For nearly 40 years, as a member of two major hard rock acts, Winger and Whitesnake, Reb Beach has shredded his way across some of the world’s biggest stages. But lately he’s been letting it rip before much smaller crowds and in small rooms – sans guitar, in fact – and he’s having a blast.

“Don Jameison from That Metal Show on VH1 does this thing on the Monsters of Rock Cruise where he has artists do stand-up comedy,” Beach says. “They asked me to do it, so I told a bunch of stories about growing up in Pittsburgh and how I got started as a musician.

“I’ve got a ton of band stories, so I do them in my David Coverdale voice. People really loved it; they even played snippets of my act on the TVs in people’s cabins. So Don asked me if I wanted to open for him in some nightclubs. I said sure. I love making people laugh.”

He’s been at it a while. On tour buses and in dressing rooms, Beach cultivated something of a reputation as a cut-up. As the 46th member of Whitesnake (“I counted,” he laughs), he took particular pride in perfecting his David Coverdale impression. “David is such a fun character. He just has a way of rubbing off on you,” he says. “Lots of band members do him. No – everybody does him. I’ve been told mine’s pretty good.”

His affectionate take on the flamboyant Whitesnake frontman is both over-the-top and spot-on; it’s campy and melodramatic, charming and cheeky, and Beach wraps his booming baritone around each word as if he were auditioning for Shakespeare Dinner Theatre.

His impression was such a hit on the road that eventually Coverdale caught wind of it and asked for a private performance. “We were drinking, so I did it for him,” Beach says. “He loved it and went, ‘Oh, dahh-ling, that’s mahh-velous! Reb, that is so good!’”

Beach insists he’s only moonlighting as a stand-up comic. “There’s funny people like me, and there’s real comedians. I know the difference,” he says. “Plus, I wouldn’t have a clue how to handle hecklers.”

In truth, he’d do anything to be back on stage with Winger or Whitesnake, and he’s still grappling with the sad reality that both groups are now a thing of the past.

Winger, which the guitarist co-founded with singer-bassist Kip Winger in 1987, packed it in after a farewell tour last summer. “Kip isn’t crazy about singing, ‘She’s only 17’ anymore when he’s 64 or however old he is,” Beach says. “Besides, he’s got his classical career going, and he really wants to do that.”

Whitesnake’s end was more gradual: The band began a farewell tour of Europe in May 2022 and planned to join the Scorpions in North America that fall, but a series of health issues dogged the group from the start. Coverdale tried to soldier through a persistent respiratory infection until he finally canceled the remainder of the tour following a performance at Hellfest in France on June 23, 2022.

Beach had hoped that “farewell” didn’t necessarily mean “goodbye” and that Coverdale might consider recording new material, but late last year the singer officially announced his retirement. None of which strikes Beach as being very funny. He draws a deep breath and says, “It sucks. I miss being out there rocking. It’s what I’ve done forever. It’s what I know.”

You have something of a rare distinction. I don’t know if I've ever talked to somebody who was in two bands that broke up in the same year.

We all kind of knew David was winding down, but we hoped maybe he’d want to keep going. He canceled the Scorpions tour, and that was heartbreaking. I was really looking forward to that. We didn’t hear from him for a year, and I thought, ‘Okay, this is probably going to be it.’ I left some equipment at his place just in case, per his instructions, so now he has to ship it back.

I was fortunate to be in two bands, and I was able to make that work. Kip was really accommodating in that way, because he would look at the Whitesnake schedule and then just book around it, which definitely was great for me. He basically got me that gig, so he didn't want me to lose it.

How did Kip get you the Whitesnake gig?

He heard through Michael Mack, who was David's right-hand man, that they were looking for a guitar player. He called up Michael and sent him all my stuff – music, DVDs, all that – and I was in the running. I didn’t know if I would get it at first. Somebody else was in the mix, a name guy. In the end, the other guy couldn’t sing, but I could.

That’s how I got Alice Cooper as well. It helps to have a strong voice. Whitesnake were a really good band. David had only the best musicians with him. Playing with [drummer] Tommy Aldridge was such a thrill. I was a fan of his since his Pat Travers days.

In Whitesnake, you were part of two different guitar duos. There was you and Doug Aldridge, then you and Joel Hoekstra. Was the chemistry immediate between you and each guy, or did it take a while for you to sort that out?

Doug and Joel are so different. Doug was music director, so he made the decisions. In the second version, I was music director, so I made the decisions. When it was me and Doug, I had to follow what he said.

Can you elaborate on the differences between Doug and Joel?

Doug's a cool, really aggressive Joe Perry kind of player. He kind of prowls around the stage and looks really cool. Hoekstra is a perfectionist – he knew every note we played backwards and forwards.

His parents were classical musicians and taught him a strict practicing regimen. He would just practice all the time. Doug would practice all the time, too. Joel was very animated on stage and would run around a lot. I had to tell him, “Don't jump in front of David.”

Was the last Whitesnake tour a bit of a bummer because you knew it was coming to an end?

It wasn’t, but it was an all-new organization – new tour management, sound people, guitar techs. We didn't really have time to get all the kinks ironed out, and there were some problems.

Such as?

The sound guy had only used analog. He’d never used a digital board, so he was turning up Joel's rhythms while I was soloing.

That does give a new perspective to the music.

[Laughs] That’s one way to look at it! Sure, I go into a solo and all you hear is rhythm guitar. There were so many things… People started getting sick, and it was crappy hotels and long, shitty journeys. Then the Covid thing happened, and that was the end.

Then came the end of Winger. Was it all Kip’s decision? Was everyone on board?

[Rhythm guitarist-keyboardist] Paul Taylor was fine with it. [Drummer] Rod Morgenstein was melancholy – he could have gone another couple years. When you talk to him about it now, he gets really sad and wants to do shows. It’s hard, though; touring can be hard, so everybody was kind of cool about it. I was the one who said, “No, let's go!” I love Winger. I love it because it's my music. I wrote all the riffs, so it just feels so good to play your own music.

You could form Winger without Kip.

Nope. No one would go.

You don’t know that.

Come on. Who would see… I don’t know… Slaughter without Mark Slaughter? David actually asked around to see if promoters were interested in a Whitesnake without David Coverdale, and no one wanted to even touch it.

So David would own the name and put out another band…

Yeah, and he would get a percentage of it, which is fine with me. I would do it, but I worry that it wouldn’t be received that well. I mean, you can get guys who kind of sound like him, but nobody sounds like David Coverdale.

What if you got Kip in Whitesnake?

It would sound like Winger. I mean, when Kip sings, it sounds like Kip Winger. Nobody sounds like Kip Winger either.

Just think of it: Wingersnake. White Winger’s no good.

Kip doesn’t want to sing. That stuff is so hard to sing, man – it’s way up there for a 64-year-old guy. He's quitting while he's ahead. He's not like some other singers who choose not to do that.

You were a hard-partying guy when all this started. You drank a lot of beer, had plenty of good times.

Sure.

As you get older, health starts to be a concern. Are you taking better care of yourself when you tour?

I am, and I hate it. I wish I could do all the stuff I used to, but I have to limit everything – limit the calories, limit the beer. Everything I do is a lot less now.

Do you travel with a gastroenterologist, that kind of thing?

No, but that would be rock ‘n’ roll. I would do that. That would be fun.

Back in the day, Winger were skewered on Beavis and Butthead. Does that feel like a million years ago?

No, it’s still there. You know how many people say Beavis and Butthead? Any time we post something on Facebook, there's a Beavis and Butthead guy saying stuff, or they post a little thing of Stuart, the character with the Winger T-shirt who got hung by his underwear. It's the Winger stigma, and honestly, it really broke Kip's heart.

Did the band ever feel like they were the Rodney Dangerfields of rock?

Yeah, we don’t get no respect. I think had Winger come out just a little earlier, we could have been a sustainable arena band. I mean, we did play some arenas, but 98 percent of the time we were an opening act.

The whole thing didn’t affect me personally, but it affected Kip. He would walk into a McDonald’s and people would laugh at him. It was Beavis and Butthead, and then Metallica came out with the Nothing Else Matters video where they’re throwing darts at Kip…

Do you feel like you got to sort of employ the full breadth of your guitar skills more in Winger or in Whitesnake?

Winger, for sure. I did a record with Doug Aldrich at his house, but we didn’t have an amp, so I went direct. He said he would do the thing where you mic up the amp later – re-amp it. That didn’t sound good. I wasn’t happy with that. David Coverdale, for some reason, wanted my solos to be a certain way.

The record I wrote with him, he said to Joel Hoekstra [in a regal voice], “You can play whatever you want, but Reb, I am going to take you under my wing.” He had to kind of approve my solos. It wasn't as much on the one I wrote with him, Flesh and Blood, but The Purple Album, he was all over my…

Ass?

[Laughs] No! No, what’s that Deep Purple song? Mistreated! Yeah, he was all over me on that one. I had to make David happy on that. Now, with Winger, I had to make Kip happy, too, but he’s like a musical genius and he had some great ideas for me as well. I’d worked with Kip since I was a kid. I don't know… I felt more freedom. I wrote the songs, too; we would always write the solo sections for me. Kip would say [in a dry voice], “Okay, and that's good to solo over.”

You put out a solo record in 2020. Any plans for a follow-up?

Right, A View from the Inside. I’m actually writing now. I wasn’t going to do another fusion album, because I love writing songs and I really like to sing. I sang on my 2003 album, Masquerade. People love that record. So I wanted to make another record with me singing a few songs, because I can’t sing as high as I used to. I would have real singers come in and sing on it. That was my plan.

And then both my bands quit! So I'm going, ‘Okay, do I want to do [sings over-dramatically] ‘She's only 17!’ and ‘Here I go again on my own!’ for the rest of my life?’ No, I think it'd be cooler to play guitar.

I have an Eighties rock band here in Pittsburgh, and all these people say to me, “I just love watching you play guitar.” They love it when I play Red House. So I’m like, ‘Maybe I should do another guitar album.’ I’m thinking something more straight-ahead, kind of a Joe Satriani vibe.

That puts me in another realm of music. Instead of getting on the Eighties rock bandwagon that everybody seems to do at my age – [barks like a TV pitchman] “Reb Beach’s Rock Extravaganza!” – I could do something and just not worry about vocals, which people seem to want more of.

I could do a G3 tour, or I could call up Andy Timmons and Vinnie Moore and Paul Gilbert. There’s a bunch of those guys – even Nuno – and I could do a… [long pause] Guitar Summit!… or something.

You can workshop the title.

Yeah, that sounds like an instructional thing.

Guitar-a-Rama!

Guitar Heroes!

That’s no good.

I’ll think of something. Anyway, I'm writing a record. I’ve got bassist Greg Smith; he played with Nugent and Alice Cooper, and he was in Rainbow with Ritchie Blackmore. We put this band together and we’re going to do my fusion stuff. We’re booked on this prog-rock cruise with Adrian Belew and Marillion and all these cool bands.

You like the cruises.

Oh, I forgot to mention that the new Black Swan record, Paralyzed, is out. I wrote all the music on that. It's Eighties rock and very guitar oriented with long solos. Robin McAuley is singing and Jeff Pilson is on bass. It's our third album. It rocks.

Last question: If some major band contacted you –

I’m there, baby!

You can think about it for a second.

Gone! I’m on the fucking road, dude. That’s where I belong. I’m a road dog.

Well, we’re getting the word out there.

Yeah, but I would have to like it. It would have to be cool. I wouldn’t want to join something that didn’t rock. I would need to rock.

“Must rock” – got it! But what if the band had some other vibe, like, “It’s not rock, but we still want you.”

I mean… yeah, I’ll do Beyoncé.

What if they said, “When you solo, we’re going to put the rhythm guitar really high in the mix”?

[Laughs] No dice.

• This article first appeared in Guitar World. Subscribe and save.

As a member of two major hard rock acts, Winger and Whitesnake, Reb Beach knows a thing or two about the intricate art of crafting an arena-worthy guitar solo.

Now, with both bands calling it quits and Beach looking back on his formidable career, the question is: which one allowed him to fully flex his guitar chops – and, more importantly, his individual playing style?

“Winger, for sure,” he replies matter-of-factly in a new interview with Guitar World. “I did a record with Doug Aldrich [one of Whitesnake’s guitarists] at his house, but we didn’t have an amp, so I went direct. He said he would do the thing where you mic up the amp later – re-amp it.”

Beach insists that not only did it not sound good, he was far from happy with that. However, it all stemmed from the boss’ orders.

“David Coverdale, for some reason, wanted my solos to be a certain way,” Beach explains.

“The record I wrote with him, he said to Joel Hoekstra [another one of Whitesnake’s guitarists] [in a regal voice], ‘You can play whatever you want, but Reb, I am going to take you under my wing.’ He had to kind of approve my solos.”

Beach pinpoints one album in particular on which he had to get all his guitar solos signed off by Coverdale.

“It wasn't as much on the one I wrote with him, Flesh and Blood, but The Purple Album, he was all over my…” he quips. “What’s that Deep Purple song? Mistreated! Yeah, he was all over me on that one. I had to make David happy on that.”

As for Winger, it was a whole different story. While Beach admits that he also had to make [frontman, lead singer, and bass player] Kip Winger “happy,” their long-term dynamic helped ease the pangs of criticism, notwithstanding that Beach considers him “a musical genius” who “had some great ideas for me as well.”

“I’ve worked with Kip since I was a kid. I don't know… I felt more freedom,” he admits. “I wrote the songs, too; we would always write the solo sections for me. Kip would say [in a dry voice], ‘Okay, and that's good to solo over.’”

Guitar World’s full interview with Reb Beach will be published in the coming weeks.

And if you need a refresher on all the guitarists Whitesnake had over the decades, check out Guitar World's ultimate guide to the shredders who graced the stage – from the project's inception to Coverdale's retirement.

From playing Van Halen with David Lee Roth to replicating Robert Fripp's prog wizardry in Beat, Steve Vai has often taken on demanding gigs. But his toughest tonal challenge came during his Whitesnake days.

Roth famously singled out former Frank Zappa guitarist Steve Vai to be the lead guitarist of his new solo project, believing he could outgun the one and only Eddie Van Halen. More recently, the physicality of Fripp's playing has been a huge undertaking for Vai.

In both cases, he pulled through – but to this day, the task of following in the footsteps of John Sykes in Whitesnake was a completely different challenge.

“I discovered that it would be harder to try to replicate his tone than anybody else,” Vai says in conversation with Eddie Trunk. “When he recorded those Whitesnake records, all the stars aligned for him. He really delivered, not only the writing and the construction of the parts, but the tone.”

Sykes, who also played on Thin Lizzy’s final album, Thunder and Lightning, passed away last year. He played on two Whitesnake albums, 1984's Slide It In, and their self-titled LP three years later. Vai took his place for Slip of the Tongue in 1989 as a new-look Whitesnake closed out the decade. Sykes was a tough act to follow.

“It was uber fat, you know?” Vai says of Sykes' guitar tone. “I tried to think of his harmonizer [pedal], and how it spread, because it didn't sound like [there was] a lot of doubling. But it was spot on; it seemed to cover a lot of audio real estate.”

Vai’s experiments and research led him to accept that this new-era Whitesnake was a very different proposition. So, instead of copying Sykes' tone and style verbatim, he had to get more creative.

“When it came time to play those classic John songs live, I would hit a preset, and it would widen up a bit,” Vai says. “But I’ve got to hand it to him. What he did on that [self-titled] record is stupendous. His tone, attitude, vibrato, the choice of notes, and the songs themselves; he delivered in a big way.”

Sykes, the man who once dived into a burning car to save his 1976 Les Paul, was one of rock’s most underrated players, with Guns N’ Roses among those paying tribute to him in the wake of his passing. Vai was also among his admirers.

In related news, Doug Aldrich has revealed the guitar he found best replicates Sykes’ tone, having played with the group in the early 2000s.

Legendary British rock vocalist David Coverdale has announced his retirement, bringing to a close an iconic career that has seen him perform with the biggest names in rock music.

He joined Ritchie Blackmore's Deep Purple, replacing Ian Gillan in 1973. He fronted the band for three records, including the barnstorming Burn and Come Taste the Band, their only record with Tommy Bolin.

Before the decade was out, he formed Whitesnake in 1978, a band that has played host to a legion of six-string talents, from Bernie Marsden to Steve Vai and many more beyond.

In the 1990s, he linked up with Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page for the cult classic LP, Coverdale–Page. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016 when Deep Purple were rightfully inducted alongside Cheap Trick and Chicago.

“After 50 plus years of an incredible journey with you with Deep Purple, Whitesnake, and Jimmy Page, the last few years have been very evident to me that it's time really for me to hang up my rock and roll platform shoes and my skintight jeans,” he says in a video statement.

“I thank everyone who's assisted and supported me on this incredible journey. All the musicians, the crew, the fans, the family. It's amazing. But it really is time for me to just enjoy my retirement, and I hope you can appreciate that. I love you with all my heart. Fare thee well.”

His announcement presumably brings Whitesnake to an end, but with no official confirmation, the door still seems slightly ajar for a possible replacement. The band launched a farewell tour in 2022, but Coverdale’s health issues forced the run to be cut short.

British blues rock guitar ace Chris Buck was recently reunited with Bernie Marsden's $1 million 'The Beast' Les Paul, when he was given the opportunity to play it on stage for the second time.

The late Whitesnake guitar great, whose influence spans generations of blues and rock guitar players, bought the 1959 Les Paul Standard in 1979 for £600. He played it relentlessly and used it to record every one of his Whitesnake guitar parts, including the singing-into-your-hairbrush classic Here I Go Again, which he co-wrote with David Coverdale.

Marsden once put the guitar up for auction with a weighty $1.3 million asking price, but pulled it away from any potential bidders after a change of heart. It therefore remained in his possession until his passing in 2023.

A year later, Marsden's wife, Fran, entrusted Buck with the famed electric guitar, which he played during an all-star event in honor of the Whitesnake legend.

Now, the Les Paul is enjoying another foray as part of the Cardinal Black guitarist's live rig, as Buck – who was once namedropped by Slash as the GNR rocker's favorite upcoming British guitarist – revealed during a gear rundown on his YouTube channel.

His rig, he says, has changed “fairly significantly” since the group's recent US tour. The most significant change, naturally, was the fact The Beast was a special guest for the band’s show at Camden, London’s gorgeous Koko venue.

“The Marsdens – Liv, Charlotte, and Fran – very kindly offered for me to play the guitar this evening,” Buck says.

“My friendship with Bernie aside, it's such a beautiful guitar. It's particularly poignant to play it at such a big show,” he continues. “There's not much more to say that hasn't been written or said already; it's a stunningly beautiful guitar. Scarcity and value and everything else aside, it just sounds great.”

There were around 1,500 crammed into the venue for the band’s biggest London show to date. Reflecting on his second dance with the LP after the gig, he couldn’t help but think of the added personal poignancy it held.

“Bernie was a wonderful man, musician, and songwriter who, in a strange twist of fate, passed away on the same day as my father,” he wrote on Instagram. “Closing the show with Bernie’s iconic ‘Burst on Push/Pull – a song about my dad’s passing – and Tied Up in Blue was not only an honour but deeply moving.”

Shortly before Marsden's passing, Guitarist was granted an up-close-and-personal tour of the electric guitars he was willing to sell, including a 1950 Gibson ES-5 in remarkable condition and an early Les Paul Goldtop from 1952 saddled up with P-90 pickups.

Buck recently explained why Yamaha Revstars have usurped Fender Strats in his live rig, believing the Strat comes with plenty of “baggage”. He also recalled the time Slash came to his band's aid when they needed to sort visas for their US tour.

Whitesnake evolved out of David Coverdale’s post-Deep Purple solo project, and fittingly, Coverdale has been the only consistent member across the band’s history.

There haven’t been two Whitesnake albums with the same lineup since 1982, and Coverdale’s revolving door of talent has included some of the finest rock guitarists of all time.

Blues luminary Bernie Marsden, shred god Steve Vai, and journeymen Reb Beach and Vivian Campbell have all filled out the ranks. Here are all 12 of them, in chronological order.

Micky Moody – (1977–1983)

Moody played on David Coverdale’s first two solo albums, White Snake (1977) and Northwinds (1978), meaning he was in Whitesnake before the band even had a name. Moody co-wrote three songs on the second album, starting one of rock’s classic songwriting partnerships.

Moody’s wicked vibrato, fat Les Paul tone, and excellent moustache made his partnership with Bernie Marsden the definitive Whitesnake guitar lineup for many. Live… In the Heart of the City (1980) in particular is considered one of the classic live rock albums, showcasing the early ’Snake at their finest. Moody also notably co-wrote Fool for Your Loving, a UK hit originally intended for BB King.

Post-Snake, Moody worked with Graham Bonnet and Roger Chapman before reuniting with Bernie Marsden under various names including M3, Company of Snakes, and the Moody Marsden Band. He also showed his pure blues credentials by performing with Mud Morganfield, son of Muddy Waters.

Bernie Marsden – (1978–1982)

Marsden’s early career saw him playing with a pre-Michael Schenker UFO, doing one infamous tour with Suzi Quatro, and then joining Deep Purple founders Ian Paice and Jon Lord in Paice Ashton Lord.

Marsden joined Whitesnake for their first EP as a band, Snakebite (1978), and remained in situ until 1982, when he was replaced by Mel Galley. Marsden’s approach was more melodic than Mick Moody’s, and they made a formidable combination. Marsden co-wrote Here I Go Again, playing on the original 1982 version and making bank from the 1987 smash hit remake.

Marsden has been recognized with both a signature PRS guitar and a limited edition Gibson Custom Shop run of his ’59 Les Paul, ‘The Beast’. He was also invited on Joe Bonamassa’s Blues Cruises, a symbol of his stature in the blues community. He died in 2023 of bacterial meningitis, aged 72.

Mel Galley – (1982–1984)

In the 70s, Galley had been in Trapeze with Glenn Hughes, and he also played on Hughes’ post-Deep Purple solo album, Play Me Out (1977). With Coverdale frequently raiding the Deep Purple talent pool, it was no surprise he ended up working with Galley.

Galley co-wrote the singles Give Me More Time and Love Ain’t No Stranger for Slide It In (1984), with the latter becoming an enduring live favorite. In 1984, though, the guitarist broke his arm, resulting in nerve damage that meant he could no longer play.

He left Whitesnake, but developed ‘the claw’, a device that enabled him to play again, and joined Phenomena in 1985. Galley died in 2008 following a diagnosis of esophageal cancer, aged 60.

John Sykes – (1984–1987)

Thin Lizzy alumnus John Sykes was still playing with Phil Lynott when David Coverdale came calling. Whitesnake were huge in Europe but unknown in the USA, and Cov had ambitions to change that.

For their next act, Whitesnake would combine British blues-rock with American glam metal. Sykes, whose style was part Jimmy Page and part Eddie Van Halen, was the perfect choice. The guitarist initially refused to join, but Coverdale kept offering more money until he could no longer refuse.

Sykes’ first Whitesnake job was re-recording guitars for a remixed Slide It In for the American market. With Whitesnake finally making a US breakthrough, Sykes and Coverdale co-wrote the band’s 1987 album (released as Whitesnake in the USA), including the uber-hit ballad Is This Love.

Their relationship was strained, though, and Coverdale claims that when he took time off for vocal recovery, Sykes tried to replace him with a different singer. Sykes vehemently denied these claims for the rest of his life, but either way, he and producer Mike Stone were sacked. Sykes and other Whitesnake refugees formed Blue Murder, whose 1989 debut album is the spiritual successor to 1987.

Although Sykes only made one full Whitesnake album, it sold over eight million copies in the USA alone. For many listeners, the Sykes era is the definitive Whitesnake.

The guitarist died in January 2025, after a battle with cancer. He was 65 years old.

Adrian Vandenberg – (1987–1998)

The Flying Dutchman refused to join Whitesnake in 1985, but accepted the invitation in 1987, joining the band just as they exploded in America.

John Sykes had been fired before 1987 was completed, and Vandenberg’s first job was to record the guitar solo for the new version of Here I Go Again. Vandenberg’s solo appears on the album and in the video. For US radio, session legend Dann Huff recorded a new solo.

Coverdale got on well with Vandenberg, and elected to write Slip of the Tongue (1989) exclusively with him. A wrist injury sidelined Vandenberg from recording, though, and Steve Vai played all guitars on the album.

