General Interest

Joe Bonamassa has just wrapped up a trio of shows in Cork, Ireland paying tribute to guitar hero Rory Gallagher, and has shared his thoughts following what he recently called “the biggest honour and greatest challenge of my musical life”.

In a new post on Instagram, the blues legend and guitar collector – who recently picked up his own sunburst Fender Strat in preparation for the gigs – reflects on the “many emotions running through my head right now”.

• READ MORE: “S**t, what did I just sign up for?” Joe Bonamassa reveals fears over Rory Gallagher tribute gig

Bonamassa says the prevailing emotion he’s feeling after wrapping the shows is “gratitude”.

“I am so grateful to have had this opportunity and to have conquered my own self-doubt in accepting this incredible honour and responsibility,” he writes.

“I hope we all did Rory right and played these shows in his spirit. I hope he would have been proud to see the love from his hometown carrying his legacy on.

“An honour of a lifetime for that I will never forget. Thank you Donal, Daniel, Eoghan and the entire Gallagher family for your trust.”

JoBo goes on to thank his backing band, and the “15,000 strong that came out for the three nights”: “Still processing it all and it might take a while.”

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A post shared by Joe Bonamassa (@joebonamassa)

Last year after the shows were announced, Bonamassa expressed his apprehension at paying tribute to Gallagher, one of his all-time musical heroes.

“When they reached out I said: ‘You had me at hello.’ Then I thought about it and went: ‘Shit, what did I just sign up for?’” he explained to Classic Rock in December.

He went on: “I told [them]: ‘I’m not Rory; I don’t want to be a tribute act that replicates all the little glitches and mistakes. I’m going to be myself. And they said that’s exactly what they want. Having heard that, I could relax. It’s proven very popular, and from two shows it became three.”

He concluded: “It’s like all of the tribute shows I’ve done, with The Three Kings [blues legends Freddie, Albert and BB] and the one to Clapton, Beck & Page, you just have to go in there with conviction and show the fans how much the music means. But that’s me, I’ll never back down from a challenge.”

Rory Gallagher’s iconic 1961 Fender Stratocaster sold for nearly £900,000 at auction last year, and was described by auction house Bonhams as “one of the world’s most recognisable guitars”.

The post “I hope we did Rory right”: Joe Bonamassa reflects on “emotional” Rory Gallagher tribute gigs appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

$1,189/£1,049, fender.com

It’s been 30 years since a Floyd Rose vibrato was first seen on a production Fender Stratocaster. And for many of us, a locking nut in such close proximity to a Fender logo can feel just as alien as it was back then.

• READ MORE: Fender Standard Stratocaster review – “I can’t shake the feeling it should be better than this”

And it shouldn’t really. After all, the whole idea of a ‘SuperStrat’ would not exist without well… a Strat. Perhaps this is because back in the 80s, when every brand under the sun was taking an S-type body and sticking a humbucker and a Floyd in there, Fender held firm with the classic synchronised tremolo. That’s why there are vanishingly few images of back-combed guitar heroes sporting genuine Strats with Floyds.

But that was a long time ago, and Fender is a brand much more open to giving the public what they want now. Indeed that’s broadly the entire point of the Player II Modified range – to cater to the needs of pro players not met by the core line.

Fender Player II Modified Stratocaster HSS Floyd Rose – what is it?

So what exactly do those ‘needs’ entail in this day and age? Well, the Modified series is effectively a replacement for the Player Plus – Fender’s first foray into creating upgraded instruments for those who wanted things like noiseless pickups, flatter radiuses, enhanced switching options, and some pretty out-there finishes.

The Modified guitars have carried most of that over, though the finishes are much more reserved this time. You can have this Floyd Strat in black, sunburst or this Olympic Pearl option. What price a Tequila Sunrise or Belair Blue?

In terms of player comfort on this HSS Strat, the main differences between this and a regular Player II are a slim ‘C’ neck profile and a flatter 12-inch fretboard radius to eliminate string choking. As with Player II you get the factory-rolled fingerboard edges.

In terms of hardware, there’s the Floyd Rose Special double-locking trem of course, and you’ll find locking tuners up beyond that locking nut, too. In terms of tuning stability, that won’t make any difference here of course, but it should at least speed up string changes.

