreadnought is a sight to behold. It features a spruce top with maple back and sides, a mahogany neck, and a rosewood fingerboard, all contributing to its distinctive sound and aesthetic. 

Honorable mentions

So that's just a snippet of the guitars Dave Grohl has used both on stage and in the studio. That said, we can't finish up without mentioning a few of the other six-strings that have made an appearance at one time or another. 

It's no secret that Dave has a penchant for the unconventional side of electric guitars. In the late '90s and early 2000s, he often wielded a '70s RD Standard, as well as the head-turning Ampeg Dan Armstrong Plexiglass, a guitar that played a pivotal role in the video for All My Life. 

Another prominent axe is the Gibson Firebird Studio, which made an appearance around 2005 during the In Your Honor tour. This model is notable as it doesn't fit the standard configuration of a Firebird. It forgoes the neck-through construction and ditches the mini-humbuckers for full-sized humbuckers. 

And lastly, we can't forget to pay homage to Dave's most flamboyant instrument, the iconic Gretsch White Falcon. This '90s Japanese-made Gretsch, once owned by Dave's partner in crime, Pat Smear, holds a special place in their shared musical journey. It was a staple on and off stage for both musicians, with its most memorable appearance in the video for the band's chart-topping hit, Monkey Wrench. Astonishingly, the guitar fetched a whopping $53,000 when it went to auction back in 2022. 

Wolfgang Van Halen has revealed he'd like to collaborate with rock royalty Dave Grohl and Myles Kennedy.

In an interview with Help Musician's I Never Thought It Would Happen podcast, Van Halen talked about how, despite being a multi-instrumentalist, he still has a bucket list of collaborators.

“I would really love to collaborate with my really good friend – he sings for Alter Bridge and for Slash – Myles Kennedy,” he revealed. “I think he is a wonderful human being, and an incredibly talented singer and guitar player. So I would I would jump at an opportunity to collaborate with him for sure.

“It'd also be fun to collaborate with one of my biggest inspirations, Dave Grohl. I'm basically ripping him off with Mammoth and the way that he started with Foo Fighters recording everything himself. I've kind of modeled the way Mammoth exists because of him. So if he didn't exist, I wouldn't.”

In the same interview, Van Halen also talked about the beauty of recording all instruments on the Mammoth WVH albums and the artist-producer trust that’s required, especially when recording to tape.

“My producer Michael Baskette and our engineer, Jef Moll, they're practically the other half of the band. I play all the instruments and write everything for Mammoth. 

“There's obvious frustration some days [when] you're not feeling it. But I think that's the wonderful thing about doing it yourself is that's like, if this isn't working, let's just do another thing and come back to it.”

He continued, “And so while I can fully focus on that, [they can focus on] the production aspect and the recording, the complications. We record to tape for drums and guitar because I use my father's studio 5150. 

“All the tape machines are there and ready to go. So it's like why don't we use it? But yeah, because of their high skill and my trust in them, there's really nothing to doubt or worry about when it comes to the production of Mammoth.”

Despite Van Halen very much steering the Mammoth WVH ship, the project's collaborative spirit extends to the live setup. “The fun duality of Mammoth is that I have a live band of really great friends and musicians to perform and reinterpret the music live, but also having my fun artistic expression in the studio.”

Mammoth WVH are touring extensively this year. The band recently supported Slash feat Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators in the UK and Europe. They kick off their US headline tour on May 4 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and are also touring with Metallica and Foo Fighters this summer.

Chris Shiflett has revealed he's been working with Fender on another signature Telecaster.

It’s been quite a while since the arrival of his first signature guitar, and the Foo Fighters guitarist has teased that his new Charcoal Frost prototype “plays nice and sounds fantastic”.

And, since it has already been road-tested in Washington, D.C., it’s possible that a full-scale production isn’t too far away. When it eventually arrives, it will be interesting to see how much it differs from his 2012 build. 

That model was based on Shiflett's favorite ’72 Tele Deluxe, and boasted Fender CS1 and CS2 humbucker pickups and a low-action rosewood fretboard. A Masterbuilt variant with P-90s was also produced, but it came at an elevated cost – which is something Shiflett’s been keen to address this time around. 

Shiflett let news of the work-in-progress slip during a conversation with MusicRadar, in which he confirmed this build will indeed feature those P-90 pickups to match his Custom Shop Telecaster – but it won’t come at a bank-breaking price. 

“I don’t know how familiar you are with my signature model, but the original one is a production model that has humbuckers in it,” he explained. “It was geared towards rock and what I do in Foo Fighters. Then we did a super-duper fancy Master-Built version that had P-90s and it was really expensive. 

“One was really affordable and one was really, really expensive. So we’ve got one that’s coming out kind of down the middle that’s an American-made production version of the one with P-90s.”

After the initial tease, Shiflett was cautious not to reveal too much additional detail. However, in keeping with the guitar’s affordability focus, he did note that Fender’s pickup guru Tim Shaw has been looking at making cheaper versions of the noiseless P-90s found in his original build.

“The master-built version had noiseless Lindy Fralin P-90s in it,” says Shiflett. “The production model has sort of a Fender version of that, I believe Tim Shaw designed them. And it sounds really good. It’s very close to the Fralins.” 

Revealing that he’s had “prototypes in different colors”, Shiflett recently put a Charcoal Frost-finished build through its paces in Washington, D.C. 

“It was the first time I got to play one of the prototypes through my actual touring rig,” he adds. “[I got to] soundcheck with it, tweak it, and see what it does. It sounds fucking amazing. It sounds really good.” 

Closely inspecting snaps from the show, it looks like the guitar itself continues the rosewood fretboard tradition. Noticeably, block inlays are the choice here, usurping the dot inlays of his previous signatures, with four control knobs also visible.  

The news comes less than a week since the launch of Epiphone and Dave Grohl’s DG-335 – another Foo Fighters signature model that was perhaps the most requested artist guitar in Epiphone’s history.

The chat with MusicRadar also saw Shiflett wax lyrical about the Neural DSP Quad Cortex, which he’s been using for his solo work. Whilst the stadium-entertaining guitarist still prefers a real amp when gigging with the Foos, he listed the floor modeler as an essential piece of gear for music-making. 

Epiphone has officially unveiled the Dave Grohl DG-335 – an affordable take on the Foo Fighters’ frontman’s sought-after Gibson signature guitar.

As we reported in January, when we got an exclusive sneak preview of the DG-335 at Gibson’s LA artist showroom, the model is reportedly the most requested in Epiphone’s history. 

That’s not hard to believe, either, given the seemingly insatiable demand that surrounded the limited release of Grohl’s Gibson Custom Shop signature model.

“Dave Grohl is an alternative rock legend who needs no introduction,” notes Epiphone. “A longtime Gibson user, his previous Gibson signature guitars have remained extraordinarily popular and command premium prices on the used market – when you can find one.”

The arrival of the Chinese-made Epiphone model should go some way to address that pent-up demand, combining the distinctive features of his US model with the increasingly respected quality and reduced cost of the brand’s offshore builds.

As with its luxurious predecessor, the Epiphone recreates a unique blend of inspiration, drawing on elements of Gibson’s Trini Lopez and ES-335 semi-hollow guitar builds – and the distinctive Pelham Blue finish that has become synonymous with Grohl’s build.

Like the Epiphone Greeny, or more recent Adam Jones 1979 Les Paul Custom, the DG-335 is another addition to the firm’s Inspired by Gibson Custom line – a premium offshore spec that typically carries an entry-level Gibson price tag, but gets you a lot more for your money. 

As such, you get a hefty one-piece mahogany neck – a significant difference from the usual scarf-jointed, two-piece builds on Epiphone ES models – plus the Firebird-like headstock, a layered maple/poplar body and a laurel fretboard.

The gloss-finished body has the same Trini Lopez-inspired diamond sound holes found on Grohl’s go-to electric guitar – a theme that is also reflected in the split-diamond inlays (made of mother of pearl).

Another headline feature is the inclusion of a pair of Gibson’s USA Burstbucker humbuckers. These are bundled with a generous array of premium hardware and compentry, including Grover Mini-Rotomatic tuners, Locktone Tune-O-Matic bridge and stopbar, Switchcraft toggle and jack, CTS pots and Mallory capacitors.

It all comes wrapped up in an Epiphone Dave Grohl hardshell case. 

When GW’s Editor-in-Chief, Mike Astley-Brown, got his hands on the DG-335 back in January, he was suitably impressed.

“That Pelham Blue finish looks gorgeous up close,” noted MAB. “And the build quality is on point, as we've experienced with so many of the Epiphones we've come into contact with lately. The China factory really is turning out remarkable work.

“Playability-wise, there's a seriously chunky neck onboard, making it a satisfying experience for Grohl's stock-in-trade rhythm work. The Burstbuckers deliver a decent amount of aggression, but they're rounded and full, with the woody, hollow quality you'd expect from this kind of build. 

“In short, it's everything you'd want from an Epiphone Dave Grohl model. We're intrigued to see if any more finishes surface down the line, too.”

What we didn’t have at that point was the price – and the price tags have sometimes been a point of contention when it comes to Epiphone’s top Inspired by Gibson Custom builds. 

However, given we expected something around the $1,499 mark –  even saw some predictions of $1,900 for this build – we’re pleasantly surprised to see it come in for $1,299. 

Yes, it’s still a significant chunk of change for a Chinese-made instrument, but this is the reality in 2024 – big-name guitars are more expensive.

Perhaps it’s just the mental conditioning of the 2023 price rises – or the fact it’s cleverly come right after Epiphone’s luxurious Inspired by Gibson Custom Firebird V (which, at $1,799 was it’s most expensive offshore model yet) – but given the spec and re-tooling involved in the build, $1,299 feels eminently reasonable.