Uniquely among former Whitesnake guitarists, Vandenberg maintained a good relationship with Coverdale into the 1990s. The two co-wrote the 1997 album Restless Heart, which was slated to be a Coverdale solo album until the label insisted on Whitesnake’s logo. Vandenberg also appeared on the 1998 unplugged live album, Starkers in Tokyo.

After Whitesnake, Adrian formed Manic Eden and eventually revived his original band, Vandenberg, in 2020.

“I definitely regret that the lineup with Steve [Vai] and I didn't get to continue,” Vandenberg told Guitar World in 2023. “But grunge came up, and I've always been the kind of guy who sticks to his guns and does what he does best.

“So, if I could go back, I would have chosen to stay together and make at least one more album. I wish we had stuck to our guns, stayed together, and gotten back in the saddle like good cowboys.”

Vivian Campbell – (1987–1989)

The former Dio guitarist was recruited for Whitesnake’s mammoth 1987 world tour. It was a good decision for Campbell, who earned more money from that tour than he did in his entire time with Dio.

Campbell managed just one studio visit during his time in the band, recording a guitar solo for the single version of Give Me All Your Love ’88 which sounded as though he was using a Floyd Rose for the first time.

In 1989, Coverdale announced he would be writing the next album with Vandenberg alone, and Campbell got his marching orders from Whitesnake’s tour manager soon afterwards.

The guitarist busied himself playing on Foreigner vocalist Lou Gramm’s solo album Long Hard Look, and in Gramm’s new band, Shadow King, until he bailed in 1992 to join Def Leppard.

Campbell and Coverdale did eventually bury the hatchet, and in 2015, Campbell joined Whitesnake on stage in Sheffield, England to perform Still of the Night.

Steve Vai – (1989–1990)

Whitesnake's label wanted the band to have a superstar guitarist, and did not feel that Adrian Vandenberg was the one. The solution was to also employ Steve Vai, then the hottest name in shred thanks to his stint with David Lee Roth and his appearance as Jack Butler in that guitar-centered classic of '80s cinema, Crossroads.

With Vandenberg injured, Vai played all the guitars on 1989’s Slip of the Tongue, turning in a performance almost as over-the-top as Coverdale’s lyrics.

The recording started just as Vai received his prototype Ibanez Universe 7-string, and he used it on every track, making Slip of the Tongue the first mainstream rock album ever recorded with a 7-string electric.

Vai left in 1990 to pursue his solo career. Given how things turned out for hair metal over the next few years, this was probably wise.

“David was a prince! He had a lot of confidence in me and basically knew he needed to just let me do my thing,” Vai – reflecting on his time with the band – told Guitar World in 2020.

“David knew what I was capable of and didn’t really interfere with what I wanted to do. I just did it, and if there was something he didn’t like I was happy to change it because it was his thing.

“Working with David was great and there was something in his phrasing as a singer that I just adored.”

Warren DeMartini – (1994)

Steve Vai once named Ratt guitarist Warren DeMartini as one of the guitarists he most admired in the ’80s, so perhaps he was a natural choice as Whitesnake’s next axeslinger.

DeMartini never recorded with Whitesnake, but toured with the band in Europe and Russia, where hard rock’s popularity hadn’t taken quite the kicking it did in the USA. DeMartini reunited with Ratt in 1999.

Steve Farris – (1997)

Farris’ first brush with fame was playing the guitar solo on Kiss’ Creatures of the Night in 1982. He was asked to audition for the band, but lost out because he couldn’t sing.

Instead, he formed Mr Mister, scoring hits with tracks like Kyrie and Broken Wings. He played second guitar on the tour to support Restless Heart in 1997, though he had not played on the album.

“I was recommended to [Coverdale] by my friend Marco Mendoza,” Farris recounted to Guitar World in 2024. “David called me after hearing my tape and asked me to go on the road. So I met up with him and we went out drinking, then I went on the road with him.

“I could have stayed on and never turned down any gig with Whitesnake. We came off the road, and Whitesnake was going to be done. Of course, David has had multiple versions of the band since.”

Doug Aldrich – (2003–2014)

When Coverdale decided to reactivate Whitesnake in the early 2000s, Aldrich was the perfect foil. Like John Sykes, he combined a healthy respect for blues with a ferocious high gain tone, and if anything, his shred chops were even sharper than Sykes’. Even more importantly, he brought the Les Paul back to the band for the first time since 1987.

With Aldrich as musical director, the reinvigorated ’Snake were so aggressive that former bassist Neil Murray complained, “the modern Whitesnake play the old stuff in a very heavy-handed, rather bludgeoning way.” The live albums from this era are essential for anyone who thinks this sounds like a compliment.

Aldrich had made his name playing on the Transformers: The Movie theme in 1986 with Lion, and in Hurricane with future Foreigner vocalist Kelly Hansen. From 2003 to 2010 he managed to juggle being in both Whitesnake and Dio, recording with both bands. He left Whitesnake in 2014 to join the Dead Daisies.

Reb Beach – (2003–present)

Beach already had a pretty strong CV when he joined Whitesnake, having played in Winger, Dokken, and Alice Cooper’s band. Despite having some of the most impressive tapping chops in the game, he ended up somewhat playing second fiddle to Doug Aldrich.

Beach appeared on Good to Be Bad (2008) and Forevermore (2011). When Aldrich departed in 2014, Beach finally got to write with Coverdale, receiving credits for five tracks on Flesh & Blood (2019). He’s still in the band, making him the longest-serving Whitesnake member in history.

Reflecting on his unique place within the band in a 2021 Guitar World interview, Beach said, “You want to know something wild? I’m the 46th member of the band! Isn’t that crazy? There’s been so many incarnations of Whitesnake, and I’ve been a member for 17 years. That’s longer than anybody except David.

“If I can attribute it to anything, I think it’s because I’m very easy to work with. I don’t like to make waves. I have a strong singing voice, so that’s a good thing. It’s hard to find a guitar player who can sing in tune and has a pleasing voice. So I’ve got that going for me.”

Joel Hoekstra – (2014–present)

After Doug Aldrich, Whitesnake needed another heir to John Sykes: blond, toting a low-slung Les Paul, and equipped with terrifying chops. Enter Joel Hoekstra, who had demonstrated his shred abilities in Night Ranger, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and in the Broadway production of Rock of Ages.

Where Aldrich was best known for his hammer-on licks and alternate picking, Hoekstra had a terrifying way with eight-finger tapping, taking Whitesnake even further from their blues roots.

His Whitesnake debut was The Purple Album (2015), a collection of re-imagined songs from Coverdale’s Deep Purple stint. He also co-wrote tracks and recorded on Flesh & Blood (2019), Whitesnake’s last original album to date.

On his decision to join the hard-rock juggernaut, Hoekstra told Guitar World in 2014, “David [Coverdale] is rock royalty, so any chance you get to work with him, you take seriously. Not to mention that the material in Whitesnake is also a guitarist’s dream!”

John Sykes passed away in December at the age of 65, to the shock and dismay of many. He first came to prominence in the early 80s with NWOBHM act Tygers Of Pan Tang, though within a few short years he had replaced Snowy White in Thin Lizzy, before moving on to Whitesnake, most notably co-writing the 1987 self-titled album at the peak of their US success.

John’s fluid, skilful playing combined the passion of Gary Moore with riffs inspired by Zeppelin and Deep Purple, plus unexpected melodic twists like Ritchie Blackmore and squealing pinched harmonics that pre-dated Zakk Wylde getting the Ozzy Osbourne gig.

“When John Sykes came out on the [Tygers Of Pan Tang] Spellbound album, it was like, ‘This was a game changer for me.’” Marty Friedman told Eddie Trunk earlier this year. “He was the first guy in that genre that I heard that I was like, ‘Wow – these lead guys can really take an exciting part of the band’s sound.’”

John was also known for getting huge rhythm tones, some of which were created with the help of producer Bob Rock, who went on to produce Metallica’s ‘Black Album’ a few years later.

Though John settled in the US later in his career, he never lost the ‘Britishness’ in his playing – and while he was most certainly a rocker, he always retained a certain melodic blues feel, which set him apart from the shredders.

The guitar John is most associated with is his 1978 Les Paul Custom/Black Beauty with chrome hardware and a mirror pickguard, which he used throughout his career. He would generally plug straight into his amps, which at various times were Mesa/Boogie, Jose Arredondo-modified Marshalls and EVH 5150s.

John liked his high-gain tones, and like Gary Moore he was adept at silencing the guitar/avoiding unwanted feedback by zeroing the volume knob between phrases.

The example phrases are a challenge – earlier this year, in his personal tribute to John Sykes, GW's Nick Bowcott described being left “choking in his dust” – so working through them methodically will definitely raise your game.

They appear in sequence as if played in a single pass, but they were recorded separately, so don’t feel you have to play the whole thing from beginning to end!

Example 1.

Starting with a melodic E natural minor based lick, this example then shifts to a shape 1 E minor pentatonic/blues scale run that descends in an almost haphazard way to the final pinched harmonic on the fifth string.

Though it is faithfully transcribed here, allow yourself a little leeway. The most important consideration is to come out on time for that final note. You can allow it to drift ‘off time’ if you want, which is also very effective.

Example 2.

Switching to the neck pickup (something John liked to do frequently), this example is the opposite of Example 1 in that it starts fast and furious with the Gary Moore-style alternate-picked lick, then slows down for some melodic held notes with a slowish vibrato. John liked to create drama with unusual note choices and this is one of the qualities that set him apart from other ‘flash’ soloists, especially in the early to mid-80s.

Example 3.

The picking pattern for bar 1 of this example is very specific. The first and second note of the first triplet pattern are picked with a single downstroke, with the third note hammered on.

This is then reversed, using a single upstroke to play the first two notes followed by a pull-off. This is probably easier to do than to explain! The rest of the example is mostly conventional alternate picking, but keep an eye on the position changes as you descend.

Example 4.

This rapid-fire blues lick is generated with a similar technique to Example 3 but this time in groups of four. The first two notes are played with a single downstroke crossing from the third to second string.

The third note is then played with an upstroke, with the fourth generated by a pull-off. It takes a while to get this under the fingers, but then it becomes surprisingly relaxed – as long as you don’t overthink it! The final sliding intervals are similar to John’s solo in the Blue Murder track Riot.

Hear it here

Thin Lizzy – Life

Released in 1983 following their final album, Thunder And Lightning, from that same year, this live collection features a couple of rockers from that album alongside various Lizzy classics.

Sykes’ solos on Cold Sweat and The Holy War show that he was able to play all the supercharged blues licks and modern techniques but with a keen ear for melody and interesting note choice. His take on the Gary Moore/Brian Robertson solo on Still In Love With You is also well worth a listen.

Whitesnake – S/T

This album, also known as 1987, showed the band shifting to the heavier end of the blues-rock spectrum. MTV-friendly hits such as Still Of The Night and Give Me All Your Love featured videos with Adrian Vandenberg and Vivian Campbell playing guitar, but, in truth, Sykes had co-written and recorded the whole album.

It’s also nice to hear him add his powerful rhythm playing and electrifying solo to a re-recorded version of Crying In The Rain, which had first appeared in 1982.

Blue Murder – S/T

After his exit from Whitesnake and before having the chance to tour the Whitesnake album, John was keen to show who had been largely responsible for its ‘widescreen’ sound – check out Riot, Valley Of The Kings and the title track, and the message is loud and clear.

As well as an abundance of incendiary solos, John is in fine form on lead vocals here, too. However, sadly for the band, grunge was waiting just around the corner and was about to change the musical landscape…

• This article first appeared in Guitarist. Subscribe and save.

Speaking to Guitar World back in 1989, the late John Sykes – a guitar hero who lent his ferocious tone and songwriting chops to Whitesnake, Thin Lizzy, Blue Murder, and Tygers of Pan Tang – said he wasn't the world's biggest gear-head.

Though he didn't go all the way to the “they're just tools of the trade” end of things, he told GW that he didn't have much of an emotional attachment to any of his guitars. With one exception.

That exception was a black 1976 Gibson Les Paul, which Sykes – he told us at the time – had used for every gig he'd played with Whitesnake and Thin Lizzy before them.

Such was his bond with the guitar that it was the subject of his first thought after a terrifying near-death experience.

At some time during the mid-'80s, Sykes was involved in a terrible car crash, in which his vehicle was broadsided by a truck.

Luckily, the guitarist survived the initial impact, but his totaled car was soon engulfed in flames. In a further stroke of luck, fast-acting first responders were able to pull Sykes unconscious from the driver's-side window.

Soon after, though, Sykes came to. Seeing his car in flames, he had only one thought – his beloved Les Paul in the back seat.

Sykes attempted to run back to his car, much to the displeasure of one of the on-site first responders, who had to restrain the guitarist from sprinting back to the scene of the accident.

Fortunately, though, firefighters were able to extinguish the blaze before it swallowed the guitar.

“I was in a frantic frenzy about my guitar being trapped and burnt up,” Sykes explained to Guitar World. “I knew I'd never be able to replace it.

“It's amazing, the feelings you get about these things. It's like a child. You've done so much with it and you know just how to get what you want from it.”

That's a hell of a comparison. So, what exactly was so magical about this particular Les Paul?

“I have maybe 30 other guitars, but they don't mean that much to me,” Sykes told Guitar World. “But this one... I don't know what it is. It's clear, it's sweet, it's got a good sustain. I don't like guitars that sound scratchy and messy.”

Modded only with a thick brass nut for peghead harmonics, and a Dirty Fingers pickup at the neck – the bridge remained stock – for more bite, the black '76 model stood out even over other Les Pauls to which Sykes made the same tweaks.

“I've tried different configurations of guitars and pickups and the same pickups, but none of them sounds like this one,” he explained. “Sometimes you just get a dead guitar.

“I got a '67 Les Paul Custom like this and it didn't matter what I did to it. The wood was dead as a doornail.”

Interestingly, Sykes even made a point of highlighting how his #1 six-string took away an obvious target of blame for a bad show.

“If it's not happening at a gig, you know it's not the guitar, it's just you having an off night,” he explained. “These feelings aren't good because if something did happen to it, it would be devastating.”

John Sykes belonged to that exclusive club of musicians – a golden circle whose members also include David Crosby, Ronnie Wood and Dave Grohl – notable for their vital roles in not one but two major bands.

Unlike those galacticos, there’s a case that the former Whitesnake and Thin Lizzy guitarist, who died in December aged 65 after battling cancer, never became as famous as his talent deserved (‘underrated’ being the key word in the tributes paid).

Yet those who found Sykes followed him until the end. “In John’s final days,” ran the statement on his website, “he spoke of his sincere love and gratitude for his fans who stuck by him through all these years.”

John James Sykes was born 29 July 1959 in Reading, and discovered his gift for guitar through studying the blues licks of Eric Clapton. Yet it was the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal that gave him his start in the early ’80s, and while early band Tygers of Pan Tang were relative minnows, Sykes’ lead work was among the gutsiest on the scene.

“The Spellbound album [1981] was a game-changer for me,” former Megadeth guitarist Marty Friedman told Blabbermouth of Sykes’ scalded alternate picking and wide vibrato, played on a 70s Gibson Les Paul Custom. “He was the first guy who was just playing mind-boggling guitar in that context.”

Post-Tygers, Sykes failed an audition for Ozzy Osbourne’s solo band (other star vehicles missed over the years included Def Leppard and Guns N’ Roses). But when Thin Lizzy drafted him in 1982, the new boy quickly made his mark, steering the following year’s Thunder and Lightning towards a heavy metal sound that divides fans to this day.

In any case, by then, Lizzy was running out of road. “I feel sorry for John,” Scott Gorham told Classic Rock. “We knew that was going to be our last album. I don’t think we informed John because we couldn’t believe it ourselves, but it was definitely going down. John got short-changed on the whole thing.”

Fortunately, by 1984, he’d signed with another notable British band – this one headed in the right direction.

“I wanted Whitesnake to be leaner, meaner and more electrifying,” frontman David Coverdale told Metal Hammer. “The reason I invited John Sykes into the band was to actually afford that transition, or someone of that style, and it happened to be Sykes. And that was it.”

Sykes tracked guitar for that year’s six-million-selling Slide It In, then burnished his songwriting credentials on Whitesnake’s self-titled album of 1987, co-writing nine songs including mega-hits Is This Love and Still Of The Night.

But there was always friction with Coverdale, and the guitarist was out of the line-up before the album had even started its march towards eight million sales – leaving a string of high-profile players including Vivian Campbell and Steve Vai to fill his shoes.

“He didn’t sound like any other previous Whitesnake guitarist,” the latter told Guitar World. “His thumbprint is an indelible part of that record.”

As for Sykes, he went on to form Blue Murder – envisaging a “very heavy” power-trio alongside bassist Tony Franklin and drummer Carmine Appice – but the tide had turned and grunge was in the ascendancy.

“It’s amazing sonically,” Myles Kennedy told Classic Rock of Blue Murder’s self-titled debut. “But more than that, it was about John Sykes’ guitar. He’s a soulful player with chops balancing technique and emotion.

“Why didn’t they become superstars? Timing: a sea-change happened with Appetite For Destruction, a precursor to the 90s – raw, in your face. The era of slick ’80s rock was almost over when Blue Murder’s album came out. They made a second a few years later, but it didn’t stand a chance.”

From the mid-’90s into the post-millennium, the ever-prolific Sykes released four solo albums, while (somewhat divisively) fronting a reformed Lizzy line-up in place of the late Phil Lynott. Commercially, he never again hit the heights of 1987’s Whitesnake, and claimed to have “no interest in ever talking to [Coverdale] again”.

But when news of his death broke, alongside tributes from Slash and Glenn Hughes, his former frontman posted a heartfelt farewell: “Just heard the shocking news of John’s passing – my sincere condolences to his family, friends and fans.”

• This article first appeared in Guitarist. Subscribe and save.

Reb Beach has enjoyed a high-profile career, playing electric guitar with Whitesnake, Alice Cooper, Dokken and Winger. But one gig that flew under the radar was his appearance in Bob Dylan’s 1987 movie Hearts of Fire, in Bob’s backing band. In a new interview with Masters of Shred, Reb reveals what it was like to work with Dylan.

At the time, Beach was guitarist for New Jersey rock singer Fiona, also in the movie, who landed Beach the gig.

When the shredder spotted Dylan struggling with the tuning on an electric guitar, he stepped in to help out.

“‘Excuse me, Mr. Dylan? Hi, I'm Reb, I'm playing in your band. I just wanted to tell you, that's a Floyd Rose. It's a whammy bar, and you have to tune it from these fine tuners here on the bridge,’’ Reb told him.

Reb does not say what model of guitar Dylan was playing, only that it had a Floyd Rose bridge.

“And he said, ‘Oh, these newfangled things!’ He took it off, didn't even try to tune it, and picked up another guitar,” Beach continues.

“We played the blues. But the next morning at breakfast, I hear this, ‘Hey, Whammy Bar!’ I turn around. It’s Bob Dylan: ‘Let's jam the blues again today.’ And we did. We jammed the blues every day.

“He called me Whammy Bar for that two weeks of shooting. I’d just hear like, ‘It's Whammy Bar over there! Hey, Whammy Bar!’ You know, it's really cool.”

A young and mulleted Beach can be seen in this scene from Hearts of Fire, from 7:49.

It seems Dylan did indeed avoid whammy bars after that: in the film he is seen playing a Fender Telecaster and a Gibson Les Paul, both with fixed bridges.

If you enjoy the thought of Beach jamming the blues, check out his electrifying version of Crossroads with Steve Morse.

Meanwhile, Timothée Chalamet recently revealed which song made his biopic performance as Bob Dylan click.

On January 20, 2025, one of my all-time guitar heroes, John Sykes, passed away after a courageous battle with cancer. He was only 65. Like a great many rock guitarists, John’s emotional, chop-laden lead work and well-crafted riffing had a huge influence on me. Ditto his larger-than-life tone.

In my humble opinion, though, outside of guitar playing circles this great man was criminally underrated.

A rock guitarists’ guitarist in the truest sense of the term, John spawned many instantly-memorable riffs, and crafted great songs too. He had one of the widest and most soulful fretboard hand vibratos I’ve ever heard. And he delivered it all with a visceral no-holds-barred gusto.

To my ears he was always going for it; and the resulting excitement was, and always will be, palpable and inspiring – even when heard through puny smart-phone speakers. Don’t Stop By, Gangland and Do It Good by the Tygers of Pan Tang; Crying in the Rain, Give Me All Your Love and Bad Boys by Whitesnake; Riot, Billy and Cry for Love by Blue Murder all have the same effect: they make me want to pick up my guitar and have at it.

He could also sing really, really well. Well, at least he wasn’t good-looking with a striking stage presence – scratch that. John possessed both of those qualities by the truckload, darn him!

I first saw him performing with the Tygers of Pan Tang in 1980 in Manchester, England. To say I was completely blown away by what I saw and heard would be a gross understatement. And he’d only just joined the band! He was the same age as me but he totally left me choking in his dust, darn him again!

I tried to console myself by thinking, “Perhaps he was just having one of those magical, perfect nights we all have once in a blue moon.” Not true. As 1981 Tygers albums Spellbound and Crazy Nights proved in quick succession, what I’d witnessed that night was the norm for John Sykes.

And I wasn’t the only one he inspired at that time. Marty Friedman recently said on Eddie Trunk’s radio show: “When John Sykes came out on the Spellbound album, it was like, ‘This was a game changer for me.’ He was the first guy in that genre that I heard that I was like, ‘Wow – these lead guys can really take an exciting part of the band’s sound.’”

Marty continued: “He was an extremely important influence on myself, and a lot of the people I’ve met over the years. Everybody in the world of heavy metal, hard rock and guitar owes a lot to him.”

John’s time in the Tygers was short; he went on to co-write the glorious single Please Don’t Leave Me with Phil Lynott in 1982. Not surprisingly, he was soon asked to join Thin Lizzy – but sadly, the album Thunder & Lightning and its tour was a last hurrah, as Lynott decided to close the Thin Lizzy book in 1983.

Thunder & Lightning remains one of my favorite Thin Lizzy albums; and I’ve always considered John’s riffing, soloing and tone in Cold Sweat to be the gold standard.

He re-emerged in early 1984 as a member of Whitesnake; and just like he’d done with the Tygers and Lizzy, he breathed new life into David Coverdale’s outfit – which definitely helped their Slide It In album make major headway in America. Once the tour cycle was over, John hunkered down and co-wrote nine new songs with Coverdale for 1987’s Whitesnake album, which has sold over 8 million copies in the US alone.

Unfortunately Coverdale had fired John and the rest of the band by the time it was released. But everyone knew who the bold trailblazer in that music was, and John’s stature as a bona fide guitar hero was written in stone.

While his soloing on Whitesnake is staggering, his rhythm work, songwriting and arranging are all equally impressive. In a recent interview with Cassius Morris, Steve Vai said of John: “He was such a phenomenal rock guitar player. When that album came out we were all just stunned. He really captured that audio real estate with a guitar tone and a playing style that created a fever. He was really a great player and a great guitar orchestrator.”

John’s next move was Blue Murder project – a power-trio supergroup with Tony Franklin of The Firm on bass and the legendary Carmine Appice on drums. Their self-titled 1989 debut album showcased John’s many talents perfectly. Sadly it didn’t become the hit the label had expected, and the band started to fizzle out.

Franklin and Appice both left in the early ‘90s, leaving John to put together a new lineup. In 1993 a second studio album, Nothin’ But Trouble, hit the streets, followed by the excellent live offering Screaming Blue Murder: Dedicated to Phil Lynott a year late. But the label dropped Blue Murder and the group disbanded.

John moved on to sign a new deal in Japan, and released his first solo album, Out of My Tree, in 1995. At the same time he reunited with former Thin Lizzy members Scott Gorham (guitar), Brian Downey (drums) and Darren Wharton (keyboards) as a touring version of the famous band, taking lead vocals himself.

Three more solo albums followed – Loveland (1997), 20th Century (1997) and Nuclear Cowboy (2000) – and a live album too: Bad Boy Live! (2004). A Thin Lizzy live album, One Night Only, was released in 2000, and although the band continued to tour with various lineups, John called it a day in 2009. He said the reason was to work more on his own material; but instead he went quiet… very quiet.

While I never met John, his playing and writing remains a profound influence on me, and he continues to inspire many others too. In my recent YouTube appearances with “Uncle” Ben Eller and Satchel of Steel Panther, John is deservedly mentioned often, with much reverence and respect.

