Keith Richards has looked back on the time a close encounter with one of his guitar heroes didn’t go exactly as planned.

Boil down the Rolling Stones’ music to its core components, and you’ll find nods to the impassioned licks of Howlin’ Wolf and the hip-swinging charm of Chuck Berry. So, when Richards found himself in Chuck Berry’s dressing room early in his career with the Stones, it was a dream come true. Soon, though, he was sent crashing back down to earth.

“He punched me once, years ago, in the ‘60s, I think,” Richards reveals of his meeting with Berry to the Guardian. This would have likely been in 1969, when the Stones, their star rising, toured the US and had Berry as a fill-in opening act on some nights.

“We were in his dressing room, I was having a peek at his guitar, and I was just about to stroke it, and he went: ‘Nobody touches it!’ And bam!”

Chuck Berry’s Gibson ES-355 is the stuff of legend. Richards quickly realized his mistake.

“I would have done the same,” he admits. “I’ve never had to, but then I’ve never caught someone doing that.”

Despite the close encounter, Richards remains effusive in his praise of Berry, who helped shape the Stones sound.

“There’s something about those early records of his,” he says of Berry. “They have an ease about them and a sophistication in a way. I loved his naturalness when he was playing, the way he moved – his whole body became part of the guitar.

“He made me focus on what was possible for me, which made my mother shell out for an electric guitar,” he adds. “I just felt a natural affinity for him, even though he was a cussed bugger!”

Suffice to say, Richards never tried to touch the guitar again. Luckily, he now has his own line of ES-355s that carries more than a little of Berry’s DNA.

The Rolling Stones are set to release their second Andrew Watt-produced album, Foreign Tongues, next month, and Ronnie Wood has been discussing his artful weaving around Richards’ guitar parts ahead of it.

Meanwhile, Joe Perry has thanked Richards for turning him onto the ultimate slide guitar.

On Tuesday (May 5), the Rolling Stones announced a new album, Foreign Tongues.

Their 25th long player in total, it – like its predecessor, 2023's impressively vital Hackney Diamonds – was produced by Andrew Watt, and (also like its predecessor) features a laundry list of special guests: Steve Winwood, the Cure frontman Robert Smith, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, and some up-and-comer named Paul McCartney.

The Stones officially launched the album that same day with a splashy listening party and Q&A led by Conan O'Brien, held at the cavernous Weylin event space in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Of course, those aforementioned guest spots were high on the list of discussion priorities, but less tabloid-friendly (and arguably more interesting) were the more nuts-and-bolts insights into how the Stones have musically kept on, well, rolling, for well over 60 years.

O'Brien at one point asked Wood – sat in between the ever-ageless Mick Jagger and the ever-wry Keith Richards – about how his own fondness for open E tuning clicks with his six-string comrade's love of Open G.

“In my Faces days I always played open E, and Keith always played in open G,” Wood explained. “Somewhere in the middle, there's this sort of mesh that we call ‘the ancient form of weaving’. Sometimes we cross accidentally!”

Indeed, if you've ever heard Richards discuss in other interviews the way his playing interacts with Wood's – or Mick Taylor's and Brian Jones' before him – you've likely also heard him use that exact term.

It's the bedrock of the Stones' sound – rhythm and lead blending into one; no showing off; blues, country, and rockabilly all blending together seamlessly. The overlapping riffs that have been played by millions of guitarists the world over.

Richards, for his part, highlighted to O'Brien that there's no need for discussing the fine matters of arranging with his guitar partner of half a century.

“[There's no] ‘Oh, this chord goes like this; this chord goes like this,’” he said. “We know [where and when to play] without thinking about it or talking about it.”

“This is Keith” is a pretty mundane phrase, but when you answer your phone and you hear those three simple words growled at you by the most distinguished rhythm guitarist of all time, they make a lasting impression.

The 30-minute interview that follows is no less impactful. Even at 82 years old, Keith Richards is in devilish form, prone to laughing hysterically at his own jokes, dropping clusters of F-bombs, mocking some of GW’s more naive questions and generally behaving like the snaggle-toothed Captain Jack Sparrow caricature that all Rolling Stones fans recognize and appreciate.

Talking to him, you don’t feel like you’re in the company of some godlike rock star; you feel like you’re backstage at a Stones show, laughing it up over life’s more surreal and stupid moments.

Still, Richards, who was infamously labeled “mad, bad and dangerous to know” more than half a century ago – and with good reason (you already know the coke, heroin and switchblade anecdotes) – is a mellower character these days than the terrifying Glimmer Twin persona of decades past.

He’s a well-spoken fellow; you can still hear traces of the suburban London accent that he shares with his fellow Stone Mick Jagger as he talks enthusiastically and at length about all things guitar.

He’s a committed lover of his instrument – almost literally, by the sound of it – and is especially keen to discuss his latest signature model, the Gibson Keith Richards 1960 ES-355 Collector's Edition.

Built by hand at Gibson’s custom shop in Nashville and available in a limited run of 150 units, 50 of which are signed on the F-hole label and headstock and 100 on the label only, this guitar comes in at a marriage-destroying $29,999 and $19,999 respectively, in other words too expensive for you and me; well, maybe you but definitely me.

The point of the new ES-355 model is that Richards’ original, which has been 3D-scanned by Gibson to make the new version a millimetrically identical copy, occupies a rare spot in guitar history; he used it (among other guitars) to record the Stones’ seminal Sticky Fingers and Exile On Main St. albums in 1971 and ’72, and has played it on every Stones tour since 1997. If you ever get your hands on one, count yourself lucky.

The same adjective applies to Richards himself. He’s still in pretty good shape despite an early-career adherence to the rock ’n’ roll lifestyle that few could possibly survive; he’s an acknowledged legend in his own lifetime; and he still wants to be better at what he does.

I was expecting him to be pretty jaded at the prospect of yet another guitar-related interview, but the opposite turned out to be true. You’ll enjoy the chat that follows, even if your relationship with your instrument isn’t quite as intimate as his.

Hello, Keith. Are you at home in Connecticut?

I am, yes. We’re absolutely snowed in. Nobody can get here except a man with a snowplow. He’s working away right now. I quite like it, because it means I can’t get out.

This new Gibson ES-355 of yours is pretty tasty, isn’t it?

Yeah, yeah! What a surprise, and what a fuckin’ honor. I tell you, when they came at me with this one, I was like, “How can I refuse?” It was a shock to me at first, because when I started, the idea of even owning a Gibson was pretty much out of the picture.

There are only 150 of them. How many of them are Gibson giving you?

Oh look, I have enough guitars already.

Is it true you have 3,000 guitars in your personal collection?

It’s something like that. You can call my guitar man, Pierre de Beauport, if you want the exact number, but it’s around there. But it’s not like I go around buying them or anything; a lot of these guitars have been given to me. I’ve never seen them all.

I actually only use about… well, the working number is about 15 guitars in the rack, for different sounds and whatever. But the other 2,900, I don’t know. They’re taken care of, though. I mean, this is a prime collection.

You’re known for putting groove into your playing and hanging back behind the beat.

It’s actually nothing you can put into words, because it’s just the way I feel the rhythm. I always say that I can only do this because I’ve been blessed with the best drummers in the world. I have the luxury of knowing that the guy knows what he’s doing, you know.

Were you the first guitar player to bring that swing to rock music?

Well, if you think about it, it’s the other way around. Rock music came out of swing music. You listen to any of the old ’30s and ’40s big bands, they’re playing as much rock ’n’ roll as Bill Haley or Little Richard. The essence of a lot of it was in those big bands and their rhythm sections.

You played with Chuck Berry in the ’80s. What was he like?

Chuck, as a person, was an ornery old fucker – a lovable, ornery old fucker.

Why do you admire his guitar playing?

The same thing you’re talking about; there was something about the way he used that rhythm behind the drums that, to me, was fascinating. He said to me, “I was just playing with the right guys, [bassist] Willie Dixon and [pianist] Johnnie Johnson.” And that’s the way I feel about the way I play – lucky to play with the right guys.

We’re talking about a mysterious thing, a thing called feel, a thing called groove. Luckily you can’t put your finger on it, you know. But I try! [Laughs]

Is the way you weave lead and rhythm parts playing with Ronnie Wood an unspoken thing?

Oh, absolutely. There’s something between us. It was the same with me and with Mick Taylor, and also with Brian Jones, back at the beginning. You’d meet the right guys and automatically they knew that “You take over here, I’ll come in underneath,” and there was a beautiful little ballet going on. That’s amazing, and that’s what makes it worth doing, you know – this interconnection between musicians.

When it works, it seems almost telepathic.

Yeah, it is kinda telepathic, in a way. I suppose. You can put that word on it. [Shouts] Ronnie! [Laughs] And it’s something you don’t wanna fuck with. Once it’s there, you don’t talk about it amongst yourselves. It’s an unspoken reliance upon each other, which is a beautiful thing.

You mentioned Brian Jones, who we rarely discuss as a guitarist. What was his playing like?

Personally, he was the first steel slide player I heard. His middle name could have been Elmore, because he used to just play Elmore James stuff. He was really, really in front of that game, and that’s what I really admired about him when we first started playing together.

This band was started by a piano player, Ian Stewart, and he had Brian with him. Once I heard Brian playing Elmore James, I thought, “I’ve found a guy here who I can mess with,” and then we got into Jimmy Reed stuff and, of course, Muddy Waters, all of that… I wouldn’t call it a university education. [Laughs]

Have you ever played with a guitarist who couldn’t groove?

I very rarely play with stiffs! I’ve been lucky to play with the best. Listen, I’ve played with the guys I grew up listening to. Little Richard, Scotty Moore. Jesus Christ, should I go on? [Laughs]

Did you know John Mayall?

I had great admiration for John. He was such a scholarly guy about it. John was sort of a shadowy figure. A lot of those guys came out of the folk music scene, as it was known at the time, because for some weird reason in those early years, there were hierarchies between traditional jazz and folk music.

You know, people got fussy about shit. Anyway, it was amazing to me that these guys were dying to play music that comes from thousands of miles away and that it resonated with them. Therefore the resonation continues; music is about resonation.

Did you like the British folk guitarists?

Yeah, I did listen to them, and they were good pickers, you know. Wizz Jones used to come round to my house and hang out for a few free cigarettes and show you a lick or two. Do you remember Wizz Jones? He was an incredible guy. I really actually admired those guys. Bert Jansch was fuckin’ amazing. And unrecognized, really, for how great they were.

When you got into open-G tuning on five strings, it seemed to change your whole view of guitar playing.

It did, actually, and anybody that tries to get into it, it changes their fucking mind, too. [Laughs] Because it is a really strange setup, especially if you’re used to six-string guitars.

You have to reconfigure everything, and you realize you’ve restricted yourself to five strings and three open notes [GDGBD], you know. You have to learn to play the chords. I figured it out. It’s still fascinating. I’m still rambling around in there, looking for stuff.

Is the objective of the partial chords you often play to strip the music down?

Yeah, basically, because with five strings in open G, your bottom string is a G, so you’re immediately stripping away a whole load of possibilities of being Jimi Hendrix. [Laughs]

Also, if you get into it, you find a million other things people haven’t explored before, or at least, very few of us have. For me, it started off as an interesting sort of experiment and then I suddenly found that, hey, this is the stuff.

You mentioned Hendrix. Did you ever want to be a virtuoso soloist yourself?

No, I have never really wanted to go down that path. I mean, with solos, I admire the virtuoso and the technique and the nimbleness, but at the end of the day, what are you soloing over? You’re the icing on the cake. And I’m the cake!

So what did you think of the Sunset Strip shredders that got big in the ’80s?

[Laughs] I laughed my fuckin’ head off! Like, “Oh my God, what have we spawned?”

They were skilled players, though.

Yeah, they were good pickers, and they had a hit record here and there, but that’s pop music. Look, as long as you’ve got something to solo over, then go. But that never appealed to me. What appeals to me is what’s going on underneath. What I really do love is two or three guitars playing together, because that’s what fascinates me. Just one guy soloing means nothing much to me. Right?

Do you play fewer notes these days?

Yes, I do, because I’m not as fast as I used to be. [Laughs] I tell you what, at my age, what I find most interesting about the guitar is you can compensate for certain disabilities and nimbleness and find other ways of getting around the problem, and it still teaches you another thing – you never stop learning with the damn thing. I love it and it’s my friend forever. If I had to, I’d fuck it.

Noted. Are your hands holding up OK at age 82?

Well, I do have arthritis and very large knuckles. They don’t hurt, but it does get in the way sometimes. I’m going for a wider fingerboard for that reason.

Do you warm your hands up before a show?

I sit on ’em. No, I do have one of those hand pumps, you know. I’m really lax, quite honestly. I just look at my hands and my hands look at me, and we say, “Well, let’s see what we can do today.” And that’s the way I play guitar. I look at it and I say, “We’ve got nothing else to do. Come here. I love you!” [Laughs]

What’s your favorite song ever?

What, just one? Oh man, you’re sticking me against the wall. You’re killing me here.

It’s what we do.

Yeah! I gotta go with Robert Johnson’s Come On in My Kitchen. It’s all there – originality, everything. It’s fantastic.

And if you could only play one guitar for the rest of your life, which would it be?

Whoa… you’re a firing squad, ain’t ya? I have a little black Gibson looking at me right now, a 1936 acoustic, broken, battered. I’d keep that one with me.

You’ve often said acoustic playing is at the heart of what you do.

Well, you can’t become an electric guitar player without knowing where the damn thing comes from. If you don’t get the basics, where do you think you’re going to end up? [Laughs]

Are you still learning as a guitar player?

Who isn’t? That’s the beauty of the thing. My teacher never stops teaching. I’ve been at it for years now and he still knows more than me.

Have you got any advice for our younger readers about guitar playing?

I cannot give you any advice, kids. If you love the thing and feel like playing it, just dig in and find out yourself. It’s a great pal, and when there’s nothing else around, there’s always a guitar. It becomes a friend, a real deep friend, and also a challenge. It looks at you across the room and leers at you. [Laughs] “Come on, you ain’t got nothing out of me yet.”

It’s been 11 years since your last solo album. Will you do another one?

I’m thinking about it. I never plan these things. [Rolling Stones drummer] Steve Jordan and I were having a chat about it the other day, and usually you start by just saying, “Let’s go in and cut a track or two.” Sometimes that’s what happens, and other times you say, “Hey, here’s another one, and here’s another one.” So I’m not counting it out.

Are you still inspired to write songs?

Oh, God, long may they come. They come out of nowhere. They come out of babies’ mouths, they come out of a car crash; you never know. Everything’s a song.

They say the best songs come when you’re feeling anger and frustration. Is that true in your experience?

Anger and frustration help for a while, but you’ll never make a living at it.

What makes you happy these days?

Well, breathing. [Laughs] No, this winter my grandkids have been around. They’re all ones and twos and threes; it’s fascinating to watch. I’m starting to get the hang of it, you know. Over this winter, they’ve been my inspiration.

What are your goals at this point?

To make it to the next winter!

• For more information on the Keith Richards 1960 ES-355, head to Gibson.com.
• This article first appeared in Guitar World. Subscribe and save.

Keith Richards has opened up on how age and arthritis has changed his approach to the guitar, as he continues to adapt his chops to prolong his playing days.

Richards is one of the most decorated and celebrated rhythm guitar players of all time. Still going strong to this day, Keef continues to hammer his electric guitars with the Rolling Stones – but he’s having to make some adaptations.

The man who has written some of the greatest guitar riffs of all time went public with his struggles with arthritis in 2023, and it’s forced the 82-year-old to change tack.

Asked in the new issue of Guitar World whether he plays fewer notes these days, he says, “Yes, I do, because I'm not as fast as I used to be.”

“At my age, what I find most interesting about the guitar is you can compensate for certain disabilities and nimbleness and find other ways of getting around the problem,” he adds. “And it teaches you another thing – you never stop learning with the damn thing. I love it, and it's my friend forever.”

Richards isn’t letting his body get in between him and his guitars. A wider fingerboard is one compensation he's had to make, but he doesn’t use his hand pumps to aid his pre-show warm-ups as much as he should.

"Well, I do have arthritis and very large knuckles," he says when asked how his hands are holding up. "They don't hurt, but it does get in the way sometimes. I'm going for a wider fingerboard for that reason.

“Honestly, I just look at my hands, and my hands look at me, and we say, ‘Well, let’s see what we can do today,’” Richards adds. “And that's the way I play guitar. I look at it and say, ‘We've got nothing else to do. Come Here. I love you!’”

His love of the six-string – which is, admittedly, sometimes reduced to five – is reflected in two new signature guitars with Gibson. The Collector's Edition models are painstaking replicas of his go-to axe.

In related Richards news, he recently confessed to having no recollection of writing one of his most iconic riffs, and says he laughed his head off when a legion of shredders emerged from the Sunset Strip in the 1980s.

He's the cover star of the latest issue of Guitar World. Copies can be ordered from Magazines Direct.

Keith Richards has looked back on the heyday of 1980s shred guitar in a new interview with Guitar World, admitting that he wasn’t especially fond of the music that was coming out at the time.

As Don Was recently attested, Richards is one of greatest rhythm guitarists to ever have played the instrument. As such, it makes sense that his favorite players from across the years are the ones that sat firmly in the pocket, those that favored groove and feel over fretboard acrobatics.

Early era swing music, Bill Haley, Little Richard, Chuck Berry and the blues – the diet that Richards was reared on – all helped cement his standing as a rhythm great, with the Rolling Stone showing little interest in becoming a lead player.

Unsurprisingly, that meant when the musical tides turned in the 1980s and Eddie Van Halen left a new wave of shredders emerging in his wake, Richards wasn’t all that impressed with what he saw.

“I laughed my fuckin’ head off!” he says in the new issue of Guitar World when asked about the Sunset Strip shredders of the era. “Like, ‘Oh my God, what have we spawned?’”

It won’t come as a shock to learn that the breakneck speeds pushed by the Shrapnel stars and shred innovators such as Yngwie Malmsteen and Marty Friedman weren’t quite Richards’ thing. That said, he appreciates the skill for what it is.

“They were good pickers, and they had a hit record here and there, but that’s pop music,” he adds. “Look, as long as you’ve got something to solo over, then go. But that never appealed to me. What appeals to me is what’s going on underneath.

What I really do love is two or three guitars playing together, because that’s what fascinates me. Just one guy soloing means nothing much to me. Right?”

It goes back to why Richards himself never cared much for lead playing, and why he instead dedicated himself to the craft of rhythm guitar so enthusiastically.

“I have never really wanted to go down that path,” Richards replies when asked if he ever wanted to be a soloist. “I mean, with solos, I admire the virtuoso and the technique and the nimbleness, but at the end of the day, what are you soloing over? You’re the icing on the cake. And I’m the cake!”

Guitar World’s new interview with Keith Richards is available in the magazine’s latest issue. You can subscribe to Guitar World over at Magazines Direct.

Alabama has lost one of its most talented guitar players as Wayne Perkins, the legendary Swamper who played with the Rolling Stones, Joni Mitchell, Bob Marley, and more, has died, aged 74.

His death was confirmed on Facebook by his brother, Dale, who played with his brother in Alabama Power, and said there was no one quite like him.

“For those who haven’t heard, Wayne passed away yesterday peacefully,” wrote Dale. “Our sisters and family members were there with him. We appreciate all the kind thoughts and memories. He was one of a kind and we loved him very much, and thank you all.”

Perkins was a giant of southern rock guitar. He started gigging at 15, quit school a year later, and soon found himself making his bones in Muscle Shoals, working as a session player in Quin Ivy’s studio.

One thing led to another. He spent nine months getting acquainted with the business before the money ran out, and Ivy suggested he tried his luck at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio. He had some, working with David Porter and the Soul Children, Dave Crawford, Brad Shapiro, and Dee Dee Warwick. He played on Lynyrd Skynyrd's demos.

The late ‘60s was a time for experimenting with the guitar. Perkins was no different. He recalled digging into his tool box to find something to play slide with. He credits Duane Allman for introducing him to the Coricidin pill bottle.

“He was recording with a band called the Hour Glass, before the Allman Brothers, I went over to show him my slide piece. I had a deep well socket, a 9/16” craftsman tool bit, a socket,” said Perkins, speaking to MoJo Road Media Creations Producer Glynn Wilson. “So I went over to show it to him – and this is a really cool thing – he went, ‘Isn’t that a little heavy or something?’”

“He said, ‘Look, try this out!’ And I said, ‘Oh, this is kinda loose,’ but the thickness of the glass made the string hum a little better.’ He let me try that thing. He said, ‘Get yourself to the drugstore, get yourself a Coricidin bottle, pour all the pills out, take the label off. That’s your slide piece.’ That was what he used.”

Perkins was just getting started, acquainting himself with the greats. He would consider then ultimately reject an offer to join Lynyrd Skynyrd. He joined up with Steve and Tim Smith for Smith, Perkins & Smith, a four-piece with another Muscle Shoal alumnus, Roger Hawkins, on the drums, and Island Records snapped them up.

Their eponymous 1972 debut would be overshadowed – at least in the remorseless shuffle of musical history – by Perkins’ collaboration with Bob Marley. But this was a great time for the band, who supported Free and Uriah Heep, and played at the Cavern in Liverpool.

At Island boss Chris Blackwell’s request, Perkins played on Concrete Jungle, Baby We've Got a Date (Rock It Baby), and Stir it Up from the Wailers’ Island Records debut, Catch a Fire. Blackwell’s instincts were good; Concrete Jungle was a breakout moment for Marley.

Not a bad thing to have on your resumé. He was 21 years old.

“He wanted me to ‘do that Southern rock guitar thing, or whatever you do.’ So I met Marley, but just briefly,” recalled Perkins, speaking to Black and White’s Ed Reynolds in 2009. “I didn't know any of these guys. And the first thing I noticed when I walked downstairs was that the basement was in a fog. Lots of [marijuana] smoke. It was too funny. I tried to get down to business.”

Next up for Perkins was Joni Mitchell – whom he dated for a while. Perkins played on her 1974 masterpiece Court and Spark, using James Burton’s pink Paisley Telecaster for the session. Tom Scott of the LA Express was putting some overdubs on Car on a Hill and Mitchell asked if he had any ideas. He did. But he didn’t have a guitar with him; his gear was with Leon Russell.

“We got her band's equipment but the guitar wouldn't stay in tune on the bottom three strings, so I told her this wasn't going to work like I wanted it to,” Perkins told Black and White. “I pointed to this huge anvil guitar case in the studio that had ‘James Burton’ written on the side of it. It’s 3 a.m. Joni was hesitant to mess with it. But I flipped the case open and there was that pink paisley Telecaster.

“I told her, ‘Here's what we're gonna do, we’re gonna do some city sounds like you want.’ So I took Burton’s Telecaster and I overdubbed the slide parts on Car on a Hill on James Burton's guitar. When I put the guitar back in the case, I folded the damn strap different than the way I found it, so he’d know somebody had messed with it [laughs].”

What did we say about Catch a Fire being a good thing to have on your resumé? It led to arguably Perkins' greatest collaboration, working with the Rolling Stones. He nearly got the gig to replace Mick Taylor. Leon Russell and Eric Clapton had vouched for him. Keith Richards loved reggae.

Ronnie Wood would pip him at the last, but not before sufficiently impressing the Stones that they would invite him into the studio as a session player on Black and Blue.

Hand of Fate just came together, right there in the studio. Perkins couldn’t believe what was happening.

“The whole thing sounded real rough, too. It kinda just sucked,” he said. “It was like the worst garage band I'd ever heard in my life. Then the engineer turned on the red light and it’s like somebody reached out with a magic wand and went, ‘Bing!’ And all of a sudden, it’s the Stones! Damnedest thing I’ve ever seen.”

Those sessions found Perkins playing lead on Hand of Stone, Memory Motel, and Fool to Cry. Worried About You was recorded then, too, but was only released on 1981’s Tattoo You.

Missing out on the Stones gig didn’t seem to bother him unduly. He went onto Alabama Power, played bass guitar with Lonnie Mack, recorded soundtrack work for Karate Kid II and the 1986 Rodney Dangerfield vehicle Back to School, and pursued a solo career before retiring in ill health in the 2000s after being diagnosed with brain tumors.

So we’re wrapping up Mr. Brightside when the bass player gives me that look again. I’ve already come to recognize it: the furrowed brow of a man finding dog-shit on his Persian rug. Something isn’t quite right. He nods at my amp.

“How much reverb have you got on there?” I check the dial: “Erm… all of it.” A shake of the head: “We can’t hear anything you’re playing. It’s just soup. Go on, take it off.”

Two minutes later my beautiful guitar tone is stripped, shorn, naked and bleeding. Having played for three decades, I suddenly sound like a six-year-old plugging in on Christmas morning, every tiny passing scrape and clunk horribly exposed.

At this volume it feels obnoxious – like I’m proudly shouting this cacophony from the rooftops, with a Vegas-style neon sign above my head: “I am a crap guitarist! Hear me roar!”

Let’s run it again anyway. ‘Coming out of my cage and I’ve been doing just fine’… Oh God; it’s the look again: “You’re just a touch off the beat.” Somebody remind me why I’ve joined a band. It’s unbearable. It’s intolerable. No wonder all those black-metallers murder each other.

I could have stayed in the lovely, safe womb-cocoon of my home guitar room, where I’ve spent the past decade, playing to backing tracks, recording the odd thing and polishing it until I’m satisfied, with nobody to question whether that intro really needs a ping-pong delay.

