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June 2026

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136 articles

June 30
- “Ladies and gentlemen, we are in the era of Sexy Djent”: June 2026 Guitar World Editors' Picks
- “While the 6-string is my comfort zone, I missed the physical freedom of the 4-string bass”: Ernie Ball and Fender top this month's low-end releases with signature models celebrating two of the bass world’s most influential voices
- “I clicked on it and honestly was kind of freaked out”: AI guitar YouTubers? Rhett Shull issues warning after finding AI versions of his content
- Bob Dylan loses another guitarist as Bob Britt quits after more than 5 years in his band
- “I have to play through the pain”: Mahogany Rush legend Frank Marino announces return to the stage despite debilitating hand injury and retirement
- Darkglass becomes a surprise rival to Neural DSP and Line 6 with its first guitar-based modeler – but there’s a catch
June 29
- The ultimate drop-tuning pedal? Solar Guitars reckons the Chug Capo can outdo DigiTech and Boss
- “I’m a firm believer that if you put a truss rod in a guitar, it sucks the tone out of it”: Simon McBride has a hot tone take you’ve probably never heard before
- “It was a nightmare. My only experience was playing in my room where I was alone”: Laura Cox on the challenges of transitioning from YouTube to the studio – and how to conquer them
- JHS Pedals corrects its biggest error with the relaunch of the DIY Dumble pedal – complete with a clone of John Mayer’s ultra-rare boost
- Did you miss Amazon's biggest sale of the year so far? Well, luckily, these 16 outstanding Prime Day guitar deals are still live – save on guitars, pedals, amps, accessories, and more
June 28
- “I bought it for 100 bucks. The guy didn’t think it was fixable. Years later, he came to a show and saw me playing it. He was mad – said I took advantage of him”: Jeff Tweedy says his mom has an eye for guitar bargains – these are the cheapest gems yet
- My pick of the best new guitar gear launched this week – and the new drops you might have missed
June 26
- “I wanted to know how he got the top note on Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers”: How Jeff Beck and Brian Robertson swapped guitars – and brought guitar synths to Motörhead
- Didn’t find a Prime Day guitar bargain this year? These 3 shops have kicked off their July 4th sales already and I've picked my highlights
- Bob Dylan has just recruited one of the world's greatest jazz guitarists – and no one quite knows what's going on
- “Every detail of this series reflects Kramer at its best”: Kramer goes for gold with its 50th Anniversary collection
- $600 off a Strandberg, $200 off a Bonamassa favorite, and a slew of wallet-friendly beginner models – these are the Prime Day electric guitar deals worth considering before the sale ends at midnight
- Prime Day guitar deals 2026 LIVE: last chance to save on guitar gear at Amazon, Sweetwater, Guitar Center, Fender and beyond
- “I knew about it for years. I couldn’t tell anyone”: Eric Clapton's ‘Summersburst’ Les Paul – used on Cream's debut album – has finally been unearthed after 60 years
June 25
- “Gibson is part of my DNA. It's been the honor of my life to help lead it and to work alongside the people who bring this company to life every day”: Cesar Gueikian to step down as CEO and President of Gibson
- “He spent 20 minutes ripping out all of the padding from the case. He was unable to put it back together”: Blues band film TSA agent ruining $380 guitar case during pre-flight inspection
- “I said, ‘But Ed’s still alive. He’s still making amazing records. He’s still on tour. What guitar player would ever try to imitate him while he’s still working?’”: Joe Satriani recalls being approached by David Lee Roth for a Van Halen cover band
- Boss stompbox prices just dropped even further for the final day of Prime Day – you've got less than 24 hours to pick up one of 13 iconic Boss pedals still on sale
- “G&L is back for a short time”: The last G&L guitars ever made are now hitting stores – but you won’t find them everywhere
- Angine de Poitrine just upgraded their main guitar-bass hybrid – could a Godin signature model be on the way?
