“WHEN YOU WRITE A MELODY, IT'S LIKE YOUR SOUL TALKING”

Sam Fender was ten when he started on guitar – playing Nirvana and Oasis songs on a Peavey Strat copy. 17 years later, he’s a major star acclaimed by Elton John and Paul Weller. He tells TG about the creative process and the gear he used for his new album Seventeen Going Under...

“YOU'RE NOT WRITING FOR OTHER PEOPLE. IT SHOULD BE WHAT YOU BELIEVE IN”

How to write the heaviest metal songs without reverting to formula, by Bullet For My Valentine guitarists Matt Tuck and Padge

JOCELYN GOULD

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

I ❤ The 80s

A track-by-track guide to the slick sounds and classy guitar playing on Mayer’s new album, Sob Rock...

Kim Thayil

AS SOUNDGARDEN’S LEAD GUITARIST, KIM THAYIL’S HEAVY, DARK AND PSYCHEDELIC GROOVES SET THE TONE FOR ALT-ROCK. NOW, ON THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BAND’S CLASSIC ALBUM BADMOTORFINGER, HE REVEALS THE ORIGINS OF HIS UNIQUE SOUND. HIS MOTTO: “I LIKE NOISE!”

The Player

Inspired by Stevie Ray Vaughan and feted by Clapton, John Mayer is one of the most gifted guitarists of the modern era. He also knows how to the play the fame game - from crafting pop hits and collaborating with fellow A-listers to teasing his new album via TikTok. This is his story: the making of a guitar superstar...

The Sky's The Limit

WE TAKE A CLOSER LOOK AT JOHN MAYER’S IDEALISED DOUBLE-CUT, WITH THE HELP OF PAUL REED SMITH HIMSELF

“I GREW UP A LONE WOLF IN MY BEDROOM PRACTISING MY GUITAR. ALL I EVER REALLY CRAVED WAS A COMMUNITY”

When John Mayer joined Dead & Company – featuring members of the original jam band, the Grateful Dead – he got a kick out of being a team player. And by honouring the legacy of the late Jerry Garcia, he found a new dimension to his playing.

“I'M NOT SURE HOW I'D FEEL IF SOMEONE WROTE MY SONG BEFORE I DID!”

English singer-songwriter Mary Spender was already a successful YouTuber when she had the idea to finish and release John Mayer’s new single before he could. “I’m glad he had a sense of humour about it”, she says...

“THE GUITAR TONES ON THIS ALBUM ARE SUBLIME”

PRINCE’S SHELVED 2010 ALBUM WELCOME 2 AMERICA IS NOW BEING RELEASED, AND IT’S A FUNK TOUR DE FORCE

THE SHAPESHIFTER

In ten key collaborations, John Mayer has travelled from classic blues to hip-hop, modern rock to mainstream pop and beyond...

“We wanted to be more in your face!”

Rising stars of the UK’s thriving post-punk scene, their latest album a top ten hit, Shame specialise in punchy three-minute songs. So why do they need three guitarists in the band? As they explain, it’s all about interplay...

“SINGING IS WONDERFUL, BUT THERE'S SOMETHING VERY CATHARTIC AND ZEN ABOUT PLAYING LEAD GUITAR”

Myles Kennedy is best known as a singer – for Alter Bridge and for Guns N’ Roses legend Slash. But on his new solo album, he’s taking the spotlight as a guitarist

CEDRIC BURNSIDE

Aged just 13, Cedric Burnside was immersed in playing blues music with his grandfather, aka “Big Daddy” - the legendary R.L. Burnside. Now commander-in chief of the second generation of Hill Country Blues, the younger Burnside’s latest album, I Be Trying, encapsulates the past, present, and future of a whole genre in a way that only he could. “It’s who I am,” Cedric says. “This Hill Country Blues stuff is definitely not new to me. I was born with it in my blood.”

“IT WILL BE TWO YEARS SINCE WE PLAYED A GIG. THAT'S THE FIRST TIME THAT'S HAPPENED SINCE I WAS FIFTEEN”

As the Manic Street Preachers prepare to tour again, guitarist/ vocalist James Dean Bradfield speaks to TG from the band’s rehearsal space in Wales and reveals how he gets his chops up - by jamming classic rock and soul tunes, and working that little finger...

