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Dave Grohl has opened up about life after the death of Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, sharing how he used music as a “crutch” while processing his grief.

In a new interview with MOJO, Grohl reflects publicly for the first time on Hawkins’ death in 2022, calling it a moment that “threw our world upside down” and fundamentally altered his outlook.

• READ MORE: “One day it was nothing but laughs, then it was just over”: Josh Freese is still confused about his Foo Fighters dismissal – and says he needs to be “careful” what he says about it

“Losing Taylor was never meant to be,” says the guitarist. “That threw our world upside down and made me question everything about life, that it was so… It was so unfair. I still have a hard time making sense of it.”

Grohl, who threw himself into work in the immediate aftermath, admits that he turned to music as a way of avoiding difficult emotions.

“I think I was afraid of silence, afraid of having to feel,” he says. “I could have used a bit more of the silence, a bit more of digging deeper. I never want to say music is a distraction, but I was definitely using it as a crutch for some broken limb.”

The musician also reflects on his wider career and the motivations behind some of his past projects, suggesting that not everything he pursued came from a place of necessity.

“I’ve had to reexamine my ambition and intention,” he says. “A lot of those projects over the years were surface validation to prove that I could do it – not that I needed to do it. I was always the guy who couldn’t sit still. I couldn’t take a vacation. I needed the TV on to put me to sleep. It was the silence – the still – that scared me.”

Now, however, “my horizon is much different,” Grohl notes. “There will be plenty of things that we’ll do in the next few years that will remind everyone that Foo Fighters love to circle the planet playing rock shows. Before, I was running on fumes and unleaded gas. Now, I’m just burning fucking diesel.”

Foo Fighters are set to release their 12th studio album, Your Favorite Toy, on 24 April.

The post “I was afraid of silence, of having to feel”: Dave Grohl admits he used music as a “crutch” after Taylor Hawkins’ death appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Gretsch has unveiled the Electromatic Premier Jet, a revamped take on its workhorse Jet platform that focuses on improved playability, stability and a wider range of tones.

Positioned as the “boldest evolution yet” of the Electromatic and Streamliner Jet lines, the Premier Jet keeps the brand’s familiar look and feel but updates the spec where it matters most for modern players.

• READ MORE: Metal-ready shredders and new Broadkaster models: Inside a massive new guitar drop from Jackson, Charvel and Gretsch

At the core of each guitar is a chambered mahogany body with a carved maple top and sculpted contours for what Gretsch calls “exceptional acoustic balance” and playing comfort. It’s paired with a mahogany neck in a performance “C” profile and a 10”-14” compound-radius ebony fingerboard with 22 Medium Jumbo frets. Pearloid neo-classic thumbnail inlays and Luminlay side dots round things out, offering exceptional visibility even on dimly lit stages.

Credit: Gretsch

Electronics are where things get especially interesting. The newly developed Sphera Twin Six humbuckers, powered by Alnico 6 magnets, deliver everything from pristine clean tones to aggressive overdrive right at your fingertips. Aimed at balancing vintage warmth with a more modern edge, they’re voiced to be “beautifully dynamic, exceptionally expressive and addictively powerful”.

As Gretsch explains, “each pickup features twelve adjustable pole pieces for precise attack and unrestrained flexibility. In the neck position Alnico VI magnets pair with clear poly sol coated wire, while in the bridge Alnico VI magnets pair with plain enamel coated wire. Specially calibrated coil winds create the perfect marriage of brilliance and brute force, while vacuum wax-potting keeps noise and interference to a minimum.”

Controls wise, a master volume with treble bleed keeps the top end intact when rolling back, while a push-pull Lumen filter and dual no-load tone controls offer a wide range of usable tones without overcomplicating things.

The hardware takes a similarly practical approach. A Lockdown locking wraparound bridge, locking tuners, and a GraphTech NuBone nut all work to keep tuning stable so you don’t have to babysit your guitars mid-set.

“For years, the Electromatic and Streamliner Collections have offered Gretsch power and fidelity to a broad range of players,” says Gretsch VP Jason Barnes. “While Gretsch has always been renowned for its truly iconic tone and style, the Electromatic Premier Collection elevates the playing experience even further with incredible sonic punch and definition, effortless playability and of course, signature Gretsch style.”

The Electromatic Premier Jet is priced at $799.9/£709/€829 and is available in four finishes – Vintage Pearl, Robusto Burst, Onyx Storm and Clairvoyant.

Learn more at Gretsch.

The post “Pinnacle of the Electromatic collection”: Gretsch’s new Electromatic Premier Jet packs “premium appointments” and upgraded specs into a sub-$1k package appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

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The post Why Taylor’s Next Generation Grand Auditorium is the ultimate player’s guitar appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

The inner workings of Steely Dan have always remained under a cloak of mystery and intrigue. Known for their perfectionist streak in the recording studio, Steely Dan’s esteemed hipsters Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, were a world unto themselves.