I mean, timeless, hooky riffs and songs; smoking solos; great tone; and that vibrato, wider than a four-lane highway… what’s not to love? Rest in peace, Mr. Sykes. Thank you for all the amazing music, playing and continued influence you blessed us with.

Before he pretty much permanently set down his own path, electric guitar hero Steve Vai's last stop was with the hugely successful Whitesnake.

Vai was following in the footsteps of John Sykes, who passed away earlier this week (January 20) at the age of 65.

In tandem with frontman David Coverdale, Sykes had pushed the already-successful band into more commercial territory, co-writing almost every track on their self-titled 1987 album.

The result was nothing short of a smash, a true-blue rock blockbuster that went Platinum many times over, and made Whitesnake one of the biggest bands in the world.

Before the album even came out, however, Sykes – seemingly at loggerheads with Coverdale – was out of the band, and left out of promoting the album he had done so much to help create.

On the subsequent tour, Sykes' place was taken by both Adrian Vandenberg and Vivian Campbell, though within just a couple of years, they too would be out of the band – the former temporarily, due to injury, and the latter permanently, due to personal differences.

In, then, came Vai, who lent his signature flash to the band's next LP, 1989's Slip of the Tongue, which further transformed and evolved Whitesnake's sound.

Though multiple guitarists had come and gone in the years since the recording of the band's 1987 self-titled effort, Sykes had been the band's last player in the studio, and Vai saw himself as Sykes' direct successor.

Vai had great respect for Sykes' contributions, but immediately established a rule of thumb for himself when it came to his own approach with the band.

“Whitesnake had gone through different permutations of guitar sounds throughout the years, and the previous one to me was John Sykes, and he absolutely had his own sound,” Vai told Guitar World in a 2020 interview.

“Sykes didn’t sound like any other previous Whitesnake guitarist, but his thumbprint is an indelible part of the Whitesnake record he did. The fatness of that record and the rock integrity it had was all Sykes. So I knew I wasn’t going to sound like Sykes and I wasn’t going to try to.

“You cheat yourself when you try to do that and play like someone else,” he continued. “And the audience is a lot smarter than you think; they’re very intuitive and perceptive and if you try to pull anything over on them – like biting someone else’s thing – you’ll get beat up for it.”

Despite his differences with the guitarist in the past, Coverdale was quick to pay tribute to Sykes in the wake of the latter's death, writing on Twitter, “Just heard the shocking news of John’s passing – my sincere condolences to his family, friends, and fans.”

If you’re a fan of the late Bernie Marsden, then Gardiner Houlgate Auction Rooms in Corsham, Wiltshire is the place to be on 11 June. With over 250 lots comprising everything from high-end electric guitars and amps to pickups, prints, posters and other assorted paraphernalia, there’s a chance for everyone to snag something from the collection. 

It’s not all upper-tier equipment, either. On the contrary, alongside the vintage Gibson and posh PRS guitars there’s humbler fare on offer, including several PRS SEs and the Fender Squier Stratocaster you see here, for instance. 

When we were given the chance to have a look around the warehouse-sized storage facility that is currently the home of the collection at Gardiner Houlgate, we were spoilt for choice. Eventually, after opening many cases, we settled on a mere tip of the iceberg selection. 

We also took the advantage of sitting down with Luke Hobbs, the auction house’s head of the guitar department, auctioneer and valuer, for additional insight into some of the amazing gear on offer.

1988 Korean Squier Stratocaster – Estimate: £300 to £500

When Bernie went into the studio to record his 2005 Stacks album, he went armed with a whole host of guitars – both vintage and modern – but ended up using this humble Squier for around 95 per cent of the sessions. 

Reputedly costing him an equally humble £125, Bernie is on record as saying that he found the Squier in a local music shop and picked it up because he liked the colour and that it turned out to be one of the best Strats he’s ever played. 

Luke Hobbs takes up the story: “I think, in the auction, it’s almost my favourite guitar, personally, because of the story that it’s got with it,” he smiles. “Bernie turns up with this huge arsenal of guitars and that’s the one he ends up recording most of the album on. And he had some phenomenal guitars to choose from. 

“We all know how much of a good storyteller Bernie was, one of the greatest storytellers in rock ’n’ roll, really, and that’s one of them that features in his book, Tales Of Tone And Volume [Rufus Books, 2018]. It just goes to show how good these – what are considered budget, low-value Strats – can be. 

“And I think now is the time to buy them because they are still obtainable. I think these Japanese- and Korean-made [Strats] from the late ’80s, early ’90s will be the next ones that will start creeping up to mid‑hundreds‑plus guitars in the future.”

2000 John Cruz Masterbuilt Rory Gallagher Stratocaster – Estimate: £4,000 to £6,000

An interesting entry into the auction because this John Cruz Masterbuilt Strat predates the team-built Fender Rory Gallagher signature models that were officially launched in 2004. 

It’s one of 40 models that preceded the official release, which adds a touch of limited-edition appeal into the sale. Superbly rendered relicing adds to the thoroughly battleworn allure of this guitar, but how did it end up in Bernie’s collection?

“It was a fairly recent acquisition in Bernie’s hands, I think,” Luke recalls. “I seem to remember going to see him about a year or a year and a half ago and he seemed to indicate he hadn’t had it long at that point. He was a huge Rory Gallagher fan – he did the ‘Bernie Plays Rory’ tour [in 2010, following the album’s release the year before].

“I think he’d always wanted to acquire one and I think one of his friends was selling one, which is how he came to buy it. He liked the idea that it was almost like a pre-production one. 

“Quite honestly, I didn’t realise that they were a thing until Bernie presented me with this one,” Luke continues.

“Maybe four years previous to the production ones coming out. They basically took measurements of Rory’s original Strat and made an accurate representation, all made by John Cruz, who was obviously at the time one of the biggest builders, and made 40 of them pre-production.

“It’s a good representation of a rare collectible thing from the John Cruz era within the Custom Shop because he’s no longer there.”

1967 Gibson ES-335 – Estimate: £5,000 to £7,000

This cherry finished Gibson ES-335 is in fine condition, with some natural finish-checking adding to its allure. But it holds a few mysteries – a couple of which may never be solved. For instance, who was it that reversed the neck pickup? Was the original owner a Peter Green fan, or did Bernie do it himself? Nobody seems to know. There are also a few other features that have been changed over the years. 

“Again, this was a fairly recent acquisition,” Luke tells us. “He wanted a later 335; he had earlier ones. It’s difficult to remember, but four or five years ago he basically sent me some photos of it and said, ‘What do you think of this?’

“He could see the obvious things that were wrong. It had had a neck refinish, the tailpiece that was on there had been changed. It would have had a trapeze tailpiece originally. So it’s been converted to a stopbar. But it also looks like it’s had some kind of Bigsby on there…” 

But was it Bernie who reversed the neck pickup, we wonder? “I actually don’t know,” Luke says. “Obviously, Bernie had a love of Peter Green. So, to me, there could be two things: maybe that was one thing that drew him to it when it came up for sale, but also he could have done it himself – it wouldn’t surprise me at all. 

“Before the September auction [postponed as a mark of respect because Bernie died less than a month before it was due to take place], he had a lot of his guitars set up and whether he said to his tech, ‘I’ll quickly swap it around’ or whatever I don’t know. But it is interesting. It’s almost like it was meant to be.”

1950s Gibson Goldtop Les Paul Conversion – Estimate: £3,000 to £5,000

If the ES-335 has some unanswered questions, then with this Les Paul the plot thickens considerably. An eBay find and certainly a curio from Bernie’s collection, this Goldtop is thought to have been converted from a mid-’50s original at some point in time. 

The neck has been replaced and what would have been a wrapover bridge has been swapped for an ABR-1 and stop tailpiece to give the guitar the appearance, at least, of a later 50s model. And Bernie continued modding it himself. 

“He used this guitar quite a lot on his latest studio recordings as a go-to guitar,” says Luke. “It now has some of his own signature pickups [Cream T Beastbuckers] fitted. When it came up for sale on eBay years and years ago, I think it was listed as a 50s Goldtop that had been re-necked, and then when he went to see the guy, the guy said as far as he knew it was an old 50s wraparound that had been re-necked by Gibson.”  

“I don’t believe that for a second. I don’t believe Gibson re-necked it, but I do believe it’s an original Gibson body by measurement and just general spec. You can see where the [original bridge] posts have been taken out as well. It’s had some refinishing, but there is some original gold paint on there. 

“So it’s just an interesting thing. I think he liked the fact that it was as old as it was, you know? An old plank of wood, basically, that he didn’t need to be too precious about.”

2015 PRS Bernie Marsden Signature models: #1 & #2  – Estimate: #1 £15,000 to £20,000; #2 £14,000 to £18,000

Unlike the other guitars in the auction, this pair didn’t belong to Bernie, but are present because of the obvious connection. 

Numbers one and two of a very limited run of only six, they feature the highest appointments PRS’s Wood Library can offer, including Brazilian rosewood fingerboards, curly maple binding, African mahogany backs… and just look at the figuring on the tops! Both are hand-signed and numbered by Bernie, too. 

“Extremely limited numbers, no expense spared with CITES-certified Brazilian rosewood necks,” Luke tells us. “The seller is someone that knew Bernie quite well and they were the first owner when they came out. And because she knew Bernie, she got him to sign them – ‘#1’ and ‘#2’ – and not all of the ones that would be available would have that signature on. 

“The quality, as you’ve seen, is just out of this world. I think they’re classy. I like the three-in-a-line control knobs. They’re just a good, simple, classic design at the end of the day. The highest grade woods, the tops on them are just insane, deluxe cases… they even smell nice when you open the case! I think it’s potentially a very good future investment.” 

1930s Gibson L-1 Acoustic – Estimate: £3,000 to £4,000

As you can imagine, Bernie’s love of the blues stretched back to the days of Robert Johnson and the other acoustic blues pioneers of the early 1900s. And so when he discovered this Gibson acoustic, he knew he had to add it to his collection.

It bears the scuffs and scars that you’d expect on an instrument with around 90 years on the clock, but its authenticity as a blues machine from that classic era cannot be denied. It follows the standard build for a 1930s L-1 with mahogany back and sides and a rosewood ’board.

Mainly all-original apart from the string pegs and very possibly the tuners, it’s a fine example of a Gibson acoustic from the era. 

“He liked small-bodied acoustic guitars and he was a big ambassador for blues guitar in general,” says Luke. “He used to get a lot of guitars from a contact in the States – I’m not sure whether this was one of them – but he couldn’t turn down the opportunity when this one came up because of the Robert Johnson connection of using smaller-body Gibsons. 

“During lockdown Bernie put out a lot of videos of him playing in his garden, playing smaller-body guitars. And I’m sure this one would have been used in the studio as well for various blues numbers.”  

• Guitarist would like to thank Luke Hobbs and Gardiner Houlgate for allowing us to photograph and spend time with these amazing instruments. For more information on the auction, see Gardiner Houlgate.

The electric guitar featured on Kate Bush's 1978 debut Wuthering Heights is expected to fetch up to £10,000 at auction.

The 1974 Les Paul Custom belonged to guitarist Ian Bairnson, who played the solo at the end of Wuthering Heights while his arm was in a plaster cast.

Bairnson passed away last year, aged 70. His collection of 12 guitars, including the 1974 Les Paul Custom, and gear including vintage Marshall stacks and a Soldano head, is being auctioned off by Gardiner Houlgate auctioneers in Wiltshire, UK. The total collection is expected to sell for around £30,000.

Guitar expert and auctioneer Luke Hobbs commented: “Ian Bairnson was a musician’s musician, and his guitar used on Wuthering Heights is very relevant to today’s market, considering the enduring appeal of Kate Bush.”

A 20th Anniversary model – as indicated by the 12th fret inlay – the guitar features a Cherry Sunburst finish, with only minor buckle rash and dings. Its original tuners were replaced by a Schaller set, while two coil switches were installed to the control area.

The guitar comes with a Pilot-stenciled hardcase, as well as five sales award discs presented to Bairnson for Pilot singles Magic and January.

Ian Bairnson was a Scottish session guitarist and multi-instrumentalist, best known for his work with Kate Bush and Alan Parsons Project.

In 1973, he joined the Scottish rock group Pilot, scoring UK top 20 singles January and Magic. During his time with Pilot, he met Alan Parsons and later featured on every Alan Parsons Project album, including the 1984 offshoot Keats.

He went on to play on Bush's first four albums, and session with Kenny Rogers, Tom Jones, Sting, Paul McCartney and Stanley Clark – where his Les Paul was invariably slung around his shoulders.

“Guitar players broadly fall into two main groups – those who consider themselves as Strat players and those who are Les Paul type players,” Bairnson wrote on his website. “I have always loved Les Pauls. Ever since I was about 14 years old I wanted to play one. I prefer the sheer power and kick of a Gibson Les Paul.

“I bought mine as soon as I could afford one. It came from a shop called Take Five in Shaftesbury Avenue in London and cost me 315 pounds in 1974. It is a Custom model but over the years I have changed bits and pieces and now it looks more like a Standard. I suppose it is true to say that I built a career using only a Les Paul and a Marshall 50-watt amplifier.”

“Ian was always ready to play a stylistically perfect solo for every track he was involved with,” Alan Parsons told Guitar World. "The usual process was he would just play it through a few times and I would give him vague directions like ‘Let’s try it starting low and working upwards’ or ‘Let’s try it simpler – less notes.’”

In addition to Bairnson's Les Paul, the auction will also feature Eric Clapton-used prototype 000-28EC acoustic guitar, a collection of Bernie Marsden's guitars, a Jaco Pastorius-used Zemaitis bass, two guitars previously owned by Fleetwood Mac’s Peter Green and two of Gary Moore’s Gibson Les Pauls.

For more information about the auction, visit Gardiner Houlgate.

Whitesnake was the brainchild of David Coverdale after his exit from Deep Purple in 1976, and the band has been going for almost five decades. Whitesnake has had a revolving door of some of the best musicians in rock history, but Coverdale remains the only constant member. 

Some of the guitarists to have graced the stage alongside the frontman are Steve Vai, John Sykes, Vivian Campbell, Warren DeMartini, Doug Aldrich and Reb Beach, as well as studio ace Dann Huff who played the solo on the huge hit Here I Go Again when it was re-released in the late ’80s. 

Throw in drummers like Cozy Powell, Ian Paice and Tommy Aldridge, bass players Marco Mendoza and Neil Murray as well as keyboard legend Jon Lord, and rock royalty runs right through the history of the band. 

However, we’re at the early incarnation of the band featuring the bluesy twin-guitar attack of Bernie Marsden and Micky Moody. Both players were in the band from its beginning in 1978 until the mid ’80s, when Coverdale began to focus on the arena-ready style of the late ’80s, and less of the blues association. 

The group’s early sound owes a lot to Coverdale’s time in Deep Purple, but also has influences from artists such as Freddie King, as well as John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Fleetwood Mac, and Cream.

Some of Whitesnake’s biggest hits were co-written by Marsden and/or Moody, including Fool For Your Loving and Here I Go Again. Both those songs were initially recorded in a far more bluesy fashion in the early 80s, before they each got a re-imagined ‘hair metal’ treatment later that decade.

Somewhat ironically, when Coverdale and company were leaving the blues foundation behind in the mid to late ’80s, many bands of the time were still heavily drawing their influence from early Whitesnake.

Our track this month is rooted in the late 70s and early 80s, blues-influenced era of Whitesnake, and has a riff built upon harmonising 4ths in the key of G minor (G-A-Bb-C-D-Eb-F). Playing 4th harmonies in that key simply means that we’re plucking G and C together, or F and Bb and so on. It’s an easy pattern to play, and basically always sounds good.

Classic tracks like Fool For Your Loving, Money For Nothing and Smoke On The Water are built using this approach. There are plenty of non-diatonic notes here too, including Db the b5th of G minor blues scale (G-Bb-C-Db-D-F).

This scale is also used in the solo, as is C minor blues scale (C-Eb-F-Gb-G-Bb). The track has a shuffle feel so it’s all played with a strong emphasis on the 1-2-3-4 of each bar, with a count that highlights 1 & a, 2 & a, 3 & a, 4 & a. 

Get the tone

Amp Settings: Gain 7, Bass 8, Middle 7, Treble 6, Reverb 3

It’s very much classic rock tone territory, so a humbucker pickup would be ideal if possible. If not, back off a single-coil’s tone, or do so on the amp. You’ll need to make sure the tone is not too bright and has a good amount of Marshall-style power amp gain. It’s not overly saturated, so be careful not to overdo the preamp gain. A touch of reverb might also be a good idea.

Playing Notes (rhythm)

There’s a lot of staccato notes in the rhythm guitar part, so clip the main riff’s doublestops (as shown in the notation, dots below notes) with your fretting hand.

Playing Notes (solo)

Finger vibrato should be given a good deal of attention (Bernie’s was slow and wide), and pay careful attention to the intonation of the string bends, too. 

NAMM 2024: Peavey is “reviving a classic for the modern era” as it marks the return of its Vandenberg Signature Series with three new finishes. The range looks to mix nostalgia with modernity as it puts a contemporary spin on Adrian Vandenberg's cult classic signature guitar.

The models are available in a choice of Rock-It Pink, Purple Flame (which is actually red, deceptively) and a comparatively tame Matte Black. Each variation comes equipped with a Floyd Rose floating bridge and high-performance Seymour Duncan pickups. Notably, the Purple Flame model sports twin humbuckers, whilst the Pink and Black options offer single coil pickups in the neck.   

Visually, the guitar offers a slightly glitched-out take on the Strat shape, with black hardware the choice for the Pink and Black models. The Purple Flame build, which boasts a quilted maple top, stands out with its gold hardware.

For both their bodies and necks, the trio recruits high-grade mahogany, whilst ebony is the choice of wood for the fretboards. Size-wise, they comprise a 24.75" scale length and 15-inch radius. Those fretboards are adorned with Vandenberg signature inlays, with red diamond inlays exclusive to the matte black model.

They all feature Seymour Duncan pickups, which Peavey believes can offer a “tonal palette that spans from searing, high-gain leads to nuanced, dynamic cleans.” There’s a three-way selector switch and a master volume control for each.

There’s also a TB-6 humbucker in the bridge of each, though – as alluded to above –there are two choices of neck pickups on offer: there’s an STK-S6 Custom Stk Plus in the Matte Black and Rock-It Pink models, and a SH-6 in the Purple Flame.

The original Vandenberg signatures were released in the late '80s and comprised a poplar body with a two-piece maple neck. The new edition, then, sees the signature guitar receive something of a glow-up.

“The reintroduction of the Vandenberg Signature Series is a celebration not only of a groundbreaking guitar, but an influential artist's journey,” says Peavey. The Dutch guitarist rose to fame in the early ‘80s with his self-monikered Vandenberg band.

He would later join Whitesnake and deliver that solo in Here I Go Again. He also co-wrote the band’s platinum-selling album, Slip of the Tongue. That saw him sharing guitar duties with Steve Vai, who is currently out with the reunited original G3 line-up, on the subsequent tour.

“Made to his specifications and road-tested over the years, Vandenberg guitars have become highly coveted on the resale market,” Peavey’s statement continues, “with Reverb currently selling some at a little over $3,000. Now the coveted guitar of the ‘80s is back. Reviving a classic with a perfect blend of '80s nostalgia and modern precision, it offers modern appointments for discerning players.”

Vandenberg sat down for a chat with Guitar World back in August and his rhythm playing was an integral part of what was discussed. He stated that “rhythm playing is the backbone of whatever a guitar player is trying to say – and it’s become deeply undervalued today.”

He also discussed the return of his beloved Peavey model, taking the opportunity to pay tribute to the “absolutely amazing” craftsmanship it showcased.

“As the years passed, people kept asking me if I had any Peavey Vandenberg guitars and if I'd part with them,” he said of the guitar's return. “And since I had a few, I never bothered to answer. And then Facebook groups started popping up in tribute to the guitar, and I saw all these fans. 

“So, eventually, Peavey approached me about bringing it back around a year ago; I said, 'Yes,' and we started working on it. That guitar has taken on a life of its own, which I certainly never expected.”

The revised Vandenberg signature guitars will be available to order soon. They will be sold for $2,999 each.  

For more information head to Peavey.

Keep up to speed with all gear releases during NAMM 2024 via our guide to the latest NAMM 2024 news.

Once described as “British blues-rock’s secret weapon,” Bernie Marsden was a guitarist, singer, and songwriter known for his solo career as well as his time with Whitesnake. 

His melodic style has been a huge influence on many modern blues guitar players, with Joe Bonamassa calling him ‘the best of the best’. His influence on blues-rock is indisputable, and his legacy continues to inspire.

Born in 1951 in Buckingham, England, Marsden was influenced by legendary blues musicians like Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters when he first took up the guitar in his early teens. 

His formative years coincided with the rise of British blues, and Marsden credits players such as Peter Green, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimi Hendrix as having had a huge effect on him, ultimately instilling within him the desire to become a professional musician. 

He achieved this in the early 1970s, playing in a number of bands throughout the decade, but it was his time with rock superstars Whitesnake that showed Marsden’s guitar playing as well as his keen abilities as a songwriter to a wider audience. 

During his time with the band, he was responsible for co-writing many of their hits, such as the rock anthems Here I Go Again and Fool For Your Loving. After his departure from the group, Marsden was involved with a number of projects and also had a prolific solo career, releasing 23 albums under his own name.

Marsden’s style was melodic and emotive while also maintaining a fierce and exciting edge. The influence of the blues is clear, and although he developed rockier elements – incorporating harmonized lines and pinch harmonics, for example – his love of the blues was still very much present in his solos. 

He also had an incredibly musical touch. He plays not just from the point of view of a guitarist but as a songwriter, not choosing flashy displays of technical wizardry but creating memorable melodies and playing for the song.

His sense of phrasing always set him apart, and his ability to tell a story with a solo is what helped to secure a loyal fanbase that continued to celebrate his work through his long career.

Another notable part of Bernie’s playing is his mastery of string bends and different string bending techniques. You’ll hear slow bends, prebends and large three or even four semitone bends in his solos, as well as a masterful vibrato that radiates raw energy.

The solos presented here will give you a starting point, but it’s worth spending time getting a command of these bending techniques so that they can be used when improvising. String bends and a strong vibrato are some of the most expressive tools in any guitarist’s arsenal, so they are well worth perfecting. Thank you, Bernie! 

Get the tone

Amp Settings: Gain 7, Bass 5, Middle 7, Treble 6, Reverb 4

Bernie’s most famous guitar was a 1959 Gibson Les Paul nicknamed ‘The Beast’. However, he used a number of different models throughout his career, often pairing them with a Marshall amp. 

Aim for a fairly aggressive, distorted tone that has plenty of bite but also clarity. A little reverb will help to smooth things out, and a touch of chorus will add to the '80s vibe.  

Example 1. Blues-rock study

Our first piece demonstrates Marsden’s rockier side while still drawing from his bluesier influences. 

The solo primarily utilizes the Minor Pentatonic scale, but it’s worth noting how it uses small sections from the various positions to build melodic phrases rather than mere noodling. 

Pay close attention to the string bends and vibrato here, as Bernie had a great attention to detail and knew how to pull every drop of emotion out of a bend.

Example 2. Blues study

Our second piece demonstrates a Marsden-style solo over a more traditional blues track. It again features some of Bernie’s trademark string bending. The vibrato should also be a focus, as this is an important if not central aspect of his style. 

Some repetitive phrasing helps to give the solo melodic shape, so make sure your timing is on the money here (especially no rushing!), as the triplet feel of some of these licks can be tricky.

Bernie Marsden was one of Britain’s best-loved rock and blues guitarists, known not just for his role in penning huge Whitesnake hits such as Here I Go Again but also because of his enduring love for vintage guitars. 

Bernie’s touring took him all round the world, and that provided the springboard for his many decades of guitar collecting, which saw him acquire a bevy of beautiful, rare and classic electrics, which he used across his prolific career. 

So when news went out that Bernie was putting key guitars from his collection up for sale, it unsurprisingly caused quite a stir. Mike Long of ATB Guitars in Cheltenham, UK had the honour of being appointed the agent for what are arguably the most interesting guitars from Bernie’s collection. 

