AS GUITAR WORLD’S unofficial Southern rock correspondent for the past 33 years, I interviewed Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist Gary Rossington, who passed away March 5 at age 71, many times over many years. He was always insightful, good natured and happy to talk.
A few conversations really stand out. Circa 1996, we did a great phone interview, speaking at length about his sobriety, which was quite new at the time. Shortly after we hung up, my office landline rang again.
“Alan, it’s Gary. I need to talk.”
“Ok, Gary, what’s up?”
“I told you a lie and it’s really bugging me.”
He corrected himself and apologized. The “lie” he had told me was minor and inconsequential — not something that would’ve been in the story anyhow — but he couldn’t live with it. He was making amends and following the 12-step commitment to honesty, and I was touched by that.
Gary was a survivor and a fighter. Most famously, he survived the October 1977 plane crash that killed singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines and his sister, backup singer Cassie Gaines. Rossington was the last-surviving original member of Lynyrd Skynyrd, though drummer Artimus Pyle, who joined the band later and survived the crash, is still with us.
All of the crash survivors were badly injured. Bassist Leon Wilkeson had his broken arm set in such a way that he had to play in an upright position, prompting me to once ask Rossington if the metal plate he had inserted in his left arm forced him to alter his playing style in any way.
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Caparison Dellinger-JSM V2
WAY BACK IN the dark ages (a.k.a. the Eighties), there were two distinct types of guitar shredders who occupied opposite sides of the spectrum: the hard rock player whose weapon of choice was a super Strat versus the country picker who inevitably opted for a Telecaster.
The Ultimate Guitar Shop
Christie’s Jeff Beck Auction offers a revealing look at numerous iconic instruments from the legendary guitarist’s entire career from the Yardbirds to Johnny Depp
Blown Away
Jeff Beck's landmark Blow by Blow dramatically transformed the future for instrumental electric guitar music. Fifty years later, it still remains an inspirational force
TAKE NO PRISONERS
In this exclusive excerpt from Dreaming Japanese, Marty Friedman's new autobiography (co-written by frequent GW contributor Jon Wiederhorn), the ace guitarist details his auditions with Ozzy, Megadeth and - what's this about Madonna?
MAGNIFICENT
Tearing up the blueprint with an octave G string, Johnny Marr's new seven-string Martin signature model is a distillation of all the British icon's most rebellious opinions on acoustic (and yes, there's also a six-string version)
Xotic XSS Super S-Style electric guitar
AS FUNNY AS this sounds, when a brand sends me a new guitar model outfitted with only one pickup, I say to myself, “That’s bold.” Releasing a spartan guitar like the Xotic XSS Super S-Style seems like such a throwback to a time when a guy with the initials EVH changed the entire guitar-world landscape by playing guitar with a solitary humbucker and making every guitarist around the globe realize that might be all we need.
IF GUITAR GOD IS A WOMAN
With renewed confidence and a slew of new guitar-forward songs, Larkin Poe's Rebecca and Megan Lovell are upping the ante of their blues-rock sound once again on seventh album Bloom
TC Electronic Plethora X1 TonePrint Loader
JUDGING BY THE abundance of effects that the TC Electronic Plethora X1 TonePrint Loader makes available to guitarists, it is obvious that TC knows what it means to have a plethora. Just the same, if having too much of a good thing brings you joy, then TC Electronic's Plethora will bring much delight with its many desirable and stellar-sounding effects - each offering a wealth of options.
1950-69, 1986-PRESENT FENDER ESQUIRE
IT’S PRETTY DAMN cool that the very first commercially produced solidbody electric guitar, the Fender Esquire, can still kick serious butt today; you can’t say that about too many 75-year-olds. Many guitarists often forget that the Esquire came before the Telecaster and that a two-pickup version of the Esquire, which came a few months after the single-pickup version, was essentially the first Broadcaster/Nocaster/ Telecaster. But here I’m just going to focus on the single-pickup version.
Tallon Electric "The Noise"
UNLESS YOU’VE BEEN living under a rock, you’ll know that collaborative pedals between artists and manufacturers are all the rage now.