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While vocalist and keyboardist Fagen remains the sole surviving member of the pair – guitarist and bassist Becker passed away in 2017 – the duo etched a musical legacy that continues to both enthral fans of their music, and musicians alike.

With albums such as 1972’s Can’t Buy A Thrill, 1976’s The Royal Scam and 1977’s Aja, Steely Dan married their love of the absurd with unique sophisticated musical complexity.

Tales of their studio escapades have become legend, best exemplified by the duo’s fastidious approach in capturing the right guitar solo for Peg where they churned through a succession of studio guitar aces such as Robben Ford, Rick Derringer, Elliot Randall and Larry Carlton among others, before finally settling for Jay Graydon’s blistering six-string offering.

Keep It Brief

When it came to a Dan recording session, guitarists hired for the session were usually given a brief prior to the session. “There were cases where we had lines or we had particular rhythm parts in mind, but a lot was always left up to the individual with the guitar,” Walter Becker explained to this writer in a rare interview in 2010.

“Guitar players are so idiosyncratic in how they voice chords and how they approach chords and so on. You want to tell somebody the effect you want to create, and what you want to end up with, more than you want to tell them how to create that effect because if you have strong, interesting players, they already have developed their own personal techniques for doing that sort of thing.”

An aficionado of the blues, Becker always sought a particular kind of guitarist to lay to tape a blues-infused solo. Yet, many times at the eleventh hour, it was Becker himself who wound up being tasked with the performance.

“In some cases, we just couldn’t find anybody that really was the right combination of things that could play blues style electric guitar, and also play over changes,” he said. “There weren’t too many people that really could do that back in the 70s. Now of course, there are lots of people who could do it.”

Keep It Low

While Becker himself was also a competent bassist, he and Fagen would also employ the services of bass virtuoso Chuck Rainey whose contributions, according to Becker, were integral to the duo’s recordings.

“Chuck always liked to hear the demos and hear the bass parts that I had on demos because he got a certain amount of information out of it,” recalled Becker. “There were a few things that were written that Chuck played, but mostly Chuck just got the chord chart. He would hear things on the demos that he liked or that told him something about what the general approach was.

“He basically created the bass lines himself and of all the great bass players that we’ve had a chance to work with from time to time, he was by far the best at that, at creating a part that really worked with the song and worked with what the other players were doing.”

Keep It Jazz

Fagen and Becker were one of the very few songwriters who were able to successfully incorporate jazz harmonies within a pop framework. “I don’t think most people wanted to do that,” admitted Becker. “Very few people really. Jazz and jazz harmonies, especially in the 60s and 70s, for many people evoked the notion of the music that their parents danced to at the USO or something, or the band that played the theme music for the Ed Sullivan show and stuff like that.

“So, jazz harmony and jazz instrumentation had been co-opted into sort of less reputable forms of music that didn’t have any of the interesting, powerful elements of jazz that we love, such as improvisation and really driving rhythm sections and that kind of thing. So, most people just weren’t even interested in doing anything like that.

“And I think probably up until a certain point, we were the only people really and we spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to integrate. We experimented with a lot of writing and over a period of years, on how to integrate the different elements that were in our songs.

“In other words, how to integrate humour into the lyric of a song without them becoming novelty songs, and how to integrate jazz harmonies into rock band sounds, rock band combos and rock band rhythms and stuff like that without it sounding like half ass jazz or without it sounding like, without it evoking the sort of out of date, old generation.”

Their taste in adding those sophisticated jazz harmonies into their songwriting, saw the pair experiment with multiple chord voicings as a way to stamp their take on their music.

It was through this trial-and-error approach, that Becker and Fagen came up with the ‘Mu’ chord, which became an integral part of their signature sound. At its core, the ‘Mu’ chord is basically a major chord with an added 2nd, and due to the added 2nd being paired to the chord’s 3rd, it results in a mildly dissonant sounding chord.

“When we started writing, some of the songs that we wrote were sort of folk-ish types of songs,” explained Becker. “And so, we were looking for ways to make the triads sound better and richer and ways to add a little dissonance and colour to the chords. And that ‘Mu’ chord was one of the ways that we came up with doing that.”

Keep It Appropriate

While much of Steely Dan’s output has been noted for its production sheen, they made sure that polished veneer never replaced the music’s substance, of which was the primary goal for both Fagen and Becker. “First of all, the sense that from the beginning the substance of the song, is the substance of the song,” explained Becker cryptically.

“And that’s not always the case for everybody. I think a lot of pop music now is predicated on the idea that the style and the trappings are more important than the substance and that the substance shouldn’t interfere with the style and the trappings, which is just a completely different 180 degrees from the way that we look at it anyway.