“I WANT YOU TO FEEL THAT RAGE”

Mdou Moctar has been hailed as ‘the Hendrix of the Sahara’. And in his new album, Afrique Victime, he channels the spirit of revolution – with a tremolo-picking technique that has to be heard to be believed...

“The novelty of a post lockdown music environment is new for everyone. We're starting to enjoy music again”

In a small town in Wiltshire, something magical is happening. A band is playing a gig! And not just any old band – it’s Squid, whose new album Bright Green Field is arguably the best debut of 2021. Guitarists Louis Borlase and Anton Pearson tell TG how “lucky” and “emotional” they feel to be playing live again, and explain the band’s improvisational ethos: “It’s about putting adventure over precision.”

“PEOPLE LOVE LIVE MUSIC BECAUSE IT'S NOT PERFECT”

The Darkness have played everywhere – from pubs and clubs to the giant stages of Download and Glastonbury. And so, as they get ready to rock again, frontman Justin Hawkins presents a handy refresher course for TG readers – on how, and how not, to play live. His motto: “A note played with supreme confidence, no matter how wrong it is, will always be the right one.”

“I'M PRETTY LIMITED WHEN IT COMES TO PLAYING SOLOS. BUT I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I'M DOING WHEN I PLAY A RIFF, WHICH IS CRUCIAL...”

Joe Duplantier is the mastermind who has made Gojira the most exciting metal band of the modern age. A self-taught guitarist who says, “I like to explore the instrument from a slightly different angle”, he tells TG about his new signature model and Gojira-branded plug-in, and discusses the creation of Fortitude – arguably the best metal album of 2021...

FENDER MUSTANG MICRO £89.99 Less is more...

Gear is subjective – we all gravitate to different things, sometimes surprisingly when it’s something we didn’t expect to like. But there’s a fundamental question we like to ask about new guitar gear; is it going to make a lot of people want to play more?

GET YOUR GEAR GIG-READY

Get your rig ready for action and prep for live performances with TG’s how to guide

Billy Gibbons

ZZ TOP’S LEGENDARY GUITARIST LEARNED FROM THE BEST. NOW, WITH A NEW SOLO ALBUM, BILLY GIBBONS IS PASSING ON HIS WISDOM TO TG READERS, INCLUDING ONE VERY SIMPLE, MONEY-SAVING DIY TIP: “SAW OFF THE LEG OF A KITCHEN STOOL,” HE SAYS, “AND YOU’VE GOT A NICE METAL SLIDE!”

Epiphone Emily Wolfe Signature Sheraton

A Wolfe in stealth clothing

ROYAL BLOOD

As architect of Royal Blood’s wall of noise and mighty riffs, Mike Kerr is a bassist inspired by the great guitarists. But the set-up of his rig has remained a closely guarded secret – until now. “This is a worldwide exclusive!” he tells TG as he reveals all about his gear – from signal-splitter to a bespoke baritone guitar that plays “like a giant bagpipe!”

SCOTT MCKEON

Scott McKeon is a guitarist notable for many reasons. He was the child prodigy that became the face of a Fender campaign to recruit younger talent in the 90s, making his debut on British television at just seven years old.

START ME UP!

Five awesome new products to get your gear engine revving this month…

“WE CUT THIS RECORD IN A DAY”

THE BLACK KEYS’ DAN AUERBACH EXPLAINS HOW THE DUO’S NEW ALBUM OF BLUES STANDARDS WAS CREATED – WITH THE HELP OF ONE OF HIS GUITAR HEROES

“I NEED TO MAKE SURE THAT EVERY NOTE COUNTS”

Armed with a new signature guitar and a monstrous pedalboard, Emily Wolfe is venturing beyond bluesrock on her experimental second album...

YAMAHA PACIFICA PAC612VIIFMX

Yamaha’s do-it-all workhorse range

NEW YORK GROOVE

Those who learned their first chords playing along to Last Nite might wince a little, but The Strokes’ debut album, Is This It, is now 20 years old. In the following years, there has been such an unstoppable tide of popular culture that it’s easy to forget the record’s impact. Is This It was typical of The Strokes’ Janus-faced sound. At once they were referencing the treble-forward jangle of classic American indie and garage rock, and yet they sounded so fresh – proving that it is hard to sound stale when you put so much treble in your guitar sound.