As Epiphone notes on its site: “The wait is over – now you can have it all.” 

The prediction of many is that it will be the year’s best-selling signature guitar – and based on the above, we think that is very likely to be the case. 

For more information, head to Epiphone.

Mike Dawes is no stranger to taking percussive fingerstyle technique to new heights, having previously pushed the boundaries of acoustic guitar playing with a catalog of covers and original material.

Through virtuosic fingerstyle renditions of tracks such as Bob Dylan/Jimi Hendrix’s All Along the Watchtower and Van Halen’s Jump – all arranged for one guitar – Dawes has demonstrated his spellbinding chops, which combine elite dynamics and technicality with ingenious fretboard phrasing and percussive elements.

Now, the UK-based guitarist has returned with another mind-melting reimagining of another classic rock track, this time directing his attention to Foo Fighters’ Everlong – one of the first songs he ever learned on guitar.

It’s another Dawes masterclass, with the UK-based virtuoso wielding his Andreas Cuntz acoustic (wired up to a stacked rig, featuring a Neural DSP Quad Cortex) for a faithful yet boundary-bending take on the track, which sees Dawes tackle all the parts on one guitar.

The melodies are all there, naturally, conducted by way of some slinky upper-string melodies, and supported by anthemic open-string chords. This is all propped up by the percussive elements of the arrangement – elements that really steal the spotlight in the charged pre-chorus and momentous chorus sections.

As Dawes explains to Guitar World, the seeds for the cover were first sown when he was on tour in the US, when one of the guitar techs put the idea of Everlong into the guitarist’s head. Then, it was just a case of finding the right tuning (DADGAD) and working out how far his fingers would need to stretch.

As you can imagine, the percussive parts of the cover proved to be especially difficult to pin down – not just because of the technical skill required to juggle guitar with de facto drum duties, but because of actual parts in the track, which were originally recorded by Dave Grohl.

“The chorus is a good example of this as I did my best to make his fills work,” Dawes says. “I think I did a good job, but man it was hard to squeeze it in there without sounding like a salad.

“Acoustic guitars are beasts with all sorts of problems,” he goes on. “Regarding the guitar, that's the easy bit because we have so many different ways to get the same pitch across the neck. One hand can always get the note you want somewhere!”

Notably, the cover is also a display of Dawes’ ever-changing and maturing approach to arranging songs for solo percussive fingerstyle.

“My first album had everything including the kitchen sink thrown at the arrangements but now I try to think more like a producer,” Dawes reflects. “‘OK, so we have three very similar verses? What would Max Martin do to the arrangement?’ 

“Sometimes doing something technically simpler makes for a better listening experience, because you can focus on consistency, which is comforting. You don't want to hammer the listener all the time.”

Having said that, Dawes’ cover isn’t what the average guitar player would dub ‘technically simple’. In fact, it’s what many would consider the pinnacle of acoustic technique.

Everlong is also a demonstration of Dawes’ evolving approach to utilizing effects in his signal chain. Sure, there are some post-performance production elements, but the Quad Cortex – and his “crown jewel” Boss OC-3 – also contribute to the heavenly 'verbs and soundscapes that embellish the otherwordly cover.

Dawes will be taking his technique – and his cover of Everlong – on the road later this month, when he sets out on a tour of Italy and the Netherlands.

To find out more, head over to Mike Dawes’ Instagram page.

If you’re familiar with the Foo Fighters’ big hits – Everlong, The Pretender, Times Like These, Waiting On A War and so on – you’ll know that they specialise in Rock with a capital R, designed for stadiums and beloved of crowds worldwide. It’s all a long way from bassist Nate Mendel’s youth as a punk kid from Washington. 

“I just wanted to be in a band,” he told BP. “I was listening to the Ghost In The Machine album by The Police, and I was hugely into Sting, so when my friend suggested I should play bass guitar I thought it sounded like an awesome idea.”

From his proto-emo explorations with Sunny Day Real Estate to his post-grunge grooves with Foo Fighters, Mendel has since learned a lot about the dominant traits of great rock 'n' roll bass playing. Is he a better bass player these days than he used to be? “In some ways I am, and in some ways I’m not. I came into this band wholly unprepared to play in it. You can hear that on the first few records. I've realized that what I need to do is alter the way I play so I can support Dave's songs as best as possible.”

The following interview from the Bass Player archives took place in August 2011.

How did you first go about learning to play bass?

“I knew a guy who played in a local band, and I took a couple lessons with him. But then I just started to experiment and figure things out on my own. All through high school I played in punk rock bands – mostly in a band called Diddly Squat. We did a couple of tours around the country in a van. It was do-it-yourself on a pretty small scale, but it was a lot of fun. After that I moved to Seattle and joined Christ On A Crutch, another punk rock group that did a lot of touring. I was becoming more enthusiastic about hardcore punk rock and wanting to play more intricate music. That's when I formed Sunny Day Real Estate.”

Which bands were making a mark on you?

“My musical education was pretty limited – it was all hardcore punk rock, like Minor Threat, Black Flag and Bad Brains. Instead of studying the bass playing of someone like John Entwistle, which would have given me a foundation of how to play, I just wanted to play a lot of notes really fast. That was the only goal.”

How did you understand your role as a bass player, and how did you go about playing that role in Sunny Day Real Estate?

“At the time, people were becoming more experimental within underground music, and not just thrashing out hardcore songs. We were influenced by bands like Rites Of Spring and Hayden, but we didn't sit down and strategize the kind of music we were going to play. We just got in a room and started making noise.”

Was songwriting a labor-intensive process?

“Some of the arrangements worked out, but it was really just trial and error. We wouldn't look at the song as a whole: we'd play one part of a song for an hour, and then somebody would take it off into another direction. It was jam-oriented, as opposed to being a situation where a songwriter would come up with a chord structure and then bring it to the band. We had two guitar players who liked to play intertwined guitar parts, so it wasn't always clear what the root chord was. I had a lot of freedom to come up with interesting basslines.”

How did you come to play with the Foo Fighters?

“Dave Grohl recorded what turned out to be the first Foo Fighters record in early 1994. Sunny Day broke up later that year. Dave's tape was circulating around town, and I knew there might be an opportunity to try out for the band. So I started listening to it and playing along. From my perspective at the time, the music seemed rudimentary: I wasn't mature enough as a musician to know that a well-structured pop song should be simple. Since then, I've realized that what I need to do is alter the way I play bass so it works in this band.”

How has that approach changed the way you play?

“I've always played with a pick, but up until the fifth Foo Fighters record, I never played downstrokes. I would alternate my picking. But with this kind of music, you need the consistency and percussive sound you get from playing with downstrokes. The other thing I've done is learn how to play tight and lock better with the drums. It comes down to subtlety and nuance; that was something I didn't grasp early on.”

When the Foo Fighters played the VH1 Rock Honors show in 2008, you took on two songs by the Who. How did you approach John Entwistle's parts?

“That was a tough one, because you can't replicate what he did unless you spend hours and hours figuring out his gear, his technique, etc. Basically, I just listened to the records, and I tried to get as close as possible to playing what he played. My basic goal was to keep up and not make a total ass out of myself. As the Foo Fighters have had opportunities to play shows like the VH1 Rock Honors, we've had a few of these kinds of challenges thrown our way. I always feel like I'm playing catch-up, but I've gotten pretty good at thinking on my feet.”

You're most often seen playing various Fender Precision Basses.

“Everybody’s got their magic bass in their mind, and mine is my '70s natural P-Bass with a maple neck, which cuts through perfectly. I also love Lakland basses, and I've used them on tour for drop-D tunings, but I'm a bit more comfortable playing Fender basses, so I play those for most of the set.”

Are you running through any effects?

“I'm not using many pedals these days. Now that we have three guitar players, there's a lot of distortion going on. So I try to keep it clean and stay in line with the kick drum. That way, I know that even if we're playing a big echoy venue, at least the bass will come across with some bite and precision.”

Scott Ian and his Anthrax bandmates are busy recording at Dave Grohl’s Studio 606 recording facility in Los Angeles, and the Jackson signature artist recently took the opportunity to bring his guitar-playing 12-year-old son, Revel, into work with him.

The bring-your-son-to-work day doubled as a reunion of sorts, with a Gibson Les Paul-wielding Revel once again linking up with Foo Fighters to perform Everlong during a band rehearsal.

For those who have been keeping tabs on the musical career of young Revel – and his heavy rock band, Honeybee – you’ll probably be aware that this is not in fact the first time Scott’s son has lent his impressive chops to the Foos track.

Indeed, a then-eight-year-old Revel had previously lined up alongside Dave Grohl and co during the band’s Bourbon & Beyond Festival set back in 2019 to perform The Colour and the Shape cut – an occasion Ian Senior said could be the “proudest dad moment ever”.

Four years on from that breakout performance, Ian Junior recently dusted off the cobwebs with his Foo Fighter comrades, giving resident guitarist Pat Smears a day off as he helped the band through another run-out of Everlong.

Armed with Smears’ very own Les Paul, Revel locked in alongside Grohl and drummer Josh Freese for the angsty progression, see-sawing between the verse chords as Scott, Smears and a host of others looked on.

“Rev gave Pay the day off,” Ian wrote on Instagram after the jam. “He deserves it. He’s the nicest guy ever. All of these dudes are. I love you Foos. There I said it.”

Unsurprisingly, Revel relished the chance to link up with Foo Fighters once again, writing on Instagram, “Reverlong reunion! I can’t believe I got to play with them again after four years.

“I remember I got to hang out with Taylor and Dave after the show in their dressing rooms and it was one of the best memories and experiences,” he went on. “Thank you Foos and Dave for having me both times! And thank you Pat for letting me play your guitar.”

