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AFTER SEVERAL WELL-RECEIVED U.S. tours, a striking self-titled A&M debut in 1970 and the critically acclaimed Rock On album in early 1971, British quartet Humble Pie were still largely an [...]

JUST FOUR DAYS after Eddie Van Halen passed away on October 6, 2020, Jack White performed the title track from his solo album Lazaretto on Saturday Night Live, brandishing his [...]

'BLACK SABBATH MEETS Chicago!' Ozzy Osbourne exclaims, clapping his hands with great enthusiasm after Austin band Brown Sabbath slays the Sabbath chestnut 'Fairies Wear Boots' for him in person--complete with [...]

GIBSON CUSTOM SHOP MURPHY LAB LES PAUL, ES-335 AND ES-355 GUITARS A revitalized Gibson introduced its Murphy Lab extension of the Custom Shop early in 2021, and that thrillingly accurate [...]

NO ONE KNOWS PETER FRAMPTON'S gear better than his longtime Nashville-based guitar tech, Darren Hurst. We'll leave it to him to give us the rundown on Peter's expansive setup from [...]

MYTHS AND MYSTERY pervade nearly everything about the Doors. But at the heart of those myths are real people. And real people are never one-dimensional, are they? The same may [...]

IN 2006, PETER FRAMPTON'S keen desire to shine the primary spotlight on his guitar playing--and perhaps to put to rest the teen-idol stigma that had frustrated him since his 1976 [...]

WHEN TONE LORDS like David Gilmour, David Grissom and Sonny Landreth top your list of prominent pedal users, it's fair to say you're making a pretty decent product. Founded in [...]

SINCE ACE FREHLEY'S first departure from Kiss in 1980, the band's lead guitar chair has been held down by many capable, creative players, including Vinnie Vincent, Bruce Kulick, Mark St. [...]

VICTORY AMPS AND their chief designer, Martin Kidd, have enjoyed a sterling reputation for high-quality British-made boutique amplifiers for nearly a decade. From their stunning aesthetics to the careful selection [...]

JOHN SUHR COUNTS dozens of your favorite players--including Guthrie Govan, Pete Thorn, Peter Frampton, Eric Clapton, Dave Kilminster (Roger Waters) and Michael Landau--as devotees to his high-magick talents for amp [...]

BY JAMES VOLPE ROTONDI NASHVILLE MAY BE known for country music, but when the band Blonder Than Hell, fronted by the golden-haired guitar duo Philip Shouse and Jeremy Asbrock, began [...]

WHILE DIGGING INTO chords and licks on the new Fender American Original 70s Telecaster Custom, one word kept coming to my mincj again and again: meaty. With its fulsome alder [...]

THE FIRST GENERATION of teenagers to idolize Eddie Van Halen's roaring brown sound, fiery and fluid speed phrasing, and trademark striped Charvel superStrats are mostly in their 50s now, graying [...]

THE TRACK IS called 'Take Me Down Easy,' off of Marc Benno and the Nightcrawlers' 1973 opus, Crawlin', very possibly the best blues-rock album of the early 1970s you've never [...]

PETER FRAMPTON'S FINAL recording with Humble Pie was, by some irony, the band's most successful, and is widely acknowledged as one of the most influential live albums of the decade. [...]

'Listen, real poetry doesn't say anything; it just ticks off the possibilities. Opens all doors. You can walk through any one that suits you.'--Jim Morrison ON APRIL 7,1970, the notable [...]

The article discusses Latin rock guitarist Beto Martinez who has eclectic bands, including Money Chicha, Los Sundowns, and Ocote Soul Sounds (with Quesada), and has been nominated for an Austin Music Award.

STAND BY FOR A CONTROVERSIAL STATEMENT: AN otherworldly, transcendent, and kick-ass guitar solo is usually wasted air time unless it's part of an equally brilliant song. Let's take Jimi Hendrix. [...]

