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HISTORICAL FACTS: 4 | History Defined

"It's such a limiting genre": After three albums of blues-rock, the Kris Barras Band have ramped up the heaviness

Kris Barras on the people in power, top advice from Billy Gibbons, and being a "Poundshop version" of Richie Kotzen

Louder

10 legendary blues guitars, from Lucille to Lucy and the ‘Loch Ness Monster of Les Pauls’ – a priceless Gibson that has been missing for more than 50 years

Named and famed! Behind every great blues player is a great guitar, and they don’t come more iconic than this...

Guitar World

"It's the Devil's Music - Hide your kids' stuff!" How Slash made the blues sound like a party again – only in the new issue of Classic Rock

Also in this issue: Eagles, Pink Floyd, Kerry King, Sebastian Bach, Lenny Kravitz, Steve Harley, The Black Keys, Walter Trout, Nazareth, Troy Redfern and more

Louder

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Does guitar weight matter? Thin Lizzy icon and Les Paul fan Scott Gorham thinks it depends where you're playing

When it comes to pounds and ounces with guitars, opinions and perspectives can differ wildly

MusicRadar

“So well-versed in the art of blues that B.B. King said ‘he was like another one of my sons’”: 12 blues guitar albums that chart the genre – and the instrument’s – evolution

From Son House to Eric Gales, John Lee Hooker to Albert Collins, these classics highlight how blues guitar has changed over the years – its stories, tones and techniques all passed down and reinvented

Guitar World

“One of the greatest Strats I’ve ever played”: Marcus King takes the viral cardboard Fender Stratocaster for a spin – and gives it the highest praise possible

King joins Billy Gibbons, J Mascis and Terry Reid on the list of guitar heroes who have given the Master-Built oddball instrument their seal of approval

Guitar World

“A rare opportunity to explore a unique side of his playing”: Slash hangs up his Les Paul for a 335 in the first taste of his solo blues album – a covers record featuring Brian Johnson, Billy Gibbons, Iggy Pop, Gary Clark Jr. and Demi Lovato

Orgy of the Damned is one of the most eagerly awaited guitar albums of the year, and its lead single – a cover of a Howlin' Wolf classic recorded with AC/DC's Brian Johnson – has been released

Guitar World

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“Robin Trower’s guitar sound was the loudest I’ve ever heard. He had two Fender Twins, and he smoked both by the end of the night”: Buzz Osborne names the 11 guitarists who shaped his sound

The Melvins main man picks the jazz, funk and metal players who made him who he is today, recalls the time he heard Jeff Beck’s warm-up routine, and names the unsung ’70s hero who deserves more recognition: “Why aren’t more people talking about him? It makes no sense”

Guitar World

The cheapest tone upgrade ever or a myth: should you be top-wrapping your guitar bridge like Jimmy Page, Billy Gibbons, Derek Trucks, Zakk Wylde and Joe Bonamassa?

Slinky sustain-enhancer or psychosomatic? Let's talk about top-wrapping

MusicRadar

"We were starting to work in the girl theme. Cars, girls, fast and loud – those elements were starting to gel": How ZZ Top reinvented themselves with Degüello to pave the way for Eliminator

With some top tunes, a vintage clavinet and a battery of effects plastered all over it, Degüello successfully updated ZZ Top’s old-school blues and pointed the way towards future superstardom

Louder

‘When they cleared the wreckage, it was all that survived’: 10 of history’s most irreplaceable guitars

As Paul McCartney is reunited with his violin-shaped Hofner bass, we look at equally iconic guitars, from Prince’s phallic symbol to Jimmy Page’s double-necked beast

The Guardian - UK

“Her roaring mastery of her trusty Gibson Les Paul Custom rivaled the best of her male contemporaries”: A lost Sister Rosetta Tharpe live album featuring never-before-heard recordings has been unearthed – and it’s set for release this year

21 tracks discovered by “The Indiana Jones of jazz” have been compiled into a new live album, which will contain liner notes from Tharpe experts and contemporary artists, including Susan Tedeschi, Billy Gibbons, Bonnie Raitt and more

Guitar World

“I got a call from David Bowie’s people to record Let’s Dance. I became a big advocate of Stevie Ray Vaughan in the studio. Nobody else could play like him”: Session bass great Carmine Rojas shares the stories behind his awe-inspiring resume

