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March 2025

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48 articles

March 21
- “I just handed him the guitar, I had handed him a slide. The amp was already set up." Mike Campbell on why he asked George Harrison to replace his "Handle With Care" solo for the Traveling Wilburys
- "Turn him up, turn him up, dammit!" Dimebag Darrell stopped in a bar for a drink in 2003. He wound up onstage with a local band, shredding classic cuts for the shocked crowd
- “You could take the same scale, have two different guys play it and it will sound worlds apart.” Zakk Wylde says you don’t need to re-write classic solos to make them your own
March 20
- “If you’re a young guitar player, that’s money well spent.” John Mayer says this pedal is the next best thing to a tube amp and something every guitar player should consider
- “I’m getting better day by day.” Brian Setzer gives a health update after auto-immune disease diagnosis
- "He’s made of different stuff from the rest of us." He should have been in the hospital. Instead he was onstage, playing guitar with two broken hands for a crowd of fans
- "Dave was standing over me going, ‘You okay, man?’" Steve Vai never knew what hit him. The guitarist recalls his biggest onstage spills with David Lee Roth and Whitesnake
March 19
- "This is the only known footage of a Randy Rhoads soundcheck." The Ozzy Osbourne guitarist shreds pre-show with his Gibson Les Paul and Marshalls on his final tour
- "Paul showed up on my doorstep and took me out to lunch. He was trying to change my mind.” Ace Frehley says Kiss are lying about his departures from the group. Here's his side of the story
- “It felt so odd to my fingers.” Joe Satriani on the Eddie Van Halen song that proved his biggest challenge on the Best of All Worlds tour
March 18
- “Somebody's getting paid, so why shouldn't it be the guy who sat down and wrote 'Yesterday'?” Paul McCartney fought against looser AI copyright laws in the U.K. Now he's standing up to similar measures in the U.S.
- "I said, ‘Can you take five minutes away from playing Fortnite, and I’ll teach you the first three notes of ‘Stairway to Heaven'?" Tom Morello on building the perfect shredder — his 13-year-old son, Roman
March 17
- “One of the up-and-coming phenomenal players.” Peter Frampton heaps praise on “wonderful talent” Grace Bowers as the pair take on a Beatles classic with Phish’s Trey Anastasio
March 16
- "I think there is a huge misunderstanding." Steve Lukather clarifies his role in the new project to rescue unheard Eddie Van Halen recordings from the vault
March 14
- “It’s always been important for my guitar to sound similar to my voice.” Warren Haynes tells us why he chose P90s for his new signature Gibson Les Paul Standard — and reveals the secret behind its new “tonal options” switch
- "It made me think and play differently, and it sounded great. But there were limitations.” Alex Lifeson explains how modding his Stratocaster led him to create one of his most iconic guitars
March 13
- “I was looking in the pages of guitar magazines, and I thought, ‘Oh, man, one day, I want to have one!’” Steve Stevens tells how Paul Stanley helped launch him on his way to become a Hamer signature artist in the 1980s
- "No one can do this with me as well as he can.” Alex Van Halen enlists Steve Lukather to help create a new Van Halen album from Eddie Van Halen's demos
- “You can't look over and be, 'Omigod! I'm playing with Jimmy Page!'” Twenty-five years after Page and the Black Crowes joined forces, Rich Robinson explains the group’s split with the legend as an expanded ‘Live at the Greek’ arrives
March 12
- "It was a hard decision we all had to make." Bill Kelliher speaks out about Brent Hinds' departure from Mastodon and looks to the metal band's “new chapter”
- "Brian May was a huge inspiration for this project.” Built entirely from scrap wood, this Randy Rhoads–style electric guitar took shape when a teen decided to pay homage to his musical heroes
- “What's magical is when you can feel the quarter note... That's where the drama is.” Al Di Meola reveals his indispensable tool for rhythm guitar playing — and it doesn’t involve your hands
- "Literally, a star is born. I have never, ever seen anything like that in my life." 11-year-old shredder Olly Pearson blows away the competition with his medley of AC/DC, Van Halen and Queen songs
March 11
- "I never liked it. It was a song I just knocked off.” John Lennon hated it, but George Harrison called it one of his favorites. How Lennon's “throwaway” Beatles song made it onto 'Rubber Soul'
