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MYSTERIOUS: George lynch - What They Never Told You

“The graphic was designed by artist John Taylor Dismukes, who did a lot of famous album-cover artwork for the Grateful Dead and other big bands”: George Lynch on his custom ESP that’s too valuable to leave the house

Mr Scary on how his heart melts for the 1990 ESP Custom Haji/Wicked Sensation from the cover of Guitar World's November 1990 issue

Guitar World

“To me, it was like being asked to tour with the Beatles”: Paul Gilbert on why he turned down the gig of a lifetime – and why not maintaining his “Whitesnake haircut” was a barrier to career progression

When Todd Rundgren called and invited Gilbert to tour with him there was only one answer, even if it pained him to say it

MusicRadar

“Among our best in history”: ESP remembers Alexi Liaho and Jeff Hanneman as Slaughter to Prevail’s Jack Simmons gets his first signature in new 2026 lineup

There are also new signatures for Mick Thomson, Stephen Carpenter, and George Lynch, while LTD celebrates its 30th anniversary

Guitar World

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“I saw Ace Frehley bending backwards doing a solo. That’s when it clicked with me: ‘I wanna be a rock guy now!’” Inspired by Kiss, Metallica and Dokken, DRAIN’s Cody Chavez is the hardcore hero who isn’t afraid to shred

The Jackson die-hard thought he’d never be good enough to solo – then he surprised himself. He explains how his playing on new album …IS YOUR FRIEND was influenced by Dimebag Darrell, James Hetfield – and one specific George Lynch guitar solo

Guitar World

“My wife has told me, ‘I see from the outside that you can’t stop. This is who you are, this is what you do’”: George Lynch on resurrecting his band, what it would take for him to go back to blues, and chasing that elusive masterpiece

Returning with another Lynch Mob album – despite attempts to ditch the name – the Dokken guitarist reflects on his bad decisions, what went wrong with the original lineup, and the ongoing hunt for his own Band of Gypsys

Guitar World

“I am brutally honest, even at the risk of losing my gig. Ace loved it because he was surrounded by people who’d say he could do no wrong. I never did that”: Anthony Esposito’s unique career alongside the Spaceman, George Lynch and Jake E. Lee

The upright bassist with no previous experience of rock joined Lynch Mob and spent years telling it like it is to his guitar player bosses. He reveals what he’d always tried to explain to Lynch, the pain of losing Frehley and his concerns for Lee

Guitar World

“I made a critical mistake 35 years ago, and I try to walk away from it, but I end up coming back”: Why George Lynch is back with his band

Just when he thought he was out, they pulled him back in. Or something like that, as new album Dancing with the Devil finds the former Dokken alpha-shredder chasing lightning in bottle

Guitar World

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“Ozzy had a problem with my short hair. Sharon had a problem with my green guitar – she said it looked like a booger”: The unlucky 13 guitarists who auditioned for Ozzy Osbourne – but didn’t make the grade

A procession of all-time guitar greats tried their hand with the Prince of Darkness but were ultimately rejected – sometimes for surprising reasons

Guitar World

“We were doing that riff and cracking up laughing the whole time”: Zakk Wylde on how a “joke” riff won Ozzy Osbourne his first ever Grammy

The No More Tears sessions found the Ozzy camp in high spirits and ready to lay down a record that would take the Prince of Darkness' solo career to new heights

MusicRadar

“I remember Eddie Van Halen asking me, ‘What’s wrong with you? Where’s that fire, dude?’ But I didn’t want to explain it to him”: George Lynch, the guitar hero who connected with EVH but got burned by Ozzy Osbourne

He almost got the gig to replace Randy Rhoads

MusicRadar

Ozzy Osbourne’s solo band has long been a proving ground for metal’s most outstanding players. From Randy Rhoads to Zakk Wylde, via Brad Gillis and Gus G, here are all the players – and nearly players – in the Osbourne saga

Among the ranks of Ozzy's six-string sidekicks are some of the most admired and imitated rock guitarists of all time. Some have lasted for years, others a single gig, and some on both ends are part of the elite group of musicians to have been fired over the phone by…

Guitar World

“In the end, I did it too much – I was a one-trick pony! EVH brought that fire to the guitar”: He was an early two-hand tapping pioneer and one of John Mayall’s favorite guitarists,but Randy Resnick doesn’t consider himself an influential figure

After playing alongside Harvey Mandel, Resnick would go on to follow in the footsteps of Eric Clapton and Peter Green in blues legend John Mayall’s band – and win plaudits from Lee Ritenour and Ted Greene

