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July 2026

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121 articles

July 31
- “Well, I’ve always said that if they wanted me to reform, I would do it”: Steve Hackett says he would be up for a Genesis reunion tour with Phil Collins – but could it happen?
- “He solobombs in to drop some terrifyingly clean sweep passages. Modern technical guitar playing doesn’t get better than this”: July 2026 Guitar World Editors' Picks
- “I was geared up to play Steve Vai solos. But they sent me in a completely different direction”: How John Squire’s replacement had to reinvent his playing when he joined the Stone Roses
- “I did say to him, ‘Do you want to play on something else?’ He said, ‘No. Your solos are good. I don’t need to play’”: Tony Iommi reveals Brian May’s role on his upcoming solo record
- “It’s the actual composer, the actual score – the riffs played properly loud in a room that can withstand all the ripping and tearing”: Mick Gordon to perform Doom score live for the very first time next year
- “A celebration of legendary bass tone”: Geezer Butler gets a limited-edition combo and Dingwall honors a modern metal great in July’s biggest bass releases
July 30
- “I wanted to make sure it was perfect. A completely different type of Kramer”: Kramer and Malina Moye make history with the underrated modern guitar hero’s first signature model
- “We’re genuinely sorry for the delay in response and confusion it caused”: D’Addario sets the record straight over generative AI accusations
July 29
- “He would text me, ‘I'm in pain. This thing, it's getting me down.’ I would just say, ‘You're the strongest man I know’”: Ozzy Osbourne's best friend on the legend's final days
- “Alex Lifeson went off on loose-limbed benders, taking madcap detours and stretching out phrases just to see where they’d land”: Rush deliver the thrill of mastery at Madison Square Garden – live review
- “Unrecognizable. Make it right”: Guitarist calls out American Airlines after his acoustic was returned to him in pieces
- “Cover music has been analog AI for a long time”: Fender CEO Bud Cole under fire from online guitar community for AI comments
- “We’re not trying to prove anything – it rocks”: Tony Iommi announces first solo album in 21 years – hear the new single, World Alone
- Glen Hansard, celebrated Irish singer-songwriter and star of Oscar-winning movie Once, dies in motorcycle crash
- “Small does not have to mean less”: Orange puts a Terror twist on one of its most popular modern amp series with new Baby lunchbox head
- Japanese man arrested for 7 years of loud guitar playing, has 40 guitars seized
- “Sho-Bud is not simply a brand. It is part of the sound of American music”: An iconic pedal steel guitar firm is launching its own record label
July 28
- “A dream that’s been years in the making”: Harley Benton joins the relic bandwagon with $238 hand-aged guitars
- “I remember one really beautiful Fender Stratocaster – I watched in horror as he destroyed it during the encore”: Jimi Hendrix's roadie explains why the icon smashed his guitars
- “They gave me a hard time when I brought it through customs. I thought, ‘Are they going to take it off me?’” Steve Hackett on the guitar that defined his Genesis sound – and how he bought it for a bargain price
- “He’s been a leader with the company since the beginning”: PRS has appointed the first CEO in its history – what does that mean for the brand going forward?
July 27
- Jack White’s Third Man Hardware has launched a fuzz pedal with Beetronics that looks like a can of tuna
- “A holy grail artifact from the peak of their stadium-rock dominance”: Eddie Van Halen’s old guitar tech and a superfan have helped put together ‘the ultimate Van Halen guitar auction’
- “Clearly not the same as the original”: D’Addario under fire for allegedly faking its response to AI accusations
- “I understand it’s a shock. It’s gonna be an honor stepping into his shoes”: Gus G joins King Diamond as Andy LaRocque steps down after 40 years
July 25
- “Somebody handed me a ’59 Les Paul and said, ‘That’s yours to play.’ I went from poverty one minute to having the world’s ultimate guitars in my care”: The underrated Stone Roses guitarist whose life changed completely after landing the highly-coveted gig
July 24
- “We will no longer be able to absorb those costs”: US/Canada trade war spells more bad news for guitarists who love digital effects