News that Bernie’s infamously raw and exciting 1959 Gibson Les Paul (aka The Beast) was to head up the sale proved short-lived, however. The Beast was initially among the guitars offered for sale at ATB, but, perhaps understandably, after a bit of soul-searching Bernie withdrew it saying simply that he had “some constructive conversations with my family and they feel it should stay with me…” 

Even without the presence of The Beast, the collection that is now with ATB is seriously impressive – with that fascinating prospect in mind, we joined Mike Long, founder of ATB Guitars, to explore some of the treasures of Bernie Marsden’s years of guitar-hunting. 

Editor’s note: Guitarist magazine learned of Bernie’s death two days before going to press, so the following interview – conducted before his passing – refers to him in the present tense.

We took the decision to respectfully publish it as is, in tribute to Bernie’s lifelong love of guitar collecting.

Bernie collected quite a few archtops and thinlines, but this ES-5 is one of the most beautiful. Tell us about it.

“Yeah, this is a beauty – a 1950 Gibson ES-5 in remarkable condition. It really is quite stunning. Nice, really big, thick neck… it’s got three P-90s with the original old curved covers, which were only used in the late ’40s and early ’50s. It’s got really nice tall, amber, clear Gibson knobs that were used in the very early ’50s. 

“The tailpiece is probably a replacement at some point, I’d say – a lot of them did tend to break – but at least it’s period correct. Original frets and gorgeous condition with a brown Lifton case. There’s a little bit of wear on the neck, but it’s not too drastic.

“Bernie had completely forgotten he had this. He called us up about two weeks after we’d taken the initial lots. And then he said, ‘Oh, I’ve looked in one of my old storage spaces today and I found another four guitars. And this is one of them.’ 

“I think ES-5s attract quite a wide variety of players. I mean, obviously, this is [the model] T-Bone Walker played, which is why Bernie bought it. It was something he’d been looking for for some time as he’s a T-Bone Walker fan. So, I mean, it can be used in blues, country… Chet Atkins had one, in fact. We had one of the ones that Chet Atkins had, which he wasn’t very well known for using, but he definitely used one in his recordings. 

“Steve Howe from Yes also used one to great effect on Roundabout, I believe… things like that. It’s a bit of a strange guitar. And the people who play it would often surprise you with their diversity. So I don’t think you can classify it and say it’s ‘just a blues guitar’ or ‘it’s just a jazz guitar’ or anything like that. I think it lends itself to different forms of music quite well.”

It looks in pristine condition – how often do you find them like this?

“Not very often at all. Most of the ones we see are in pretty bad shape. So it’s very rare to come across one in this sort of condition.”

Some people call all ES-5s ‘Switchmasters’, but that’s not quite right…

“No. This is one of the early ones. This one has three pots, which are basically three volume controls, plus a master tone. Then [in 1955] they switched to a different layout whereby they had six controls; they basically had volume and tone for each pickup with a big four-way selector switch on the [cutaway horn]. 

“That selected pickup 1, pickup 2, pickup 3 and then the last position is all three pickups, which sounds glorious. Those were termed Switchmasters. Then in 1957, they switched over from P-90s to humbuckers. And they continued that through to the early ’60s.”

Speaking of P-90 pickups, there’s an early Les Paul Goldtop from 1952 in Bernie’s collection, too.

“Yep, first-year Goldtop. Again, in really nice condition, all-original, that one – I think the jack socket washer ring has been replaced.”

Would you say that a fair proportion of original 1952 Les Pauls ended up being ‘converted’ to the spec of later Les Pauls?

“Yeah, which is a shame, really. There’s nothing wrong with the original design once you get used to it. There’s a good few players out there who get on with that wrap-under bridge. And nowadays, if you don’t like it, you can get a MojoAxe [compensated top-wrap tailpiece] and have a normal experience. 

“So there’s no excuse to rip them apart and change them. But a few years ago, that wasn’t so much the case; MojoAxe didn’t exist. And if you really had to do your palm muting, then that was the only thing you could do.”

If you look closely, you can see a signature inscribed on the scratchplate.

“Yeah, this has got an interesting story. It was bought by Bernie from Jim Singleton, who owns Jim’s Guitars [in Pennsylvania]. Jim was at a concert with Danny Gatton seeing Les Paul and he brought this guitar, which had just come into his store, along to the concert. 

“After the gig, he went up to Les Paul and asked him if he wouldn’t mind signing the pickguard, but neither of them had a pen. So Les Paul produced this screw from one of his cases and said, ‘I’ll sign it with a screw.’ That’s exactly what he did on the pickguard. 

“You see Les Paul’s signature there, which was made by a screw or nail or something. He said to Jim and Danny, who were there witnessing this, that ‘If you ever come across a Les Paul signature, and it looks really rough like that, that’s how you know it’s genuine. That’s how I sign it.’ Included with the guitar is a letter of provenance from Jim Singleton stating all this.”

It looks very clean for its age…

“Yeah, it’s in great condition. I’d say it’s probably March or April ’52; it’s got the binding on it. No serial number and it’s still got the tall knobs, so mid-’52.”

These 1952 models used to be regarded as way less desirable than later Les Pauls. Has that changed in recent years?

“There’s been a massive increase in desirability. I mean, we were selling these for £10,000 to £15,000 only four or five years ago. We’re now selling them for 25 to 30 grand. Massively increased. One of the star performers of the last five years.”

Tell us about the 1961 Custom Telecaster.

“I don’t know how long he’s had this. But he certainly has used it a lot – he’s pictured playing it with various people, including Robert Plant. It was obviously one of his favourite guitars to take out and play whenever he was asked to. 

“There was a humbucker rout inside at the neck pickup. Somebody had Andy Summers’d it and put a humbucker in it, then changed their mind and put the original pickup back in. The wiring’s modified to post-’67 configuration, which means that the neck doesn’t sound like a damp pillow. But Bernie certainly enjoyed this guitar a lot. We’ve got lots of pictures of him on stage with it, so it’s obviously been one of his favourites.”

The Tele has a beautiful sunburst, but custom colours were just coming in around this time, too. Do you see many Custom Teles in other finishes? 

“In the early ’60s, they didn’t make very many custom-colour Tele Customs. They started appearing in [greater numbers] later on in the ’60s; from around ’64 to ’65 you started to see Lake Placid Blue, Candy Apple Red, Inca Silver and Firemist Gold appear. In fact, I’ve yet to see one from this era – 1960 to ’61 – custom coloured; they’ve all been sunburst among the guitars we’ve come across.”

Tell us about the glorious EDS-1275 from Bernie’s collection. How scarce are original ’60s examples?

“Well, there were only three of these made in 1966 – and this is one of the three. In fact, I know this guitar extremely well. I was exhibiting at a guitar show in Leeds about 13 years ago and in walked a guy carrying a massive great aluminium flight case. His name was Alan Silson and he played in the Bradford band Smokie, who did Living Next Door To Alice. 

“In this massive aluminium flight case was this guitar, which is a 1966 Gibson twin-neck, which he was looking to sell. So I had a good look at it – I’d never seen one before, so I even had to look in the vintage guitar price guide to see how much I should offer. I offered him the market value at the time and he said, ‘Okay, I’ll think about it.’ 

“Then he walked the guitar around to every other dealer there and eventually came back to me and said, ‘Okay, you can have it.’ So I paid him the money for it and while I was doing that he was telling me the story that he bought his guitar directly from Martin Barre from Jethro Tull. He said that he thought that Martin used this at the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival. 

“Now, I relayed this to Bernie – and Bernie knows Martin, so he contacted Martin who said, ‘I can’t remember’ [laughs]. So he’s neither confirmed nor denied this. But he knew that he did have a Gibson twin-neck at that point. So that’s basically it.

“Once I had it, I brought it back to Cheltenham. I can’t remember how Bernie heard about it, actually. I think we were in contact about something else and he was always asking me, ‘Has anything come in?’ so I just mentioned this. He was onto it straight away, so we met in a hotel room in Wales somewhere and he bought it.” 

What was behind Bernie’s keen interest in it, do you think?

“He’d always had a twin-neck. In fact, he played one in Whitesnake for quite some time. Apart from using one in Whitesnake, I believe he was a big fan of Family as well and they used a twin-neck for their big hit Burlesque. 

“He’d always wanted one of these Gibson twin-necks. This is one of the last of the ’60s examples, where the 12-string headstock was twice the length of the six-string. When they relaunched these back in the early ’70s, the headstock shrunk quite drastically.”

How different does this sound to a Gibson SG Standard of a similar age?

“It does sound very different. It’s hard to describe. I mean, I haven’t plugged it in for 13 years! But I remember when I did plug it in, I thought, ‘This is surprisingly different to what I was expecting.’ It feels more resonant, more powerful – it’s difficult to describe it, really. 

“But it’s different from just playing a normal SG. When you’ve got the switch in the middle and you’ve got both necks [outputting signal], when you play one, you can hear the 12-string sympathetically resonating. That’s quite an eerie sound. Page used to use that quite a lot.”  

To the uninitiated, Bernie Marsden might have been easy to miss. In an industry of leather, motorbikes and top hats – and from a generation where ‘lead guitarist’ was shorthand for ‘show-off’ – the man once dubbed ‘British blues-rock’s secret weapon’ had the unstarry, affable, anecdote-ready demeanour of a pub regular. 

But as the guitar community well knows, there was much more to Marsden, who died at the age of 72 as this issue went to press. The myriad reasons to toast the great journeyman’s final flight span from the anthems he wrote (which included Whitesnake’s Here I Go Again) through to the young musicians he mentored, the sweetness of his touch and the treasures of his superb vintage guitar collection. 

Perhaps above all, among the pan-generational cohort of Guitarist journalists, we will miss a marvellous storyteller who often felt more like a friend than an interviewee – and whose generosity even extended to letting us play his fabled ‘Beast’ 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard.     

Born in Buckingham on 7 May, 1951, Marsden caught a glimpse of the world he wanted to occupy, at a young age: “People would take me to pubs when I was 14 because there was a band playing. Once I’d had a taste, that was it”. And then Clapton did the rest. Bernie shared that the Yardbirds and Bluesbreakers ace was “the first guitar player I really adored, because I was old enough to relate to it”. 

But it was perhaps Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac that made the defining impression, Marsden following his future friend’s live itinerary across the UK and later recalling in Guitarist that he was incandescent when Green recruited the 19-year-old Danny Kirwan: “How dare they get a guitar player the same age as me?”

Coming up in the early ’70s, Marsden made his own mark, though his career would prove a slower burn than Kirwan’s precocious rise (and fall). Early outfit Skinny Cat was an invaluable apprenticeship that went nowhere, and while Marsden hoped that moving to London in 1972 after passing an audition for UFO would “be like the cover of a Beatles EP, with everyone jumping in the air”, what briefly seemed like his big break crumbled into onstage fist-fights and a sour exit. 

The guitarist moved on, repeatedly. He was variously spotted in Glenn Cornick’s Wild Turkey, Cozy Powell’s Hammer, and Hertfordshire rockers Babe Ruth. He filled the gaps with session work and reflected on his higher-profile stint in Paice Ashton Lord as “a flash in the pan, but one of the best things I’ve ever done”. He might even have auditioned for Bad Company, had housemate Mick Ralphs not been first in line for the gig. 

Next, meeting singer and fellow blues fanatic David Coverdale at a Munich studio led to the partnership in Whitesnake that many fans consider to be the band’s best period. 

Let off the leash creatively for the first time, Marsden – always a disciple of The Beatles’ pop smarts – began writing hooks for the ages on the Beast LP he had bought for £600 in ’74 and played on every Whitesnake record. “When I played Here I Go Again to Jon Lord he had a certain look in his eye,” Marsden told Rob Hughes. “He said, ‘You’re a clever little sod, aren’t you?’”

True to form, Marsden would be long gone by the time a reboot of Here I Go Again topped the US chart in 1987, and “only started to see royalties after taking the company to court many years later”. 

Post-Whitesnake, the 30-something guitarist worried he was washed up, but his later period heralded some of his most soulful playing, whether in bands like Alaska, across his prolific solo blues career (his work ethic sometimes stretching to two studio albums in a single year) or as a foil to such luminaries as Ringo Starr, Gary Moore, Joe Bonamassa and Robert Plant. 

With Marsden also latterly serving as a guiding light to younger players such as Laurence Jones, he often seemed like the glue that held the blues-rock scene together, a figure so omnipresent you sometimes wondered if he had a team of doppelgängers (this writer once found him in Walter Trout’s dressing room, debating whether to step in on bass after the US bluesman’s own four-stringer went AWOL).    

Decades earlier, as a teenage gunslinger, Marsden had teased his mother when she worried her would-be-musician son was headed for a wayward life of bacchanals (“I said, ‘That’s what I want to do this for!’”).

In truth, the boundless joy of making music with those who felt the same way was reward enough for this most modest of guitar heroes. “I suppose I am proud of what has gone on,” Marsden wrote on his website. “After all, I only ever wanted to play the guitar for a living.” 

Bernie Marsden, founding Whitesnake guitarist and one of the finest British players to ever pick up an electric guitar, has passed away.

The news was confirmed by Marsden’s family via a statement issued by Bernie’s record label, Conquest Music. 

“On behalf of his family, it is with deep sadness we announce the death of Bernie Marsden,” the statement read. “Bernie died peacefully on Thursday evening with his wife, Fran, and daughters, Charlotte and Olivia, by his side. 

“Bernie never lost his passion for music, writing and recording new songs until the end.”

Famed for a highly successful four-year stint with Whitesnake that spanned 1978 to 1982, Marsden is widely regarded as one of the most influential blues and rock British guitarists of his generation, contributing to the band’s debut EP, five studio albums and a live record.

During his defining time with the band, Marsden co-write some of Whitesnake’s most enduringly popular hits, including 1982’s Here I Go Again. With the David Coverdale-fronted outfit, his exceptional songwriting chops, soulful touch, captivating stage presence and expressive approach took center stage.

But Marsden and his celebrated playing style were already making waves before the Whitesnake days. Born in 1951 in Buckingham, England, Bernie’s professional career began in 1972 with stints in bands such as Paice Ashton Lord, UFO and Glenn Cornick’s Wild Turkey.

Initially inspired by the likes of Hank Marvin and Eric Clapton – whose music introduced him to B.B. King, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, Mick Taylor and Peter Green – Marsden drew from a diverse pool of sonic inspiration from which he developed his own sound. 

“I loved Hank Marvin in The Shadows as a kid, but Eric Clapton was the first guitar player I really adored, because I was old enough to relate to it,” he once told Classic Rock of his influences. 

This soon-to-be-iconic Marsden sound was introduced to a global audience when Marsden co-founded Whitesnake in 1978 with David Coverdale. The pair would work together for Snakebite (1978), Trouble (1978), Lovehunter (1979), Ready & Willing (1980) and Come An’ Get It (1981).

His days with Whitesnake eventually came to an end due to “bad management”, with Marsden recently reflecting, “I only really started to see royalties after taking the company to court many years later. 

“But during the time I was in Whitesnake all I ever earned was a small monthly salary,” he continued. “It didn’t matter if we did ten gigs or twenty-nine gigs, the money was the same. And we all got paid different amounts, which we weren’t aware of back then.”

After Whitesnake, Marsden formed and operated in a number of other influential groups, including Alaska, MGM and The Moody Marsden Band, and continued to build his solo repertoire, which started during his Whitesnake days with 1979’s And About Time Too!

But it is his Whitesnake work for which he was most widely celebrated, which he curated using his trusty 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard, affectionately known as The Beast. Indeed, The Beast is up there with Peter Green’s Greeny among the guitar world’s most iconic ’Bursts.

“Every Whitesnake record I did has that guitar on it – I wrote all those songs on that guitar,” Marsden once said of The Beast, which he bought for £500. “I bought it in ’74 and it was there with me literally until I retired it. 

“To me, it’s such a great guitar. But it’s no better than David Gilmour’s favorite guitar, or Mick Ralphs’ favorite guitar, because it’s all down to us; it’s a personal thing.”

The Beast was put up for sale for a brief period of time earlier this year as part of a mammoth Marsden guitar auction, though Marsden ultimately U-turned on his decision to part ways with his prized possession.

As a player, Marsden was revered among fans and his peers alike. During his career, he was honored with signature gear from some of guitar’s biggest brands, including Marshall, PRS and Gibson, and worked with the likes of Paul McCartney, Gary Moore and Joe Bonamassa, to name just a few.

The guitarist’s star-studded list of collaborators also includes names such as Robert Plant, Paul Weller, Jon Lord, Ringo Starr, Rory Gallagher, Jack Bruce and Warren Haynes.

Marsden worked closely with the UK’s Guitarist magazine on many occasions. In tribute to Bernie, Guitarist’s Editor-in-Chief Jamie Dickson wrote, “The sad news of Bernie's death was a real shock as we'd only been speaking a couple of days before. He was as friendly and frank as ever, explaining to me why he'd decided to hold his famous 1959 Les Paul, better know as The Beast, back from a recent sale of his guitars. He told me what a relief it had been when his family persuaded him to keep it just a little longer. That decision seems all the more fitting and poignant today.”

Bernie was also a close friend of Peter Green, with whom he jammed right up until the former Fleetwood Mac guitarist’s death in 2020. Around the same time, Marsden was also writing new music with Joe Bonamassa.

“I think if you’ve got the talent, luck will fall your way,” Marsden once said to Classic Rock. “Opening for Cozy Powell with Wild Turkey was serendipity, but that didn’t get me the gig with Paice Ashton Lord. And did I get that gig because I was the only guitarist who didn’t play Smoke on the Water at the audition? Or because all the other players tried to be Ritchie Blackmore? I’ll never know. 

“All I’ve ever tried to do is play a show with as much honesty as I can, because without the people who put their hands in their pockets and come to gigs, there’s nothing left.”

In his later years, Marsden hosted various guitar clinics, and continued to write and release music. Two albums in 2021 (Kings and Chess) were followed by 2022’s Trios, all of which formed part of Bernie’s Inspiration Series of LPs.

Last year, Marsden suffered health issues when he underwent surgery and became ill with acute dehydration. The setback prevented Marsden from playing at Firestorm Rock Festival in Manchester, England, much to the guitarist’s own disappointment – a true testament to Bernie’s passion for playing the guitar.

“I suppose I am proud of what has gone on,” reads a quote on Marsden’s official website. “After all I only ever wanted to play the guitar for a living.”

While he's long recorded under the moniker of his namesake band, Adrian Vandenberg may be best known for his time with Whitesnake in the late-'80s and into the '90s.

And while he's no longer a member of Whitesnake – and back at it again with Vandenberg in support of the band's latest record, Sin – he holds fond memories of his time alongside David Coverdale.

"The way I ended up in Whitesnake was unexpected," Vandenberg tells Guitar World. "I had parted ways with Vandenberg's singer, and while I was looking for another singer, I got a call from John Kolodner, the A&R manager for Geffen at the time to discuss the new contract for Vandenberg. He didn't like the idea of a completely new lineup, so he suggested that I move away from it and join David [Coverdale] in Whitesnake. And David had already asked me like three times since '82 to join, so I knew he wanted me."

He continues, "When I joined, I knew I wouldn't be able to equal what John [Sykes] had done, but David immediately asked me to devise a new rhythm arrangement for Here I Go Again. What John had done was what was described to me as a 'metal version of country and western music'. So, I came up with some rhythm parts, and I recorded the solo in around 10 minutes, and then that arpeggio rhythm part in the second verse after the first chorus through a Rockman. The whole thing was done very quickly; I had no idea it would be huge."

With the solo for Here I Go Again in the can and John Sykes out of the picture, Vandenberg hit the road with the mighty 'Snake. And not long after, along with Coverdale, Vandenberg began writing the music for what would become 1990's Slip of the Tongue.

Sadly, a debilitating wrist injury would keep Vandenberg out of the studio, leading to Coverdale calling in Steve Vai to cover Vandenberg's parts. "It took me a while to come to terms with it," Vandenberg admits. "I was a big admirer of Steve, but I had a vision of how I wanted those songs to sound: I wanted big rhythm guitars, melodic, and bluesy licks."

But once on tour, Vandenberg had no choice but to learn what Vai had done. He recalls, "It was one of the most challenging things I'd ever done, and it took me a few weeks to start appreciating Steve's work. I had to overcome my frustration about not being able to play the songs as I'd hoped, but once I overcame my frustration and became close with Steve, I came to love how they turned out."

In the years since, Vandenberg has continued and, most importantly, found ways to overcome the wrist issues that stripped him of his ability to play as he once did. What's more, his return to the studio with Vandenberg in 2020 by way of Vandenberg's first record since the '80s, 2020, was a sterling affair.

Moreover, Vandenberg's latest offering, Sin, is as slick-toned as anything he has conjured in his long career. And so, when Vandenberg says that he's "as proud of Sin as anything I've ever done," he means it.

Vibrant as ever, and with Vandenberg's bright future, he "has few regrets". But there, there are a few – namely, that Whitesnake's Slip of the Tongue-era band didn't get to do more.

"I definitely regret that the lineup with Steve and I didn't get to continue," Vandenberg laments. "But grunge came up, and I've always been the kind of guy who sticks to his guns and does what he does best. So, if I could go back, I would have chosen to stay together and make at least one more album. I wish we had stuck to our guns, stayed together, and gotten back in the saddle like good cowboys [laughs]."

In support of Sin, Adrian Vandenberg dialed in with Guitar World to dig into his modern-day approach, the importance of quality rhythm playing, the status of rock guitar as we know it, and the return of his well-loved '80s shred machine, the Peavy Vandenberg.

How did you approach Sin from a guitar perspective?

"I wanted to turn it up a notch compared to the last one. Because when I looked at the early Vandenberg albums, I realized that after being in the business for as long as I have, the feeling of mailing it in could start to set it. I didn't want that. I didn't want to go in the direction of going softer or acoustic; I wanted to go back in the other direction and get harder, louder, and faster. So, that led me to search for ways to add more gravel to my guitar sounds and be a bit more expressive."

I'd assume it's just a matter of freeing your mind, not overthinking, and going for it, right?

"Exactly. The big thing I've noticed with this generation is that there are a lot more technical guitar players, which led me to want to go in this direction even more. I'm probably already known as a guy who tends to go for the right note at the right time rather than being over the top. Finding just the right amount of expression is essential to what I do, and that comes from many of my heroes being guys like Brian May, Leslie West, and even a guy like Eddie Van Halen, all people who were very fluid and super-melodic. So, being intentional with melody and not focusing on speed is integral to what I try to do."

While many focus on your lead playing, your rhythm approach on Sin is exceptional.

"Well, thank you very much. I'm glad you noticed that, because I put a lot of thought into it. I know that a lot of guitar players will go for big solos, and the audience eats that up, but guitar playing is so much more than that. Rhythm playing is the backbone of whatever a guitar player is trying to say, and I genuinely feel that it's become deeply undervalued today.

"There are not many strong rhythm players out there today; everyone is so technical and, like I said before, going for the big solo. You've got a lot of very talented players out there who can play with speed all day, but rhythm playing is lost on too many of them. To me, strong rhythm playing is essential to getting some excitement going within a song."

A big push out there says, 'Rock guitar is back.' Do you agree with that?

"I look at it the same way I always have, and that's from a very realistic standpoint, meaning that aside from the '80s, when rock guitar music was on MTV all the time, it's never really been at the forefront of people's minds. Rock guitar music will never be like pop music in the United States or anywhere else. 

"Sure, each city has a few rock stations, but it's not what sells in the greatest numbers. And even when rock guitar music was popular, you had a lot of solos and stuff that, in my opinion, was cringeworthy. So, I've noticed that rock guitar music has been out of focus since around 2000, and the crowd that consumes a lot of it is still older."

Nuno Bettencourt's Rise solo seemed to stir up some interest in guitar music, though, right? 

"What Nuno did was incredible and was a very brave thing to do. He's got this mind-blowing solo on Rise, and everybody who loves rock music and loves rock guitar was talking about it and shit. But that's what Nuno does; he's amazing, and his solo definitely shows that. But the thing is that what Nuno did there isn't appreciated by 15-year-olds because they don't even know it's there. 

"And if you look at the last Vandenberg tour we did, that was reflected in the people who attended the shows. But there is a small percentage of young people who find this music, and it's usually through YouTube or something like that. So, I think guitar rock is alive, but it's going to take curious people to keep it that way."

Your tone on Sin is very full and present. How did you achieve it?