June 24
- “I’m not going to tell you which ones they are”: John Mayer has been using his plugin in the studio, and he doesn’t think you’ll notice
- “He was like, ‘If you want to be a real guitar player, you got to play righty. They don’t make great left-handed guitars’”: The advice Jared James Nichols took – and the bad advice he ignored – to develop his electric fingerstyle
- Amazon Prime Day wraps up tonight but there's 8 massive guitar sales that are just getting started, with savings that will stretch well into next week
- Time is ticking on Prime Day, so this is your last chance to stockpile accessories – I've hunted down 11 affordable guitar essentials, starting from as low as $4.99
- “I got really disillusioned with my playing... There were these other guitarists coming up around the block, and they could really play”: How the ’80s guitar scene left Jeff Beck feeling like an “observer”
- “I got the engineer sitting here, Gene’s standing up, Paul’s on the other side, looking at me. He goes, ‘We need an eight-bar solo’”: The short-lived Kiss guitarist who was supposed to succeed Ace Frehley
- Prime Day is the place to upgrade your guitar cable game, with up to 66% off leads and patch cable bundles – but the savings will end tonight
- A massive 35% Prime Day discount just took this already affordable multi-effects pedal into a completely different territory - find out why 200+ guitar players picked up this Mooer pedal in the last month on Amazon
- This reverb pedal blew my mind last year, and now it's 20% off for Prime Day – thanks to its dual-engine and intuitive layout, this is a serious and capable reverb, and a no-brainer at this price
- A mad idea made real: Meet the ADDAC Four String, a modular synth and lap steel hybrid that looks totally bonkers
- “Once again, Chris wanted to save Soundgarden. We all knew there was unhappiness”: Sleep’s new guitarist was once nearly drafted into Soundgarden
- I've set up hundreds of guitars with these 7 essential tools, and the final hours of Prime Day are your last chance to get them at a discount – deals start from just $8.99
June 23
- We bought, tested, and ranked 8 dirt-cheap Amazon pedals – now 7 of them have hit a new low price in the Prime Day sale, but hurry, you only have a few hours to grab one!
- “My guitar is a tool. I want it to do exactly what I need it to, so we took out all the ‘extra’ stuff”: Wolfgang Van Halen’s Mammoth collaborator Jon Jourdan joins forces with PRS on a no-frills, single-pickup guitar
- “My production manager, my sound tech, even my other guitar player… they were all telling me it sounds better. I was like, ‘I know!’” Joe Bonamassa explains what made him finally admit defeat and go digital
- “Can't wait to celebrate 90 years of living, loving, and playing the blues”: Buddy Guy's 90th birthday party could be the gig of the year – and Eric Clapton, John Mayer, Susan Tedeschi, Derek Trucks, and Joe Bonamassa are all invited
- “Dave had something so many guitar reviewers lack”: Remembering Dave Burrluck, our colleague and friend – and a guitar journalist who changed the game
- I’ve just found two of Amazon’s best value beginner acoustic guitar deals to get you started from only $105 – plus save on a gigbag and tuner for the ultimate beginner bundle
- You might get a strange look packing this futuristic frame into your luggage, but this 4.5 star rated travel guitar is an absolute bargain for just $370 in the early Prime Day sales
- Prime Day guitar deals 2026 LIVE: last chance to save on guitar gear at Amazon, Sweetwater, Guitar Center, Fender and beyond
June 22
- “How many times have you gone to see a band, watched them set up full stacks and massive pedalboards, and then they just suck?” Why Converge’s Kurt Ballou uses digital amp modelers live (even if he disappoints gearheads)
- Kirk Hammett tumbles off stage as Metallica pay tribute to Thin Lizzy in Ireland
- “Without that song, I might be working at Burger King right now”: Nuno Bettencourt names the Extreme track that changed his life overnight
- “If I don’t do this right, if I don’t serve this justice, then my life will be over”: Wolfgang Van Halen opens up on his Van Halen cover anxiety at Taylor Hawkins tribute concert
- This unbelievable Squier Strat Prime Day deal sold out in one day – now I've tracked down an alternative that's even better value. But you'll need to be quick as the deals end tonight!
