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October 2024

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97 articles

October 31
- “After a half hour sales pitch, he said, 'Forget the Gretsch! That's a toy. You'll appreciate the Gibson 335 much more later in life.' ” Ritchie Blackmore tells how amp-maker Jim Marshall sold him the guitar he used to launch Deep Purple
- “I’ve come to realize you could be screwing yourself if you pass on something just because the condition's not right.” Metallica's Kirk Hammett shares advice on guitar buying as he shows and talks about the rarest pieces in his collection
- “Our first two albums were dismal failures. We had everyone saying to us, ‘You’d better do it on this one or there’s the door!’ ” Scott Gorham on Thin Lizzy’s ‘Jailbreak’ success, the power of harmony guitars and working with Phil Lynott
- "It's a testament to Les Paul's influence and a chance to understand the origins of one of the most important guitars in history.” Les Paul's experimental solidbody guitar lives again in an exacting replica of his Klunker
October 30
- “I'd recognize this guitar a mile away. This right here is the Holy Grail.” Her Gibson Les Paul was worth four times what she thought
- “I got into my bunk on the bus, but there was a guitar case in my way. I was like, ‘What is this doing here?’ ” Nada Surf’s Matthew Caws on vintage Gibsons, Ric Ocasek’s gift and scoring their second hit after 28 years
- “There were parts where it just did not work.” Jimmy Page reflects on the Yardbirds and his short-lived two-guitar tandem with Jeff Beck
- “I’m an amp fanatic. When I go on the road, I miss some of them, so I wanted to make an amp that does it all.” Mark Tremonti reveals how Dumble, Fender and Mesa amps factor into his Creed tour rig and shares photos of his setup
- D’Addario unveils commemorative John Lennon’s collection – including a replica of his 1972 Madison Square Garden solo show strap
October 29
- "You can't just 'be' a guy that can play Yngwie Malmsteen stuff. You have to do that for, like, 15 years just to play one of his songs.” Dweezil Zappa explains what most guitarists don't understand about shredding
- “I took the only guitar I had, tuned it to drop D-flat and plugged that into a Soldano amp. I was just experimenting with what I had available.” How a Rickenbacker and an empty toilet paper roll created Collective Soul's grunge-rock breakthrough
- “The structural integrity is pretty amazing for cardboard. You can totally rock it.” Robby Krieger plays slide guitar on the world’s first cardboard Telecaster
- “I’ll just do a little bit of it and show you what got me in the Beatles.” Paul McCartney reveals the song he played for John Lennon that earned him a spot in the band
October 28
- "As much as I love gear and gadgets, there’s no substitute for what you can do with your fingers." Adrian Belew reveals six ways to change your guitar game right now, for free
- “We used phase shifters and did some backward tracks by flipping the tape over... Smoke was coming out of the board.” Nancy Wilson tells how blazing guitars, powerhouse riffs and Yes combined to make Heart's monster hit "Barracuda"
- "It's a real pleasure to be here with my family and friends... 'cause this is a special year for me too." Lost for over two decades, this clip shows Stevie Ray Vaughan, Albert Collins and Jimmie Vaughan performing together in 1989
- “It’s all there in the music.” Sophie Allison explores a year of profound loss using Fender electrics, Gibson acoustics and fewer effects pedals on Soccer Mommy’s latest effort
October 27
- "They sort of appear as if they are out there in the air. The best ones do. But I don’t know how they get there." David Gilmour talks soloing in Guitar Player's guide to the Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time
- "It's a very weird situation, and I don't think I'll ever understand it." Guitarist K.K. Downing updates his status with Judas Priest as he tells the story behind the song that defined the group's heavy-metal image
October 26
- “There's a bigger vision with this guitar." Fender's first seven-string Stratocaster is here — and could be headed for full-scale production
- "It's great. I dig this!" Watch Eddie Van Halen compose "Amsterdam" on a Charvel guitar in an unearthed home video from 1987 — eight years before the song's official release
- "The best news I have heard all year. Bless them for keeping this guitar in Ireland." Rory Gallagher’s Strat sells for $1.16 million before being donated to the National Museum of Ireland