"My tone goes back to my days in Whitesnake, where I couldn't play on Slip of the Tongue because of my wrist injury. I wrote these songs with David, and he had to bring Steve to play them. And as a player of his caliber does, he put his stamp on them, but he did so in a style different from what I would have done. 

"When I started playing again, I never regained my attack before the injury, but I wanted to play those songs and beyond. So, eventually, I worked out a different technique where I used the nail of my right index finger as a pick. And I'm lucky because I'm blessed with thick nails that are so sharp I can open up a cardboard box from Amazon [laughs]. But my tone comes from finding a new way to play after that wrist injury."

Would you say that having to overcome that injury has, in some ways, made you a more intelligent player?

"I think so, because anyone who has followed my career knows I'm known for melodic solos, and the injury forced me to lean into that. And that's good because when I joined Whitesnake, I probably got a little carried away while playing the amazing guitar parts John Sykes wrote for the '87 Whitesnake album. I remember thinking, 'Man, I'm gonna need to speed up and play harder,' and I did that when we toured. But the injury forced me to focus on my strengths and not allow myself to get carried away in a direction I don't feel I belong in anyway."

As I understand it, the Peavey Vandenberg is returning to the production line. Did you use that on Sin?

"Yeah, I did; I used it on two or three tracks. I can't remember which ones, but it's definitely on there. I had a few guitars with me in the studio, like my Les Paul that I bought in 1980, and I used the purple Peavey Vandenberg that I often played when I toured with Whitesnake in 1997. It sounds good and pairs so well with my Mesa/Boogie amps."

What led to the return of the Peavey model?

"By the time Whitesnake fell apart in 1998, I had been with the band since '86, so that's like 12 years. I had accumulated a serious collection of beefy guitars, including a bunch of Peavey stuff. At the time, I said, 'This stuff is never going to be classic,' and I went back to Holland and only brought four or five of my guitars with me. I didn't want to import all that stuff, so I ended up letting them go. I had no idea the Peavey stuff would become classic and didn't think much of it.

"But as the years passed, people kept asking me if I had any Peavey Vandenberg guitars and if I'd part with them. And since I had a few, I never bothered to answer. And then Facebook groups started popping up in tribute to the guitar, and I saw all these fans. So, eventually, Peavey approached me about bringing it back around a year ago; I said, 'Yes,' and we started working on it. That guitar has taken on a life of its own, which I certainly never expected."

Will the new Peavey Vandenberg models have the same specs as the old?

"The shape is the same, but there will be a few pickup options. We've also got a Floyd Rose on there now. But as far as pickups, we're doing Seymour Duncan pickups in a few different varieties. That aside, it's a striped maple top, on a mahogany body, with the rest essentially being the same. 

"I've only seen a couple of prototypes, but the craftsmanship is absolutely amazing. So, I'm very excited to get them back out there to the fans who want them. Like I said, I never expected them to become classic guitars or take on the life that they did. But I'm honored that it's happened that way, and I'm glad they'll be back in the hands of the people who have been wanting them."

• SIN is out on August 25 via Mascot Records/Mascot Label Group.

Guitar Techniques is thrilled to present an exclusive track from Whitesnake, Night Ranger and Trans-Siberian Orchestra rock virtuoso Joel Hoekstra, soloing over Jason Sidwell’s track, Excalibur. 

Joel uses the piece to demonstrate his highly sophisticated multi-finger tapping technique. So much so, that there are no picked notes whatsoever throughout the entire piece, each and every note is produced by either tapping with one of what would usually be the picking hand’s digits, by pulling-off to a note being held down by the fretting hand or by occasionally hammering on with the fretting hand, relying upon the impact of string on fret to produce a clearly defined tone. 

It’s definitely worth noting that Joel executes all of these techniques with expert control of handling noise and no extraneous open strings ringing whatsoever, without having to resort to using a string mute or fret wrap. 

While these devices can be extremely helpful in keeping noise at bay, the downside is that open strings and natural harmonics are not available should you want them, and these are both heavily used approaches in rock guitar styles. 

Excalibur is at a medium tempo of 111bpm with the drums giving us a half-time feel. The harmony shifts through a variety of key centres, starting in D minor for the verse, shifting towards G minor for the chorus section. In the solo we modulate to Eb Minor, where Joel showcases some stunning pentatonic intervallic patterns along with some bluesy quintuplet based rhythmic ideas. 

We return to the verse melody, although this time transposed to A minor before revisiting the chorus one last time before the final jubilant resolution to the key of G major to close.

Naturally, Joel negotiates these key changes gracefully and smoothly, but it’s encouraging to acknowledge that this is a composed piece. It’s clear from the analysis that he gives after the performance that Joel has meticulously mapped out each section and has a definite strategy for negotiating each shift in the harmony, well in advance.

Knowing what is around the corner, harmonically speaking, is the single most important factor to keep in mind when negotiating changes, irrespective of style, and it’s really evident that Hoekstra knows exactly where he is in the progression at all times, and so should you. 

While you may already be familiar and accustomed to using some tapping in your playing style, perhaps the area that might be new here could be the seamless integration of all tapping fingers, as Joel uses all four fingers of the picking hand (labelled i, m, a, and c), generally locked into a one-finger-per-fret system synchronised with his fretting hand.

Exceptions occur when two consecutive tapping notes are required at the same fret on different strings, such as in the opening bars, or to execute bluesy pentatonic phrases where the first and third fingers in the fretting hand ‘i’ and ‘a’ for the tapping hand are often favoured. 

We’re certain there will be new techniques, concepts, phrases, licks and lines for you to learn and incorporate in your playing here. In the analysis video that follows the performance Joel patiently breaks down every section clearly and methodically, so work in conjunction with the transcription and Joel’s video breakdown, approaching this challenging piece patiently, section by section. We guarantee you’ll find tons of new ideas to expand your playing, and also have fun exploring in the process.  

Joel Hoesktra’s considerations on two-hand tapping

“Tapping is just one part of my playing and for me is often thrown in for 10 seconds or so during an actual rock song. That said, I used it exclusively for my performance of Excalibur so I’ll explain some aspects that might help you duplicate what I’ve played. First off, I’m using .011-.048 gauge strings with a standard action that is high enough for bending and playing traditional rock guitar. 

“However, tapping is often best done with light gauge strings, very low action and a consistent graphite neck, not a Les Paul. The problem with a Les Paul is the toggle switch - it’s in the way for good hand posture. 

“I also had to film in landscape but ideally, I would have held the guitar vertically and filmed in portrait. That would get the toggle switch out of the way and allow for a clear view of the fretboard and make it easier for the picking-hand fingers to pull UP when pulling off. That’s very important when multi-finger tapping. 

“My ideal tone for tapping is not much distortion with a little compression added in front to even out the levels. If you’re looking for the best way to improve your picking hand hand’s tapping strength, there’s not a better exercise than trilling every finger combination for extended periods of time. This is great to do while watching TV as it’s not exactly the most musical thing to listen to. I also recommend tapping scales with your picking hand.  

“I get a lot of questions regarding the fact that I don’t use a wrap to reduce string noise. Well, tapping is just a part of my playing. I’m no tapping expert. All of the muting I do comes from fretting further down the first finger and using the tip of it to mute the neighbouring strings. 

“I also extend any unused fingers across the strings at all available times. All of this could be considered dated so by all means, go for the wrap. It would probably help me immensely, but it would be like teaching an old dog new tricks. That said, putting a wrap on and taking it off does take precious seconds when you’re playing so it can be hinderance too. 

“For full disclosure, when I worked on my multi-finger tapping it was around 1986. Few people were doing it back then and wraps weren’t even available. In closing, see how you get on with Excalibur with or without a wrap.”

Get the tone

Amp Settings: Gain 7, Bass 6, Middle 5, Treble 5, Reverb 4

Joel used a Gibson Les Paul Standard through a moderately overdriven amp with just a little reverb and delay to add ambience (too much echo will give multiple repeats of unwanted noises, so beware).

Also, the more gain you use, the more handling noise becomes an issues so make sure you’re sounding the notes as cleanly and clearly as possible and use any available digit to mute the idle bass strings. 

Chord chart

Video

Joel Hoekstra – Excalibur tab

[Bars 1-17] Our opening verse begins with a root-5th shape tapping figure in the fretting hand, decorated with hammer-ons and pull-offs in the picking hand. We’re outlining G minor moving to D minor, although on the repeat we add an A7 to imply a V7-Im in D minor. Joel mainly sticks to one-fret-per-finger with both hands, unless two consecutive notes are required at the same fret, as you can see in bar 2. 

[Bars 18-21] We change the rhythm slightly for the chorus, initially outlining a move between Gm6 (G-Bb-D-E) and D (D-F#-A), with appropriate decoration notes. [Bars 20-25] We change to a sextuplet pull-off figure using a pair of three-note matching voicings in both hands, shifted to outline the chords Cm-Am7b5-D7(sus4b9) to D7. 

[Bars 26-33] For the first half of the solo section we modulate to the key of Eb Minor. Joel’s creating tapping patterns here derived from the associated minor pentatonic scales (R-b3-4-5-b7), albeit with the taps tracing out a harmony a perfect 5th higher than the fretted notes, to outline both Ebm (Eb-Gb-Bb) and Bbm (Bb-Db-F). 

Pay close attention to the rhythmic patterns Joel employs as these are common rhythmic tools that he often uses in his improvisational and compositional vocabulary. In bars 30-33 things take on a bluesier edge, with a nested triplet quintuplet rhythmic pattern moved through our Ebm-Bbm changes.

[Bars 34-42] Joel adopts an almost Van Halen-like approach here, modified to accommodate his multi-finger tapping technique, using open strings and sticking exclusively to a single string to outline the shifting harmony. He drifts away from this pattern in bars 40-41, adopting the ‘zig-zag’ sixes pattern we saw earlier in the solo, although this time used to outline E7b9 (E-G#-B-D-F). [Bars 43-54] Our second verse shifts up a tone to A minor. 

In bars 51-54 we add an extra tag, spelling out Em7b5 (E-G-Bb-D) moving towards A7 (A-C#-E-G), implying a harmonic shift back towards our initial home key of D minor. 

Power ballads are often the biggest hits for heavier bands, opening up their catalog to the love song-loving masses. But what makes a song a power ballad? It's typically characterized by quiet verse sections and epic, heavy-hitting choruses, both with intense emotional lyrics and tons of drama.

Best of all, though, power ballads are often very easy to play on guitar, with simple-to-follow chord progressions laying the foundation for the soaring, heartfelt vocal lines over the top.

Here are 10 power ballads that are super-simple to play on guitar.

1. Poison – Every Rose Has Its Thorn

This song is the very definition of power ballad. Drama to the max. Every Rose Has Its Thorn was released in October 1988 as the third single from Poison's second album, Open Up and Say... Ahh! 

It is the band's only Number One hit in the US, reaching the top spot on Christmas Eve 1988 for three weeks (carrying over into 1989), and it also charted at Number 11 on the Mainstream Rock chart. 

The verse starts in G and moves to Cadd9 for each phrase, ending with D to C. The chorus echoes this chord pattern with G to C for two lines, then G D C with the final line G to C. Easy and rocking!

2. Whitesnake – Is This Love

Another power ballad about love that rocks it. Is This Love is taken from Whitesnake’s self-titled album, which was released in 1987. It was long rumored that the song had originally been written for Tina Turner. 

David Coverdale confirmed these rumors in the booklet of Whitesnake's 20th anniversary edition: "Before I'd left [for the south of France] a friend at EMI had asked me for any ideas that would work for Tina Turner. So that was where the original idea for Is This Love came from.” 

Is This Love became one of Whitesnake's most popular songs. The verse chords are Em7, Bm7, Cadd9. The verse uses C9, D/C, Bm7, C, Bm7, Am7, G7.

3. Skid Row – I Remember You

I Remember You is the third and final single from Skid Row's 1989 eponymous debut album. This power ballad was released in November 1989 and written by bandmates Rachel Bolan and Dave “the Snake” Sabo. 

In a 2007 interview, vocalist Sebastian Bach said, “I Remember You was the Number One prom song in the U.S. in the year 1990....You talk about making memories! Literally the whole country did their prom dance to I Remember You one year, and that's a real heavy memory to beat.” This song is literally the easiest one to play of all the songs listed here. The verse uses G to C. The chorus is G, D, Em, C, D, G.

4. Warrant – Heaven

This song was released in 1989 as the second single from Warrant's debut album, Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich. It was Warrant's most commercially successful single, reaching Number One in Rolling Stone, Number Two on the Billboard Hot 100 and Number Three on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. 

Heaven took Warrant's record company by surprise. Once the widespread appeal of the song became apparent, the band were instructed to re-record the track to lend it a “bigger radio sound.” 

The first 250,000 copies of the record featured the original version, while later pressings featured a new version. This song uses G, D, Dsus2 and Cadd9 throughout.

5. Cinderella – Don’t Know What You Got (Till It’s Gone)

This song is from Cinderella’s second album, Long Cold Winter. Released in August 1988, it was their most successful single, peaking at Number 12 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in November 1988. 

A 254-show tour to support the album lasted more than 14 months and included dates on the Moscow Music Peace Festival alongside other metal acts, including as Ozzy Osbourne, Scorpions, Mötley Crüe, Bon Jovi and Skid Row. 

The tour's stage show included Tom Keifer being lowered to the stage while playing a white piano during the performance of Don't Know What You Got (Till It's Gone). This song uses these chords: E, F#m, E, D, A. The chorus is Bm, F#m, Bm, F#m, E, D, A.

6. Night Ranger – Sister Christian

This track was released in June 1984 as the second single from Night Ranger’s Midnight Madness album. It was written and sung by the band's drummer, Kelly Keagy, for his sister when he was surprised by how fast she was growing up. It was the band's biggest hit, peaking at Number Five on the Billboard Hot 100 and staying on the charts for 24 weeks. 

It also reached Number One in Canada. The song has been featured in films including Friday the 13th, Boogie Nights and Superstar, and video games like Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Saints Row 2. Another super-easy one, it uses these chords in the verse: C, F, G, E, D, C, and these in the chorus: C, F, C, F, Bb, F, Bb, Bb-A-G.

7. Foreigner – I Want to Know What Love Is

This song hit Number One in the UK and the US and is the group's biggest hit to date. I Want to Know What Love Is was the first single released from Foreigner's 1984 album, Agent Provocateur. 

Featuring backing vocals from the New Jersey Mass Choir, the track was written and composed mostly by Mick Jones, and an uncredited portion by Lou Gramm. The exact contribution attributed to Gramm is disputed, with Jones saying he wrote 5 percent of the track, and Gramm saying he wrote up to 40 percent. 

Verse chords: C, F, Bb, Dm. Prechorus: Gm, C, Bb, F, Gm, Bb, C. Chorus: F, Dm, C, G, C, F.

8. Aerosmith – I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing

This Aerosmith hit was written by a true songwriting master, Diane Warren. It was recorded for the 1998 film Armageddon, which coincidentally featured Steven Tyler’s daughter, Liv Tyler. 

The song debuted at Number One on the US Billboard Hot 100, the first Number One for the band after 28 years together. Take the time to learn this crowd pleaser. Who doesn’t like an Aerosmith ballad? Verse chords: D, A, Bm, G, D, Em, A. Chorus: D, A, Em, Bm, G, D.

9. Heart – What About Love

What About Love was originally recorded by Canadian rock group Toronto, but is best known for the 1985 release by Heart. It was Heart's “comeback” single and the first Heart track to reach the top 40 in three years. 

It was released as the first single from the band's self-titled 1985 album as well as their first hit single on their new record label, Capitol Records. Grace Slick and Mickey Thomas, co-lead vocalists of Starship at the time, provide additional background vocals. Check out these chords and then give it a try! Verse chords: Em, C, G, D Chorus: G, C, D.

10. Mötley Crüe – Home Sweet Home

Home Sweet Home is a power ballad by Mötley Crüe. It was originally released in 1985 on Theatre of Pain and again in 1991 for the Decade of Decadence compilation. It has been recorded as a cover version by several artists and was released as a single by Carrie Underwood in 2009. 

Along with Wild Side, Home Sweet Home is one of the rare Mötley Crüe hits to have Vince Neil credited with the songwriting, although he did play a part in writing many of their non-hit songs. Chords: Em, G, C, D. Chorus: G, C, D.

“I do have a big MIDI pedalboard for regular touring, but when Winger does weekend fly-in shows, I bring this little three-pedal setup with me. If my travel bag is over 50lbs, it costs me an extra $100, and it’s easy to go over 50lbs when you’re bringing stage clothes, cables, a coat and what have you. Actually, I tried taking a bigger pedalboard with me to put in plane overheads, but I left it in the airport bar – twice. 

“Fortunately, I don’t need a clean sound or a wah, so this little ’board does the trick for me – a Boss DD-3 Digital Delay, a Suhr Shiba Drive Reloaded and a Boss TU-3 Chromatic Tuner.”

IF I HAD TO CHOOSE ONLY ONE PEDAL...

“If I had to choose one pedal to bring on a desert island, it would be a Suhr Riot [distortion] pedal because it makes any amp sound great, and I imagine the amp on a desert island would suck. A friend of mine did a show with [Aerosmith’s] Brad Whitford, and all they had was a crappy amp. My friend handed him a Riot pedal, and the sound went from crappy to amazing. Brad freaked out at the difference and bought one right away.”

• Eric Johnson reveals his at-home pedalboard

Whitesnake have announced they’ve recruited bassist Tanya O’Callaghan for their upcoming farewell tour, who will replace outgoing bass guitar player Michael Devin.

O’Callaghan, an Irish musician who operates as an established freelance bassist, has a star-studded resume, which includes stints with Dee Snider, Steven Adler and Maynard Keenan, as well as numerous TV appearances.

Breaking the news in a statement on the band’s official website, Whitesnake wrote, “Well, well well, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. We are very proud to announce and introduce you all to our newest Snake… or should I say, Snakette!

“A whirling dervish of a performer whom we feel will bring a fresh, new, exciting musicality and welcome energy to the band, both in the studio and onstage.”

“For whatever reasons,” Coverdale added, “Whitesnake has never featured a female musician in the band before. Bad boys! We are thrilled and delighted to welcome Tanya O’Callaghan to Whitesnake. Let the music do the talking!”

Coverdale went on to say that O’Callaghan was the first person Whitesnake reached out to following Devin’s departure after being “blown away” by her performance at the 2019 M3 Festival, where she played in Stephen Adler’s band.

On her own social media account, O’Callaghan wrote, “I guess the snake’s out of the bag. What an absolute honor to be joining Whitesnake/David Coverdale for their worldwide farewell tour.

“This small town gal still pinches herself over the amount of legends I’ve had the joy to work, tour and record with over the past few years since I made the terrifying solo leap across the Pacific with no clue how everything would unfold.

“It’s been a wild ride and just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, who calls, only Whitesnake!” she continued. “And the best part, to step into the snake shoes of my bass brothers Rudy Sarzo, Tony Franklin, Neil Murray and Micahel Devin… are you kidding me.

“What an honor beyond belief. My heart is exploding.”

O’Callaghan’s swift recruitment comes after Devin’s departure was announced over the weekend by the Coverdale-fronted outfit, with Devin describing his decade-long tenure with Whitesnake as “pure magic”.

In a statement shared to social media, Devin wrote, “I will sincerely miss the guys. They are my family. I wish David Coverdale a most rewarding Farewell tour, he deserves all the love and support on his Farewell that I know the fans will bring to the concert hall.”

He also offered some words of praise for the band’s incoming instrumentalist, saying, “Best wishes to Tanya O’Callaghan, a badass bassist and friend. She will lay down the low-end in the most righteous way.”

Whitesnake are currently preparing for their worldwide farewell tour, which is set to kick off in May next year.

To find out more, head over to Whitesnake's official website.

“To be perfectly honest, I’m not happy sitting around like this,” says Reb Beach. The hotshot guitarist is speaking from his home in Pittsburgh. He’s lived in the same house for decades, but he admits he never sees much of it. 

With his dual membership in Winger and Whitesnake (in the latter he shares axe duties with Joel Hoekstra), Beach is usually on the road for nine out of 12 months in any given year – and that’s how he prefers it. “Playing for people is what I do. I’ve been a performer for 31 years, and that’s how I make a living.” 

He reveals that 2020 was all lined up to be a banner year financially. “I was going to make a shitload of money,” he says. “It was going to be my best year since 1989. I was going to tour everywhere, and the schedules with both bands were mapped out beautifully. 

“Then COVID hit and everything came to a halt. I was in Singapore and I got the news that I had to fly home, and this is where I’ve been since March. It’s a real bummer.” 

Even so, things haven’t been all bad. At home, Beach gets to spend quality time with his 7-year-old granddaughter, Bella, and he’s been brushing up on his guitar skills. 

“One thing that’s kept me busy is giving guitar lessons, which I love,” he says. “I do them on Skype with people all over the world. A lot of guitarists want to learn how to play Winger solos, which has forced me to go back and analyze what I did when I recorded them. It’s improved my playing quite a bit. I never understood all the techniques I used when I laid these things down. It’s been enlightening.”

At the same time, he often finds himself conversing online with people who don’t even play guitar. 

“They just want to hang out with me for an hour,” he says. “They ask me questions like, ‘What’s David Coverdale really like?’ or ‘Tell us about Kip Winger.’ 

“I had one couple from Glasgow, Scotland, a guy and his wife, and each week they would sit on their couch and drink Guinness. All they wanted was for me to be their drinking buddy and regale them with tales of the road. I loved it. Hey, if they wanted to talk about the weather, that was fine by me.”

Not counting his 1993 set, The Fusion Demos, a compilation of his early DIY recordings, Beach has issued only one proper solo album, 2001’s Masquerade. 

Being Mr. Homebody for much of the past year has afforded him the opportunity to finish his long-gestating second solo effort, A View from the Inside, an all-instrumental guitarathon that harkens back to the late-'80s days of Satriani, Vai and Morse.

The album contains gnashing, full-on metal chargers like Cutting Loose and Black Magic (a version of which appeared on Guitar World’s very own The Guitars That Rule the World CD back in 1991) and extravagant fusion jams such as The Way Home and Hawkdance. Beach even shows off some heretofore-hidden funk chops on the slippery groovers Little Robots and Attack of the Massive.

“A lot of this stuff has been sitting in my hard drive for years, so it feels good to finally get it done and out there,” he says. “If 2020 had been a normal year, I probably wouldn’t have finished it – I would’ve been on the road. Actually, I have to credit Kip for this.

“We were trying to figure out what the hell to do because we couldn’t tour, and he said, ‘What’s going on with that record you’ve been messing around with?’ I said, ‘I’ve got 10 songs that are pretty much done,’ and he said, ‘Why don’t you release it?’” He laughs and adds, “Sometimes I just need a kick in the pants to see what’s right in front of me.”

Aside from what you mentioned, have you been doing any non-musical things while you’ve been home?

“Nah. I keep hearing people say they’re learning a new language or writing a novel – all these amazing things! I don’t know… That’s just not me. I’m all about music. When I was a kid, I took an aptitude test to see what I was good at, and it basically said I had absolutely no aptitude for anything whatsoever except for music. [Laughs] 

“And that’s really what I’ve done my whole life. That’s all I want to do. And can I just say that I can’t wait to get out there and play again?”

I think you’ve said it. I’m curious about something… David Coverdale has a history of going through guitar players. You’ve maintained your place in the band for a long time now. Why is that?

“You want to know something wild? I’m the 46th member of the band! Isn’t that crazy? There’s been so many incarnations of Whitesnake, and I’ve been a member for 17 years. That’s longer than anybody except David. 

“If I can attribute it to anything, I think it’s because I’m very easy to work with. I don’t like to make waves. I have a strong singing voice, so that’s a good thing. It’s hard to find a guitar player who can sing in tune and has a pleasing voice. So I’ve got that going for me. 

“But really, I think I’m a pretty non-aggressive guy, and that’s helped me when I’m surrounded by some guys who can get a little aggressive. I show up on time and do my job. As long as there’s nice Coors Light at the gig, I’ll be there.”

How do you generally balance being in Whitesnake and Winger? I imagine you’d have some scheduling conflicts from time to time. 

“For the longest time it wasn’t a problem because Kip was so busy. He’s always writing symphonies and Broadway shows. Plus, Rod [Morgenstein] is a drum professor at Berklee for most of the year, so his hands are full. Scheduling Winger around Whitesnake has never really been an issue. 