In terms of actual noise-making power, you get a pair of Fender’s Player II Noiseless Strat pickups paired with Player II Modified Humbucker in the bridge. It’s all controlled by a standard five-way plus a trio of push/pull pots – giving you access to a treble bleed, neck and middle pickups in series, and a coil-split on that humbucker.

Fender Player II Modified Stratocaster HSS Floyd Rose – feel and sounds?

With its chunky Floyd Rose hardware, it’s not the lightest Strat in the world, weighing in at 8.3lbs. What must be said however is that the rosewood ‘board is deliciously dark and an indication of the quality of woods used – as with the Player II it’s a welcome return from the pau ferro days.

One thing that is a little disappointing is the lack of any kind of chamfering or sculpting on the heel of this guitar. Given that it’s so clearly aimed at those of a more technical bent, it would have been nice to see, but I suppose generations of Strat players have got by without finding the standard four-bolt square heel too much of an impediment.

Upon getting it out of its box, I lower the action a little – it’s the most straightforward part of setting up a Floyd Rose bridge, and the 12” radius allows me to get it quite low. In conjunction with the slim C neck we are now ripe for ripping.

I plug into my Mesa Mark IV on a saturated setting. On the bridge setting I’m met with a full-throated rock sound that in its essence is Strat-like (plenty of snap and bite) but with a focused low end and an enhanced midrange.

Quick legato lines sound fluid and, as is the strength of the Floyd Rose, all our harmonic-driven dive bombs return to pitch nicely. The bridge comfortably handles any heavy riffage I throw at it, too – it’s firmly of the medium-high output category.

The single coil neck pickup will forever remain a go-to location on a Strat and through a slightly overdriven rhythm channel, Hendrix-style doublestop licks sound wonderfully authentic, retaining the character of a single-coil but minus the hum. I’ve not had great experiences with noiseless single-coils in the past, but these are a very pleasant surprise.

Fender Player II Modified Stratocaster HSS Floyd Rose – should I buy one?

The mid-price SuperStrat is one of the most oversaturated areas of the guitar market, but the reality is the Player II’s biggest competition is from Fender’s subsidiary brands: Charvel and Jackson.

That being said, Fender is shrewd enough to believe that there is a market out there for rock and metal players who want to play a Strat, and they’re probably right. The iconic model will always prove alluring to guitarists and at one point they will inevitably become embroiled in a showroom tryst with one.

“Once you play Strat, you never go back” may sound like a threat but it’s true – the design is so timeless and comfortable, you’ll soon realise that it can do anything. If the only thing that has stopped you flirting with a Strat until now is the lack of a double-locking bridge, then you may have just found your soul mate.

Fender Player II Modified Stratocaster HSS Floyd Rose – alternatives

Charvel were one of the first producers of the SuperStrat and the Charvel Pro-Mod So-Cal Style 1 HSS FR ($1,099.99/£969) features a set of medium-high output Seymour Duncans, rosewood neck, and black hardware, all in an instantly recognisable classic design.

The Schecter Sun Valley Super Shredder (£1,049/$899) offers quite a bit of bang for your buck and firmly aimed at those who require a little more output in the gain department, featuring the uber-powerful EMG Retro Active Hot 70 in the bridge and a Sustainiac in the neck.

A cheaper alternative would be the Jackson X Series Signature Adrian Smith SDX ($629.99/£569), which is the Chinese-manufactured version of the Iron Maiden’s guitarist signature guitar.

The post Fender Player II Modified Stratocaster HSS Floyd Rose review: “you may have just found your soul mate” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Despite performing countless shows over the years – not to mention his enviable skills as a guitar virtuoso, Joe Satriani has revealed he doesn’t consider himself a natural-born performer.

In an interview with D’Addario, Satch explains the disconnect he feels between his onstage persona and who he is in his personal life.

• READ MORE: “Every decision that could mess up that song was done”: M. Shadows on the mistakes made releasing this classic Avenged Sevenfold single
  

“I don’t think I ever feel like myself on stage,” he explains [via Ultimate Guitar]. “I think that’s the problem. You walk out on stage and you go, ‘Oh, they’re gonna know it’s just me.’

