Total Guitar Features

Darkthrone's Nocturno Culto: "I would like Metallica to record on our equipment. What would they do to express themselves through that gear?"

By Jonathan Horsley

In this rare interview with the Darkthrone guitarist, Ted Skjellum muses on the Fender combo’s black-metal magic and why he doesn’t miss playing live…

Chris Carrabba of Dashboard Confessional

Dashboard Confessional: "When you’re a one-man band, the audience can get bored if you don’t use every playing style you can think of"

By Amit Sharma

Chris Carrabba on how he became his own compressor, why he still looks to the Fender Tele for his electric kicks, and… his favorite metal shredders?!

Steve Morse: "In a band, the guitar lives in the midrange, so that’s what I care about more than anything"

Steve Morse: "Deep Purple used to put me in a separate van because I’d be playing the whole way between gigs!"

By Amit Sharma

The Deep Purple and Flying Colors hero on changing picking styles, choosing guitars and famous friends…

A guide to ambient guitar: channel your post-rock heroes using delay, reverb pedals and more

By Alex Lynham

Learn how to create stunning electric guitar soundscapes with our hands-on examples for all levels of guitarist

Orchards’ Sam Rushton: “We’re told we’ve got happy breakdowns… metalheads seem to like it”

By Matt Parker

We talk to the whirlwind guitarist behind the UK’s expansive math-pop picks

Billy Strings: "I see a lot of similarities between metal guitar and mandolin, especially in tremolo picking"

By Richard Bienstock

The International Bluegrass Music Association’s Guitar Player of the Year discusses his anything-goes approach and hot new album, Home

Classic gear: Electro-Harmonix POG

By Alex Lynham

With the POG, polyphonic pitch-shifting finally arrived for the average player, and its great tones and superior tracking have cemented its place in pedal history

Austin Meade: "Heavier songs give us more opportunities to create guitar tradeoffs"

By Jeff Kitts

He’s just a good ol’ boy from Texas with a flair for heartfelt Americana rock and a killer mustache, trying to make a name for himself

Sunn O))): "Our music is not a violent, destructive thing. It’s an expressive thing"

By Gregory Adams

Drone-metal lords Stephen O’Malley And Greg Anderson discuss the meaning of Life Metal - and their new signature stompbox, the Life Pedal

Dear Guitar Hero - DragonForce's Herman Li answers your questions: "I am a specialist in my own weird guitar sound"

By Mark McStea

The shredder on the band's latest album Extreme Power Metal, his favorite EVH solo and how he developed his mind-bending sweep-picking ability

10 best compressor pedals 2020: enhance your electric guitar tone with compression

By Jonathan Horsley

With great options from Boss, Keeley, MXR and more, there has never been a better time to add one of the best compressor pedals to your pedalboard

Mark Heylmun and Chris Garza of Suicide Silence

Suicide Silence: "Instead of trying to write like Malmsteen or Vai, I like making people go, 'What the hell just happened?'"

By Amit Sharma

Guitarists Mark Heylmun and Chris Garza talk gear, influences and returning to form with their latest album, Become the Hunter

Ryan "Fluff" Bruce of Riffs, Beards & Gear

Ryan 'Fluff' Bruce talks Riffs, Beards & Gear's YouTube success, Dragged Under and the marginal difference between mid-level and boutique gear

By Amit Sharma

"Once you get past a certain threshold with anything - pedals, guitars or amps - the differences are small, despite what their marketing departments like to tell you"

Best Telecasters: top Fender Tele electric guitars for every budget

Best Telecasters 2020: top Fender Tele electric guitars for every budget

By Amit Sharma

We pay homage to one of Fender's most iconic electric guitars and help you figure out which is the best Telecaster for you

The rock group MC5 (L-R Dennis "Machine Gun" Thompson, Wayne Kramer, Fred "Sonic" Smith and Rob Tyner) perform live in 1969 in Mount Clemens, Michigan

The 20 heaviest songs before Black Sabbath

By Richard Bienstock

Behold, gentle reader, a sizzlin’ slew of down and dirty tracks that helped forge heavy metal

Grace Potter: “The guitar is inherent to my sound, and when I get onstage I can’t help it: I have to get to 11”

By Jonathan Horsley

The Vermont rock-pop force of nature on falling back in love with music, working with resonance and why the Flying V brings out her A game

Generic view of a guitarist in a rock band in silhouette smashing a guitar on the stage while performing, taken in May 2009 in London, the group is called Caimbo

The biggest threat to the guitar? It could well be guitarists: how online hate endangers the instrument we love

By Michael Astley-Brown

Why we ended up with a culture of player haters, and what we can do to change it

Classic gear: DigiTech Space Station

By Alex Lynham

We dig deep into the renowned effects company's trailblazing XP-300

Brian May’s guitar gear: how to sound like the iconic Queen guitarist

By Jonathan Horsley

From the Red Special to an arsenal of effects, here's how to sound like the operatic rock legend, including the ultimate tone hack...

Washburn Bella Tono Series review round-up

Washburn Bella Tono Series acoustic review round-up

By Jonathan Horsley

It’s good tone by name, but is it good tone by nature for Washburn’s new series of Studio-sized acoustics?