“So, I think the thing is that the production has to be appropriate, has to advance the cause of the substance of the song. It has to add to the impact of the song rather than diminish it or obscure it or overwhelm it. There are times when you can create some interesting effects by having a very unlikely production combined with a particular song, but generally speaking, it’s very easy for things to be overproduced and over fussed with and over ornamented.”

Looking back over the group’s prolific 70s period, Becker admitted that both he and Fagen weren’t cut out to be touring musicians, preferring instead the studio environs where they thrived and could allow their creative spirit to run freely.

“In the 70s, we were completely wrapped up in the idea of writing songs and making records,” he expressed. “That’s what we really wanted to do, and the touring just seemed to detract from that; it burned up a lot of energy. All of our equipment was always broken and destroyed the flow of work as regards to writing and recording, so we stopped doing it.”

The post The guitar secrets of Steely Dan: as revealed by Walter Becker: “All of our equipment was always broken” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Behringer’s parent company, Empower Tribe, is suing Boss – and its parent company Roland – alleging its use of polyphonic tuning technology in several of its products infringes upon the patent of the TC Electronic PolyTune.

Polyphonic tuning – a method by which a guitarist can play and tune multiple strings at the same time, as opposed to monophonic tuning – is used in the PolyTune by TC Electronic, another brand under the Empower Tribe umbrella.

The technology also features in a number of Boss products, including GT‑1000, GT‑1000CORE, GX‑100, and GX‑10 multi-effects pedals. Empower says this breaches its patent for the PolyTune.

Boss filed a motion to dismiss the claim on 9 October, 2025, arguing that Empower’s original patent is invalid for a number of reasons. Firstly, Boss claims the technology simply collects and displays data, meaning it was never patentable as it’s an “abstract idea” rather than a concrete technological solution.

In Boss’ motion, while the nature and right to obtain patents for new technologies is acknowledged, it points to an exception “long-held” by the US Supreme Court: “Laws of nature, natural phenomena and abstract ideas are not patentable”. Under this provision, Boss says Empower’s polyphonic tuning patent is not valid.

“Tuning is the quintessential definition of an abstract concept because musicians have been tuning stringed instruments by ear for as long as there have been stringed instruments,” Boss says. “A musician would play a note, compare it in their mind to what the note should sound like, and then adjust their instrument, repeating the process until the notes matched…

“Likewise, a musician has been tuning by ear multiple strings played at the same time allowing a person to differentiate ‘two pitch frequencies simultaneously’… Plaintiff’s opposition [Behringer/Empower] would have the Court believe that the ‘683 Patent [the PolyTune patent] invented polyphonic tuning.” Boss also says the PolyTune’s polyphonic tuning technology is achievable using generic hardware, and therefore not patentable for the same reasons that most guitar pedals aren’t patentable.

Empower has responded to this motion to dismiss with its own opposing motion, stating that Boss is “vastly oversimplifying” the technology described in the PolyTune patent in order to make its point, and overall strongly rebukes essentially all parts of Boss’ motion. In terms of the lack of an “inventive” aspect to the original patent, Empower argues that the court should at the very least undergo an “intensely factual inquiry” to determine if this is the rather than just “take [the] Defendant’s word for it”, and accept the motion to dismiss.

But why are we only hearing about this dispute now? Well, pending further ruling from the court, Boss has opted, as of March 2026, to remove the polyphonic tuner function from its GT‑1000, GT‑1000CORE, GX‑100, and GX‑10 multi-effects pedals.

This was discovered by YouTuber John Nathan Cordy, who posted a video earlier this week detailing the firmware update which removed polyphonic tuning from the above Boss pedals.

“Although [Boss parent company] Roland has developed many patented products on its own, it decided that instead of creating a polyphonic tuner itself, it would simply knock off Empower’s patented device instead,” Behringer’s initial lawsuit read [via Guitar World].

“[The] defendants have never sought or obtained a licence of the patent, and are not authorized to practice any claim of that patent,” Behringer says, adding that it contacted Roland to “reach an amicable solution”, but Roland “denied infringement” and “refused to negotiate a potential settlement”.

Many in the guitar and wider music gear community have been quick to point out that Behringer regularly produces products heavily inspired by classic pieces of gear.

This isn’t the first time Boss and Behringer have been at odds, either, after Boss sued Behringer in 2005/2006 over the trade dress (appearance) of many of its effects pedals. The suit was ultimately settled under confidential terms.

Just last year, Bill Finnegan, creator of the iconic Klon Centaur overdrive pedal, sued Behringer over its Klon copy. Behringer subsequently changed the name of its pedal from “Centaur” to “Zentara”, along with a number of visual design elements. The lawsuit was ultimately dismissed.

Guitar.com has reached out to both Boss and Behringer for comment.

The post Behringer takes Boss to court over alleged patent infringement appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

One of the most iconic Flying V guitars in history is being given its flowers. Gibson’s Custom Shop has faithfully recreated Michael Schenker’s 1971 Flying V, with a limited run of 50 hand-signed Collector’s Edition guitars selling out in just one day.