- “There’s absolutely no doubt this is dream distortion pedal material. But at $415, it’d be hard to justify”: My pick of the best new guitar gear launched this week – and the new drops you might have missed
- Fender Japan reimagines the hits with the Active Modern series – let’s hope the US branch is taking notes
- Gretsch launches $249 Streamliner CVT – and it has rock and metal players in its sights
- “I was really at the point where… nobody knows who I am and I don’t want my name on the guitar”: The unsung guitarist who shaped one of PRS’s most sought-after models
- “I wanna say from the bottom of my heart, I’m sorry. I hope you’re well”: Sammy Hagar sends David Lee Roth support after sudden tour cancellation
- Gibson announces opening of third Garage, and second in the US
- “We made a choice to demo these products in a fully produced mix. It backfired”: D’Addario denies using AI to make the music in string demo video
- “He plays those little Taylors. I’m always like, ‘Come on, play a proper guitar’”: Graham Coxon’s thoughts on Damon Albarn as a guitar player
July 23
- “The first accessible guitar ever made”: Blind guitarist didn’t realize fret markers were a thing – until he was given a game-changing guitar with a tactile ‘navigation neck’
- “I played a Gretsch and then played the Flying V, and I couldn’t tell the difference”: Brian Setzer on the unlikely Gibson guitar that’s most like his iconic Gretsch
July 22
- “He had a kind of caveman instinct”: Was David Bowie a good guitar player? Adrian Belew, Peter Frampton and more weigh in
- “I still can’t believe that he’s not here with us. There will never be another Ozzy”: Tony Iommi shares Ozzy Osbourne tribute on the first anniversary of his death
July 21
- “After the second or third song, people get over the shock of seeing Johnny Depp up there with a guitar. And it’s legit”: Joe Perry on what it’s like being in a band with one of the world’s biggest movie stars
July 20
- Ibanez’s AZ Series has a guitar for every genre, budget, and playing level – and it keeps getting better
- “I asked David, ‘Any suggestions?’ He said, ‘Think Ritchie Blackmore.’ I didn’t expect that”: When David Bowie asked Robert Fripp to play like a Deep Purple legend
- Martin caves to player demand and revives its smallest guitar body shape – but it’s not tuned like your regular acoustic
- “His impact will live on for generations”: Wayne Charvel, legendary luthier who built guitars for Eddie Van Halen and gave rise to the Superstrat, dies aged 85
- “She was such a force. She made so many feel so seen”: L7 bassist Jennifer Finch, who changed the game on and off the stage, has died aged 59
July 19
- “Jeff’s like, ‘That’s the most expensive guitar in this building.’ I was like, ‘Get it away from me’”: Jeff Tweedy opened his guitar vault for this cult indie artist – and it put him on edge
July 17
- “It's an amp for when you feel the need to give the FOH sound engineer a nervous breakdown”: My pick of the best new guitar gear launched this week – and the new drops you might have missed
- “A rare and often overlooked chapter in amplifier history”: IK Multimedia makes 9 elusive lost era Fender amps available as a TONEX plugin
- “Thomann isn’t a small independent guitar builder... It is one of the world’s largest instrument retailers and the owner of one of Europe’s largest guitar brands”: Fender fires back at Thomann and sues for copyright infringement – read the full statement
July 16
- “I let it go to voicemail. It said, ‘Hello, this is Eric Clapton. This may sound like a hoax, but it’s not’”: Slowhand tried to invite Derek Trucks onto his album with JJ Cale – but he thought it was a prank call
- “We’d just played the Black Sabbath farewell show and I thought, ‘What’s the worst that can happen if we ask Geezer to guest on our album?’” How Troy Sanders landed one of metal’s greatest bassists for a guest spot on Mastodon’s new album
- “Frank took an extended 10-minute solo. I walked off stage. David Bowie and Iggy Pop were standing there”: Adrian Belew on how he went from playing with Frank Zappa to joining David Bowie’s band
- The Edge’s mirror ball Les Paul was one of his most experimental U2 guitars – now it’s up for auction
July 15
- Kiss to celebrate Ace Frehley's legacy with all-star tribute
- More new guitar body shapes? Kiesel continues the push to keep the electric guitar fresh by launching a daring metal offset
- Phoebe Bridgers brings Joe Bonamassa-backed teenage guitar prodigy and Kiko Loureiro’s protege along for Tonight Show Performance
