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DARK SECRETS: 3 | Rare Historical Photos

“The Boys Are Back in Town is at least as memorable for its guitar breaks as for its chorus”: Thin Lizzy inspired Metallica, Iron Maiden, and the Cure, practically invented twin lead guitar, and have had 15 guitarists. Here’s your guide to all of them

Thin Lizzy are tough enough for punks, heavy enough for metalheads, poetic enough for romantics – and their catchy riffs and licks have been played by some of the finest guitarists on earth

Guitar World

“A meeting was arranged, but the guy took off and drove to Guadalajara”: It was used for one of the greatest guitar solos of all time, then “kidnapped” and driven to Mexico – the Hollywood-like story of one of George Harrison's most famous guitars

Clandestine meetings, dramatic TV pleas, ransom demands, hurried getaway drives across the Mexican border... it sounds like a thriller, but it all revolved around a very special Les Paul

Guitar World

“It’s just heartbreaking to see someone spend so much money on something that is fake”: YouTuber assembles team of guitar experts including Joe Bonamassa and Gibson's Tom Murphy to show you how to spot a fake Les Paul

Robert Baker puts a lot of guitar knowledge in one room to run the rule over a cheap and nasty counterfeit Gibson

MusicRadar

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“We often overlook this humble technique, yet it’s such an important tool for expressive rhythm and lead playing”: Palm muting is an essential guitar technique – but there’s a lot more to it than just chugging. Are you using it to its full potential?

First used by ’50s legends Chet Atkins and Les Paul, it is rock, metal and punk that have made palm muting so popular today

Guitar World

“It’s a privilege to be involved in this good cause… especially when it involves making a fantastic Les Paul”: Gibson and Johnny Marr team up for limited edition replica of his red 1984 Les Paul Standard in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust

Limited to just 20 units worldwide, Marr's Bigsby-equipped Les Paul will be available from the Gibson Garage London from 21 February with all proceeds going to charity

MusicRadar

“We’re not hearing $1,750 difference in the sonic quality, feel or playability. Far from it”: Epiphone Joe Bonamassa 1955 Les Paul Standard and Gibson Les Paul Standard ’50s Mahogany Top review

Two recent Les Paul launches from Gibson and Epiphone take a nod back to the ’50s in style. But not only are they made on different continents, they’re very different inprice. Which is best? Let’s find out

Guitar World

“It threw me off completely. Here I am in front of 16,000 people, on the stage where Jeff Beck stood, where The Beatles stood, and where Jimi Hendrix stood”: Steve Lukather on wielding Beck’s Strat, jams with George Harrison –and his best solo slip-up

Luke sets the record straight on recent fake interview about modern players, explains how he knew when Michael Jackson liked his playing, and hints at what to expect from his new Music Man signature

Guitar World

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“Jimmy Page said, ‘If you want to go work straight away, do the Ozzy gig. If not, we’d love to have you’”: Phil Soussan is one of the ultimate bass journeymen – he looks back at his storied career, and why he picked Ozzy Osbourne over Jimmy Page

The Last in Line member recalls his weird experience of recording bass on The Ultimate Sin, what it was like being in the room for Zakk Wylde’s Ozzy audition, being frustrated with Vince Neil’s band, and his amazing chemistry with Steve Lukather

Guitar World

NAMM 2025: “The NAMM Show has always been an excuse for guitar-makers to pull out all the stops”: Gibson turns the clock back to 1955 for a commemorative Murphy Lab Les Paul in five holy grail custom colours

Thanks to Joe Bonamassa, you'll all be familiar with Copper Iridescent, but how about a P-90 loaded Custom Shop LP in Samoa Beige, Nugget Gold, Viceroy Brown and Platinum?

MusicRadar

“I should have been dead that night!”: Ace Frehley looks back on Kiss' wild on-stage mishaps, including the trick that doctors warned could have left him in a wheelchair

Former Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley fell down many, many times...and once even almost died on stage

Metal Hammer

“A less idiosyncratic, more intuitive but still distinctly handsome machine. It plays and feels like a much more modern proposition”: Gretsch Professional Series Hollow Body Tennessean review

The working musician’s hollowbody designed to handle most popular styles but retaining that unmistakably cool Gretsch vibe

Guitar World

“I should have been dead that night!”: Former Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley recalls the moment he almost died on stage

And he nearly took out Gene Simmons with his rocket-firing guitar!