Seems I’m not alone. “Nobody wants to be in bands any more – everybody wants to be a singer-songwriter,” reckons Noel Gallagher of Oasis. “The band thing is dying out. Everybody’s got a home recording studio on their iPhone now.”

Here’s the thing, though: as a fan, I warm to bands far more than solo artists. I love the whole “us-against-the-world” thing; the “take-a-bullet-for-each-other” thing. On the flipside, it leaves me cold to think of Harry Styles peeling dollars off a roll as his sessioners tramp for the exit come 5pm.

So a few months ago, when a local covers band advertised for a second guitarist, I thought, “Well, it couldn’t hurt…” It did hurt.

People talk about the catharsis of playing guitar in a band – the soul-cleansing benefits of blasting out a rock anthem with live drums and bass behind you. And it is cathartic, when it goes well. But the reverse is also true.

To play badly at band practice – or, even worse, the gig – is a festering psychological pustule that’ll leave you driving home in a daze, hating yourself and your meagre talent, wanting to feed your stupid, fumbling fingers to a pack of stray dogs.

It literally hurts too. As a stay-at-home guitarist you can get flabby. Thumb getting a little sore halfway through the backing track? Just stop playing. Don’t worry about it. Of course, you can’t do that in a band. Stopping is the cardinal sin.

I used to snigger when people called Coldplay “bedwetters.” Not any more. After playing the acoustic part for Yellow six times on the trot, I salute Chris Martin as a man with the vice-like grip of a Bond henchman. If I were him, I wouldn’t write “Make Trade Fair” on my left hand. I’d have: “Please kill me now.” Some nights, honestly, it looked like a dead crab by the end of the session.

But rock ’n’ roll can surprise you. At some unspecified point, I stopped looking for an acceptable reason to quit and started to absolutely love being in a band. Of course, it’s that camaraderie; pulling together towards a common goal and feeling like The Who on that album sleeve where they’re all pissing against the monolith.

But more tangible is that, after years of plateauing, I’ve noticed my guitar playing take the greatest leap forward since school. My bandmates were right – over those lost years, reverb had become my crack cocaine, my indulgence creeping up until everything was slathered in a glacial sheen, and sounded like Interpol trapped in Tile Warehouse.

With less of it, I’ve been forced to get neater and tidier, no longer clonking between positions or hitting strings I didn’t mean to.

My hand is getting stronger. My timing’s better too. I’m starting to understand the push ’n’ pull that people talk about with the Stones: how sometimes each member’s contribution has to be dead on the nose, but other times you can let it breathe like a conversation.

I wouldn’t always choose the covers we play (we do She’s So Lovely by Scouting For Girls, for Christ’s sake). But there are also benefits to trying someone else’s setlist: new chords, different strumming patterns, fresh inspiration.

The bass player, now a great friend, has a points system. When you play guitar at home on your own, he says, you get one point added to your lifetime tally as a musician. When you practice with a band, that’s two points; while performing with the band earns you five.

So if you’re serious about supercharging your playing – and rediscovering what rock ’n’ roll is all about – power down your DAW and pile into the nearest sticky-floored rehearsal space.

Nile Rodgers has opened up on his ill-fated collaboration with John Mayer, which failed to get off the ground after the pair exchanged their favorite albums with one another.

Rodgers’ collaborative credits reads like a who’s who of the upper echelons of the music world. Over the years, the funk guitar maestro has worked with everyone from David Bowie and Sister Sledge, all the way to Eric Clapton, Michael Jackson, Dianna Ross, Mick Jagger and many more.

Rodgers has never worked with Mayer, though – but that’s not for a lack of trying. As he tells Vulture in a new interview, Rodgers once set his sights on a collaboration with Mayer, but it fell apart before it picked up any steam.

As Rodgers explains, he was interested in getting to know artists “through their taste in art” by exchanging albums. It was a practice he learned from working with David Bowie on Let’s Dance, during which the pair spent time in libraries, exploring “different artistic concepts”.

Bowie and Mayer proved to be two completely different prospects, though, and Rodgers’ idea of album-swapping ended up doing more harm than good.

“I actually tried this once with John Mayer, and it went totally sour,” Rodgers admits. “He turned me onto his favorite record, which was Coldplay’s first album, Parachutes. I thought it was cool, but I gave him the Rolling Stones’ Their Satanic Majesties Request, which I think is the most underrated rock-and-roll album of all time.

“It didn’t work with John. It’s weird, too, because John might be one of the smartest people that’s ever walked this Earth. Those first two days we got along like brothers, but then after we did the album thing, it was like, ‘This isn’t happening.’”

Mayer clearly wasn’t a fan of Their Satanic Majesties Request – but, then again, neither were the Stones themselves. In fact, as Keith Richards once admitted, they didn’t even want to make it.

“None of us wanted to make [the record],” he wrote in his memoir (via Guitar Player). “But it was time for another Stones album, and Sgt. Pepper was coming out, so we thought basically we were doing a put-on.”

The Stones’ daring foray into the world of psychedelic music isn’t short of critics, and it seems Mayer was one of them – so much so that the thought of working on music inspired by it was enough to put him off a potential collaboration with Rodgers.

And who can blame him – especially if he was religiously spinning Yellow at the time…

Although unavailable for many years, the late Ted Newman’s unique solidbody – originally conceived for Keith Richards back in the ’70s – has made quite a return since the introduction of the 5 String in 2024, the first of an ongoing series of limited-edition models made in the UK under the stewardship of the Cream T Custom Shop.

Along with that guitar, there’s been the single-pickup Honeycomb Junior GT-40, the dual-pickup Honeycomb Senior (both with either Guitar-X swappable or fixed-pickup options), and towards the end of 2025 this Torn and Frayed addition, “a limited edition run of guitars designed to celebrate the history of Newman Guitars and Cream T Pickups”.

It’s offered in artfully and heavily aged nitrocellulose Butterscotch Blonde (as pictured), Black, Cherry Burst and Vintage White.

The Newman design centres around the offset single‑cutaway slab body, which – under the worn paint here – is solid obeche, contributing to its light weight of 2.58kg (5.68lb). With a comfortable asymmetric profile, the bolt-on neck has 24 frets and, with a shorter 629mm (24.75-inch) scale length, is topped off with that distinct and lightly back-angled six-a-side headstock.

There’s no Guitar-X pickup swapping here, though: the Cream T Banger & Mash humbucker mounts on the black scratchplate, the new Mint T single coil in the aged Gotoh T-style bridge plate. The controls obviously follow the Telecaster’s more modern configuration albeit with a pull-switch on the tone control to split the neck humbucker.

Rolling Stones fans will know the origin of the name, and there’s more than a whiff of Keef’s fabled old Telecasters about the style, enhanced by pretty big frets suggesting an earlier refret. But it’s a seriously practical design, not least strapped on, with good access to the upper frets, the comfort helped by the lightly rounded neck heel.

At the bridge the Mint T doesn’t sound over-wound, it’s bright and spanky and seems to suit some crunch where it comes across as raw and cutting, while the Banger & Mash almost sounds like it looks – a big Tele neck voice that has clarity with humbucker width that can be split to clean things up and drop back to a really classic mixed pickup combination. It’s not just the finish that looks old – the guitar sounds it, too.

Just like the song goes, its “coat is torn and frayed, it’s seen much better days. Just as long as the guitar plays, let it steal your heart away”.

• The Newman Torn and Frayed Edition is priced £3,299 (approx $4,495). For more details, see Aurora Guitar Works.
• This article first appeared in Guitarist. Subscribe and save.

If you want a lasting career as a guitar tech, you’ll have to know all the ins and outs of the rigs you’ll be working on. If you want to work for the biggest bands in the world, like The Rolling Stones, well, you pretty much have to be the best in the business.

Ryan Bullington started out as a guitar player and eventually got a job working for a sound and lighting company, through which he secured his first-ever role as a guitar tech in 1997. He worked his way up the ladder and eventually found himself taking care of Ronnie Wood’s guitars and amps.

“The band that we were providing sound and lighting for heard me play and asked if I wanted to be their tech,” he tells Guitar World, on a break from his duties looking after Brian Ray’s rig on the road with Paul McCartney.

“I said, ‘What’s that?’ and they told me I’d have to tune guitars for them. I said, ‘You want to pay me to tune your guitars?’ I didn’t know that was a thing.”

It was a life-changing moment that led to months on tour buses and hundreds of shows a year. He went from “making terrible money to good money” by building a solid reputation and moving from artist to artist. It’s a small industry, he explains, where everybody seems to know everybody.

Asked how he got The Rolling Stones gig, he says it came down to a network of likeminded friends.

“Four people put in a good word for me, including an amp repair guy in New York and a buddy who works for AC/DC. I got a call at home in Nashville at 4pm; they asked if I could be in LA the next morning. By 10am I was walking into rehearsal. It happened so fast. Now I do all the stringed instruments for Mick and Ronnie.”

What’s it like working for one of the most important rock bands of all time?

The most unique thing about the Stones gig is that all the guitars on the road are the same ones used on the albums.

We bring out a ton of guitars they used on those legendary songs. It’s great – I pick one up, strum a G chord and it sounds like Wild Horses, and that’s because it’s the actual guitar they used for Wild Horses.

What kind of pedals would we find on Ronnie’s ’board?

It’s the least I’ve ever seen on stage! There’s a Klon Centaur that’s always on, with the exception of two songs where we use an OCD for more gain. There’s a TC Electronic delay that’s used for a couple of new songs. Honestly though, it’s just a dry Fender Vibro King with that Klon Centaur. That’s it.

Well, they’ve always had a direct approach to tone without much extra color or modulation.

What I’ve learned is that, because it’s all stadiums, you get all the verb and delay you could ever ask for from the room. You don’t need a pedal. It’s wet enough. They’re playing old bluesy rock, but with quality guitars. All of them like low action and a straight neck. They want the guitar to have minimal fight.

What are the most useful tools in your trade?

The Orange Valve Tester is really useful. We’ve been using that a lot recently for all the spare amps which don’t quite get the love they deserve. With Brian Ray in the McCartney band, we have three spare Vox AC30s. It’s been great for getting everything to the same level of gain.

“We’re trying to make these amps sound the best they can, and the Valve Tester helps. I’m looking to get the same ratings across all the output tubes. I did the same with Ronnie’s Vibro Kings, getting them dialed in better. We wanted to soften up the front end and bring the gain down a bit.

How often should someone who plays two hours a day think about changing their tubes?

In my world the amps are on for six hours a day. I usually go about three months before I change them, unless we’re talking about EL84s, which run a lot hotter and need to be changed more often. But if you’re playing your amp for a couple of hours a day, it’s probably good to change your output tubes once a year.

With preamp tubes, you never change them unless there’s a problem: it might be a microphonic tube or you just might not be happy with the tone. There’s a lot you can do by swapping tubes instead of turning knobs.

What else makes your job a lot easier?

I used to joke that somebody needs to invent a string stretcher because my hands would hurt so bad. Eventually somebody made one and it became one of my favorite things – my hands no longer hurt!

My measuring tools are also important. Some people do it by eye, but I’ve worked for musicians who like things exact. Peter Frampton, for example, is very meticulous. You need to give him numbers, you can’t say ‘It’s close or about this.’ He speaks in a very clear language. Working for people like that has upped my game. Measuring takes all the guesswork and opinions out of it. You’re working with facts.

What are the most challenging onstage scenarios you’ve found yourself in?

There have been several times where the rig has gone down in the middle of a song in front of 60,000 people. You can’t panic, even if everyone else is – people might be looking at you or screaming at you. You’ve got to get in the zone while blocking everyone else out. It’s about thinking clearly.

This job can be nerve-racking, especially if you know there’s a dodgy piece of gear limping along. You’ll want to know all your weak points in the signal path – they’re the first places to start looking. Sometimes I lie in bed thinking about the signal path – if something failed, how would I fix it?

My goal is to know about the problem before the player tells me there’s one. To do that, I listen to everything on a note-by-note basis, comparing it to the last show. Context is how you know something’s off.

Have you ever had any strange setup requests?

Keith Urban once told me his amp sounded too blue. I remember thinking, “There’s no blue knob here, bro!” But usually it’s straightforward. Guitar players and guitar techs all love hearing great tones. I guess the difference is that pro players earn enough money to use gear we all wish we could own!

One of the best parts of your job must be playing rare guitars steeped in history. Which have been your favorites?

There’s a black Zemaitis that Ronnie used with The Faces – it’s the Stay With Me guitar. We have it on the road with the Stones for tracks like Monkey Man. Us backline techs will jam for an hour to let the sound crew get their stuff together, and that’s the guitar I choose. It’s in open E tuning – it always has been – so I play slide while walking the runways, checking all the monitors.

I also love Ronnie’s 1956 Les Paul Special in TV Yellow. It was given to him by Jesse Ed Davis when he was playing bass for that short while. I don’t know what Jesse used it on, but when we made the last record we had over 100 amazing guitars – all of Keith’s, Ronnie’s and Mick’s – and it’s the one I fell in love with.

To experience this stuff for yourself is something else. We often hear the phrase, “There are songs in that guitar,” and that’s true of the Les Paul Special. Songs just come out of it.

And if there’s one amp to rule them all, which would it be?

I think the greatest circuit of all-time is the tweed Twin/Bassman, which is basically the Marshall circuit. My favourite amp is Keith Urban’s Dumble Overdrive Reverb. I think it’s serial number 59, built in 1978. That amp is special.

It used to be John Mayer’s; I think it’s the one he used on Gravity, and Keith got it after. It was originally made for Jackson Browne. I was blown away when I first heard it. It makes you play more fluid and liquidy.

I’ve heard Keith play through every amp known to man and he sounded different on that one. I love the Dumble circuit. Not everybody is a fan, but I am because I know what it’s capable of.

You’ve seen a lot of pedals over the years. Any favorites?

It’s hard to say – there are so many out there. You can get the job done with just about any pedal. I did a Peter Frampton tour in 2013 called the Guitar Circus because every city had a big-name player come sit in with us. I think there were 26 guests in total, and over half of them had a Klon Centaur on the pedalboard. So, shoutout to the Klon, I guess!

I met a guy while we were doing the Stones record and he had this pedal out called the Love Bomb. It’s even bigger than a Big Muff, but it sounds awesome. It has a little tube inside. I have one with me right now. It’s a fantastic pedal, man!

In the early ’90s, legendary bassist and record producer Don Was started what would become a very fruitful partnership with the Rolling Stones – a relationship that, as Was relates in a recent Bass Player interview, nearly didn't transpire…

“Mick and Keith came over and sat on either side of me, and both started talking at the same time,” Was recalls of that crucial first meeting. “Neither one of them yielded to the other guy. My head was whipping back and forth like I was watching a ping-pong match.”

Eventually, what Was refers to as “the same pattern of shuttle diplomacy” continued for over two decades – spawning just a fair share of hit records along the way.

Naturally, working with the Stones afforded Was the opportunity to see Keith Richards in action and observe the minutiae of his playing style up close.

“Keith is sharp as a tack and very well-read,” he says matter-of-factly.

“If you listen to how crisp his attack is and how he releases the notes rather than letting them blur everything up, you understand that he's got impeccable technique and a deep groove.

“As he gets older, he gets better; more succinct and effective in his choices. So yeah, he's still totally got it. And the key to getting the most out of him is to stay the fuck out of his way and let Keith be Keith!”

Was continues to make his case for Keef in an interview with the Broken Record Podcast.

“Anyone who thinks he's sloppy is out of their fucking minds. Man, his technique – it's so crisp. The attack, where he lays into the rhythm and where he releases the notes, that's the other thing. It's a lost art, releasing the notes.

“To really get a groove going, you have to let go of the note and let some air come in there so you can feel the syncopation of the rhythm, and it requires tremendous practice and technique.

“He's got that. He's a badass guitar player. He completely redefined the connection between rhythm guitar and lead guitar in rock and roll,” he concludes.

Elsewhere in the Bass Player chat, Was talked about playing bass on Bob Dylan’s Under the Red Sky, and producing Iggy Pop, Ringo Starr, and Bonnie Raitt.

NAMM 2026: Gibson has partnered with Keith Richards for a Collector’s Edition version of the Rolling Stones legend’s 1960 ES-355.

It’s the latest example of Gibson partnering with a member of the rock royalty to replicate a particularly historic electric guitar. In the past, Gibson has given the red carpet replica treatment to Kirk Hammett’s Greeny, Jimmy Page’s EDS-1275, and the Back to the Future ES-345.

And while Richards' ES-355 might not seem like the most obvious choice for the next addition to the series, it is certainly more than deserving of its place as the newest Collector’s Edition Gibson guitar.

Aptly described as a “limited-edition love letter to one of the coolest guitars on the planet”, the semi-hollow stunner is a replica of the famed black ES-355 that Richards used in the studio and on the stage.

What’s more, the ES-355 has been a staple of Richards’ live guitar arsenal since 1997, and has been a main player in every one the Stones’ globe-trotting tours over the past few decades.

Two versions of the guitar have been reproduced, but the topline is both are painstaking recreations of the original, built with the aid of advanced 3D scanning, period-correct materials and construction techniques, and Murphy Lab aging to mirror the wear and tear of the source material.

One has Richards’ signature on both the label and guitar itself, while the other has his signature on the label only.

Now, Richards is famed for using a five-string approach on tunes such as Brown Sugar and Start Me Up, but he is, of course, a dab hand at the six-string, too. While his Fender Telecaster is usually set up with five strings, he always turns to Gibson guitars when he needs six.

“This is my standard tuning six-string,” Richards tells collaborator and Stones producer Andrew Watt in a launch video. “This is the other side of my thing. My six-string stuff has always been, you know, a great Gibson – that’s where I feel the most comfortable.

“And also with the sound. Put it through just about any amp, and it will sound the way you want it, because this has so much more room for expression.”

Specs include a three-ply maple/poplar/maple body with multi-ply binding, with red spruce bracing and a weight-relieved maple centerblock, requested by Keef for improved comfort. The mahogany neck has a profile modeled on Richards’ original guitar, and is topped with a bound ebony fingerboard.

There’s also a Bigsby B7 tailpiece, Grover Rotomatic tuners, and unpotted Custombuckers with Alnico 5 magnets, specially developed for this launch. Oh, and it ships with a replica of the strap Keef uses.

Only 50 of the guitar-signed version will be made at $29,999 apiece. The label-signed version will be priced at $19,999, and 100 will be made.

Visit Gibson for more.

Detroit-born bassist and producer Don Was has rubbed elbows with a who’s who of timeless artists including Bonnie Raitt, John Mayer, the Rolling Stones and Willie Nelson – but his approach to the work remains simple.

“I try to play from the heart, listen and react, stay in the groove, support the storytelling, and refrain from showing off too much,” he tells Bass Player.

But he admits: “If we’re being honest, the weakest link in the rig has always been my fingers and harmonic naiveté. I harbor no illusions about being a session bassist. I’m not in the same league as Jamerson, Pino, Hutch, Lee Sklar, Marcus, Nathan, David Hood or Chuck Rainey.”

Which doesn’t mean he can’t hack it. “I’ve got a feel that’s occasionally appropriate for a song,” he allows. “Brian Wilson said he called me for sessions because I sounded like a guy in a band and not a session player. I’m okay with that.”

At 73, Was isn’t slowing down. He’s the President of Blue Note Records, and he recently started a new group, Don Was and The Pan-Detroit Ensemble. He says he’s driven by a rule he learned years ago: “The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is realizing that you just need to play with soul. It’s already inside you.”

What inspired you to pick up the bass guitar?

Seeing McCartney on Ed Sullivan in 1964, when I was 12. I noticed his guitar only had four strings, but I didn’t know what a bass actually did. I thought it was a guitar missing the high B and E strings – I was soon to learn otherwise!

The best band at our junior high, The Shy Guys, needed a bass player. I answered the ad, and the leader, Ron Lefko, came over with his guitar to audition me. He said, ‘Let’s play Walk, Don’t Run.’ I knew the chords and played them on my guitar, very carefully avoiding the B and E strings.

Ron said, ‘Okay, you know the chords – now play the bass part.’ I said, ‘That was the bass part. I never touched the B or E string!’ He looked perplexed, then kindly explained what the bass actually is.

I didn’t get the gig, but I did go buy a skinny-necked, Bill Wyman-style Framus Star Bass and an Ampeg B-15, and I started practicing.

You were influenced by the blues, jazz, and ’60s counterculture. How did that shape your playing?

Oh, I stunk at all three styles! But at 19, a brilliant Bill Evans–influenced jazz pianist in Detroit named Lenore Paxton hired me to play in her trio. She showed me the ropes about remembering changes, creating walking bass lines and locking down a groove.

I played in her trio for a decade – four or five sets a night, four nights a week – at a groovy, dimly-lit bar called Bob ’n Rob’s. It was maybe the best gig I ever had. We had a lot of fun and she made a bass player out of me.

Detroit exposed us to a cultural jambalaya of styles. On off-nights, I’d play with all kinds of musicians: a gypsy band, Ted Lucas’ folk-rock band, musical theater pit bands.

Did you get into the drug scene?

Got way into it! Self-consciousness and fear are a musician’s fiercest enemies, and drugs that obliterate those roadblocks have a strong allure. Unfortunately that approach comes with its own set of “ancillary issues.”

If you're in it for the long haul, I’d recommend a methodology that keeps your receptors open, but also lets you move through life gracefully, without wrapping your car around a phone pole or pushing your friends and family away.

What did your bass rig look like once you got going?

I’ve always favored a simple, direct setup. You can’t lose with an Ampeg SVT, though in recent years I’ve also gotten an incredible thrill from a Benson Gnostic. I’ve got a couple of ’60s Fenders, a couple of beautiful Roger Sadowsky Jazz basses.

For the past few years I’ve been playing Bill Nash’s 1963 Precision models – they give me all the joy I’m looking for. No pedals. I use David Gage pickups on double bass, but given the emphasis placed on subwoofers and bass drums in contemporary sound reinforcement, the warmth of the double bass gets somewhat obliterated in larger venues.

So I’ve started using an Ampeg Baby Bass or an Eminence 4-string with the Gage pickup for a little more definition. In the studio, I’ve been using the Acme MTP-66 Motown preamp as a direct box.

Tell us about working with The B-52s on Cosmic Thing and Good Stuff.

I can tell you who played bass – it wasn’t me! Sarah Lee played on Cosmic Thing, and Sarah, Tracy Wormworth, and Hutch Hutchinson played on Good Stuff, at least on the tracks I produced.

The sessions were fast. Everyone played and sang live in the room at once. Love Shack was recorded in one take. Both records were made in a relaxed, enjoyable atmosphere, and we had a lot of fun. Listeners can perceive the vibe in the room – they can hear joy and they can hear struggle.

You did play bass on Dylan’s Under the Red Sky.

I haven’t played on most of the records I’ve produced. I don’t play unless someone specifically asks; it feels presumptuous and unsavory to force yourself on an artist. The biggest problem with playing and producing is losing objectivity – you go into the control room and focus on what you just played instead of the big picture.

But Dylan is my hero. Since I was 14 my dream in life was to play bass with him. So I wrote myself into the scene. I don’t think I ruined any songs, and we had a ball. It was a loose, relaxed album.

Bob is smart, very funny, and a master record-maker. Over the years I’ve learned from him about putting a premium on feel, trusting your instincts and avoiding too much polish. I’ve done a bunch of things with him over 35 years – if you’re a fan of his work, I can assure you that your admiration is well-placed.

You produced Iggy Pop and Ringo Starr in the early ’90s.

Ringo and Iggy have one big thing in common: they’re incredibly underrated. Ringo has an unbelievable feel – he swings like crazy, plays with a lyrical musicality, and infuses joy and personality into every bar. The Beatles would not have impacted culture the way they did without his contribution. For bass players, he’s a total gas to play with.

As for Iggy, every wild story you’ve heard probably contains a kernel of truth, but he’s so much more than that. He’s a highly cultured, well-read, smart, and sensitive cat – a poet disguised as a human lightning bolt. Greatest frontman in rock ’n’ roll history and a brilliant, evocative songwriter with a unique perspective. I’m really proud of the two albums we made.

You’ve worked extensively with Bonnie Raitt. What’s she like?

It’s hard for me to talk about Bonnie without getting emotional because I love her so much. She’s the most soulful vocalist walking the face of the Earth, and to paraphrase Archie Bell, she can play guitar just as good as she sings. She learned from the blues masters and earned their complete respect.

There’s no disconnect between her voice and her guitar. It’s one voice, kinda like Aretha Franklin with her piano or Willie Nelson with his guitar, Trigger. I once produced a duet between Willie and Bonnie – their voices and guitars wove together seamlessly.

What’s the backstory behind producing the Stones’ Voodoo Lounge and Bridges to Babylon?

In 1993 the Stones had just signed with Virgin Records and the label wanted them to have a producer. They sent me to NYC while the band was auditioning bass players at SIR.

Mick Jagger and Keith Richards came over and sat on either side of me, and both started talking at the same time – neither one of them yielded to the other guy! My head was whipping back and forth like I was watching a ping-pong match.

Best I could tell, Mick was outlining what he wanted in a producer, and Keith was explaining why they didn’t need a fucking producer! It went on for about two minutes, which, In that situation, is an excruciatingly long time!

