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October 2023

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127 articles

October 31
- DOD’s renaissance enters a new phase with the Chthonic Fuzz – the first new pedal from the rejuvenated brand
- “My guitar playing was a one-of-a-kind thing I developed as a kid in Winnipeg. You can’t replace that”: Randy Bachman is suing the band performing under The Guess Who name for $20 million
- “A meticulous recreation of Kirk’s prized original”: Epiphone has launched a Kirk Hammett signature 1979 Flying V – and it’s a lot more affordable than the Gibson Custom Shop version
- Supro seeks to “redefine the pinnacle of Supro tube amp tone” with the Custom Amplifier series, hand-built in the USA
- “You don't run into amps with that kind of clean channel that also have this incredible gain sound”: Revv debuts the D40 Dynamis, a vintage-voiced tube head with onboard Two Notes Torpedo tech
October 30
- “The pedal your ’board has been waiting for”? Zoom unveils the next generation of its cult classic MultiStomp pedal, cramming 100 effects into a $129 compact stompbox
- “Can’t believe I get to jam with these legends”: H.E.R. trades her signature Fender Strat for a metal-ready Charvel to perform with Foo Fighters on SNL
- GayC/DC are on the hunt for their new “Malcolm Young” – formidable rhythm chops essential, ability to pun welcome
- “We’re in the same band with the two black Strats. It’s insane that would happen”: How Little Feat acquired not one, but two of Jimi Hendrix’s Fender Stratocasters
- Meet session legend Vernon Ice Black’s mythical ‘Sunnie’ Strat, the guitar that appears on some of Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston’s biggest hits… and features a “whoop-de-do button”
- “They have one of the best guitar players in the world”: Watch Nuno Bettencourt inject virtuosic two-hand tapping flair into AC/DC’s Highway to Hell during Extreme and Godsmack’s joint cover
- Balaguer refreshes and expands its $1,099 Standard Series and there’s something for everyone: retro offsets, baritones, T-styles and a super-shreddable S-style
October 27
- LAVA MUSIC’s all-new LAVA ME 4 Carbon and Spruce models “are immersive guitars that are like nothing else”
- Otherworldly headless shred, and fresh riffs from one of the most underrated guitarists of his generation: This week's essential guitar tracks
- “The ultimate feat”: Pedal Pawn has reverse engineered one of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Tube Screamer pedals to produce the “juiciest mid-hump overdrive tone ever”
- “Yes, that’s a real spider”: Sophie Lloyd’s Enter Sandman (Shred Version) adds extra fretboard flair to Metallica’s thrash classic – alongside some snakes and a tarantula named Rosie
- “This guitar is, to me, the perfect guitar. The only thing I could do is create a song that shows all of its glory”: John 5 has written an instrumental masterpiece that’s literally dedicated to his new Fender signature model
- “He hit the strings on his guitar, laid it on the floor, had the amp cranked and left his studio – and left it on for days. That was his torture test”: Eddie Van Halen’s rig builder Dave Friedman discusses the guitar legend’s gear testing regime
October 26
- “Show the kids out there how it's done”: Watch Keith Richards play Rolling Stones classics on a 5-string guitar with Jimmy Fallon
- “Punk rock should be accessible – I think it’s very cool to be somebody’s potential first bass”: Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz partners with Sterling by Music Man for its first full-scale passive bass
- “The worst condition I’ve ever seen”: A lost Gibson Les Paul Junior from the 1950s has been found in a near-unsalvageable state – and it could be a first-year model
- A mini Phantom and a slimmed-down digital archtop: Vox’s shrinking violets tip their caps to the guitar’s past, present and future
- “I’m trying to show the world that a bass player can do many things”: Watch the first trailer for Geddy Lee’s new docuseries, featuring Les Claypool and Robert Trujillo