Based on 3D scans of the original instrument, which is currently owned by Metallica’s Kirk Hammett, the Michael Schenker 1971 Flying V Collector’s Edition serves as a testament to one of the most influencial guitars in hard rock and heavy metal. The original guitar was used to record UFO’s first three records, with the guitar soon undergoing a striking black and white makeover. With its new look, the Flying V became Schenker’s signature axe.

• READ MORE: Rich Robinson on why the Black Crowes channeled the spirit of “20-year-olds showing the f**k off” on their new album

This Collector’s Edition is crafted with a mahogany body, three-piece mahogany neck with a slim artist profile, and a one-piece rosewood fretboard with 22 medium jumbo frets. Of course, the Flying V headstock and pickguard also boast the same black and white paint job as Schenker’s original Flying V.

Elsewhere, the guitar is also fitted with Schaller M6 tuners and a Corian nut. There’s also a pair of uncovered T-Top humbuckers with Alnico 5 magnets, each wired with unique volume controls and a shared tone knob. There’s also a Switchcraft three-way toggle, as well as a quarter inch output jack.

All 50 instruments have also been hand-signed by Schenker himself on the back of the headstock, which is sure to delight those that managed to snag a guitar. The instrument also comes housed in a custom replica flight case, while fans will also receive a commemorative mahogany display block featuring a #56 Medallion (presumably a nod to when the Michael Schenker Group’s 1980 track Cry For the Nations peaked at #56 in the UK).

Speaking about his limited edition Collector’s Edition guitar, Schenker sings praises for the Flying V. “When I was about 16 years old, I broke a string at a show and my brother was playing a V and I had to take a solo, so he quickly gave me his guitar,” he recalls. “That’s when I noticed there was something about the guitar… It almost became like part of my body.”

While the release coincides with the 50th anniversary of UFO, it’s a perfect way to reflect on the impact Schenker’s sound has had on the guitar world. Hammett in particular has spoken highly of Schenker, revealing in Gibson Publishing’s 2025 release, The Collection: Kirk Hammett, that having the Flying V in his collection feels akin to owning a “religious relic”.

Credit: Gibson

“Wolf Hoffman got it from Michael Schenker’s tour manager, who had been sitting on it for like, 20 years,” Hammett explained. “But it’s the original V that Michael Schenker played on UFO albums, Phenomenon, Force It, and No Heavy Petting. It’s crazy because you can still see some of the red finish, if you look at certain spots on the guitar.”

“The Schenker Flying V is almost like a religious relic for me,” he added. “It represents so much of my youth and all the travails I went through in just trying to learn how to play guitar and be a great improviser and soloist like Michael Schenker. I spent so much time as a teenager just staring at this guitar on the back of UFO’s Force It album… I used to stare at it and go, ‘I need to get a Flying V’. Little did I know that, decades later, I would have the very Flying V that I was staring at!”

On the YouTube video announcing the release, some fans believe the recreation deserves to be a permanent part of Gibson’s offerings to honour Schenker’s impact on music. “Gibson, release a production model,” one user pleas. “Michael’s influence deserves way more than 50 guitars. He’s incredibly important.”

The guitar – which is now sold out – was priced at £14,899 / $16,999. You can find out more at Gibson.

The post Gibson Custom Shop recreated Michael Schenker’s 1971 Flying V – and it sold out in a day appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Amid Sinners’ bloodthirsty vampires and Irish step-dancing, the 2025 blockbuster is a love letter to the blues. And that love was on full display at this year’s Oscars, with Ludwig Göransson bagging the award for Best Score and the cast pulling off a show-stopping performance of film’s track I Lied To You.

This weekend, Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre stage transformed into a Mississippi juke joint, a central location throughout Sinners. The stage felt equally as bustling and alive as the juke joint in the movie; as lead actor Miles Caton struts across the stage, vintage Dobro guitar in hand, multiple artists emerge to join in the performance.

• READ MORE: “I’ve thrown that guitar across the stage and it’s still in tune!” – John Osborne talks the joys of creating Fender’s first B-bender signature model

A majority of those involved also played an integral role in the movie. Some played key acting roles, like Buddy Guy, who played the older version of Caton’s character, wielding a Strat, or Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram, who served up blues licks on his signature Telecaster. Elsewhere, other artists worked on the score, with Brittany Howard performing on a Gibson SG while Eric Gales opted for a Kiesel.

But that’s not all – a few other artists hopped onstage for a boogie, too. Notably, hip-hop star Shaboozey even appeared, adding some further joy to the marvellous display of blues excellence.

With the majority of the film taking place in a juke joint, and central character, guitarist Sammie (played by Caton) finding a supernatural power within bluesy riffs, blues is the heart and soul of Sinners. Considering how much effort director Ryan Coogler put into honouring the blues, it’s no surprise that so many people wanted to show their support.