Young Revel’s close connection to Foo Fighters goes far beyond the casual jam session. Back in April 2022, he (with the help of his father) paid tribute to the late Taylor Hawkins, taking up position behind the drum kit for a flawless Foos medley.

As well as being something of a dab hand with the sticks, Revel’s already-impressive guitar chops are also well-known, and have been showcased in the past.

Again, with Scott by his side – and with a custom-inlaid Soloist Jackson in his arms – a 10-year-old Revel tackled Slayer’s Raining Blood with effortless ease back in June last year.

Scott Ian and his Anthrax bandmates are putting together their new album at Grohl's Studio 606, so head over to the band's Instagram for updates – and for more future Revel cameos.

Foo Fighters took to the Saturday Night Live stage over the weekend to perform The Glass with the help of Stratocaster-toting singer-songwriter H.E.R.

Under normal circumstances, the collaboration itself would have been enough to have music fans hooked, but electric guitar fans would have been especially intrigued by the onstage link-up owing to H.E.R.’s choice of six-string for the event.

Why? Well, rather than playing her Fender Chrome Grow Stratocaster signature model – or, for that matter, her Blue Marlin-finished signature guitar – the guitarist instead decided to play a Charvel.

It was an eyebrow-raising instrumental choice from the Grammy winner, whose eye-catching signature model has become a mainstay of both her sound and live performance. She did, for example, stay loyal to the Strat for her recent Crossroads Festival appearance, and used it alongside Lenny Kravtiz and Travis Barker for a star-studded Medley at last year’s Grammys ceremony.

That H.E.R. has now decided to branch out away from Strats makes an interesting point for speculation. Charvel is owned by Fender, so it’s not a completely unthinkable move to make, but could this be indicative of where the artist sees her future guitar allegiances lying?

To that end, could this be the early signs of a formal collaboration between Charvel and H.E.R.? It’s worth pointing out she was also spotted playing a Charvel while on tour with Coldplay, so this is becoming something of a frequent occurrence. All we’re saying is, a Chrome Glow-finished Charvel needs to happen.

Mind you, this isn’t the first time H.E.R. has temporarily hung up her signature guitar for a notable alternative: last December, she wielded a stain-glass Stratocaster to shred as Belle in ABC’s live-action Beauty and the Beast show.

Whatever the case, H.E.R. navigates the fretboard of her Charvel USA Select DK24 HSS 2PT CM just as effectively as she does her prized signature Strat, treating Grohl and co’s live rendition of The Glass with some interlude licks and a bend-heavy guitar solo.

“Can’t believe I get to jam with these legends,” H.E.R. wrote on Instagram before the gig, which may have been something of a bucket list performance for the Fender signature artist. After all, back in 2021, H.E.R. teased a collaboration with Dave Grohl, saying, “I would love to work with him on an album or something.”

Chris Shiflett has the best kind of identity crisis. Back in 1999, when the 28-year-old Californian won out at auditions to become lead guitarist for the Foo Fighters – a triumph he succinctly put down to “learning the fucking songs” – it seemed this one-time punk rabble-rouser had forever traded the sticky-floored basements and roiling circle pits for corporate-sponsored stadiums and catering. 

But since then – and with the exception of the band’s Duracell Bunny-ish leader, Dave Grohl – Shiflett has been the busiest Foo in the firmament, juggling the day job with de facto solo projects The Dead Peasants and Jackson United, a fistful of albums under his own name, plus shifts in larky covers outfit Me First And The Gimme Gimmes. “There’s nothing better than those big Foos shows,” he once told this writer. “But equally, Dingwalls is fun, too.” 

Depending on the day you catch him, Shiflett is either a star or a slogger, a tech-assisted princeling or a man unloading his own flight cases, spotted backstage at Wembley Stadium or – on this particular afternoon – setting up at Bristol’s 400-capacity Thekla. 

But as the 52-year-old tells us, both sides of that dual existence scratch a different creative itch, with this year’s eloquent third solo album, Lost At Sea, airing alt-country flavours with added rocket fuel.

Do you enjoy the opportunity to front your own material?

“Yeah, it’s a thrill, but it’s still an evolution because I always think of myself as a guitar player first. It’s funny, when I started fronting my own band, I realised that all these years, whenever I played a guitar solo, I wouldn’t breathe. I’d hold my breath – which would fuck me up for singing!”

Broadly speaking, you could describe Lost At Sea as alt-country…

“One of the first things me and Jaren [Johnston, producer] talked about was getting outside my comfort zone. We definitely did that. With writing, it’s business as usual. Then tracking is me in a room of musicians, banging it out. But what happens after that – tweaking what you’ve recorded and messing with sounds – is where it gets into different sonic territory. 

“I’m a tinkerer. I think I drove Jaren crazy. If somebody didn’t take this album out of my hands, I’d still be tinkering now. Carrie Midnight Texas Queen, I Don’t Trust My Memories Anymore, Dead And Gone – those are all classic country chord progressions and melodies, but they kinda get revved up and we drive the guitars a little harder.” 

Tell us about your history with country music.

“I came to it through alt-country in the ’90s. Like, when Uncle Tupelo broke up and became Son Volt and Wilco, that was my jump-off. Through that, I found my way to Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams, then went back and landed on the other stuff. 

“My favourite stuff is Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, those older eras. Like a lot of people, I wrote off modern country for a long time, but I’ve totally flipped on that. 

“Like, I listen to Eric Church and Brothers Osborne. I just love the storytelling. And obviously I fucking love the playing. Right about the time I came of age and started playing in bands, the kind of guitar playing I loved became pretty much illegal and you couldn’t play a long guitar solo any more. That kind of shifted to country and Americana and, to me, that’s where the best guitar playing lives nowadays.”

The slide work evokes Joe Walsh at times. Was he a touchstone?

“Sure. Weigh You Down, I played that slide solo. I Don’t Trust My Memories Anymore is the only B-Bender solo I did on the record. But if you’re thinking of the dobro on Dead And Gone, that’s Charlie Worsham. Basically, the breakdown on this record – there’s me playing electric and all the solos. 

“But then, anything that’s acoustic – whether it’s guitar, mandolin, banjo, dobro – that’s all Charlie. Black Top [White Lines] and Dead And Gone have Tom Bukovac on electric. For the other eight songs, it was Nathan Keeterle playing the real vibed-out stuff, like the trippy delay and sonic textures.”

“I think of the stuff I played as the straightforward meat-and-potatoes, kinda bangin’ the chords. But then, we got Charlie and Nate bringing some details. For each song, we’d do about five takes and maybe Charlie would switch to different instruments, so by the time you start tracking, you’ve got a bunch of stuff to choose from. Then I would take the session home, overdub stuff, rework parts. 

“I’ve never made a record like that before. But right about when I started this, in spring 2021, we started touring with Foos again, so there would be months on the road not even thinking about my record. Then I would come back to it when I had a minute at home, open the files and be like, ‘Oh yeah, we got some cool stuff here.’”

You have broad tastes in guitars, but your signature model is a Telecaster.

“The first real guitar I got was a Gibson Les Paul, for my 15th birthday. Through high school, then in bands coming up, through No Use For A Name, right up to joining Foo Fighters – that was the only guitar I had. I’d always played music that pretty much requires a humbucker sound, so that was my comfort zone for a long time.

“But I always wanted to play a Tele because I loved Keith Richards, The Clash and all these cats. But I was just never comfortable on them. Finally, I bought a Tele Deluxe. I loved it and played it a lot, from the time I made the first Dead Peasants record. But it wasn’t crunchy enough for Foos stuff. So I bought some Warmoth parts, put in humbuckers, put together a parts guitar. 

“I built a couple of them, then Fender called me up and said, ‘Why don’t we just make a Chris Shiflett model?’ I hadn’t even thought of that. I just took that Deluxe, which I think was like a ’72, changed it to a four-bolt neck, with rosewood fretboard and humbuckers. There you go!”

Is there something about that combination of humbuckers and Fender scale that does something different for you?

“It’s, like, you can put humbuckers in a Strat or a Tele and it’s not gonna sound like a Les Paul or Flying V – it’s got its own colour, y’know? And that’s why it’s been a thing for me, especially in Foo Fighters. We’re a three-guitar band and we all sit in different places tonally. Around that time, I started playing through an AC30 a lot. I was always tweaking, trying to find something that sits in a different place. 

“My signature Tele, it’s got that good rock crunch, but it’s not as dense a sound as a big Les Paul or 335. Those have a woofiness I love – but it’s not what my guitar does. And then, after that was when I started to get comfortable playing traditional Teles with just single coils. Which is pretty much all I do in my solo thing.”

Let’s talk about the guitars you’ve brought out on tour.

“It’s a lean-and-mean rig. I would really prefer to have about four guitars, but I’m in a van schlepping this stuff around, so I figured I could pull it off on two and, knock on wood, it’s been fine so far. I’ve got two Teles. One is a Fender Custom Shop I bought at Gruhn’s in Nashville when I was there with the Foos recording Sonic Highways. 

“It’s supposed to be a ’53 – just that classic Butterscotch Tele, with pretty hot pickups. That’s been my go-to Tele for quite a while, for my solo stuff. It’s almost the only guitar I used on this new album because I was flying into Nashville, so I’d just bring one guitar and my pedalboard, then Jaren would bring different amps.

“The other one I’ve brought is just a parts guitar – it says ‘Fender’ on it, but it’s not a real Fender. I found it at a shop down in Austin years ago and it’s beautiful. You know how Paisleys look when they fade and get that gold kind of colour? It sat in my garage for probably 10 years. It didn’t sound very good. Then I put in a set of Fralins – whatever their vintage Tele pickup is – and they just brought it to life. I haven’t been able to put it down since.”