Finally, they both ran out of steam. Silence. Then Keith said, “Are you sure you want to be the meat in this sandwich?” I walked out convinced I’d never see them again.

What changed?

Four days later, Keith called, apologized for being curt, and said maybe they could use a producer. He wanted to use Don Smith as the engineer for Voodoo Lounge because he’d done a great job on his two solo records with The Expensive Winos.

But Mick wanted a neutral partisan behind the board and Keith wanted me to talk with him about it. I'd been working with Don Smith a lot and I thought he would be perfect for the album. So I called Mick and told him that Don was my choice, not just Keith's.

Mick relented, and when I called Keith to tell him Don Smith was in, he said, ‘Your name's not Don Was – it's Don Is!’ I was hired, and the same pattern of shuttle diplomacy continued for the next 25 years!

We made four studio albums together: Voodoo Lounge, Bridges to Babylon, A Bigger Bang, and Blue and Lonesome. I also produced a handful of live albums, a bunch of new singles for greatest hits packages, and I finished old tracks for deluxe reissues of Exile on Main St. and Some Girls.

They've been like generous big brothers to me and taught me a whole lot about music. I also got to play bass with them any time Darryl Jones couldn't make it to a rehearsal or a writing session.

Is the chemistry between Mick and Keith as volatile yet magical as it’s made out to be?

All that crap is ephemeral and disappears the minute they start playing. The musical conversation going on between these guys is masterful, relaxed and jocular. They listen to each other closely and respond with lightning speed.

Charlie would play something on his hi-hat that would make Keith respond with a certain figure, which would make Mick phrase the next line differently, which would make Ronnie play something wild that Charlie would pick up on.

They were four enormous musical presences who came fully to life when they were playing as the Rolling Stones in front of a stadium full of folks. They are the greatest band ever.

What’s the key to getting the most out of Keith?

Keith is sharp as a tack and very well-read. He singlehandedly changed the concept of rhythm and lead guitar. The notion that he’s somewhat sloppy is a misnomer – if you listen to how crisp his attack is and how he releases the notes rather than letting them blur everything up, you understand that he's got impeccable technique and a deep groove.

As he gets older, he gets better; more succinct and effective in his choices. So yeah, he's still totally got it. And the key to getting the most out of him is to stay the fuck out of his way and let Keith be Keith!

Are you working on the next Stones album?

I think the torch has been passed. Mick wants to make modern pop albums, and I believe that Exile on Main St. sounds like what a modern Rolling Stones record should be. He’s certainly earned the right to chase what he hears.

I introduced him to my buddy Andrew Watt – younger, brilliant, rock-rooted, and hit-savvy. We're all still good friends. People liked Hackney Diamonds and all is well.

What was it like working with Chris and Rich Robinson on the Black Crowes' Lions?

Well, if you want the truth, I wasn’t in great shape during those sessions. I wasn’t putting a premium on sleep. When you’re making records, ‘good’ is the enemy. Any motherfucker can make a good record – if you can’t make a great one, stay home.

In my compromised state I didn’t have it in me to push for greatness, which is sad because Rich, Chris, and Steve Gorman were getting along well at that moment. I view it as a squandered chance to make a timeless classic. That’s not the Black Crowes’ fault – they’re good guys and can be an awesome band when they want.

You’ve worked with Willie Nelson. Is he as stoned as people say?

He’s probably had THC in his blood every day for the last half-century, but I’ve never once seen him compromised, weakened or out of control. He maintains a nice, Zen Willie Nelson bubble – a noble state of mind to aspire to.

Along with Jimmy Scott and Frank Sinatra, Willie is one of the great phrasing geniuses of all time. Every line feels heartfelt and warm. His guitar playing is the same; voice and guitar are one storyteller.

Go to a Willie show and you’ll see a cross-section of America getting along peacefully – folks who’d normally be at each other’s throats in these polarized times. That’s testimony to the unifying power of music and to the strength of Willie's artistry and intelligence.

Was working with Scott Weiland in 2010 a trip?

At that moment he’d just completed rehab and spent months in a halfway house. He was making a heroic effort to be sober and reliable. His bandmates were cautious, so I was hired to work with him privately on lyrics and vocals.

He was the opposite of volatile; he was quite sweet, had a fantastic work ethic, and was determined to deliver the goods. We worked every day for about three weeks. He wrote deep lyrics and sang the shit out of the songs. We had wonderful, philosophical conversations, and I had tremendous respect for him.

When he passed, it hit me hard. He fought his demons with all the courage a man could muster. He won many battles but was simply outflanked and couldn't win the war.

After a few albums with John Mayer, what can you say about him?

John is a brilliant guitarist, songwriter, and singer who gets even more expressive with time. He knows how to get thick, beautiful tones and how to build compelling arrangements. He generates a dizzying array of parts – my biggest role is helping him choose the most effective bits.

He also has the most comprehensive artistic vision I’ve ever seen. Before we even begin recording he knows what the album cover, tour ads and merch should look like. It blows your mind to watch him in action.

A couple of weeks ago I was telling him about an interview in which Woody Allen said that, as a director, if you get 40 percent of what you originally envisioned up on the screen, you're doing well. That seemed like a pretty unambitious batting average to me.

I asked John what percentage of his vision he was willing to reasonably accept. Without missing a beat, he said, “I accept nothing less than 100 per cent.” We've made three albums together, and that answer completely checks out.

Where does the bass player version of you end and the producer begin?

Everything I do seems inextricably connected, including my work as president of a record company. The goal is always to help create music that gets under people’s skin. It’s about making them feel something – helping them make sense of their lives and deal with a world that's increasingly chaotic and confusing.

Or at the very least, make them feel better for three and a half minutes. That’s why we’re here.

What’s next for you?

My new band, Don Was and The Pan-Detroit Ensemble, released our first album, Groove in the Face of Adversity, in October. We’re a nine-piece soul-jazz group from the Motor City that tries to embody the raw, honest, deep-pocketed musical traditions of our hometown.

We’ve got months of touring lined up for 2026, and we’ve started a new album. I’m in my 15th year as president of Blue Note Records and we’ve got the strongest release schedule in the company’s history.

Production-wise, there are some very cool records on the calendar – but I’m superstitious about discussing them until they’re in the can. I’m 73, but I feel energized like a kid, and the plan is to keep moving and growing till I drop.

• Groove in the Face of Adversity is on sale now.

It's a truth universally acknowledged that the gods of inspiration can strike at any time – and, in Keith Richards' case, he wrote one of the Rolling Stones' biggest hits in his sleep.

“I remember absolutely nothing at all about writing Satisfaction because it was, in actual fact, one of those bizarre stories of me waking up in the middle of the night,” he says matter-of-factly in one of his many interviews with Uncut. “And I had a little cassette player next to the bed, one of the earliest ones – they’d just been invented, in fact.

“Without knowing it, in the middle of the night, I’d woken up, picked up the guitar which I quite often slept with,” he adds. “So anyway, it was one of those rare nights when I was actually alone, and obviously I’d recorded about 15 seconds of Satisfaction.

“But I had no idea and didn’t remember doing it until I woke up and saw that the tape had been run all the way through. So I must have hit the button in the middle of the night in one of those mad dreams.”

As Keef recalls, when he rolled the tapes, there was a faint ‘Duh duh, duh duhduh, I can’t get no satisfaction’, which went on for 20 seconds or so, before drifting off into “40 minutes of snoring”.

He continues, “And it was only because I’d bothered to put the machine back and sort of say, ‘Well, how did that happen? What’s on there?’ And there it was. So in actual fact, it came in a dream… which has to be the easiest way to write songs!

“I really have no recollection of doing it. Obviously, though, I had because I’d made a record in my sleep!” Richards concludes.

The very rough “demo” would prove handy in shaping what would become one of the band’s most enduring hits – their first number one in the States and their fourth in the UK. As legend has it, a couple of days after he unknowingly crafted the riff, the band was off to America for a recording session. However, they were missing a key track…

“They said, ‘We’ve got nine, 12, 11 tracks and we need another track,’” he recounts. “So I said, ‘Well, I have this little thing.’ So we knocked it out, and I figured, ‘Well, it won’t do for this album. That’ll just be a demo.’

“So, we went back on the road, and a week later it’s on the radi,o and I’m in Omaha! And I was cursing, ‘How did you put that out, you bastards! It’s not ready yet. It’s only a dub.’ And meanwhile it’s Number One, and they’re going, ‘Shut up, Keith!'”

In a 2005 interview with Guitar World, the Stones' legendary guitarist offered more insight into how 10 of his all-time-favorite Rolling Stones riffs came about.

Best of 2025: Over the holiday season, GW is shining the spotlight on some of its biggest stories of the year.

Southern rock linchpin Henry Paul has carved a career through rootsy experimentation, industry grind, and the resilience to rise again after being fired from The Outlaws, the band that made his name.

The popular outfit’s first national tour was as openers for Lynyrd Skynyrd. Arista Records’ Clive Davis saw gold and cut a deal – after Ronnie Van Zant told him, “If you don’t sign The Outlaws, you’re the dumbest music person I’ve ever met”, which probably helped.

A dream ’70s rock career followed, including a string of stadium and arena shows alongside The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Allman Brothers, and many more. But the ride hit the skids in 1977, when Paul was booted to the curb in a sudden confrontation.

“I’d never had the impression there was a problem,” the upstate New York native reflects. “They said my country rock influence was holding them back and they wanted to move into a more progressive direction. It was very hurtful. But I focused my attention to rebuilding and coming back.”

He went on to further success with The Henry Paul Band and Blackhawk – going double-platinum with the latter's self-titled 1994 debut – while commencing a third, still-ongoing stint with the Outlaws in 2005 (he also re-joined them for a time in the 1980s). He’s told his story in new memoir, The Last Outlaw.

How did you find your way to guitar?

“My stepbrother, being fairly well accomplished, taught me a little. I started writing my own songs and bought a painted plywood job with brass frets for $13. But my first great guitar was a '67 Gibson J-50.’”

Was there a difference in the music scenes of New York and [the Outlaws' native] Florida?

“The scene in Florida was healthy, competitive, and at a high level professionally – light years ahead of the New York scene, which was mired in the ‘50s. In New York, a man asked me to play for Epic Records. They told me to move to Nashville, which sounded far away and abstract.

“I went back to Florida to play a show featuring artists from Tampa who’d gotten big. It was really electric, so I put a band together, and with persistence, The Outlaws got signed.”

“Charlie Brasco decided to manage us, and booked our first out-of-town tour, including two nights in Nashville with Lynyrd Skynyrd. They raved about us and their management formed a partnership with ours. An A&R director from Arista loved us. We cut a record with Paul Rothchild and soon we were on the radio and becoming rock stars.”

Do you remember Ronnie Van Zant telling Clive Davis to sign you?

“I was embarrassed! But Ronnie was like that – he’d taken a personal role and invested himself in helping us. He was pretty persuasive and we were an ascending band, so it was helpful to motivate Clive.”

Did you gain any musical insights from Gary Rossington or Allen Collins?

“You always learn a lot from watching other people. Lynyrd Skynyrd’s musical personality had a very intense quality, and that was a part of The Outlaws. I learned a lot from Pat Simmons on our first tour with The Doobie Brothers, just watching his stage performance.

“When you’re popular in music, popular personalities treat you as equals, which makes you feel good. At one point we were opening for The Rolling Stones, and Mick Jagger and Keith Richards came into our dressing room to say they loved us.”

How did you come to open for The Stones?

“Those dates fell into our lap out of nowhere. The first time, we played Louisville at Freedom Hall, and the Stones’ audience loved us so much that we were asked to play in Virginia at the Hampton Coliseum, and then in Buffalo at the Rich Stadium in front of 80,000 people.

“We drove to Buffalo, put ourselves out there in front of all these people who didn’t know us, and got them on our side. We always put on a good show for the Stones – we didn’t embarrass ourselves! You animate yourself to be visible because there’s no way you can spread yourself that thin. I played to the first 50 rows, concentrating on the people I could see.”

How was it being a Southern rock guy playing to a UK rock audience?

“They’re much more opinionated and physically invested in the UK. If they don’t like you, they’re pretty creative in displaying their displeasure. They’d pee in beer bottles and throw it at you. You didn’t want to let them down in case they whooped your ass! We played for our lives supporting The Who – but we won them over.

“There was a great deal of variety in the British music charts. I couldn’t find words to express how different it was. The beer was warm, the people were great, really badass and soulful; but we related to them as rednecks.

“One time we pulled into Glasgow and these boys running beside our bus stuck two fingers up at us. I thought, ‘Oh – a peace sign!’ But it wasn’t peace at all, and they didn’t even know who we were!”

Did you take any inspiration from seeing The Who?

“The Who were the most powerful band, unlike anything I’d ever seen before. Roger Daltrey was this gorgeous human: the greatest frontman, with his shirt open and his hair curly. Pete Townshend was crazed out of his mind. Each player had such distinct personalities. The music was mind-boggling; so loud, so powerful, and so incredibly played.

“Keith Moon would come and hang with us, although the other guys didn’t. One evening we went to a restaurant and an American couple mistook Keith for a server because he had a tuxedo on. They wanted a bottle of wine, so he grabbed one and poured it all over the guy! He must have paid hundreds of pounds for the guy’s wet clothes. Keith lived in a different place on this Earth.”

Who’s the finest player you’ve ever met?

“Stevie Ray Vaughan was uniquely impressive – it didn’t look like he was playing. His right hand was so free on the strings, like he was strumming, but he was making notations. I toured with Stevie when he was sober and he was a freak of nature. I couldn’t relate to his playing. I’d never seen anyone play like that.”

In 1977, you were kicked out of The Outlaws.

“Band business is a social structure that people manipulate. Some are very skilled and some are naïve. In the ‘80s, The Outlaws’ manager told [late guitarist] Hughie Thomasson to put the original band back together because they’d floundered. Knowing people weren’t digging it made me feel better.

“The reunion lasted for six years, and it was the most fun I’d ever had in music – it was free of pressure. We weren’t getting rich, but we were making money and doing well in the marketplace.

“When Hughie wanted the band back, I went on my merry way. I was happy to move on again; it became clear there were self-absorbed issues, designed to help one person out.”

What has been your most faithful guitar throughout the years?

“Mainly acoustic electrics like Gibson 335s or 330s. My original white 330 with P-90s was my favorite guitar. I wish I had it back! Eventually I started playing Ovations, which really were an improvement.

“All the Outlaws now play red guitars and amps. I couldn’t find a red Gretsch Falcon, so I bought a black one and a guy in Chattanooga refinished it in fire-engine red. it’s gorgeous.

“My everyday road guitars are my red and black Gibson J-200s – they’re beaten to crap but they sound great. There’s a little distortion to my guitar, but I don’t mess with pedals. I plug into the amp and play.”

• The Last Outlaw: My 50 Years in Southern Rock & Country is out now via Mirror Lake Publishing.

It has been reported that the Rolling Stones have cancelled plans for a 2026 tour.

The band’s 2024 US tour, in support of their most recent studio record, Hackney Diamonds, grossed an estimated $235 million, and earlier reports suggested the band had been eying up dates in the UK and Europe next year.

According to Variety, though, the band has now axed those plans. The Sun newspaper likewise quotes an unnamed source close to the band as saying: “When they properly sat down to discuss the tour, Keith said he didn’t think he could commit and wasn’t keen on a big stadium tour for over four months.”

Another unnamed spokesperson added: “The band were looking to tour earlier this year but couldn’t make it work either. It’s hard for their fans but The Stones will get back onstage when they’re good and ready.”

News of a Rolling Stones tour had never been officially confirmed, although Variety reports the band's touring pianist Chuck Leavell had recently told the press in the UK that the Stones had almost finished a new record, and were formulating plans to tour it.

Production duties for that forthcoming record are also reportedly being helmed by Andrew Watt, who worked with the Stones on Hackney Diamonds.

The Rolling Stones team have been approached for comment.

In the early '90s, the Rolling Stones began a fruitful partnership with revered record producer Don Was – but he was convinced he'd never get the gig after witnessing a rather heated discussion with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards during their first meeting.

At the time, Was had worked on studio albums with Carly Simon, Iggy Pop, and the B-52s, plus an expansive box set release with Elton John. With each new release, he was adding to his burgeoning reputation. Working with the Stones, however, was a cut above.

“The label wanted them to have a producer. They sent me to NYC while the band was auditioning bass players at SIR,” he says in a soon-to-be-published interview with Guitar World.

“Mick and Keith came over and sat on either side of me, and both started talking at the same time. Neither one of them yielded to the other guy. My head was whipping back and forth like I was watching a ping-pong match.

“Best I could tell: Mick [Jagger] was outlining what he wanted in a producer, and Keith [Richards] was explaining why they didn’t need a fucking producer,” he laughs. “This went on for about two minutes, which, in that situation, is an excruciatingly long time!”

Eventually, a silence blanketed the room.

“Then Keith said, ‘Are you sure you want to be the meat in this sandwich?’” Was recalls. “I walked out convinced I’d never see them again.”

But he would see them again. Perhaps more incredibly, he even got a small repent out of Keef.

“Four days later, Keith called, apologized for being curt, and said maybe they could use a producer,” says Was. “He told me that he wanted to use Don Smith as the engineer for [1994 LP] Voodoo Lounge because Don had done such a great job on his two solo records with The Expensive Winos. However, Mick wanted a neutral partisan behind the board. Keith wanted me to talk with him about it.”

Four days had passed, but the pair were still at odds. So, once again, Was found himself in the thick of it. But luck was on his side.

“Well, it turned out that I'd been working with Don Smith a lot, that I loved his work, and thought he would be perfect for the album,” he explains. “So, I called Mick and told him that Don was my choice, not just Keith's. Mick relented and, when I called Keith to tell him that Don Smith was in, he said, ‘Your name's not Don Was - it's Don Is.’

“I was hired, and the same pattern of shuttle diplomacy continued for the next 25 years.”

Together, they made four records. They followed up Voodoo Lounge with Bridges to Babylon in ‘97. Eight years would pass until LP three, A Bigger Bang, saw the light of day, and another 11 after that for Blue & Lonesome, with a smattering of live albums, greatest hits packages, and deluxe reissues scattered among them.

The band then turned to hotshot producer Andrew Watt for their 2024 comeback album, Hackney Diamonds, and one GW scribe believes it features some of their finest fretwork in decades. It even saw the band reuniting with former bassist Bill Wyman, despite him not liking the track he played on.

With Don Was, the band found not only a top-quality producer, but a peace maker more than happy to mediate himself with Jagger and Richards’ politics.

The full interview with Don Was will be published in the near future.

Ronnie Wood may have plenty in his bank account today, but the Rolling Stones legend and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer has revealed that he stole his first bass guitar.

Wood rose through the ranks with the Birds, later joining Jeff Beck’s band – where he played bass – before forming the Faces in 1969, and eventually replacing Mick Taylor in the Rolling Stones. He’s been with the group for almost a staggering 50 years.

Before that, he’d risen through the British rhythm and blues scene, but getting his hands on a bass – an instrument he'd been encouraged to learn – wasn’t an easy task.

“I went round to a music store called Sound City and said, ‘If you let me borrow one for tonight, I promise I'll come back?’” he says (via the Mirror). However, the transaction played on his mind as he cut his teeth in his early bands.

“I didn't go back until five or six years later, when I was in The Faces [and] I could pay them,” he confesses. “I told them that I was the person who stole the Fender Jazz bass, and I'd come back to pay them. They just smiled and said: ‘We thought it was you!’”

The Faces, who produced seminal blues tracks like Stay With Me, are expected to release their first album since 1973's Ooh La La next year. Drummer Kenny Jones revealed that he had reunited with Wood and vocalist Rod Stewart and recorded 11 new songs.

Meanwhile, Wood is set to release a new career-spanning anthology, Fearless, and in its liner notes, he’s reflected on his formative years as a blues guitarist in 1960s London. One of his earliest highlights came when his band, the Birds, found themselves on the same bill as blues legend Bo Diddley.

“What made him so great was his freedom, his reckless abandon, and the confidence that shone through in his music,” he says. “He could break and change a guitar string onstage without stopping the song.”

By 1976, Wood had become an official member of the Rolling Stones, but Harvey Mandel – who had also auditioned for the gig – recently came out firing, believing he was a far better fit for the job.

Brian Jones' original Harmony Stratotone guitar – which he played as a member of the Rolling Stones – is up for auction on December 4, and is expected to fetch up to $400,000.

Noted collector Ali Zayeri, who has been buying Rolling Stones memorabilia for over 40 years, is presenting the guitar as the centerpiece of a multi-million dollar collection of group memorabilia and artifacts that also includes rare stage-worn costumes, posters for early gigs, and signed contracts.

Jones acquired the Harmony Stratotone in 1962 and played it during The Rolling Stones’ session for their first single, Come On/I Want To Be Loved. He also performed with it on stage in ’62 and ’63, including at London's legendary Marquee Club.

“Brian Jones’s humble Harmony Stratotone stands as one of the most important instruments in rock and roll history,” comments Charles Epting, Director of Consignments at Heritage, the auction house responsible for the sale.

“It was the electric guitar he played on the band’s earliest demos and at their early club gigs, and the very one heard on the band’s debut single, a cover of Chuck Berry’s Come On, which introduced The Stones to the world.

“Perhaps even more importantly, this was the guitar Jones used to teach a young Keith Richards, helping shape the partnership that would define the band’s sound for decades.”

A preview for Satisfaction: The Rolling Stones Treasures from the Ali Zayeri Collection Music Memorabilia Signature Auction is taking place at Heritage’s London location from November 10–14, 17–21, and 24–28. For more information, visit Heritage.

Last year, a 1977 Fender Telecaster–style guitar used by Keith Richards throughout the Rolling Stones’ iconic Some Girls era went to auction, and was also expected to sell for around $400,000.

Altered tunings can be one of the most fun and rewarding elements associated with the guitar. Specifically, the ability to change the tuning of some or all strings in the pursuit of finding new chord shapes and evocative progressions is really inspiring. And inspiration is what we all crave when playing and writing.

It’s common to associate 'big change' tunings like open G (D G D G B D) with slide players, but it has also driven some of the most famous non-slide songs in rock and blues. Two fine examples are The Rolling Stones' Brown Sugar and Jumpin’ Jack Flash.

The beauty of this tuning is its instant usability. While tunings like DADGAD can be a challenge during first forays, open G (aka Spanish tuning) gives up the goods far more readily as you’ll discover in the following examples.

When I’m playing in open G, I keep a close eye on the triads (three-note chords) on the fourth, third and second strings as the results are the same as with standard tuning.

So, all the normal major and minor triad shapes can be used as reference points around which you can add colour with the other strings. Typically, this can involve using open strings to provide a relationship with the triads. Or you can really exploit the I to V relationship between the fifth string (G) and the sixth and fourth strings (both D).

As would be expected, open G major often pulls you towards playing in the key of G. While this isn’t a bad thing, you do want to ensure you get the best out of any altered tuning by exploring other keys, too.

For example, open G is particularly effective for playing in C major and D major as the open strings can be used to create colour or tension against fretted notes. In this regard, it’s a good idea to map out common open position major and minor shapes to begin with. Remember, the magic of open G lies in the fact that you have familiar reference points on the fourth, third and second strings. Onto the examples!

Example 1 - The open strings of Open G

It may seem obvious but the best place to start with any tuning is simply to hear it. This is best done by slowly playing the open strings to hear their relationship to each other and then play all strings together to hear the open chord. In this case, you'll be sounding a huge G major. Don't under-appreciate the loudness and resonance of all open strings sounding together in Open G – it's that good!

Example 2 - Simple C and G chords in Open G

Next you can start locating simple open major and minor chords and find out where chord progressions such as I – IV and I – IV – V lie. In this example, you’ll play G (the I chord) to C (the IV chord) progression. Listen how the open fourth string (D) at the top of the C chord creates a rich add9 extension.

Example 3 - Fingerpicking in Open G

Open G can take some of the work from the fretting hand as the open strings do so much. In this fingerpicking example you’ll play through the I – IV – V chords in G major (G - C - D). Check out how the chords require very few fretting hand fingers, a nice relief!

Example 4 - Thickening notes in Open G

Open G is a fantastic Americana and bluegrass tuning, even more so given how many traditional tunes are written in keys like G and C. Check out how easily you can thicken a G major chord using unisons (unison = two occurrences of the same note played together).

In bar 1, the G5 chord has two G notes and two D notes, sounding like a variation on a 12-string guitar.

Example 5 - Extended chords in Open G

It’s easy to find rich chords in open tunings, and Jimmy Page took this approach with many of Led Zeppelin’s classic tracks. This example explores rich-sounding G and D chords where the open strings add interesting textures: rich chords with little fretting hand work.

Example 6 - Americana stylings in Open G

This example is an Americana/folk inspired piece inspired by Rich Robinson of The Black Crowes. Importantly, it gets you out of all the ruts you may find in standard tuning so will, physically and sonically, sound fresh.

It’s based around G, C and Dm chords, using the open strings and textural options of the tuning to bring the piece to life.

Players who use Open G tuning

The Rolling Stones - Brown Sugar

Keef is perhaps the player best associated with open G tuning through the massive early Rolling Stones hit, Brown Sugar. Study this song and you’ll appreciate how the triads on the fourth, second and third strings serve as an anchor in open G tuning.