- “It did all those Led Zeppelin tours and all the recordings. It did flippin’ everything, y’know?” Jimmy Page reveals “the best amp that I’d ever had in my collection”
October 24
- "He said, ‘Just humor me — if you don’t like it, we’ll erase it' I didn’t like it very much, so I put it at the end of the album.” It took guitarist Al Stewart 10 years to write his breakthrough hit. Then he tried to hide it
- "He said, 'He's unknown, he's young, nobody's heard of him.' But I had a premonition people would ask what it was like to play with him." Bob Daisley on how Randy Rhoads got the gig that made him a guitar hero
- Design your dream guitar and save up to $400 on upgrades with the limited-time Fender Mod Shop sale
- “He said, ‘Come by the studio tomorrow and bring your guitar.’ All at once, my life changed.” How an unknown guitarist turned a lunch date into session work on the biggest hits of the 1980s
- “I sold all my Dumbles. Then 2020 rolled around and I said, ‘Man, I've been missing the boat!’” Joe Bonamassa explains why he sold all his Dumble amps — and why he’s now got more than ever
October 23
- “I was wearing a ring and did a Pete Townshend windmill.... It was never the same." Myles Kennedy says an onstage disaster forced him to buy a PRS guitar he couldn't afford
- “When you start with a crappy guitar, it begins the cycle of gear addiction.” Kenny Wayne Shepherd explains why every player should start out with a cheap guitar
October 22
- “An all-in-one production powerhouse.” PreSonus launches Studio One Pro 7 – the latest generation of its DAW featuring AI tools, improved workflow and more accessible pricing
- As the Van Halen camp sits on a vast archive of unreleased recordings, Alex Van Halen issues the final track made before Eddie’s passing four years ago
- "Not only did he play each of them for three or four minutes, he even suggested that some of them be put in alternate tunings." Jimmy Page made sure there's a little bit of himself on every one of his new Gibson signature SJ-200 models
- “Slamming away with Joe and Eric on this track creates a rich atmosphere of crushing guitar delight.” Steve Vai, Joe Satriani and Eric Johnson shred “Crossroads” onstage in this exclusive new video and share details of their upcoming album
October 21
- "If you gave that guy a ukulele and a Pignose amp, he'd make it sound like the solo in 'Comfortably Numb.'" Bob Ezrin reveals David Gilmour's most important — and least known — guitar technique
- People say, ‘Do you think you'll be able to go out for 10 days'? I'm like, 'I can't tell you.’ ” Peter Frampton gives health update as he gets his Rock Hall induction
October 19
- “Designed to push boundaries for traditionalists and those exploring more intricate playing styles.” Fender's new American Ultra II series boasts faster necks, advanced pickups and fresh contours to modernize its recipes
- “An addictively responsive gem of a humbucker.” Bare Knuckle releases a PAF-style humbucker set in collaboration with producer Adam ‘Nolly’ Getgood
- “Eddie Van Halen had me play his 5150 guitar, and then he asked me to show the solo to him, because he’d forgotten it.” Jennifer Batten recalls re-teaching EVH his "Beat It" solo
- “Eddie Van Halen had me play his 5150 guitar, and then he asked me to show the solo to him, because he’d forgotten it.” Jennifer Batten recalls re-teaching EVH his "Beat It" solo
October 18
- "I brought all my guitars. The band was annoyed at me…" Session ace Tim Pierce on working with Bon Jovi, Crowded House, Goo Goo Dolls — and why he'd take 50 guitars to a gig
- "I'm gonna live this for the next year, and then maybe I’ll go torch some guitars." Jerry Cantrell on the future of Alice in Chains and his heavy new solo album
- “I wrote two songs that should have gone into the dustbin. They turned out to be my biggest hits.” The guitarist behind a pair of classic-rock gems says he’s just a strummer who thinks of himself as a jingle writer
- “This guy gets up and starts playing — and I'm like, Who the **** is this!?” Dave Mason on meeting Jimi Hendrix in 1966 and making “All Along the Watchtower” with him
October 17
- “He was very exceptionally good. Right till this day I could play you that solo any time.” George Harrison on the “greatest guitar solo of all time” and the player who left a lasting impression on him
- "I'm not a guitar player — I never took the time. I use it as a tool.” The guitarist behind some of music's biggest hits says you don't need to be virtuoso to have a career