“As far as Whitesnake is concerned in the future, we’re just going to have to see what David wants to do. I know he doesn’t want to mess around with Covid. 

“Whenever it’s safe to book a tour, I’m sure we will. My fear is that both bands will want to tour at the same time, so we’ll have to see what happens. Everything is 'wait and see' right now.”

I read an interview in which you said The Fusion Demos is a really big seller on iTunes.

“Yeah, that’s unreal! Some people say it’s their favorite record. One of the songs was recorded on a Fostex four-track cassette recorder – it’s super old. I was practically a kid when I recorded that stuff. 

“Some people complain that it sounds like shit, and it does; it’s pretty noisy. But you know, enough people wanted to hear it, so why would I hold it back? I like to share as much of me as possible. [Pauses] That sounded kind of weird, didn’t it?”

A little. You’re an unabashed fan of Satriani, Vai and Steve Morse. To my ears, A View from the Inside sounds like a real mix of the three.

“Absolutely. You can hear my influences in there, all those guys. But you know, I’m still a big Jean-Luc Ponty fan. There’s a track called The Way Home that’s very Ponty. And on Little Robots I’m paying tribute to Larry Carlton. I’m really happy with how everything turned out, even if it is a little overproduced.“

Oh? How so?

“I worked on it for 10 years, so I think I tinkered too much. There’s a lot of little keyboard parts that I probably didn’t have to put on there. I played a lot of keyboards and bass on it, but I had some other people on the record: David Throckmorton and Robert Langley play drums, I’ve got Phillip Bynoe and John Hall doing some bass, and Michele Luppi and Paul Brown do some keyboards. 

“Those tracks were before Covid hit. If I had the chance to do it over again, I’d make it more of a stripped-down live record. I’d love to put together a band and go out and just rip on guitar!“

Is it hard making a solo album without an outside producer? Do you miss having that outside voice telling you what you’re doing wrong?

“It is hard at times. I’m not the greatest producer, but I can do it. Yeah, it’s good to have a second opinion, especially if it’s somebody who knows what they’re doing. In one way or another, Kip is usually involved in whatever I do. He’s a genius. He’s amazing on Pro Tools, he’s a great producer and engineer, and he’s a great composer and arranger.“

So basically, he’s way better than you.

“Kinda. [Laughs] He is! He also helps me get my act together because I tend to be a little lazy and stuff.“

Can you point to any new playing techniques on the album?

“Hmmm, I need to think about that… Attack of the Massive was a real challenge for me because I pick every note. And the thing is, I never pick every note. I like not picking every note. 

“That song took a few takes to get right. In the middle of the track, I wanted a breakdown that was reminiscent of Peter Frampton’s Do You Feel Like We Do? It would be a tour de force live thing. 

“And then after that breakdown, I go into a solo with the keyboard. I thought, 'How groundbreaking is this? I’m going to double my guitar with that keyboard. I bet that’s never been done before!' Turns out it’s been done thousands of times.”

Right, but never by you.

“Exactly. So what I thought was really unique wasn’t unique at all; it was just unique for me.”

There’s a lot of funk on that song. Little Robots, too – in-the-pocket rhythm guitar, slap bass, groovy keyboard lines. When people think funk, they don’t normally think Reb Beach.

“Yeah, I know. That’s why I wanted to put those songs on the album. I wanted people to know it wasn’t just a hard rock record. It would be hard to write a full-on hard rock record and keep it interesting with no vocals. So there’s some rockers on there as well as the fusion and funk stuff.”

Your opening lick on Aurora Borealis sounds like bagpipes.

“That’s a technique I never did before. Playing that is a whole new reach with my left hand. I have my fingers really stretched out, and then I do this wild rhythm with tapping. 

“My dad always used to tap his fingers on his car. He was tone deaf, but he had great rhythm. I think I got that from him. So I tried out this new tapping thing, and I think it came out nice – like bagpipes.”

There’s a moment midway through the song in which you play an incredible speedball of notes; it sounds as if each phrase is somehow getting away from you.

“Because they are! [Laughs] I almost didn’t do that because I’m barely touching the notes on the guitar. It comes down to really soft, fast notes, almost muted. It sounds like I was drunk, but I really wasn’t. 

“I liked the dynamics of the whole thing – it gets louder, then softer, but everything is still going really fast. Remember how the Outlaws did that in Green Grass and High Tides? They were just blitzing on these fast riffs, but the notes sounded muted. That’s what I was thinking when I did it.“

What were your main guitars for the record?

“I’m a big John Suhr guy. I used the Suhr guitar I’ve always played, the Koa body with the Pau Ferro neck. That’s my old standby. I don’t use different guitars, and I don’t use Fractal and all that stuff. 

“I use the one Marshall that John modded for me into a Mesa cabinet, and I’m good to go. The only effect is one of his Shiba Drive pedals. I get everything I need with that setup. The rest is up to me and my fingers.”

• Reb Beach's A View from the Inside is out now via Frontiers Records.

Ask Doug Aldrich what accounts for his longevity, and the guitarist will answer with some refreshing candor and modesty. 

“It’s totally luck! I’ve been super-lucky to work with Dio and Whitesnake. And, of course, you have to work hard and practice and work on your soloing and your chops. But you gotta have a bit of luck because I know a lot of guys that would blow me in the weeds who haven’t been as lucky.” 

Of course, the fact that he’s a killer player has contributed to his ongoing success, almost 40 years after bursting onto the scene in '80s metal group Lion. Since then, he’s been recruited by some of the world’s best-known hard rock acts – Dio, Whitesnake and, most recently, the supergroup known as the Dead Daisies. 

The group’s new album, Holy Ground, is anchored around the simple, crunchy riffs of David Lowy, the band’s rhythm guitarist and sole constant member. If Lowy provides the meat and potatoes, Aldrich brings the garnish, adding flashy lead flourishes and single-note lines that are the hallmark of any great band.

“[David] has this very honest, simple, aggressive approach, and I don’t play that way,” Aldrich says. “He’s got a big hand in the sound of the guitars.”

While many rock fans would be familiar with the Dead Daisies members’ other bands (the constantly evolving cast has included current and former members of Guns N’ Roses, Mötley Crüe, Black Sabbath, Thin Lizzy and the Cult, among others) the group is Lowy’s brainchild.

In a way, he’s a sort of an Australian Gene Simmons in reverse. While the Kiss bassist famously used rock stardom to launch a second career as a tycoon, Lowy went the opposite way, making a fortune in the business world before realizing he prefers rehearsal spaces to boardrooms.

While you wouldn’t be hard pressed to find other middle-aged bros replacing their suits and briefcases with Iron Maiden T-shirts and beater Strats on the weekend, the rich get to bring their rock fantasies to life with a bit more flair.

For its latest iteration, they brought onboard Glenn Hughes, the iconic singer and bassist perhaps best known for his work in Deep Purple, after previous lead singer John Corabi decided to leave. It was a welcome reunion for Aldrich, who had recently done a stint in Hughes’ solo project.

“I didn’t suggest Glenn! Glenn was doing his Deep Purple shows, so I thought he was busy. But they told me they were talking to Glenn, and I thought, ‘That’s really cool!’ That’s a major shift in the sound. When you change the singer it’s always a shift.

“Jamming with Glenn, when I was on tour with him, [those were] some of my favorite times on stage, as far as musically having a blast. It’s amazing to play Holy Diver or Rainbow in the Dark or Heaven and Hell with Dio or some of the stuff I wrote with Whitesnake. But with Glenn, it was improvisational live.”

Whether that jammy vibe will carry over to a tour for the new lineup remains to be seen. As we spoke, the pandemic was still ongoing. But Aldrich, at least, has always had luck on his side.

• The Dead Daisies new album, Holy Ground, is out now via Spv.

For those of you that have been following my columns, you know that one of my favorite techniques for soloing is two-finger tapping, for which I use two pick-hand fingers to hammer-on and pull-off notes instead of the more conventional one-finger approach. 

A good, instructive example of this technique in action can be found in the solo I play in the song Get Up, from the latest Whitesnake album, Flesh and Blood, which I’d like to break down for you today.

The solo is played over an F#5 powerchord and much of it based on the F# minor pentatonic scale (F#, A, B, C#, E) played in 14th position (see Figure 1). 

Also, the feel here is a fast rock shuffle groove, for which each pair of eighth notes is swung, or played like the first and third notes of an eighth-note triplet.

Figure 2 illustrates the first four bars. I begin with an oblique bend, which refers to two or more strings played together while only one is bent. While holding a high E note (B string, 17th fret), I bend the B note below it (G string, 16th fret) up a whole step to C# and add vibrato.

The subsequent phrase is built from a series of descending 6ths, played on non-adjacent strings and based on the F# Dorian mode (F#, G#, A, B, C#, D#, E). I use hybrid picking to perform this lick, picking the lower note in each 6th with a downstroke and plucking the higher note with my bare middle finger.

This is followed by Figure 3, in which I basically return to F# minor pentatonic, although I add a twist here by incorporating the major third, A#, sounded with a hammer-on, throughout the phrase.

At the culmination of this phrase, I bring in two-finger tapping, as shown in Figure 4. Following a long slide, or glissando, up to F# on the 1st string’s 14th fret, I use my pick hand’s 1st finger to tap a high B note on beat 1 of the first complete bar, followed by a 3rd-finger tap on C#, two frets higher. 

I then release the taps to sound A, at the 17th fret, which I fret conventionally with my fret hand’s 3rd finger, followed by a repeat tap on B, which is then released to F#, fretted conventionally with my fret hand’s 1st finger. 

I then move this idea sequentially down across the adjacent strings while staying diatonic to F# minor pentatonic.

The phrase ends with Figure 5, which is built from repeated multiple taps.

Figure 6 throws a monkey wrench into the works with unexpected chromatic, reverse-arpeggiated power chords, again performed with hybrid picking.

The lowest note of each shape is sounded with the pick while the higher notes are fingerpicked with the middle and ring fingers. The solo then wraps up with some Chuck Berry/Stevie Ray Vaughan-style sliding barres across the top three strings, as shown in Figure 7.

Whitesnake and Winger guitarist Reb Beach has announced a new solo album, A View From the Inside, and shared the first single and video from the record, Infinito 1122.

The new record, his first all-instrumental effort, features Beach on guitars, as well as handling some bass and keyboards. 

Other players on the record include drummers David Throckmorton and Robert Langley, bassists Phillip Bynoe and John Hall, pianist Michele Luppi and keyboardist Paul Brown.

A View From the Inside is out November 6, and available to preorder now.

In the meantime, you can learn how to tap like Reb (and Eddie and Randy) in this Guitar World lesson.

In this lesson, I’d like to present the guitar solo I crafted for the new Whitesnake song Trouble Is Your Middle Name, as featured on our latest album, Flesh & Blood. 

The solo features some fluid-sounding multi-finger fretboard tapping, plus some cool chromatic movement and crazy string bending, which I’ll guide you through. The opening phrase is based on the E blues scale (E, G, A, Bb, B, D) as played in 12th position. 

Some of you might be familiar with the rolling legato lick shown in Figure 1, which is centered on the G string. I devised a twist on this phrase by replacing the B note with a high E, as shown in Figure 2. In the solo, I follow that repeating lick with a whole-step bend from D to E on the B string’s 15th fret, then a two-step overbend up to F# (see Figure 3).

The next phrase, (see Figure 4), is a pretty standard rock lick: after the gradual release of the bend, I do a hammer/pull between B and D on the B string, followed by a Bb note on the G string, then cap off the phrase with a double pull-off, from Bb to A to G. 

Figure 5 shows the end of the first part of the solo, which features a series of half-step pre-bends from A to Bb on the G string and a resolution to the E root note.

The second part of the solo is where the tapping comes into play. As illustrated in Figure 6, I start off with a slide up to E on the 6th string’s 12th fret with my fret-hand index finger, followed by a quick hammer-on to G. I then tap the same string with my pick hand’s index and middle fingers at the 17th and 19th frets to sound A and B then pull-off all the notes in reverse order. 

The sequence then moves to each higher string while remaining within the structure of E minor pentatonic (E, G, A, B, D). When I get to the B string, I alternate between middle-finger and pinkie taps and end the phrase with wide bends on the high E string.

Figures 7 and 8 are inspired by Randy Rhoads, with the former being built from descending chromaticism and the latter featuring unusual half-step movement in a symmetrically shaped descending pattern. Figure 9 is based on a B augmented triad (B, D#, G) that leads up to an oblique bend that’s treated to some 'on/off' toggle switching. 

The final phrase, Figure 10 features some more two-fingered tapping with another Rhoads-approved chromatically descending phrase. There are many complex articulations to get stuck into on this one, so be patient and tackle each phrase beat by beat, then work on smoothly connecting them.

Joel Hoekstra plays for Whitesnake, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Cher and his own side project, Joel Hoekstra's 13. Whitesnake's latest album is 2019's Flesh & Blood. Find out more at joelhoekstra.com.

Hello everyone, and welcome back to my column, School of Rock! As always, it is my hope that these lesson will inspire your playing while also expanding your musical horizons on the guitar.

In this column, I’d like to focus on the intro riff and intro solo I play in Shut Up and Kiss Me, from the latest Whitesnake album, Flesh & Blood. The song is played in the key of E, with a chord sequence and intro solo based on the notes of the E minor pentatonic scale: E, G, A, B, D.

The intro begins with a long finger slide, or gliss (glissando), down the low E string, from a random starting point high up on the neck, followed by two-note powerchord accents played alternately against the palm-muted open low E string, as shown in FIGURE 1. 

The picking is all downstrokes here, and I palm mute open low E notes between the chord stabs. The E note serves as a pedal tone (a recurring note among changing chords). 

I play the two-bar pattern three times then perform another gliss down the low E string and repeat the two-bar riff pattern (see FIGURE 2). I cap off the section with syncopated accents on open A5 and D5 chords, as shown in FIGURE 3.

My Whitesnake co-guitarist Reb Beach and I always try to coordinate where we’re going to shake chords, or add finger vibrato to them. For example, at the end of the progression where I play the E5 chord accents, I add vibrato to the chord.

Now let’s look at the intro solo, which is based on the stock 12th-position fretboard pattern of the E minor pentatonic scale depicted in FIGURE 4. For the solo, I engage my wah pedal and switch from my bridge pickup to my neck pickup, which to me offers a greater range of mid- and low-end sweep with the wah.

FIGURE 5 presents the first four bars of the solo, which are played on the top two strings, with a whole-step bend in bar 2 from G to A, which I over-bend a whole step, to B. The phrase ends with a bend from D to E on the B string, to which I add a wide, aggressive bend vibrato.

To summarize the rest, FIGURE 6 shows the next two bars, which feature a series of wide-interval open-string pull-offs, played in a 16th-note rhythm and performed with hybrid picking. 

FIGURE 7 shows the high A bend that follows, and FIGURE 8 combines the two phrases and continues to the end of the solo, where I bend, partially release, re-bend and then shake the high D note at the 22nd fret.

Joel Hoekstra plays for Whitesnake, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Cher and his own side project, Joel Hoekstra's 13. Whitesnake's latest album is 2019's Flesh & Blood. Find out more here.

To me, nothing is less tasteful than simply playing a bunch of fast licks to show off your chops on a ballad. I believe that a guitar solo in a ballad should provide a strong melodic hook of its own and balance well against the feeling of the song overall. 

With this in mind, I’d like to cite the short solo I crafted for When I Think of You, featured on the new Whitesnake album, Flesh & Blood, as a good example of how to approach soloing over a rock “power ballad.”

When I Think of You is in the key of C major, and a great way to start a solo on a song like this is to emphasize the triadic chord tones of the tonic, or home key.

The notes of a C major triad are C, E and G, and I begin the solo by playing a simple lick that’s built from two notes: the root, C, and the 5th, G (see Fig. 1).

When I end the phrase, I move back down the triad by starting on the 4th F, before repeating the triadic tones, as illustrated in Fig. 2. Notice that I’m adding a nice slow, wide finger vibrato to every held note here, to evoke a “singing” vocal-like quality.

Fig. 3 shows how I put the two parts together.

This phrase comes right out of the C major scale (C, D, E, F, G, A, B), as well as C major pentatonic (C, D, E, G, A; see Fig. 4).

I repeat the initial phrase then wrap up the line by melodically setting up the change to the IV (four) chord, F, as shown in Fig. 5.

Now that I’m on F, I like to incorporate a quick downstroke sweep across the triad into the single-note phrase. Fig. 6  illustrates how I start with the sweep and then finish the phrase back in C major pentatonic, ending on D, which is the 5th of the next chord in the progression, G (G, B, D).

Over the next two bars, I recall the initial theme, but now I vary it slightly by playing 16th notes at the end of the first bar of the phrase, followed by an expressive “overbend” of one and one half steps, from G up to Bb, as shown in Fig. 7.

After that, at the end of the solo, I move high up on the neck to create the feeling of a crescendo.

Fig. 8 presents the entire solo. In bar 7, after playing the keynote, C, over the F chord, which is that chord’s 5th (F, A, C), I move up to a C note an octave higher then drop down one fret and bend up to that same note from B, a half step lower, after which I play a descending G major arpeggio over G. I follow this with a whole-step bend from the high C note up to D.

As you can see, I took a balanced, melodic and thought-out approach to this solo, with the idea of serving the song first and foremost, which I think should always be the first priority when soloing.

• Joel Hoekstra plays for Whitesnake, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Cher and his own side project, Joel Hoekstra's 13. 
• Whitesnake's latest album, Flesh & Blood, is out now via Frontiers Music.

Guitarist Joel Hoekstra has enjoyed a diverse and storied career, serving six years to date in British hard-rock legends Whitesnake, touring with Trans-Siberian Orchestra and even working with pop icon Cher.

And, in fact, we'd rank his ongoing contributions to Guitar World right up there with those achievements. Adding to the portfolio, today, the guitarist shows us how to play a mind-bending solo run, sections of which he performs live with Whitesnake.

Hoekstra throws everything in his technical arsenal at the solo as he glides through nimble two-handed tapping lines, hammer-on/pull-off passages and dextrous hybrid picking phrases with ease.

And if you thought the show of dexterity would end at Hoekstra's hands, think again. The shred master throws a wah pedal into the mix, further shaping his tasty gain-driven tone.

Steve Vai will be the first to tell you how uncanny his charmed life in rock ‘n’ roll has been. While his work as a game-changing guitar expressionist (and his hallowed discography of instrumental albums) might take priority in the minds of guitar fans, Vai’s odyssey through the ranks of rock music is the stuff of legend. 

As a gifted teen, Vai travelled from bedroom woodshed to the bootcamp of Frank Zappa’s band, after which he took the reins from famously furious neo-classical shredder Yngwie Malmsteen in Alacatrazz. Vai left the Alcatrazz gig to join David Lee Roth in spearheading the singer’s wildly successful post-Van Halen solo group, a gig he left in 1989 only to have yet another coveted lead guitar role “fall in his lap” (as he tells it), this time with one of the biggest bands of the '80s: Whitesnake.

With Whitesnake, Vai did more than just enjoy a casual walk-on with a band at the peak of its success. He reshaped the group’s sound from the inside out with his contributions to 1989’s Slip of the Tongue. 

That album marked a major shift away from the brand of muscular blues-rock Whitesnake was known for, chiefly due to Vai’s penchant for theatrical flash, flare for painting with effects and layered approach to tracking guitars. Slip of the Tongue brought Whitesnake’s sound into the future and, while it was an album that risked leaving fans behind, it would go platinum before the grunge revolution changed the face of guitar music altogether. 

Oddly, despite Vai’s massive resume, he got the Whitesnake call because frontman David Coverdale was so impressed by his performance and guitar contributions to the 1986 film Crossroads in which the guitarist famously played the role of Jack Butler, the Devil’s shredder.

Slip of the Tongue celebrated its 30th anniversary late last year and was treated to a royal re-release package, complete with a fresh remaster and an expanded, deluxe edition of the album that boasts unreleased studio recordings, music videos, a new interview with Coverdale and a recording of the band’s positively blistering 1990 headlining set at Castle Donington. 

In anticipation of the album’s big birthday, Guitar World was invited into Vai’s studio, the Harmony Hut, to chat about the album. The guitar hero opened up about his sole release with the band, lessons learned from Diamond Dave and his working relationship with Coverdale and co-guitarist Adrian Vandenberg. He also reflected on what was one of his finest moments as a bona fide rock star.

David Coverdale had a lot of experience working with gifted players when you joined the fold and seems to be someone who really values the interplay between a frontman and a dazzling lead guitarist. What was he like to work with? Was he hands-on or did he get out of the way and let you do your thing?

"David was a prince! He had a lot of confidence in me and basically knew he needed to just let me do my thing. David knew what I was capable of and didn’t really interfere with what I wanted to do. I just did it, and if there was something he didn’t like I was happy to change it because it was his thing. Working with David was great and there was something in his phrasing as a singer that I just adored.

"There was really only one situation where David asked me to redo something and I completely agreed. It was on The Deeper the Love. I had done a solo using a piece of rack gear that was the hot new piece of gear at the time. I won’t mention who it was made by, but I hated the thing, but everybody was saying how great it was, so I gave it a spin. 

"It sounded like shit - thin and buzzy like a deranged mosquito! I wasn’t really satisfied with the sound on the solo and, sure enough, David heard it and went, 'Steven darling, would you mind redoing this solo - it sounds a bit thin.' Other than that, he just let me run with it."

The lore goes that many of the guitar parts on Slip of the Tongue were already written by co-guitarist Adrian Vandenberg when you joined, but he had a recurring wrist injury flare-up and was unable to track the album. Is that correct?

"Not exactly. When I had joined Whitesnake, the tracks were already recorded and Adrian had laid down guide rhythm tracks. What had happened was Adrian developed this situation with his wrist that persisted throughout the tour. I’m not sure what caused it, but he’d have to soak his wrist after every show. 

"Adrian’s such a great player, but the injury made it so he couldn’t really sustain for too long because of the pain. I’ve stayed pretty close with Adrian over the years and I see him whenever I’m in Holland, and when I spoke to him a couple of years ago he was still having that wrist problem - but they located the source of it to his neck. 

"So Adrian had made these guide tracks and that were basically chords and structures, and I obviously copped a lot of the riffs from those, but I put my spin on them because it was all like one track of guitar. I went in with 20 tracks on some songs; it’s a very dense guitar record and I definitely did my best to decorate it! It was a departure for what Whitesnake was normally known for in the guitar department."

Did you have any reservations about not staying wholly true to Whitesnake’s old signature sound?

"You have to find a balance between what’s expected of you from the band, what the fans are expecting, what the song requires and is telling you to do - and also being true to your own voice. I had no choice but to express my own voice because that’s all I know! 

"If I had tried to sound like Yngwie [Malmsteen] when I had joined Alcatrazz, it just wouldn’t have worked because I’m very satisfied with the way I play, but I also can’t play like Yngwie. It was the same thing when I was playing with Dave [David Lee] Roth; I needed to deliver in a rock context - which was very natural to me - but I’m not going to compete with Edward Van Halen!

"There’s no way those records would’ve been accepted if I didn’t have some kind of rock integrity, but I knew what the songs needed and I knew what the audience was expecting and there’s a side of me that I knew could deliver that. It was the same thing with Whitesnake.

"The foundation of Whitesnake’s sound was rooted in rock blues, and there’s a whole culture that emanated from Europe in that traditional solid rock blues guitar playing that had a real authenticity to it.

"Michael Schenker, Uli Jon Roth, Adrian Vandenberg, Ritchie Blackmore, Jimmy Page - that was the sound all Whitesnake records had been built upon. But Whitesnake had gone through different permutations of guitar sounds throughout the years, and the previous one to me was John Sykes, and he absolutely had his own sound. 

"Sykes didn’t sound like any other previous Whitesnake guitarist, but his thumbprint is an indelible part of the Whitesnake record he did. The fatness of that record and the rock integrity it had was all Sykes. So I knew I wasn’t going to sound like Sykes and I wasn’t going to try to. 

"You cheat yourself when you try to do that and play like someone else. And the audience is a lot smarter than you think; they’re very intuitive and perceptive and if you try to pull anything over on them - like biting someone else’s thing - you’ll get beat up for it."

What did you learn during the Roth years that you brought with you when you took the Whitesnake gig?