The Black Crowes - Remedy

The influence of Keith Richards and Jimmy Page is ever-present in Rich Robinson of The Black Crowes. That said, he took open G tuning and made it his own by writing many gorgeous parts in this tuning. Check out Remedy to hear how he uses it in a blues-rock context.

Charley Patton - Magnolia Blues

It's not just '60s and onwards guitarists that love Open G. The early blues pioneer, Charley Patton often used open G tuning which gave his playing a softer, folk blues feel. Magnolia Blues used this tuning, often with a capo placed at the 2nd fret or higher. For sure, you can hear Charley's influence on Keith Richards.

Should you join an already-established band, your first gig with them will likely be a bit of a nerve-racking experience. Will you fit in musically onstage like you did in rehearsal? Does your onstage presence fit in with the rest of the group? Will their audience be different to what you're used to?

Now, imagine you're joining no less than the Rolling Stones – at the absolute peak of their popularity and cultural sway. Oh, and your first gig with them is a free show at London's Hyde Park. Attendance? At least a quarter of a million people.

Oh! And the man whose shoes you're filling just died tragically two days before, making said show an incredibly bittersweet experience for your new bandmates.

Such was the situation guitarist Mick Taylor, barely out of his teens, found himself in in early July 1969.

Despite his youth, Taylor already had plenty of prestige, and road miles under his belt. At the tender age of 17, he was selected by John Mayall to fill the lead guitar slot in his Bluesbreakers band – the same position once occupied by Eric Clapton and Peter Green.

Brian Jones, whose place Taylor was taking in the Stones, had also once been a formidable presence – but his decline into drug addiction in the two years prior to his tragic death at the age of 27 prevented the band from touring, and made him an increasingly rare presence in the studio.

With his youth and experience following in the footsteps of larger-than-life players, Taylor was seen as the natural choice to give the Stones a new lease on life.

Due to their aforementioned live hiatus, the Stones were quite rusty as a performing unit as they geared up for their comeback performance – to the point where it took their newest member by surprise.

Reflecting on his debut performance with the band in a 2002 interview with Guitar World, Taylor shrugged, “The Rolling Stones were never great musicians.

“When we were rehearsing for [the July 5, 1969 performance at] Hyde Park, when I first joined them, I couldn't believe how bad they were. I thought, ‘How do they make such great records?’”

To hear Taylor tell it, it was Jimmy Miller, the storied producer who manned the boards for all three of the band's golden-era masterpieces – 1969's Let it Bleed, 1971's Sticky Fingers, and 1972's Exile on Main St. – who helped the band's music transcend any lack of technical acumen.

“When I met Jimmy it all fell into place,” Taylor told Guitar World. “It's not about being great musicians but about a certain kind of chemistry the band has, a certain kind of dynamic between Mick [Jagger] and Keith [Richards] and then me and Mick and then Jimmy Miller.”

Saying that Mick Taylor never got enough credit (literal and otherwise) for his six-string contributions to the rock 'n' roll magic the Rolling Stones created during their late-'60s to mid-'70s heyday isn't a particularly hot take. And yet, even after all this time, it remains indisputably true.

1971's Sticky Fingers, the middle child of the trio of albums that marked the Stones' towering creative peak, remains best known for, among other classic rock tentpoles, the pure filth of Brown Sugar, and the sparse, grooving Can't You Hear Me Knocking.

Both driven by page 1 guitar riffs, those tunes helped further set in steel Keith Richards' presence as a larger-than-life, headline-dominating, trend-ignoring character crafting staples of the rock guitar songbook while engaging in legendary feats of debauchery. The people's guitar hero, if you will.

And yet, Sticky Fingers wouldn't be nearly the milestone that it is without, for one, Sway. Placed second on the tracklist after Brown Sugar, Sway perfectly counter-balances the gleeful sinning of the former with vulnerability. Its shining moment is one of the most sublime slide solos ever laid to tape, with Taylor gamely, for a moment, filling the shoes of the Stones' late slide master, Brian Jones.

More of Taylor's graceful slide work can be found on Sticky Fingers closer Moonlight Mile, Mick Jagger's ruminations on the trials and tribulations of the rock star life.

Those of us in 9-5s, overnights, or anything that doesn't involve playing to tens of thousands of people on a nightly basis may find it difficult to relate to lines like “With a head full of snow” and “Just another mad, mad day on the road,” but Taylor's charming slide yawns give it a home-y charm – you're hearing tales from a friend over a beer, not 21st century Western music's Casanova.

With that in mind, the fact that Taylor cited Sway and Moonlight Mile when asked by Guitar World in a 2015 interview which Stones song he was most proud of, or that he felt best represented him, isn't surprising.

“I like a lot of Stones songs – I like Jumping Jack Flash and Street Fighting Man, all for different reasons,” he said. “But as far as the ones I played on, I like Sway – and Moonlight Mile because I sort of had a hand in co-writing that, in a way. Or at least I wrote the riff the string part is based on.”

However, Taylor noted, neither of those songs (both of which he has never received a songwriting credit for) were his favorite “in terms of my own guitar playing.”

That honor, he revealed, goes to Time Waits for No One, from 1974's It's Only Rock 'n' Roll.

“I love that solo. I think it’s probably the best thing I did with the Stones,” Taylor told Guitar World. “It’s not one of their hits; it was an album track. But it’s quite lyrical and it’s a bit different from a lot of other Stones songs. I’d done something that I’d never done. Because of the structure of the song, it pushed my guitar playing in a slightly different direction.

“It’s more – I don’t like to use the term Carlos Santana-esque because it sounds too pretentious, but I kind of played in a different mode. I was playing over a Cmaj7 to an Fmaj7, which aren’t chords the Stones used that much.

“You know, they had their rock and roll songs and they had their ballads as well, and they were very different,” Taylor explained. “And most of the ballads were usually written by me.”

On its surface, a Tom Waits/Keith Richards collaboration – let alone multiple, stretching across decades – seems a bit improbable.

Though beloved by critics and his ever-loyal cult following, Waits' ramshackle, straight-from-the-underbelly poetry has found its largest audiences through the voices of others.

The propulsive, perfect-for-the-mid-'80s rocker Downtown Train reached the upper echelons of the charts via Rod Stewart; Ol'55 came through the turntables of millions after the Eagles covered it for their On the Border album, while the imperial ballad Jersey Girl became so often misattributed to Bruce Springsteen that the Boss made it part of his own onstage repertoire.

And yet, why wouldn't the singer/songwriter best known for his singular, gravelly, whiskey-soaked vocals – time-weathered even when he was barely 30 – click with the wizened rhythm guitar master who's lived a thousand lives with the world's greatest rock and roll band?

Seeing their potential musical and personal chemistry, Waits' wife and musical partner, Kathleen Brennan, encouraged him to seek Richards out during the making of his masterful 1985 album, Rain Dogs.

Waits himself thought the team-up was about as likely as winning the lottery, but nevertheless decided to name the Stones legend – as a joke, mind you – when his record company asked if he wanted guests on the album.

What do they say about speaking things into existence?

Recalling the chain of events in a 2011 interview with Pitchfork, Waits recounted, “My wife Kathleen said, ‘Why don't you get Keith Richards on here? You love him. You love what he does. We're in New York and he lives in New York.’ And I go, ‘Oh, I gotta listen to this shit.’

“So then I was talking to the record company and they say, ‘Any guests you want on the record?’ And I said, ‘What about Keith Richards?’ I was just joking, but somebody went ahead and called him. And then he said, ‘Yeah.’ And I said, ‘Now we're really in trouble.’”

Now, Richards is known to be far more of a down-to-earth presence than his tabloid perennial bandmate Mick Jagger, but this is still a Stone we're talking about.

“I was really nervous. He came with about 600 guitars in a semi-truck. And a butler,” Waits said of the guitarist's arrival.

“We were in these huge studios in New York, like The Poseidon Adventure. Huge, high ceilings in these rooms like football fields. They'd fill these things up with orchestras and we were in there with five guys. It felt a little weird. He killed me. I was really knocked out that he played on all those things.”

By “all those things” Waits means a whole trio of Rain Dogs cuts, most prominently the lolling Blind Love, to which Keef lends the twangier side of his lick library, and backing vocals.

Richards has gone on to appear on two more Waits albums – co-writing and playing on That Feel, the closing tune from 1992's acclaimed Bone Machine, and either lending licks or vocals to more than a third of the tunes on Waits' most recent LP, 2011's Bad as Me.

Speaking about his recording experiences with Waits in a 2023 Uncut interview, Richards said, “The sessions I do with him, it’s just him and me.

“He has a unique angle on just about everything, and it’s refreshing to hang around with him and join in. We kick around every subject under the sun and then we get in front of the microphone and do something.

“Tom’s music is so American. Probably more folk-American than anything, but somehow modern. He’s a weird mixture of stuff – a great bunch of guys!”

The Met’s new exhibition of guitars has become the center of international intrigue, after a 1959 Les Paul Standard that had been stolen from Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor in the early 1970s mysteriously re-surfaced as part of the collection.

New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art announced that it had come into the possession of a 500-strong arsenal of guitars back in May. Included in the hefty donation was a Bigsby-loaded 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard used by Keith Richards during the band’s legendary appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964.

Having seen the news of the guitar’s arrival at the Met, Taylor’s manager has now revealed that the guitar’s prominence goes beyond that show, sharing previously unknown details about the guitar.

Taylor had bought the guitar from Richards in 1967 as he prepared to join John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers. However, a few years later, after Taylor then joined the Stones in 1969, the guitar was stolen in 1972 during the recording of Exile on Main Street.

It was stolen from Villa Nellcôte, a sprawling mansion in Côte d'Azur, and was said to have been carried out by local drug dealers. Nine guitars ultimately went missing, alongside a bass guitar belonging to Bill Wyman and Bobby Keys’ saxophone.

“There are numerous photos of Mick Taylor playing this Les Paul, as it was his main guitar until it disappeared," says Marlies Damming. “The interesting thing about these vintage Les Pauls is that they are renowned for their flaming, which is unique, like a fingerprint.”

As reported by Louder Sound (via pagesix.com), a source claims, “Taylor says he never received compensation for the theft and is mystified as to how his property found its way into the Met’s collection.”

Jimmy Page is also believed to have played the guitar during his days as a session musician, and Eric Clapton borrowed it for a Cream show in July 1966, after ironically, one of his electric guitars was swiped during rehearsals.

Avid gear collector, Dirk Ziff, was behind the Met’s new donation, which has been in the works since 1987. The instruments date between 1920 and 1970, with guitars that once belonged to notable players including Roy Rogers and Mississippi John Hurt among them. Its existence, up until May, had been kept secret for decades.

“It was so secretive that when I, as a curator of the Met, came to visit, I had no idea what was actually there,” The Met’s Jayson Dobney revealed. “I just saw those eight guitars.”

“Since embarking on this journey with Perry in 1987, our objective has been to assemble a comprehensive collection of American guitars, many of them historic and culturally significant, and preserve them for the benefit of future generations,” Ziff had said in May. “It is genuinely thrilling to see our vision validated at the greatest cultural institution in the world.”

Taylor’s camp has now added more mystery and intrigue to the collection.

In modern music production, few have managed to traverse the divides between pop, rock, rap, punk and metal as successfully as Andrew Watt. The Grammy-winning producer and guitarist has become one of the industry’s most sought-after collaborators, working with everyone from Justin Bieber, Post Malone, Miley Cyrus and Lady Gaga to the Rolling Stones, Elton John, Iggy Pop and Pearl Jam.

But it’s his relationship with Ozzy Osbourne that stands as among his most meaningful musical partnerships. “Ozzy and I have a connection that’s unlike anything else I’ve ever experienced,” he tells Guitar World as he prepares for the Black Sabbath star’s final performance in England.

“We made some music together that we really love, and we’ll continue making music together forever. More importantly than that, we talk every day and we’re really close friends.”

The connection that’s yielded two acclaimed albums, 2020’s Ordinary Man and 2022’s Patient Number 9, has led to Watt joining the gathering of rock and metal royalty for the Back to the Beginning concert on July 5. It serves as the final performance for both Sabbath and Ozzy himself.

The bands original lineup – Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward – will appear together for the first time since 2005, while support comes from Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Tool, Slayer and others.

A revolving cast of musicians including Billy Corgan, Wolfgang Van Halen, Jake E. Lee, K.K. Downing and Steven Tyler will play in various combinations throughout the night, with Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello serving as musical director.

Watt says with humility: “You look at that lineup; I’m having imposter syndrome!” But for a guitarist who grew up with Sabbath records on his father’s turntable, and went on to help create some of the biggest albums of recent years, there’s nothing impostor-like about Watt’s place on the stage.

Let’s start with Ozzy’s upcoming show. How special is it for you to be included in this event?

“It’s really amazing. For him to want me included really means he values me and the work we did, and wants it to be a part of his story. So I’m incredibly thankful to both him and Sharon.”

Do you have a sense yet of what you’ll be doing at the show?

“If I told you I’d have to kill you! From what I know, it’s gonna be a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience. Tom’s been kind of coordinating everything. Once we figured out what I was going to do, we’ve just kind of been rehearsing from there.”

What first drew you to Ozzy and Sabbath as a kid?

“My dad played me Paranoid – he loved Sabbath. When I started finding his records and going through his collection he’d say, ‘Me and my friends used to sit in the basement all day and listen to this.’ That story developed later to, “Me and my friends used to be so high in the basement listening to this!’”

Do you have a favorite Black Sabbath song?

“I keep finding different things I love. One song I’ve been loving lately is a song that Ozzy absolutely hates, which is so funny. I’m like, “How could you hate this song? It’s so good!” It’s Never Say Die – it sounds like Black Sabbath doing Thin Lizzy.

“I just love hearing Ozzy over that beat. Any great band changes their sound and shows you they can do anything. Sabbath is definitely one of those bands; they take it a step further on that song. Bill Ward’s just swinging.

“That said, I can’t not go back to War Pigs. I put it up against any rock song ever. I put it against any Led Zeppelin song. It’s epic!”

Earlier in your career you worked with a lot of pop artists – Justin Bieber, Shawn Mendes, Camila Cabello. After you collaborated with Ozzy, that seemed to kick off a run with rock artists like Iggy Pop, Pearl Jam and the Rolling Stones. Was Ozzy a turning point in your career?

“Absolutely. Rock is something that I love – it’s the music that speaks to me the most. But as I found my way into this business, I had these gigs playing for amazing pop artists and ended up writing their songs, and that became the thing tat I was doing: making pop music that had guitar in it.

“When the Ozzy thing came around, I was so excited at the chance to do it, but also kind of doubting myself. Like, ‘These aren’t the records I really make!’ But Duff McKagan and Chad Smith, who were friends at that point, were like, ‘Come on man, you gotta make this. Of course you can do it. It’s everything you love!’

“Once we started, I kind of felt that confidence, and it became the blueprint. For the Iggy album [2023’s Every Loser], we just made music, then Iggy chose the tracks he liked and sang to them. That led me into working with Pearl Jam – they’re the best live band there is. And obviously the Stones are everyone’s favorite rock band. [Watt produced, co-wrote and played on Pearl Jam’s 2024 Dark Matter and the Stones’ Hackney Diamonds.]

“Getting to sit in the room with those guys and just record a band doing their thing, keeping it really live, became really important, and my favorite thing in the world to do. But it all started with Ozzy. He and Sharon were the first ones to believe I could make them a great rock album.”

As somebody that started out as a recording and performing musician, what led you to lean harder on the production side?

“This business is sometimes about pivoting – that’s really all it was. I found myself in a van that broke down, then riding in a tow truck to Reno, Nevada. They put on the radio in the tow truck, and one of the songs I had made was playing. I was like, ‘This is a sign, man, because this situation blows right now!’

“I thought, “I gotta follow this.’ So I went to LA and it led me right back to what I wanted to be doing and the music I want to make. That also translated back into the pop music that I make as well.

“I’m incredibly proud of the Gaga album [2025’s Mayhem]. There’s tons of guitar and live drums and live instruments all across it. It was written in a room with Gaga on piano and me on guitar, and then us producing it up after. But it was really made classically.”

You play guitar on a lot of your records. What’s your approach to being able to being in these different worlds and bringing guitar to them?

“It’s not about ‘your thing.’ In the studio it’s about what’s right for the song. So many musicians blow you away live, but once they get into the studio they can’t come up with parts that will last forever.

“Being in the studio is about a great part that makes a kid want to play guitar, or something that’s accentuating rhythms or providing a good accompaniment to what’s being sung.

“That’s what leads everything – providing a groove or a good chord base for the song to do its thing, and for the message of what’s being sung to hit someone in the heart. What’s the part? It’s not just about the jam. Even the Grateful Dead had parts. It’s about finding the part.

“One of the greatest examples is Johnny Marr. Whenever he plays he has his tone and sound, but he’s always sculpting these perfect parts, weaving in and out of the song, even if the song is written to what he’s playing.”

You have a lot of guitars – which one are you bringing to the Sabbath show?

“I’m bringing a bunch of guitars! But my main one is a ‘61 Black Les Paul Custom, which is really an SG. It’s factory, and there’s only two of them. That’ll be there for sure.”

• Follow Watt on Instagram.

Grammy-winning producer to the stars Andrew Watt started his career working with a who's who of the pop world, including the likes of Justin Bieber, Shawn Mendes, and Camila Cabello.

However, the super-producer took a turn down a more rock-oriented lane when he was approached by Ozzy Osbourne for 2020’s Ordinary Man – the Black Sabbath legend’s first studio album as a solo artist in ten years at the time. Four days later, Ozzy had already announced that he was working on its follow-up, 2022's Patient Number 9, with Watt once again at the helm.

“Rock is something that I love – it’s the music that speaks to me the most,” Watt confesses in a new interview with Guitar World. “But as I found my way into this business, I had these gigs playing for amazing pop artists and ended up writing their songs, and that became my footing and the thing that I was doing – making pop music that had guitar in it.

“When the Ozzy thing came around, I was so excited at the chance to do it, but also kind of doubting myself. Like, these aren’t the records I really make. But with the push and love and guidance from both Duff McKagan and Chad Smith, who were friends at that point, they were like, ‘Come on man, you gotta make this. Of course you can do it. It’s everything you love.’”

Indeed, Ozzy's endorsement led to a host of other rock-fueled albums from Watt, including Eddie Vedder's Earthling, Iggy Pop's Every Loser, Pearl Jam's Dark Matter, and the Rolling Stones' Hackney Diamonds.

Speaking about his approach to producing rock records that pay homage to each of these artists' incredible rock legacies, while giving them a more contemporary twist, he said, “Once we started making music, I kind of felt that confidence and that became the blueprint. For the Iggy album, we just kind of made music and then Iggy chose the tracks he liked and sang to them.

“Then that led me into working with bands that I love, like Pearl Jam – they’re the best live band there is. And obviously the Stones are everyone’s favorite rock band. Getting to sit in the room with those guys and just record a band doing their thing, keeping it really live, became really important to me and just my favorite thing in the world to do.”

However, Watt has never forgotten the legend that nudged him in a more guitar-fueled direction. As he puts it, “It all started with Ozzy. He and Sharon were the first ones to believe that I could make them a great rock album.”

Watt recently talked about his experiences working with another rock behemoth – a certain Beatle who showed him how to play a widely beloved Beatles song.

Even after a career playing electric guitar with rock’s biggest names, playing alongside a Rolling Stone is still heart-stopping. That’s what we’ve learned from a new interview with Los Angeles sideman Jason Sinay, who tells us about times on stage with Neil Young, Joe Bonamassa, and the Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir.

Sinay is best known as a 20-year member of The Dirty Knobs, the band led by Mike Campbell between stints with Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers.

You might think that experience would leave you ready for anything. Sinay landed a gig as house band guitarist at an LA jam night led by Waddy Wachtel, and found that wasn't quite the case. “You never knew who was going to come through,” Sinay explains.

One night, Sinay noticed the club was packed to capacity. “I knew the Stones were in town, but I did not know that I would end up meeting and jamming with Keith Richards – and hanging out with him that night,” he recalls.

“It was a complete and utter shock to my system,” Sinay exclaims. “I’m such a huge Keith freak. We got to do Jumpin’ Jack Flash, Wild Horses, and a few other Stones classics.”

Most exciting for Sinay was that Richards used his gear. “I had known [Keith’s] guitar tech, Pierre [de Beauport], for years, and when Pierre came in, he was like, ‘Keith’s using your rig!’” Sinay laughs. “That was really great.”

Look for Sinay’s full interview, including his experiences with Neil Young, Joe Bonamassa, and Derek Trucks, on GuitarWorld.com soon.

Former Prince guitarist Dez Dickerson has also been talking about experiences with the Rolling Stones, describing Prince’s disastrous 1981 support slots with the band.

Dez Dickerson, guitarist with Prince and the Revolution from 1979 to 1983, has reflected on Prince’s disastrous stint opening for the Rolling Stones in 1981.

Those shows are some of the most notorious in rock history, with Prince facing such an onslaught of abuse (and bottles) that he abandoned the stage after 25 minutes.

Dickerson, however, tells Guitar World, “those shows have gotten twisted out of context.”

On the opening night at LA’s Memorial Coliseum, Prince was greeted by a barrage of fried chicken, cans, and bottles, not to mention racist and homophobic abuse.

Revolution bassist Brown Mark recalled, “Next thing I noticed was food starting to fly through the air like a dark thundercloud. Imagine 94,000 people throwing food at each other; it was the craziest thing I had ever seen in my life. I got hit in the shoulder with a bag of fried chicken; then my bass guitar got knocked out of tune by a large grapefruit that hit the tuning keys.”

“It was mostly Hell’s Angels,” Dickerson remarks now. “They didn’t like Prince’s bikini underwear.”

He insists, though, that the majority of the crowd was on Prince’s side.

“I found out later that the Stones’ audience threw things back at them – that was their way of showing their love. Prince got freaked and cut the set short. The rock stations reported that we got booed off the stage, but that wasn’t true.

“Statistically,” Dickerson argues, “they say 5 percent of any audience isn’t going to like what you do.”

Prince, however, was unimpressed and insisted he would not play another show. “We went to the dressing room and found out that Prince had gone straight to the airport,” Dickerson remembers. “He went home and wasn’t coming back. Mick Jagger called Prince and asked him to come back, but he said, ‘No, I’m not doing it.’”

Jagger’s failure might have been related to his dismissive attitude. In a 1983 interview, he said dismissively, “I talked to Prince on the phone once after he got two cans thrown at him in LA. He said he didn’t want to do any more shows.”

After Prince’s management also tried unsuccessfully to coax Prince back, Dickerson tried himself.

“Finally, management came to me and said, ‘Look, Prince listens to you. Will you call him?’” says Dickerson. “I appealed to our manhood as a band and said, ‘We can’t let them run us off like this. We’ll never live it down.’ He came back and we did the second show.”

That second show was met with a similar response, and Prince never again shared a stage with the Stones.

For the full interview with Dickerson, check out the latest issue of Guitar World, available now from Magazines Direct.

As a young guitar innovator, Harvey Mandel soaked his playing in feedback and sustain, pushing his amps to the brink on early recordings with Charlie Musselwhite before making his way to San Francisco to rub elbows with Jerry Garcia and Elvin Bishop.

He soon landed a surprise gig with Canned Heat – and a few days later found himself in front of a massive crowd at Woodstock. “I didn’t realize it at the time how iconic that gig would be,” Mandel tells Guitar World. “Nobody did! It was pretty mind-blowing. I was kind of nervous; it was scary getting up on stage and seeing that massive audience. But it turned out good!”

Mandel stuck with Canned Heat for two years before joining John Mayall. The challenge of filling the shoes of Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Taylor wasn’t an issue: “I didn’t want to copy other guys. I didn’t study their playing. I appreciated what they did – but I pretty much stuck with my own style.”

His style has always been unique. From early adoption of the two-handed tapping technique that exploded with Van Halen, or his infinite walls of pedal-free sustain, Mandel was both confident and in demand. That demand led him to the Rolling Stones via a late-night call from Mick Jagger, and he went to Germany to record for 1976’s Black and Blue.

The vibe was that he might be Mick Taylor’s replacement – but according to Mandel, it was not to be “because of Keith Richards.” More on that later.

That near-miss was, unfortunately, the apex of his career. “The highlight was the Stones,” he reflects. “But I got to play with Canned Heat and John Mayall, and I was an innovator of certain sounds.

“I’m sure I influenced many guitar players with the sustain and feedback. I was doing it back in ’65, ’66 and ’67, way before I heard it with Jeff Beck and any of those people. I didn’t get credited like I should have over the years.”

He retains hope that things will pick up again. “I had a setback because of medical issues. There was a four-year period where I didn’t get to play live. But I’ve recuperated and I’m back in top form. I’ve got a new record coming; hopefully it’ll get pushed and get me up there, so that people will remember who I am.”

Early on you became known for a fuzzy, feedback-laden style with a ton of sustain. How did you develop that?

“Back in my club days in Chicago, I always had different amps. Sustain and feedback were the things I was always aiming for. So when I came to San Francisco, it just continued. I was experimenting with different amps – back then, there wasn’t a whole bunch of pedals, so it was really certain amps.

“It became my signature thing. The only other guys in the world who were doing it, of course, were Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix and those guys, but I was doing it before I even heard them. I always had that.”

So it was instinct?

“The sound I was aiming for was kind of like a violin, and it just developed. I didn’t really have to think about it that much; it just happened automatically.”

You shared the San Fransisco scene with Jerry Garcia. Did you get to jam with him?

