Player archive

October 2024

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31 articles

October 30
- “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
October 29
- “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
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 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
- "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 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, ‘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
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 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 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"
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
October 14
- "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
- “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
October 8
- “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
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’
October 4
- “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
- "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 2
- “Rhythm playing is a lost art.” Tom Petty shares his greatest advice on rhythm guitar playing in a long-lost 1997 interview
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