You don’t seem to come across as a guitar snob… 

“I mean, I am a guitar snob, in my own way. There’s a handful of things I love and then there’s a lot of shit that you’ll never see in my hands under any circumstances. But I don’t get too precious about guitars. If they feel good and sound good, then it sorta doesn’t matter. And when you’re taking things on the road, you want something you can drop, break and scratch – and not be too upset about it.

“I was never a vintage guy growing up. I don’t remember even hearing the words ‘vintage guitar’ until the ’90s, and I didn’t have money anyway, so you don’t worry about what you can’t afford. I always liked the idea of workhorse guitars you could put through their paces. But that started to change. 

“I sold a bunch of guitars through Reverb and bought a ’57 Les Paul, which was a Goldtop originally, but somebody had taken the paint off. It’s not like I didn’t know vintage guitars were great – but actually owning something of that vintage, it was like, ‘Okay, I see what everybody is raving about.’”

What do you pick up a Gretsch for, and what’s your relationship with that brand?

“I actually have a beautiful Masterbuilt White Falcon. I so badly wanted to bring it out for the solo tours. But I’m just afraid: I don’t even want to nick the case! I could play my whole set on that thing, for sure. It’s got a jangle and growl, all at the same time. If you want high-gain stuff, it works really well. And if you want a cleaner old-school sound, you can’t go wrong.

“I was a rock ’n’ roll kid, listening to whatever my brothers had in their record collections: Aerosmith, Stones, Zeppelin, KISS. But when Stray Cats came along, that was the one non-rock band I was obsessed with. I’ve always loved Brian Setzer’s playing and was drawn to Gretsches because of him.”

You’re now using a Strymon Iridium amp modeller for your solo shows.

“It feels like total blasphemy! But doing my solo shows, I play a lot of shitty bars with shitty PAs, and oftentimes I’m not travelling with my own sound man and it’s a real roll of the dice – sometimes it’s great and sometimes it’s fucking terrible. 

“I just found that dragging around my old combo amps – because I normally play through a Deluxe Reverb or old Princeton – they’re so susceptible to dirty power and things colouring your tone. And then, having people mic them: I just never liked the way they sounded coming back. It drives me crazy. I mean, I don’t want to shit on any local sound person, but when you don’t have somebody who really gives a shit and knows what they’re doing putting your sound together, it’s fucking horrible and a vibe-killer. 

“I’d bought one of those Iridiums to fuck around with in my studio and just loved the way it sounded. Live, it just cuts out the middle man.” 

Do you have an ethos when it comes to soloing?

“Most of the time, I work it out before I even get to the studio. But it really depends on the song. I like noodly shreddy-spaghetti solos where you just play whatever the fuck you want. But more often than not, with my favourite rock solos, like Eddie Van Halen solos, they’re kinda like parts and melodies unto themselves within the song.”

As an artist, do you ever question what you’re doing?

“I think most musicians are battling insecurity on some level. It’s funny because musicians are all narcissists, too. It does take some ego to say, ‘This is my idea, listen to it!’ The hardest thing with performing is not letting the devil get in your head. It can be the best fucking crowd and there’s one guy at the back laughing – and that fucks up your whole thing. It’s nuts, y’know?

“And the thing that fucks me up the most was in my younger years playing in No Use For A Name, where the barometer for whether it was a good gig was how hard the crowd danced and how wild the pit was. That ruined me for the rest of my life because I don’t play music that garners that reaction. You just try to keep the dark thoughts out when you’re on stage.”

So what’s next for you? 

“I want to get back over to the UK before too long. With Foos, we’ve got touring [through to January]. Beyond that, it’s like, I’m a fucking musician – so who knows what will happen? I gave up trying to even think about it because after these last two years, it’s like the world has a funny way of changing your plans.”  

Chris Shiflett’s pedalboard and guitar amps

Take a tour of Chris Shiflett’s solo pedalboard and you’ll find this sometime punk isn’t shy of a stompbox, with his collection spanning from MXR’s Phase 95 to the DigiTech Drop and Wampler Tumnus. But the biggest departure in his modern club-show rig, the guitarist reminds us, is the absence of the traditional backline mothership.

“Oh, man, this setup that I’m playing with now is so crazy. I just got one of those GigRig G3 channel switchers, and I’m not even playing through an amp right now – I’ve got a Strymon Iridium instead. You can arrange it however you want, but I have it so it’s all the effects first and then a Strymon Deco, then the Iridium, the Strymon TimeLine and the Strymon Flint. And then I have it coming out stereo on one of those Walrus Canvas DIs.” 

Isn’t the Iridium a big departure for a tube amp aficionado? “100 per cent,” nods Shiflett. “Of course, my preference would be a wall of amps. They’re beautiful and everything. But you’re hemmed in with budgetary realities in this solo thing, y’know?

“And just to know that every night, the tone is gonna be unaffected by power or air in the room or somebody’s bad EQ-ing. I mean, I guess it still could be, but you know what I mean – it’s just a little more direct, a little easier with the Iridium. And those things sound fucking great, man, they really do.”

Follow Chris Shiflett in all his forms and you’ll notice that the stripped minimalism of his solo rig gets a shot of steroids when he steps back onto the stadium circuit. “My Foo Fighters setup is a very different animal,” explains the guitarist. “I have two Friedman half-stacks.

“I have the Brown Eye, most people call them ‘BE’ or whatever. I bought mine years ago now. I can’t remember if it was the Wasting Light or Sonic Highways tour, but I’ve had them for a long time. They’re practically vintage now – just a few more years! So I don’t know if those amps have evolved since I bought mine, but I love them. That’s my favourite, y’know, that Marshally-type sound.

“Alongside the Friedmans,” he continues, “I also have two AC30 half-stacks and I A/B them. And then Dave Friedman literally just built me a new pedalboard setup, so I’m using one of those RJM controllers. I haven’t even seen it yet – it just arrived after I left for the UK – but my tech has been sending me photos and he says it sounds great. And then I bring that ’57 Goldtop on the road with the Foo Fighters, too. You’ve got to play old guitars or they start to get wonky.

“So that setup is a very different beast to my solo rig,” smiles Shiflett. “That’s the kind of beast you have when somebody carries your shit around for you...!”

• Lost at Sea is out now via Blue Elan.

In recent years, we’ve seen a boatload of A-list electric guitar players ditch tube amps and defect to the ranks of amp modelers – and now Foo Fighters’ Chris Shiflett can be added to that ever-growing list of those embracing modern technology.

It’s a notable win for the amp sim school of thought. After all, Shiflett is a bona fide amp aficionado, and has been known to pair his collection of vintage guitars with either a Fender Deluxe Reverb or Princeton guitar amp.

Now, though, Shiflett has flipped the script, and has called upon a popular pedal amp to help form the backbone of his new solo live rig.

Speaking in the new issue of Guitarist, Shiflett took a deep-dive into the amp-less rig he's been running, saying: “Oh, man, this setup that I’m playing with now is so crazy.”

“I’m not even playing through an amp right now – I’ve got a Strymon Iridium instead,” he went on. “You can arrange it however you want, but I have it so it’s all the effects first and then a Strymon Deco, then the Iridium, the Strymon TimeLine and the Strymon Flint. And then I have it coming out stereo on one of those Walrus Canvas DIs.”

Despite his defection to amp sims, Shiflett did go on to caveat his admission by asserting his affinity for traditional tube amps – and said his decision to employ the Iridium was based purely on the logistical and budgetary considerations that come with a solo tour.

“It feels like total blasphemy,” Shiflett said when quizzed on his backline-less rig. “But doing my solo shows, I play a lot of shitty bars with shitty PAs, and oftentimes I’m not travelling with my own sound man and it’s a real roll of the dice – sometimes it’s great and sometimes it’s fucking terrible. 

“I just found that dragging around my old combo amps – because I normally play through a Deluxe Reverb or old Princeton – they’re so susceptible to dirty power and things coloring your tone.”

Furthermore, human inconsistencies were also a factor: “Having people mic them: I just never liked the way they sounded coming back. It drives me crazy. I mean, I don’t want to shit on any local sound person, but when you don’t have somebody who really gives a shit and knows what they’re doing putting your sound together, it’s fucking horrible and a vibe-killer.”

“I’d bought one of those Iridiums to fuck around with in my studio and just loved the way it sounded. Live, it just cuts out the middle man.”

To that end, Shiflett confirms his heart will always lie in the tube amp camp, and that a wall of amps will always be his “preference”.

“They’re beautiful and everything,” he continued. “But you’re hemmed in with budgetary realities in this solo thing, y’know? And just to know that every night, the tone is gonna be unaffected by power or air in the room or somebody’s bad EQ-ing.”

That’s not to take away from the merits of the Strymon, though: “Those things sound fucking great, man, they really do.”

As mentioned above, there’s been a big shift towards digital amp sims and pedal amps over the past few years. 

Recent examples include Iron Maiden's Dave Murray, who switched to Fractal’s Axe-Fx; and John Mayer, who used an Axe-Fx on his most recent album, Sob Rock. Heck, even Eric Johnson has been dabbling with Neural DSP.

Head over to Magazines Direct to pick up the latest issue of Guitarist, which also features an in-depth interview with Robin Trower – who explained why he prefers Fenders to Gibsons.

In other Chris Shiflett news, the Foo Fighter recently launched his own podcast. The second episode, notably, saw Rivers Cuomo shred Yngwie Malmsteen.

Perched alongside his brother Peter Stahl, Virgina-based rocker Franz Stahl founded Scream in 1981, injecting themselves into the heart of a scene that was already flourishing via the likes of Bad Brains, Youth Brigade, and Minor Threat.