“I think the history of performing live has been a recurring subject nightmare for me, because I’m not really a kind of a people person.

“I don’t seek out to be in a crowd and be in front of an audience, but I love music and I want to share it. So there’s the typical artist conflict right there.”

Satriani explains that this internal conflict between being naturally introverted and the requirement to be extroverted onstage is why he adopted the alter ego Shockwave Supernova, a name taken from his 2015 album of the same name.

“My son made a documentary about it, and we decided that Shockwave Supernova was the character that I invented to become that person who could be extroverted on stage.”

But having been in the business of performing for decades, the guitarist has learned a few things along the way. Playing with Mick Jagger during his 1988 solo tour helped Satriani discover some important ways to open up creatively as a performer. In  a 2007 interview with Guitar Player, he recalled a time the two jammed together during a rehearsal.

“I’ll never forget how I would just be noodling around on the guitar in the rehearsal room, and he’d come right up next to me and just start singing,” Satch recalls. “That made me relax, and say to myself, ‘Man, I shouldn’t be so guarded about my creativity. Mick Jagger isn’t guarded. So why am I?’

“When he hit the stage, you learned the meaning of ‘projection’ real quick. The joke was that you could stand next to him, light yourself on fire, and the audience would still be watching Mick. He has that power.”

Satch is also well aware that it’s not uncommon for professional touring musicians to have stage nerves. In another interview with Inc. in 2020, he explained: “I met Joan Baez at a benefit show. She’s incredible. She sings and plays guitar and never screws up. Later I learned she threw up right before she went onstage.”

He also found out that “Red Rocker” Sammy Hagar wore sunglasses onstage to get rid of the feeling of nervousness during performances. Satriani said to Hagar that he seemed born to front a band, but the ex-Montrose and Van Halen singer replied: “No, we’re all the same. Do you know how embarrassing it is to grab a microphone and sing in front of people?”

Based on these experiences, Satriani has come to realise that: “You don’t have to be extroverted. You just have to find a way to do what you want or need to do.”

The post Joe Satriani struggles with being “extroverted” on stage: “I don’t think I ever feel like myself” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Avenged Sevenfold’s 2007 self-titled album sits as a diamond in their discography, playing host to some of their most standout tracks and sporting RIAA-certified platinum status in the US.

But frontman M. Shadows has some thoughts about how the album was rolled out, and the decisions made regarding some of its singles.

• READ MORE: “Not every artist deserves to be rich”: Avenged Sevenfold’s M. Shadows on Spotify revenue and why Web3 is the future

In a new interview with Ryan J Downey of FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression), Shadows – real name Matt Sanders – recalls the heightened level of involvement their at-the-time label Warner Bros. had in the album’s release schedule compared to previous records.

“I love Tom Whalley [former Warner Bros. CEO who helped sign A7X in the early 2000s]. I think he did amazing things for our career,” Shadows says. “He’s still a friend – a close friend – [A&R executive] Andy Olyphant as well.

“But we brought them in to hear the white album [the self-titled record], and we thought, Afterlife, no brainer, this is a massive song. This is a huge single. This is where we wanna roll.

“We played it for Tom Whalley and he turned around and he said, ‘That’s a little Warped Tour isn’t it?’

“And so, that just took everybody else in the room, everyone in the label, off of it. You could see it shift. Then it started going to these other things that were clearly not the right play.”

He explains that while the band were insistent on the big singles from their previous two records Waking the Fallen (2003) and City of Evil (2005) being Unholy Confessions and Bat Country, respectively, the self-titled album was the “first time we said, ‘Alright, what else is there?’ We were like Almost Easy, then we went to something else and we were all over the place”.

He continues: “But if you actually have the macro of time, Afterlife and A Little Piece of Heaven are the two that sit atop that record, and they’re just the lights.

“And then when we finally did get around to Afterlife – it was the fourth single – they cut the solo out. And so it’s one of those things where it’s like, every decision that could be wrong to completely mess up that record and that song was done.”

Of course, the full version of Synyster Gates’ Afterlife solo remains on the album version of the track, but the single version, which is heard in the music video, features a trimmed down version with several bars at the beginning cut.

Avenged Sevenfold have a series of live dates scheduled in North and South America for the rest of the year.