Jessie Mae Hemphill With Choctaw leg bells or a tambourine affixed to her foot to intensify the rhythmic spell of her guitar, Jessie Mae Hemphill's passionate Mississippi hill country blues […]

'With my Les Paul, I know I'm small, but I enjoy living anyway,' crowned T. Rex's Marc Bolan on 'Spaceball Ricochet,' from 1972's classic The Slider. At only 5'4', the […]

Blasting your guitar to a sea of 60,000 people has got to be a thrill, even far hardened arena vets like the Stones' Keith Richards and U2's The Edge. But […]

Shedding Texas blues licks with a Strat and a Fender Vibrasonic on the loading dock of a rock arena, Kenny Wayne Shepherd looks oddly at home; you get the impression […]

'I don't live today! Maybe tomorrow, I just can't say' echoes throughout the massive Concord Pavilion in Northern California. As the Kenny Wayne Shepherd band lurches from the chorus of […]

John Frusciante sits under a rose-covered archway in the hills above Los Angeles, clutching a pack of cigarettes and a one-hitter of pot. He's barely recognizable at first. With a […]

Anyone who's seen a guitar being smashed knows how uplifting that seemingly mindless and destructive act can be. Though it may signal the player's frustration, his passion or his aversion […]

The First Rays of the New Rising Sun will give a few answers, I think. You know, every time we come into town, everybody always looks to us for some […]

Like Miles Davis and Frank Zappa, David Bowie has a history of hiring superb guitarists to color and drive his compositions. From Mick Ronson to Adrian Belew to Reeves Gabrels, […]

Though most film composers are keyboard players with classical backgrounds, occasionally an intrepid guitarist finds success writing scores. We asked two such players what it takes to make the transition […]

It was the era of dolly girls and miniskirts, freak-outs and flowered blouses, spontaneous 'happenings' and all-night raves, and 'Swinging London' was at the heart of it. While kids in […]

It's long been argued that there are only two kinds of musicians: innovators and imitators. There are gray areas, to be sure, such as musicians or composers who borrow heavily […]

Deep inside a German castle, Ritchie Blackmore sits at a long table, dressed in medieval garb and clutching a goblet of mead. A group of minstrels skips into the dining […]

Thunder and lightning rip through the foyer of Disneyland's Haunted Mansion, flashing terrible light on the domed ceiling and the corpse that dangles from it on the end of a […]

Buckethead is killing. But as he slaughters the fretboard with punishing chromatic tapping runs, his pick suddenly flies out of his hand. As film slow motion, the plectrum lands snugly […]

When James Hetfield pounds out a thunderous rhythm guitar part, it sounds like he's wielding the hammer of the gods. But when it comes to songwriting, he brandishes the same […]

Red and amber lights flicker wildly across the dim stage, illuminating the four somberlooking members of Pink Floyd in brilliant bursts of psychedelic color. Deep into the free-jam section of […]

'If you mess around long enough in this tuning, you'll get into a trance, which is what I like,' says Dave Navarro, picking out Eastern-sounding melodies in a modal-D tuning […]

'I really shouldn't be going left here,' says Soundgarden lead guitarist Kim Thayil, braking his van in the face of a hostile rush of Seattle traffic. 'Aw, I've got my […]

'I've had to fight a lot of people to record the way I do,' says Lenny Kravitz of his continuing commitment to digital-free, non-solid-state master tapes. 'When my first record, […]

Don't get us wrong--we didn't just hop a grimy jet to Anaheim, diddle around NAMM's inner sanctum for a few days, then come home and brag about it. But journalists […]

'Guitars? I couldn't talk about guitars for more than five minutes,' numbles Blur guitarist Graham Coxon, milling around backstage at San Francisco's famed Fillmore Auditorium. After a hurried soundcheck, he […]

England's Cotswolds region boasts some of the most heavenly landscapes in the world. Long rolling green hills and perfectly kept fields are dotted by eerie 12th- and 13th century churches, […]

If you had to guess Jimi Hendrix' favorite album, what would it be? Muddy? Dylan? According to his former girlfriend Kathy Etchingham-Page, who lived with Jimi in various flats from […]

Remember metal? You didn't have to think twice about what the word meant; it immediately conjured an image of black-leather dudes with jagged-shaped guitars wailing about Steamroller Sally or the […]

He's losing the proposed title of his new record, opting instead for the clean, simple name, Joe Satriani. 'I embarked on a journey to deconstruct everything I've leaned on in […]

''God, you guys work more than any band I've ever seen!'' * Billy Corgan snickers mischievously He's relating one studio owner's reaction to the marathon recording sessions that produced the […]

'Austin's wonderful place,' says 26-year-old Ian Moore, just home from a whirlwind five-week tour, 'but it definitely has constraints regarding people's expectations. It's not fair to say Austin is small-minded, […]

When the sky up and dumped buckets of rain on a few thousand Seattle-ites gathered for Labor Day's Jimi Hendrix Tribute Concert, it was one rainy which no one wanted […]

What f**kin' band do ya think you're playing on mutbaf**kers? How dare you call yourselves profesional! A**holes! You stand out here all f**kin' night trying to blow your f**kin' brains […]