Now over 40 years later and having been dormant from a studio perspective for well over a decade, Stahl and his cohorts are back with their latest record, D.C. Special, which features a host of friends and scene mates that aided in making Scream one of the most revered bands out of the D.C. area.

"We called this one D.C. Special because we've got a ton of people that we've become close with on this one," Stahl tells Guitar World. "We've got Brian Baker from Bad Religion, Darryl Jenifer from Bad Brains, and a whole bunch of others. We expect the record out in the fall, but to be honest, we haven't been given a hard date."

Of course, there's another side to Franz Stahl's guitar coin. Many will recall that he served as a member of the Foo Fighters from 1997 through 1999, joining as a replacement for Pat Smear.

Looking back on his tenure as a member of the Foo Fighters, and what set him adrift after only two years, Stahl says, "I've always wanted to be the type of player that just gets up there and delivers power. I never thought I was that great technically, and solo-wise, I can mimic some stuff, but my wheelhouse just differed a little bit."

He continues, "As a performer and writer, I definitely do not come from the technical side; it's more about the joy of just writing music and then going out and ripping up. A solo doesn't need to be involved; give me power, great riffs, and inspiration. That's what I've always been after. That's what I'm still after."

In support of D.C. Special, Franz Stahl dialed in with Guitar World to dig into being labeled as a hardcore player, the writing and recording of landmark album Fumble, his tenure with the Foo Fighters, and the enduring love affair with his well-worn '78 Les Paul Goldtop.

Tell me about your new album, D.C. Special. Why the long lag in-between records?

"The last thing we did was the Complete Control Recording Sessions in 2011, so I guess we're on a once-a-decade schedule [laughs]. But the main reason is that we have other jobs outside of the band now, so a lot happens behind the scenes that slows the process down. But we still managed to get together yearly for at least a handful of shows, and we worked on the album around those other things."

How does your process differ from your early days?

"We used to do it by recording in a basement studio in Arlington, Virginia. I remember doing the Fumble record there, and we mixed it there, too. And after we'd written everything for D.C. Special, we went back to that same studio, which is called Inner Ear Studios. Being there brought back memories and got us back to doing things the way we used to. It's a celebration of the D.C. hardcore scene that we came up in. Aside from Fumble, I'd say it was one of the most remarkable sessions I've ever participated in."

You noted the D.C. hardcore scene, which you guys are integral to, but you also habitually inject other sounds. Does being labeled explicitly as a hardcore band drive you to create more expansive sounds?

"That music made me want to expand my guitar work. In terms of what we were called, it never really bothered me. People will always want to put labels on things, but like you said, we were never strictly a hardcore band, even if we did come up in that scene. We were kids that grew up in Virgina, which is very southern, so we grew up listening to a lot of southern rock. The punk thing didn't come into play until later. All of that informed my guitar approach."

And you made a note of Fumble earlier, which is an example of Scream wandering from its hardcore roots. What was your mindset like then?

"I'll start by saying that Fumble is one of my favorite records that I've been a part of. It was a moment when the band had really come together after all the changes that we had experienced. We had been through some lineup changes, and Dave Grohl was a part of the band, which changed the band sonically in a big way. We also had more money to record than we'd had before, so we could go into a big studio and sit down and look at things in ways we hadn't been able to before. I always jokingly say that Fumble is like our Exile on Main Street because we threw everything in there."

What type of guitar sounds were you looking for with Fumble?

"It's hard to describe, but we finally got the guitar sounds we wanted. They sound bigger and better. When we made Fumble, Dave and I were listening to a lot of Voivod, Van Halen, the Melvins, and Metallica, and I think that came out in the guitars. The heaviness of Fumble is partially attributed to Metallica, as in most of the tracks, I had us tune down a half step from E as Metallica did to achieve a heavier key. It’s definitely the most raucous album we ever did."

How did your tenure with the Foo Fighters inform your approach?

"Playing bigger venues and learning how that all works sonically was big. I had to learn how to do the things I did on a larger scale, which was an intense learning curve. If you're on a massive stage like that, just standing there and playing guitar is not going to cut it. So, joining the Foo Fighters was a whole different animal, you know? In that setting, thousands of people were watching you, which was just mind-blowing."

I imagine the dynamic was very different within the Foo Fighters than Scream.

"From the second I got the phone call from Dave to join, I hit the ground running. We went supporting the first two records, and we did that for two years straight. There wasn't really any writing, but we did jam during soundchecks. I had to learn this pre-existing body of work, and that was different because I wrote most of the stuff in Scream. But this was Dave's band, and I was the new guy, so it was more about not stepping on toes. I went from being in fanzines to being on the cover of Guitar World with Dave."

You're known as a Les Paul guy, but you played a Strat in the My Hero video!

"You will very rarely – if ever – see me holding a Strat, so that is weird [laughs]. I don't really remember the reasons behind it aside from maybe they wanted me to have a different guitar from Dave, who had a Les Paul there. I assume I came down to shoot the video, and they gave me whatever they had in the props department. Somebody probably bought some guitars, decided who would hold what, and handed me the Strat. That's the only thing I can think of because I didn't own a Strat. I don't think there was a single Strat in the Foo Fighters guitar arsenal."

Why has the Les Paul remained your weapon of choice?

"I saw Gibson Les Paul guitars in magazines as a kid, and they became ingrained in my DNA. That was the guitar that I thought of when I envisioned myself on stage, and it ended up being one of the first guitars that came to me. I've never really deviated from that."

What can you tell me about your Goldtop that you've had since the early '90s?

"I've had that since around '94. I believe it's a '78 Goldtop, and it's been my main workhorse. It has a really nice Bill Lawrence pickup that I've been obsessed with since I first heard it. I've changed amps over the years, but no matter what, that guitar always shines through."

I've seen photos of you playing Les Paul Studio models early on. How did you come upon the Goldtop?

"I had a white Studio model that I used for many years. But the way I got the Goldtop was Scream was on the road in Pennsylvania, and I came upon this Goldtop for like $450. I was like, 'Man, what a fucking deal,' but I always figured it was probably hot [laughs]. The guy was probably trying to get rid of what I figured was a stolen guitar, but I was like, 'Whatever,' took the deal, and thankfully, nothing ever came of it. It’s been a fantastic instrument. I could throw the thing out of a second-story window and pick it up, and it'll be in tune."

You have a couple of Epiphones that date back to the Foo Fighters days, right?

"I do have a couple. When I was with the Foo Fighters, I got a nice little deal with Epiphone after we played David Letterman. I played an Epiphone acoustic on TV, and Epiphone called me and said, 'We saw you play an Epiphone on TV – would you want some hollowbody guitars?' I told them, 'Sure,' and they sent me a few. They will never replace the Goldtop, but they’re nice for when I need to switch to something a little lighter."

How has your amp configuration changed over the years?

"It’s mostly changed because of finances. I did the first Scream record with a Fender Twin Reverb and a solid-state bass cabinet. I still can't believe I ran a Fender into a fucking solid-state bass cabinet, but that's what I had. What can I say? When you're a poor kid from Virgina, you do what you have to do. But things definitely got better with the Foo Fighters; I recall a deal with Mesa/Boogie, but I'll be honest; I don't really like Mesa/Boogie stuff."

Why's that?

"Those things are so damn expensive, and they always seemed too sizzly for me. But I was working a job, and the Mesa stuff came with it. But later, I got a nice Marshall, and an Orange, too. I've never been too crazy amp-wise; I'd rather keep it simple. I don't want to deal with a thousand knobs. But Marshall stuff always seems to have trouble when you bring it on the road, but that Fender Twin Reverb could really take a beating."

How would you describe the guitar player you are today? 

"I'm very song-oriented in my writing. I'm more into writing songs and riffs that fucking move me instead of being technically masterful and noodling all over the place. I can pull off a solo here and there, but for the most part, I think I'm a hack when it comes to guitar. There are so many people who are better than me at guitar, but I have my strong points."

And what are those strong points?

"Improvisation. When you see me on stage, for the most part, the solos that I'm coming up with are off-the-cuff. I don't like to do a song the same way twice, you know? Aside from a couple of the essential songs for us, most of what I'm doing is totally in the moment and improvising. I'll nail the important ones, but still, a lot of times, I fuck it up, but whatever [laughs]. I don't care.

"I just love to have shit blasting behind me, and to not be so fucking vain about my playing. There's so much fucking power in just turning up and striking a chord. That's more powerful than any solo."

The second instalment of Chris Shiflett’s Shred With Shifty podcast debuts today (July 27) and features Rivers Cuomo. During the conversation, the Weezer guitarist hails the influence of Yngwie Malmsteen and even gives a quick demo of the super Swede’s shred classic, Far Beyond the Sun.

The clip opens with Cuomo and Shiflett discussing the Weezer man’s beginnings on the electric guitar, in which he runs through the motivational impact of Quiet Riot’s Metal Health. However, the conversation soon turns to lead influences. 

“Well, Ace [Frehley] was the first one,” says Cuomo. “[Just] so many air guitar sessions from the time I was a young kid – and that was just always my favorite part of the song. Then later on I got super-into the Yngwie Malmsteen-type shredders.”

“I mean you hear like some of that in this solo for Only in Dreams,” comments Shiflett. “Not that it's shred but it is all in that… minor diatonic, where you're using all the notes, which… happens a lot in heavy metal. As opposed to more blues-based rock and roll which tends to be pentatonic scales.”

“Yeah, as a kid I was into Ace, which is the more the pentatonic thing, but then in the ’80s, heavy metal became much more classically influenced and you hear all the notes in the scale and the harmonic minor scale,” Cuomo responds. “At that point I just fell in love with that style and I couldn't turn back.”

