Jazz

Latest about Jazz

Folk legend Joan Baez wears a red shirt and plays her small-bodied Martin 0-40 acoustic guitar onstage in NYC
A pioneering protest singer, American folk legend Joan Baez draws on jazz and flamenco for her intricate picking patterns

By Stuart Ryan Published

Ever since the '60s, Joan Baez has delivered a message with her music, but she was never going to be a two-chord folkie with a bellyful of fire. Her sound takes from jazz and flamenco with picking patterns that are as good as a fingerprint

Artist Lessons
Left-Guitarist Ritchie Blackmore of rock band Deep Purple, 1969; Right-English businessman, and founder of Marshall Amplification, Jim Marshall (1923 – 2012) with a selection of his amplifiers, Los Angeles, California, 2000
Ritchie Blackmore recalls buying his first Gibson from amp pioneer Jim Marshall's music store

By Janelle Borg Published

Blackmore used the Gibson ES-335 all throughout the '60s, from The Outlaws to Deep Purple’s 1970 breakthrough album, In Rock

Guitarists
John 5 Fender American Ultra II Telecaster
Tele obsessive John 5 provides the ultimate test for Fender’s new American Ultra II series

By Phil Weller Published

The versatile shredder owns over 100 different Telecasters, but he’s full of praise for the upgrades that have been fitted to its latest iteration

Electric Guitars
Joe Bonamassa, Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton; with JoBo on the SG, Hendrix and Slowhand on Strats – is this the ultimate blues jam?
What if Jimi Hendrix jammed with Eric Clapton, or Gary Moore traded solos with Joe Bonamassa? We imagine 5 all-star fantasy blues jams and what they would sound like

By Andy Saphir Published

Welcome to an all-star fantasy blues jam, featuring a greatest hits of blues players, their signature licks, and how to put them together and incorporate them in your own playing

Lessons
Made in Japan Limited Hybrid II Sandblast
Fender Japan doubles down on its newfound affinity for sandblasting by putting an irresistible spin on its black-out Hybrid II models

By Matt Owen Published

Fender's experimental branch introduced some sandblasted Hybrid II instruments earlier this year – but they've been trumped by these stealthy designs, which all flaunt that unusual finishing technique

Electric Guitars
Daniels Gravitas
“World-class... It just feels like a vintage classic that never was”: Daniels Gravitas review

By Dave Burrluck Published

A fascinating reimagining of Gibson’s Firebird, the Gravitas sticks with vintage vibe and mojo. Oh, and that sound…

Electric Guitars
The Yarbirds perform with Eric Clapton on the far left with his Telecaster. British playwright Lord Willis and his daughter Sally watch on from lawnchairs.
The history of the ’60s British blues boom – the movement that carried a tidal wave of guitar heroes across the Atlantic

By Denny Ilett Published

With the death of John Mayall in July, we lost one of the architects of the '60s blues boom that transformed Britain’s music scene and restored America’s blues guitar pioneers to their rightful place. Here's how a grassroots scene changed the world

Guitarists
Fredrik Thordendal of Meshuggah shreds on his Ibanez custom 8-string, his face obscured by his hair
How Meshuggah’s Fredrick Thordendal changed the face of metal

By Charlie Griffiths Published

One of the most influential guitar players of his generation, Thordendal’s low-end, rhythmically complex assaults have changed the shape and sound of metal

Artist Lessons
Allan Holdsworth frets a chord on his headless electric guitar, onstage in Spain, 2006. A white stage light illuminates the right-hand side of his face.
How Allan Holdsworth reinvented the way we approach the electric guitar

By Nick Mellor Published

This in-depth masterclass in the fusion icon’s virtuoso style is for moderate to advanced players ready to level up their legato chops, outside playing and minor chord vocabulary

Artist Lessons
Fender American Ultra II Meteora and the American Ultra Jazzmaster
Why Fender chose the Meteora over the Jazzmaster for its American Ultra II series

By Matt Parker Published

The Jazzmaster was notable in its absence from the new Ultra line-up, now, Fender’s Allen Abbassi explains why it chose to include the Meteora in its place

Guitars
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