“We did on a couple of occasions. There was a club called The Matrix, where all the guys would jam. There were a couple of times when Jerry, Elvin Bishop and a couple of other people did a big jam there. I didn’t get to play with Jerry that much, but he was a really nice guy and a good guy. We had a lot of fun back then.”

You later joined Canned Heat, stepping in at the last minute for a Fillmore West show after Henry Vestine left.

“It was one of those nights when I went to the Fillmore and I didn’t even know who was playing. Some girl ran up to me and said, ‘The Bear [vocalist Bob Hite] knows you’re here – come and meet everyone.’

“So I was hanging out with them, smoking a couple of joints and having a good time. I heard the story that Henry Vestine had been fired that night, and Mike Bloomfield helped them with the first set. After the break, they invited me to come sit in for the second set.”

What gear did you have available?

“I really don’t remember – I didn’t have my guitar and stuff. I just had to play what was there. I think it was Henry Vestine’s guitar that he’d left. They had these custom amplifiers and stuff. It sounded great and they literally asked me to join the band that night. Three days later, we were at Woodstock. I came in at the right time!”

What are your memories of Woodstock?

“We flew in via helicopter, which was really far out because you could see all the people at this whole thing. When I got up on stage, I had a Strat I’d been using at the time, and they had their custom amps; I was using Henry Vestine’s.

“During the first song the amp blew up. They gave me another one, which sounded terrible. I had to play on this piece of shit for the rest of the set – which to this day, I always cringe when I think about it.

“It was kind of a nightmare; it was not sustaining. I couldn’t get a good sound out of it, and I didn’t have a bunch of pedals to compensate. I did the best I could. It was still a great thing to play for an audience of that size; had I been able to play through that first amp, I would have sounded a thousand times better.”

After Canned Heat you joined John Mayall’s band. Was it a challenge coming in after Clapton, Green and Taylor?

“John saw me play with Canned Heat when they’d decided to have Henry Vestine come back in. So John asked me to join his band. Truthfully, I didn’t really think about Clapton, Mick Taylor or any of those people – I just did my Harvey Mandel stuff.”

Did John communicate his expectations for you as a guitarist?

“He didn’t really offer too much – we pretty much did what we wanted. But he knew we knew how to play the right stuff. All the musicians were really good, so John didn’t have to say anything.”

You were an early adopter of the two-handed tapping technique. Where did you pick that up from?

“I got it from the Pure Food and Drug Act group that I was in. The second guitar player was Randy Resnick – he’s the first one I saw tap, in ’67 going in ’68. He did it in a very melodic but simple way. I didn’t want to do it in front of him, but once I saw him do it, I was able to practice it. [Resnick disputes the year of their meeting, stating it was 1971 – Ed].”

How did you make the technique your own?

“When I left the band I took it off into my world. It’s a much more melodic, fluid version, as opposed to where Eddie Van Halen took it with his wild stuff. People heard my stuff and thought I was a jazz player!”

There’s a lot of debate about where Eddie and the players of the ’80s picked up the tapping technique.

“I was playing at the Whisky and the Starwood, where George Lynch, Van Halen and a couple of other people saw me doing it. Next thing I know, Eddie took it off into his own world. I can’t say anything bad about him – he was a great player, but he was more of a gymnastic player.

“He’d use two-handed tapping to do all kinds of tricks, whereas I tried to make it more musical, as opposed to going crazy and showing off with it.”

Two-handed tapping became a hallmark of ’80s guitar. Do you feel you were properly credited for your development of it?

“Not really. Although if you go on YouTube, you’ll see all different videos where I get credit. But back then, unfortunately, I wasn’t with a known band – Van Halen had a hit record so the world got to hear him doing it. The audience that got to hear me do it was much more limited.”

Did you ever get to meet Eddie or George, or any of the other players, and talk with them about it?

“Not really. I never got to speak with Van Halen, even though he came and saw me play. I saw him play on a few occasions, but we never got to hang out. The only guys I got to meet were Alvin Lee and Mick Taylor. I was playing in Chicago and they came to the hotel. They kind of kidnapped me inside of my own hotel!

“Alvin refused to leave until I showed him the tapping. That was the only time a famous person actually sat there with me like that. Mick Taylor was great – but Alvin was the one who was mostly interested.”

Speaking of Mick Taylor, after he left the Rolling Stones, you were tabbed to record in his place for 1976’s Black and Blue album.

“I was living in LA. In the middle of the night I got a call and it’s Mick Jagger. I thought it was somebody goofing around but I realized it was Mick Jagger. He said, ‘We want you to come to Germany.’

“He didn’t say it was an audition to join the Stones; he wanted me to come and play to be a part of the record. Next day I got a ticket, took the Acoustic amp and my guitar, and flew to Germany.”

You played on Hot Stuff and Memory Motel. What was that like?

“Yeah, we did a recording – and if it wasn’t for Keith Richards, I would have been a Rolling Stone.”

Keith stopped you from joining the band?

“Ronnie Wood came in the next day, and they were pals. They grew up together and hung out. Mick Jagger wanted me to play. Keith Richards wanted Ronnie Wood, who won out, because Keith had the power to insist it was Ronnie, or else. So I kind of got aced out.”

Was Keith and Ronnie’s friendship the only reason?

“My concept was to come in and replace Mick Taylor – not to jump about and go crazy, but to leave that to Mick Jagger. I wanted to stay in the background and play the cool guitar stuff, like Mick Taylor. He played great guitar but he was never out in front. My idea was to do the same thing. But Ronnie Wood got the gig.”

Did Keith have an issue with your playing?

“Keith Richards was kind of weird. I played some of the greatest guitar licks I ever played, but he didn’t even say hello or shake hands. He was kind of unfriendly – where Mick Jagger was the complete opposite.”

Was Keith resentful of you because he wanted Ronnie?

“It was before Ronnie Wood even came into the picture; he didn’t come in until a day or two later. Keith was just kind of aloof. I don’t think he was intimidated, but he wasn’t really friendly. Maybe it was because I was American, and he wanted everything to stay with British people. I really can’t say.

“Everyone else in the band – the drummer [Charlie Watts], the bass player [Bill Wyman] and Mick Jagger – were all super-nice. They had some of my early records and two or three of my solo albums; they were very complimentary and treated me really good.

“I never got friendly with Keith Richards. If it wasn’t for him, I would have been the Rolling Stones’ replacement for Mick Taylor. He’s the one that screwed me up.”

Things tapered off for you after that. Do you lament not getting the gig?

“It would have been great if it had happened. Keith Richards is a great rhythm player – the stuff he played is phenomenal. I would have been happy to just be in the background.

“My reputation jumped up dramatically; I got bookings all over the place and I was real popular for a while. But then, the allure of the Rolling Stones wore out, and it tapered down, and that was the end of that.”

In your heart of hearts, should you have gotten the Rolling Stones gig over Ronnie Wood?

“Oh, by light years. Ronnie was a nice guy. I actually played at his club and hung out with him a couple of times. He was actually a really nice guy – but let’s face it: he ain’t no Mick Taylor, and he’s no Harvey Mandel. He’s what I call a C-plus guitar player.

“He had the show; he could jump around and be part of the craziness, but he never impressed me as an actual player. I think they would have been much better off musically if I was the one playing – they didn’t need Ronnie Wood for the show. Mick Jagger was the show.”

• Mandel reissues his 1972 album The Snake as a limited Record Store Day exclusive on April 12.

Aside from being one of the pioneers of the two-handed tapping technique that gained steam in the post-Van Halen era, Harvey Mandel made his mark on rock ‘n’ roll history as a member of the Woodstock-era Canned Heat, as well as playing side-by-side with John Mayall. And oh, he was also almost a Rolling Stone...

“I was living in LA at the time. In the middle of the night, suddenly, I got a call, and it’s Mick Jagger,” he tells Guitar World. “I thought it was somebody goofing around at first, but after I talked with him on the phone for a few minutes, I realized this was Mick Jagger.

“They were in Germany at the time, and he said, ‘Well, we want you to come to Germany…’ He didn’t really say it was an ‘audition’ to join the Stones; he wanted me to come and play to be a part of the record.”

Despite playing on Hot Stuff and Memory Motel, which would later be released on 1976’s Black and Blue, Mandel asserts that Keith Richards blocked his trajectory to becoming a Rolling Stone.

“Ronnie Wood came in the next day, and Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards were pals,” he explains. “They grew up together and hung out. Mick Jagger wanted me to play. Keith Richards wanted Ronnie Wood, who won out because he [Keith Richards] had the power to insist that it was Ronnie Woodor else. So, I kind of got aced out.”

In his heart of hearts, however, Mandel still believes that he was the one who should have landed the highly coveted gig.

"Ronnie was a nice guy. I played at his club and hung out with him a couple of times. He was actually a really nice guy – but let’s face it: he ain’t no Mick Taylor, and he’s no Harvey Mandel. He’s what I call a C-plus guitar player,” he says matter-of-factly.

“He had the show, and he could jump around and be part of the craziness, but he never impressed me as an actual player. So, I think they would have been much better off musically if I was the one playing because they didn’t need Ronnie Wood for the show. Mick Jagger was the show.”

For Hackney Diamonds, their first album of new material in 18 years, the Rolling Stones recruited a number of bassists to fill in for the absent Darryl Jones.

Aside from Stones guitarists Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood, the four-string seat was also filled by the album's producer, Andrew Watt, Paul McCartney, and, in an interesting twist, their former bassist, Bill Wyman.

Wyman appears on Live by the Sword, one of the two Hackney Diamonds tunes to also feature drummer Charlie Watts, who died in 2021.

Though pleased by the invitation to contribute, Wyman wasn't particularly impressed by Live by the Sword upon first hearing it.

“When the Stones had that one track with Charlie on it [Live By The Sword], Mick [Jagger] and the producer, Andrew Watt, called to ask me to play on it,” Wyman explained in a recent interview with Louder, “and I was quite happy to do it, actually. Just the one.”

However, Wyman went on to explain, “I wasn’t crazy about the song, and I wasn’t crazy about the way they’d done it. It was just full of guitars, and there was no air in it. No spaces, no gaps. There are probably eight guitars on there, instead of two.

“It could have been done so much simpler. But that’s the way they do it, bless ’em. It was hard for me to put a bass in because there wasn’t a lot of room.”

Intriguingly, Wyman added that he actually contributed to a second song that has yet to see the light of day.

“After I’d finished my part, and was happy with it, I said, ‘Have you got any other songs that I could do while I’m here?’ And they said, ‘Yeah, there’s another one.’

“So they set it up, and I played bass on it, and they said, ‘We’ll save that for the next album.’”

In the interview with Louder, Wyman also reflected on building his first bass, a proto-fretless model of sorts.

“I’d seen Gibson and Fender bass guitars in pictures of Little Richard’s and Fats Domino’s bands, so I drew a shape like one of those on the back of my bass and I had my next-door neighbor saw it down. I bevelled the edges, took off all the paint, and put in a new Baldwin pickup,” Wyman said.

“Still, it rattled with every note because the frets were so worn. I figured I’d just pull out all the frets and put in new ones when I could afford some. But when I pulled them out, it suddenly sounded really good! So I never put frets back in.”

Within the Rolling Stones, Bill Wyman, who spent three decades as the rock juggernaut's bassist, stood out.

His quiet presence aligned with his rhythm section comrade in the band, the late drummer Charlie Watts, and stood in stark contrast to the headline-grabbing (for decades) lifestyles and exploits of frontman Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards.

The story of how Wyman came to play the bass even happens to be an example of his cool personality.

Three years prior to the Stones' formation, in 1962, Wyman was part of a newly formed quintet that quickly encountered an age-old problem.

Asked in a new interview with Louder how he ended up on the four-string, Wyman said, “When I was forming my band in South London, three years prior to joining the Stones, there were three guitarists, and I said, ‘Somebody’s got to play bass.’ The lead guitarist said, ‘I’m not.’ The rhythm guitarist said, ‘I’m not.’ So I said, ‘I suppose I’m gonna have to do it.’”

Not satisfied with the existing bass options that he could afford, Wyman simply decided to build one himself.

“I didn’t have a bass guitar, so I had to make one,” he explained to Louder. “Unknown to me at the time, I built the first fretless bass. Invented it, so I’m told, about five years before they came out.”

In an interview with Bass Player, Wyman elaborated on the DIY build, saying, “I’d seen Gibson and Fender bass guitars in pictures of Little Richard’s and Fats Domino’s bands, so I drew a shape like one of those on the back of my bass and I had my next-door neighbor saw it down. I bevelled the edges, took off all the paint, and put in a new Baldwin pickup.

“Still,” he went on, “it rattled with every note because the frets were so worn. I figured I’d just pull out all the frets and put in new ones when I could afford some. But when I pulled them out, it suddenly sounded really good! So I never put frets back in.

“I think it was the first fretless bass ever. I used it on every Stones album and many of the singles up to 1975. From early R&B covers like I’m a King Bee to the period of 19th Nervous Breakdown – it’s got the sound.”

The 88-year-old Wyman recently released his ninth solo album, Drive My Car, and even, last year, reunited with his old bandmates in the studio for the first time in three decades.

Filling in for the absent Darryl Jones – alongside Keith Richards, long-serving Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood, and even Paul McCartney – Wyman took care of low-end duties on Live by the Sword, a song from the Stones' recent Hackney Diamonds album.

It is hard to overstate the impact of the ‘60s British blues guitar scene, when a new generation of guitar heroes mined the original source of blues playing and put their own spin on it.

In doing so, they not only brought blues into the mainstream, calling attention to the original pioneers, but reconfigured popular culture, providing a launching pad for the big beasts of rock that would emerge in the decade that followed.

But this boom did not exist in a vacuum, and here we offer 9 essential albums that had an immeasurable impact on the scene and its players.

Robert Johnson – King Of The Delta Blues Singers (1961)

Released more than 20 years after his passing, Johnson’s small but extraordinary recorded output had a huge impact on the fledgling blues scene in Britain. The mystique surrounding the Johnson legend ticked all the boxes for a new generation of blues fans. Essential listening.

Standout track: Terraplane Blues

Muddy Waters – Live in 1958 (1993)

Although released decades later, this is the only known recording of Waters and the Chris Barber band from the groundbreaking tour of 1958 – also featuring Muddy’s regular pianist Otis Spann, an important bluesman in his own right. You can only imagine the effect this tour had on the young Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Eric Clapton who witnessed it.

Standout track: Hoochie Coochie Man

Big Bill Broonzy – The Bill Broonzy Story (1960)

Recorded over several sessions in 1957, this three-volume set showcases the intimate side of Broonzy that UK audiences would have heard when he became the first blues artist to tour there with Chris Barber. Although entirely acoustic, one can hear how he would have left a big impression on the music when it transitioned to electric.

Standout track: Joe Turner Blues

Chris Barber Jazz Band & Skiffle Group – New Orleans Joys (1955)

This 10-inch album epitomises the link between jazz, blues and skiffle that existed prior to the 1960s. It’s the album that features Lonnie Donegan’s versions of Rock Island Line and John Henry and its impact on the British blues boom cannot be overestimated.

Standout track: Rock Island Line

Sister Rosetta Tharpe – Gospel Train (1956)

Tharpe’s soulful bluesy gospel approach provided another key ingredient in the development of the 1950s and 60s blues revival that led to the more pop-oriented direction many of the UK blues bands took. That’s aside from her often ferocious guitar style!

Standout track: Up Above My Head…

Various Artists – The Original American Folk Blues Festival (1962)

Here’s an example of what happened once the blues scene had established itself to the point where entire festivals featuring US legends began touring Europe from the early 60s onwards.

This was the first time audiences outside the US could see the likes of T-Bone Walker, John Lee Hooker, Howlin’ Wolf and a host of other pioneers on the same stage.

Standout track: Shake It Baby (John Lee Hooker)

The Rolling Stones – The Rolling Stones (1964)

This is the band responsible in many ways for bringing blues into the mainstream. This, the Stones’ debut album, paved the way for rock to develop. Quite simply, the rest of the 60s and early 70s blues rooted bands would have sounded different without it!

Standout track: Route 66

John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers – Blues Breakers With Eric Clapton (1966)

As hyperbolic as it may seem, it is often said that Blues Breakers is one of the most important albums ever recorded.

Also known as ‘The Beano Album’, this LP marks the crossroad between the initial blues craze and the beginnings of a heavier sound that paved the way for such heavyweights as Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and Free – among many others.

Standout track: Hideaway

By now, Andrew Watt is best-known for working alongside some of the biggest artists in the world. From recently scoring a global hit with Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars' Die With A Smile to collaborating with an enviable list of talent from rock’s heyday – The Rolling Stones, Ozzy Osbourne, Iggy Pop, Pearl Jam, and yes, even Paul McCartney. So what’s truly setting him apart as a producer? Pushing even established artists out of their comfort zones.

“You lose your shit privately,” he tells Variety. “Because Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Elton John, Eddie Vedder – they’re fully capable of producing an album by themselves. They understand song structure, mix, a good snare-drum sound, they’ve done this forever. So none of them needs a producer – but they are choosing to hire a producer.”

While Watt cut his teeth producing contemporary pop artists like Post Malone, Lana Del Rey, and Miley Cyrus, his rise into the upper echelons of producer stardom happened in true Hollywood fashion. While recording with Malone, the the pair went to Sunset Boulevard's legendary rock nightclub, The Rainbow, where the Sunflower hitmaker spontaneously decided to buy a photo of Ozzy Osbourne right off the wall.

“I [then] said, ‘We should do a song with Ozzy!’” Watt recalls. Next thing you know, Osbourne and Malone duetted on 2019's Take What You Want, which led to the Prince of Darkness commissioning him to produce his 2020 album, Ordinary Man.

Another dream collaboration was working with the Stones – a gig that not only saw him produce their 24th studio album Hackney Diamonds, but also co-write two songs and enlist McCartney and Elton John to play bass and piano.

“I just tried to produce from the front row [of a concert] and think, ‘What do I want to hear?’” he asserts.

“I came with no baggage, so asking Mick or Keith to do something that they wouldn’t normally do – anyone around them would say, ‘They’re never going to do that.’ But I just asked. That’s how songs like Rolling Stone Blues happened [the Muddy Waters classic that inspired the band’s name, which they had never recorded until Watt got involved].”

And as for recruiting The Beatles' bassist? It all came down to a simple question. “It was the same thing when I asked Paul McCartney to play bass on a Rolling Stones song: silence for 10 seconds, then ‘Yeah, I’d love to.’” He adds, “Just ask the question! The worst that can happen is no.”

In other Andrew Watt news, the super-producer will be performing alongside Zakk Wylde, Billy Idol guitarist Steve Stevens and Wolfgang Van Halen in a tribute to Ozzy Osbourne at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

Darryl Jones: jazz cat or rock star? Some pigeonhole the 62-year-old as a jazz cat, most likely because his first big professional gig was with Miles Davis in 1983. Others say rock star, because for the past 30 years, he's held down the bass chair with the Rolling Stones.

Jones doesn't even know the answer himself. “I straddle the fence,” he told Bass Player. “Once I was playing with Miles at a festival with the Modern Jazz Quartet, and one of those guys came up to me and said, ‘I really don't like rock music, but I like the way you play rock.’

“Another time, I was recording with guitarist Carlos Alomar, who had played with David Bowie for a long time, and the guys at the session were all rock guys. At the end of the session, one of them came up to me and said, 'Listen, man, I don't dig jazz, but I like the way you play jazz.’

“In a way, I've been this wandering musician, moving from one idiom to the other, and I've been influenced by all the people I've worked with.”

And Jones has worked with a lot of people. Over the last 30-plus years, the Chicago-born bassist has graced the stage or the studio with Sting, Madonna, Peter Gabriel, and Eric Clapton, among others. But the whole rock-star thing truly took root in 1993, when he replaced Bill Wyman in the Rolling Stones.

Back in August 2005, in the midst of preparations for the Stones' four-month cross-country trek for the A Bigger Bang tour, the dreadlocked, baritone-voiced bassman took time out to reflect on his career.

What is the Rolling Stones groove, and how do you make it happen?

“It's a rhythm & blues pocket, but it's a little looser. That took a little getting used to for me. I remember in the beginning, sometimes when Charlie Watts would go from section A to section B of a tune, it would feel like the pocket was starting to stretch during some of his fills, and I would make an adjustment.

“But I noticed when I made that adjustment, I would end up in a place where I didn't want to end up, because the pocket hadn't moved as much as I thought it had. Now I solidify it, but I don't lock it up so tight that it can't breathe. I always have a great time playing with those guys. It's lots of fun.”

Can you talk about the Rolling Stones' compositional process?

“The first thing that happens is Mick and Keith get together and throw around different riffs and ideas. Keith once told me that sometimes he'll play an old tune on piano, like something by Hoagy Carmichael, or a blues tune, and his hands will fall to different places. That's how he'll come up with a song. Then Charlie comes in and they start adding people.

“Recently, I've discussed basslines with Mick more than l ever have, because he has a better idea of what he's looking for. Then we'll try a bunch of different stuff. We'll try straight eighths, we'll try a full-blown line, we'll try doubling the guitar – until we come up with something he's satisfied with.

“Keith is much more hands-off. He just puts the idea out there and lets you develop it in a way that's more organic to you. The interesting thing about Keith's writing is that I know a bit about the way he plays bass guitar, so now I have a repertoire of things Keith will do to make the bassline his, to give it those ‘Keith’ characteristics. Like, instead of playing the root note, he'll play a 3rd lower. I try to add those things to their writing to try and make it a little more Stones-ish.”

You've played in venues of all shapes and sizes, and now you're headed out on another arena tour. What do you do differently at a small place like the Jazz Bakery in Los Angeles, versus a stadium like Chicago's Soldier Field?

“It all depends on the song. If it's a mellower tune, I'll use the same touch at the Jazz Bakery as I would at Soldier Field. If I'm playing something that's really hard-rocking in a large stadium, I'm going to touch the bass a different way.

“I tend to use more of a ‘monkey grip’ when I'm playing rock, because I don't have to get to as many notes as I would if I were playing some kind of bebop lick. Grabbing the bass around the neck facilitates a different kind of feeling. I'm not trying to do anything real intricate. I'm only using the amount of technique necessary for me to play a particular song. So the song dictates my approach.”

When you first started playing, did you ever envision yourself onstage at Soldier Field?

“Actually, I did. In the early '70s, before I started playing bass, my mom took me, my brother, and a couple of kids from around the neighbourhood to see James Brown at Soldier Field, and it got to be a real dream of mine to play there.”

“In a way, the Rolling Stones gig is the culmination of those childhood dreams; I figure now that I've played with Miles, Sting, Herbie Hancock, Peter Gabriel, and Madonna, I've pretty much covered it.”

What is it about you that's attracted such a disparate batch of musicians?

“A few years ago, a friend from my neighbourhood said to me, ‘You realize that part of the reason you play music the way you do is that you came from a two-radio home.’ When I asked him what he meant, he said, ‘I know your mom was listening to James Brown and the Temptations and all that stuff on Chicago soul station WVON.’ Ironically, every once in a while you'd hear a Stones song like Angie or Satisfaction on WVON, but it was basically all black music.

“My friend also noted that my dad always listened to jazz on WBEE and public radio, and he played his Count Basie, and Oscar Peterson records. So I have elements of the Motown thing in my playing, but there are also things I got from Stanley Clarke and Anthony Jackson. I also dug Ray Brown. I didn't necessarily get stylistic stuff from him; it was more in terms of the groove.”

“I didn't study any of these players – they just found their way into my blood. So that's probably why I was able to move from one to the other. Like with Sting: that music wasn't run-of-the-mill rock 'n' roll, nor was it run-of-the-mill jazz, and I was able to provide a solidifying force.”

Do you have any tips on how a young musician could go about landing a job with a higher-profile artist?

"When I talk to a young bass player about this kind of thing, it usually starts with them telling me how they're frustrated with their musical situation, whether it be a high school band, a college band, or a bar band. They'll tell me they want to do something more, to play with musicians of a higher caliber.

“I tell them that before they get on a great gig with a bunch of great musicians, the person who's going to give you that gig is going to see you at a bar playing with a drummer you don't dig playing with. So you've got to figure out a way to make that work, because that's part of your entrée into the new gig.”

“Second, be specific about what kind of music you're interested in playing, and whom you'd like to play with. Pick three or four bands that you really, really want to play with, familiarize yourself with their music, and try to familiarise yourself with their management. You want to do everything in your power to make it easy for the person who's in charge of hiring the musicians – be it the drummer, the manager, or whoever – to think of you when they need a bass player.

“First, you go to the band's concerts and if possible, you meet some of the band. But if that's not possible, you still have to do as much as you can for yourself, like going and learning the music. You make your own luck by being prepared.”

Producer Andrew Watt has gone from being a music fan to recording, collaborating, and even playing guitar on stage with Pearl Jam, Iggy Pop, Ozzy Osbourne, Elton John, Miley Cyrus, Post Malone, and The Rolling Stones. However, his humble beginnings include trying to impress his bar mitzvah guests with his guitar skills.

Entitled “Andrew Rocks”, the bar mitzvah took place at the Copacabana in New York, and featured a stellar setlist.

“I played a whole concert when I was 13,” Watt recalls of the event in an interview with the Los Angeles Times.

