Guitar Player Staff

Guitar Player is the world’s most comprehensive, trusted and insightful guitar publication for passionate guitarists and active musicians of all ages. Guitar Player magazine is published 13 times a year in print and digital formats. The magazine was established in 1967 and is the world's oldest guitar magazine. When "Guitar Player Staff" is credited as the author, it's usually because more than one author on the team has created the story.

Latest articles by Guitar Player Staff

The Rolling Stones in 1963 (L-R): Bill Wyman, Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, Charlie Watts and Brian Jones.

Watch the Rolling Stones' Iconic Television Performance of Willie Dixon’s “Little Red Rooster”

By Guitar Player Staff published

Video The producer, bassist and immensely prolific songwriter was responsible for some of the blues’ – and popular music’s – most enduring hits

Video
Memphis Minnie pictured with a Nationall acoustic guitar circa 1950

Prolific, Confessional and a No-Bullsh*t Character: How Memphis Minnie Became One of the Most Incendiary Guitarists of Her Day

By Guitar Player Staff published

The renegade star's professional career in blues is matched by no other female musician, and by very few men

Robert Johnson and Gibson L-1

“In the Canon of the Blues, His Songs Are Really Top of the Heap”: Walter Trout Explains Why Robert Johnson Is Considered in a League of His Own

By Guitar Player Staff published

Covered by the likes of Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton, Robert Johnson’s originals are the ground zero of recorded Delta blues

Gary Moore performs in London in 1973.

Watch Gary Moore Shred the Blues

By Guitar Player Staff published

Video The late bluesman from Belfast demonstrates his world-class technique and explains what makes a great electric guitar

Video
Led Zeppelin perform live

“I Owe It to All of Them”: Jimmy Page Explains How His Love of the Blues Fueled the Fire for One of Rock’s Biggest Bands

By Guitar Player Staff published

“It was just an undeniable element of everything that was going on in Led Zeppelin,” says the guitarist

Son House performing circa 1960

Here’s How Bottleneck Master Son House Set a Precedent for What Blues – and, in Turn, Rock and Roll – Could Be

By Guitar Player Staff published

A part-time preacher, the blues legend – born Edward James House Jr. – influenced generations

Lead Belly playin 12-string acoustic guitar

He Escaped From a Chain Gang, Charmed His Way out of Prison, and Was Immortalized in Music History: How Lead Belly Became a Guitar Legend

By Guitar Player Staff published

The forefather of rock and roll was charming and dangerous in equal measure

Howlin' Wolf (1910 - 1976) performs at the Cafe Au Go Go in New York City, 6th December 1967.

Watch Howlin’ Wolf’s Electrifying “Smokestack Lightning” Performance Featuring Hubert Sumlin on Guitar

By Guitar Player Staff published

Video The biggest, baddest voice of the Chicago blues scene, Wolf was a far-reaching inspiration

Video
Sister Rosetta Tharpe photographed at Wilbraham Road Station in Manchester, England, while filming the Granada Television special Blues And Gospel Train, on May 7, 1964.

Watch Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s Iconic "Didn't It Rain?" Live Performance

By Guitar Player Staff published

Video The guitar heroine blazed a trail for Chuck Berry and the first wave of rock and roll

Video
Kaki King performs at the Everest Awakening: A Prayer For Nepal And Beyond at City Winery on May 17, 2015 in New York City.

Five Reasons Kaki King Is a Guitar Legend

By Guitar Player Staff published

In King’s hands, the guitar becomes a canvas for a revolutionary reassertion of the instrument’s role in music and art

Fretboard

Learn All the Notes on the Fretboard in This Easy-to-Follow Lesson

By Guitar Player Staff last updated

Elevate your playing with this simple guide to fretboard memorization

Blues Hall of Fame inductee Charlie Musselwhite, guitar detail, performs onstage at Lisa Smith Wengler Center for the Arts at Pepperdine on January 17, 2023 in Malibu, California.

