WHEN YOU CONSIDER all the shapes and configurations of electric guitars that have hit the market since Leo Fender introduced the first mass-production solidbody 74 years ago, it seems quite a feat when a maker launches a new design that looks origina

AMONG THE MANY guitars that took their design cues from a handful of seminal designs, the Ibanez Artist Model 2617 stood out as distinctly different, even enticingly exotic. And yet it looked undeniably classic. The golden age of American electric-gu

I HAD MY mind blown watching Biréli Lagrène conjure a believable bass tone for lower notes along with a pure guitar tone for the higher register as he played what appeared to be straightforward stuff on the fretboard. How the hell was he doing that?

Talking with Mark Knopfler about guitars — what else? — is a bit like speaking with an unrepentant kid and a hardened member of GAA: Guitar Aficionados Anonymous. “I STILL STOP AND LOOK in a guitar shop window when I pass one on the street. I can’t w

FOR THE SCRAPPY American-alternative upstart it once was, Reverend Guitars has grown to be an impressive performer in a market crowded with bigger and longer-established names, and part of that success is found in its compiling of an extensive artist

IN CELEBRATION OF the Stratocaster’s debut in the spring of 1954, Fender has launched a series of 70th Anniversary models for 2024 that range from the American Vintage II 1954 Stratocaster in two-color sunburst to the latest Ultra Stratocaster HSS, i

THE CARBON-FIBER REVOLUTION may not be televised, but it’s all over the internet and here in the pages of GP. The young Klosowiak brothers bring a unique perspective, focused on intelligent builds using modern materials in traditional forms. They mak

“DON’T GET MARRIED to your effects.” “Effects are no substitute for playing well.” Over the years, guitarists have made these and similar comments in music magazines (even in the pages of Guitar Player). For his part, Reeves Gabrels is having none of

LISTENING TO HANNAH Wicklund’s music, you can tell she’s been on the edge. That’s nothing new though, as 2018’s Hannah Wicklund and the Steppin Stones was a buffet of blues-rock songsmithery defined by mega-sounding guitars. We knew Wicklund could ro

YOU COULD BE excused for glazing over yet another batch of pedals trumpeting different flavors of grind, but these new boxes from Keeley have a cool twist in their ability to mix and match different drive and tone stacks, enhancing their sonic range

FREE GIFTS ORDER FORM COMPLETE ALL INFORMATION BELOW & RETURN WITH PAYMENT TO: GUITAR PLAYER PO BOX 2029 LANGHORNE, PA 19047-9957 *Offer is valid on US orders only, visit us at magazinesdirect.com or call 1-800-289-9839 for international pricing and

THE LATE LOU Reed took his walk on the wild side in 1972. But he didn’t become an animal — a rock ’n’ roll animal, to be specific — until the following year. Recorded on December 21, 1973, before an audience at Howard Stein’s Academy of Music in New

“AT FIRST, I thought every kid had a music store in their family,” Ben Harper recalls. “But I realized when I was young that this place was called the Folk Music Center because it was the center of something special. Not every grandmother can play th

THE ALL-IN-ONE busker box has become a subgenre in the live sound arena. Mackie makes a range of them, and the new ShowBox takes the concept to the next level. The idea is a bona fide Swiss Army knife that works as everything from a guitar amp to an

GROWING UP AS a die-hard blues-rocker in 1970s South Florida, Scott Henderson fell in love with the sounds of that era’s big-name rock guitarists. “Ritchie Blackmore, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck… I grew up listening to all those guys,” Henderson tells Guit

PRINCE SLYLY TOLD her she was “too funky.” Bruno Mars sent her one of his signature Fender Strats, and Bootsy Collins and Ray Parker Jr. left glowing comments on her Instagram posts. Guitarists are usually lauded for their soloing prowess, but Ella F

“IT’S A ROUGH TIME,” veteran blues guitarist Walter Trout attests. “The whole world feels like it’s in a dark place, with the wars going on. In this country, the political polarization definitely feels like we’re very divided. It feels like a very sc

GUITAR WAS A “third time’s the charm” proposition for Blue Öyster Cult co-founder Donald “Buck Dharma” Roeser. The Queens, New York, native started out playing accordion when he was nine years old before switching to drums a year later “when I realiz

AS POP-ROCK MASTERPIECES go, it’s hard to top Squeeze’s “Pulling Mussels (From the Shell).” With its airtight hooks, wicked musicianship and highly literate lyrics, the first single from the band’s 1980 third album, Argybargy, played a key role in br

FOR ALMOST EIGHT years, I’ve wanted to write about Jerry Byrd’s Steel Guitar Favorites. “What took so long,” you ask? Well, it doesn’t make the job easy if there are no informative liner notes and hardly a thing about it on the internet. Steel-guitar

When Sleater-Kinney emerged amid the ’90s riot-grrrl movement, they stood out as a group of three young women making explosive records fueled by rage. The trio’s new effort, Little Rope (Loma Vista), is barely less explosive but fueled primarily by a

FOR ALL HIS experience with complex circuits and top-notch components, British effects guru and switching systems designer Pete Cornish has long relied on a mantra that points to a much simpler, yet often-overlooked necessity: “Clean the plugs to fre

COMBINING THREE ANAL OG effects in a small package with a low price tag makes the Triple Threat an outsider among today’s boutique boxes. However, it all makes sense considering that Jack White conceived this sleek little multi-effector for his Third

“OF ALL MY Warner Bros. albums, it’s the one I love the most, without a doubt. And maybe that’s because I took so much shit for it.” When Marshall Crenshaw set out to make Field Day in early 1983, he was riding high on the success of his self-titled

HIS NAME IS like that of a Marvel superhero or the title character in a new vigilante series airing on Netflix. But Max Light plays guitar with the gift of one who has organically incorporated the lessons of his six-string forebears Kurt Rosenwinkel,

GUITAR PLAYERS AND enthusiasts will find a coterie of familiar faces adorning the Hall of Fame rotunda at the Mississippi Arts + Entertainment Experience (a.k.a. The MAX), an interactive museum in Meridian that honors the state’s famed writers, actor