Despite suspecting he used the wrong bass on Tina Turner’s Foreign Affair, the veteran dedicates himself to being a supporting player and learning every day with the likes of Keith Richards, Joe Bonamassa and Billy Gibbons

Guitar World

The 10 greatest slide guitar moments in rock

From Johnny Winter to Led Zeppelin, here’s how a hit of slide guitar can lift a song to the heavens

Louder

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“We treated them like a bunch of hairy blues wankers… I wish we’d had the sales Eliminator had!” How British synth-pop duo OMD unwittingly set ZZ Top on the path to mega-stardom

It may seem unlikely, but Billy Gibbons and co. learned their best moves from electro-pop duo OMD

Louder

"Saucy enough to flavour a thousand barbecues": How a fabled Texan brothel inspired a ZZ Top classic

Celebrating a real-life Texan brothel, the visiting of which was in its day "a rite of passage", La Grange is still one of ZZ Top's best-loved songs and a must-play at shows

MusicRadar

“We are the most difficult simple band. I’ve often heard guys coming up to us saying, ‘You guys are just playing barre chords!’ I am glad you think it is that simple!”– Troy Van Leeuwen on QOTSA's musical illusions and gear secrets

Troy Van Leeuwen checks in from The End Of Nero Tour to talk fuzz favourites, filling in for Dave Navarro in Jane's Addiction, and why no one pedal alone can recreate Queens Of The Stone Age's guitar tone

Guitar World

“Eric’s Les Paul gets stolen, and he knows I’ve got the other one. He starts calling me relentlessly. I charged him £200. It’s worth about two million now”: Andy Summers recalls selling Eric Clapton his Gibson Les Paul ‘Burst for a bargain price

After Slowhand‘s legendary Beano ‘Burst was stolen in ‘66, Summers reluctantly sold his own Les Paul to the bluesman for a measly £200

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"They couldn't transport the snakes in the cattle trailer because it upset the Longhorn and the buffalo": How ZZ Top took Texas on the road in the most sanity-defying tour ever staged

ZZ Top's Worldwide Texas Tour featured a plexiglass pyramid filled with rattlesnakes, trained buzzards, a fake wolf, and a night in Pittsburgh one doctor called "the most horrible thing I have seen since World War II"

Guitar World

“We had no idea it was going to perform the way it did – or if it was even going to be shown to anyone”: How Cardboard Sessions’ Dave Lee convinced Billy Gibbons, J Mascis and Keanu Reeves to slam on his Fender-approved cardboard guitars

Built by a Master Builder at Fender HQ, you can work the cardboard Strat hard and even whammy it – but you can also see right through it. Could this fun experiment be the future of guitar manufacturing?

Guitar World

“In keeping with Billy’s directive to ‘retain the gain or feel the pain’”: Billy Gibbons has helped Magnatone develop the Baby M-80 – its smallest and lightest tube amp yet

The ZZ Top legend’s feedback helped shape the gain structure of the “unbelievably versatile” new compact head and combo

Guitar World

“A traveling museum of rock music”: The Jim Irsay Band is playing a free show in LA next month featuring Buddy Guy, Billy Gibbons, Kenny Wayne Shepherd – and some of the world’s most valuable guitars

The owner of the world’s most famous guitar collection is hosting a star-studded concert on the west coast – and tickets cost nothing

Guitar World

“Billy drops the line, ‘I'm sending you some sheepskins. I want you to put them on some guitars’”: Dusty Hill’s iconic fur-covered spinning bass from ZZ Top’s Legs video just sold at auction – and absolutely smashed its estimated sale price

The Dean Zelinsky-made model went under the hammer alongside Hill's custom Hot Rod car bass – but both were outsold by the late ZZ Top bassist's vintage 1953 Fender Precision model

Guitar World

3 Les Pauls, 2 vocalists and 1 broken string: Slash, Billy Gibbons and Warren Haynes trade solos in a star-studded reprisal of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Simple Man at Haynes' Christmas Jam

The storming live take features three solos from three Gibson Les Paul players – and they all sound completely different

Louder

Watch Slash, ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons and Myles Kennedy join Gov’t Mule onstage for an epic cover of Lynynrd Skynyrd classic Simple Man

Warren Haynes’ annual Christmas Jam charity fundraiser featured some familiar faces and some killer collaborations this weekend

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