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May 2025

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61 articles

May 13
- “I got a call: ‘Can you be on a plane tomorrow to go to New Orleans to play one song with Paul McCartney?’” Brian Ray’s audition to join Paul McCartney’s band was a last-minute live performance – at the Super Bowl
- “When we did the final Slayer show for 60,000 people, Scott Ian used it as his primary tone”: Gary Holt's favorite budget pedal emulates Eddie Van Halen's iconic “Brown Sound” – and it retails for less than a $100
- “He gave the CD to George. The next thing I know he calls to ask if we’d play at their Christmas party”: How Robin Nolan went from busking on the streets of Amsterdam to collaborating with George Harrison – and hanging out with Paul McCartney
- “This gentleman was someone we looked up to. He was right up there”: Peter Frampton joins Pearl Jam and trades solos with Mike McCready over Black during Nashville performance
- “His prized possession was a 1972 D-35 that he played for all those years. Shortly before he passed away, he gave it to me”: Rockie Lynne was abandoned as an infant – years later, his birth father left him his most important legacy
- “I didn’t care if it succeeded or not. I just wanted to make fun of Bruce Springsteen”: Todd Rundgren reveals the real reason why he decided to produce Meat Loaf's off-kilter debut Bat Out of Hell
May 12
- “I was advised not to do the show. I had to tape myself into this giant bulletproof vest”: When Suzanne Vega was warned against headlining Glastonbury, she took drastic measures to ensure she made history
- “My upbeat moment is, I'm alive”: Robert Fripp reveals he’s recovering from a heart attack
- “What better way to honor the past than by letting the YardBurst, once played by Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck, live on through today's artists?”: Marcus King follows in Craig Ross’ footsteps to wield Jeff Beck’s iconic Les Paul on stage
- “I’m pretty sure that statement was not meant to be a compliment”: Gary Clark Jr. on the time he bumped into Eric Clapton at a show – and what Slowhand said about his tone
- “An avatar of the purest spirit of rock and roll”: Lemmy honored with a towering bronze statue unveiled in the Motörhead legend’s hometown
- Mastodon recruit prog fusion virtuoso Nick Johnston as surprise new stand-in guitarist following Brent Hinds’ departure
May 11
- “We shouldn’t have touched her music when she wasn’t around. I thought I would never see her again”: Knox Chandler on the less-than-ideal recording session that flourished into a decade-long working relationship with Cyndi Lauper
May 10
- “Tom listened to it and said, ‘It sounds kind of jazzy.’ I went back and changed the chorus, and that’s the version I played for Don”: Mike Campbell on writing The Boys of Summer with Don Henley – after Tom Petty passed on it
May 9
- “Some of the most ambitious custom shop guitars I’ve ever seen”: These are the gear releases that have caught my eye this week – and the essential launches you might have missed
- “Going on the road just got easer”: Gator’s Icon Take Two gig bag series offers a secure, comfortable and convenient solution for transporting 2 of your prized guitars
- “I’ve only seen it that once and just for about two hours. It was a piece of crap”: Steely Dan’s Denny Dias says his iconic Do It Again electric sitar solo was recorded on a lousy rental model
- Guitar World deals of the week: save over $600 on a Charvel, get a huge $130 off an MXR pedal, plus all the week's best deals
- “I was able to find three of them in the world. I wrote almost the entire score on this guitar”: Sinners composer Ludwig Göransson used vintage 1932 Dobros to write the movie’s music – and he scoured the globe to find them
- “Although the road has not always been enjoyable for me, it is usually easy. The best job I could ever have had”: Pete Townshend looks back at life on the road as The Who announce farewell North American tour
- Kurt Cobain's 1989 Takamine expected to fetch up to $500,000 at auction – alongside guitars played by the likes of Eric Clapton, Eddie Van Halen, David Bowie, Joe Perry and Melissa Etheridge
- “Bob is fearless. He’s always willing to take chances with music of any kind”: Bob Weir joins Joe Satriani and Sammy Hagar for Best of All Worlds guest spot – and plays Hagar’s Gibson Explorer
May 8
- “It would be a great gift to the fans, and I don’t know how strange this sounds, but I feel like it’s a gift to Chris too”: Soundgarden's Kim Thayil gives an update on whether unreleased band material featuring Chris Cornell will see the light of day
- Eddie Vedder uses one of Jack White’s signature guitars to play a Pearl Jam deep cut – after receiving it as a gift from the White Stripes legend
- “I didn’t know him or trust him. But I gave him all of that money in the hope he would bring me a Strat. I had no idea if I’d see him again”: Rammstein’s Richard ZK on the coffee shop rendezvous in East Germany that got him his first Fender
- “I said, ‘You can’t make a guitar as good as my old one.’ They tried and it wasn’t great”: Vince Gill’s 1953 Telecaster is one of the most coveted Teles of all time – but the Eagles guitarist turned down Fender’s offer to make a signature recreation
- “What started out as an instrumental album quickly changed”: Stone Temple Pilots’ Dean DeLeo announces One More Satellite – a new collaborative project that stars a host of special guests
- “It's the unpredictability and suddenness of the tariffs. Companies do not have the time to plan, adapt or evolve”: NAMM CEO John Mlynczak on the impact of Trump’s tariffs in the guitar industry
- “Tom thought I was trying to make myself look like the guy who was behind Boston. After that, he said he wasn’t going to work with me anymore”: Barry Goudreau opens up on his bitter parting with Tom Scholz