As Shiflett observes, it’s a thread that persisted well into Cuomo’s work with Weezer. Indeed, when Shiflett asks Cuomo to remember the first lick he learned that made him feel like a lead guitar player – he again points back to Malmsteen. 

“Probably learning some of those Yngwie licks,” comments Cuomo. “Far Beyond the Sun. That kind of stuff.”

Shiflett then asks Cuomo for a quick demonstration and despite claiming “it’s been decades”, the Weezer man pulls off a (surprisingly sharp) segment of the Malmsteen’s 1984 calling card – much to his host’s delight. 

“That’s amazing, dude!” says Shiflett. “You just whipped that out! It was perfect.”

Shiflett’s new podcast is fast becoming essential listening for guitarists. Each episode drills down on a particular track from its guest. Episode one featured Alex Lifeson and future instalments are set to include the likes of Richie Sambora, Nile Rodgers, Lindsay Ell, Brad Paisley, Mike McCready and Brent Mason.

Search for Shred With Shifty wherever you get your podcasts to hear the full Rivers Cuomo chat and head to Volume for the exclusive full video.

For more on the Weezer man’s ’80s metal influences, check out our 2021 Rivers Cuomo interview, in which he talks shred playing, Van Halen and his “Pandora’s box of evil guitar tools”. 

When it comes to guitar playing, the internet can teach you a lot – just ask Zakk Wylde.

Though no-one would dare question his electric guitar acumen, the Ozzy Osbourne six-string sidekick and Black Label Society frontman turned to YouTube when learning Dimebag Darrell's guitar parts for his ongoing run of live dates with the reunited Pantera. 

For Foo Fighters guitarist Chris Shiflett, though, the internet is a place where well-meaning guitarists teaching the famous solos of others often get things "almost right," while just missing the mark.

"I spend a lot of time watching people online explain things pretty close to right, but not quite right, because nobody's ever gonna get it exactly like the record," Shiflett explains. "So, it occurred to me – what if I could go to the source and talk to the artists who actually played the solos on the actual records and have them explain it to me?”

So goes the premise of Shiflett's newly-announced podcast, the wonderfully-titled Shred With Shifty.

It's a fun concept that reminds us a lot of the excellent Song Exploder series, only for guitar nerds.

What makes Shred With Shifty significantly more exciting, though, is the ridiculous lineup of guests Shiflett has lined up for the show's first season. 

That lineup includes (deep breath...) Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo, Rush’s Alex Lifeson, Chic’s Nile Rodgers, Brad Paisley, Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready, Bon Jovi’s Richie Sambora, Brothers Osborne’s John Osborne, Blackberry Smoke’s Charlie Starr, Lindsay Ell, Brent Mason and Jawbreaker’s Blake Schwarzenbach. Aside from unpacking their finest solos, each player will discuss their influences and, of course, gear, with Shiflett.  

"Working on launching this show has been a good reminder of why I picked up a guitar in the first place – because it’s really, really fun,” Shiflett enthused in a statement.

Shred with Shifty is set to premiere June 22, with new episodes dropping every other week.

Audio of the episodes will be available wherever you get your podcasts, with video of the episodes available exclusively at Volume.

Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl has been pictured holding what appears to be a new Epiphone DG-335 signature model in the band’s latest promo shots. 

Speculation over the imminent arrival of the model has run rife in recent weeks after Gibson’s interim CEO Cesar Gueikian responded to an Instagram Q&A regarding Grohl’s Epiphone signature. When asked “Can we get a DG-335 core model or Epiphone models?” He replied simply, “OK”.

Now Grohl has appeared in the latest Foo Fighters image holding an Epiphone-branded electric guitar that looks exactly like the DG-335, complete with Trini Lopez-style diamond-shaped f-holes, split inlays and Firebird-style headstock. 

The original was fitted with Gibson BurstBuckers but at this point we can only speculate on the two humbuckers. If we were to guess, we’d say they’ll be Epiphone-made, as frankly, we can’t imagine The Nicest Guy In Rock arguing for Gibson-branded inclusions that would result in a prohibitive price point.

There is no acknowledgement or further explanation of the model in the press shot, but this is right out of Gibson’s current marketing playbook. 

Since its 2018 takeover, Gibson strategy has repeatedly been to fan the flames of online speculation around product launches, in particular signature guitars, by allowing artists to use them unacknowledged in videos, promos and on social media prior to their official announcements. For instance, Dave Mustaine’s Epiphone and Kramer signature models or Jerry Cantrell’s Atone Songwriter acoustic.

In the decades before its takeover, Gibson and its subsidiaries did not always capitalise on their artistic associations – or act in the most coordinated manner. The past five years has, in many ways, been a process of addressing this – ticking off obvious big hitters and ensuring products are available across brands at a variety of price points.

Dave Grohl’s first DG-335 signature model – based on his much-loved 1967 Gibson Trini Lopez – seems to be a fine case in point. The original was essentially a Gibson Custom Shop build, produced between 2007 and 2014 in extremely limited numbers.

The scarcity of those models, their high-end heritage and Foo Fighters’ enduring popularity has seen their values increase hugely, and the original Pelham Blue finishes have asking prices of around $20,000 on the used market.  

As such, the arrival of core Gibson USA and Epiphone options shows the firm realizing the obvious potential of having a signature model associated with one of the world’s largest guitar bands. 

We’ve had the initial tease from Gueikian. We’ve also seen Grohl performing with what appears to be a new Gibson signature DG-335 and we’ve got concrete evidence that the Epiphone is indeed in production, thanks to Grohl’s new press pic. Now we just have to hold tight for the full announcements… 

Usually things are rolled out in order of descending expense, with Custom Shop announcement, then USA Standard and finally Epiphone equivalent – as in the case of the Kirk Hammett Greeny Les Pauls. 

Perhaps, in this instance, though, Epiphone may get to steal the march with the DG-335, given Grohl’s more universal appeal. Time – and sneaky promo pic easter eggs – will tell...

Earlier this week, Foo Fighters announced that Josh Freese would be joining the band full-time as their new drummer.

Freese, who replaces the late Taylor Hawkins, was welcomed to the Dave Grohl-fronted outfit with a tongue-in-cheek sketch that featured cameos from Chad Smith, Danny Carey and Tommy Lee.

But despite the fun and games, it was straight down to business for the former Guns N’ Roses drummer, who – after giving fans a brief glimpse of what’s to come with a short set at Studio 606 – made his full live debut with the band last night (May 24).

To say it’s been a whirlwind week for the prolific sticksman would be an understatement, but Freese seamlessly slotted into place, helping Grohl and the rest of his new bandmates through a packed 21-song setlist.

“Everybody, would you please welcome the man behind the drums, Josh Freese – he’s helped save the day,” Grohl said while addressing the audience. “We would not be here tonight if it weren’t for Josh, so everybody give Josh a big fucking round of applause, please.”

Fan-filmed footage from Freese’s first foray into Foo Fighters tour action captures the drummer powering through old classics and new material alike, with Rescued – the band’s first new single since Hawkins’ passing – making its live debut.

Rescued wasn’t the only track from the band’s upcoming album But Here We Are – due June 2 – to feature on the agenda, with the title track receiving a run-out alongside Under You and the yet-to-be-released Nothing at All.

According to Setlist.fm, setlist stalwarts such as Learn to Fly, The Pretender, My Hero, Monkey Wrench, Best of You and Everlong all featured across the evening, with Freese adding his own rhythmic flair in tracks such as All My Life – which boasted a bruising double-kick drum breakdown.

What would have perhaps been more intriguing to guitar fans, though, was the fact Dave Grohl was spotted playing a white-finished version of his Gibson DG-335 signature guitar.

Given that model was first released in Pelham Blue, Metallic Gold and Ebony, this White version looks to be an entirely new creation altogether.

That, coupled with the fact Cesar Gueikian seemed to confirm a reissue of Grohl’s cult classic signature model is indeed on the way – along with an Epiphone iteration – leads us to believe we could be looking at what might end up being a fresh, soon-to-be-released DG-335.

Foo Fighters are next scheduled to play tomorrow (May 26) in Boston.

Head over to Foo Fighters’ website for a full list of tour dates.

Foo Fighters have officially named the drummer who will be joining the band in the wake of Taylor Hawkins’ death.

As many had speculated, in-demand session heavyweight Josh Freese – whose resume boasts stints on the stool with Guns N’ Roses, Nine Inch Nails, Devo and many others – will be linking up with Dave Grohl and co full-time, and will be joining the group for their forthcoming tour.

Freese’s appointment was announced during Foo Fighters’ 'Preparing Music for Concerts' livestream over the weekend, as part of a comical confirmation sketch that saw the likes of Chad Smith, Tommy Lee and Danny Carey all approach the band for the gig prior to Freese’s reveal.

Despite the slew of cameos, the camera then eventually cut to Freese – seated behind the drum kit – who then helped the band through a short set of old classics and yet-to-be-released originals. That set is currently available to watch on Veep.

Fans had began to anticipate official word on Freese’s recruitment after the drummer – who has also held down the backline for A Perfect Circle, Sublime with Rome and The Vandals – canceled his involvement in upcoming Offspring and Danny Elfman shows.

Freese was also among the pool of drummers who featured at last year’s Taylor Hawkins tribute shows, notably starring alongside Wolfgang Van Halen for a cover of Van Halen’s Hot For Teacher and On Fire.

During those shows, Freese – who was playing Hawkins' own kit – also showcased his Foo Fighters credentials by helping them perform some original songs, including Times Like These and All My Life. 

Back in January, Foo Fighters confirmed their intentions to continue following the sudden passing of Hawkins, writing in a statement, ”Without Taylor, we never would have become the band that we were – and without Taylor, we know that we’re going to be a different band going forward.”