Visit avengedsevenfold.com/tour for more info.

The post “Every decision that could mess up that song was done”: M. Shadows on the mistakes made releasing this classic Avenged Sevenfold single appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

The Who’s Pete Townshend was once moved to tears by one Oasis track, and feels their ability to delve into normal life is far more magical than their “swagger” at times.

Oasis will kick off their Live ‘25 reunion tour on 4 July in Cardiff. It will mark the first time the band have played live together since their infamous split in 2009, following a backstage dispute between brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher. Their debut album, Definitely Maybe, also celebrated its 30th anniversary in August last year.

• READ MORE: “People have been deprived of guitar music, but now it’s coming back”: Liam Gallagher’s son thinks Oasis reunion could kick off a new guitar music boom

Ahead of the monumental tour, which spans across the globe and concludes in November this year, Townshend – among many other artists – has reflected on how their music impacted him, selecting Half The World Away as an especially poignant track.

The song was originally released as a B-side to Whatever, and later featured on The Masterplan album. It was also used as the theme tune to the British sitcom, The Royle Family, which captured working class life through the living room of a family in Manchester – a show which Townshend was also a fan of.

“The thing that got me about Oasis was Liam’s voice, not so much the attitude. It took me a while to get used to the attitude, and I felt Noel was the one with the most edge,” Townshend tells The Times.

“Liam used to come to Who gigs with his girlfriend and he was always charming. And despite the fact that it was intended to be threatening and to have no emotion, it was loaded with emotion,” he says.

“The songs were inspired not just by The Beatles, The Who and The Kinks, but also had this feeling of coming from an entirely new place and I don’t really know where it is. I feel a bit exposed, talking about it now, but the song that brought me to tears is this one. I’ve heard it again and again because I’m such a fan of The Royle Family, and it moves me. Beyond the swagger is an incredible view of normal British life they seem to tap into.”

Oasis will play at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff on 4 July. You can view the full list of Oasis Live ‘25 tour dates via their official website.

The post “I feel a bit exposed, talking about it”: Pete Townshend reveals the Oasis song that brought him to tears appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Is a penchant for music hereditary? If you’re the child of the Oasis Gallagher brothers, you’d certainly expect so…

But in a new interview with W, Noel Gallagher‘s daughter Anaïs recalls giving music a go as a child, and her father’s brutal response to her musical potential.

She says she had a “brief stint playing the cello at 11”, but during some of her early recitals, she recalls her father telling her: “Maybe it’s not for you!”

• READ MORE: Will Bruce Springsteen ever do a farewell tour? Here’s the Boss’s one-word answer
  

Of course, Noel Gallagher has a reputation for not being shy with his opinions, but Anaïs says he was reasonably delicate about his thoughts on her musical skills. She remembers noticing his “comedic knowing looks at the camera” during a rewatch of some old home videos.

While music ultimately wasn’t for her, Anaïs took a different yet still creative path: photography, modelling and filmmaking. Her work includes the music video for Inhaler’s My Honest Face, and she recently documented her father’s tour with his solo band, High Flying Birds.

Like Anaïs, her cousin, Liam Gallagher‘s daughter Molly also doesn’t consider herself a musician; she says that she “honestly couldn’t think of anything worse than being onstage in front of an audience”.

Liam’s other two children – Lennon and Gene – have picked up the musical baton, however. Lennon plays with his alt-rock band Automotion, while Gene’s band, Villanelle, plays heavier riff-tinged indie music.

Lennon’s Automotion sees his taste for ’70s German progressive rock creeping in as an influence. He says his dad has “always been supportive” of the project, adding: “Dad has given me some great pointers. One of the best ones is: Don’t think about what you’re doing when you’re getting onstage. Just get up there and belt it out. It’s a pretty perfect piece of advice, because if you ever think too much, you’ll just get locked in your shell.”

Oasis’s massive comeback tour is set to commence tomorrow (4 July) at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium.

For a full list of dates, head to Oasisnet.com

The post “Maybe it’s not for you!”: The awkward advice Noel Gallagher gave his daughter after hearing her early musical endeavours appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Bruce Springsteen feels the E Street Band has never been better, and with that in mind, it seems he won’t be stepping down from his music career anytime soon.

