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DARK SECRETS: Guitarist - The Real Truth

“My dad said, ‘Take a seat – a band is coming in to make a record.’ I spotted a guitar case entering through the side door… carried by none other than B.B. King”: Billy Gibbons on how B.B. King changed his life

At the age of 7, seeing B.B. King lit the path for Gibbons as a blues guitarist. The ZZ Top legend discusses B.B.’s lasting impact

Guitar World

“I never liked the electric guitar. I’m just not drawn to it”: The life and times of Ralph Towner, the endlessly curious frontiersman of acoustic jazz who worked with everyone from Bill Bruford to Robben Ford

Taking influence from Indian classical, Brazilian bossa nova and beyond, this late jazz master’s touch and vision equalled anyone on the fusion scene

Guitar World

“I had a couple of drinks and started thinking, ‘I wonder if they have an Ovation Breadwinner…’” Jake E. Lee on the ultimate ’70s oddball guitar –and how he found a holy grail Marshall for $80 while touring with Ozzy

The ex-Ozzy guitarist talks about his love for SGs, his disdain for bad amps, andhow you can find a connection with the most unlikely instruments

Guitar World

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“I’ve never been a real hot player, and a lot of kids are hot players. I’m slow because I walk slow, talk slow, sing slow”: B.B. King in his own words – the blues’ greatest guitarist on heroes, influences and his philosophy

The King of the Blues on amp choice, T-Bone Walker, how he got his vibrato and more

Guitar World

“I was a little uncomfortable, to be honest. I gradually convinced myself that it was okay”: Myles Kennedy on what it was like to play Jeff Buckley’s Telecaster – and how he felt unworthy to play it

Kennedy saluted one of his all-time heroes in 2019 when he performed Hallelujah live in Paris, and it was the first time Buckley's Tele had been played in public since his death in '97

MusicRadar

“I turned up at my first audition with my Squier Telecaster – that was all I owned”: The 18-year-old who replaced one of Britpop’s most revered guitarists

In his late teens, Richard Oakes joined Suede at a point when they had released two hit-and-miss albums and were desperate for a global breakthrough

Guitar World

“Automatically you go into blues when you do that”: Big Country's golden guitar rule that steered them clear of the blues

The band drew great inspiration from Thin Lizzy’s sonic template, but they made a concerted effort to avoid being labeled as a blues band

Guitar World

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“I’d buy a ‘54 Strat, and then I’d sell it, buy one, sell it… I just kept trading them off. I’ve been disappointed in some of those”: Eric Johnson on why a guitar's age, value, and cool factor don't necessarily make it a better instrument

Flirtations with vintage gems haven't always yielded the results the virtuoso wanted

Guitar World

“Something you’ll hear a lot of is, ‘Oh, you didn’t earn that relicing.’ But people who like it aren't thinking of it like that”: The real reason why relicing is so popular, according to a Fender Custom Shop Masterbuilder

The pre-worn fad is sweeping the guitar community, but why do some deride the concept as ‘stolen valor’?

Guitar World

“They’re 16 bars, and that’s it. There’s no extended solos”: Adrian Smith on why making music outside of Iron Maiden lets him stretch his soloing wings

In Smith/Kotzen, he’s relishing the chance to improvise and color outside of his usual lines, but admits that keeping up with Kotzen isn’t easy

Guitar World

“When it came out, there was no experimental reverb pedal category. Ifeel like it’s the first. Quote me on that!” How EarthQuaker Devices went beyond the boutique pedal boom and took left-field tones mainstream

EQD founder Jamie Stillman on the pedal that made the company famous, why the overcomplicated is not for him, and the stompbox that serves death metal and country guitarists alike

Guitar World

“Opening the case, we find ourselves transported back in time some 54 years”: How Gibson made the ultimate tribute to David Bowie guitarist Mick Ronson

This Collector’s Edition replica of Ronson’s Bowie-era ’68 Les Paul Custom transports you spiritually – and tonally – to the glory days of the Spiders from Mars (Hull) – but it does not come cheap