The band recently started “the first chapter of the band’s new life” by announcing studio album number 11, But Here We Are. Two singles – Rescued and Under You – have so far previewed the LP, which is due June 2.

Freese will first be in action with Foo Fighters later this week, on May 24, when the group kickstarts their global tour in New Hampshire, Gilford. 

For a full list of dates, head over to Foo Fighters’ website.

Hello, and welcome to a new Spotify playlist-embiggened Essential Guitar Tracks. As you may well know, every seven days (or thereabouts), we endeavor to bring you a selection of songs from across the guitar universe, all with one thing in common: our favorite instrument plays a starring role.

Our goal is to give you an overview of the biggest tracks, our editor’s picks and anything you may have missed. We’re pushing horizons and taking you out of your comfort zone – because, as guitarists, that’s something we should all be striving for in our playing. 

So, here are our highlights from the past seven days… now with a Spotify playlist (scroll to the bottom for the latest additions)!

Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck – Moon River

Thought to be one of the late Beck’s final studio recordings, this new take on the crooning classic lets his guitar do the talking. Perhaps it’s simply the context of Beck’s passing, but the guitarist’s signature whammy-riding Strat tone really tugs the heartstrings here. Indeed, even Clapton wisely keeps out of the way for the first minute and a half… (MP)

Nita Strauss – The Golden Trail

The latest single from the Ibanez signature shredder’s upcoming album, The Call of The Void, which marries Strauss’s scintillating riff work with the visceral vocals of In Flames frontman Anders Fridén. (MO)

Joe Bonamassa – I Want To Shout About It

The blues guitar king channels his soulful side on this Stratocaster, horns 'n' organ-powered new single. Of course, though, Bonamassa allows himself some fun – impressing with a celebratory solo and limber, fiery fills that demonstrate his impeccable phrasing and sense of timing. (JM)

RVG – Common Ground

The Melbourne indie-punks' new track was born from a “deep depression” and absolutely wears its heart on its sleeve. There’s a moody, melodic starkness that evokes Echo And The Bunnymen, drenched in a level of cavernous reverb that appropriately reflects the depths from whence it came. (MP)

Red Devil Vortex – More Luck Than Brains

Reverse tapping pioneer Luis Kalil returns with his band for one of 2023’s most explosive guitar tracks yet, tipping his hat to the likes of Eddie Van Halen, Randy Rhoads, Buckethead, and more with a fretboard masterclass of the highest order. (MO)

Blur – The Narcissist

The Narcissist – the lead single from Blur's first new LP in eight years, The Ballad of Darren – finds guitarist Graham Coxon doing what he's done impeccably for over 30 years now, serving Damon Albarn's affecting narratives with supple fretwork highlighted by his deft melodic touch and propulsive, memorable, and just-a-little-jagged riffs. (JM)

Bully – Change Your Mind

Alicia Bognanno’s grunge-y new cut is blessed with the sort of fat, fuzzy bassline that is so enveloping you want to fashion it into chunky knitwear. Admittedly, we’ve not yet figured out how to translate audio waveforms directly into trendy knit designs but we’re pretty sure that’s an Etsy goldmine waiting to happen. (MP)

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Gila Monster

King Gizzard turns metal?! That’s certainly the vibe we’re getting with Gila Monster, what with its Metallica-esque riffs, hypnotic guitar solos, and no-nonsense arrangement that launches a full throttle high gain assault. This next King Gizzard album – the band’s second incursion into thrash, following 2019’s Infest The Rats’ Nest – could be very interesting indeed. (MO)

R.L. Boyce – Coal Black Mattie

Mississippi native and blues veteran R.L. Boyce is one of the many artists featured on the upcoming Dan Auerbach-produced Easy Eye Sound compilation, Tell Everybody! (21st Century Juke Joint Blues From Easy Eye Sound). With a hypnotic boogie riff and fire-and-brimstone slide work, Coal Black Mattie is a perfect adrenaline shot of pure, proper, old-school blues guitar. (JM)

Yusuf / Cat Stevens – All Nights, All Days

King of a Land, the forthcoming album from songwriting legend Yusuf / Cat Stevens, has been previewed with All Nights, All Days – a delightful display of electric and acoustic interplay that uses an upbeat vibe to serve up slinky riffs and chord work. (MO)

Creeping Death – The Common Breed

The Texan death-metallers are gathering a reputation as a tonal force majeure –responding with overwhelming crunch, darkness and a grooving pace that suggests they’ve got a few hardcore records stashed under the bed. (MP)

Dudu Tassa & Jonny Greenwood (feat. Nour Freteikh) – Taq ou Dub

Fans of Jonny Greenwood's recent guitar work with The Smile will find plenty to like in Taq ou Dub, the hypnotic new track from Jarak Qaribak, his upcoming full-length with Israeli musician Dudu Tassa. There are no made-for-120 Minutes alt-rock-guitar-hero moments here, but the spidery arpeggios Greenwood weaves throughout this spirited version of the Lebanese folk song are quintessentially his. (JM)

Foo Fighters – Under You

Foo Fighters returned with Rescued last month for their first new material since the passing of Taylor Hawkins, and the emotional core in their new music remains in strength in Under You – another anthem that channels raw human emotion through high gain guitars and heartfelt lyrics. (MO)

NewDad – In My Head

Grizzly oversized hooks and irresistible indie guitar action is the order of business for Irish rock band NewDad, whose In My Head delivers delicate lead work and a pummeling progression that’ll knock the wind out of you. (MO)

Gregory Alan Isakov – The Fall

There's a lot to peel back in this, the stately lead single from Isakov's new effort, Appaloosa Bones, but we're big fans of how its electric and acoustic parts weave themselves seamlessly into the track's beautiful, hypnotic fabric. (JM)

Wallice – Loser at Best 

After three years of singles and EPs, Wallice is finally gearing up for her debut studio album – and judging by Loser at Best, her commitment to angsty guitars will be front and center in that offering: it’s gnarly and noisy in all the right ways, and dripping in a stage-ready attitude. (MO)

Mandy, Indiana – Drag [Crashed]

The cathartic, industrially-abrasive rally against misogyny your Friday was thus far missing. It comes from an experimental four piece in Manchester, UK and, if you’re wondering, ‘Where’s the guitar?’ It’s that thing that sounds like a whale eating a freight train. (MP)

Liam Fender – Time Comes Around

An accomplished singer-songwriter in his own right, Liam Fender – brother of Seventeen Going Under sensation Sam – has given listeners another insight into his own independent sonic universe via Time Comes Around, which is heavy on the heavenly guitars and equally heavy on the luscious instrumentation. (MO) 

Julie Byrne – The Greater Wings

Summer Glass – the lead single from Julie Byrne's forthcoming album, The Greater Wings – was powered by lush, synth-driven arrangements, but the LP's recently-released title track is built upon brilliant, multi-dimensional acoustic fingerpicking. It's a musical backdrop that will be warmly familiar to anyone who's been following the singer/songwriter's career for some time, and the perfect introduction to her for those who haven't. (JM)

One of Gibson’s most recognizable signature guitars is the DG-335 – an elusive, now-discontinued Pelham Blue ES-335 model built for Dave Grohl, which was in production from 2007 to 2014.

Because of the limited supply of such six-strings, these guitars are usually some of the most expensive second-hand signatures that can be found on the used market, with the cheapest example on Reverb currently listing for over $19,000.

Well, fans of the light blue DG-335 who have been priced out of their dream guitar are about to be very happy indeed, because Gibson’s stand-in CEO Cesar Gueikian has just hinted that Grohl’s Gibson model is about to be revived.

And, what’s more, he’s seemingly confirmed that a far more affordable Epiphone version of the Foo Fighter’s prized axe is also in the pipeline.

The tease came during an Instagram Q&A session, with Gueikian simply replying “Ok” to one individual who optimistically asked, “Can we get a DG-335 core model or Epiphone models?”

Now, it’s a pretty short tease, but enough to get us excited. Why? Well, we can’t imagine Gueikian would have responded to the question in such a positive way had the thought of reviving the DG-335 had not already crossed Gibson’s mind.

Not only that, Gueikian answered the following question – “What are your plans for Gibson in the future?” – by saying, “Do Epic Shit.” A DG-335 reboot would most certainly be epic. 

Gueikian also seemed to take the rest of that Q&A pretty seriously – he confirmed that an Epiphone version of the recently released Greeny Les Paul reboot would be arriving sometime in the future, and revealed that Dave Mustaine’s own Epiphone signature guitars will drop this month.

As such, we’re inclined to believe that the DG-335 will be making a triumphant return.

Noted for its Trini Lopez-inspired f-holes and reverse Firebird headstock, the original DG-335 was released in Pelham Blue and Ebony, with a Metallic Gold colorway arriving later. Though not quite as expensive as their Pelham Blue sibling, the latter two models still have eye-watering price tags – as much as $14,000 in some cases.

The initial run of DG-335s was highly limited, with only 300 examples – 200 Pelham Blue, 100 Ebony – shipped to customers.

It was, for all intents and purposes, a tweaked Custom Shop version of Grohl’s much-loved Lopez model, featuring a semi-hollow ES-335 design, diamond f-holes, split diamond inlays and a rosewood fretboard, as well as a pair of Gibson Burstbucker pickups.

Judging from Gueikian’s Q&A, it seems as though the new DG-335s will be core models, as opposed to Custom Shop creations, meaning some of those original specs might be altered. Naturally, even more deviation from the blueprint will be found on the Epi model.

Head over to Gueikian's Instagram account to browse the full Q&A.