“I think we played Come Together by the Beatles, a song called Are You Gonna Be My Girl [by Jet] that was really big at the time, Ziggy Stardust. There’s a great picture of me on my knees ripping a guitar solo, and the guitar is bigger than me.”

Watt has come a long way from the bar mitzvah gig. He produced Hackney Diamonds, the Stones' 24th studio album, and their first album since 2005's A Bigger Bang. He's also the producer behind Pearl Jam's recently released Dark Matter.

Speaking of his reputation for recording quickly, even encouraging improvisation and playing guitar along with the artists at times, Watt says, “If you’re talking about a band like Pearl Jam or the Rolling Stones, who wants to hear those bands polished? No-one.

“Those are two of the greatest live bands of all time. So, let’s record them live. Let’s have the edge. There’s other artists that I work with that don’t sound as raw, that take more time, that aren’t recorded live. It goes artist by artist.

“You’re there to produce. What good am I if just yes ‘em to death, right? I put [who I’m working with] right out of my mind. Otherwise, how could you possibly do anything besides just be a fan in the front row screaming?”

As to whether there are any plans for him to produce another Stones album, Watt remains coy. “You know, the last album [Hackney Diamonds] took 18 years to make. So that would leave them close to 100 years old by the time we finished a second one. I’m hoping for a faster timeline. There’s nothing on the books right now, but you know, it definitely has been discussed.”

Famed acoustic guitar virtuoso Tommy Emmanuel has been a longtime Chet Atkins fan – ever since he heard his music on the radio at the age of six, to be exact. 

However, having Atkins as his guitar hero apparently came with some downsides, such as struggling to understand the hype surrounding The Rolling Stones and The Beatles when they first came onto the scene.

“You gotta remember, I'm a boy from the bush. So when I heard Chet Atkins and people like that, I heard somebody who played incredibly in tune with a great tone, great ideas, and all that sort of stuff,” Emmanuel says in an interview on the Jay Jay French Connection podcast.

“When I heard The Rolling Stones, they sounded like a bad high school band to me, I didn't get it. And they were in and out of tune.

“The singer [Mick Jagger] sounded like he didn't give a shit. And my brother and I were like, ‘What the hell do people see in this crap?’ Because we were used to hearing these polished, beautiful records.

“Of course, I love The Rolling Stones, and I love The Beatles, and I love the mojo that they bring, but it took me a long time to appreciate them because I was ignorant. I knew nothing. 

“You know, and when someone said, this is a good guitar player, and I heard him I'm like, ‘He doesn't even get it out of a case compared to Chet Atkins.’

“For a little boy, he set the bar pretty high early, you know, I heard Windy and Warm on the radio when I was seven. I could hear that he was playing everything at once. I just didn't know what he was doing or how to do it. But I knew that. 

“And everybody said to me, ‘Don't take any notice of that. It's a recording trick. You can't do all that.’ But I could hear it. I just didn't know how to do it yet.”

Emmanuel goes on to say that from an early age he was entranced with Atkins' playing and fingerstyle technique, which incorporated a walking bass, rhythm, and melody.

“I wasn't aware of this technique. I just knew what I heard. And I started finding a way of making that muted bass. And then I tried to get my fingers to play the melodies like this, while trying to keep that going, you know, and it was so hard. I was eight.”

In a 2019 GuitarWorld interview, Emmanuel reiterated how important Chet Atkins was for him to develop his intricate, melody-centered technique. “I call it a science experiment. It’s like a juggler and a card dealer all working at once and it is just too much.

“Y’know, just tell me the story, and lay it out for me. That’s what I am looking for. Growing up listening to Chet Atkins taught me to find the melody and stick with the melody.”

Picture Keith Richards, and your first image is probably of the Tele-toting, bandana-wearing wildman of rock. However, explore The Rolling Stones’ back catalogue and you’ll see that acoustic instruments feature heavily, from strummed and picked acoustic guitars to 12-strings, mandolins and Nashville-tuned guitars (the high strings from a 12-string set).

For the acoustic singer-songwriter or accompanist, the styles of Richards and his accomplice Ronnie Wood are essential study.

Keith Richards was born in 1943 in Dartford, Kent. His grandfather Gus Dupree was a working musician who famously told the young Keith that he would give him guitar lessons when he could reach the instrument on the shelf. Richards finally got the guitar in his hands and lessons began. 

His early influences were the prominent jazz musicians of the time, principally Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong. However his first guitar hero was Scotty Moore, the rockabilly legend and sideman to Elvis Presley. While Richards would develop his own sound and approach, you can always hear a bit of Scotty Moore in his playing.  

Richards famously met Mick Jagger at school and their shared love of blues became the bedrock of the Rolling Stones sound. Their rock and roll side was defined by Richards’ love of Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters, and this accounts for his ability to move from rhythm to lead and back again within the space of a bar. 

Although Richards famously favours open G tuning and just five strings for a lot of his rhythm work, he also frequently uses standard tuning and that’s what I’ve opted for here.

This is partly to save you the bother of re-tuning your guitar but also so that hopefully you’ll be able to hear the colour he gets from his rhythm parts when using standard tuning.

Triads form the basis of his picking style and he will add open strings to give these chords greater richness. For example, he will replace a D major triad with a Dadd9, taking advantage of the open first string.

His characteristic rhythmic swagger is harder to approximate, however. Aim for a loose, relaxed feel and pay attention to the swing of the rhythm section – you are not aiming to play it straight. 

Interestingly, Richards’ first love is actually acoustic guitar. He views electric as more limited and prefers the challenge that acoustic playing can offer him. Delve into the music of The Rolling Stones and you are guaranteed to find plenty of acoustic! 

Get the tone

Amp Settings: Gain 2, Bass 7, Middle 6, Treble 7, Reverb 2

As you’d expect, Richards has a large and enviable guitar collection. The acoustic he used most was a Gibson Hummingbird, and you’ll hear this guitar on Jumpin’ Jack Flash among others. 

These days, however, you are more likely to see him with a 1964 Martin 00-21. For this recording I used my Martin Custom Expert 1937 D-28 through a Soyuz 017 FET microphone for recording guitar. 

[Bars 1-16] To play the A major chord use a partial barre with the first finger across the fourth, third and second fingers as this will make for a smoother move to the following Dadd9 chord. 

To play the Dadd9 use the third finger at the 4th fret of the fourth string, the first finger at the 1st fret of the third string and the second finger on the 3rd fret of the fourth string. Make sure the second finger isn’t touching the open first string or you’ll mute the vital E (9th/2nd) note. 

[Bars 17-33] As with many classic rock and roll players you can try hooking the thumb over the sixth string to the play the D/F# chord that follows the G. When moving from the G chord, keep the third finger on the 3rd fret of the second string as it acts as an ‘anchor’ for the D/F#. 

You can also use the first finger to fret the sixth string but when you get used to using the thumb it’s actually much easier (many players of the era used ‘thumb over’ instead of barre chords, too). 

Was there a rivalry between the Beatles and the Rolling Stones in the ’60s? Sure. Was it ever serious? Not really. Is it something you’re gonna read about in this story? Not at all.

In fact, we’re actually gonna head off in the opposite direction and discuss 60 years’ (and counting) worth of collaborations between these two extremely influential British bands, collaborations that – according to the Stones’ Keith Richards – are the result of a unique relationship.

“There’s always been an open door between the Beatles and the Stones,” Richards told Guitar Player while promoting the Stones’ 2023 album, Hackney Diamonds, which – hey, whaddya know? – features former Beatle Paul McCartney on bass on one track.

“We were the only ones that knew what it’s like to have that extreme kind of fame in the 1960s, so that created a bond.”

Come to think of it, maybe that’s why Mick Jagger inducted the Beatles into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – or why Richards and McCartney sometimes hang out together while on vacation in places like Turks and Caicos.

Below, we’ve pinpointed 10 tracks on which the Beatles and the Stones – as bands or as solo artists – are somehow connected.

And, by the way, if you do want to read about the Beatles/Stones rivalry, be sure to check out John McMillian’s excellent Beatles vs. Stones (Simon & Schuster, 2013) or Variety's Beatles vs. the Rolling Stones: A History of Their Legendary Rivalry.

1. I Wanna Be Your Man – The Rolling Stones

“The Beatles and the Stones have been basically joined together at the hips from the beginning,” Richards told GP. “We were totally different bands, but we knew each other well.”

So it makes perfect sense that when Lennon and McCartney bumped into the Stones (or Stones producer/manger Andrew Loog-Oldham, depending on which version of the legend you subscribe to) on a London street in October 1963, they were invited to the Stones’ recording session at De Lane Lea Studio.

It turned out the Stones were in the market for a commercial song, and John and Paul (especially Paul) had just the thing, a feisty roots-rocker called I Wanna Be Your Man. Keef & Co. recorded it, and – voila – they had their first U.K. top 20 hit. The Beatles also recorded it (for With the Beatles), and both versions actually came out that November.

2-5. We Love You/Dandelion – The Rolling Stones / All You Need Is Love/You Know My Name (Look Up the Number) – The Beatles

We’ve lumped these tracks together because they were recorded around the same time – May to July 1967 – back when the Beatles, Stones, Kinks, Who, Small Faces, Animals, Yardbirds, Moody Blues and every other trending British band were hanging out night after night at clubs like the Bag O’Nails in London.

We can just imagine the semi-drunken conversations: “Hey, man! We’re recording another single tomorrow. Come on down and do some backin’ vocals! It’ll be great!” 

Because that’s pretty much what happened; Lennon and McCartney sang backing vocals on the Stones’ We Love You and Dandelion, which were released as the A- and B-sides of a single in August. And even though you can’t really hear them, Richards and Jagger (and a bunch of other famous people) joined in on the chorus on the Beatles’ All You Need Is Love, which came out in July.

One person you can definitely hear is Brian Jones, who plays alto sax on the Beatles’ You Know My Name (Look Up the Number), which wasn’t unleashed until 1970, almost a year after Jones’ death.

6. Yer Blues – The Dirty Mac

In December 1968, the Stones hosted a little something called The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus, a concert film – directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg – that was shot on a soundstage in front of a studio audience. The Stones performed a few tunes, as did The Who, Jethro Tull (with Tony Iommi), Taj Mahal, Marianne Faithfull and a one-off supergroup called The Dirty Mac. 

How super were they? Well, there was a Beatle (Lennon), a Stone (Richards), Eric Clapton (who was either still a member of Cream or was a few days away from becoming a former member) and Mitch Mitchell from the Jimi Hendrix Experience.

They played two numbers – Yer Blues, a song that had appeared on the Beatles’ one-month-old White Album, and something called Whole Lotta Yoko – before disbanding forever. We should probably mention that Lindsay-Hogg went on to direct the Beatles’ Get Back/Let It Be film just a month later.

7. Far East Man – Ronnie Wood / George Harrison

In 1974, Ronnie Wood and George Harrison co-wrote a song called Far East Man and then proceeded to record their own respective versions of it.

OK, we know what you’re thinking: “Hey, Ronnie Wood wasn’t a Rolling Stone in 1974!” OK, that’s true, but we’ve got a pair of aces up our sleeve:

1. Wood (who became a Stone in 1975) was deeply entrenched in the Stones’ inner circle by 1974, having already taken part in the original It’s Only Rock ’n Roll (But I Like It) sessions in late ’73.

2. Harrison plays slide guitar on Wood’s version, which also happens to feature Mick Taylor – a bona-fide Stone – on bass. 

8. Dead Giveaway – Ringo Starr

Wood recorded Far East Man for his first solo album, I’ve Got My Own Album to Do. It’s a star-studded affair featuring a bunch of Wood’s famous friends, including Richards, Jagger, Taylor, Harrison, Rod Stewart and David Bowie.

It turns out Ringo Starr was also a big fan of the “famous friends” approach to recording solo records, and Wood was one of several friends who showed up when Ringo was recording Stop and Smell the Roses, his 1981 album.

Wood even brought a song with him – the sneaky Dead Giveaway – which he and Starr finished up in the studio, thus giving birth to the universe’s only Starkey/Wood composition.

9. Love Letters – Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings

Harrison plays some beautifully understated slide guitar on this generally ignored track by Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings, the band Wyman formed after leaving the Stones in the early ’90s.

Although we’ll probably never be able to pinpoint “George Harrison’s final slide guitar guest appearance,” this track is certainly a contender, since he died in November 2001, just a few months after Wyman’s album (Double Bill) was released.

Other contenders include Jim Capaldi’s Anna Julia and ELO’s Long Time Gone, both of which were also released in 2001.

10. Bite My Head Off – The Rolling Stones

People weren’t necessarily surprised when they found out McCartney appeared on the Stones’ Hackney Diamonds in 2023; after all, there’s that whole “famous person bond” thing that Richards was talking about.

But they might’ve been mildly shocked that the song in question was the snarling, nasty, punky Bite My Head Off, which doesn’t exactly make you think of McCartney, the guy who wrote Yesterday, Blackbird and Sweetest Little Show.

“[Paul] had been doing some work with [Hackney Diamonds producer] Andrew Watt as well, and he happened to be around and dropped by,” Richards told GP.

“I don’t even think he intended to play bass on a track, but once he was there, I just said, ‘Come on, you’re in. You ain’t leaving until you play!’ [Laughs] To be honest, if Paul had come another day, he’d probably have been on a different song. It wasn’t calculated. It just happened to be the flavor of the month that day.”

A 1977 Fender Telecaster-style guitar that was hand built for Keith Richards by his longterm guitar tech and luthier Ted Newman Jones is set to head to auction this Thursday (April 25).

The T-style build has been authenticated by Stones gear expert Andy Babiuk who confirmed it was the model used by Richards in the recording of 1978 album and Rolling Stones fan favorite, Some Girls.

Jones (aka Newman) built the instrument’s unique mahogany body and pickguard, then paired it with an authentic Fender rosewood neck, alongside Tele bridge bridge and neck pickups and a Fender bridge. 

“The back of the body has a round pearl inlay with Newman's ‘N’ and a "77" for the year,” notes Babiuk in his appraisal.

The electric guitar was subsequently used in the Some Girls sessions and later on tour in support of the record – regarded by many as the quintessential Stones tour and the peak of their live powers.

As explained on the Newman Guitars site, Jones stood down from his position as Richards’ chief tech soon after, in order to focus on his burgeoning guitar store and luthiery business, which he had opened in Austin, TX. The business was founded with a $20,000 loan from Richards.

At this point it seems that Richards’ custom Tele underwent some significant changes, as Babiuk explains.  

“In 1981, The Who's guitar tech Alan Rogan started working with the Stones as their new guitar tech for the Tattoo You tour,” writes the vintage expert.

“It was at the beginning of the tour that Rogan had David Schecter build a Telecaster body made of rosewood and took the neck off the Newman Custom Built Telecaster and made a new rosewood Telecaster guitar for Keith to use on the tour.” 

The new, all-rosewood model left the Newman T-style body without a home, at which point it was given to Schecter (yes, he who founded Schecter Guitar Research), who brought it back to life with a maple Fender neck (with a rosewood board) and a new bridge and pickup set.

It was later sold to a ‘radio station executive’, at which point Richards’ signed the instrument with the message ‘To Doc, Love and prescriptions, Keith Richards’.

The Keith Richards Some Girls custom T-style guitar carries a minimum bid of $400,000 and will go on sale on April 25, via Nate D. Sanders Auctions.

The Rolling Stones have been around since 1962, so this is their seventh decade making music. With such a long history, the iconic band has a massive body of work, a discography that was recently enlarged by their latest album, Hackney Diamonds.

Starting out as a London-based blues group, The Stones achieved phenomenal worldwide success mixing pop, rock, and blues, crafting their own unique sound that’s stood the test of time with classic songs like Jumpin’ Jack Flash, Honky Tonk Women, and Angie which, even decades on, still sound fresh and exciting.

The Stones have always been a two-guitar outfit, with the legendary Keith Richards having been there from the beginning, partnered originally by Brian Jones, who tragically drowned in his swimming pool in 1969. Jones was followed by ex-John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers guitarist Mick Taylor, who in turn was replaced by Faces guitarist Ronnie Wood in 1975.

Throughout their recorded works, the guitar sounds of The Rolling Stones have been a mix of electric- and acoustic-based, with references to the band’s blues roots in cover versions of classic songs like I’m A King Bee and Little Red Rooster, and Richards, Jones, Taylor, and Wood all contributing slide guitar in various songs, too. Keith Richards' inspired guitar riffs have become the stuff of legend via songs like Jumpin’ Jack Flash and Satisfaction, the latter of which was played using a Gibson Maestro FZ1 fuzz-tone pedal.

Perhaps one of the most recognizable and consistent musical sounds in the Stones' catalog is Richards' open tunings, where his guitar is tuned to open chords such as D, E, or, usually, G, where he removes the sixth string. This can be heard on numerous songs – such as Honky Tonk Women and Start Me Up – and has a big, rich, immensely pleasing sound. 

These songs, among many others, would probably have been played using arguably Richards' most famously recognizable guitar, his 1950s Fender Telecaster, nicknamed Micawber, which features a Gibson PAF humbucker pickup in the neck position.

In this feature we’ll be looking at the styles of all the Stones' guitarists, with examples featuring their individual approaches – including their use of bluesy ideas such as mixing Minor and Major Pentatonic scales, country style flavors with the use of 6th interval shapes, and rock 'n' roll influenced double-stops.

We also look at Richards' open G-tuned rhythm style, as well as some Brian Jones-esque slide. There are also three ‘mini pieces’ which have a short rhythm guitar beginning followed by a solo. These are in three distinct musical flavors – a Major tonality piece, a Minor tonality piece, and a blues style piece.

It’s only rock 'n' roll, etc, so have fun!

Get the tone

Amp Settings: Gain 4, Bass 3, Middle 6, Treble 7, Reverb

Either a single-coil or humbucker-equipped guitar can be used here, since all four guitarists regularly switched between the two. A higher action might be better suited to slide though. You can use anywhere from clean to light or medium overdrive for both rhythm and solo duties. Feel free to add reverb or a mild delay for ambient thickening.

Keith Richards

Example 1: Keith Richards

This is in the key of C and features melodic C Minor Pentatonic licks (C-Eb-F-G-Bb) over the Major chords C, F, and Bb. 

Example 2: Keith Richards

This demonstrates Richards' rock 'n' roll influence from players such as Chuck Berry. Make sure the third string’s tone interval bends are accurate. 

The double-stop bends on the third and second strings in bars 2-4 can be achieved with either the third or fourth finger of the fretting hand pushing upwards, or the flat of the third finger pulling downwards. Either way, make sure the third string bends up a tone and the second string bends up a semitone.

Example 3: Keith Richards

This exercise demonstrates Richards' style of rhythm playing using open G tuning. Tuning as follows, low to high: D-G-D-F-B-D. However, Richards famously removes his sixth string for this tuning, so as to avoid unwanted sixth string noise completely. 

If you don’t want to go to such lengths, simply mute the sixth string with the tip of your fretting hand’s first finger when fretting the chords. Tuning it down to D of course, means if you do accidentally hit it, it’s not a disaster.

Example 4: Keith Richards

An extension of the previous exercise, this one shows how the chords can be embellished with open-string runs and pull-offs to make for a more involved rhythm part. Richards used this idea in tracks like Tumbling Dice and Honky Tonk Women to create an instantly memorable sound.

Brian Jones

Example 1: Brian Jones

This slide guitar example uses open G tuning and a clean guitar tone. Ensure correct pitching by placing the slide directly over the fret. Then add light vibrato.

Example 2: Brian Jones

Another slide guitar example, this uses open E tuning. Tune the strings low to high: E-B-E-G#-B-E. A distorted guitar tone is used here, and side-to-side slide vibrato. Jones was a natural musician, playing a number of instruments and styles. His slide guitar topped the charts on Little Red Rooster.

Mick Taylor

Example 1: Mick Taylor

This example shows how the ‘country’ 6th interval is often played by the band. Taylor, Wood and Richards can all be heard using this approach at various times. 

Make sure your fretting-hand fingers make the appropriate 6th interval shape, with the picking hand either using a fingerstyle approach of thumb and finger, or a hybrid picking approach of pick and fingers, or just the pick using alternate picking. Of the three approaches, hybrid probably makes the most sense.

Example 2: Mick Taylor

This example features some melodic bluesy licks, typical of Taylor’s lyrical style. Bar 1 involves bending the string up a tone but only letting it down by a semitone, so accurate pitching is essential. 

Taylor likely learned this idea from copying Eric Clapton, who favored this often in his soloing. The repeating phrase over two strings in bar 2 is important to play cleanly. As a suggestion, try a downstroke on the second string and an upstroke on the third string.

Ronnie Wood

Example 1: Ronnie Wood

This country-toned E Major Pentatonic (E-F#-G#-B-C#) idea features a 6th, with the third string bending up a tone (use the fretting hand’s third finger), while the fourth finger frets the first string. In bar 3, use the same fingering for the bend on the second string, with the fourth finger fretting the first string.

Example 2 

This example shows how the Major and Minor Pentatonic scales can inter-weave over a Major tonality chord progression in order to create a colourful mix of sweet Major sounds blending with bluesier Minor approaches. B.B. King was the master of this, with Eric Clapton, Peter Green, and others highly influenced by it.

Rolling Stones Mini-Pieces

Piece 1: Major

This piece is in the key of A and is in open G tuning with the capo at the 2nd fret. The first eight bars are a rhythm part and feature our Keith Richards-style approaches. The following eight bars are the solo. As the first string is lowered by a tone, remember the notes won’t be in the same place as they normally are.

Piece 2: Minor

Our Minor piece has a tonal center of B Minor and alternates between a bar of B Minor and a bar of E; the overall sound is B Dorian (B-C#-D-E-F#-G#-A). 

After the first four bars of ‘rhythm,’ the subsequent solo section mainly contains bluesy B Minor Pentatonic (B-D-E-F#-A) licks. In bars 7 and 8 we encounter some E Major Pentatonic country flavored licks over the E chord, adding another tonal character to the solo.

Piece 3 

This 12-bar blues in G has a straight, driving feel, with two bars of chunking blues shuffle rhythm before the solo kicks in. Featuring licks containing both G Major Pentatonic (G-A-B-D-E) and G Minor Pentatonic (G-Bb-C-D-F), the overall feel of the solo is melodic. Make sure your string bends are pitched accurately.   

Jones, Taylor and Wood… It sounds more like the name of a law firm than the surnames of the three phenomenal guitarists who have served alongside Keith Richards during the Rolling Stones’ six-decade-plus career. 

Now that they’ve released Hackney Diamonds, their first album of original material since 2005’s A Bigger Bang, it’s an ideal time to reflect on the contributions that Brian Jones, Mick Taylor and Ronnie Wood have made to the evolution, vitality and uncanny longevity of the Stones.

Each guitarist’s tenure with the group – seven years for Jones, five for Taylor and an amazing 48 for Wood – serves to define and delineate three key phases in the Stones’ stellar career. Here’s how it all happened.

1962-1969, Brian Jones: The rock star as tragic hero

It’s not just that Brian Jones founded and named the Rolling Stones in 1962 – giving birth to one of the most important groups in all of rock history. That alone secures his place of high honor in the rock pantheon. But Jones also was an archetype and icon in so many other ways. 

One of the first young, white Britons to play blues-style slide guitar, his role in bringing the venerable, African-American blues idiom (and blues guitar particularly) to the forefront of rock makes him the godfather of a tradition that includes British guitar greats like Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Peter Green, Mick Taylor, Alvin Lee and so many others.  

With his impeccably coiffed blond mane, boldly extravagant fashion sense and dazzling arsenal of ultra-flash guitars, Jones was one of the 1960s’ most influential guitar heroes. He consorted with Swingin’ London’s glamorous models and actresses, hung out with Bob Dylan and journeyed to Morocco in 1967 to smoke hash and pioneer the world music scene. 

The Pied Piper of the psychedelic explosion, Jones adorned the Stones’ mid-’60s oeuvre with a rainbow orchestra of harpsichords, flutes, sitars, dulcimers and Mellotrons. In this, he played a key role in forging the baroque pop/chamber pop subgenre that’s still flourishing today. He introduced the Jimi Hendrix Experience to the audience for the trio’s American debut at the seminal Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. He was always in the vanguard.

The dark side of all this was that Jones was deeply unhappy in his fame – conflicted, ambivalent and embittered. When he lost creative control of the Stones to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards in the mid-’60s, he went into a prolonged tailspin, abusing dope and booze in ever-increasing amounts until he ended up dead in a swimming pool at age 27 in July 1969.

In so doing, he became a charter member of the infamous “27 Club” – musical legends who died too soon and whose ranks also include Robert Johnson, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse. Even in death, Jones rolled with the best.   

“Brian was an impressive musician,” Keith Richards told me in 1997. “Very promising. He was a sax player as well, to start with. He was dedicated to playing in those early days. I’ll tell you what screwed Brian up: it was fame. Something snapped in him the minute that came.” 

Having already played with London blues kingpin Alexis Korner and preceding Eric Clapton in a group called the Roosters, Jones was definitely heavier business than Jagger and Richards when the three first teamed up in 1962. He was the kingpin, but the blues made a brotherhood of the three young musicians. In those hardscrabble days before fame tore them apart, Brian and Keith would spend hours huddled together with their guitars in a dingy, unheated flat they shared with Jagger in London’s Edith Grove. 

They’d riff along to the precious collection of African-American blues and R&B records the three aficionados had amassed. From this emerged the propulsive, tight-yet-fluid  two-guitar style that Keith Richards has ever since called “an ancient form of weaving.”  