- “A legend reborn”: TC Electronic has revived an iconic digital delay pedal championed by David Gilmour, The Edge and Dream Theater – and it’s been updated for the modern player
- “One of the most flexible boost pedals available”: Boss’ Waza Craft BP-1W pedal puts the ‘secret weapon’ preamp sounds of the classic CE-1 and RE-201 into one compact unit
- “Jerry fights for his leads. He fights his guitar, and by the end – by the time he gets the lead on – it’s like, ‘Wow man, that was a piece of work!’”: Duff McKagan says Jerry Cantrell’s solos do not come easily – and they involve a lot of swearing
October 25
- “The most versatile modern distortion pedal available today”: Fortin debuts its first dedicated distortion pedal, the Natas – and it’s based on a “blisteringly high gain” tube amp
- Meet the Stratocaster Custom, a Fender Japan signature model that combines the Strat and Tele into a unique new form – and it’s absolutely full of surprises
- “It’s a holy grail guitar”: Jason Momoa just bought the first Martin D-28 acoustic ever made
- “It will sound and more importantly, feel, like the amp that defined rock and roll”: Universal Audio’s UAFX Lion ’68 puts a Plexi in a pedal, offering Marshall-style roar – and a direct ‘Brown sound’ setting
- “I’ve decided to leave the band to explore a slightly different path”: Jeff Schroeder departs The Smashing Pumpkins after 15 years
October 24
- "A singularly brilliant and eccentric talent": Massive Attack guitarist Angelo Bruschini has died
- "We were still gluing the fur on the tuning keys when the FedEx driver showed up to pick up the guitars": The iconic fur-covered spinning bass from ZZ Top's Legs video is going up for auction
- “Helix-quality effects in an ultra-compact pedal”: Line 6 makes its Helix effects more affordable than ever with the downsized HX One
- “I didn’t invent this technique. Like Eddie Van Halen said he never invented tapping, I see it in a similar way”: Matteo Mancuso walks you through the secrets of his breathtaking style, which saw Steve Vai hail him as “the evolution of guitar”
- Steve Vai’s Hamer JEM prototype is going back up for auction – with a starting bid of just $2,500
- Bassists, ditch your pedalboards: the Sterling by Music Man DarkRay features two Darkglass distortion circuits in one bass
- “To me, he really is an alternative guitar player”: Watch Billy Corgan pay tribute to his hero Eddie Van Halen by joining Sammy Hagar for a knockout cover of Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love
- The James Bond of travel guitars: meet the briefcase guitar – an all-in-one amp and foldable Strat that packs into a tweed carry case
- “The fantastic, the mythological, and the spiritual”: Epiphone’s latest Adam Jones Les Paul Custom Art very much gives a Fuchs
October 23
- “It’s the best front-end amp pedal I’ve ever heard”: Justin and Dan Hawkins have launched their own pedal brand – and its first stompbox is based on their tones from The Darkness’s debut album
- “He wanted to trade for a specific guitar... or gold”: YouTuber finds rare Stars and Stripes Gibson Explorer – thought to be one of just five or six in existence
- “Beautiful”: Post Malone nods to his rock roots once again with a killer guitar cover of Alice In Chains' Them Bones – accompanied by a full choir
- “A lot of folk are ignorant. People watch a couple of Stevie Ray Vaughan videos and think all they need is distortion and fast licks”: Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram on where guitarists “go wrong” when playing the blues
- “It's the most money I've ever paid for a guitar in my life”: Joe Bonamassa reveals the most expensive guitar in his collection
October 20
- Legend of Zelda-inspired fret-burner gallops and drunken bends: This week's essential guitar tracks
- Mike Stringer shows off two Jackson Custom Shop seven-strings that reimagine the lost Surfcaster offset as a metal guitar – and it’s got big name players in a hot mess
- “The culmination of 4 years of development”: Victory heralds a new age for its Kraken amp family with long-awaited VX MKII heads
- Inside the new issue of Total Guitar: The 50 Greatest Rolling Stones Riffs
