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THE TRUTH ABOUT: Richie sambora - The Untold Story

“I asked what the artist’s name was. He said, ‘Meat Loaf.’ I thought he was joking. He said, ‘Just show up at the studio tomorrow…’” Bass journeyman Kasim Sulton on Meat Loaf, Todd Rundgren, Joan Jett, the New Cars, and the hand he never got to shake

Keeping his bass rig simple for the most part, he recalls the fun of overplaying on Bat Out of Hell while thinking it would sink without trace, and writing Utopia’s only hit in 20 minutes after reality struck

Guitar World

“We were opening for ZZ Top at Madison Square Garden. I told the guys, ‘I’ll go out there and blow for 60 seconds, then we’ll go into the first tune.’ I hit the first chord and my Marshall blew up”: Richie Sambora on Bon Jovi's nightmare arena debut

Reflecting on the experience decades later, Sambora said that – embarrassing as they are in the moment – mishaps like that are “what shape you as a pro”

Guitar World

“Try to have one in your hand as much as possible, maybe more than girls. Because if you really look at a shape of a guitar, it's really like a woman, you know what I mean?": Richie Sambora offers some eyebrow-raising advice to aspiring guitarists

Ex Bon Jovi man also discusses his love of Jimi Hendrix

MusicRadar

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“The ‘We've gotta hold on’ was the first chorus. Jon was happy with that. I said, ‘No, no, no, that's just the B section. Let's write the chorus now’”: Songwriter Desmond Child had to fight for Livin' On A Prayer's killer chorus – and for the song itself

“Richie and I knew what we had, and at another writing session we got on our hands and knees, literally, and begged Jon to at least try it”

MusicRadar

“I get a call from Guitar Center in New Jersey. They go, ‘Your Explorer was in here. We just sold it to some guy’”: Richie Sambora hired a private detective to recover his stolen Gibson

Sambora was recently reunited with his prized 1976 Gibson Explorer, 41 years after it was stolen out of a warehouse

Guitar World

"This was my girlfriend for a long, long time… And I’ve got a lot of success with it”: Richie Sambora was so desperate to track down his stolen Explorer he hired a private detective – now after 41 years it has been returned to him

Sambora played this heavily modded Explorer as Bon Jovi rose to fame and has been looking for it for decades. Matt's Guitar Shop in Paris tracked it down

MusicRadar

“We opened the case, and I gave him the guitar. He grabbed the neck and said, ‘Oh yes, that's mine!’” Richie Sambora reunited with stolen Gibson Explorer after 40 years

Sambora bought his original 1976 Gibson Explorer in his late teens, and it was stolen from a warehouse back in 1985

Guitar World

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“They stole our name, which means Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora were listening to our records. But the main reason people know us is Gary Moore, and that doesn’t bother me at all”: The tale of the original Irish Skid Row

Bassist Brush Shiels looks back on his lifelong friendship with Moore, why he won’t sue the American hair metal band, and how Peter Green was responsible for their first album sounding so bad

Guitar World

Master the 12-string guitar: restringing, tuning and strumming made simple

Jimmy Page, Pete Townshend, the Eagles, and Richie Sambora swear by 12-string guitars for sonic sparkle – after this guide, you will too

Guitar World

52 Dramatic Hollywood Backstabbing Moments That Fans Are Still Talking About

Betrayal is a part of life, but it is seemingly magnified if you’re under the bright lights of Hollywood. Celebrities who engage in treacherous acts often draw attention because these flaws humanize them, too. This is likely why these stories of deceit in Tinseltown remain relevant, even if they happened…

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“When I brought up the talk box, everybody in the band started laughing at me. But when it actually worked, it became an integral part of that hit song”: How Bon Jovi created their signature rock anthem – with a 'hit doctor' and a 'goofy' guitar effect

“When I was a teenager, Frampton Comes Alive was such a huge record"

MusicRadar

Jon Bon Jovi was 'never at war' with Richie Sambora

Jon Bon Jovi has insisted he was "never" at "war" with former Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora following his departure from the band in 2013 - declaring the musician "made a life choice".

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“If what he wanted was to be just Richie Sambora, not a member of Bon Jovi, do it right?”: Jon Bon Jovi says he’s still “heartbroken” by the way guitarist left the band

Sambora quit Bon Jovi in 2013

MusicRadar

“They had an 8-track demo for Livin’ On A Prayer. When the producer came in, we both agreed we had to come up with a better bassline”: How Hugh McDonald became Bon Jovi’s uncredited recording bassist

Hugh McDonald was at New York’s Power Station when he was asked to lay down a bass part for the band’s 1986 working-class anthem

Guitar World

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Guitar World

“I missed out on being in one of the biggest rock bands in the world, but I don’t think I had the image!” Session pro and YouTube favorite Tim Pierce never wanted to be a rockstar – but he’s sure made a lot of their records

He famously played the solo to Bon Jovi's debut hit, Runaway, played with Michael Jackson, Tina Turner, Celine Dion and dozens more. Why, after all these years has he turned to YouTube?

Louder

"Lyrically and the way he sang and played, he meant everything he did": This is the soundtrack of Orianthi's life

Guitarist/singer/songwriter Orianthi picks her records, artists and gigs of lasting significance, and names the superstar she had to turn down

Guitar World

Bassist Brush Shiels looks back on his lifelong friendship with Moore, why he won’t sue the American hair metal band, and how Peter Green was responsible for their first album sounding so bad

Guitar World

“When he told the doctor he was going to perform, the doctor said, ‘You’re out of your mind’”: Richie Sambora recovering from “gruesome” injury after playing through the pain

The incident has left the guitarist facing an “arduous, slow, and painful” healing process

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Guitar World

“Jon and I became friends. He came to L.A. when he was looking for musicians to join his band, but a couple of things happened...”: Why session legend Tim Pierce never joined Bon Jovi – despite recording their earliest hit

Pierce helped record a Bon Jovi classic but a few considerations made him unsuitable for the gig

Louder

"It was the day I'd been waiting for my whole life, but I was dismayed": How Skid Row and Sebastian Bach Went To War

Skid Row were once blood brothers, but infighting and a split with their singer turned it all into an ‘abyss of hatred’

Louder

“You ride into town with your gang, stealing money, drinking as much as you can and being gone before the law catches you”: How Bon Jovi hit the jackpot with Slippery When Wet, the album that turned them into the hottest hard rock band of the 80s

Slippery When Wet turned Bon Jovi from also-rans to multi-platinum superstars

Guitar World

“There's something really magical about it”: Bon Jovi's Phil X on why he prefers single-pickup guitars – and his one-of-a-kind neck pickup 'mods'

Some guitarists just don’t think a neck pickup is needed, but Phil X reckons he has science on his side for his single-pickup preference

Louder

"An immense heart-soaring rush of exuberance": What happened when I took a Bon Jovi superfan to an intimate Bon Jovi show

When Bon Jovi showcased This House Is Not For Sale at an intimate London show, Classic Rock took a superfan along to watch the action and meet the band

Guitar World

“I could be blazing on Instagram, and there'll still be comments like, ‘You'll never be Richie’”: The recent Bon Jovi documentary helped guitarist Phil X win over even more of the band's fans – but he still deals with some naysayers

The guitarist has been in the band for over a decade, but it seems certain fans still haven’t accepted that Sambora is out of the picture

Guitar World

“Not everybody has a high standard. A lot of indie people think playing too good is a bad thing”: Billy Corgan on the difference between rock and “indie” guitar players

The Smashing Pumpkins frontman recently sat down with Richie Sambora to discuss their early musical experiences

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