Guitar World

“During the first song at Woodstock the amp blew up. They gave me another. It sounded terrible. I cringe when I think about it”: Harvey Mandel replaced some of guitar’s biggest names – but Keith Richards cost him a spot in the Rolling Stones

The two-hand tapping pioneer on playing with Canned Heat, Jerry Garcia and John Mayall, getting beaten to the Stones gig by Ronnie Wood – and that time he was kidnapped by Alvin Lee and Mick Taylor

Guitar World

“I became a better player because I had to follow Randy Rhoads”: How Jake E. Lee found fame with Ozzy

The guitarist is currently recovering after being shot in Las Vegas

MusicRadar

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Guitar World

“Any kind of extended solo, my left arm would just cramp up. It was frozen. I was definitely overdoing it”: George Lynch opens up about his bodybuilding days – and how it impacted his guitar playing

Lynch discusses the ramifications of bodybuilding, noting that the pressure to look good on stage was akin to a Faustian bargain

Guitar World

“He came over and he said, 'You did a really good job up there.' I thought, 'Man, my guitar was off…’” Whitesnake’s Joel Hoekstra on the time Ace Frehley complimented his guitar playing… even though he wasn’t actually playing anything

Hoekstra says he only “really understood” the KISS veteran after partaking in an intimate and exclusive jam, during which Frehley insisted on cranking his amp to ear-splitting volumes

Louder

“He got me in a headlock and started punching me. We just went at it”: the explosive story of Dokken, the hard rock band that tore itself apart

Guitar World

“Our first show with Van Halen, he was playing a red ES-335. I thought he was a very good player, but not unique. He evolved leaps and bounds”: Rusty Anderson on his session journey – from supporting Van Halen to joining Paul McCartney’s band

The Gibson signature artist on why a rack makes most sense on tour, his approach to session work from Elton John to the Bangles, and how to keep feeling challenged with solo work

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Guitar World

“I was all about Eddie Van Halen and George Lynch. But John Sykes really got me – he changed my world through his tone and vibrato”: How Fozzy’s Rich Ward took a shred attitude and funk-metal mindset to invent Stuck Mojo

The Marshall fan explains what made him shut down the crossover band he loved, how he developed the perfect partnership with Fozzy bandmate Chris Jericho, and why mid-’70s Les Pauls are the best

Louder

"I'm old. I'm glad that what could possibly be my last hurrah is something that people – some people, at least – have noticed": The rise and fall of the forgotten guitar hero, Jake E Lee

After his glory days as Ozzy Osbourne's right-hand man in the 80s and personal tragedy in the 90s, Jake E Lee vanished for 15 years: In 2013, he stepped back into the spotlight

Louder

"There are no words in any language to express how badly I feel about that night": The strange and terrible story of Great White, and the Station nightclub fire

Great White toured with Guns N' Roses, hit the charts, and dissolved in a blur of betrayal and substance abuse. And, just when it couldn’t get worse, they played Rhode Island

Guitar World

“If I’m working with another person watching me, I feel like I have to make them happy. When I’m alone, if I f**k up, I can say ‘F**k it’ and go home”: George Lynch is done with big studios – and he won’t build a Mr. Scary guitar for Michael Sweet

On their latest collaborative effort, Sweet & Lynch sought to channel classic Dokken – although Lynch reckons the best tracks recorded for Heart & Sacrifice might just be the ones that got rejected…

Guitar World

“Jeff Pilson called me and asked if I would play some solos. I had no idea it was for Dokken – I was still in a suit and tie from work that day!” Jon Levin has been shredding with Dokken since ’97 – and has to tackle George Lynch’s scariest solos

After 25 years with the heavy metal stalwarts, Dokken's longstanding guitarist details his surprise induction into the group, why you'll find a Danelectro on most of his recorded tracks, and how he captured “lightning in a bottle” on the band's first album in 11 years

Guitar World

The electric guitar shredded itself to death in the ‘80s. It had to start over, but the ‘90s grunge revolution didn‘t just change the face of guitar playing – it changed the world

Guitar World presents a grunge guitar guide to the ‘90s, the decade when Seattle became the epicenter of the musical universe, and resurrected the electric guitar with a raw, dirty sound that gave birth to a whole new generation of guitar players

Guitar World

The ravaged rock wasteland between Endless Boogie and Mötorhead, and a comeback for one of the most influential riffsmiths of his generation: This week's essential guitar tracks

From Robin Trower to Spiritbox, Black Pumas to George Lynch, Helmet to Polaris, these are the guitar-forward songs you can't afford to miss this week

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