“When Brian and I started playing together,” Keef told me, “we were listening to a lot of Jimmy Reed and Muddy Waters – the two-guitar thing. The weaving. We did it so much. Which is the way you have to do it. So we knew both parts. You get it to where you get it really flash, and you suddenly switch. The one playing the rhythm picks up the lead, and vice versa.” 

One of the great rhythmic paradigms of rock guitar history, the sound Jones and Richards made together was first committed to tape on March 11, 1963. The Stones’ debut demo session was engineered at London’s IBC Studios by soon to be legendary producer/engineer Glyn Johns (the Beatles, Who, Led Zeppelin, Clapton, etc.). It was immediately clear to Johns who was in charge at that point. 

“Brian was pretty much the leader,” Johns told early Jones biographer Mandy Aftel. “He was certainly the spokesman for the group to me. This was their first recording session and Brian was very much concerned about the sounds that I would produce on tape. He had an exact rhythm and blues sound he wanted – the Jimmy Reed type sound, which was virtually unheard of.”

That murky, mysterious sonic miasma was what made early Stones singles like Tell Me and Time Is on My Side so utterly fascinating when they were first released in 1964. Tone was Jones’ obsession. His guitar contribution to the early Stones oeuvre breaks down into two main areas. For one, there’s his raw, raunchy, open-tuned slide playing on tracks like I’m a King Bee, Mona (I Need You Baby), Grown Up Wrong and Little Red Rooster. 

Secondly, there’s Jones’ co-equal role with Richards in forging the gritty, two-guitar grind of the Stones’ mid-’60s sound. With equal aplomb, Jones could crank out a hooky lead riff on The Last Time or pound out a pumping rhythm on tracks like Satisfaction or 19th Nervous Breakdown. He took a slide to a Rickenbacker 360 12-string electric to create the Middle-Eastern flavored riff on Mother’s Little Helper, doubling Richards, who also played slide on an electric 12-string. 

Jones’ tone-mania led him to acquire new guitars as voraciously as he collected new clothes and new girlfriends. He did much to popularize the Gibson Firebird, which was still quite a new and daring instrument at the time, first introduced in 1963.

But the guitars with which Jones is most closely associated are his two white, teardrop-shaped Vox MK III prototypes, handmade for him by Vox design engineer Mick Bennett. The lute-like body shape was very innovative, and the MK III became a garage band classic as soon as the first production models hit the street in 1964. 

“Brian would hop from instrument to instrument,” Richards told me in 2002. “He was always searching for another sound. As a musician, he was very versatile. He’d be just as happy playing the marimba or bells as he was guitar. Sometimes it was, ‘Oh, make up your mind what sound you’re going to have, Brian!’ ’cause he’d keep changing guitars. He wasn’t one of those guys who say, ‘Right, here’s my axe.’ Brian had so many.”

Despite Jones’ growing alienation from the Stones, he was deeply enthusiastic about the return to basics represented by Mick and Keith’s 1968 song, Jumpin’ Jack Flash. “We’ve been in the studio all morning and we’re going back to rock and roll!,” Jones excitedly told a girlfriend. “They got this Jumpin’ Jack Flash and it’s really great.” 

Indeed, a new era was dawning for the Stones – a return to the primordial blues, R&B, rock ’n’ roll roots they’d first dug into with Jones. It’s nice to think that Jones lived to contribute to the glorious, bluesy rebirth that is the Stones’ 1968 masterpiece, Beggars Banquet. His plaintive slide playing on No Expectations brings the story full circle, returning to the guitar style that had launched Jones’ career. 

The Stones’ longtime producer Jimmy Miller said, “As a musician [Brian] should be remembered for the brilliant bottleneck country guitar work on Beggars Banquet and for his interpretation of the blues played honestly, as a white man.” 

Sadly debilitated by drugs and booze, Jones hung on long enough to strum an autoharp on Keith Richards’ song You’ve Got the Silver on Let It Bleed. Shortly thereafter, in June 1969, Jagger, Richards and Watts fired Jones from the Rolling Stones. 

Less than a month later, he was dead. His passing marked the end of one of the greatest eras in rock music and the career of the Rolling Stones. To this day, his DNA is all over the storied group.

1969-1974, Mick Taylor: Golden boy of the Stones’ golden age

The four-year period that spans Beggars Banquet in 1968 and Exile on Main St. in 1972 is, for many, the absolute zenith of the Stones’ career. Sure, they did amazing work both before and after, but the ’68-’72 period was one of those magical moments when pop culture, the stars and the Stones were all aligned.

A new decade was dawning. Crawling from the wreckage of the ’60s, John Lennon was revisiting his roots in ’50s rock ’n’ roll. Bob Dylan had gone into an introspectively folksy acoustic mode. The Stones had ditched the dandelions and rainbows of the psychedelic era for something more earthy and grounded. 

Meanwhile a new breed of blues-based virtuoso guitarists like Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Mike Bloomfield, Peter Green, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page and many others had placed amped-up, single-note pentatonic riffing at the forefront of rock music.  

All of which made Mick Taylor a perfect choice to replace Jones. At just 17 years old, Taylor had succeeded Clapton and Green as the guitarist in John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers – a band that had set the gold standard for British blues guitar mastery. Mayall himself called Jagger to recommend Taylor. As did Ian Stewart, the erstwhile, and brilliant, Rolling Stones pianist who’d been Jones’ oldest and closest comrade within the Stones’ circle.

Taylor made his recorded debut with the Rolling Stones on their July 1969 single Honky Tonk Women. One of the greatest rock records of all time, it announces the arrival of a triumphant period for the Rolling Stones, with Keef rock solid in his recently discovered five-string open-G tuning and Taylor blazing away in six-string standard. 

But Taylor – a teetotaling vegetarian when he joined the Rolling Stones – never seemed to fit in completely. Several years younger than the other Stones, Taylor would always seem a bit fresh-faced and naive amidst the notorious rock libertines known at the time as “Satan’s Jesters.” 

This mismatched lifestyle stood in stark contrast to the phenomenal musical chemistry going down during this period. Music critic Robert Palmer Jr. summed up the situation quite succinctly: 

“Taylor is the most accomplished musician who ever served as a Stone. A blues guitarist with a jazzman’s flair for melodic invention, Taylor was never a rock and roller and never a showman.”

Taylor made his album debut with the Stones on their 1969 album, Let It Bleed, trading licks with Keef on Live with Me. He also overdubbed slide guitar on Country Honk, taking up the bottleneck role that Brian Jones had abdicated, and slipping into the Stones lineup as Jones slipped away. By the time the Stones released their next album, Sticky Fingers, in 1971, Taylor had been fully integrated into the lineup. 

He and Richards had forged a tight, punchy, two-guitar rhythmic and melodic approach. The way their guitars dart and twine around one another in the intro to Brown Sugar is sheer six-string poetry. Taylor’s spontaneously improvised, Latin-tinged, Gibson ES-345 archtop solo on the outro of Can’t You Hear Me Knockin’ is another landmark Stones guitar moment.

Taylor also notably played a 1961 Gibson SG and 1959 Les Paul with the Stones. He shared Jones’ affection for Gibson Firebirds as well. The Stones were in the midst of an Ampeg amp endorsement when they convened to record their double-disc masterpiece, Exile on Main St. 

That album’s opening track, Rocks Off is another two-guitar Stones classic, replete with a balls-out outro solo from Taylor. He’s a vital part of an album that routinely tops Best Rock Record of All Time lists. 

The live side of Taylor’s work with the Stones was generously captured on disc – the seminal Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out – and on film–the Maysles Brothers’ landmark 1970 documentary, Gimme Shelter, and 1974’s Ladies and Gentlemen: The Rolling Stones. Post Exile, he played on two more Stones studio albums, Goat’s Head Soup and It’s Only Rock ’n Roll. And then he was gone – his departure taking his fellow Stones and the band’s fans somewhat by surprise. 

“Mick’s a lovely player,” Richards told me. “I never understood why he left. He’s always been a bit restless and a little uneasy inside his skin. But I enjoyed playing with him. I learned a lot from him. We learned a lot about guitar playing from each other. Because he’s another great weaver. His tone and his touch and his melodic ideas wow me. I’d just hoped he would have gone on to bigger and better things than he did. I thought it was an impetuous move.” 

Publicly, Taylor explained his abrupt departure by saying he’d become bored musically and that the enormous entity that is the Rolling Stones had taken his life over. What went unmentioned at the time was that the clean-cut guitarist had also fallen under the spell of Dame Heroin and wanted to get out before flirtation turned to thralldom.  

Tensions had also arisen between Taylor and Richards, as Taylor’s songwriting role within the Stones grew while Keef sank deeper into his own heroin-addicted lethargy. Taylor and Jagger co-wrote Moonlight Mile and Sway from Sticky Fingers and Till the Next Goodbye and Time Waits for No One on It’s Only Rock ’n’ Roll, released in 1974. Taylor was especially fond of his guitar solo on the latter track. 

“I think it’s probably the best thing I ever did with the Rolling Stones,” he told GW’s Damian Fanelli in 2012. 

Taylor had expected to receive co-writing credit on those tracks. When he didn’t, the animosity grew. In the middle of a party at rock entrepreneur Robert Stigwood’s home, Taylor informed Jagger that he no longer wished to be a Rolling Stone.  

Of Keith Richards’ three co-guitarists in the Rolling Stones, Taylor’s tenure was the briefest, but, in many regards, the most well-remembered today. While Taylor would go on to do much good work after leaving the group, he’d never again achieve the level of fame he’d attained in the Stones. Much like his predecessor, Brian Jones, he was essentially too much of a blues purist to ride rock ’n’ roll’s roller coaster of fame.  

1975-present, Ronnie Wood: Keeper of the flame

Numerous legendary and respected guitarists were in the running to take Mick Taylor’s place in the Stones. The list includes Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Steve Marriott, Rory Gallagher, Shuggie Otis, Harvey Mandel and Chris Spedding, among others. Many were called, as the saying goes, but only one was chosen. 

There are so many reasons Ronnie Wood has proved to be a perfect match for Keith Richards and the Rolling Stones. He sprang from the same scene as the Stones, playing guitar with a mid-’60s R&B outfit called the Birds (who have absolutely nothing to do with the Byrds, the American band behind Mr. Tambourine Man and Chestnut Mare) and also attending some of the Stones’ earliest gigs at London clubs like the Crawdaddy. So he knew where the Stones were coming from, literally. 

“I was their biggest fan when I joined them,” Wood told me in 1997. “And I still am, while being in the band.” 

Also, unlike both of his predecessors, Wood was no stranger to rock stardom when he first joined the Stones in 1975. Though originally a guitarist, the ever-versatile Wood served as bassist in the Jeff Beck Group, performing on the landmark Beck albums Truth and Beck-Ola and jamming with Jimi Hendrix at the Scene club in New York. From there, Wood had gone on to play guitar with ’70s hitmakers Faces, fronted by former Jeff Beck Group singer Rod Stewart.

So he’d experienced enough of rock ’n’ roll’s fast-lane craziness not to get spooked by the whole thing. In fact, he seemed rather to enjoy it – perhaps a little too much at times. But while he has struggled with addiction issues, Wood has shown much the same uncanny ability to bounce back from oblivion as his Rolling Stones co-guitarist.

Wood made his recording debut with the Stones playing guitar on three tracks from their 1976 album Black and Blue – the funk-inflected Hey Negrita the straight-out rocker Crazy Mama and a cover of the Earl Donaldson reggae classic Cherry Oh Baby (later a hit for UB40).

The Stones were moving in new stylistic directions in the mid-’70s. Wood’s performance on Black and Blue proved that he could go there with them. Musically, he’s the perfect utility man – able to insert himself gracefully into any musical context, as he’s consistently demonstrated over the course of 48 years, 11 studio albums, seven live albums and countless live shows with the Rolling Stones.  

Much like Brian Jones, Wood is a musical chameleon, albeit in a different way. Jones was a multi-instrumentalist; Wood has, for the most part, expressed his own tonal adventurousness within the guitar realm. 

He inherited the Jones/Taylor role of slide guitarist in the Stones, but has expanded on that tonal palette to include lap steel, pedal steel, Dobro and B-benders. A man of many guitars, he’s also versatile and supple on six-string electrics and acoustics in standard tuning. Over the years, he and Richards have developed the kind of intuitive “Vulcan mind meld” approach to guitar arrangement that Keef enjoyed with Jones and Taylor. 

“We just sit down and hack things out,” Wood explained in my ’97 interview. “The great thing about offstage, when Keith and I are together, is that we talk, more or less, through our guitars. We never say, ‘You do this and I’ll do that. I’ll play the riff and you come in and out.’ We weave.”

This approach works very well for Richards too, as he told me in a 1997 interview. “I’m impressed by everything Ronnie does. He’s a great guy to play with. A great guy to hang with. You get two guitars and Ronnie Wood in a room and the rest of the world will go by.”  

Wood’s role within the Rolling Stones is twofold, really. On the one hand, he acts as custodian of the guitar legacy laid down by Jones and Taylor during the Stones’ first dozen or so years. As concerts have come to overshadow albums in the current music industry, this role has been especially crucial – particularly since the departure of the band’s original bassist Bill Wyman and the 2021 passing of Charlie Watts.

“Brian Jones had a very distinctive rhythmic input into the band, which I try and recreate on things like You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” Wood told me. “And on songs like All Down the Line, I try and echo what Mick Taylor did as well. I think that’s part of the song – the melody line he does as a solo.”

But equally important is the role that Wood has played in moving the Stones into the modern era. His guitar work is essential to iconic tracks like Miss You, Beast of Burden and Start Me Up, bringing the Rolling Stones through the disco era and into a new mode of tough, stripped-down contemporary rock classicism that has been their modus operandi ever since – a key ingredient in their phenomenal longevity. 

Latter-day albums like Voodoo Lounge, Steel Wheels and Bridges to Babylon represent a third golden era for the Stones – a triumphant victory lap in which Wood has played no small role. 

He has also manned the bass for tracks like Emotional Rescue and Dance Part 1. The latter song, from 1980’s Emotional Rescue, was also one of Wood’s first co-writing credits with the Stones. 

Credit for songwriting input had been a deal breaker for Mick Taylor, but through patience, perseverance and bonhomie, Wood has been able to gain much-deserved recognition. 

“I spent many years being credited for ‘inspiration’,” he laughed as he told me. “Let’s put it that way. But I didn’t mind waiting. It’s a big nut to crack, that Jagger/Richards songwriting team. I suppose it’s like trying to get a song in with Lennon and McCartney. I like to leave the songwriting for the Stones to Mick and Keith, ’cause they are the institution. But whenever there’s a gap, I’ll gladly offer to fill it. You don’t get anywhere if you don’t try.”

The Rolling Stones’ previous studio album was 2016’s Blue and Lonesome, a down-and-dirty, live-in-the-studio rendition of 12-bar blues classics from legends like Willie Dixon, Little Walter and Jimmy Reed. It’s a loving homage to the music that first inspired the Stones at their inception.

Well more than half a century down the line, the record – and Ronnie Wood’s contribution therein – might well have made the heart of the Stones’ founder Brian Jones swell with pride. The same could be said for Angry, the first single from Hackney Diamonds, which proves that the Stones’ perpetual riff engine is still in fine form. 

It’s been three decades since Darryl Jones made his debut performance with the Rolling Stones on 1994’s Voodoo Lounge, which was followed up with a much-publicised world tour. But the job of playing bass guitar with the Stones isn’t something you just fall into. His first major gig was with jazz giant Miles Davis. 

Jones recorded two albums with Davis, You’re Under Arrest and Decoy, and went on to perform with Sting, Madonna, Peter Gabriel… the list goes on, but what was it about this jazz master’s approach that let him fit into rock & roll so well?

“When the Stones were looking at bass players, they looked at my name on the list and someone said, ‘Darryl Jones… who’s he played with?’ ‘Miles Davis,’ came the answer. ‘Let’s get him in…’ It doesn’t matter who it is, that’s always been the reaction. I introduced Sting to Miles, during the recording of You’re Under Arrest, and that blew Sting’s mind! Miles had everyone’s respect.” 

Jones was as surprised as anyone in the bass community when he ended up playing on 15 of the 17 Voodoo Lounge tracks with the Stones (Keith Richards provided the bottom on Brand New Car, and Max Baca played a banjo sexton on Sweethearts Together). “Recording with the Stones is like getting on and off a train,” he told BP. “And whoever’s on the train when it stops is who’s on.” 

The following interview is from the February 1995 issue of Bass Player.

How did you land the gig with the Rolling Stones?

“I met Mick Jagger in 1985 while I was working on the film Bring On The Night with Sting, and I met Keith in 1987 through Charley Drayton and Steve Jordan, who were working on his Talk Is Cheap record. When I found out Bill Wyman was leaving, I called Mick Jagger’s management and left a message saying I was interested in auditioning. I also tried sending messages to the Stones through friends. I don’t know which method worked, but I got on the list.”

Why did the gig appeal to you? 

“When I saw Keith with the X-pensive Winos, I began to think it might be interesting to play some rock & roll. My first thought was if Keith’s gig became available, I’d be into trying it out. It didn’t, but when Wyman left, I thought, ‘Well, why not the Rolling Stones?’”

What was the audition process?

“I was asked to come to New York in June 1993. We played through a bunch of hits; Brown Sugar, Miss You, Tumbling Dice, Start Me Up. Everything felt good and I thought, ‘No matter what happens, I’ve had a lot of fun – and maybe I’ll hear from them.’ They called again in October: this time they wanted to play through material they’d written for Voodoo Lounge. After that, they asked me to come to work on the record in Dublin. There were rumours of a tour, but nothing official was said.” 

Did you feel a bit intimidated about working with them?

“Not at all. There’s a mutual respect, and this is a situation that’s about everybody having fun making music. The Stones opened their arms and tried to make a place for me, so it’s been really cool.”

How did you research for the audition?

“Basically, I got a few of their ‘best of’ records and played along. Instead of learning Bill Wyman’s parts verbatim and then trying to sound like him, I learned the form of the songs and the general shape of the basslines, and then I added my own interpretations. I felt it was important to play in my own style so they would be hiring me for me. On certain songs, however, I play the lines note-for-note because they’re essential parts – like in Start Me Up and Satisfaction.”

There are a few Wyman-esque lines on Voodoo Lounge – like the opening riff of I Go Wild and the octave climbs in the bridge of Suck on the Jugular.

“I can’t think of any sections where I tried to cop his exact style. I actually borrowed the octaves on Jugular from the Jaco Pastorius line on River People. It’s my little tribute to Jaco.”

How did you come up with your bass parts for the rest of the album?

“In some cases, I’d just pick up the bass and play whatever I felt was needed for the song, and that worked well. On other songs, Mick might ask me to drive a section harder or move from straight-eighth notes to a figure – or he’d sing a line and I’d work on it. He would always say that if I wasn’t comfortable with something he suggested, I didn’t have to play it – so I was given a lot of freedom. Mostly, I just used my intuition.”

The steady eighth-note pattern seems to be the staple of rock bass playing.

“That’s often the case, and I’ve certainly gained a better understanding of the intricacies involved. There are a thousand ways to play eighth-notes with respect to left-hand articulation, right-hand attack, note choices, note duration, use of space, phrasing, and overall feel. Then again, sometimes I’ll start playing an eighth-note line with two right hand fingers, only to find out that using anything more than one finger is overkill.” 

Did you feel obliged to use a vintage bass?

“That was my first inclination, and I did use a Fender for the audition to make that point, but at the same time, Roger Sadowsky’s basses are built so much in the Fender-style, and he uses the active electronics to enhance, rather than change, the sounds. That became especially clear when we recorded. I used Fenders on certain songs, but there was something about the warm, fat, round tone of my Sadowsky. I’d say I played it on 45% of the album. In fact, Don Was – a fellow bassist – called Roger and said ‘Send me a bass just like Darryl’s.” 

What’s your assessment of Bill Wyman’s playing?

“Even though he isn’t usually in the forefront when people talk about the Stones sound, Bill Wyman is, in my estimation, an underrated bassist. I’ve been listening to his lines, the different approaches he took to songs. He obviously knew a lot about this music after playing it for so long.”

Is that a fretless acoustic bass guitar on Mean Disposition?

“Yes – Ronnie’s Zemaitis fretless. I muted the strings with my left-hand and plucked them with my thumb to get a Willie Dixon-type sound. It has an old R&B feel, with Charlie swinging the ride cymbal, but rockin’ the rest of the kit.”

Did you and Sting ever have any bass intensive conversations?

“Not really, but he wrote some great basslines, and my ear was open to that. What impressed me most about Sting, besides his obvious gifts as a composer and lyricist, was that he combines idioms so well – and that allows him to create his own music and his own market.”

What was your musical approach with Madonna?

“Because of the nature of the music, a lot of the basslines needed to be played pretty much verbatim. The most interesting aspect of that tour was watching her use all of the available resources to make her vision a reality.”

It seems that playing with Miles exposed you to much of what you would later encounter with pop and rock acts?

“That’s true. Miles played the blues, and he played pop songs, like Cyndi Lauper’s Time After Time. He performed infront of huge audiences, and there was a vast amount of media attention. When I joined Sting’s band, people would ask about the difference between playing behind a trumpet and playing behind a voice, and I’d say, ‘Man, Miles is a voice!’” 

From 1968 on, The Rolling Stones’ sound was dominated not only by Mick Jagger’s swaggering vocals and the funky rhythm section of Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts, but the guitars that somehow sounded unlike anything else out there at the time. Keith Richards had discovered a new rhythm sound, and with it an unprecedented burst of creativity.

Open tunings are common in the world of fingerstyle acoustic and blues slide, but far less so with regular strummed rhythm guitar. But when country-blues legend Ry Cooder showed Richards open G tuning while working with the band during 1968, it was a lightbulb moment for Keith. With this new tuning he would go on to write some of the most memorable riffs of all time.

Tuning the sixth, fifth and first strings down by a tone gives the notes DGDGBD. Keith quickly surmised that having a 5th interval on the bottom string (the bass string) would be a hindrance, so in a moment of genius he simply removed it. This gave a five-string G chord with the root on the bottom, so placing a full barre anywhere on the neck created a new major chord; at the 5th fret we get C, on the 7th fret D, and so on.

When Keith added his second and third fingers to the barre to create what looks like an Am7 shape, the G chord became Cadd9/G, the C became Fadd9/C, the D became Gadd9/D, etc. This simple scheme with its unique sound launched many of the Stones’ greatest riffs.

Here, we list the top 10 – as voted by Total Guitar readers – and reveal the stories of how each of them were written and recorded.

10. Tumbling Dice (1972)

Recorded at Keith Richards’ rented chateau in the South of France, the lead single from Exile On Main Street kicks off with a killer riff in B, played in Keith’s newfound open G tuning with a capo at the 4th fret. 

“I was starting to really fix my trademark, starting to find all these other moves,” remembers Richards. “How to make minor chords and suspended chords. The five-string becomes very interesting when you add a capo. It gives a certain ring that can’t be obtained any other way.” As Bill Wyman was absent for the session, lead guitarist Mick Taylor played bass.

9. (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction (1965)

The riff that broke the Stones globally was ‘dreamt’ by Keith who captured it on his cassette recorder before going back to sleep. In the studio he used a Gibson maestro fuzz pedal to emulate horns, as initially he wanted to replace the guitar figure later.

“I was screaming for more distortion,” he recalled. “We turned the shit up and it still wasn’t right.” Pianist Ian Stewart nipped out to a local music store and returned with the pedal. “I never got into the thing after that,” states Richards, “but it was just the right time for that song.”

Guitarist and founding member Brian Jones played the E-D-A chord figure that goes under the riff on acoustic, Richards added clean electric rhythm, while Bill Wyman walked his bass from root to 4th and back, along the E natural minor scale.

8. Midnight Rambler (1969)

Originally recorded during the Beggars Banquet sessions, Midnight Rambler was held over for the following album Let It Bleed. It was also the final track to feature Brian Jones, who played congas. 

Jagger and Richards reckon it’s the archetypal Stones song, written together while on holiday in Italy. Keith said of their four-part epic: “Nobody went in there with the idea of doing a blues opera. That’s just the way it turned out. I think that’s the strength of The Stones; give them a song half raw and they’ll cook it.” 

Held together by Keith’s 5th-fret capo boogie rhythm and slide guitars, Jagger adds fills on harmonica while Wyman and Watts groove as only they can. 

7. Sympathy For the Devil (1968)

The opening track on Beggars Banquet began life on acoustic guitar with Jagger strumming the chords. “The first time I heard it was when Mick was playing it, and it was fantastic,” Charlie Watts enthused. 

Along the way the song transformed into the hypnotic epic we recognise today. As Richards remarked, “It started as sort of a folk song and ended up as a kind of mad samba, with me playing bass and overdubbing the guitar later.” 

Although there is strummed rhythm on the final cut from Brian Jones it’s barely audible. Instead the song is propelled by session pianist Nicky Hopkins, with percussion added by members of the band plus Ghanaian musician Rocky Dijon.

The main guitar feature is Keith’s two spiky-toned solos, played on a three-pickup Gibson Les Paul Custom through a Vox AC30. The first enters two and a half minutes in, with spitting E minor pentatonic licks played mostly in shapes one and two. His second outing begins at 4:42, where he elaborates on the gritty, blues-flavoured theme until the track fades. 