Of course, the movie’s love of music was rightfully honoured. Swedish composer Göransson was awarded the Oscar for Best Score, and he took the opportunity to thank the blues for guiding him throughout his life. “My dad bought his first blues album in Sweden in 1964,” he reflected. “It was a John Lee Hooker album, and even though it was from the other side of the world, in a place where my dad had never been, and could not relate to, the music was so powerful that it changed his life.”

“When I was seven years old, he put a guitar in my arms, and it became everything to me,” he continued. “The guitar opened up a lot of doors to me; it brought me to the States and eventually led me to one of the greatest storytellers of our time, Ryan Coogler.”

The post Sinners’ love letter to the blues won Best Score at the Oscars – and Buddy Guy, Kingfish and Eric Gales came out for a star-studded mid-show performance appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Any guitarist can tell you that there aren’t many things that’ll give you as much value for money as a good electric guitar. Over the years, you’re paying pocket change per month, or fractions of a penny per riff – but for many of us, the economic reality is that we’ll need to choose a value model to manage the up-front cost.

Some of the best value electric guitars are beginner models from the likes of Squier and Yamaha, providing a solid introduction to the instrument without daunting levels of investment. For those shopping a little further up-market, another reason to buy a value guitar is to add a totally different set of sounds to your repertoire – an affordable ‘second guitar’ can bring a much wider range of sounds to within your grasp, especially if you want to change up things like the bridge, pickup or scale setup from your main guitar.

It’s quite tricky to define a ‘value electric guitar’. Rather than fixating on the lowest-priced options, the potted reviews below are focused around relatively inexpensive guitars that are genuinely good examples of their type, with prices ranging from the low £100s to around £1,000. We believe that all of these guitars are genuinely good value, with craftsmanship and playability that you can enjoy for years to come.

At a glance:

• Our Pick:: Squier Classic Vibe Custom Esquire
• Best for advanced guitarists: Sterling By Music Man Rabea Artist Series Sabre
• Best value offset: Eastman Fullertone Offset ’62
• Best affordable Stratocaster: Squier Sonic Stratocaster HSS
• Best value rock guitar: Manson MBM-2H
• Best value guitar for speedy playing: EVH Wolfgang Standard TOM
• Best value singlecut guitar: Heritage Ascent+ H-150
• Best affordable guitar for clean sounds: Gretsch G5230T Electromatic Sparkle Jet
• Best guitar for begginner guitarists: Yamaha Pacifica 112J
• Best value guitar for downtuned metal: Jackson Lee Malia LM-87
• Best affordable kids guitar: Squier Mini Stratocaster
• Why you can trust Guitar.com

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Our Pick:: Squier Classic Vibe Custom Esquire

Squier Classic Vibe Custom Esquire. Image: Adam Gasson

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It often takes a while for a guitarist to learn that simplicity is a virtue. Whether you’ve made that revelation after years of playing, or you’re looking for an outstanding first guitar, this Custom Esquire from the Squier Classic Vibe range will help you cut straight to what matters most: great tone and fun, fluid playing.

There’s only one pickup, but it’s a cleverly wired one supplying a different set of filtered tones for a varied sound. The faux-‘neck’ position is everything we’d hope for in an Esquire: bright, sweet, punchy, and capable of some really spiky sounds when used with gain-based effects.

As you can see, this guitar is quite a looker. Its classy, double-bound, early 60s, custom colour design is a classic vibe indeed.

Need more? Read our Squier Classic Vibe Custom Esquire review.

Best for advanced guitarists: Sterling By Music Man Rabea Artist Series Sabre

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If you’re a devotee of rock or metal, you’ve probably cast a few admiring glances (or at least an admiring ear) at the Music Man Rabea Massaad Artist Series Sabre. The only trouble with the YouTube heavyweight’s signature edition guitar is the price, which is well over £3,000/$4,000.

The good news for budget-conscious musicians is that you can now pick up an affordable version of the ‘Rabea’ that comes pretty close to the real deal: the Sterling By Music Man Rabea Artist Series Sabre. This rock and metal workhorse has a low action for easy soloing right up and down the neck, and it sounds awesome when it’s lathered in gain.

Need more? Read our Sterling By Music man Rabea Artist Series Sabre review.

Best value offset: Eastman Fullertone Offset ’62

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This guitar only just scrapes into the ‘value’ bracket, but it’s something special that might warrant the extra outlay, especially if you’re looking for an instrument to play long-term. We were enamoured at first glance with its offset vibes and unique Göldo trem system – and once our reviewer had actually played the Eastman Fullertone Offset ’62, it was true love.

Beautifully, ergonomically sculpted, the Offset ’62 practically melts into the player’s body. It sounds as good as it feels, with impressive pickups delivering plenty of snap, jangle or punch, as per your selected settings. For guitarists who play with feeling, this elegant and idiosyncratic offset can capture the mood.