Foo Fighters have announced But Here We Are – their upcoming studio album, which marks their first release since the sudden passing of the band’s former drummer, Taylor Hawkins.

The album has been dubbed “the first chapter of the band’s new life”, and has been previewed with its lead single, Rescued – but there’s been no official confirmation as to who performed drums on the track.

It’s safe to assume that Foo frontman Dave Grohl himself took up the sticks in the studio, with Grohl also contributing to the dense wall of jangly, glass-like electric guitars that’s assembled by Chris Shiflett and Pat Smear.

The track comes at an especially poignant time for the band, with its emotional core and lyricism reflective of a wider direction across But Here We Are that will see the band “run the emotional gamut from rage and sorrow to serenity and acceptance”.

In a touching summary, But Here We Are is said to carry the naivete of the band’s 1995 debut album, and described as “the sound of brothers finding refuge in the music that brought them together”.

The 10-track album will arrive on June 2 via Roswell Records/Columbia Records, and will be Foo Fighters’ first since 2021’s Medicine at Midnight. 

News of a new album comes with the anticipation of an upcoming tour – along with a handful of already confirmed live shows – for which the band will be recruiting a new drummer, after they confirmed they’d continue as a band following Hawkins’ death.

Pearl Jam’s Matt Cameron was reportedly said to have been a frontrunner for the gigs, though such rumors were shot down by the drummer himself on his Instagram page. Angels & Airwaves’ Atom Willard has also been linked with the role.

Official confirmation of But Here We Are comes after a UK radio DJ claimed the band would be releasing a new album in March.

The tracklist for But Here We Are can be found below.

1. Rescued 
2. Under You
3. Hearing Voices
4. But Here We Are 
5. The Glass
6. Nothing At All 
7. Show Me How 
8. Beyond Me
9. The Teacher
10. Rest

• But Here We Are is available to preorder now.

In 2013, Foo Fighters set out to make a record unlike any they had made before.

The album – which, under the name Sonic Highways, would be released the following year – features eight tracks that were cut in eight different legendary studios, with location-specific guests contributing to each song. 

Perhaps the most legendary of the studios the band chose was Rancho De La Luna in Joshua Tree, California, where they tracked the song, Outside. To add some mojo to that particular tune, the band invited a man who knows a thing or two about West Coast guitar rock, Joe Walsh.

All of the Foo Fighters were fans of the Eagles electric guitar hero, but nobody in the band – or, perhaps, the world – was as big a Walsh fan as the band's late drummer, Taylor Hawkins. 

To say that Hawkins was thrilled about Walsh's guest spot would be quite an understatement. When his hero arrived at Rancho De La Luna and set to work on his solo, Hawkins – seated mere feet away from Walsh on a couch – could barely contain his enthusiasm. The touching scene was, thankfully, captured for posterity in the 2014 TV mini-series that chronicled Sonic Highways' creation. It can be seen below starting at around the 5:50 mark. 

No doubt inspired by the desert setting himself, Walsh – Stratocaster in hand – concocted a beautifully atmospheric solo for the song, slowing things down and using his impeccable phrasing, articulation, and vibrato to get incredible milage out of each note.

At one point, during a gap in tracking, Hawkins – with a sheepish grin – says to the room, "This is my new favorite Foo Fighters song."

As Walsh's first take on the solo gets played back to the room, Hawkins is overcome to the point that he can barely sit up straight.

It was good, too, that Hawkins was there to hear that first take, because Walsh didn't need another one. Towards the end of the playback, the guitar hero begins to nod in confidence at producer Butch Vig, who exclaims – at the take's end – "That's it, it's done!"

Hawkins came to the studio that day sporting a baseball cap adorned with the logo of the James Gang, Walsh's pre-Eagles power trio. He appreciated all of Walsh's work, but was a true-blue James Gang fanatic, even naming a song on Red Light Fever – the second album Hawkins released with his solo group, the Coattail Riders – after the band.

It was all too appropriate, and bittersweet, then, that the first Taylor Hawkins tribute concert – held on September 3, 2022 at Wembley Stadium in London, six months after the drummer's tragic death at the age of 50 – played host to the James Gang's first performance in 16 years.

“If you’ve ever seen a picture of Taylor Hawkins, most likely he was wearing a fucking hat that said James Gang on it,” Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl told the London crowd that evening by way of an introduction to the band.

“Taylor was like my little brother who was always asking questions,” Walsh said in a statement prior to the concert. “He had an insatiable curiosity about playing hard and loud like we used to do in the ’70s.

“We spoke a lot about being in a three-piece, how we recorded James Gang Rides Again [the band's 1970 album] and what life was like for a musician before he was even born. He thought I was pretty cool and the feeling was mutual.”

A new Foo Fighters release might be on the horizon, according to Chris Moyles, a DJ on the UK’s Radio X, who – either unwittingly or incorrectly – announced a new album on his breakfast show yesterday (February 7).

After playing Walk, a track from Foo Fighters’ 2011 album Wasting Light, Moyles said, casually, “I love that song so much – Foo Fighters, and Walk. They’ve got a new album coming out in March, Foo Fighters… which I’m very much looking forward to.”

The DJ didn’t elaborate on the comment any further, and quickly turned his attention to Harry Styles’ music. But his brief mention of the Dave Grohl-fronted outfit was picked up by a UK-based Foo Fighters fan page, which posted the clip online shortly thereafter. Listen below.

It’s unclear whether Moyles’ remarks were even correct, but assuming they are, such a release could take the form of either a live album showcasing Foo Fighters’ recent tribute concerts to their late drummer, Taylor Hawkins, or a collection of brand-new material. Given that it’s been less than a year since Hawkins passed away, we’d wager it’s more likely to be the former, if anything.

It is, however, possible that the band are gearing up to release material recorded with Hawkins prior to his death.

Taylor Hawkins died unexpectedly in Colombia in March 2022. Toxicology reports found a number of substances in his body at the time of his death.

Months later, the band hosted two tribute shows to honor their late bandmate, one at London's Wembley Stadium and one at LA's Kia Forum. The two events played host to performances by Wolfgang Van Halen, members of Queen, Rush, Soundgarden and countless others.

At the time of writing, only the Wembley show has been broadcast; a six-hour livestream could be viewed on YouTube, and the event is still available to watch on Paramount+.

Pro-shot footage from the Kia Forum show is yet to be made available, but given the magnitude of the event, we'd assume it's only a matter of time before we can watch it back.

Foo Fighters have announced they will be headlining the Rock Am Ring and Rock Im Park festivals later this summer, replacing Pantera.

Yesterday (January 24), organizers for the festivals announced that the newly reformed Pantera – which features Phil Anselmo, Rex Brown and Zakk Wylde and Charlie Benante in place of the late Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul, respectively – had been axed from the bill following “intensive conversations”.

Their swift replacement was announced by Foo Fighters themselves via their official Instagram, with the band writing, “Germany – we’ll see you Friday, June 2nd at Rock Am Ring and Sunday, June 4th at Rock Im Park! Tickets on sale now!”

No further details were given regarding the band’s personnel, but the group’s appointment to the festival bills comes days after Foo Fighters announced they would continue without Taylor Hawkins, who suddenly passed away last year at the age of 50.

No official reason for Pantera’s axing has been given, though organizers for Rock Am Ring and Rock Im Park – two of Europe’s biggest rock festivals – said the decision was made after consultation “with artists, our partners, and the festival fans”.

Several factors may have contributed to the swap. The band’s return itself has been highly divisive, with many Pantera fans questioning whether such a reunion should take place without legendary founding members Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul.

Another issue that may have informed the decision relates to the 2016 Dimebash tribute show, during which frontman Phil Anselmo displayed a Nazi salute and yelled “white power” at the crowd. At the time, Anselmo declined to apologize for the incident, though later said he was “1,000 percent apologetic to anyone that took offence to what I said, because you should have taken offence”.

Foo Fighters will join the two festival lineups alongside Rise Against, Limp Bizkit, Kings Of Leon, Tenacious D, Bring Me The Horizon, Machine Gun Kelly and more.

Foo Fighters have confirmed that they will return and continue as a band, following the tragic death of their longtime drummer, Taylor Hawkins, last March.

In a statement shared on social media on New Year's Eve, the band paid tribute to Hawkins – who had served as the band's drummer since 1997 – while adding that they'd be "a different band going forward."

Hawkins died unexpectedly on March 25, 2022, shortly before Foo Fighters' scheduled performance at Festival Estéreo Picnic in Bogota, Colombia. He was 50 years old.

Aside from a pair of star-studded, high-profile tribute concerts in London and Los Angeles last September – during which Hawkins' place behind the kit was filled by a number of A-list rock drummers – Foo Fighters have not performed live since Hawkins' death.

"As we say goodbye to the most difficult and tragic year that our band has ever known, we are reminded of how thankful we are for the people that we love and cherish most, and for the loved ones who are no longer with us," the statement reads.

"Foo Fighters were formed 27 years ago to represent the healing power of music and a continuation of life, and for the past 27 years our fans have built a worldwide community, a devout support system that has helped us all get through the darkest of times together, a place to share our joy and our pain, our hopes and fears, and to join in a chorus of life together through music. 

"Without Taylor, we never would have become the band that we were," it continues, "and without Taylor, we know that we’re going to be a different band going forward.

"We also know that you, the fans, meant as much to Taylor as he meant to you, and we know that when we see you again – and we will soon – he’ll be there in spirit with all of us every night."

The band offered no further details about future activity beyond the statement, but be sure to keep your eyes on Foo Fighters' website for updates about their plans as they're announced.

Always-busy Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, for his part, has slowly been returning to the stage on his own in recent months, making notable onstage guest appearances with Lionel Richie, the Breeders and Billie Eilish.