While Richards’ lead work certainly divides opinion, what cannot be denied is that this instantly recognisable guitar playing powers one of the most important rock songs of all time.

6. Start Me Up (1981)

On any Top 10 Greatest Intros list, Start Me Up should be right up there. But the track, which begins with one of Keith’s greatest ever riffs, had a difficult birth. From when the band first tried it for 1978’s Some Girls sessions (and some have said even earlier), Richards always envisaged it as a reggae number. But after 40 or so takes they shelved the song as a lost cause. 

Come 1981’s impending tour, and management demanded a new album. With Mick and Keith not on the best of terms, producer Chris Kimsey trawled the archives knowing he had a clutch of half-finished gems in the can. 

Among the failed reggae attempts, Kimsey found a rockier version of Start Me Up that became the basis for the ‘new’ track. As Richards later mused, “With a band that goes on for a long time, you end up with a backlog of really good stuff that you didn’t get the chance to finish, or put out.” 

Assembling in New York for overdubs, Keith adopted his trademark Telecaster and open G tuning to nail the three-chord boogie intro. Ronnie doubled it using a harder electric tone and added sparse fills. Jagger’s vocal is classic Stones sleaze, while engineer Barry Sage and Santana percussionist Michael Carabello augment Watts and Wyman’s groove with handclaps and cowbell.

5. Honky Tonk Women (1969)

Another brilliant Keith intro, here he simply picks the open fourth and third strings with thumb and forefinger to create the unforgettable, “Der, dert-dert, der’ lick. With it, Richards stamped Honky Tonk on the world in mere seconds – with a little help from producer Jimmy Miller’s cowbell, Charlie’s kick and snare, and it would seem also from Ry Cooder. 

Hired by the band for various projects Cooder has claimed the track is built around licks ‘lifted’ from these sessions.

“A lot of what I did showed up on Let It Bleed, but they only gave me credit for playing mandolin on one cut,” bemoans Cooder. “Honky Tonk Women is taken from one of my licks.” In his autobiography, Life, Richards admits that Cooder showed him the open G tuning that became his mainstay. Over the years, of course, it has become his own.

Mick Taylor played lead on the track. “I didn’t play the riffs that start it,” he states, “that’s Keith. I played the country-influenced rock licks between the verses.”

We’ll leave the last word to Richards: “Honky Tonk can be a bastard to play, man. When it’s right, it’s really right. There’s something about the starkness of the beginning you really have to have down, and the tempo has to be just right. It’s a challenge, but I love it.”

4. Brown Sugar (1971)

It’s that open G thing again! And on Brown Sugar, which opens 1971’s Sticky Fingers album, it forms the basis of the song’s entire rhythm track. From the opening ‘dit-dit, dat-dat-da-daa-da’ lick, Keith runs around the extended turnaround chords of Eb, C, Ab, Bb, C, with added and pulled-off sus4 and 6th (his classic move).

The verses are built around a modified boogie blues, but with the inimitable sound of Richards’ pile-driving guitars stamping them with pure Stones magic. And when Mick Taylor added fills in the G breakdown section, and Bobby Keys played his belting sax solo, a rock classic was born. 

The joyous music, however, is a backdrop to lyrics that were dark and controversial even back in 1971. But 50 years on it was deemed unsuitable to air live, so in 2021 Jagger withdrew it from the band’s setlist, admitting that he would not write such words today.

3. Jumpin’ Jack Flash (1968)

This single from 1968 marked a welcome return from the band’s psychedelic ‘lost weekend’ of Their Satanic Majesties Request to their bluesier, rockier roots. It was also their first time with producer Jimmy Miller, and ushered in a more relaxed and enjoyable way of working – the band had self-produced Satanic Majesties and it had been a long and arduous process. 

“I hated it,” remarked Bill Wyman. “Every day at the studio it was a lottery as to who would turn up and what, if any, positive contribution they would make.” Richards, too, found Jimmy’s regime much more enjoyable. “Suddenly, between us, this whole new idea started to blossom, this second wind. And it just became more and more fun.” 

Jumpin’ Jack Flash is driven mainly by Keith’s Gibson Hummingbird acoustic tuned to open D with capo added. This was fed into a cassette recorder and back out to a mic’d-up extension speaker. “The band all thought I was mad,” laughed Richards, “and they sort of indulged me. But I heard a sound and Jimmy was onto it immediately.” 

Richards added a second acoustic in Nashville tuning (essentially the high octave half of a 12-string set, which gives an almost mandolin-like effect, especially when capo’d). Jones played another rhythm on electric guitar, along with the sparse licks in the choruses. 

Jumpin’ Jack Flash is The Stones’ most performed song, and one of Keith’s best-loved. “As soon as I pick up the guitar and play that riff, it’s one of the best feelings in the world,” he grins. “You just jump on the riff and it plays you!”

2. Gimme Shelter (1969)

The track that kicked off Let It Bleed came from a dark place in Richards’ life, but also represented a time of political unrest, race riots, and the Vietnam war. Keith’s problems were that his girlfriend Anita Pallenberg, whom he’d earlier stolen from Brian Jones, was doing risqué scenes with Jagger for the film Performance, and Richards was convinced they’d take things further. 

He was also consumed by drug use, and came up with Gimme Shelter while watching people outside a friend’s London apartment rushing to escape from a sudden storm. 

Jones doesn’t appear on the track, and Taylor was not yet fully in the band, so Richards played all the guitars. Again it was open G tuning, picking out notes from the descending and ascending C#, B, and A chords, then embellishing them with overdubbed fills.

“That beginning is so eerie, “says Richards. “Sometimes in a stadium you start to hear echoes.” The strumming becomes more insistent as the song progresses, with Keith adding further lead interjections.

Keith also played acoustic on Shelter, but “it died on the very last note,” Richards quipped. “The whole neck fell off. You can hear it on the original take.”

1. Can’t You Hear Me Knocking (1971)

Our poll’s winner is a seven-plus-minute epic of two halves. The first is the ‘song’ part which, unusually for a band that used to jam their tracks into shape, was more or less worked out before they entered the studio. The second section was a Latin-inspired jam that happened purely by accident. More of which later…

The meat and potatoes of Can’t You Hear Me Knocking is Richards’ tight and grungy rhythm track, once again employing the open G, five-string regime and probably played on his black Les Paul Custom. This is countered by a second, equally strident rhythm part performed by Taylor on a walnut brown Gibson ES-345 through a 100-watt Ampeg VT-22 combo amp. 

Richards’ part is relatively complex when compared to simpler numbers such as Honky Tonk Women. Using mainly doublestops in 4ths and 3rds, he weaves around the changes while Taylor supports him with a more straight-ahead feel. The two-guitar arrangement works brilliantly to create one of the band’s tightest and most focused pieces of work.

Unusually for a Stones song, Can’t You Hear Me Knocking features a stack of vocal harmonies. According to Jagger the key was too high and he struggled in places, so layered up his vocals to disguise the crack in his voice on some of the high notes.

The slowly building jam that takes up the majority of the tune is perhaps Mick Taylor’s crowning glory as a Stone. We’ll let him pick up the story: “Towards the end of the song I just felt like carrying on playing” he explains. “Everybody was putting their instruments down, but it sounded good so everybody quickly picked them up again and carried on playing. It just happened, and it was a one-take thing.” 

As luck would have it, the tape was still rolling so Taylor’s beautifully toned licks, languid string bends and smooth vibrato (the antithesis of Richards’ spiky leads), were captured in full.

“We didn’t even know they were still taping,” Keith confirms. “We were just rambling and I figured we’d just fade it off. It was only when we heard the playback that we realised we had two bits of music. There’s the song and there’s the jam.”

Listening to the finished article, on which Bobby Keys added a gritty tenor sax solo, Billy Preston provided organ stabs, and Rocky Dijon and producer Jimmy Miller chimed in with congas and other percussion, it’s clear that Richards was giving Mick Taylor his moment. 

Having no idea that they were being recorded, the confidence and class of the core members is evident throughout, while Miller’s idea to augment the jam with other musicians was a masterstroke. 

Many cite Mick Taylor’s tenure with The Rolling Stones as the band’s most musical period, and listening to this it’s hard to deny. Taylor, however, is more modest about his contribution. 

“I tried to bring my own distinctive sound and style to Sticky Fingers, and I like to think I added some extra spice,” he speculated. “I don’t want to say ‘sophistication’ – I think that sounds pretentious. Charlie said I brought ‘finesse.’ That’s a better word, so I’ll go with what Charlie said.”

Last week (October 20), the Rolling Stones released Hackney Diamonds, their first album of original material in 18 years.

Filled with some of Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood's finest fretwork in decades, the LP has been well-received, and shows that – even after 60+ years together – the Stones still have creative fire.

To promote the album, Richards recently stopped by The Tonight Show, where host Jimmy Fallon – who hosted a live-streamed Q&A with the Stones last month – proclaimed Keef “the greatest guitarist of all time,” and asked the riff-master to “show the kids out there how it's done” with renditions of a few Stones classics.

To the former point, Richards said with a chuckle, “[Andrés] Segovia might disagree,” but he acquiesced to the latter, bringing out a classical guitar – which, you'll note, features just five tuning pegs – to run through some tunes with Fallon on vocals.

You can see the unlikely duo's charmingly rag-tag performance below.

Richards begins by demonstrating his use of open G tuning to the audience, picking out the opening to Honky Tonk Women with just open strings. Then, he moves on to the stadium perennial Start Me Up, which inspires Fallon to do his best Mick Jagger impression. Points for the accent, we've gotta say.

Expressing wonder at how Richards gets such a full sound on his own, Fallon then requests that the riff-master lead them out with Jumpin' Jack Flash. The two do get some help from the Roots, with guitarist "Captain" Kirk Douglas providing some extra backbone with (we'd assume) his signature triple-humbucker Gibson SG.

Richards is only armed with a classical model on Fallon, but he certainly wasn't lacking for choice gear during the Hackney Diamonds sessions. 

The album's producer, Andrew Watt – who, in recent years alone, has also worked with Pearl Jam, Ozzy Osbourne, and Iggy Pop – brought five amps that had been worked on by the great Alexander Dumble to the studio, and lent him a 1930 Gibson L-4 acoustic for Hackney Diamonds' closer, a fitting cover of Muddy Waters' Rolling Stone Blues.

You'd be forgiven for greeting the announcement of The Rolling Stones' Hackney Diamonds – their new first album of original material in 18 years – with a bit of skepticism.

For one, the band lost Charlie Watts – the ever-steady drummer who was a cornerstone of their sound and, other than Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, the band's sole constant member over the last 60 years – in 2021. 

Then, there was Hackney Diamonds' inevitable high-profile rollout – a live-streamed Q&A with Jimmy Fallon, and a music video featuring Hollywood it-girl Sydney Sweeney. 

Granted, the band have earned their imperial status many, many times over, but the main question hanging over all this pomp and circumstance was clear: can the Rolling Stones – now together for over 60 years, and whose principal members are either in or rapidly approaching their 80s – still make a great record?

Well, let's start the answer with the song that got the aforementioned glossy video treatment – Hackney Diamonds' opener and lead single, Angry.

Angry greets listeners – from its opening bars – with a striking illustration of what's old and what's new with this rock institution. On the latter front, there's the backbeat from new drummer Steve Jordan – steady, like Watts, but significantly more muscular. On the former, though, there's Ronnie Wood and Mr. Keith Richards. 

Reminiscent of the none-more-iconic opening riff to the Stones' last true mega-hit, Start Me Up, Keef's rhythm guitar hook makes Mick Jagger's job on Angry a whole lot easier, freeing him up to swoon and shout to his heart's content. Jagger, a great-grandfather of three, cries “We haven't made love and I wanna know whyyyyyyy” as Richards and Wood dutifully keep up the riffwork behind him. It's familiar. It works. It's fantastic.

Off to a flying start, the album then serves up the phenomenal Get Close, a swaggering rocker with an absolutely dynamite riff – arguably Keef's finest of the 21st century to the date. His interplay with Wood is spellbinding, and fits like a puzzle piece with Jordan's strutting backbeat and the celebratory sax solo that enters the picture around the song's halfway point.

Richards recently told Guitar Player that the Stones are “all about teamwork,” and it's the enduring strength of that spirit that really makes Hackney Diamonds shine. Just listen to Depending On You, where the band's two-guitar tandem recede and let Jagger do the melodic heavy lifting, especially in the song's soaring chorus. Keef sits back and reacts to Jagger with evocative fills and responses – just as stellar a supporting player as he was in his prime.

Darryl Jones, the Stones' long-serving live bassist, was unable to contribute to Hackney Diamonds due to other commitments, leaving a low-end gap that was filled by Richards, Wood, and even the band's former bass guitar player, Bill Wyman. Another bassist to feature on the album is a lefty you might have heard of, named Paul McCartney.

Just as Jordan gave the band some 21st century muscle on drums, the rotating carousel of bassists makes for some colorful, convention-breaking moments, none more so than McCartney's fuzztastic four-string break on the roof-raiser Bite My Head Off.

Using a Univox Super Fuzz circuit-loaded ‘64 Höfner gifted to him by Hackney Diamonds producer Andrew Watt, McCartney makes the band sound more early-noughties NYC than Swinging Sixties London. 

It's far from the only time Watt – the superstar producer who, in just the last couple of years, has brought incredibly vital music out of veterans like Pearl Jam, Ozzy Osbourne, and Iggy Pop – and his vintage gear stable make a mark on the record.

Though Richards has long had the same guitar amp setup in the studio – a trio of enviable vintage Fenders and an early-Sixties Watkins Joker – Watt brought to the studio five (!) amps that had been worked on by the great Alexander Dumble, of which Richards took a particular shine to a Dumble-modded '58 Fender Twin. 

Wood, meanwhile, alternated between his trusty mid-'50s-era Stratocaster, and the Zemaitis he used on the Faces' iconic song, Stay With Me.

It's a fantastic-sounding blend of the old and the new, gear-wise – perfectly reflective of how the Stones were able to let one of music's most in-demand producers fully take the reins on Hackney Diamonds, without losing their soul, or any of their still-ample charm.

Speaking of charm, after ripping through a number of other strong tracks – including the album's penultimate number, a stunning gospel blowout titled Sweet Sounds of Heaven – the Stones end their new album by taking things all the way back to the beginning. And we do mean all the way back.

Richards uses a 1930 Gibson L-4 acoustic given to him by Watt – and chosen for its similarity to the Gibson L-1 associated with Robert Johnson – to run through Muddy Waters' Rolling Stone Blues, the song that gave the Stones their name and that – incredibly, after all these years – the band had never covered. 

With all of the tabloids they've appeared in, and all of the stadiums they've taken over around the world, the Stones end their new album with the simplest of acoustic blues jams. Close your eyes, and it'll sound like a window into what Mick and Keith's first rehearsals might have sounded like, over 60 years ago.

Richards has insisted that there is no greater meaning about the band's future in choosing to end the album with this cover, but either way, it's a perfect note on which to close a record that finds the Stones embracing new tools and new sounds, but never straying from their spirit and heritage. It makes you wonder why people still even bother telling the Greatest Rock 'n Roll Band in the World to 'hang it up already'...

Keith Richards has addressed long-standing rumors that The Rolling Stones were once lining up to recruit Jeff Beck to their ranks, following the departure of Mick Taylor in 1974.

Taylor, who replaced founding multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones in 1969, was part of the Stones family for five years, and left shortly after the release of the band's It’s Only Rock ‘n Roll album. With the need for a new guitarist, the Stones swiftly began auditioning potential replacements.

As the reports go, Beck found himself on that list (alongside one Rory Gallagher), but after a trip to Rotterdam and an ill-fated audition, the two parties never saw eye-to-eye, and as such, the late electric guitar icon ended up remaining on his own musical path.

Speaking in a new interview with Guitar Player ahead of the release of the Rolling Stones' new album, Hackney Diamonds, Richards reflected on the post-Taylor period, and addressed whether there was any truth to the rumors of Beck’s potential appointment in the mid-’70s.

“We felt that Jeff had his own furrow to plow and that he was not a team man,” Richards recalled. “He was a soloist to the max. He was such an individualist. It wouldn’t have worked with the Stones at all. We’re all about teamwork.” 

Despite the obvious creative clashes between Beck and the Stones, Richards was also quick to caveat his comments with the observation that the Stratocaster master was an exceptionally gifted guitarist.

“But don’t get me wrong, he was a tremendous player,” Richards went on. “The odd times we got together, I was always amazed by the stuff that he did with his tremolo bar. He was one of the best, man, and he’s going to be missed.”

Back in 2012, Beck gave his own account of his Stones audition, and cited similar reasons as for why his own interests and those of the band never truly aligned.

After not meeting any member of the band for the first two days following his trip to the studio, Beck then spent a day with them – enough time to realize they were both on completely different paths.

“Eventually, we got into the same room together and I started playing Bill Wyman’s bass so hard the dust was flying off,” Beck told Ultimate Classic Rock. “I wandered off and the engineer, Glyn Johns, said, ‘That’s incredible!’ I said, ‘One for the archives, mate. I’m leaving tomorrow.'” 

Reportedly, Beck described their process as “dysfunctional,” and said he couldn’t deal with the “lack of purpose” that came with the gig, no matter how financially lucrative the package would have been.

“Some people might find it hard to believe that you’d walk away from the Stones gig,” he said, “but Keith and I wouldn’t have gone through an album without punching each other out anyway.” 

Like Richards’ recent comments, Beck also had nothing but positive things to say about the rock ‘n’ roll icons, even going so far as to later tell BBC 6 Music (via Far Out) that he “would have loved to have been a Rolling Stone.”

“But the thought would have been better than the act, I think – the fantasy of it,” Beck mused. “I don’t think I would have lasted, number one. I don’t think, musically, they were on the same path.”

To read the full interview with Keith Richards, visit Magazines Direct and pick up issue 740 of Guitar Player.

That issue also contains an interview with Hackney Diamonds producer Andrew Watt, who tells the story of Paul McCartney creating “complete carnage” while in the studio with the Stones thanks to a modded Höfner bass.

Later this week, The Rolling Stones will release Hackney Diamonds – the band’s first album of new material since 2005's A Bigger Bang, for which the rock ‘n’ roll royals recruited a number of high-profile collaborators.

Super-producer and electric guitar ace Andrew Watt – who has become an evergreen presence in the guitar world thanks to his work with Ozzy Osbourne, Eddie Vedder, and others – is one of them. Paul McCartney is another.

Macca’s involvement in the record was first teased last year, but now it’s been officially confirmed, with the The Beatles legend slated to play bass guitar on an upcoming track titled Bite My Head Off.

But, as Watt reveals in a new interview with Guitar Player, McCartney wasn’t playing just any bass. Instead, he was playing a “gnarly fuzz bass” that emanated from a custom Univox Super Fuzz-loaded 1964 Höfner. Moreover, it was gifted to Macca by Watt himself.

When asked about the origins behind Bite My Head Off’s low-end part, Watt recalled, “As Paul and I were becoming friends, I decided to get him a gift. I got him another lefty ’64 Höfner, similar to the one he played in the Beatles. 

“However, I added a twist,” he went on. “My guitar tech installed a Univox Super Fuzz circuit on the Höfner that could be activated with a switch.”

Unaware of the internal mod that Watt had commissioned, McCartney (who was already a custodian of his iconic Beatles-era Höfner) was initially perplexed by the gift. 

“‘This is an incredibly thoughtful gift, but why?’” Watt recalls McCartney asking. “‘I already have my Beatles Höfner – why another one?’”

All became clear once McCartney was told to “plug it in and give that extra switch a try,” and it wasn’t long before Macca did just that in the studio, alongside Ronnie Wood, Keith Richards, and Mick Jagger.

“Suddenly his eyes widened, and he just started ripping on it,” says Watt. “I told him to bring it to the recording session, and he couldn’t stop laughing. I shared the song with Paul the day before, and when we entered the studio with the band, he brought out the bass. 

“During the breakdown section of the song, he activated the Super Fuzz switch, and it was complete carnage! Everyone was like, ‘What the fuck was that?’ It was hilarious and so cool. 

“I think we recorded just three takes of that song, but almost immediately, Keith and Ronnie were on their feet, and Mick dragged the mic into the middle of the room and the roof left the building.” 

According to Watt, it was his idea to pair McCartney with the Stones on Hackney Diamonds, and it turned out to be a fruitful experience for both parties.

“I think Paul really enjoyed that he was just a guy in a band again with friends that he’s known for 60 years,” Watt concluded. “It had been a long time since he was with equals, just plugging in his bass and doing a session. I couldn’t wipe the grin off my face for a very long time.”

To read the full interview with Andrew Watt – as well as an in-depth conversation with Keith Richards – head over to Magazines Direct to pick up issue 740 of Guitar Player.

In other news related to Rolling Stones' upcoming album, Richards recently spoke of how his struggle with arthritis has affected his approach to playing guitar.

Though they first formed back in 1962, The Rolling Stones are still going as strong as ever, with the group gearing up to release Hackney Diamonds – their 24th British and 26th American studio album later this month.

That 61-year career has notably played host to Keith Richards’ evergreen affection for the electric guitar – an instrument that he’s been forced to approach in different ways across the years as a result of his arthritis.

Speaking to the BBC, Richards – whose guitar collection totals into the thousands – reflected on the current state of his relationship with the instrument, and discussed how his severe arthritis (a condition that inflames and affects the joints) has altered his playing.

However, while he admits the condition has indeed impacted his playing, its overall effect hasn’t been as detrimental as you might first think.

"Funnily enough, I've no doubt it has, but I don't have any pain, it's a sort of benign version," he said when asked if arthritis has changed his guitar playing. “I think if I've slowed down a little bit it's probably due more to age.”

Naturally, losing the ability to move one’s fingers as nimbly as before does throw up some hurdles, but Richards has taken them in his stride. In fact, he views the need to reconfigure his hand positions as an opportunity to explore new ways of playing.

“I found that interesting, when I'm like, 'I can't quite do that any more,' the guitar will show me there's another way of doing it,” he went on. “Some finger will go one space different and a whole new door opens. And so you're always learning. You never finish school, man.”

Richards went on to explore the “always learning” aspect further, taking a far more philosophical stance to the guitar by commenting “the more you play it, the less you know”.

“It provides you with endless questions,” Richards mused. “You can never know the whole thing. It's impossible.”

Richards’ mitts are clearly in fine working order despite his arthritis, as evidenced by Angry – Hackney Diamond’s first single, which arrived back in September.

As mentioned above, Richards’ love affair with the guitar is well-documented, and though his passion for six-strings (or five-strings, in his case) has stood the test of time, his opinions towards what constitutes the 'best' instruments is firmly rooted in tradition.

“It's kind of weird, but they haven't really improved the electric guitar since Les Paul and Leo Fender put their touch to it,” Richards once told Guitar World. “Everything else is trying to sound like them, with maybe a few more extras – split pickups, 10 different tones... 

“Electronics have come a long way, but the original Telecaster pickup still picks up,” he went on. “With the electric guitar, perfection was made in the beginning. Everything else was then a variation on that. I wouldn't be playing a guitar made in the ’50s if I knew that I could pick one up now and it's just as good.”

The Rolling Stones are officially back, sharing the first single from their forthcoming new album, Hackney Diamonds, which hits record stores (and streaming services) worldwide on October 20.

The track is titled Angry, and it is everything you could want from the Stones in the 21st century, with an insistent riff, a big vocal hook, and a couple of solos that sound as though they’ve tumbled head first out of the electric guitar.

The video follows Sydney Sweeney (The White Lotus) in a convertible that’s working its way through a West Coast city’s streets – it has to be L.A. – as billboards along the side of the road come alive with animated renderings of the Stones – and their guitars – through the years.

There’s what looks like the 1969 Madison Square Garden performance that was captured for posterity on Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out! 

There’s Ronnie Wood with his 1978 Zemaitis single-cut – playing a lead that doesn’t quite match what’s laid out on the track here but that’s not what matters; we’re taking a trip through Stones history here.

There is Jagger in a blue jump suit. Keith Richards and his number one Telecaster, the heavily modded Micawber. Director Francois Rousselet does a neat job in threading the line from past to present.

As for the present, Hackney Diamonds will be the English rock ’n’ roll institution’s first album of original material since 2005’s A Bigger Bang. The Stones decamped to various studios across the world in the company of über-producer Andrew Watt – most notable in these parts for his work with Ozzy Osborne and Pearl Jam, but a who also counts blue-chip stars such as Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber among his clients.

Watt reportedly shares a writing credit on Angry, and his itinerary with the band took him on a whistle-stop tour around some of the most legendary recording facilities in the world. There was Henson Recording Studios in Los Angeles, Metropolis in London, Sanctuary Studios under the hot sun in Nassau, Bahamas, Electric Lady Studios and The Hit Factory/Germano Studios in New York.

The album will be their first with new drummer Steve Jordan, but is also reported to have some of the final recordings laid down by the late Charlie Watts. It is not as though the Stones have been in retirement these past few years. 

Their Sixty Tour celebrated the band’s anniversary in stadiums across the world. Keith Richards had made it known on his Instagram page that new music was coming. The question was when.

Today, 6 September, 18 years to the day since A Bigger Bang’s release, we have the answer, with the band in at the Hackney Empire in east London right this minute announcing the album in the company of Jimmy Fallon. 

Hackney Diamonds is out October 20 through Universal.