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FORGOTTEN HISTORY: 5 | History Defined

“Each of them impacted the instrument in their own way, as luthiers, hitmakers, session players, or air guitar-inspiring soloists”: Remembering the guitarists we lost in 2025

2025 has been a big year for the guitar, but we've also had to sadly say goodbye to dozens of guitar greats, from many eras, and every imaginable genre. Here, we recognize those guitarists, and their contributions to the instrument

Guitar World

“One of the first times I met Noel, I was round his house. He went, ‘This is what I played on Don’t Look Back in Anger.’ I was like, ‘What?’” Gem Archer on the Strat’s secret spot in Oasis history

Noel Gallagher largely stays loyal to his Gibson guitars for Oasis – but there was one notable exception

Guitar World

“I met my biological father as an adult through a DNA test. I was surprised to find that he’d been infatuated with the guitar his entire life as well”: From childhood abandonment to country stardom, here is the incredible story of Rockie Lynne

The late blooming country star discusses his custom guitar range, what musicians can learn from motorcycling, and how he wound up with a perfect copy of Peter Frampton’s rig

Guitar World

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“If you just want to capture an idea, you should just be able to press one button and get great tone doing it”: How your phone became an essential part of your guitar rig

Smartphones and tablets have changed the game. With apps for keeping time, tuning up, practicing, recording and learning, can the 21st-century guitarist afford to leave their phone at home?

Guitar World

The Guitar World reviews team's gear of the year 2025

Platinum Award-winners, forward-thinkers and new classics from our favourite guitars, amps, effects, plugins, bass gear and more

Guitar World

“I opened my guitar case and nearly fainted – I thought there was a human hand in there”: Motörhead and Girlschool were leading the charge for British heavy metal in the ’80s – guitarist Kim McAuliffe reveals what touring with Lemmy was really like

The two bands released a joint EP, St. Valentine's Day Massacre, which also made an impact on the UK charts

Guitar World

“We were joking that we have to make this record absolutely shred and that we needed to put a lot of solos in it. I think we accomplished that”: Megadeth shares new single ahead of farewell record – and it’s a shred guitar celebration

Let There Be Shred finds Teemu Mäntysaari playing like a man possessed – and Dave Mustaine doing karate in the music video

Guitar World

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Alien-shred, Brit-rock royalty, one blues icon and a hardcore superstar: here are Guitar World's Guitarists of the Year 2025

All the players who rocked our world, in the year of Oasis reunions, Black Sabbath farewells, and guitarists keeping their shoulder to the evolutionary wheel of guitar playing

Guitar World

“I didn’t want to copy Keith Richards or Rich Robinson from the Black Crowes. I wanted to try to find my own guitar voice”: Charlie Starr on how to make open G tuning work for you

In his inaugural Guitar World column, the Blackberry Smoke guitarist declares his love for a tuning that he learned, aged 12, when checking out Honky Tonk Women

Guitar World

“I heard someone playing deep, fiery guitar in the room next door. I thought, ‘Boy, I wish that guy was in the band!’ I looked over the balcony… It was Ace”: The otherworldly life and times of Kiss guitar icon Ace Frehley

The Spaceman leaves a legacy of millions of fans rocked, countless players inspired, and a rock guitar scene that will never be the same again

Guitar World

“I think they sound in between a Fender and a Gibson”: Blues ace Larry McCray names the unsung guitar brand that convinced him to switch after a life of playing Gibsons

McCray says this brand is the perfect middle ground between two of the industry's big guns

Guitar World

“He sent me a video of himself playing the Slow Dancing solo through the plugin. That’s when I knew we had it”: Neural DSP unveils Archetype: John Mayer X – a landmark signature plugin that brings the guitar great’s sought-after tones to the masses

In a milestone moment for modeling, the new plugin offers models of Mayer's go-to amps, pedals and effects – Dumbles, Two Rocks and Klons included

Guitar World

“I’m very grateful to have it and be its current custodian”: The surprising Cinderella story of the vintage Nocaster that connects a glam metal star to Keith Urban

