Trace Billie Joe Armstrong's roots and revisit an Eddie Van Halen rarity with this week's essential guitar tracks

The Green Day singer, Billie Joe Armstrong, is seen during a concert at La Riviera in Madrid on October 30, 2019 in Madrid, Spain.
(Image credit: Ricardo Rubio/Europa Press via Getty Images)

Wait, it's December already? Yes, this really quite terrible year is finally coming to a close, but it's doing so with a proverbial bang, and a boatload of new guitar releases.

This week, we've got Billy Joe Armstrong paying tribute to one of his foremost early influences, a dose of early-'00s nostalgia courtesy of KennyHoopla, and a thrilling gem from the Eddie Van Halen archives.

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Michael Astley-Brown
Editor-in-Chief, GuitarWorld.com

Mike is Editor-in-Chief of GuitarWorld.com, in addition to being an offset fiend and recovering pedal addict. He has a master's degree in journalism from Cardiff University, and over a decade's experience writing and editing for guitar publications including MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitarist, as well as 20 years of recording and live experience in original and function bands. During his career, he has interviewed the likes of John Frusciante, Chris Cornell, Tom Morello, Matt Bellamy, Kirk Hammett, Jerry Cantrell, Joe Satriani, Tom DeLonge, Ed O'Brien, Polyphia, Tosin Abasi, Yvette Young and many more. In his free time, you'll find him making progressive instrumental rock under the nom de plume Maebe.