"When I joined Dave Roth, I was coming from Frank Zappa and Alcatrazz, so I had never really had the experience of being on a big rock arena stage. With David Lee Roth in the '80s, it didn’t really get any bigger than the rock ‘n’ roll we were doing, and there was an element of fun and even a quirkiness to it. 

"I was perfectly suited to the Roth gig and I think that experience taught me how to translate what I do to a big audience - how to truly entertain in a rock band. With Frank [Zappa], you stood there and you made sure you’re playing the right notes. With David Lee Roth or Whitesnake, you have to entertain.

"Now, I’ve always liked theater and the over-the-top and I’m a total ham - I really love performing! In my mind’s eye when I was a kid, I’d lie in bed and listen to music and see myself performing - not just playing. I’d create a visual of myself doing the whole thing because when you’re a kid you’re allowed to think like that. There’s no taboo in being 11 years old with your headphones on making believe you’re playing in front of thousands and thousands of people and creating an image. 

"The image I created was this character that had almost effortless skill, wizard-like in their playing and very graceful in their movements. I saw this very elegant movement to things and a specific integration between their playing and their movements. What I didn’t realize at the time is I was creating who I’d become. 

"We all do it and don’t even realize we’re doing it, but whatever you’re thinking about and fantasizing about as a kid, you might become if you’re lucky and work hard."

Your iconic second solo record, Passion and Warfare, was happening around the same time you got the Whitesnake call - is that right?

"I had started recording Passion and Warfare before I had even joined Dave Roth’s band, and the release was scheduled before I knew I was going to join Whitesnake. It kind of coincided right when I was kicking off the Whitesnake tour."

It shows a pretty serious lack of ego to push a solo record that you had toiled over for that long to the back burner to tour with another band.

"The decision at the time came because I was always very comfortable with the idea of being the sideman and working with a really great lead singer. With Dave Roth, you had one of the best frontmen of all time and especially of the '80s. 

"What Dave did - his command and the ego he brought to the stage - was theater and show and such an important part of what made rock ‘n’ roll what it was back then. However, when I was working on Passion and Warfare, I knew that all of these rock bands I was in were relatively fleeting and that the whole big rock-star thing had a certain shelf life.

"I’m so grateful that I was able to play around in that arena for a while; it really satisfied a lot of that urge to be a rock star and to explore that life. But, the more compelling movement in me was always - since before all of the bands and even before Frank [Zappa] - the music I was hearing in my head. 

"As uncommercial or whatever you want to call it, that music was compelling and always calling to me, you know? That music said to me, 'You can do this rock star stuff and that’s OK, and you do it the best you possibly can, but I’m waiting for you.' I went to Capitol Records to deliver Passion and Warfare, and I had to tell them I had joined up with David Lee Roth and I couldn’t finish my own record and go on tour because the schedules conflicted. 

"I’ll never forget what Joe Smith at Capitol said to me: 'Steve Vai, you are a shooting star that has no place to land,' meaning you’re just going to keep going and it’s OK that you’re doing this stuff now, but you will have to at some point do the music that’s inside of you because if you don’t you’re going to be miserable and there’s not enough money or fame that will be able to satisfy your creative instincts."

That’s an unexpectedly empathetic sentiment from a record exec at a major label in the 1980s!

"That was the gist of it, and what was interesting was when it came time to finally release the thing, I went back to Capitol, and Joe Smith wasn’t with the company any more. The guy that took over - Simon Potts - actually said to me, 'I don’t understand this record and I don’t know what to do with it. We’ll put it out, but we’re not going to do any promotion, and your advance of $250,000? We’re going to cut that in half.'

"Most musicians at the time would’ve been like, “Oh, you suck! But OK.” and I just said, “OK, great! Bye!” and I left and didn’t give them that record. They thought that I’d be fine with whatever they said, but I said no, paid back my advance and I shopped my record elsewhere."

Where were you at as a player when you got the Whitesnake call?

"It’s interesting because a couple years ago I saw a clip of one of the shows we did at Donington and I couldn’t believe it! I said, 'Is that what I played like back then?!' It was pretty fierce and there was a real aggression to it. And a lot of control. I just remember thinking it was never good enough back then. 

"I think that’s a common thing in some people: knowing that what you’re playing is the right thing and that it feels right, but always feeling like you could do better or do more. And then you get older and you look back and realize you were completely blind to how good you were. 

"There was a part of me back then that always went, 'Why are all these people reacting this way to the way I play? It’s not that great,' because I always felt like there was another level! You don’t know that you can’t see the forest for the trees."

You tracked the guitar parts for Slip of the Tongue at your own recording studio. Do you recall your core signal path for the album?

"Tons of guitars made appearances, but the majority of the tracks were done with the first prototype of the Ibanez Universe seven-string. I got that guitar right before we started tracking that record, and that’s what I used for the main parts. You can really hear it there, but there’s also all sorts of decorations and auxiliary guitar parts that were done with a lot of different guitars.

"As far as the effects at the time, multi-effects were just coming out, so we were still stacking various rack-based choruses, delays and phase shifters. With the exception of the distortions and wah-wahs, everything was in rack units. 

"There was a myriad of amps being used, but for the most part I was into Soldanos at the time - early SLO-100s. I also had some older modded non-master volume Marshalls that had been modified by Jose Arredondo who was the guy at the time and had done all of Edward Van Halen’s amps. I was introduced to him through the Roth camp and he did a bunch of amps for me. The Carvin amps were out of the picture at that point."

Could you give some examples of how and where you incorporated the extended range?

"It’s all over the record. It’s hard to hear because it’s not utilized the way contemporary seven-string players use it. Whenever there were low notes between B and E, I used them. The seven-string is really apparent on Slow Poke Music, Judgement Day and Kittens Got Claws.

"Obviously this is well before the djent thing, but when I was doing that stuff with the seven-string, I instinctively knew there was going to be kids that saw the seven-string and recognized a completely different potential for it."

When you listen to that record now, are there any sections of which you remain particularly proud?

"Well, as far as the music itself goes, I think it stands up! It didn’t sound trite or forced and it doesn’t sound too dated to my ears. On some of the tracks, I was able to really kind of bust my nut, as they say. I love listening to a track like Kittens Got Claws with that intro with all of those cat sounds - that’s all guitar! 

"I listened to that not long ago and I wondered how I did all that cat stuff. In retrospect, when you look back at something like that, you learn a lot about who you were at the time, and I was a very different person.

"My trajectory from my bedroom to Frank Zappa to Alcatrazz to the Roth gig was pretty uncanny, and as I started to really hit the scene, so to speak, it was awkward feeling when I started getting recognition. At one point, I honestly couldn’t really figure out what people saw in my playing.

"Then you start winning Grammys, you win every guitar poll and you’re on the cover of every magazine, there’s tons of money coming in and everyone’s telling you how great you are and the ego comes in through the backdoor, and it starts to infiltrate you without you even knowing it! 

"It can kill creativity, but it also becomes an attention demander. There was a period there when I was in Whitesnake where I was probably experiencing more of my pretentious nature than I had ever before and I don’t think I was that easy to deal with."

Surely many would say that attitude is part and parcel of a gig like that. Would you not agree that at least a touch of that ego and attitude was required to pull off a gig like Donington?

"I don’t know. I’ve worked with a lot of people and we’re all caught up in our ego - that’s just across the board - but it reflects into the world in different ways. I think what you’re really referring to is confidence, and that’s what it boils down to. 

"That’s something I had in truckloads and I had no doubt that I was going to get on that stage and play my ass off and be a rock star - for the people! The guitar is such a focused instrument and people love rock guitar and they want to see you blow up the bridge.

"They want to see you be that guy and I was all too happy to be that guy and I was fiercely confident in everything I did. When it came time to do the guitar parts on any of those records, whether it was replacing Yngwie or the Roth gig, it was always like, “Yeah! Let me at it! I know what I’m gonna do, stand back!”

What’s it like looking back on that whole experience as we mark 30 years of Slip of the Tongue?

"It ticked all the right boxes for me because I didn’t have to front the band, I had the greatest lead singer in the world at the time, and I was treated like a king. The guys in the band were just fantastic and they were gentlemen. Rudy Sarzo is the nicest guy in the world. Tommy Aldridge is hilarious and gifted. Adrian Vandenberg was fantastic; very cultured, liked good things, killer player with good tone! And they all tolerated my attitude and pretension brilliantly.

"To this day I remain very happy with the record itself and I think it stands up as a great-sounding record, even if it may be a little different from the rest of the Whitesnake albums."

Vivian Campbell is one of the world's top-tier players who deals in effervescent shred while still knowing how to put a riff together, and it is only fitting that his signature guitar is pretty darn special.

The Vivian Campbell Les Paul Custom is based on a heavily modded LP that Campbell was playing with Def Leppard, but all roads have led him here. His first guitar was a Les Paul, and while he might have flirted with hot-rodded S-styles in the late '80s – like we all did – it wasn't long before he was back with the classic singlecut in hand.

With Def Leppard's box set, The Early Years 79-81, newly released and in record stores now, we got Campbell to tell us the story behind a unique Les Paul.

The genesis of the Vivian Campbell Les Paul

"My first guitar was a Les Paul, when I was 15. In the 80s I played Charvel/Jackson S-types, but came back full circle to Les Pauls just after joining Def Leppard in 1992. For a long time, Gibson wouldn’t even return my calls. Eventually I got a call from Philip Whorton who runs the Gibson Custom Shop in Nashville, asking if I’d be interested in working on a signature model. I said, ‘Absolutely!’ I’m really pleasedwith it. I had the first one at the end of our 2017 tour, and Gibson released it at the Vegas Consumer Electronics Show.

The neck

"We based the guitar on the bastardised Les Paul I was playing with Def Leppard at the time. It had a slim neck from a 1978 Les Paul Custom I’d bought in a Nashville pawn shop for $400, and this one’s very similar. All my Les Pauls have these jumbo Dunlop frets. I cannot bend with little skinny frets, they have to be big and wide. I bend aggressively in solos, and put a lot of vibrato on chords."

The body

"The body is lightweight mahogany. I like light Les Pauls; I’ve had two back surgeries so I do need to be careful! And how’s this for a coincidence: I told Philip I wanted a dark, charcoal-like, translucent finish where you can see the wood grain. He came back with this colour called Antrim Basalt Burst, after the basalt rocks of the Giants Causeway on the North Antrim coast, and I was actually raised in County Antrim. That was a nice bit of serendipity…"

The pickups

"In the mid-90s we were still using wedge monitors on stage, so the guitars were at a hefty volume and would feedback a lot. My guitar tech and I stole some DiMarzio HS-3 pickups off [Leppard co-guitarist] Phil Collen’s guitar tech and put one in the bridge position of my guitar! I got used to the tonality, so that’s what’s in the bridge here, with a DiMarzio Super Distortion in the neck."

The hardware

"TonePros make really good, professional grade, tour-worthy hardware, and I’ve found over the years that I need that. My two heroes are Rory Gallagher and Gary Moore, who were both physical players with a really heavy right hand. In LA in the 80s there were all these great technical players who played like butterflies, barely touching the strings, whereas I was trying to kill the thing! 

"I’ve learned over the years that you have to embrace your idiosyncrasies – your shortcomings sometimes define your style and make you unique. A fixed-bridge instrument fits my aggressive playing style."

The secret weapon

"As on all my Les Pauls, the volume control for the bridge pickup is a speed knob, and the other three are top hats. Before in-ear monitors I’d have to shut off the volume with my right hand pinky on staccato parts, like the chorus of Pour Some Sugar On Me, to prevent feedback. I don’t need to do that any more, but I thought it was a nice, quirky touch. Somebody has since pointed out to me that Gary Moore did that too, I had no idea!"

• Looking for a Vivian Campbell Les Paul? The Custom model might be hard to find but the ltd edition Epiphone Holy Diver Outfit Les Paul is based on the LP he used with Dio. It has a pair of DiMarzio X2N humbuckers and it wails!

David Coverdale might not play much guitar, but given the fact that he’s been bandmates with everyone from Ritchie Blackmore and Bernie Marsden to John Sykes and Steve Vai, the man clearly knows a thing or two about electric guitar heroes.

Which is why it’s worth listening up when the Whitesnake leader has a thing or two to say about the current, um, guitar world.

In a recent interview with Subculture Entertainment, Coverdale expounded on the state of the instrument in 2020, as well as what he looks for in a live performance.

"If you listen to Flesh & Blood [Whitesnake’s 2019 album], you can hear that the individual performances are all incredible,” Coverdale said (via Blabbermouth).

“The rhythm section is a separate entity and the incredible guitar interplay is like a beautiful sonic tapestry. And I want that in performance that people get to see.”

Regarding the guitar in particular, he continued:

"A lot of the new rock bands don't really have guitar heroes, and, to me, it's fucking synonymous with rock. And also the sexy 'roll.' I'm not interested in just being a rock band; I wanna be a rock and roll band.

“I like the sex [element] in rock, which, that's the 'roll' aspect. The whole expression 'rock and roll' was [coined] in the blues and jazz days as a sex act: 'C'mon, baby, let's go and rock and roll.' Nothing to do with fucking guitars.”

Coverdale, however, does seem to think he’s got something special in his current guitar team, Reb Beach and Joel Hoekstra.

In an interview with Guitar Player last year, he commented: “I couldn’t ask for a better pair. You’ve got Reb, who’s a balls-to-the-wall but also incredibly melodic guitarist, and then Joel, who brings in a whole spectrum of incredible colors with his arsenal of musicality.

“They bring it all, and they fire on all six. They’re both scorching-hot guitar players.”

Marshall has unveiled the limited edition 1959HW Bernie Marsden signature, based on the former Whitesnake guitarist’s modded 1959 100-watt guitar amplifier.

Marsden first obtained the plexi direct from the Marshall factory in 1978, and the new reissue – “I like to think of it as a rebuild,” he says – replicates the original amp while also incorporating some of the mods he had performed on the head.

Alterations on the new model include added gain to the normal and high treble channels, while the mids have been adjusted to provide more control of the frequencies at higher levels.

Finally, the global feedback in the power amp has been adjusted to “allow more expression and punch.”

Otherwise, features include four inputs (two high and two low), volume I and volume II knobs, and treble, middle, bass and presence controls.

There’s also four EL34 tubes in the power amp section, for what Marsden calls a “100-watt power unit.

“And when I say power I mean power. But it’s controllable. You can play low end, you can play high end but it’s got everything you need.”

Best of all, the amp is finished in a ‘Snake-worthy white faux snakeskin, with leather-style piping.  

There’s no street price available as of yet, but only 120 of these beauties will be made. So keep your snake eyes on Marshall for updates. 

Nowadays in heavy music, seven-string electric guitars are seemingly almost as common as their more traditional six-string counterparts.

But back in 1989 most people had never heard of such a thing – that is, until after Steve Vai played one on Whitesnake’s Slip of the Tongue, his first and only album with the David Coverdale-led band.

And in a new interview with Whitesnake TV for the 30th anniversary of the album, Vai reflected on that monumental guitar moment.

"Something very interesting about that record is that's when I got the first seven-string guitar,” he said. “With Ibanez, I had the Jem and then I asked them to make a Jem with a seventh string.”

Vai continued, "Little did I know this subculture that it was going to create. That was another one of those just simply innocent things where I didn't set out to – you know, I wasn't sitting, going, 'This is gonna change the world. ‘Cause I'm gonna make a lot of money, this is gonna be great!'

"I just thought, ‘Wow, it would be really cool to have a seventh string, you know, tune it down.' And they said, 'Okay.' I mean, the conversation lasted, like, a minute. 

"And they made me this guitar and I got it and I took the first prototype and I recorded the whole Whitesnake [album] – not one song I didn't use it [on].

“So that record if you listen, that’s the first rock record that has a seven-string guitar throughout the whole thing. A little bit of trivia for ya.”

Finally, Vai made reference to the metal players like Korn’s Munky and Head that would soon take his Ibanez Universe idea into new and heavier realms.

“Later on obviously I knew that there was going to be these new young players that were going to come along and really make a difference with that guitar,” Vai said. “And they did.”

Today Whitesnake have released their latest studio album, Flesh & Blood, via Frontiers Music Srl. The album is available on CD/LP/box set and digital formats. Order and stream it by clicking here. Above, you can check out the music video for album track "Shut Up and Kiss Me."

"The band and I are absolutely thrilled that our new album has been released," Whitesnake frontman David Coverdale comments. "We put everything we had and more into making this album. We truly hope you all enjoy it as much as we did making it for you."

Flesh & Blood follows the 2011 critically-acclaimed studio album Forevermore, and 2015’s The Purple Album, a reimagining of Deep Purple classics from Whitesnake mastermind’s David Coverdale’s time in that band.

Joining Coverdale on Flesh & Blood is the powerhouse band comprised of Reb Beach and Joel Hoekstra on guitars, Michael Devin on bass, Tommy Aldridge on drums, and Michele Luppi on keyboards.

Since joining the band four years ago, Joel Hoekstra—a Chicago native and the son of two classical musicians—has really come into his own, not only as a highly impressive axe-slinger, but also as a very accomplished songwriter, having co-written six of the songs for Flesh & Blood with Coverdale.

Guitarist Reb Beach, who originally joined Whitesnake in 2002, has stepped up to become the group’s bandleader and guides the band to implement Coverdale’s musical vision. As well as bringing his seasoned musical chops to the band, Reb has co-written five songs on the new album.

Rounding out the rhythm section is Coverdale's longest serving ’Snake, the renowned drummer and unstoppable percussionist Tommy Aldridge, who has been with the band in some capacity for 30 years. Aldridge made his debut with Whitesnake way back in 1987 in the "Still Of The Night" video, becoming a mainstay behind the kit for successive albums and tours.

The band is completed by the inventive keyboards and vocals of Italian maestro Michele Luppi, who made his live debut in 2015, as documented on The Purple Tour live CD/DVD. 

The current incarnation of the band carries on the long and unwavering tradition of surrounding Coverdale with cream of the crop players who go all-in to bring fans the best hard rock humanly possible. 40+ years into their existence, the ‘Snake's fangs have only grown sharper and are ready to inject fans with more of that rock and roll venom they crave. 

Whitesnake are currently on the road with their Flesh & Blood World Tour, featuring songs from the new studio record alongside their biggest hits and songs from their 40-year history. 

Check out tour dates below, and click here to pick up Flesh & Blood. 

Whitesnake with Black Moods US Tour:
5/10: Hampton Beach, NH @ Hampton Beach Casino*
5/11: Lincoln, RI @ Twin River Casino*
5/14: Greensburg, PA @ The Palace Theatre
5/17: Verona, NY @ Turning Stone Casino*
5/18: Niagara Falls, NY @ Seneca Niagara Casino*

Whitesnake European Tour:
6/12: Tilburg, NL @ 013
6/14: Donnington, UK @ Download Festival #
6/17: Prague, CZ @ 02 Arena **
6/19: Milan, IT @ Mediolanum Forum **
6/20: Zurich, CH @ Rock the Ring Festival #
6/22: Clisson, FR @ Hellfest #
6/23: Dessel, BL @ Graspop Metal Meeting #
6/25: Budapest, HU @ Barba Negra Track
6/27: Zajecar, RS @ Guitar Festival #
6/29: Plovdiv, BG @ Hills of Rock Festival #
7/1: Bucharest, RO @ Arenele Romane
7/3: Zagreb, CR @ SRC Salata
7/5: Sered, SK @ Sered Amphitheatre
7/7: Cologne, DE @ Palladium
7/10: Gavle, SE @ Furuviksparken *
7/15: Saint Petersburg, RU @ Bkz Oktyabrski Theatre
7/17: Moscow, RU @ Crocus City Hall

*Whitesnake Only
#Festival Appearance
** With Def Leppard

Whitesnake have shared a new song, “Hey You (You Make Me Rock),” from their upcoming album, Flesh & Blood. The new record, their 13th studio effort, is due May 10 via Frontiers Music Srl.

As previously reported, Flesh & Blood follows 2011’s Forevermore and 2015’s The Purple Album. In addition to singer, songwriter and founding member David Coverdale, Whitesnake currently features Reb Beach and Joel Hoekstra on guitars, Michael Devin on bass, Tommy Aldridge on drums and Michele Luppi on keyboards. Hoekstra co-wrote six songs for Flesh & Blood, while bandleader Beach co-wrote five. Flesh & Blood was produced by Beach, Hoekstra and McIntyre, mixed by Christopher Collier and executive produced by Coverdale.

To pre-order the album, head here.

Additionally, Whitesnake will head out on the road beginning in April. You can check out the full list of tour dates below:

Whitesnake w/ Black Moods U.S. Tour:

4/12: Newkirk, OK @ 7 Clans First Council Casino*

4/13: Durant, OK @ Choctaw Casino*

4/15: Dallas, TX @ The Bomb Factory

4/17: San Antonio, TX @ Aztec Theater

4/19: Biloxi, MS @ IP Casino Resort*

4/20: Atlanta, GA @ State Bank Amphitheatre

4/22: Orlando, FL @ Hard Rock Live

4/23: Clearwater, FL @ Ruth Eckerd Hall

4/25: Hollywood, FL @ Seminole Hard Rock Casino*

4/26: Melbourne, FL @ Maxwell C. King PAC

4/28: Charlotte, NC @ Ovens Auditorium

4/29: Huber Heights, OH @ Rose Music Center

5/1: Richmond, VA @ Richmond, VA @ The National

5/2: Bensalem, PA @ XCITE Center at Parx Casino*

5/4: Columbia, MD @ M3 Festival#

5/5: Jim Thorpe, PA @ Penns Peak

5/7: Sayreville, NJ @ Starland Ballroom

5/8: Huntington, NY @ The Paramount

5/10: Hampton Beach, NH @ Hampton Beach Casino

5/11: Lincoln, RI @ Twin River Casino*

5/14: Greenville, PA @ The Palace Theatre

5/17: Verona, NY @ Turning Stone Casino*

5/18: Niagara Falls, NY @ Seneca Niagara Casino*

European Tour:

6/12: Tilburg, NL @ 013

6/14: Donnington, UK @ Download Festival #

6/17: Prague, CZ @ 02 Arena **

6/19: Milan, IT @ Mediolanum Forum **

6/20: Zurich, CH @ Rock the Ring Festival #

6/22: Clisson, FR @ Hellfest #

6/23: Dessel, BL @ Graspop Metal Meeting #

6/25: Budapest, HU @ Barba Negra Track

6/27: Zajecar, RS @ Gitarijada Festival #

6/29: Plovdiv, BG @ Hills of Rock Festival #

7/1: Bucharest, RO @ Arenele Romane

7/3: Zagreb, CR @ SRC Salata

7/5: Sered, SK @ Sered Amphitheatre

7/7: Cologne, DE @ Palladium

7/10: Gavle, SE @ Furuviksparken *

7/15: Saint Petersburg, RU @ Bkz Oktyabrski Theatre

7/17: Moscow, RU @ Crocus City Hall

* Whitesnake Only

# Festival Appearance 

** With Def Leppard

Whitesnake scored its first platinum-selling album in 1984 with Slide It In, a release that has sold more than six million copies worldwide thanks to hard rocking songs like “Love Ain’t No Stranger,” “Slow An’ Easy” and the title track. 

The classic album turns 35 this year and Rhino/Parlophone is celebrating with several new versions, including an enormous seven-disc boxed set titled Slide It In: The Ultimate Special Edition, which releases today. You can pick up your copy here, and listen to the remixed version of album track "All or Nothing" above. 

The six-CD/DVD collection includes newly-remastered versions of both the U.K. and U.S. mixes of the album as well as the 35th Anniversary Remixes from 2019, plus unreleased live and studio recordings, music videos, concert footage, and a new interview with Whitesnake founder and lead singer, David Coverdale.

Three other versions of Slide It In are also available today; a double-CD Deluxe Edition with the newly-remastered U.K. and U.S. mixes expanded with a selection of bonus tracks, as well as the double-LP Deluxe Edition featuring the newly-remastered U.K. and U.S. mixes. Finally, a single-disc version is out as well, which includes the newly-remastered mix of the complete album. The music is also available digitally.

“Slide It In was always meant to be a structured, more electric modern take on the classic blues-based hard rock that Whitesnake were famous for, but our new Hook City Hooligan, mixer extraordinaire Christopher Collier, has hand-tooled this classic record for the 21st century,” says Coverdale. “Hearing all the performances so fresh and so clear after 35 years is amazing. Mel, Cozy and Jon’s playing on the record is as vital now as it was all those years ago. All the featured players shine. Not only did Christopher get the best out of the recording, but he gives the album a fresh coat of sonic paint bringing it right up to date. I’m personally thrilled with it.”

