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DARK SECRETS: Guitar player | Vintage Vibes

“They said a four-minute single containing lyrics about Jesus would never get played on pop radio”: The US singer loved by John Lennon and hated by right-wing Christian groups who wrote the last great hippie anthem – and then vanished into obscurity

Norman Greenbaum’s Spirit In The Sky was one of the greatest one-hit-wonders of the early 1970s

Louder

“I wanted a bicycle for Christmas, and they gave me a guitar. It pissed me off”: Jeff “Skunk” Baxter has played with everyone from Steely Dan to Dolly Parton – but he didn’t even want to be a guitar player

Baxter would go on to become a bona fide guitar great, but his life might have turned out differently had he got his wish...

Guitar World

“Jimi and I sat down facing each other, with Jimi on six-string acoustic and me on 12-string”: The life and times of Dave Mason, the Traffic legend who played with Hendrix, McCartney, the Stones and more

“If you're going to learn something, you may as well try and put yourself around the best”

MusicRadar

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“Ken, our producer said ‘Look up there lads, look at the stars’. He literally said ‘Look at the stars’”: The fateful circumstances that led to Coldplay’s biggest ever song

Coldplay’s first stab at a euphoric crowd-pleaser was a clear indication that a stadium-filling future awaited

MusicRadar

“Brad said, ‘I know where it is.’ He opened up Guitar Player and it was there in a photo of Slash’s guitar collection”: The story of Joe Perry’s ’59 Les Paul Standard – his lost treasure and ultimate birthday gift

Joe Perry was forced to part with his beloved 'Burst in 1979, but it was his Aerosmith bandmate who found it again

Guitar World

“This whole song came from a mistake”: The fateful circumstances that led to Coldplay’s biggest ever song

Coldplay’s first stab at a euphoric crowd-pleaser was a clear indication that a stadium-filling future awaited

MusicRadar

“Ken, our producer, said ‘Look up there lads, look at the stars’. He literally said ‘Look at the stars’”: The fast-paced making of Coldplay’s first global hit

Coldplay’s first stab at a euphoric crowd-pleaser was a clear indication that a stadium-filling future awaited

MusicRadar

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“Adam was like, ‘Well, Zakk, for the solo, you should get the Grail and play it on this thing, man”: Why Zakk Wylde brought his “Grail” Les Paul Custom out of retirement for Ozzy Osbourne tribute song

The iconic cream Les Paul Custom with the bulls-eye graphic completed a full circle moment as Wylde salutes his old boss on new Black Label Society album

MusicRadar

“Ace reminded us all that rock should never apologize for being fun and that a little chaos can sound downright heavenly”: The guitar world pays tribute to the late Ace Frehley – the Spaceman who took Kiss into orbit

Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons lead tributes to the Kiss co-founder and larger-than-life former lead guitarist, who has died, aged 74

Guitar World

“Even today, that instrument is fascinating. I’ve passed it around and players of all sorts have all come to the same conclusion – there is something magic in that instrument”: Billy Gibbons on why Pearly Gates is one of the greatest Les Pauls of all time

All Gibson Les Paul Standards from 1959 are special but what is it about the ZZ Top frontman's Pearly Gates that makes it so unique? As Gibbons says, it might be something entirely supernatural

MusicRadar

“I said, ‘That’s my music.’ His manager said, ‘You’re a girl. You don’t have the money to fight this’”: Rita Coolidge alleges she helped write Eric Clapton’s Layla – but never got credit for it

In a resurfaced interview, Coolidge recalls the time she sought a songwriting credit for composing the song’s piano coda – but was rebuffed

Guitar World

“I said to myself, ‘Well, Buddy, you better hang on a little longer. My health ain’t doing too bad, so… I just try to play the best I can”: Buddy Guy says he’s not retiring until the blues gets a higher profile

The 88-year-old blues star says the lack of mainstream platforms for blues concerns him – but his Sinners cameo gives him cause for hope

Guitar World

“I first heard him play via a tear-out flexi-disc that was included in Guitar Player magazine back in 1986. I had never heard anything like that in my life!”: Joe Bonamassa on the influence of the great Eric Johnson