- “We urge Fender to stop issuing cease and desist demands against manufacturers, distributors and dealers and to return to a fair, cooperative partnership”: Thomann, the world’s largest music retailer, is suing Fender over cease-and-desists
- “I couldn’t imagine them being put away and left unplayed”: Johnny Marr to sell nearly 100 pieces of gear at auction – including prized Smiths-era guitars
June 21
- “To show you how much we trust this product, we’re going to throw it off a bridge”: This magnetic modular pedalboard could change the way you use your pedals – and it’s undergone the most extreme demo
- “What an amazing gift. Only years later did I realize he'd dropped my SG and put a crack in the neck”: Why Death Cab for Cutie's Ben Gibbard played an obscure Fender model early in his career – and the reason he's picked it up again after two decades
June 20
- Fender just announced its biggest mid-year gear drop yet – here’s everything you need to know
- “I didn’t want a lot of new friends. I’d just signed quarter-million-dollar record deal at 15 years old”: Eric Gales signed a six figure deal as a teenager and his classmates had no idea
- “It’s called Bruno…. They blowtorched it and scraped it up”: Steve Vai is bringing his original For the Love of God Ibanez with him on tour – but he isn’t playing it
June 19
- My pick of the best new guitar gear launched this week – and the new drops you might have missed
- “I got to play a show in front of my daughter, something I never thought I’d get to do again”: Chad Gilbert riffs with New Found Glory again as he returns to the stage in wheelchair mid-cancer battle
- “We were in his dressing room, I was having a peek at his guitar… and he went, ‘Nobody touches it!’” Keith Richards on the time Chuck Berry punched him
- “It’s like Shangri-La. It’s an oasis for guitar players”: You can now watch the Norman’s Rare Guitars documentary online for free
June 18
- Fender's limited edition Player Fusion range has taken its entry level electrics in a radical hard rock direction
- The Fender legal furore is a damn shame, because Squier just launched its coolest guitars in years
- “A choice no-one would have seen coming”: Matt Pike has quit doom-metal icons Sleep – and his surprise replacement has been announced
- “There are 1000s of hours on that guitar. I learned everything on it”: The teenage blues sensation hailed as the next Stevie Ray Vaughan has had his main guitar stolen – and Joe Bonamassa has issued a public plea for its return
- “I didn’t like it, but Tom said, ‘No, it’s great. Now you’ve got to double it’”: Mike Campbell on the riff he wanted to ditch – but Tom Petty made him double down
June 17
- Yvette Young has a new piece of signature gear – and it might be the one stop shop for all the ambient prog rock tones you’ve been waiting for
- “It’s like the wind is at your back when you’re playing it”: The difference between a PRS Silver Sky and Fender Stratocaster, according to a blues hero who plays both
- “The most important and influential bass guitarist in the 66-year history of the Precision”: Fender honors legendary Motown bass great with recreation of James Jamerson’s workhorse bass
- Polyphia announces 2026 world tour – and they're bringing two of the biggest names in guitar playing with them
- “In musical hierarchies, there was Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, and I was like, ‘Where am I?’” Ed O’Brien opens up on his guitar insecurities in Radiohead
- “I’m creating music for the girls in the front row. Not the weird dude with a tripod trying to look up my shorts”: Grace Bowers has returned to YouTube and launched a new era on her own terms
June 16
- “We had a new guitar tech. The first thing he did was cut all the guitar strings off. It was devastating”: Why Kurt Vile prefers older guitar strings – and hardly ever changes his
- “We are not going to let the legacy be erased, nor are we going to let it be diluted”: Fender CEO addresses Strat cease-and-desist backlash
- “I opened for Brad Paisley and his tech jokingly said, ‘Don’t do the B-Bender thing. That’s Brad’s thing’”: John Osborne on the time he got warned off the B-Bender – even though he didn’t have one
June 15
- “A full circle moment after all these years of making music side-by-side”: Billy Idol and Steve Stevens inducted into Guitar Center’s Hollywood Rockwalk
- Alex Lifeson’s Rush reunion live rig has been revealed – and there’s not an amp in sight on the Fifty Something tour
- “I must have rewound that solo on cassette 300 times, trying to understand what I had just heard”: Nuno Bettencourt pays tribute to Yngwie Malmsteen – and names the one thing most people get wrong about his playing