Need more? Read our Eastman Fullertone Offset ’62 review.

Best affordable Stratocaster: Squier Sonic Stratocaster HSS

Image: Adam Gasson

 

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A good beginner guitar doesn’t just have to be cheap – although the Squier Sonic Stratocaster HSS is – it’s also got to be approachable. Who’s going to want to continue learning through sharp fret-ends, terrible sounds or miles-high string action? Luckily the Sonic Strat is a very approachable instrument indeed, with a pleasantly playable satin-finished neck, and far better-sounding pickups than a guitar at this price point has any right to be loaded with. And whether you were inspired to pick up a Strat by Hendrix’s dive-bombs or by more subtle wobble, the standard vintage-style vibrato unit will get you there.

Need more? Read our Squier Sonic Stratocaster HSS review.

Best value rock guitar: Manson MBM-2H

Manson x Cort MBM-2H. Image: Adam Gasson

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Carrying more than a sprinkling of Matt Bellamy stardust, this Cort collab from Manson is one of the best (relatively) affordable options from the Muse virtuoso’s workshop. Our reviewer found this guitar a delight to play, with lightweight, well-balanced construction, a soft, V-shaped profile to the neck and generous custom carves to accommodate your forearm, thigh, or whichever other body parts you might happen to rest your guitar against.

The MBM-2H is as playable as it is sparkly, with a low, slinky action, highly responsive pickups and a fun killswitch that you can use to stutter your guitar sound (or simply shut it off during the quiet bits of a song).

Need more? Read our Manson MBM-2H review.

Best value guitar for speedy playing: EVH Wolfgang Standard TOM

EVH Wolfgang Standard TOM. Image: Adam Gasson

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Not content with single-handedly making two-handed tapping cool, the late, great Eddie Van Halen also managed to design one of the best accessible hard rock guitars in history: the Wolfgang. The Standard TOM is a wallet-friendly version of the maestro’s masterpiece, and while it replaces the original’s Floyd Rose vibrato system with a Tune-o-Matic bridge, it’s largely true to the blueprint.

This may be the cheapest EVH Wolfgang out there, but the Standard TOM plays beautifully and sounds impressive. It’s lightweight, resonant, and has a smooth, oiled finish to the maple neck that’s perfect for fleet-fingered playing.

Need more? Read our EVH Wolfgang Standard TOM review.

Best value singlecut guitar: Heritage Ascent+ H-150

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This Heritage is an ornately-finished single-cut that demonstrates impressive craftsmanship and great playability. It packs two humbucker pickups, each with a push/pull potentiometer that can split the coils for a single coil sound, and these deliver a superb range of classic rock tones, from smooth, dark sounds at the neck to honk and snarl at the bridge. It’s a great guitar for retro chords and riffs, with plenty of sustain and resonance.

Need more? Read our Heritage Ascent+ H-150 review.

Best affordable guitar for clean sounds: Gretsch G5230T Electromatic Sparkle Jet

I hope you don’t mind the brief first-person intrusion, but I (the compiler of this article) have one of these lovely-looking, spangly Gretsches at home, and I’d highly recommend it as a first (or alternate) guitar. It’s my go-to for warm, mellow sounds when playing Motown, pop or folk-rock songs, and I often find my hand drawn to the chunky tremolo arm for added retro wobble.

The short-ish scale length is ideal for beginners or guitarists with smaller hands as it makes elaborate chord positions easier to achieve, while the slender, U-shaped neck profile offers plenty of purchase for your thumb.

Best guitar for begginner guitarists: Yamaha Pacifica 112J

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Surprising beginner guitarists with its superior playability since the 1990s, Yamaha Pacifica is the budget S-type (Stratocaster-like) guitar line par excellence.

There are Pacificas for all sorts of budgets these days, but arguably the best option at a minimal cost is the 112J. It’s a versatile choice for adventurous beginner guitarists, with a host of tones available via its trio of pickups (two single coil; one humbucker) and a softly rounded neck that goes easy on your fretting hand.

The finishing on this budget model is understandably basic, but the 112J is nonetheless a solidly made guitar that will suit beginners and newcomers – as was ever the case with Yamaha Pacificas.

Best value guitar for downtuned metal: Jackson Lee Malia LM-87

Image: Press

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Maybe you’re into Bring Me The Horizon. Maybe you’re not. The Jackson Lee Malia LM-87 – named for the BMTH lead guitarist – is an excellent value guitar, either way. This distinctive signature edition from Jackson brings bucketfuls of vintage cool and metal aggression, with an eye-catching yet accommodating offset shape and a Tune-o-Matic hardtail bridge for easy tuning adjustment – perfect for drop tunings.

What we liked best is how the LM-87 sounds. The distinctive-looking bridge pickup with its large, hex-head polepieces is excellent at picking up the detail from individual strings, so you can hear the complexity of crunchy chords, even when you have some gnarly distortion in play.

