ZZ Top

Latest about ZZ Top

ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons [left] performs in front of some Magnatone amplifiers; a classic shot of Prince performing live, bathed in purple light.
Billy Gibbons on his epic late-night guitar summit with Prince

By Jonathan Horsley Published

The ZZ Top frontman admits he only recognized just how gifted Prince was as a player when he saw him bring the house down at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Awards

Guitarists
Musicians Elwood Francis, Frank Beard and Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top performs onstage during Day 1 of the 2023 Stagecoach Festival on April 28, 2023 in Indio, California.
Elwood Francis on the origins of his 17-string bass – and why he regrets it becoming a ZZ Top staple

By Michael Astley-Brown Published

Elwood Francis reveals the origins of his preposterous 17-string bass – and why he’s disappointed it went viral

Bassists
Billy Gibbons in full flow onstage with ZZ Top
Why Billy Gibbons started using a peso as a guitar pick

By Jonathan Horsley Published

From the Archive It pays to keep some change in your pocket. You never know when your tone will need it

3 Comments
From the Archive
Billy Gibbons
Gibson recreates Billy Gibbons’ Pearly Gates Les Paul – and you’ll have to meet the ZZ Top legend in person if you want one

By Phil Weller Published

30 painstaking replicas are being sold exclusively through a private event at Gibson Garage Nashville

Electric Guitars
(L-R) Frank Beard, Dusty Hill and Billy Gibbons of ZZ TOP perform in concert at The Forum on June 19, 1975 in Inglewood, California
Billy Gibbons vows ZZ Top will continue performing, following drummer Frank Beard's death

By Janelle Borg Published

Gibbons confirmed that, as per Beard's wishes, the band is going to “keep on keeping on”, with a Texas show scheduled for this weekend

15 Comments
Bands
Billy Gibbons [left] plays a custom T-style; B.B. King takes a solo on Lucille.
Billy Gibbons on how B.B. King changed his life

By Andrew Daly Published

At the age of 7, seeing B.B. King lit the path for Gibbons as a blues guitarist. The ZZ Top legend discusses B.B.’s lasting impact

Guitarists
ZZ Top's Dusty Hill [left] and Billy Gibbons get their work clothes on as they perform live in 1981.
“An unabashed element was the constant ferociousness of the guitar tone coming from Pearly Gates”: Billy Gibbons on the making of ZZ Top’s El Loco

By Andrew Daly Published

How Billy Gibbons unleashed the power of his holy grail '59 Les Paul Standard for the Texan blues-rock legend's “in-between” classic, El Loco – and set the stage for ZZ Top's domination of the decade

Guitarists
Jim Irsay bass guitars auction 2026
Paul McCartney, Fleetwood Mac and ZZ Top basses top the biggest four-string sales at historic Jim Irsay auction

By Phil Weller Published

The late billionaire’s sensational instrument collection has gone under the hammer, including some very notable basses

Bass Guitars
Billy Gibbons (left) and Jimi Hendrix perform onstage
When Jimi Hendrix gave Billy Gibbons a guitar lesson unlike any other

By Jackson Maxwell Published

Gibbons' pre-ZZ Top band, the Moving Sidewalks, toured with Hendrix for a time in 1968 – and he got to witness the Strat legend's magic up close

4 Comments
Guitarists
A montage image of Billy Gibbons in a blue suit playing a custom Gibson guitar and B.B. King onstage in 1968 with his Gibson ES-335, Lucille
Billy Gibbons shares the story of the “treasured moment” he sat in on a B.B. King session – as a child

By Matt Parker Published

Long before he got the chance to pick it up for himself, the ZZ Top man found himself in a truly formative session with an icon of electric guitar

Guitarists
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