Three “God-like guitarists” join forces and stadium-conquering rockers channel their inner spy: This week's essential guitar tracks By Michael Astley-Brown published 8 December 23 Must-listen-to tunes from Guns N' Roses, Architects, IDLES, The Libertines, Devon Ross, Ryujin and many more
“I loved Hendrix – he was my first guitar hero... But seeing Stevie Ray Vaughan was transcendent. He made me understand Hendrix better”: Mike McCready says SRV helped him make sense of this Hendrix technique By Matt Parker published 8 December 23 “When he [Vaughan] did Voodoo Child, it was so bad-ass," McCready says. “He changed how I wanted to play, and if you listen to Even Flow, you can hear me trying to emulate his stuff”
Get better faster for only $3.13 per month with Fender Play’s biggest ever discount By Chris Barnes published 8 December 23 Learning or improving has never been cheaper thanks to this time-limited 75% off promotion from Fender Play
“A rare opportunity to own a piece of tone shaping history”: Wampler brought back the Tumnus using the same germanium diodes found on the original Klon Centaur – but it’s already sold out By Matt Owen published 8 December 23 A small stash of the Klon's elusive diodes were uncovered after “a massive hunt” – resulting in quite possibly the most authentic Klon clone ever
“A revolving collective of Gibson artists”: the guitar brand becomes a guitar band, as the Gibson Band debuts its first single, featuring CEO Cesar Gueikian, Serj Tankian, and a solo from Tony Iommi By Matt Parker published 8 December 23 The original new song, Deconstruction, is being released as part a new fundraising initiative, accompanied by Tankian’s original artwork and what else? A Les Paul with a custom finish
Best volume pedals 2023: control your tone with these essential pedals By Matt McCracken published 8 December 23 Turn it up with our pick of the best guitar volume pedals from Lehle, Ernie Ball, Boss, and more
Guitar World deals of the week: there's still time to save big on guitar gear with these last-minute deals By Matt McCracken published 8 December 23 It's your last chance to save big before Christmas with these deals from Fender, Epiphone, Universal Audio, and more
“The Silver Sky reigns supreme”: Reverb reveals its best-selling guitars of 2023 – including the most popular used models, with some surprising results By Matt Owen published 8 December 23 PRS continues to take a chunk out of the Strat sales and Gibson flourishes in the used market: here's a breakdown of Reverb's annual sales stats
What’s the best guitar solo of 2023? By Michael Astley-Brown published 8 December 23 Vote for the lead that blew you away this year
“The ultimate amp modeling software”? HeadRush revives the ReValver modeling engine for the first time in nearly 10 years – introducing seamless plugin and pedalboard integration By Matt Owen published 7 December 23 After a few years in the digital wilderness, the amp sim software once created by Peavey returns to tackle unprecedented competition – and it's brought some serious upgrades
Nevermind Teen Spirit, this smells like a great deal to us - save an impressive $270 off the Kurt Cobain Jag-Stang at Fender By Daryl Robertson published 7 December 23 Here's some priceless advice, this is a guitar-shaped box that won't leave you forever in debt - score 20% off right now at Fender
"The almighty power boost meets the blistering high-headroom tube amp": Crazy Tube Circuits delivers the sound of Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here in a pedal with the Hi Power By Phil Weller published 7 December 23 The amp-in-a-box overdrive pedal painstakingly replicates David Gilmour’s Hiwatt amp and Colorsound pedal combo, which shaped the tones of the classic Pink Floyd album
“I've had hundreds of thousands of guitars pass through my hands – there's a difference between a good guitar and a great guitar”: The Music Zoo founder Tommy Colletti launches his own USA-built custom guitar line, Colletti Guitars By Phil Weller published 7 December 23 Colletti's vintage-inspired Speed of Sound guitars feature a host of customizable specs, as the guitar retailer turns to manufacturing with a high-spec, Strat-styled six-string – and an eye-popping headstock
Just days after launching his own amp brand with Mojotone, Alex Lifeson gets his teeth into the pedal market with his first stompbox – the LERXST By-Tor By Matt Parker published 7 December 23 The second announcement from the Rush guitarist and his collaborators at Mojotone aims to offer the Marshall-like tube tone of his $2.5k head in a $300 pedal
“Our most ethereal reverb unit to date”: Catalinbread sets its sights on celestial ambient tones with the Sinkhole Modulated Reverb – which doubles as a clean boost By Matt Owen published 7 December 23 Looking to up your reverb game with some sweet space-y sounds, with added chorus to boot? Catalinbread might have the answer
“This is unforgettable. This guitar will stay in my private collection”: Paul Stanley played this Gibson Flying V at the final Kiss concerts – now he’s gifted it to a high-profile vintage guitar dealer By Matt Owen published 6 December 23 Don't expect it to crop up on the private collector's circuit soon, though – its new owner has decided to add it to his personal collection, and we don't blame him one bit
“The iconic solo was about to come up and it's like, ‘Oh god. This is not gonna work out well’”: Bumblefoot says he received death threats after fumbling the Welcome to the Jungle solo – while he was stuck in a stormtrooper helmet By Matt Parker published 6 December 23 The guitarist ranks the onstage mishap with Guns N’ Roses as his ultimate Spinal Tap moment
“Eddie Van Halen handed me a guitar and said, ‘I had to learn that damn riff for Wolfie. Show me how you played it!’” Power Rangers composer Ron Wasserman discusses how he “fooled the master” in his performance of the iconic theme By Matt Parker published 6 December 23 The man behind the X-Men and Power Rangers soundtracks says EVH asked him for pointers on the track he wrote in just two-and-a-half hours
“Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons have tried to destroy my reputation over the years. 10,000 Volts is going to make them look like imbeciles”: He may have missed Kiss’ last-ever performance, but Ace Frehley is set to make a statement with his new solo album By Matt Owen published 6 December 23 The former Kiss guitarist says he's “always been the kind of guy to let the music do the talking” – and that's exactly the plan for his forthcoming record
“20 watts, four Galaxies, IR equipped”: Soldano’s Astro 20 is a tech-ed up tube amp that offers another dimension (or rather three of them) for high gain tone By Matt Parker published 5 December 23 The tube amp stalwart turns its eye to the stars with this forward-thinking take on a modern, made-in-the-USA amp design – and all for less than $2,000