Need more? Read our Jackson Lee Malia LM-87 review.

Best affordable kids guitar: Squier Mini Stratocaster

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You’re never too young to rock out – the only thing standing in your way is that most electric guitars are not made for little hands. Thankfully, the youngest guitarists can start out with a mini guitar, such as this cute, scaled-down Strat from Squier.

Don’t mistake this for a toy: the mini Stratocaster has three proper single-coil pickups, sports a decidedly decent Indian laurel fretboard and is designed by Fender. Helpfully, it also has a slender, C-shaped neck profile that’s relatively easy for younger guitarists to fret, and the hardtail bridge offers decent tuning stability for parent-pleasing tonality.

Why You Can Trust Us

Every year, Guitar.com reviews a huge variety of new products – from the biggest launches to cool boutique effects – and our expert guitar reviewers have decades of collective experience, having played everything from Gibson ’59 Les Pauls to the cheapest Squiers.

That means that when you click on a Guitar.com buyer’s guide, you’re getting the benefit of all that experience to help you make the best buying decision for you. What’s more, every guide written on Guitar.com was put together by a guitar obsessive just like you. You can trust that every product recommended in those guides is something that we’d be happy to have in our own rigs.

The post The best value electric guitars: 11 affordable options for beginners and players on a budget appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Ever heard a riff so darn good you wish you’d written it? It’s happened to most of us, and those moments invariably inspire us when we write our own riffs later down the line.

In a February interview with the Garza Podcast, Zakk Wylde touches on Ozzy Osbourne‘s tendency to borrow ideas from his favourite riffs. The guitarist explains that the Prince of Darkness was particularly inspired by Jimi Hendrix’s Foxey Lady, which  inspired the riff for Ozzy’s 1988 track, Miracle Man.

• READ MORE: Rich Robinson on why the Black Crowes channeled the spirit of “20-year-olds showing the f**k off” on their new album

Plenty of artists take inspiration from their peers, using music as a springboard to create something new. “That’s why I always tell kids [songwriting] is just like cooking,” Wylde explains [via Ultimate Guitar]. “You learn how other songs are written, and you’re inspired or influenced by them. Or you remember it, and then you tweak it and bend it [to make a new song].”

Wylde goes on to explain that Ozzy was inspired by other artist’s riffs throughout his career. The guitarist picks out N.I.B from Black Sabbath’s 1970 debut as a case in point, noting how it twists elements of Cream’s Sunshine of Your Love. “You end up mutating it, bending it, and changing it,” he says. “Then it’s a whole new song, which is awesome.”

Even the most legendary and accomplished guitarists take inspiration from their heroes when writing guitar parts. Wylde also notes how late Pantera axeman Dimebag Darrell compared an unspecified track with its inspirational origin. “I went ‘If you didn’t tell me that, I would have never got it, because you changed it around a bit,’” he says. “But that spark of inspiration led [him] to where [he] ended up with a specific song.”

Countless riffs have been borrows and twisted, from Metallica nabbing a riff from David Bowie’s Andy Warhol for Master of Puppets, to the Red Hot Chili Peppers taking inspiration from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ Mary Jane’s Last Dance for their 2006 smash hit Dani California.

On the flip side, those whose riffs serve as inspiration for others often don’t mind. In 2006 rumours floated around that Petty was going to sue the Chili Peppers, but he quickly shut that down in an interview with Rolling Stone. “I seriously doubt that there is any negative intent [from the Red Hot Chili Peppers],” he said. “It doesn’t bother me,” he confirmed. “If someone took my song note for note and stole it maliciously, then maybe. But I don’t believe in lawsuits much. I think there are enough frivolous lawsuits in this country without people fighting over pop songs.”

“A lot of rock and roll songs sound alike,” he adds. “Ask Chuck Berry! The Strokes took American Girl [for 2011’s Last Nite]. I saw an interview with them where they actually admitted it. That made me laugh out loud. I was like, ‘OK, good for you!’”

The post Zakk Wylde says the riff for Miracle Man was inspired by this classic Jimi Hendrix song appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Sammy Hagar feels it’s important to keep playing Van Halen music live, in order for the work of Eddie Van Halen to carry on.

Hagar and his Best Of All Worlds band are currently performing shows at Dolby Live at Park MGM for a residency. The band’s lineup includes Michael Anthony, Joe Satriani, Kenny Aronoff and Greg Phillinganes (stepping in for Rai Thistlethwayte).

• READ MORE: “I’m sorry my guitar is such a pain in the butt!”: Eddie Van Halen once apologised to the Fender production line for the EVH Wolfgang’s fiddly frets

Speaking to Las Vegas Magazine, Hagar says that after Eddie’s passing in 2020, he felt it was necessary to continue performing their music for fans. Their current residency shows are billed as the “deepest dive” into the band’s catalogue yet.