Guitar World

“It’s a really good guitar, especially for the price”: Jake E. Lee has added Yungblud’s signature guitar to his collection

The former Ozzy Osbourne guitarist has been playing the affordable Epiphone – and he's impressed

Guitar World

“I don’t think anyone has changed the world as much with their guitar”: Grammy-nominated Malian changemaker Fatoumata Diawara reveals her biggest guitar hero

Diawara recently made history herself by becoming the first woman of color to collaborate with Epiphone on a signature guitar

Guitar World

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Guitar World

“I’ve spoken to a lot of people about it – many of them think it will make more this time around”: David Gilmour’s Black Strat could be about to break records all over again

It was the world's most expensive guitar when sold at auction in 2019, but as it goes under the hammer in the Jim Irsay Collection, there are a number of reasons to think it will claim another record

Guitar World

“I'm probably gonna get 150 guitarists telling me how I'm doing this wrong, but this is just what works for me”: Samantha Fish reveals the “cheat” she uses to emulate a pedal steel guitar

Despite calling it a “hot mess,” Samantha Fish says a volume pedal is her tried-and-tested approach to creating volume swells

Guitar World

“I was a little uncomfortable, to be honest”: Why Myles Kennedy felt uneasy using Jeff Buckley’s Telecaster to play Hallelujah

Kennedy played Buckley’s iconic 'Grace' Tele for a special tribute performance of Hallelujah in 2019

Guitar World

“Great neck shape, playability and setup – and it’s gig-ready, something we don’t always say about Epiphone, or indeed Gibson”: Epiphone Fatoumata Diawara SG review

Grammy-nominated Malian singer and guitarist Fatoumata Diawara joins forces with Epiphone to produce a vivid-looking and wicked-sounding SG that’s a celebration of her style

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Guitar World

“I never saw myself as a bassist. I haven’t played bass since the last Sonic Youth gig”: Why Kim Gordon has stopped playing the bass – despite being an icon of the instrument

Gordon's work with Sonic Youth cemented her reputation as a modern pioneer of the bass guitar – but she hasn't picked one up in over 10 years

Guitar World

“I said, ‘Where is it from?’ He says, ‘I don’t know. It’s been here for the last 20 or 25 years...’” Jake E. Lee was on tour with Ozzy Osbourne when he stumbled upon the gear bargain of a lifetime

The elusive find was covered in dust but it worked perfectly – and Lee picked it up for a steal

Guitar World

“I remember he had these massive hands… I said, ‘Mr King, my name is Joanne and I’m 13, and I think I’m going to be a blues guitarist’”: Joanne Shaw Taylor’s life-changing first meeting with the great B.B. King

Joanne Shaw Taylor was just a young kid when she met B.B. King. Now she is paying tribute to the King of the Blues on Joe Bonamassa’s all-star album

Guitar World

“That’s why I don’t like old Les Pauls”: The reason Adrian Smith isn’t keen on some vintage Gibsons

The Iron Maiden guitarist swapped LPs for Jacksons in the ‘80s, because he’d grown tired of one key feature

Guitar World

“In ’73 it was listed in Melody Maker for £400. Glad you enjoyed it”: Phil Manzanera finally finds out the real story behind his iconic Firebird – 50 years after he bought it

The guitar’s previous owner has explained his side of the story

Guitar World

“It was not possible to get a left-handed Jazzmaster in this country. Fender told me, ‘You might as well be ringing Ibanez – we just don’t make them’”: Mike Vennart on the Squier Strats that are simply unbeatable – and why he hates acoustics

The former Oceansize and long-time Biffy Clyro touring guitarist on his love of off-the-beaten-path six-strings and why you've got to try before you buy

Guitar World

“He was like, ‘No, I want the other position.’ That’s where it became so acrimonious between us”: Francis Rossi opens up on the internal tensions between Status Quo’s two guitar greats

A decade on since Rick Parfitt's death, Rossi reveals how the Quo wasn't big enough for the both of them

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