The Mixolydian Blues Scale Could Be the Most Useful Scale of All

By Guitar Player Staff last updated

This scale reigns supreme as the chief source for carving those major/minor blues-based licks that sound so good over dominant 7th chords

The cover of Guitar Player's Jeff Beck tribute issue

April 2023 Guitar Player Lesson Audio

By Guitar Player Staff published

Jesse Gress performs with Todd Rundgren at Center Stage on February 12, 2016 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Esteemed ‘Guitar Player’ Contributor Jesse Gress Succumbs to Long-Term Illness

By Guitar Player Staff published

The uber-talented Todd Rundgren guitarist and music educator passes away at home aged 67

Roy Clark plays a Fender Jaguar in 1964 on 'The Jimmy Dean Show'

Watch Roy Clark’s Mesmerizing Rendition of “Folsom Prison Blues” on ‘The Jimmy Dean Show’

By Guitar Player Staff published

Video The guitar star makes great use of a Fender Jaguar to nail his own interpretation of Johnny Cash’s signature song in this classic TV moment from 1964

Video
Memphis Minnie

Listen to Memphis Minnie & Kansas Joe’s 1929 Original “When the Levee Breaks”

By Guitar Player Staff published

Here’s why the artist born Lizzie Douglas remains a blues guitar legend

Television 'Marquee Moon' album artwork

“The ‘Marquee Moon’ Album Really Set Me off as a Musician”: the Edge Reveals How Television Inspired U2 in the Early Days

By Guitar Player Staff published

“I still love turning guitar players on to it,” says the guitarist

Gary Moore performs onstage at the Hammersmith Apollo on May 2, 2009 in London

"I've Tried to Get a Modern, Less High-Gain Version of that Natural Sound that Clapton Had in the ’60s": Gary Moore Details His Latter-Day Guitar Rig

By Guitar Player Staff published

In this candid 2009 GP interview, the late guitar legend discusses how the sounds of Clapton, Peter Green, Albert Collins – and his own hard-rocking touch – shaped his setup.

Jimmy Page adorns the cover of the March 2023 issue of Guitar Player

March 2023 Guitar Player Lesson Audio

By Guitar Player Staff published

Jimi Hendrix performs live in the late 1960s

“It Was Just so Shocking”: Bill Frisell Recalls Seeing Jimi Hendrix Perform in 1968

By Bill Milkowski, Guitar Player Staff published

“It was just too much to comprehend,” says the jazz guru

Julian Lage performs at Love Supreme Jazz Festival 2022 at Glynde Place on July 02, 2022 in Lewes, England.

Watch Julian Lage’s Enthralling "Study for Electric Guitar" Solo Performance

By Guitar Player Staff published

Video The master of improvisation stretches a Telecaster to its limits

Video
L-R: Jason Richardson, Plini, Jakub Zytecki, Lari Basilio and Sarah Lipstate

Five Cutting-Edge Guitarists You Need to Know About

By Guitar Player Staff published

Here’s how Sarah Lipstate, Lari Basilio, Jakub Zytecki, Jason Richardson and Plini are taking the instrument forward

St. Vincent performs onstage during Austin City Limits Festival at Zilker Park on October 03, 2021 in Austin, Texas.

Watch St. Vincent’s Mesmerizing "Down" Performance on Austin City Limits

By Guitar Player Staff published

Video Here’s why Grammy winner Annie Clark remains at the cutting-edge of guitar playing

Video
Ichika Nito

Watch Modern Guitar Trailblazer Ichika Nito Demonstrate How to “Impress a Girl” in 20 Seconds With a Guitar

By Guitar Player Staff published

Video With well over 2 million YouTube subscribers, the Ibanez signature artist is an internet sensation

Video
Mateus Asato

Watch Mateus Asato’s Virtuosic Solo Rendition of the Beatles’ “Let It Be”

By Guitar Player Staff published

Video The quintessential 21st century guitar hero teeters between the restrained and the spectacular

Video
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Archives