- "it was stolen right off the stage while the lights were down. Somebody walked right out the door with it." Nuno Bettencourt reveals the mysterious journey of his lost Washburn double-neck guitar
- “He didn't like using effects. He'd put an amplifier in a bathroom and place a mic down the hall to get natural reverb. He might even fill the room with cardboard boxes.” Why there are no guitar effects on the Modern English hit “I Melt WIth You"
- “I got behind the drums, and he got so into it he started bleeding. I said, ‘This is the man you want.’ “ Alex Van Halen talks his and Ed's secret jams with Chris Cornell, the Ozzy-fronted VH album and why the David Lee Roth tribute shows fell apart
October 16
- "It’s been 37 years since I’ve seen Jake E. Lee, but that still doesn’t take away from the shock of hearing what happened to him today." Ozzy Osbourne reacts to shooting of guitarist Jake E. Lee in Las Vegas
- “I was slumping over my acoustic guitar and grabbing my chest. I remember thinking, This might be it for me.” Al Di Meola talks about his onstage heart attack and the rush to save his life
October 15
- "I've got a gig this Friday, and I haven't played guitar in over a month. What am I going to do?" Richie Kotzen tells why rehearsing sometimes makes no difference
- “I was truly terrified. I was on the same stage as every one of my heroes: Mike Bloomfield, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix." Martin Barre talks about sharing stages with his guitar royalty after Jethro Tull took a "big risk" hiring him in 1968
- Win tickets to see guitarist Ron Artis II in Northern California at 'Guitar Player Presents'
- Fractal’s new VP4 virtual pedalboard puts hundreds of classic stompbox and studio effect models at guitarists' feet in a compact and customizable unit
October 14
- “Lack of use, plus three bouts of COVID, probably phased out the plectrum for me”: Mark Knopfler tells why he’s ditched the pick in favor of fingerpicking
- "I thought it was about the lamest song I ever wrote in my life.” Eddie Van Halen on guitar solos, playing fast, and the music teacher who slapped his face when he made a mistake
October 12
- “A roadie plugged the wah in the wrong way, and I stomped into it and got this incredible screaming noise”: Pink Floyd's Echoes marked David Gilmour's emergence as a guitar hero – and its surreal tonal highlight was created by accident
- “They had strippers and crabs everywhere... People would get pissed and start shooting at the stage.” Stevie Ray Vaughan talks his Number One Strat, Dumble amps, and craziest gigs in a classic GP interview
- “The guitar allows me to switch my brain off from trying to understand the music... The mistakes make it interesting.” Crowded House's Neil Finn on his trial-and-error approach to playing and songwriting
- "What did we do when the record company asked us for a disco hit? We gave them Highway To Hell!" An archive interview with AC/DC's Angus and Malcolm Young
- “The guitar playing on ‘Stairway to Heaven’ — it’s probably the greatest electric guitar solo of all time.” Steve Stevens talks Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix and the 10 albums that changed his life
October 11
- "I tuned the E string down to D and came up with this riff. I didn't really think anything of it." Roland Orzabal reveals how a chance guitar line on his detuned Fender Strat led to Tears for Fears' monster hit “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”
- “Sometimes you are going to be so frustrated you'll hate the guitar. But all of this is just a part of learning." Jimi Hendrix explains his struggles with guitar in a 1968 Guitar Player interview
- “They're perfectly situated between .010 and .011 sets — big enough to get great tone, but nimble enough to finesse those vocal bends guitar players are always going for." John Mayer's new signature Ernie Ball string set has unbelievably precise gauges
October 10
- "I couldn’t plug my Telecaster into my amp because the lady upstairs always complained about noise!" The writer of Steppenwolf's “Born to Be Wild” reveals the song's secret history
- “He said to me very politely, 'Can I get onstage with you and use your guitar?' ” Ritchie Blackmore recalls when Deep Purple jammed with George Harrison — and how he marveled at the size of his feet
- John Petrucci: “Making a new record is an opportunity to say, 'What haven't I done before?'” Hear Dream Theater's first new music with Mike Portnoy in 15 years and learn details of their upcoming album