- “Dime played Dean Zelinsky’s MLs when he had braces on his teeth, and he died with one in his arms”: Dime Guitarz has officially launched – and its first model pays tribute to the Pantera legend’s most iconic guitar
June 14
- “A lot of cats say you don’t have to play fast, but it can cause you to phrase better”: Why bebop master Wes Montgomery never used a guitar pick – and only played using his thumb
- “Paul went, ‘What are you gonna’ play?’ ‘I don’t know.’ There’s George Martin in the control room, a 50 piece orchestra waiting on me in the studio”: How Wings guitarist Henry McCullough recorded his one take solo on My Love
- “I showed up, plugged in, and it was over. Then I saw a video and thought, ‘I’m glad I didn’t dream it’”: When two of the world’s finest guitar players joined forces – Julian Lage on his jam with Derek Trucks
- “Weird, small, brilliant, respectful of pedalboard space. What more could you need?” This week’s hottest new guitar gear – including Alex Lifeson’s ES-355, Charvel’s US return and Ed Sheeran’s new Orange squeeze
June 13
- “I wrote 17 themes. Then they came back and said, ’Yeah, they’re great. Can you do another 12?’” How Barrie Cadogan wrote the Better Call Saul hook – one of TV’s greatest guitar theme tunes
- “The two heads onstage are now fake because Dom smashed so many amps”: How Yungblud’s guitar-throwing habits are forcing his guitarist to rethink his live rig
June 12
- Keanu Reeves reveals the most important bass lesson he learned from Flea
- “One of the customs guys in Canada decided he hated Black Sabbath, so he smashed the neck with a hammer”: How Geezer Butler’s P-Bass survived a Sabbath hater’s attack – and ended up on the band's most iconic tracks
- The most advanced gig bag ever created? D’Addario has launched climate-controlled guitar cases with integrated humidity control
- “The bar made no profit from it, especially since producing costumes like these is not exactly cheap”: It turns out the fake Russian Angine de Poitrine isn’t actually a real band. Here’s what actually happened
- What are your thoughts on the new Polyphia single?
June 11
- “We’re trying to bring more energy by making it heavier”: Polyphia have invented a new genre with their rave riffing new single, CAN YOU FEEL IT
- “A direct line back to where it all started”: Charvel returns to California with new USA-made Neo-Classic Superstrats
- “Ed’s own techs said the only person that could help was this girl outta Nashville. Joe called me and said, ‘Apparently I should be talking to you’”: How Joe Satriani found the amp builder for his dream Eddie Van Halen tone
- “She was a complete stranger. She was a bit intimidated at first because she’d heard of the band, but she wasn’t a Rush fan”: Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee on Anika Nilles’ rollercoaster audition for Rush's Fifty Something tour
- “Music doesn’t start in arenas or on streaming platforms. It starts in bedrooms and on street corners”: Ed Sheeran launches signature Orange amp range - could it topple the Roland Cube as the busking combos to beat?
- “A proactive step to position these iconic brands for long-term success”: Dean Guitars owner files for bankruptcy
June 10
- Epiphone launches hotly anticipated reissue of Alex Lifeson’s iconic ES-355 – just in time for Rush's return to the stage
- A signature electric for a fictional guitar hero? PRS has launched a new SE model for an anime character
- “We have regularly heard players request one change”: Gibson gives in to overwhelming fan demands and supercharges its Victory shred machine with one key upgrade
- “It is good news. Better than I expected”: Höfner has been bought out after filing for bankruptcy – and will be backed by Thomann for a new era
June 9
- Extreme and Red Hot Chili Peppers classics among first tracks confirmed for Guitar Hero's spiritual successor, Stage Tour
June 8
- “In ’84 that was it. We were done. I was completely bankrupt. It was devastating”: How Mike Matthews saved pedal pioneers Electro-Harmonix from the brink – and managed to secure its longterm future
- “They don’t even say it’s not a real band. And they have a one-neck guitar”: A fake Angine de Poitrine has been passing themselves off as the real deal in Russia
- Rush play first show in 11 years, armed with double-neck guitars and deep cuts
- “We continue to fight for the return of Darrell’s guitar designs”: Dimebag Darrell’s estate responds after court rules in Dean’s favor in legal dispute
- Ed Sheeran is about to launch another piece of signature gear – and he’s already gifted it to a young fan
June 7
- Who’s the greatest Stratocaster player?