Urban says the guitar – which was previously unowned by a Cinderella guitarist – is unlike any other in his collection

Guitar World

“It’s taken its time, but finally one of rock music’s most iconic instruments has been launched as a signature run”: All the guitar gear that has caught my eye this week – including a follow-up to the internet-breaking Bad Monkey story

It's pedal mania this week, with new drops from Strymon, JHS Pedals, and DigiTech – but a long-awaited replica of Tom Morello's legendary Rage Against the Machine guitar steals the spotlight

Guitar World

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Guitar World

“I had to reassess why I was even playing. I stopped playing electric guitar for a year”: Steve Stevens says going on tour with Van Halen made him rethink his relationship with the guitar – and it gave way to one of his most experimental albums

After weeks of rock 'n' roll overstimulation, Stevens pivoted and spent a year traveling with a nylon-string

Guitar World

“Noel has said, ‘No rest for the immensely talented,’ so take that how you want”: Gem Archer hints at Oasis' next move

Oasis embarked on one of the biggest reunion tours of all time in 2025 – and there might be more to come

Guitar World

“On the real Arm the Homeless guitar, a dog chewed the headstock. Other than that, they’re absolutely identical”: Tom Morello has been playing a Fender Arm the Homeless replica live and none of us noticed – now it’s available to buy

Five years in the making, the Rage Against the Machine guitar anti-hero’s most iconic instrument has been replicated by Fender – and even Morello admits he can’t tell the difference

Louder

"I just wanted to apologise for selling your guitar." How an act of kindness in the darkest of hours bonded Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante and Jane's Addiction's Dave Navarro forever

How drugs, guitars, and a life-changing act of charity brought two of alternative rock's greatest musicians together

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Guitar World

“He was completely ignored by the guitar press of that time period”: Vernon Reid on the guitarist he believes is massively underrated – even though he kept “the Hendrix voice” alive

In a chat with Guitar World last year, Reid even insisted that this guitarist's “continued non-acknowledgment as a near direct tonal descendant of Jimi Hendrix continues to this day”

Guitar World

“They’ve raised the bar, stretched the boundaries and won the ears and hearts of the young generation”: Tommy Emmanuel names the emerging players who are flying the flag for a new era of Americana and bluegrass

Asked for his guitarist of the year, the Aussie maestro replied with the names of four players who are lifting us all out of our "comfort zones"

Guitar World

“There was a certain amount of desperation in Frank returning my call and saying, ‘I don't believe you, but get over here and prove it'”: How Mike Keneally landed the Frank Zappa gig – after cold-calling his guitar hero

Keneally said he had a “Zappa jukebox” in his brain. The man himself wanted to test it out

Guitar World

“Every time I watch videos of her playing guitar I melt on the floor”: Danielle Haim reveals her biggest guitar influences – and who she believes is one “of the most genius guitar players” of all time

The multi-instrumentalist sister trio have just been nominated in the Best Rock Album category at the upcoming Grammys for their latest album, I Quit

Guitar World

“The SEs were going to go away. We were having trouble with sales”: Paul Reed Smith on the near-fateful end of the PRS SE Series – and what saved it from extinction

Smith reflects on the time the plug was almost pulled on the affordable branch of PRS guitars

Guitar World

“I never heard from John. He sold the guitar once he got out of rehab. And that was that – I never saw it again”: The incredible story of the Les Paul that Dave Navarro bought for his Guns N’ Roses audition – and ended up giving to John Frusciante

We ask Navarro about the Gibson that featured on the cover of GW's March ’96 issue, and it opens up a whole lot of memories for the former Jane’s Addiction and Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist

Guitar World

“I took it into rehearsals and Frank Zappa said, ‘If you wanted to ruin your guitar, why didn’t you loan it to a friend?’” Adrian Belew shares unseen photos of “the first relic’d guitar” – which he created with Seymour Duncan

The pair’s process was a little more primitive than modern methods

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