- “Tariffs on products from its Mexico and China facilities would increase operating costs by $20 to $25 million.” Fender's credit rating is downgraded as tariffs pose new challenges for the guitar and gear maker
- “When it slid out from underneath the bed, it was like the heavens were opening up.” His dad’s vintage Les Paul became the most important ingredient in his new venture away from Zakk Wylde's Black Label Society
- “The last conversation I had with Tom, he said, ‘If I have to be in a wheelchair, I'm going to do it.’” As he prepares to release his new memoir, Mike Campbell shares the joys and struggles of his years as Tom Petty’s guitar partner
- “It's a hill I’m willing to die on.” Cory Wong just set a high bar for guitar excellence. But a blues god like Stevie Ray Vaughan probably wouldn't have passed his test
March 10
- “Can you learn 17 Mastodon songs immediately?” With Brent Hinds' shocking departure from Mastodon, YouTuber Ben Eller endures a baptism by fire to fill his place onstage two days later
- “What if Van Halen played fretless...” What would Eddie Van Halen’s “Beat It” solo sound like on a fretless guitar? Here it is — no whammy bar required
March 9
- "Wanna try a Beatles tune? A Bob Dylan tune?" They thought she was carrying George Harrison's guitar. How a case of mistaken identity led to the former Beatle's last public performance
March 8
- “It's 1969, I'm in New York, and I get a phone call: 'Jimi's in the studio. Would you come down?'” Andy Fairweather Low on 3 a.m. jams with Jimi Hendrix and sleepless nights with George Harrison
- "He was a great guy. And he had my face tattooed on his chest!” Ace Frehley offers his opinion of three guitarists who have called the first Kiss axeman their six-string inspiration
- “The guy jumped in a car, drove to Guadalajara and kidnapped my guitar!” George Harrison recounted how his "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" Les Paul was stolen in 1973 — and the extremes he went through to get it back
- “It was easier. There was something about the sound." Courtney Barnett explains why switching to a Fender Jaguar proved to be a pivotal moment in her career
March 7
- "I had to sit back and go, 'Is this really happening?'” Phil X on playing "Livin' on a Prayer" with Richie Sambora at a Bon Jovi show — and how he adapted his guitar playing to make the moment happen
- “Nobody will be able to afford to make music.” Queen’s Brian May blasts a new law that will make it easier for AI to use artists' music
- "I saw Stevie Wonder with one about four years ago. Another guitar player gave me this. No one else has got one." Jeff Beck demonstrates his 'Blow by Blow'-era rig in 1974
- “I have plenty of impressive cheap guitars.” Yvette Young explains why your guitar and amp shouldn't get equal treatment when it comes to your gear budget. Here's what you should know
March 6
- "That’s my favorite incarnation of the Firebird, because you’ve got the tuners on the top side.” Gibson's 1965 Firebird revival brings a classic back to life with the most unusual guitar name you've ever heard
- "There’s so much that I can’t share with him. There’s just this black hole.” Wolfgang Van Halen on life without Eddie and how his grief pushed him into a new chapter
- Eddie Van Halen asks: “Do you guys ever run out of film?" A private collection of unseen video from Van Halen's classic era is online. Here's what's in it
March 5
- "I have a Mercury on the guitar now, which makes me very happy.” Brian May’s new signature Gibson SJ-200 features a subtle tribute to the late Queen singer Freddie Mercury
- “He felt that he would never be his own man.” Rory Gallagher rejected the chance to bring Cream back from the dead when Eric Clapton left the group in 1968
March 4
- “Playing this song onstage was my rock-star moment.” Nita Strauss reveals the five riffs that changed her life and made her one of the most sought-after guitarists in hard rock
- “Everyone had told us it’s never going to work. But hearing it back through the speakers, we thought, We can conquer the world!” Brian May tells how he fought the naysayers to make the Red Special Queen's secret weapon
- Guitar Player Presents Mark Lettieri, March 7 in Napa, California – Win Tickets
- "What he really liked and what he really played at home was the blues." Jimi Hendrix's record collection reveals the artists who shaped his guitar playing. But you'd never guess what record was his favorite