After releasing Saints & Sinners in 1982, Whitesnake reconvened the following year in Germany to begin recording songs for what would become the band’s sixth studio album, Slide It In. At the time, band members included Coverdale, guitarists Micky Moody and Mel Galley, bassist Colin Hodgkinson and keyboardist Jon Lord. The album was initially released in 1984 in the U.K., where it climbed into the Top 10.

The band’s lineup changed soon after. Jon Lord left to rejoin Deep Purple and Moody and Hodgkinson were replaced by guitarist John Sykes, and Neil Murray, who was Whitesnake’s original bassist. Prior to its U.S. release in 1985, Slide It In was remixed while newly-recorded parts by Sykes, Murray and keyboardist Bill Cuomo were added, resulting in two distinct versions of the album, both of which are included in this set.

Slide It In: The Ultimate Special Edition features unreleased versions of every album track, including 35th anniversary remixes made this year, as well as monitor mixes recorded in 1983. The set boasts more than a dozen unreleased live recordings from 1984 that feature an entire concert from Glasgow, Scotland, plus several songs from Jon Lord’s final show with Whitesnake in Sweden. The collection’s final disc unearths 30 tracks that cover original demos and early mixes for album tracks, as well as unfinished song ideas.

The DVD included with Slide It In: The Ultimate Special Edition mixes music videos and live performances, all of which have been carefully restored and remixed in 5.1 Surround Sound for the first time ever. A newly-recorded interview with singer David Coverdale rounds out the DVD.

Click here to pick up this special release, and for more, head over to whitesnake.com. 

Whitesnake have announced the release of their new studio album, Flesh & Blood, on May 10 via Frontiers Music Srl. In advance of the record, the band has shared the video for the first single, “'Shut Up & Kiss Me.” You can check it out above.

Said Whitesnake frontman David Coverdale about “Shut Up & Kiss Me,” “[A]fter the intense darkness of our last video, 'Burn,' if anything, it’s ‘light’ snake, you know? We’ve got some really dark energy going on in the world right now, so we’re gonna write and record a fun, knees up song about falling in love with a fabulous babe. You’re over-talking, over-compensating and she just looks at you, takes the reins and says, 'Shut Up and Kiss Me!' and that’s it!!"

He continued: “My video director and creative partner Tyler Bourns and I discussed a great storyline for the video, which involves a surprise guest: my fabulous old white Jaguar. We ended up cleaning and detailing it, as it has been in storage since I moved to Lake Tahoe, then we dusted off my old turquoise silk jacket from the original ‘Here I Go Again’ video and I was thinking, 'man, this is going to be fun!' It’s a respectful acknowledgment and positive nod to the past, just fun stuff.”

Flesh & Blood follows 2011’s Forevermore and 2015’s The Purple Album, the latter a reimagining of Deep Purple classics from Coverdale’s time in that band.

In addition to Coverdale, Whitesnake features Reb Beach and Joel Hoekstra on guitars, Michael Devin on bass, Tommy Aldridge on drums and Michele Luppi on keyboards. Hoekstra co-wrote six songs for Flesh & Blood, while bandleader Beach co-wrote five. Flesh & Blood was produced by Beach, Hoekstra and McIntyre, mixed by Christopher Collier and executive produced by Coverdale.

To pre-order the album, head here.

Flesh & Blood track list:

1. Good To See You Again

2. Gonna Be Alright

3. Shut Up & Kiss Me 

4. Hey You (You Make Me Rock)

5. Always & Forever 

6. When I Think Of You (Color Me Blue)

7. Trouble Is Your Middle Name 

8. Flesh & Blood 

9. Well I Never 

10. Heart Of Stone

11. Get Up 

12. After All 

13. Sands Of Time 

Additionally, Whitesnake will head out on the road beginning in April. You can check out the full list of tour dates below:

Whitesnake w/ Black Moods US Tour:

4/12: Newkirk, OK @ 7 Clans First Council Casino*

4/13: Durant, OK @ Choctaw Casino*

4/15: Dallas, TX @ The Bomb Factory

4/17: San Antonio, TX @ Aztec Theater

4/19: Biloxi, MS @ IP Casino Resort*

4/20: Atlanta, GA @ State Bank Amphitheatre

4/22: Orlando, FL @ Hard Rock Live

4/23: Clearwater, FL @ Ruth Eckerd Hall

4/25: Hollywood, FL @ Seminole Hard Rock Casino*

4/26: Melbourne, FL @ Maxwell C. King PAC

4/28: Charlotte, NC @ Ovens Auditorium

4/29: Huber Heights, OH @ Rose Music Center

5/1: Richmond, VA @ Richmond, VA @ The National

5/2: Bensalem, PA @ XCITE Center at Parx Casino*

5/4: Columbia, MD @ M3 Festival#

5/5: Jim Thorpe, PA @ Penns Peak

5/7: Sayreville, NJ @ Starland Ballroom

5/8: Huntington, NY @ The Paramount

5/10: Hampton Beach, NH @ Hampton Beach Casino

5/11: Lincoln, RI @ Twin River Casino*

5/14: Greenville, PA @ The Palace Theatre

5/17: Verona, NY @ Turning Stone Casino*

5/18: Niagara Falls, NY @ Seneca Niagara Casino*

European Tour:

6/12: Tilburg, NL @ 013

6/14: Donnington, UK @ Download Festival #

6/17: Prague, CZ @ 02 Arena **

6/19: Milan, IT @ Mediolanum Forum **

6/20: Zurich, CH @ Rock the Ring Festival #

6/22: Clisson, FR @ Hellfest #

6/23: Dessel, BL @ Graspop Metal Meeting #

6/25: Budapest, HU @ Barba Negra Track

6/27: Zajecar, RS @ Gitarijada Festival #

6/29: Plovdiv, BG @ Hills of Rock Festival #

7/1: Bucharest, RO @ Arenele Romane

7/3: Zagreb, CR @ SRC Salata

7/5: Sered, SK @ Sered Amphitheatre

7/7: Cologne, DE @ Palladium

7/10: Gavle, SE @ Furuviksparken *

7/15: Saint Petersburg, RU @ Bkz Oktyabrski Theatre

7/17: Moscow, RU @ Crocus City Hall

* Whitesnake Only

# Festival Appearance 

** With Def Leppard

Whitesnake have shared a previously unreleased live performance of their 1980 song, "Ready An' Willing (Sweet Satisfaction)," recorded live in Glasgow, Scotland in 1984. You can check out the track below.

The live version of "Ready An' Willing (Sweet Satisfaction)" is featured on the upcoming 35th anniversary edition of Whitesnake’s 1984 album, Slide It In, out March 8 via Rhino/Parlophone.

Dubbed Slide It In: The Ultimate Special Edition, the 6CD/DVD collection includes newly remastered versions of both the U.K. and U.S. mixes of the album as well as the 35th Anniversary remixes from 2019, plus unreleased live and studio recordings, music videos, concert footage, and a new interview with Whitesnake founder and lead singer, David Coverdale. 

Three other versions of Slide It In will also be available the same day. A double-CD Deluxe Edition includes the newly remastered U.K. and U.S. mixes expanded with a selection of bonus tracks. The double-LP Deluxe Edition features the newly remastered U.K. and U.S. mixes. And finally, a single-disc version includes the newly remastered brand-new mix of the complete album. The music will be available digitally as well. 

Said Coverdale: “Hearing all the performances so fresh and so clear after 35 years was amazing. Mel [Galley, guitar], Cozy [Powell, drums] and [keyboardist] Jon [Lord]'s playing on the record is as vital now as it was all those years ago. All the featured players shine. Not only did Christopher get the best out of the recording, but he gives the album a fresh coat of sonic paint bringing it right up to date. I'm personally thrilled with it."

The history behind Slide It In, Whitesnake’s sixth studio album, is long and involved. After releasing Saints & Sinners in 1982, Whitesnake reconvened the following year in Germany to begin recording songs for what would become Slide It In. At the time, band members included Coverdale, guitarists Micky Moody and Mel Galley, bassist Colin Hodgkinson and keyboardist Jon Lord. The album was initially released in 1984 in the U.K., where it climbed into the Top 10. 

Soon after, the band's line-up changed. Jon Lord left to rejoin Deep Purple and Moody and Hodgkinson were replaced by guitarist John Sykes, and Neil Murray, who was Whitesnake's original bassist. Prior to its U.S. release in 1985, Slide It In was remixed while newly recorded parts by Sykes, Murray and keyboardist Bill Cuomo were added, resulting in two distinct versions of the album, both of which are included in this set.

Slide It In: The Ultimate Special Edition features unreleased versions of every album track, including 35th anniversary remixes made this year, as well as monitor mixes recorded in 1983. The set boasts more than a dozen unreleased live recordings from 1984 that feature an entire concert from Glasgow, Scotland, plus several songs from Jon Lord's final show with Whitesnake in Sweden. The collection's final disc unearths 30 tracks that cover original demos and early mixes for album tracks, as well as unfinished song ideas.

The DVD features music videos and live performances, all of which have been restored and remixed in 5.1 Surround Sound. A newly recorded interview with singer David Coverdale rounds out the package.

To pre-order Slide It In: The Ultimate Special Edition, head here.

It was the hard-rocking sound of hits like "Still Of The Night" and "Give Me All Your Love Tonight" that brought Whitesnake worldwide, multi-platinum success. Even so, the band's founder and lead singer, David Coverdale, has never been a stranger to the occasional ballad, going back to his early days with Deep Purple on "Soldier Of Fortune" and, most famously, with Whitesnake on the 1987 #1 smash hit, "Here I Go Again."

Today, the band unveils Unzipped: Super Deluxe Edition, revisiting some of its best acoustic performances. This five-CD/DVD collection brings together unplugged and acoustic-based performances recorded over the past 20+ years, including rare and unreleased studio and live recordings, acoustic demos, concert videos, interviews and more. The extensive set is out today for $59.98. Rhino is also releasing Unzipped in three other formats: single-CD ($9.98), double-CD ($19.98), and double-LP ($29.98). All of the music is available digitally and via streaming services.

The first disc from Unzipped: Super Deluxe Edition mixes rare and unreleased versions of songs like "Summer Rain" and "Forevermore" from the band's recent studio albums, Good To Be Bad (2008) and Forevermore (2011). Also included are songs like "Love Is Blind" from Coverdale's solo album, Into The Light (2000); and a previously unreleased song, "All The Time In The World." All 11 tracks are available on the single-CD, double-CD and double-LP versions of Unzippped.

In 1997, Coverdale and guitarist Adrian Vandenberg played an unplugged concert in Tokyo that was recorded and initially released exclusively in Japan as Starkers in Tokyo. That recording has been remixed in 5.1 and stereo exclusively for this new collection, and makes its North American debut on the second disc of Unzipped: Super Deluxe Edition. The acoustic performance touches on the different stages of Coverdale's career, from his time in Deep Purple ("Soldier of Fortune"), to his solo albums ("Too Many Tears"), and, most famously, with Whitesnake on unplugged versions of hits like "Is This Love" and "Here I Go Again." These 12 tracks, along with all the music on the single-CD version of Unzipped, are also available on double-CD, and double-LP.

"Some of my favorite love songs are on disc one of this collection... and I love love songs," says Coverdale. "Though reluctant at first to go 'unzipped' in public, the shows I did with Adrian Vandenberg in 1997, and then Doug Aldrich in 2006, were incredibly memorable... primarily because it gave me an opportunity to be 'at one' with the crowd... some songs ask for a softer touch... and those are the songs we have here in this collection."

Unzipped: Super Deluxe Edition has even more unreleased, unplugged recordings, including more performances from Coverdale's 1997 tour with Vandenberg, plus several later shows featuring Coverdale and guitarist Doug Aldrich. Plus, more than two dozen of Coverdale's unreleased, acoustic demos are also included in the collection.

A DVD completes Unzipped: Super Deluxe Edition with live, unplugged performances filmed around the world between 1997 and 2015, including a complete acoustic show recorded at the Cutting Room in New York in 2008. Additional bonus features include an interview with Coverdale and Vandenberg, bootleg videos, the "Love Is Blind" music video and a slideshow.

Coverdale continues, "These songs are some of the most personal I've been involved with through my almost five decades as a professional musician, singer and composer. This is me at my most unguarded...innocent...writing, as I still do, for the fun...the expression...the poetry...all LOVE songs."

For more information, head over to whitesnake.com. 

"Still Got The Blues (For You)," from the upcoming tribute album Moore Blues for Gary—A Tribute to Gary Moore, can be streamed below. The track features Danny Bowes on vocals, John Sykes on guitar, Don Airey on keyboards, Bob Daisley on bass and Rob Grosser on drums.

Moore Blues for Gary—A Tribute to Gary Moore is the brainchild of Bob Daisley (Rainbow, Ozzy Osbourne), who had played bass with Moore since the early Eighties. It features guest contributions from Steve Lukather (Toto), Steve Morse (Dixie Dregs, Deep Purple), John Sykes (Thin Lizzy, Whitesnake), Doug Aldrich (Dio, Whitesnake, the Dead Daisies), Jeff Watson (Night Ranger), Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple, Black Country Communion), Eric Singer (Kiss) and more.

"In my opinion, Gary was one of the best guitarists who ever lived," Bob Daisley said in a statement. "It was an honor for me to have worked with him and to have known him so well.”

Daisley continued: "When Gary passed away in 2011, the world lost one of the all-time greats. I don't think that enough was said or done at the time to acknowledge the loss of such a great player so I took it upon myself to pay personal tribute to the man and record some new versions of his music, mostly from his blues catalog.

"I asked many members of the Gary Moore family tree, and some other great players, to contribute to the project. The response was not only encouraging but very moving. It seems that the name Gary Moore is also synonymous with the words 'respect,’ 'honor' and 'greatness.'

"I didn't set out to recreate anything that Gary had done, or to compete in any way. These arrangements and performances represent a 'hats off' to Gary and nothing more.

"Long live the memory of Robert William Gary Moore. Yes, he was another 'Bob' — something that I wasn't aware of for all of those years that I worked with him.

"I feel such gratitude towards the people who contributed to this album and I'm honored to have worked with them all."

Moore Blues for Gary—A Tribute to Gary Moore will be released October 26 on earMUSIC.

See below for full track listing and personnel details:

Moore Blues for Gary—A Tribute to Gary Moore

01. That's Why I Play The Blues

Vocals - Jon C. Butler

Guitars - Tim Gaze

Bass Guitar - Bob Daisley

Drums - Rob Grosser

Keyboards - Clayton Doley

02. The Blues Just Got Sadder

Vocals - Joe Lynn Turner

Lead Guitar - Steve Lukather

Rhythm Guitar And Slide Guitar – Tim Gaze

Bass Guitar - Bob Daisley

Drums - Rob Grosser

Keyboards - Clayton Doley

03. Empty Rooms

Lead Vocal, Keyboards – Neil Carter

Bass Guitar, Harmonica, Backing Vocals – Bob Daisley

Drums - Rob Grosser

Guitars - Illya Szwec

Backing Vocals - Rosanna Daisley

04. Still Got The Blues (For You)

Vocals - Danny Bowes

Guitars - John Sykes

Keyboards - Don Airey

Bass Guitar - Bob Daisley

Drums - Rob Grosser

05. Texas Strut

Vocals - Brush Shiels

Bass Guitar - Bob Daisley

Guitars - Tim Gaze

Drums - Rob Grosser

06. Nothing's The Same

Vocals - Glenn Hughes

Fretless Acoustic Bass – Bob Daisley

Cello - Ana Lenchantin

Guitars - Luis Maldonado

07. The Loner

Guitars - Doug Aldrich

Drums - Eric Singer

Bass Guitar - Bob Daisley

Keyboards - Don Airey

08. Torn Inside

Vocals, Lead Guitar – Stan Webb

Bass Guitar, Riff Guitar – Bob Daisley

Drums - Darrin Mooney

Keyboards - Lachlan Doley

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09. Don't Believe A Word

Vocals, Lead Guitar – Damon Johnson

Bass Guitar - Bob Daisley

Drums - Rob Grosser

Rhythm Guitar - Illya Szwec

10. Story Of The Blues

Lead Vocal - Jon C. Butler

Bass Guitar, Riff Guitar, Backing Vocals – Bob Daisley

Lead And Rhythm Guitar – Tim Gaze

Drums - Rob Grosser

Keyboards - Lachlan Doley

Backing Vocals - Rosanna Daisley

11. This One's For You

Vocals - Gus Moore

Lead Guitar - Jack Moore

Bass Guitar - Bob Daisley

Drums - Rob Grosser

Rhythm Guitar - Illya Szwec

12. Power Of The Blues

Vocals - Joe Lynn Turner

Lead Guitar - Jeff Watson

Bass Guitar, Riff Guitar – Bob Daisley

Drums - Darrin Mooney

Rhythm Guitar - Illya Szwec

13. Parisienne Walkways

Guitars - Steve Morse

Vocals - Ricky Warwick

Bass Guitar - Bob Daisley

Drums - Rob Grosser

Keyboards - Clayton Doley

Original Whitesnake guitarist Bernie Marsden has developed one of the most unique and expansive private guitar collections in the world, which is displayed in the new book, Bernie Marsden—Tales of Tone and Volume (Rufus Publications).

In a press release for the book, Rufus Publications stated:

“Bernie Marsden is one of the UK’s foremost rock and blues guitarists, famous for his time in professional bands since 1972 and a founder member of Whitesnake. 

“But, there is a lot more to this man, from his first band UFO to treading the boards of the National Theatre in London, on stage with Ringo Starr in Monaco, playing the Beacon Theatre in New York with the Allman Brothers Band, writing and playing with Joe Bonamassa and Motorhead. 

“Over the last two years the collection has been extensively photographed by Melvyn May and the Rufus team using a special “light painting” technique to reveal them in all their glory, from the unseen wonders of the world famous “The Beast” to the intricate detail on his much signed and cherished Martin Coletti. Every guitar comes with its own story, from how it was acquired to where and when it was played, you will be able to see the very guitar he used during the writing and recording of some rock classics, many anecdotes of some pretty famous people encountering his guitars on the road and in the studio.

“The images have been assembled into this beautiful, 340-page full-color luxury book, available in three stunning editions. Accompanying the book will be a CD of original guitar backing tracks written just for this project. The CD will contain a backing track for the user, plus lead guitar from a vintage guitar seen in the book. The two high end editions also ship with a genuine piece of an original Fifties Lifton guitar case, taken from Bernie’s collection and carefully cut down to include with each copy.

“As Bernie says, ‘I love guitars and I’ve seen and collected many books on the subject, the time and effort spent creating these images and the finished book makes this an extraordinary project by any standard. I’m really proud of what has been created here. I’m bound to say it, but, if you are a guitar collector, a player, or simply an official guitar nerd you are going to love this book and the photographs of ‘The Beast’ took my breath away.’ "

For more details on Bernie Marsden—Tales of Tone and Volume, including pre-order information, go to RufusPublications.com.

Steve Vai began his music career at age 18 as a transcriptionist for Frank Zappa.

He went on to join Zappa's band in 1980 before embarking on his award-winning solo career. Since then, he's sold more than 15 million records worldwide.

In addition to releasing eight studio albums, two EPs and eight live albums, Vai has found the time to record and tour with the likes of Alcatrazz, David Lee Roth and Whitesnake. He performed with the latter August 18, 1990, at Castle Donington during the legendary Monsters of Rock festival.

Introduced by David Coverdale as "His Royal Darkness, the Seven-String Sorcerer," Vai performs an eight-minute solo (which can be seen in the video below) during the band's set. It features a medley from his second studio album, Passion and Warfare, including, "For the Love of God" and "The Audience Is Listening."

Jonathan Graham is an ACM UK graduate based in London studying under the likes of Guthrie Govan and Pete Friesen. He is the creator of ForgottenGuitar.com, a classic-guitar media website, and is completing his debut album, Protagonist, due for release in 2016. Updates also can be found at Graham's YouTube channel.

The quick lick above—played by Doug Aldrich of Whitesnake—was inspired by the late Gary Moore.

It begins with a steady, machine-gun barrage of alternate-picked, palm-muted 16th notes and ends with a wild two-step "over-bend" on the low E string, punctuated by a squealing pinch harmonic.

From Aldrich:

"I play through this lick using strict alternate picking (down-up-down-up) to ensure my rhythms are dead-on accurate. The best way to practice this style of picking is simply to start out slow, paying close attention to your pick stroke's direction.

"When performing the two-step bend on the low G note (low E string, third fret) in bar 4, I'm using both my index and middle fingers to pull the string in toward my palm. The extra finger muscle is all but required to perform this monster bend, as otherwise there's a good chance the string would slip out from under my middle finger."

A few years back, Doug Aldrich—who was then with Whitesnake, and is currently the guitarist for Revolution Saints and the Dead Daisies—sent us a "Betcha Can't Play This" that became an instant classic.

In the video—which you can watch above—Aldrich serves up a dizzying lick. After going through it at full speed at first, he slows things down for us mortals.

Can you play what Aldrich is playing? Watch the video and get back to us!

For more on Aldrich, be sure to stop by his website.

Whitesnake revisited the music singer David Coverdale recorded with Deep Purple in the Seventies when they released The Purple Album two years ago.

The album—and tour that followed—offered fans modern interpretations of Purple classics like “Burn” and “Mistreated.” Now, highlights from the tour are featured in a new live collection, including double-disc versions that feature audio, video and a selection of bonus material.

The Purple Tour is available today as CD/DVD ($24.98) or CD/Blu-ray ($26.98) sets. Additional formats include a double-LP ($29.98), single CD ($15.98) and digital version.

On The Purple Tour (Live), Whitesnake puts its distinctive spin on several songs from Coverdale’s studio albums with Deep Purple—Burn (1974), Stormbringer (1974), and Come Taste the Band (1975). Highlights include “You Fool No One,” “The Gypsy” and “Soldier of Fortune.”

The double-disc collection also includes video footage of the concert and 5.1 surround sound audio, plus a new music video for “Burn,” band interviews, and a number of bonus performances not available on the CD or vinyl versions.

The Whitesnake line-up that appears on The Purple Tour (Live) includes singer David Coverdale, guitarists Reb Beach and Joel Hoekstra, bassist Michael Devin, drummer Tommy Aldridge and keyboardist Michele Luppi.

Coverdale says there was never any intention to compete against the original recordings. “We just wanted to play the damn songs. Each member of the band brought their incredible individual talents and a real band identity to this music. We’ve all done the best we can with this project with respect to the music, and the legacy of Deep Purple Mk3 and Mk4.”

In addition to songs originally recorded by Deep Purple, The Purple Tour (Live) also features performances of killer Whitesnake tracks like “Fool For Your Loving” from Ready an’ Willing (1980), “Love Ain’t No Stranger” from Slide It In (1984), plus “Bad Boys,” “Is This Love” and the #1 smash “Here I Go Again” from Whitesnake (1987).

To purchase The Purple Tour (Live), visit https://rh-ino.co/ptlmp.

CD/DVD and CD/Blu-ray Track Listing:

• “Burn”
• “Bad Boys”
• “Love Ain’t No Stranger”
• “The Gypsy”
• “Give Me All Your Love”
• “Ain't No Love In The Heart Of The City”
• “Mistreated”
• “You Fool No One”
• “Soldier of Fortune”
• “Is This Love”
• “Fool For Your Loving”
• “Here I Go Again”
• “Still of the Night”

DVD/Blu-ray Contents:

Concert Video in 5.1 and Stereo
“Burn” – Music Video
Band Interviews

Bonus 5.1 High Resolution Live Audio:

“You Keep On Moving”
“Lay Down Stay Down”
“Lotsanotes”
“Stormbringer”

LP Track Listing:

Side One
“Burn”
“Bad Boys”
“Love Ain't No Stranger”
“The Gypsy”

Side Two
“Give Me All Your Love”
“Ain't No Love In The Heart Of The City”
“Mistreated”

Side Three
“You Fool No One”
“Soldier of Fortune”
“Is This Love”
“Fool For Your Loving”

Side Four
“Here I Go Again”
“Still Of The Night”
“You Keep On Moving” – LP Bonus Track