- “An evolutionary and revolutionary extension”: At long last, Neural DSP has finally launched its first-ever Quad Cortex-compatible plugin – and it’s a free Archetype: Plini update
October 19
- “I never wanted to be a violinist. I wanted to play electric guitar with smoke bombs and flash pots and Marshall stacks”: Yngwie Malmsteen says he is definitely not a frustrated classical player
- “Why record your guitar thrice when Beam Splitter exists?” Old Blood Noise Endeavors’ new Triple Tracker Distortion is a stacked stompbox that has only one goal: “create a massive sound”
- “No ordinary overdrive pedal”: The Electric Love and Brian Wampler Aquatone is a Boss Blues Driver clone with a twist – and 100% of profits will go towards breast cancer research
- An arena on your ’board: this guitar pedal recreates the gigantic ’80s reverb beloved by Bruce Springsteen and Phil Collins
- “Stunning in style and sound”: Gretsch brings bling to its fancy flagship range with limited-edition Paisley Penguin and Bourbon Stain Sidewinder models
October 18
- Bose’s new S1 Pro+ portable speaker system is “a must-have for on-the-go musicians who just want to plug and play”
- “The sound is pure ’Burst”: A 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard known as ‘Miss Swiss’ has come up for sale – with an asking price of $450,000
- “Not just a one-trick pony”: Epiphone expands its entry-level Power Players lineup with… a multi-effects pedal?
- “I had like a bass drug deal”: Keanu Reeves recalls buying his first-ever bass guitar… from a stranger in the parking lot of a Guitar Center
- “A nice way to include my dad”: Wolfgang Van Halen walked down the aisle to a track written for him by his father
- $100 savings on Player Plus guitars and $50 off the Player series is like Black Friday come early - but only while stocks last
- “A new interpretation on a responsive classic”: Electro-Harmonix launches its own boutique Bluesbreaker clone – and it’s half the price of Marshall’s recent BB reissue
- “Revolutionize your live performances”: The multi-effects market has never been more competitive – does Hotone’s next-generation Ampero II Stage do enough to make a mark?
October 17
- Shergold’s Provocateur Standard single-cut turns out to be quite provocative, but not that standard
- “It wouldn’t have worked with the Stones at all. We’re all about teamwork”: Jeff Beck was once rumored to join The Rolling Stones – Keith Richards explains why that never happened
- Meet the Ciari Ascender Standard, the world’s first folding electric guitar “that you can take anywhere”
- “It was complete carnage... Keith and Ronnie were on their feet. The roof left the building”: Andrew Watt gifted Paul McCartney a ‘64 Höfner with a built-in Univox Super Fuzz circuit – and the Beatle used it on the new Rolling Stones album
October 16
- “It was right before doors, so we moved fast”: Mike Stringer lays down a ferocious 7-string playthrough of Spiritbox’s heaviest track yet in an empty arena – just minutes before fans storm the venue
- “They asked us to make a guitar out of the Knicks basketball court”: John Mayer has added another custom Charvel to his collection – and this one is literally built from Madison Square Garden’s floor
- “Two of rock’s elite guitar soloists go lick for lick”: Watch Slash and Mike McCready trade leads on Paradise City as the Pearl Jam guitarist joins Guns N’ Roses onstage
October 13
- “I don’t think I will ever come close to the magic of the original, but I tried my best!”: Marvel at Matteo Mancuso’s unique technique as he absolutely nails Steve Vai’s legendary Crossroads showcase Eugene’s Trick Bag
- This week's essential guitar tracks: Fresh eyebrow-singing solos from Judas Priest, and a former coma patient delivers jaw-dropping Dimebag-meets-EVH shred
- The widow of Paul Stanley’s former guitar tech is suing Kiss for wrongful death
- “I made a deal, paid him in cash, and he died two months later. His last text to his daughter was, ‘I buried the money in the desert’”: Joe Bonamassa tells the story of the strangest guitar deal he ever did