What’s so special about Eric Johnson? “The tone, the technique, everything!” says Joe Bonamassa, and in this video lesson he shows us what he’s taken from the Texan virtuoso

Guitar World

“The importance of one clear voice playing the melodies and solos are things we take seriously”: Joe Satriani reveals how Satch/Vai’s onstage chemistry works – and why sometimes some songs are best left to Steve Vai

Satch says playing with Steve Vai is an opportunity to expand each other's material, but says maintaining one clear voice for melodies and solos is key

Guitar World

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MusicRadar

“Derringer's legacy extends beyond his music, entertaining fans with his signature energy and talent”: All American guitar legend Rick Derringer dies, aged 77

He scored a number one hit when he was still a teenager, played with Johnny and Edgar Winter, Steely Dan, KISS, and more. He wrote Hulk Hogan's anthem. Derringer's life was extraordinary

Guitar World

“This song depicts all of the things Joe and I loved about pounding rock ‘n’ roll and the glorious guitar”: The SatchVai Band's second single is an ode to the instrument that made them famous – and it features Glenn Hughes on vocals

Guitar World and Guitar Player have an exclusive premiere of the '70s-flavored track, which arrives a month and change ahead of the band's first tour

MusicRadar

"There had to be some sort of telepathy going on because I've never seen spontaneous inspiration happen at that level”: The genius of Eric Clapton's controversial masterpiece, Layla

Guitar World

“I heard the Money solo and thought, ‘This is amazing!’ So I sent David a telegram saying, ‘Remember me? I'm in a band now called Roxy Music’”: Phil Manzanera on his friendship with David Gilmour, and the key to the Pink Floyd man's unmistakable tone

The two guitarists have worked on several records together, giving Manzanera the inside baseball of the tricks behind Gilmour's iconic guitar tone

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Guitar World

“I met Joe when he was 12. He picked up a vintage guitar in one store and they told him to leave. But someone said, ‘This guy called Norm will let you play his stuff’”: The unlikely rise of Norman’s Rare Guitars and the birth of the vintage guitar market

Just in time for a new Netflix doc, GW sits down with Norman Harris – owner of Tarzana, California’s iconic Norman’s Rare Guitars – to discuss 50 years of sales, his kinship with Joe Bonamassa, and what the future holds for the guitar institution

Guitar World

Celebrated jazz guitarist George Freeman, best known for his work with Charlie Parker and Gene Ammons, has died aged 97

Freeman was a staple of Chicago's jazz music scene – and played with contemporaries including Gene Ammons and Groove Holmes

MusicRadar

Was this teenage prodigy the world’s first electric guitar player?

The instrument that defined rock had to start somewhere - and all evidence points towards George Barnes

Guitar World

“A lot of old-school guitar players can play amazing. But sometimes they’re not so innovative with the actual sound”: Steven Wilson on why guitarists need to switch up their tones to prevent their solos sounding stale

Alongside guitarist Randy McStine, the musical polymath took a tone-first approach to composing – and playing – solos on his new album, The Overview

MusicRadar

“The big lesson... don't be afraid to be simple and awesome... Who cares if it has four or 40,000 notes in it?”: Tom Morello pays his respects to Tony Iommi, Randy Rhoads and more in advance of this summer’s big Black Sabbath supergig

And as the event’s musical director and a Sabbath superfan, Morello proves perfectly placed to tease a few behind-the-scenes secrets…

Guitar World

“I take the job of curating this very seriously. Not just to honor the living members of Black Sabbath but also Randy Rhoads”: Tom Morello is honoring one of Ozzy Osbourne’s greatest collaborators at the Sabbath legend’s final show

Osbourne’s last show will take place later this year, and Morello – the event’s musical director – will take the opportunity to pay tribute to one of the finest guitar players of all time

Guitar World

“I turned up at George Martin’s office with a diabolically bad demo – but he could see there was something there”: How Jeff Beck’s Blow by Blow triumphed against the odds to change instrumental guitar forever

50 years on, Blow by Blow remains an inspirational force – a turning point for Beck and guitar-led music in general

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