The Boss, who is just about to wrap his The Land of Hope & Dreams European tour with the group, released a mighty collection of previously unheard music at the end of June. The seven disc release, titled Tracks II: The Lost Albums, was put together when Springsteen unearthed his musical archives during the Covid lockdowns, and is a follow-up to his 1998 box set, also titled Tracks.

• READ MORE: “Got lucky with an exceptional hospital”: Bruce Springsteen guitarist undergoes emergency surgery on tour

Yet despite unleashing such a huge offering of lost records and looking back on his long and lucrative career so far, Springsteen has absolutely no plans to retire from music, and especially not the stage. In fact, he hopes to continue working for as long as he possibly can.

Speaking to Rolling Stone, Springsteen explains, “We played different in 1975. There was a different youthful energy. But the depths and resonance and experience that we’ve had over the past 50 years of playing together has really come to the fore right now in our performance. And the band is just completely badass onstage at this moment.”

Asked if he hopes to be like Pete Seeger, who played live into his 90s (and whose music inspired Springsteen to release the Seeger Sessions album), Springsteen keenly replies, “Oh, absolutely. I knew Pete, and Pete had a lot of energy. When his voice began to go, he simply found another way to do it.”

He adds, “Pete understood that people were coming to experience his spirit, which was as strong as could be. [He’s a great role model], as is Willie Nelson, as were a lot of the fathers who played well into their eighties. I think the Stones are playing better than they’ve ever played, as is Paul McCartney. Bob Dylan is out there. So these guys, they’re showing, ‘Hey, it’s not time to sleep yet. There’s many miles to go.’

With that in mind, when asked if there will be a Bruce Springsteen farewell tour, he simply answers, “No.”

Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band will play in Milan on 3 July for the final date of their European tour. Find out more via the official Bruce Springsteen website.

The post Will Bruce Springsteen ever do a farewell tour? Here’s the Boss’s one-word answer appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Black Sabbath’s monumental farewell show, Back to the Beginning, is set to take place this Saturday (5 July) – but the trouble is, many performers still don’t know what to expect, at least according to Zakk Wylde.

The show – which will take place at Villa Park in Sabbath’s hometown of Birmingham, England – features a stacked lineup of heavy metal’s elite, including Metallica, Slayer, Pantera, Alice in Chains, Gojira, Lamb of God and, well, the list goes on.

• READ MORE: Early Black Sabbath demos from their Earth days to be released ahead of final show

But in a new conversation on the Loudwire Nights podcast, Wylde, Ozzy’s longtime six-string sidekick, who is also currently filling Dimebag Darrell’s boots in Pantera, says the actual plan remains somewhat of a mystery.

“Nobody knows what’s going on,” the guitarist reveals. “It’s kind of like how it was when I first joined Ozzy. Nothing has changed.

“We’ll figure it out when we get there. Are you sure about this? Yeah, don’t worry about it.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Wylde describes Back to the Beginning as “like an Ozzfest on steroids”.

“That’s what was so great about the Ozzfest,” he continues. “Every year you had all the best in hard rock and metal touring… You’ve got Metallica on the thing, you’ve got Alice In Chains, you’ve got Guns N’ Roses, I mean everybody. It’s just like an Ozzfest on steroids and growth hormones. It’s like the Dorian Yates of the metal fests.”

As far as we understand, the event will see Sabbath’s core lineup taking on their biggest tracks – Ozzy famously said he’d only do “little bits and pieces” during the show – with other musicians on the bill forming a sort of rotating lineup to perform some deeper Sabbath cuts.

“There’s certain songs you know no one’s going to touch, because the guys are going to play it,” Wylde says. 

“But as far as Father Tom [Morello] picking, [he is] making sure everybody has something they can play. There’s tons of stuff on that menu at the Black Sabbath steakhouse.”

As you’d expect, tickets sold out pretty quickly to Back to the Beginning – some estimates say in as little as 16 minutes. But fear not, for you’ll be able to watch the show live on pay-per-view.

Learn more at backtothebeginning.com.

The post “We’ll figure it out when we get there”: Zakk Wylde admits even performers still don’t know exactly what they’re doing at Black Sabbath’s Back To The Beginning farewell appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.