- “A little thunder and lightning”: Slash dons a Gibson SG as Guns N’ Roses pay tribute to John Sykes with rampant cover of a Thin Lizzy classic
May 7
- “Prince writes, ‘Luka is the most compelling piece of music I’ve heard in a long time’”: Suzanne Vega on the time Prince sent her a handwritten letter to praise one of her most iconic tracks
- “I hear the promoter got a phone call from Eddie, who said, ‘If Yngwie Malmsteen is playing, I'm not playing’”: Yngwie Malmsteen claims Eddie Van Halen felt “threatened” by him
- Joe Perry announces his first big post-Aerosmith tour – and he’ll be playing with members of Aerosmith, Black Crowes and Stone Temple Pilots
- “A huge Achilles heel with the non-traditionals”: What’s the hardest part about designing a fresh guitar? According to Novo Guitars, it’s probably not one you’d expect
- “It’s a $20 plugin. It makes it sound like it’s coming off a tape that’s been recorded over three or four times”: Steven Wilson reveals his go-to guitar plugin – and why digital can successfully coexist with analog
- “How many weddings can you jam I'm Eighteen, Enter Sandman, and Cowboys From Hell?”: Nita Strauss shreds an Alice Cooper classic at her own wedding in newly shared clips
- “We haven’t broken a string on a Les Paul for more than three years”: Joe Bonamassa swears by this easy string-saving hack – which was inspired by Jimmy Page and Billy Gibbons
May 6
- “This song depicts all of the things Joe and I loved about pounding rock ‘n’ roll and the glorious guitar”: The SatchVai Band's second single is an ode to the instrument that made them famous – and it features Glenn Hughes on vocals
- “It’s unreal that my own name is one of the coolest finishes I think Fender has ever done”: Fender teams up with country superstar Brad Paisley on a signature Telecaster that brings back a cult classic finish from the 1960s
- “I realized he couldn't play well enough to put the video out”: Rick Beato weighs in on the Giacomo Turra controversy – and discusses their ill-fated collaboration
- Philip Sayce has some of the most potent guitar tones in modern blues rock – and now Seymour Duncan has recreated them with a signature single-coil set inspired by his go-to vintage Strat
- “We were trying to make the best guitar that ever happened in world history”: ESP’s latest Richard ZK ESP and LTD signature guitars are heavy rock riff machines of the highest order
- “Save yourself a few hundred thousand dollars and experience the magic for yourself”: JHS Pedals has unveiled its latest DIY pedal kit – a $119 Dumble-style overdrive partly inspired by a one-off John Mayer stompbox
- “That was the infamous moment of my life when Dazed and Confused fell into the loving arms and hands of Jimmy Page”: Original Dazed and Confused songwriter revives copyright lawsuit against Jimmy Page
- “B.B. King was in a wheelchair for maybe four or five years before he died, and I’m not on crutches yet”: Fresh off his cameo in Michael B. Jordan’s Sinners, Buddy Guy confirms he’s not done with performing just yet
- “Makes me feel closer to Pop every time I record”: Wolfgang Van Halen used Eddie’s legendary Frankenstein to track the slap riff – and the wild two-hand tapping sequence – in his new single
May 5
- “There's something really magical about it”: Bon Jovi's Phil X on why he prefers single-pickup guitars – and his one-of-a-kind neck pickup 'mods'
- “I will miss laughing with her about sports and crying with her about politics”: Tom Morello leads tributes to groundbreaking singer-songwriter Jill Sobule
- “A true musician’s musician whose guitar spoke volumes”: Blues guitar great Joe Louis Walker dies at 75
May 4
- Free Eddie Van Halen mini-documentary explores the origins of Eruption and his two-hand tapping technique – and it’s partly narrated by the man himself
May 2
- “At first, I honestly thought it was a joke. Even now, it hasn’t quite sunk in”: Eric Clapton recently named Toshiki Soejima as one of his favorite contemporary Japanese players – now, the neo-soul guitarist has finally met his guitar hero
- “Vince Gill is probably the best guitarist of any of us on that stage, but he isn’t doing a ton of heavy-lifting guitar-wise”: Chris Holt on how he got the Eagles gig – and what fans can expect from the new-look guitar line-up
- “After reviewing thousands of submissions from across the globe…” Chaka Khan has chosen her new guitarist after hosting open auditions – and it’s a popular Instagram shredder
- “I switched to a Stratocaster, then Lowell George showed me his MXR compressor”: Bonnie Raitt on how she developed her celebrated slide sound – and why you can’t teach feel
- Wolfgang Van Halen goes big on the two-hand tapping in new Mammoth single – and recruits Slash and Myles Kennedy for a horror-inspired music video loaded with an Eddie Van Halen Easter egg
- “That required some right hand training. It was like a tongue twister for my hands”: Mike Dawes has transformed a Sleep Token song into a solo acoustic guitar masterclass – and the results are awe-inspiring
May 1
- Fender Japan assembles all-star group of elite Masterbuilders for its most ambitious builds yet – the Deck O’ Cards Stratocasters
- “I would always insist that you know every single note right from the beginning”: Joe Satriani responds to Cory Wong's controversial statement about what it takes to be an advanced guitarist – and why he agrees with him
- “We had accidentally stored the bass in Seattle and paid $2,500 in rental fees!” 32 years ago, Jeff Ament rented a ’61 Jazz Bass from Norman's Rare Guitars to record Pearl Jam’s iconic Vs. record – and now he’s been reunited with it
- “Eddie’s musicianship blossomed when I joined the band”: Sammy Hagar on his musical dynamic with Eddie Van Halen – and why the virtuoso stopped releasing music in the 2000s
- “That is called ‘playing the s**t out of the guitar!’”: Bruce Springsteen, Steven Van Zandt and Smokey Robinson join forces on their own rendition of a Motown classic at the 2025 American Music Honors