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Guitar World
All the latest content from the Guitar World team
Updated: 2 hours 9 min ago
“There was one bit I used to play at a bit of a stretch. He told me, ‘Oh, no, I play it like this’”: Paul McCartney gave Robbie McIntosh a guitar lesson on their first meeting – and showed him how to play a Beatles classic properly
The pair would come full circle and perform the song together years later during an MTV Unplugged session
Categories: General Interest
“He loved that I was playing Peavey… when we ended up touring with them, I saw why”: BRONCHO’s Ryan Lindsey has built a career on unique melodic chug, and won fans in Josh Homme and Jack White. But he still owes Steve Stevens an apology
The singular indie-rocker uses a battered Silvertone and budget amps, and chases the demo to the nth degree. He explains how he developed a truly individual tone – and why he’s still traumatized after a run-in with the Billy Idol guitarist’s pedalboard
Categories: General Interest
“I say to people: ‘I’m sorry to tell you, but in 20 years, your finish will crack because it’s gonna get thinner. But it’ll sound better – so look forward to it!’” How Gibson brought relic’d finishes to its iconic acoustic guitars with the Murphy Lab
Senior product development manager, Robi Johns, tells us why playing Gibson’s new Heavy Aged Acoustic Collection is like stepping into a time machine
Categories: General Interest
“If you’re out of practice, a rosewood guitar can be guaranteed to throw every imperfection into sharp relief”: How your acoustic’s back and sides affect your guitar tone
Let's explore the absolutely controversy-free subject of tonewoods and acoustic tone, and maybe solve this debate once and for all
Categories: General Interest
“Once the show became a hit, people started going down the rabbit hole – ‘Oh my God! He really was in the Grass Roots!’” The life and times of Creed Bratton, from AM rock stardom to taking an Office job
From living it up in the Summer of Love to starring inNBC’s The Office, the former Grass Roots guitarist has had a career like no other
Categories: General Interest
“Nothing about it says ‘budget’… matches almost anything we’ve played in quite a while”: Martin DE Retro Plus Mahogany review
A brand-new model from Martin’s long-running Road Series that won’t bust the budget but might just break the tone barrier
Categories: General Interest
“Like having a professional gear consultant in the palm of your hand”: Guitar Center introduces Rig Advisor, the guitar world’s first-ever AI shopping assistant
Rig Advisor leverages artificial intelligence in a bid to enhance the in-store shopping experience
Categories: General Interest
“She gets on the intercom and says, ‘There's a boy from Australia here to see you.’ I hear him say, ‘Is he a fingerpicker?’” Tommy Emmanuel knocked on the door of his biggest guitar hero – and ended up jamming with him
The acoustic virtuoso took a pilgrimage to Nashville and swung by the house of his hero, and came away having learned a lesson he still holds close to this day
Categories: General Interest
“I’ve got 7 guitar solos throughout the set, which is kind of insane – and that’s totally from her wanting that”: With Olivia Rodrigo, Arianna Powell is staking her claim as a guitar hero for a whole new audience
The seasoned session player made her name with the Black Eyed Peas and Halsey, but it’s the Olivia Rodrigo gig that’s given her incendiary playing a spotlight on a global scale. She breaks down her whirlwind journey so far
Categories: General Interest
“That will be the end of JHS after more than 60 years”: Vintage and Fret-King owner John Hornby Skewes & Co is closing down – but not because of financial troubles
JHS is set to wind down after more than 60 years in business despite being entirely solvent
Categories: General Interest
Alex Lifeson joins Tom Morello onstage to jam a Rush classic – during surprise guest spot in the band’s home city
Morello’s solo tour hit the home of Rush and an unexpected guest guitarist sent the crowd into hysteria
Categories: General Interest
“I realized I had something very exciting on my hands. I wasn’t expecting it at all”: Guitarist ends up unwittingly buying John Lennon’s old Fender Deluxe – after the suspected White Album combo ended up on Facebook Marketplace
James Taylor bought the historic amp for less than $4k and he needs help for further authentication
Categories: General Interest
“The wood buyers didn’t think we would be able to use it. I went, ‘Oh no, that's going to turn into a ridiculous color’”: PRS turned unwanted wood into some of its best guitar finishes – including the one found on Paul Reed Smith’s go-to guitar
Emerald Green and Charcoal – two of the firm’s most eye-popping offerings – were stumbled upon by accident
Categories: General Interest
“To be honest, I think most people will only be aware of the Led Zeppelin version”: Teenage blues phenom Muireann Bradley is keeping O.G. acoustic blues alive – and taking Where the Levee Breaks back to the source
Hailed as one of Ireland’s brightest emerging stars, 18-year-old Muireann Bradley is proud to champion music that’s nearly a century old
Categories: General Interest
“Every bit of that legendary sound is ready and waiting to be coaxed out of these amps”: Vox AC30X, AC15X and AC4 Hand-Wired review
Vox aims to take us back to the sound of its illustrious golden-era with this re-engineered family of Hand-Wired amplifiers. We listen in for that elusive and very classic AC30 tone
Categories: General Interest
“You can take the back of this guitar off and the thing stays in tune as well as if it had the back on”: How L.R. Baggs reinvented the acoustic electric guitar
Delivering convincing amplified acoustic guitar tone is one of the hardest feats for guitar makers – but somehow L.R. Baggs cracked it. Lloyd Baggs shares its story of radical innovation
Categories: General Interest
“I had no contact. I just happened to be looking through emails and saw, ‘Bootsy Collins appearing at the NAMM booth’”: How Bootsy Collins and James Brown’s band ended up playing on the soundtrack of this hit Seth Rogen movie
Legendary sideman and film composer Lyle Workman recounts how he managed to reunite the legendary funkateers for 2007’s Superbad – by approaching Bootsy at NAMM
Categories: General Interest
“Chuck Schuldiner called to see if I could fill in for some Death shows in Mexico. I was still in high school, but I learned the set in a few days and jumped on”: Paul Masvidal on taking progressive extreme metal to new heights with Cynic and Death
The virtuoso took a detour from heavy music to work on TV and film scores in the ’90s. Now he’s working on new material with Cynic – and a signature guitar with Kiesel. He explains how he came to join and leave Death, and how sexuality has informed his take on metal
Categories: General Interest
“They asked me to play the E string of a Chapman Stick with a bow for six minutes. Somebody else got that gig”: Why Nick Beggs passed on his audition for Blue Man Group – and what he learned from Frank Zappa
Nick Beggs played bass in Kajagoogoo – and almost every band you can think of
Categories: General Interest
“The first pickup had a bad buzz, so I sent the guitar to a shop. When I went to get it, it was gone. And by that I mean the store was gone”: Neil Young's Old Black Les Paul is one of rock's most iconic guitars, and its backstory is appropriately colorful
Much like Young's discography and creative arc, the story of how Old Black became the rugged, howling sonic beast that it is is a twisty one of fits, starts, and strange left turns
Categories: General Interest