- “One of the rarest and most revered hard rock icons”: Gibson has revived one of the most sought-after guitars it has ever produced
- “I did get some bad reviews. Some people called me ‘the guy who ruined the Pretenders’”: Robbie McIntosh on his trial by fire when he replaced the late James Honeyman-Scott
- Yamaha confirmed to be among Fender’s cease-and-desist targets
July 14
- “I FaceTimed with her parents and said, ‘I like your daughter’s playing. She’s a natural. She plays like Gary Moore’”: How 22-year-old Anna Cara landed the gig of a lifetime with Alice Cooper
- “Whether the long story he gave was real or not, it doesn’t matter”: Teen blues prodigy reunited with his stolen Stevie Ray Vaughan Strat
- “When I picked one up for the first time, I knew it was going to be special”: Periphery’s Jake Bowen jumps ship from Ibanez and joins Strandberg
- “Punk rock and alternative music would not be what it is or where it is without her”: L7 bassist Jennifer Finch reveals aggressive brain cancer diagnosis ahead of band’s farewell tour
- “The crowds hated us! They were only there to see Stevie Ray, and they didn’t give us a chance... One night he called me on stage, and he handed me a Strat”: Brian Setzer on what he learned playing Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Stratocaster
- How Eventide ushered in a new era for the H9 and made one of the world’s most acclaimed multi-effects more intuitive than ever
July 13
- “I was just playing an SE, and he said, ‘I want to support you. You're great. I think you deserve to be playing on a USA model’”: How a fan made Sophie Burrell's dream guitar a reality – and changed the course of her career
- “We’re thrilled we’ve got other members who are just over the moon to be in the band with us”: Mastodon share new single with Josh Homme – and add another member to the band
- Bob Dylan debuts his third new guitarist in three weeks
- “Marshall’s first signature amp in 14 years”: Marshall launches Billie Joe Armstrong artist head – and it’s inspired by his first guitar
- “I cannot endorse it. There’s misinformation in it about our early recording sessions”: Dave Davies denounces new Kinks book – and those Jimmy Page rhythm guitar rumors are at the center of it
- Fender hits used guitar store with cease-and-desist over alleged trademark infringement
- Why the IK Multimedia TONEX ONE+ might be the only modeler you ever need – and how it could revolutionize your rig forever
July 12
- “Paul really misses being in a band. His joy of just being in that context is great”: Keith Richards on why Paul McCartney’s collaboration with the Rolling Stones meant so much
July 10
- “You couldn’t tell the difference between the Squier and the Fender. I played them live, and I couldn’t tell”: John 5 on the Squier Telecaster that competes with Fender
- “I only ever use a slapback, so why can't I stop thinking about a $679 delay pedal?” My pick of the best new guitar gear launched this week – and the new drops you might have missed
- Flying with your guitar – do you have a nightmare story?
July 9
- Get almost $1k of guitar tuition from our number one platform for only $99 with this epic Summer Black Friday deal – including full access, plus bonus gifts
- “The energy, the rock ‘n’ roll... You are a rock star, young lady”: This 16-year-old guitarist just stunned America’s Got Talent by two-hand tapping over a Cranberries classic
- Strymon’s TimeLine MX might be the most advanced delay pedal on the planet – but it will cost you nearly $700
- I've found serious shredders, iconic amps, and dirt-cheap pedals in Guitar Center's huge up to 25% off guitar sale – including $288 off a shred-ready Schecter
- “We thought the band was over. He's crossed the line – he's gone too far”: Mastodon open up about their relationship with Brent Hinds – and the devastating brain injury that nearly ended everything
- Court dismisses Behringer’s lawsuit against Boss over “knock off” polyphonic tuner
July 8
- “The spirit of the Ramones is alive in every backyard punk show, punk club, and festival”: Billie Joe Armstrong teams up with Blink-182 and Rancid members for Ramones-honoring supergroup
- Two of the biggest names in guitar hardware have teamed up for a new take on the tremolo
- “One of the most creative and respected effects platforms in our industry”: Ernie Ball has acquired pioneering pedal firm Source Audio – what does it mean for the brands and the guitar market at large?