June 6
- Troy Van Leeuwen debuts stunning Squier 12-string Telecaster while performing live with Michael Stipe on Jimmy Kimmel
- “A clone of a clone of a clone? Sounds ridiculous. Take my money now”: This week's hottest new guitar gear – including an AI-powered amp that wants to change the way you create tones
June 5
- “The knife flipped and hacked right on my knuckle… I play guitar in a weird way”: The bizarre gardening accident that changed the way Phoebe Bridgers plays guitar
- “He added his signature screaming guitar parts, and there it was”: Slash, Tim Henson, Guthrie Govan and Steve Vai have been assembled for an unlikely collaboration album – and it’s filled with A-list players
- “My guess was it was the PRS NF. So cool to know it was this”: New guitar, who dis? John Mayer just debuted his stunning new boutique T-style on his new collab with Lainey Wilson
- “We need our community’s help”: California music store appealing for aid following the theft of four Fender Custom Shop Stratocasters
- “I don’t know how to say this without bragging”: This guitarist butchered classic riffs at Guitar Center to rage bait fellow customers. Then Jack White sent her his guitar
- “I found him at the studio. I said, ‘You never called me back. I got nothing going on my career, you left me in the lurch’”: Pete Townshend offered Peter Frampton his place in the Who – then blanked him
June 4
- Fender keeps the pace with Neural DSP and Line 6 with a bumper firmware upgrade that gives players 15 new reasons to try the Tone Master Pro
- “Even the most cynical guitar techs were impressed”: The wireless system that finally convinced Radiohead to ditch their guitar cables for good
- “This might be the last time the Hydra comes out on tour”: Steve Vai might be retiring his monstrous triple-neck Ibanez
- Epiphone launches $229 Hummingbird Tribute to the acoustic beloved by Bob Dylan, Jimmy Page and Keith Richards
- “I was on the way to Eric Clapton’s Crossroads festival and I got a DM from John Mayer…” Tom Misch on the time his guitar hero reached out of the blue and offered to join him on stage
- “I can’t stand Eddie Van Halen’s guitar playing”: The Jesus and Mary Chain call Eddie Van Halen one of the “worst guitar players in the world”
- “I got wrecked, paranoid, the whole thing... and then they hit this riff that I still remember. I just wept”: Paul McCartney on the life-changing moment he saw Fela Kuti live while smoking with Ginger Baker
June 3
- Ace Frehley's main Kiss guitar, the 1975 “Budokan” Gibson Les Paul, sells for over half a million dollars at auction
- “More Tim Henson than Bob Dylan”: An Elvis Presley guitar and Bob Dylan’s ultra-luxe custom Strat are up for sale – and could fetch a combined $1.5 million
- “I kept seeing him out the corner of my eye, where he’d be with his guitar”: Mastodon’s first single with their new guitarist is a powerful tribute to Brent Hinds
- “It was the biggest mistake of my career”: JHS Pedals once mistakenly put an ultra-rare Dumble boost circuit into one of its DIY pedals – now it’s been launched as an $89 standalone stompbox
- “I wanted to dislike it!” Is Joe Bonamassa warming to modeling amps? He’s taken a Fender Tone Master on tour
- “I’ve got a little story about a chord you might like”: Paul McCartney is challenging fans to work out the mystery guitar chord that inspired his new album – and we’ve figured it out
June 2
- “It’s a genuinely unique instrument – and it always raises a smile”: Nigel Tufnel's “World on Fire” guitar, used during Spinal Tap's Live Earth performance, is headed to auction
- “He only ever said one thing to me about sounding like anyone he’d played with before”: Rowan Robertson on the key piece of advice he received from Ronnie James Dio on how to faithfully play Tony Iommi’s riffs
- “A turning point for the industry”: TONE3000’s new A2 NAM modeling tech beat some huge hitters in a blind listening test – and it’s completely free to use
- Positive Grid branches out from the Spark with the Reactor – an AI-powered combo that can generate tones from images and adapts to your playing
June 1
- “If anybody could play like that, they must be crazy”: How Dave Davies wrote the savage solo for the Kinks’ breakthrough hit
- “If you think this is a bunch of throwaway crap to suck the dollar out of poor, unsuspecting Van Halen fans, it’s not”: Eddie Van Halen’s soon-to-be-released recordings are going to blow you away, according to Steve Lukather
- “It’s a one-string instrument with a handle on it, and I hit it with a stick”: Les Claypool’s bonkers one-string leads the biggest (and strangest) bass releases of the month