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INSANE: 2 | Vintage Vibes

“I was 28 or something and he was 80. He’s like, ‘Here, son, this is how you do it.’ How sad is that?” Joe Bonamassa on the time BB King taught him how to use an iPod (and what made him blues guitar’s GOAT)

Bonamassa pays tribute to the undisputed king of the blues as a road dog who "knew everything" and was pretty handy with newfangled technologies, too

MusicRadar

“When I first met George I was just speechless. But when we started playing, he gave no direction. He liked the way I played, and I would just be myself”: Robben Ford on what it was like working with a Beatle at the age of 22

By his own admission, Ford was “green” when he was called into play on George Harrison’s Dark Horse but there was no pressure to be anything other than himself

MusicRadar

“I’m watching this sort of genius develop right in front of me, and he seems he has no physical barriers”: Joe Satriani on what it was like to teach a teenage Steve Vai

Here's this "goofy" Ace Frehley fan with big hands and he keeps coming back for more... Satch says it wasn't long before he recognised Vai's potential

MusicRadar

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“I said, ‘Oh, Joni, that’s gonna sound terrible. You need an amp, man! You need some tubes vibrating. You need some air! She goes, ‘Would you just try it?’”: Robben Ford reveals how Joni Mitchell helped him nail his guitar tone on a ’70s classic

Ford has fond memories of touring and recording with the “wonderful” Mitchell, who has a producer knows exactly how she wants a guitar to sound – and how to get the tone

MusicRadar

“Joe Satriani said, ‘Every time I do an album, I feel like the first song I have to prove that I can play guitar. I wish I could let that go.’ I thought, ‘I know exactly what you mean’”: Paul Gilbert on why it’s so hard to resist the urge to shred

Gilbert says shred can sometimes be the easy way to give his audience what they want, but their expectations only make him want to work harder on his melodies

MusicRadar

Could the Line 6 Helix Stadium Floor be a serious rival to the Quad Cortex? An 8” touchscreen, all-new AI-driven modelling tech and the capability to automate your live show gives it a fighting chance

Line 6's new flagship amp modelling platform not only has to live up to the Helix's reputation, it arrives when the competition has never been steeper. But it has features, lots of 'em...

MusicRadar

“You can have a great amp but if the speaker sucks it won’t sound good”: Sylosis' Josh Middleton on the most important link in your signal chain – and how a remarkable find from Adam ‘Nolly’ Getgood helped him nail Andy Sneap’s tone

The secret to great tone? Don't forget the speaker cabinet matters, too

MusicRadar

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“He was a guy in my neighbourhood who played... I was scared to say it at the time, but he played at the level of John McLaughlin!”: Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid pays tribute to a lost genius

“He should have been much more known than he was”

MusicRadar

“The reason everybody knows Eric Clapton’s name is not because he’s a great guitar player”: Billy Corgan says virtuosic guitar solos mean nothing in the social media age – and argues guitar influencers need to make a bigger impact on popular music

The Smashing Pumpkins frontman sees virtuosos everywhere but he would like to see these talents being applied in the next generation of great alt-rock and metal bands

MusicRadar

“That whole thing of doing the trades with other players is a really nice thing”: Vernon Reid says he hopes he and Jack White have started a trend for pro guitarists swapping signature models

It all started with a chance meeting at the airport but now the Living Colour guitarist says he's already lined up more high-profile trades

MusicRadar

The best new guitar gear of NAMM 2026: More effects, more amps, more guitars and more tech than ever

MusicRadar's Rob Laing carried the weight of the guitar world on his shoulders as he single-handedly took on the NAMM Show 2026... and survived to tell the tale

MusicRadar

The best new music tech gear of NAMM 2026: Epic polys, acoustic synths, budget samplers, a Behringer Juno and much more

MusicRadar's Matt Mullen and Andy Price have been roving the show floor – here are their music technology highlights

MusicRadar

“It’s the exact same model Paul McCartney played on Yesterday during the Beatles’ ’65 Ed Sullivan TV appearance. I’ll always treasure that guitar more than anything”: The heavy metal star whose most prized guitar is an acoustic

Peter Frampton also played this legendary acoustic guitar on a number of classic tracks

MusicRadar

Fender is bringing its Play learning platform to TVs for the first time, in partnership with Samsung

Fender Play is making its TV debut — get ready to shred, only on Samsung screens

TechRadar

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“I was shaking. I had sweat pouring down my back. Miles saw me suffering and said, ‘Play it like you don’t know how to play guitar!’”: How legendary guitarist John McLaughlin survived a baptism of fire with Miles Davis

He cut his teeth with Miles on the classic In A Silent Way

MusicRadar

“I can sing it in the original key, with no backing tapes at all. I sing it at every show”: The smash hit ’80s power ballad that wouldn’t die

And after 30 years, the singer is still waiting for a reunion with his old band

MusicRadar

“Eddie told me, ‘Roth is driving me nuts. I can't take it. I gotta leave. I know you're looking for a lead guitar player. Do you want me in the band?’”: When Eddie Van Halen asked to join Kiss – and they turned him down!

MusicRadar

Music technology gear of the year 2025: Our favourite new synths, drum machines, plugins and more

MusicRadar's Si Truss and Simon Arblaster pick the best music tech hardware and software of the past 12 months

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“If we had stuck together we could have been as big as Led Zeppelin – or at the very least, Deep Purple. We had the stuff!”: The heavy rock innovators whose hard-hitting drummer was a star before John Bonham

“There was always friction – but it all worked for the creation of what we had"

MusicRadar

“It had a swing and a weird swagger to it that can’t really be duplicated. Kind of like lightning in a bottle”: Ex-Guns N’ Roses drummer Josh Freese says that nobody can play those classic GN’R songs like OG drummer Steven Adler did

Plus: “I don't have anything bad to say about Axl!"

MusicRadar

“Back in the old days we all had those ‘magic’ guitars or amps you had to bring into the studio. But over time I’ve realised it doesn’t really matter as much as I used to think”: Kiss star Tommy Thayer doesn’t know what gear he used on his new EP

"We thought it would be fun to record again"

MusicRadar

“I certainly got a new appreciation for the Megadeth stuff… it was amazing to see how far guitar quality had come in our genre of music”: Alex Skolnick on the time he was on standby for Megadeth – and what to do when you can’t match a player lick for lick

With Kiko Loureiro's wife pregnant, Megadeth needed an understudy for emergency cover. The Testament guitarist answered the call but admits Loureiro's solos were impossible

MusicRadar

“I said, ‘Oh, man, we’re gonna kick some ass on a Pink Floyd record!’ I’m not really a Pink Floyd guy. I never understood why they got so big. I think they were boring most of the time”: The hard-hitting drummer who substituted for Nick Mason in the ’80s

Carmine Appice says that Mason's drumming sounds like hitting a pillow

MusicRadar

“Yes, I know, I have no respect for an instrument. To me, it’s a piece of wood until you make it into a useful tool”: Steve Morse on the time he took power tools to his guitar so he could play a Deep Purple show with a broken wrist

Upper-fret access, the DIY way... Do not try this at home. But as the former Deep Purple guitarist explains, you can't stand on ceremony when you need your guitar to play how you want it to

MusicRadar

"He will always be loved by fans who loved his music": Dave Ball, founder of Soft Cell and The Grid, has died aged 66

Ball had recently finished work on a new Soft Cell album alongside bandmate Marc Almond

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