- "I apologize for what's about to happen." Watch Steve Morse pay tribute to Jeff Beck with "Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers"
October 9
- “I've jumped down the rabbit hole of discovery to learn what made my Kiss guitars so great.” Bruce Kulick launches his own guitar brand for “period-correct” axes inspired by his Kiss era
- "You have witnessed a revolution.” The closure of Guitar Player magazine marks the end of an era — and the start of a new one
- "We sold a few and John Lennon ended up with one." The former Beatle's weirdest guitar is one of the last he played
- "I'm a bit rusty, and I don't know how much I can play, but I'll give it a go." Watch Brian May play guitar for the first time since suffering a minor stroke last month
October 8
- “One of the coolest people on the planet. He was a like mad scientist that played guitar.” Joe Walsh reveals the story that made Les Paul his hero
- “I wanted to create something I thought Jeff Beck would have used.” David Kowalski’s Rare Earth Germanium Device is one of the most innovative fuzzboxes we’ve seen
- “I had just written a classic — and I was terrified I might never do it again.” John Fogerty on CCR’s "Proud Mary" and the 19th century composer who inspired it
- "Can you stop saying nice things about me?" Robert Fripp wasn't pleased when Jakko Jakszyk ruined his reputation as a tough boss
October 7
- “The chords were like 'Let It Be' — with a twist." Neal Schon explains how Journey broke the first rule of songwriting with “Don’t Stop Believin’”
- “Don’t play to a metronome." Vinnie Moore tells how his practice method can help you find the groove and not sound mechanical
October 6
- “Joe Walsh insisted that I buy it, and he was right”: Jimmy Page on his "Number 1” 1959 Gibson Les Paul
- Steve Vai was stunned when he heard him. Joe Bonamassa says he’s reinvented guitar. Al Di Meola says it “would take lifetimes to catch up with him.” Meet Matteo Mancuso, the young player who’s light years ahead of us all
October 5
- “I said, ‘Okay, why don’t you flip the tape over?’ I wanted to try a backward guitar solo.” Davey Johnstone explains his greatest guitar moments from Elton John’s ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’
- “Joe Walsh insisted that I buy it, and he was right”: Jimmy Page on his "Number 1” 1959 Gibson Les Paul
October 4
- Jake Kiszka pulls his car off the road to listen every time this song comes on the radio
- David Gilmour says he couldn't pick out his legendary Black Strat in a blindfold test
- “I said, 'Well, Lee, I've been using a lot of Black Sabbath–style moves in Sonic Youth.' He said, 'You're not!' I said, 'Yes, I am.'" Thurston Moore explains an unlikely influence on his unique guitar style
- “He keeps texting me: ‘Come downstairs!’ I’m like, ‘I’m gonna punch this dude out!’ I go down, open the door... and it’s Edward Van Halen.” Nuno Bettencourt recalls Ed's surprise visit during the making of 'Rise'
- "Paul said, 'Why don’t you just play it the same way each time?'" Brian Ray on what he learned playing Beatles songs with Paul McCartney
October 3
- Joe Bonamassa's new signature Epiphone Les Paul has a finish you've never seen before. It has a pair of unlikely pickups too
- The guitar that launched the Beatles is going to the auction block. George Harrison's Hamburg-era electric six-string was heard on the Fabs' earliest recordings
- “I played Eddie Cochran’s guitar at his house. Turns out he was way ahead of his time.” Brian Setzer says he found the late rocker’s bedroom — including his Fender Bassman amp — just as he left it in 1960
October 2
- A compact Dreadnought acoustic? Martin's new O’ahu HG-28 is a game-changing hybrid that pays tribute to the steel-string's Hawaiian heritage
- “Rhythm playing is a lost art.” Tom Petty shares his greatest advice on rhythm guitar playing in a long-lost 1997 interview
- "Please welcome Mr. Slash!" Watch Brian May and the Guns N' Roses guitarist jam Queen's “Tie Your Mother Down” on Jay Leno in 1993
- “If you played guitar you thought you were cool. But I didn't, so I never told anybody”: Here's how Steve Vai finally told his friends he was learning guitar
October 1
- “Scott was putting pressure on us to write a song in front of people. But I was ready.” Mark Tremonti reveals how Creed wrote their hit “Higher” in front of an audience
- “It’s a classic now, but it didn’t have twin-guitar harmonies at first. We never even considered it for a single.” Scott Gorham tells how Thin Lizzy’s “The Boys Are Back in Town” was saved from oblivion