CATEGORIES

Knaggs Guitars

Doug Rappoport Signature

Charly Bliss On Being True To Your 'School'

Charly Bliss On Being True To Your 'School'

1942 Gibson J-45

IT’S 1942, AND AS THE United States is entering World War II, the Gibson guitar company just releases what would become its most popular acoustic model of all time.

Jennifer Batten

JENNIFER BATTEN FASCInated me when I saw her playing with Michael Jackson in the ’80s and ’90s. At that time, you could count on one hand the number of female guitarists who played at that level, and who had achieved that kind of notoriety.

Amptweaker

O12J65 12" Speaker

Lone Eagle

Timothy B. Schmit Flies Home to His Roots on Leap of Faith.

Urgency & Expansion

World-beating Nylon Stringer Lawson Rollins on 3 Minutes to Midnight and Scoring the Golden Soundtrack.

Blues, Bones & Beck

Carmen Vandenberg Gets the Jeff Beck Seal of Approval

The Heart Of The Matter

Berta Rojas Pays Tribute to the Joyous Beauty of the Music of Brazil

JD Simo

On the Joys of Fuzz and Recording Direct

Melodic Mojo

Kenny Wayne Shepherd Traverses the Pop Side of the Blues

Yamaha Pacifica 611VFMX Limited Edition

AS THE LATEST ADDITION TO YAMA ha’s long running Pacifica line, the 611VFMX has a lot to offer players who want the performance advantages of a hot-rodded S-type guitar.

Epiphone

Limited Edition Johnny A Custom Outfit

Jason Isbell

My Musical Life in Five Riffs

True Friends

Scott Sharrard on Recording Gregg Allman’s Farewell Album, Southern Blood

Earthquaker Devices Data Corrupter Modulated Monophonic Harmonizing PLL

AS GUITARISTS WHO LOVE TO EXPERIMENT with bizarre sounds, how could we pass up anything called a “modulated monophonic harmonizing PLL?” The phrase itself almost makes no sense, unless you’re one of the science nerds on The Big Bang Theory. But it portends secret labs and clandestine government agencies messing with the fabric of time and space, so count us in.

Little Steven's Big Sound

Steven Van Zandt on the “five Crafts” of Rock and Roll

Gurus Brivido

Gurus Brivido

Ceriatone 2202

Ceriatone 2202

Preparing A Stylistic Stew

Jon Stickley on Eclectic Flat-top

Universal Audio

Apollo Twin MkII Quad

John 5 On Shredding, Diversity, And Keeping Audiences Engaged

“THIS IS ENTERTAINMENT—THAT’S what we do,” says John 5, who just released the new John 5 and the Creatures album, It’s Alive (his first to be offered on vinyl).

Joey Tafolla On Channeling Legends In The Graham Bonnet Band

FOR FORMER SHRAPNEL RECORDS alum Joey Tafolla—his releases on the label include 1987’s Out of the Sun and 1997’s Infra- Blue—it’s hard to think of a sweeter gig than playing with Alcatrazz, Rainbow, and Michael Schenker Group vocalist Graham Bonnet.

Remembering Terry Kath

THERE WEREN’T MANY GUITARISTS who made Jimi Hendrix sweat, but in 1968, he saw one who got under his skin. It was at the Whiskey a Go Go in Los Angeles, where Hendrix caught a set by the then-unknown group, Chicago Transit Authority. Impressed by their performance, he made his way backstage, and raved, “You guys are mother**kers. The horns are like one set of lungs, and your guitar player is better than me.”

My Signal Paths For “Lock & Loaded” featuring Gary Hoey

AS THE SON OF A WORLD WAR II VETeran, I have a fondness for those who serve their country, and that soldier’s sense of duty is what inspired my recent album, Band of Brothers [Cleopatra].

The Shape Of Things

IN THE EARLY 2000s, ON an evening stroll in Cordoba, Spain, I walked past the small shop of my friend Manuel Reyes, who builds flamenco guitars.

Joan Armatrading

JOAN ARMATRADING IS one of the greatest songwriters alive, and because her songs have had such an impact, many have overlooked her guitar playing. But Joan has been playing rhythm and lead—and on both electric and acoustic guitars— on all of her albums since the beginning of her career. What really knocked me out from our interview, though, was her self assuredness and her singular vision as a writer, player, and arranger. The mark of a master is how easy they make it all seem to the rest of us. 

3 Shred Strategies For The Studio

THERE ARE NO UNBREAKABLE RULES in music, but if I dared propose a couple, it would be that shred tracks must be [a] savage, [b] clear and articulate, and [c] seductive in their surprise and ear-stickiness.

Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man

ESSENTIAL INGREDIENTSBig five-knob control interfaceBBD analog delay soundBonus Chorus-Vibrato effectHard-wired AC power cordWet and dry outputs

Solo on the Side

Super Session Guitarist Rafael Moreira Goes His Own Way—temporarily— With Magnetico’s Death Race