- Billie Joe Armstrong set to sell rare prototype Gibson guitars and tour-used gear in new Green Day Reverb Shop – and one of them will cost you nothing
- “The bestseller goes digital”: IK Multimedia unveils the iRig USB – a Type-C guitar interface that costs less than $70
- Walrus Audio’s unique 385 overdrive pedal was based on a vintage film projector – and now it’s been overhauled as the 385 MkII
October 12
- “It's always rubbed me the wrong way when people put Brad down and refer to me as the lead guitarist... Some of the best solos in our catalog are ones Brad did”: Joe Perry says it’s time to stop calling Brad Whitford a rhythm guitarist
- “Let ‘er rip”: Eventide’s new Riptide pedal puts iconic Uni-Vibe tones and “legendary overdrives” into one convenient stompbox
- “I am Jethro Tull's guitar player. I was, I am now, and I always will be”: Martin Barre says he remains the prog legends’ guitarist, despite Ian Anderson’s insistence on touring under the ’Tull name
- “I’ve never heard it sound this good, ever”: Meet the ultra-precise, digital-meets-analog Delay pedal that has Josh Scott raving
October 11
- Ernie Ball Music Man and Tosin Abasi have treated their radical Kaizen model to five of its finest finishes yet – including a limited-edition Honey Suckle burst
- “A fresh face”: The latest PRS drop brings back one of the most distinctive guitars in its history – and it’s only available as an SE
- “The most flexible studio reverb ever created in a pedal format”: Meris changed the delay game with the LVX – can its all-new MercuryX do the same for reverbs?
- I review guitar gear for a living – these are the 6 bargains I'm considering in Amazon's October Prime event
October 10
- "That song was going in the trash until I played on it": Andy Summers is locked in a "contentious" battle with Sting over Every Breath You Take songwriting credits
- Beat the early Black Friday sales with up to 20% off Positive Grid smart amps and accessories over at Amazon
- Musician's Friend proves the best deals aren't on Amazon with up to 40% off big-name brands in their 40th Anniversary Sale
- “When I'm like, 'I can't quite do that any more,' the guitar will show me there's another way”: Keith Richards discusses how arthritis has changed his playing
- Forget Amazon, Fender’s official shop is the place to shop today – get up to $350 off electric guitars and basses
- “The tactile charm and unplugged resonance of acoustics twice their size”: With the “revolutionary” Highway Series, Fender is slimming down the big-body footprint
- “My go-to guitar in the studio”: This Fender Telecaster lived in Metallica’s HQ and became Kirk Hammett’s writing workhorse – now it’s going under the hammer
- Forget Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days event, these 6 sales are where it’s at for guitar players today
- We thought Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days sale was a dud until they slashed the price of these Boss and Roland favorites – and yes it includes the Katana!
October 9
- “One of the most influential sounds in rock history”: Eric Clapton’s iconic ‘Fool’ Gibson SG, which was key to his trademark ‘woman tone’, has emerged – and it’s going up for auction
- “The workhorse”: The Fender ‘Sky Stang’ played by Kurt Cobain during Nirvana’s last show – and 53 In Utero tour dates – is going up for auction
- “Everybody was going crazy about Yngwie Malmsteen... Joe Satriani told me, ‘That’s fine, but don’t get too into him’”: Alex Skolnick explains why he was warned off sounding like the neoclassical maestro
- Blues legend Junior Wells, who has been dead since 1998, has a brand-new single out using AI
- This historic Fender Precision Bass lay hidden underneath a bed for over 50 years – now it’s going up for auction
- “At first you fight, and you’re a little bit angry and then you get sad... but that solo is blistering”: Brad Whitford recalls the time Aeromith’s producer called in session pro Steve Hunter to replace his and Joe Perry’s lead lines
October 6
- “Let me know if you like it or you think I ruined it!” Dire Straits’ Sultans of Swing becomes Sultans of Shred as Sophie Lloyd gives the guitar anthem a high-gain makeover
