Interviews | Guitar World

Gary Lucas: "The guitar is like an extension of my nervous system - I try to play what I feel and transmit it"

By Joshua M. Miller

From Jeff Buckley to Gods and Monsters and beyond, the Captain Beefheart alum celebrates his diverse career on an impressive new compilation album

The 1975's Adam Hann talks embracing heavy riffs, recording on the road and why he loves John Petrucci's signature model

By Gregory Adams

The versatile pop guitarist reveals the gear and production secrets behind the band's Notes on a Conditional Form - and why they'll never make an album like it again

Harkin: "I’ve been playing guitar long enough to know that if something has P-90s, it sounds more like me"

By Alison Richter

After years backing Sleater-Kinney, Kurt Vile, Wild Beasts and beyond, a nomadic six-stringer makes her uncompromising solo debut

Guitar Gabby: "Understanding where guitar music came from helps young black women like me, out here paving our own paths"

By Amit Sharma

The LTD-wielding guitarist talks the music business, The TxLips Band and the genius of Sister Rosetta Tharpe

Adam Carroll and Chase Becker of Warbringer

Warbringer: "We’re not walking on eggshells, as far as the riffs we write. We don't go, 'It’s gotta be thrash!'"

By Gregory Adams

California thrashers Chase Becker and Adam Carroll talk epic tracks, happy accidents and Weapons of Tomorrow

Louis Hardy and Max Harper of Higher Power

Higher Power: "You can pull guitar ideas from anywhere - even grime music"

By Brad Angle

Louis Hardy and Max Harper talk 27 Miles Underwater, the second outing by the UK hardcore squad. But wait - are they really hardcore?

Tora Dahle Aagård: "Playing guitar is my meditation"

By David Mead

Norway's genre-shifting six-stringer talks gear, why she's not a typical guitar player, and how School of Rock changed her life

Tiger Army's Nick 13: "'50s rock is so great - it just needs another generation to rediscover it"

By Mark McStea

The psychobilly frontman on the band's fittingly titled sixth studio record, Retrofuture, and the possibility of another country-driven solo album

Def Leppard: "Steve Clark was a very unique player - he didn't get enough credit for the stuff he was doing"

By Joe Matera

Joe Elliott and Phil Collen look back at the band's first two albums - On Through The Night and High ‘N’ Dry - and the impact of guitarists Pete Willis and Steve Clark

Lillie Mae: "I might write a melody on the fiddle. But I've loved the guitar since day one - everything comes from that"

By Mark McStea

The Americana singer/songwriter talks image-based prejudices in Nashville, and signing with Jack White's label, Third Man Records

Torche: "Playing blues-based leads makes us feel weird - we're not into that!"

By Gregory Adams

The Miami sludge-metallers discuss their procession of line-up changes and how they made Admission, their best album yet

BRKN Love: "We strayed away from big 100-watt stacks for this album. I like the character of a blown-up amp"

By Adam Kovac

Frontman Justin Benlolo talks recording every guitar part on the band's self-titled debut, and the group's forthcoming Netflix biopic

Meet Thomas Tull - the billionaire movie mogul, Slash collaborator and guitar aficionado

By Alan Paul

"I’m well aware that I’m one of the luckiest people walking the planet," says the businessman and Ghost Hounds guitarist

The Sword on their musical evolution, gear epiphanies and secret pedalboard weapons

By Jonathan Horsley

Ahead of the unsheathing of a triple-disc anthology, J.D. Cronise and Kyle Shutt take an epic voyage down memory lane…

Robert Cray: "With solos, I just improvise and let it fly. It’s what you’re feeling right then and there"

By James Wood

Dear Guitar Hero: The longstanding bluesman answers your questions on everything from songwriting to playing with Eric Clapton

Fiokee on how he became Africa's most in-demand guitarist and the secret to writing guitar parts that connect

By Amit Sharma

"I see the guitar as a microphone - I try to keep my melodies very simple so that everyone can understand the message"

Mike Mushok: "If there’s gonna be a solo, it needs to make the song better - not just, ‘Look what I can do!'"

By Brad Angle

The alt-rock guitarist talks recording with Saint Asonia, why he's been inspired by Journey's Neal Schon and what the future holds for Staind

Tash Sultana: "I can play different instruments, but my home is the guitar"

By Amit Sharma

The Aussie multi-instrumentalist talks us through their extensive live setup, love of Fender's Richie Kotzen Teles, and the $20 pedal that will never leave their pedalboard

Nita Strauss: "No matter your skill level, you can always improve on your own style and personality as a guitar player"

By James Wood

The Alice Cooper shredder and 21st-century guitar hero discusses her new online guitar course, Rock Guitar Fundamentals

Ozric Tentacles’ Ed Wynne: "George Harrison used to come to our house for dinner and sit there playing guitar!"

By Rod Brakes

We touch down on planet Earth with the captain of the Tentacles’ space-rock craft following the release of his debut solo album, Shimmer Into Nature