Music is the universal language
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Guitar World
All the latest content from the Guitar World team
Updated: 47 min 7 sec ago
“I wanted to have the register like a violin. The luthier said to me, ‘I can build you any guitar you like.’ It was a lightbulb moment for me”: Uli John Roth on what you get when you cross a Strat and a Les Paul with a violin hybrid
After modifying Strats only got him so far, one luthier came to his rescue and they found that the sky's the limit
Categories: General Interest
“He’d already set everything up... The guitar was radically out of tune and the strings were virtually hanging off it”: Leo Abrahams on his Strat-wrestling initiation with Brian Eno, why he didn’t want to be famous, and what he learned from Paul Simon
The guitarist/producer has worked with Brett Anderson, Jarvis Cocker and Imogen Heap among others, but here he explains why his younger self might be slightly disappointed in his playing
Categories: General Interest
“Greg had this ‘60s P-Bass with a nut that had been cut so many times that the strings were rattling around, and a pickup that couldn't really handle how hard I played”: Alex ‘V-Man’ Venturella on tone, technique – and how he nailed his Slipknot audition
Slipknot's low-end specialist discusses his epic amp collection, the brilliance of Eloy Casagrande and how James Hetfield shaped his technique
Categories: General Interest
“He could take a rock tune like Fleetwood Mac's Black Magic Woman and transform it by adding a hint of salsa clave rhythm”: Remembering Peter Green and Carlos Santana’s supernatural jam at the 1998 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Awards
Green wrote the tune. Santana made it his own. But on the night the music biz came together to honor Santana and his band, they shared the song, giving a performance for the ages
Categories: General Interest
“This wasn’t a guy who got better every six months or every week; this was a guy who got better every 60 seconds”: Randy Rhoads became a legend with Ozzy Osbourne, but his incredible playing was evident long before then
Kelly Garni, Rhoads’ brother in arms in Quiet Riot, recalls the guitarist’s early days – and how he developed his iconic tone, in spite of his unorthodox gear
Categories: General Interest
“Could this bass convert players to fanned frets?”: Dingwall SP1 review
This modern take on a classic design could open up new markets for Dingwall
Categories: General Interest
“I wanted it to be striking, bright, and a baritone so I can use it on tour for the song”: PRS celebrates Ed Sheeran’s collab with Dave Grohl and John Mayer on the F1 movie soundtrack with one-off, racing-themed guitar
Sheeran has been playing PRS electrics since 2018 – with one of the guitars in his arsenal gifted to him by Mayer
Categories: General Interest
Guitar World deals of the week: save $230 on a Fender Tone Master amp, get more than half off a guitar pedal, plus all the week's best deals
Your weekly digest of the biggest savings from all across the web
Categories: General Interest
Two world leaders solidify diplomatic relations by delivering their own rendition of an Eric Clapton classic
The Philippines' President, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., and Singapore's Prime Minister, Lawrence Wong, showcased their musical chops during a recent presidential visit
Categories: General Interest
“It's best always to just do the same chord and call it different things”: SNL legend Fred Armisen has a signature guitar strap – but there's something not quite right about his guide to chords
If punk guitarists only need one shape, why does anyone else need more? Armisen seems to agree...
Categories: General Interest
“We all have easy access to the parts needed to make a pickup… You certainly don’t have to start like Seymour Duncan did with a record player’s turntable”: Why more guitar builders are making their own pickups
We speak to Juha Ruokangas about why his company took pickup design into its own hands – and then retrofit an old PRS Custom 24 with his humbuckers to see how they sound
Categories: General Interest
“Rates are coming back up, rents very rarely go down, and suppliers are in straitened circumstances”: Is crowdfunding the answer to ensuring guitar stores’ survival? One family-run business has launched an innovative campaign to keep its stores alive
Guitar stores are struggling. Many of our biggest gear retailers have shut their doors. We hear how the UK’s Hobgoblin Music – where Paul McCartney is a regular – plans to buck the trend
Categories: General Interest
“I’ve never been one of those guys who will go into a guitar store and play Stairway to Heaven…’” Jim Babjak reveals he once bought a ’70s Les Paul without even trying it – and how it would go on to shape one of The Smithereens' biggest hits
The guitarist reveals that he's “kind of embarrassed” when it comes to trying out guitars in a music store – but his faith in his engineer was well-placed
Categories: General Interest
“It’s atried-and-true sound that we’ve heard inthe soloing of all of our favorite players, from Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Winter and Leslie West to Eddie Van Halen”: Jared James Nichols explains why we should all be using the blue note in our solos
The irrepressible Mr Nichols pays tribute to the flatted 5th, and explores the myriad ways that he uses it in his playing
Categories: General Interest
“Keith didn't want anything to do with it. He hated my records”: Dann Huff and Keith Urban got off to a rocky start – but they went on to create a string of number 1 singles together
Huff was handpicked to help bring more guitar into the Urban’s sound, but their “oil and water” mindsets caused tumult in the studio
Categories: General Interest
“He played upright but wanted to play the P-Bass. Motown said, ‘Nah, you ain't making no money playing that.’ But he said, ‘If you want me, I'm playing the P-Bass’”: Bootsy Collins on the musician that totally “changed his mind” about bass playing
James Jamerson's immense contribution to Motown Records in the ’60s and ’70s went largely uncredited – but his game-changing adoption of the P-Bass, coupled with his off-kilter technique, makes him an electric bass pioneer
Categories: General Interest
“Ensures your tuning stays locked no matter how hard you go”: Charvel adds an Evertune to its shred-friendly hardtail Superstrat
The Pro-Mod Plus So-Cal Style 1 HH EVTN E has choice trimmings for mean tones and fast playing – with increased tuning stability a bonus
Categories: General Interest
“I wanted to say, ‘There’s nobody out there. We gotta walk away from this.’ But I couldn’t. He was a great player”: The guitarist who saved Thin Lizzy – and made their last album hit like a “sledgehammer”
Scott Gorham pays tribute to the player who breathed new life into the band
Categories: General Interest
“If you stick a modern production tube in an old vintage amp, you may be a little disappointed with the tone”: Do vintage NOS tubes really sound better? Here’s what you need to know
You might have heard a lot about the magic of NOS tubes. Here we dig into the subject, debunk some myths, and offer players something to think about when maintaining their amp
Categories: General Interest
Electric Legoland: Jimi Hendrix is now available in Lego form – but it’s missing the Strat
Get ready to pay tribute to Jimi Hendrix’s greatness, brick by brick...
Categories: General Interest