- “I got a call from my brother. He said, ‘Ozzy wants to talk to you.’ Ozzy tells me that Randy died, and asks if I’m available’”: The guitarist who was hired to fill in for Randy Rhoads – only to be fired immediately afterward
- Epiphone’s Eric Church signature Hummingbird Dark comes with a whiskey made using Gibson tonewood offcuts
- “It was supposed to show up at my house. It completely disappeared”: Johnny Marr steps in to help after FedEx loses session player’s vintage guitar
July 7
- “I think people got scared to play it”: Guitar Center CEO on why Stairway to Heaven was banned in guitar stores
- “I played that lick and went home. An hour later, the phone rang. Tom said, ‘You’ve got to come back. We want to put that lick you played at the front of the song’”: How Mike Campbell's throwaway lick shaped a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers classic
- “This makes it feel exciting all over again”: Jim Root’s signature Fender reinvented the Telecaster and was praised by John Mayer – now it’s back with a key twist
- Telecaster maple latte, anyone? Fender has launched its first standalone coffee shop in Japan
July 6
- “Dreams come true”: Kirk Hammett adds Gojira guitarist's signature guitar to his touring arsenal for Metallica's London extravaganza
- “I’m giving all the profits to real musicians, whose work AI stole in the first place”: Human musicians form tribute band to viral AI group Velvet Sundown to fight back against AI music
- “Long before King Edward, there was King Luis”: Nuno Bettencourt pays tribute to his first guitar hero as he brings his brother on stage to shred an Extreme classic
- “I’ve got numbness in my hands… I can’t really talk, walk, play or sing”: Matt Skiba’s Alkaline Trio cancels tour dates at last minute following serious medical issues
- “It was only supposed to be a joke”: Relic’ing guitar stickers are now a thing
- “If we’re lucky he made it to part of a soundcheck. If we weren’t, he’d just show up at the beginning of the gig, and call his tunes in whatever keys he felt like”: Marc Ribot reveals just how hard Chuck Berry was on other guitarists
July 5
- “We finished my solo record. Alex heard it, and he goes, ‘Hey, why didn't we put that on a Van Halen record!’” Sammy Hagar reveals the Eddie Van Halen-produced track that could have been on a Van Halen album
- “I can hear a lot of Ritchie Blackmore fans crying out, ‘No! He’s using digital stuff!’” Simon McBride is ditching stacks for modelers and transforming Deep Purple’s sound
July 4
- “I walked into Guitar Center, saw this Tele and thought, ‘This is incredible.’ It’s the guitar that got me endorsed with Fender”: The guitar that changed John 5’s life
July 3
- “They gave a guitar endorsement to a drummer, and I thought, ‘Man, this is not where I want to be’”: Dave Mustaine on why he left Jackson Guitars… then tried to buy the company
- This weekend’s 4th of July guitar sales blowout is officially the biggest wave of discounting I’ve seen outside of Black Friday – shop 10 mega sales with up to 60% off here
- “We didn’t have time to fix it, so I traded it for a Fender Twin. But I know where they are”: Jeff Tweedy on the two guitars he regrets selling – and how Billy Gibbons ended up with them
- “His dedication to Gibson’s quality and legacy is beyond reproach”: 5 ways Cesar Gueikian transformed Gibson – and proved to be a very different kind of guitar CEO
- “I got this for half the price it was worth… I felt kind of bad about it”: Kirk Hammett bought Neal Schon’s Les Paul for so little that he offered it back to his hero
- “The argument about string gauges is the silliest thing a guitarist can engage in”: John Mayer on what really matters when choosing the guitar strings you use
- “It could give my Quad Cortex mini a run for its money”: My pick of the best new guitar gear launched this week – and the new drops you might have missed
- “I said to Andy, ‘Is he gonna be into this? Because it’s a punk tune and I want overdriven bass. It’s gonna be simple, no mucking about’”: Mick Jagger on recruiting Paul McCartney to play bass on the Rolling Stones' upcoming album
July 2
- “My body and mind are dealing with something completely out of my control”: The Jam bassist Bruce Foxton reveals Parkinson's Disease diagnosis
- Gibson gives the Les Paul a Fender twist with the Long Scale Custom
- “It has evolved into a completely different guitar”: Would you like some guitar with your fretboard? Jackson has just introduced a 27-fret monster signature model for Brandon Ellis
- As a hopeless Gibson and Epiphone addict, these 4th of July deals are seriously testing my willpower – score up to $899 off a Gibson Les Paul Modern, as well as hundreds off Epiphone Joe Bonamassa, Jeff Beck and Jerry Cantrell signature models
July 1
- “My guitar wouldn’t stay in tune. Eddie said, ‘You know what? I bet you’re a bass player.’ That was the beginning of it all”: How Jack White’s brother Eddie turned a childhood friend into a bassist – before Jack invited him to join his solo band
- Bob Dylan's second new guitarist in two weeks just went from gigging to 150 people to playing with an icon
- The man set to become the next Prime Minister of the UK is also an avid guitar player – and he’s jammed with a Stone Roses guitarist
- “We didn’t think he was up to it. He was perfectly capable of playing the major and minor chords in the right place, but not the lead”: Brian Robertson’s early reservations on Scott Gorham joining Thin Lizzy
- “My manager told Eric, ‘You should meet this young artist I'm working with. He's a funny guy – I think you’d like him’”: How a ’70s soft rock icon ended up recruiting Eric Clapton on his debut album
- Making money from your guitar tones? STL Tones is letting you do just that – and it’s already generated $2.5million in artist royalties
- Guild’s S-300 offset returns nearly 50 years since it was deemed too radical for its time
- “They’re getting harder to find and almost unobtainable at this point”: Fender shines the spotlight on its unsung amp era with the “hidden treasure” ’62 Deluxe brown-panel