- “This man changed the game in so many ways”: One of Les Paul’s own Les Pauls – which has a rare maple fretboard – has been listed on Reverb
- Head to the outer limits of the tone galaxy with Interstellar Audio Machines’ new trio of vintage-modern effect pedals
- Wolfgang Van Halen’s favorite guitarist tears it up while death metal has never sounded more alive: this week’s essential guitar tracks
- “The direction I was given was, ‘We want to encompass the history of the guitar’”: The guitarist behind Back to the Future’s Johnny B. Goode scene says he used a Strat copy with a Floyd Rose
- “The thing the incident reveals to me is a much larger problem – the idea that profits are more important than people”: George Lynch breaks silence following resurfaced allegations that Peavey used prison labor
October 5
- Joe Bonamassa called his ‘51 Fender Nocaster “the most dynamic instrument I have ever played in my life” – now Seymour Duncan has released a signature pickup set based on that guitar
- Tom Morello says his 12-year-old son “can shred circles” around him – watch Roman Morello tackle Ozzy Osbourne’s Mr. Crowley… with Jack Black on vocals
- Fender discontinued its sought-after Blacktop Baritone Telecaster in 2015 – now Schecter has plugged the gap and hot-rodded the format for 2023
- Positive Grid just made its Spark amps gig-ready – meet the Spark CAB, the brand’s flagship FRFR speaker
- “There are people out there with extraordinary technical ability, but you listen to their tone and you’re like, ‘Have you got ears or not?’”: Steven Wilson explains why he’s “constantly disappointed” by modern guitarists’ tones
October 4
- One of the greatest guitar performances of all time: new colorized footage of Jimi Hendrix’s extended 1970 performance of Machine Gun at the Fillmore East emerges
- “Ultimate control” over your bass overdrive tones, and your entire backline in a pedal? Ashdown has lofty aims for its latest bass stompboxes
- “A tribute to his talent and a celebration of his unique style”: Neural DSP taps neo-soul virtuoso Mateus Asato for its latest signature Archetype plugin
- Joe Perry and Brad Whitford dissect Aerosmith's wild 50-year ride – only in the new Guitar World
- “I played with Satriani, Bonamassa, Iommi and Blackmore… but Gary Moore was the best”: Glenn Hughes has performed with some of the greatest guitarists of all time, but he reckons the late, great blues-rocker surpasses them all
- “The most unique finish Fender makes”: Fender’s new Waste Bucket Sparkle guitars turn trash into treasure
- Gibson releases two new 1970s Flying V and Explorer models – paying homage to the players who made them “an enduring symbol of the era’s rock ‘n’ roll rebellion”
October 3
- The guitar cab your amp modeler has been waiting for? Fender’s first FRFR Tone Master cabinets are here – and they look stunning
- Neural DSP has reduced the price of the Quad Cortex – it’s now the same as Fender’s new Tone Master Pro (but that’s probably just a coincidence)
- “Eddie turned guitar on its ear... I remember saying, ‘We’re not ready for the ’80s’”: Joe Perry says after hearing Van Halen’s first record he knew it was time to take a break from Aerosmith
- “The ultimate guitar processor in terms of tone, dynamics, power, and user-friendliness”: Fender goes toe-to-toe with Neural DSP, Line 6 and Boss with its first-ever amp modeling multi-effects, the Tone Master Pro
- “I get a text from Nuno: ‘They made $9m on this video and they couldn’t even give us a guitar!’”: Fender’s viral Game of Thrones clip has 41m views – but its stars didn’t get to keep the instruments
October 2
- Was David Gilmour’s Comfortably Numb solo really a first take? Total Guitar sets the record straight
- “All the ingredients I needed to make the soup”: MXR celebrates 20 years of partnership with Zakk Wylde with 5 pedals that promise his Ozzy Osbourne, Black Label Society and Pantera tones
- “Hopefully the neck isn’t… warped”: Kauer has made a Star Trek guitar that we actually want to play
- “Santana, right? I love your choice of notes”: Carlos Santana recalls the time he met Jimi Hendrix