MusicRadar

Iconic Rock Guitars Of Jeff Beck On Display In London

Iconic guitars from Jeff Beck's collection, including a 1954 Gibson Les Paul, up for auction at Christie's in London.

Top News

“In that last year of his life, I said to him one night, ‘Les, I don't know, but I swear, you're playing better than you were last year’”: Tommy Emmanuel recalls his final moments with guitar legend Les Paul

The acoustic great pays homage to Les Paul's dedication to leveling up his playing, even when he was well into his 90s

Guitar World

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Guitar World

“He only really ever played Free Bird on that guitar. I broke rank”: Charlie Starr on the spiritual moment he played Gary Rossington’s famed ‘Free Bird’ 1961 Gibson SG

Starr had the chance to use Rossington’s iconic Gibson to perform a Lynyrd Skynyrd medley last year, after it was announced the Les Paul/SG would be loaned out to a host of players for live use

Guitar World

“Top money buys forensically aged details and incredible craft, but you won’t necessarily hear £5k’s worth of difference in the sonic performance”: How close are Gibson's ’59 Burst replicas and their boutique rivals?

We put a Gibson Custom Shop Collector’s Edition ’59 Les Paul up against a Nik Huber Orca ’59 for the ultimate single-cut shootout

Guitar World

“It couldn’t be any simpler – yet, in truth, it couldn’t be any better”: Inside the remarkable story of the Gibson Les Paul Junior – the single-cut that changed the world

Stripped down, primal, with P-90 snarl and an unfussy aesthetic, there is something so ineffably cool about the Junior... 70 years young, it's one of guitar's hardest-working six-strings

MusicRadar

"While the aesthetic flourishes grab the headlines, this guitar’s mismatched specs are its secret weapon": Gibson Mary Ford Les Paul Standard Goldtop review

A Les Paul dressed up like an ES-295, Gibson's latest signature certainly has plenty of visual appeal, but can it deliver on playability and tone?

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Louder

"Lady Gaga was swinging about on a JCB; it was a bit of a circus": Jeff Beck on awards shows, the end of Ziggy Stardust, and refusing to audition for the Rolling Stones

Late guitar innovator Jeff Beck lived rock'n'roll history - but was much more interested in the future

Guitar World

“We love it when Gibson gets it right”: Gibson ES-330 and Les Paul Studio review

Along with its high-profile limited-edition releases, Gibson continues to consider the working musician, as this pair illustrates: two new additions that couldn’t be more different!

Guitar World

“This pickup could have come out of a late-’50s Gibson. If you had a guitar from that era with these pickups, everyone would be like, ‘Wow. That’s a badass-sounding Les Paul’”: How Adam “Nolly” Getgood and Bare Knuckle reinvented the PAF for a new era

Gibson’s PAF has to be the most-cloned pickup of all time, but what if it was used as a launching pad for a humbucker with more oomph? Getgood and Tim Mills of Bare Knuckle might just have the answer with the PolyPaf

Guitar World

“Phil and I were both on our knees trying to find this screw”: Scott Gorham's bootleg Les Paul fell apart during his disastrous Thin Lizzy audition, but his struggles inspired a key tweak he now makes to all of his Les Pauls

Gorham wasn't unprepared for his tryout with the future rock legends – he just had a guitar that almost seemed to have a vendetta against him

Guitar World

Cyber Monday Les Paul deals are starting to heat up – and I’ve picked out the best of the bunch so far

Looking for your first-ever Les Paul, or want to bag another bargain for an existing collection? Look no further

Guitar World

“All three of these guitars have their own sonic character – all of them great”: Gibson’s ES Supreme might be the ultimate modern semi-hollow, but it still feels alive

The firm’s luxuriously appointed ES Supreme looks resplendent in AAA maple but as Paul Riario discovers, the upgrades are not merely cosmetic…

Guitar World

“A great-looking guitar that’s just a few minor tweaks away from being as good as its style suggests”: Gretsch Electromatic Pristine Ltd Jet Single-Cut with Bigsby review

Always the ‘Les Paul’ of the Gretsch line since it first appeared back in the 50s, the Jet gets a snazzy Electromatic makeover. Style over substance? Let’s plug in…

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