“I started thinking, geez, we’re never going to play together again. Then Alex Van Halen made an announcement that he can’t play drums anymore due to his health. It’s so necessary to carry the legacy of that music on,” he says.

“The Van Hagar catalogue, I wrote every song with Eddie. Eddie wrote the music, I wrote the lyrics and the melodies. Those people who grew up with that music, they’ve got to hear it again.”

Asked if any Van Halen songs mean something different to him now, he replies, “A song like Right Now – every time I sing it, I think how it’s about right now, because something else is happening right now than what was happening in ’91 when we wrote it. And Love Walks In, I wrote about aliens and automatic writing. Now all this UFO stuff is coming out, and when I sing that song, I have a feeling it’s touching people differently.”

Soon, Eddie’s recorded work may also live on, as his brother Alex Van Halen has confirmed that he’s working on a project involving archival Van Halen material. The forthcoming project will utilise old demos, but it’s not yet clear if it will go out under the Van Halen name.

Alex has already suggested that he originally wanted Free’s Paul Rodgers to take on vocal duties, who was eventually unable to take on the job, but he’s now “looking for somebody else”. Michael Anthony, who played bass for the band between 1974 and 2006, thinks they should go forwards without one. A release date is yet to be confirmed.

The Best Of All Worlds residency ends on 21 March. The band will then continue to tour from June 2026. Find out more via the Red Rocker website. 

The post Sammy Hagar says Eddie Van Halen’s death made it “necessary” for him to carry on performing Van Halen music: “Those people who grew up with that music, they’ve got to hear it again” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

It’s been 75 years since the Telecaster made its debut, and Fender is celebrating that three-quarters of a century in style with a brand-new range of special-edition Tele models.

Paying homage to the world’s first mass-produced, solidbody electric guitar, the 75th Anniversary Telecaster Collection comprises five instruments, spanning a range of price points across Fender’s Vintera, Player II, American Professional and American Ultra lines.

• READ MORE: Fender wins legal battle over Stratocaster shape in Germany – is it the end for S-type guitars in the EU?

The Fender Telecaster started life in late 1950 as the Fender Broadcaster, a two-pickup version of the Esquire, which hit the market months earlier in April 1950.

Due to a trademark conflict with Gretsch over its Broadkaster drum kit, the Broadcaster guitar was renamed the ‘Telecaster’ in 1951. Taking direct feedback from players, Leo Fender sought to create a guitar which unlocked a “new level of expression”. Since then, the Telecaster has become one of the most iconic and recognisable guitar designs of all time.

Let’s take a closer look at the five new 75th Anniversary Telecasters on offer:

75th Anniversary American Professional Classic Cabronita Telecaster – £1,799

Perhaps the most noteworthy of the five is a new Cabronita Tele, the first time the concept has appeared in the standard Telecaster line in the classic double Filter’Tron pickup configuration since the model’s debut for Fender’s 60th Anniversary in 2011.

Pairing “vintage charm with modern performance”, this guitar features TV Jones pickups, along with a modern “C” neck and pearloid button tuners.

75th Anniversary Vintera Road Worn 1951 Telecaster – £1,599

This one features authentic ‘50s specs with a swamp ash body, plus an early ‘50s “U” shape neck, Road Worn nitrocellulose finish and Pure Vintage 1951 pickups for “crystal-clear chime and raw, steely twang”.

75th Anniversary American Ultra II Telecaster – £2,899

Arriving as the most high-end offering of the new collection, the 75th Anniversary American Ultra II Telecaster features a Liquid Gold finish, ebony compound radius fingerboard, and advanced pickup system – with a 75th Anniversary Noiseless Single-Coil and Fastlane humbucker – with dual S-1 switches.

75th Anniversary American Professional Custom Telecaster – £2,499

The second entry to the American Professional line offers a flame maple top with a double binding and two-tone sunburst finish, plus 75th Anniversary V-Mod pickups and push/push pot for series wiring, along with gold hardware.

75th Anniversary Player II Telecaster – £949

Outfitted with a Diamond Dust Sparkle finish and a selection of contemporary visual appointments, the 75th Anniversary Player II Telecaster is loaded with Thunderbolt pickups for “rich, powerful tones with enhanced clarity and punch”.

Learn more about the 75th Anniversary Telecaster Collection at Fender.

The post “The one that started it all”: Fender celebrates 75 years of the Telecaster with new limited-edition collection – including new Cabronita model appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Les Claypool, known for his unique approach to bass, has said he chose the instrument because the guitar sounded “wimpy” to him when he was younger.

The Primus frontman’s bass style combines varying techniques such as tapping and slap bass. Regarded as one of the best bassists by music media for his authentic approach, it seems his journey with the instrument started out purely because it sounded much richer – even though he grew up in the era of Eddie Van Halen’s reign over guitar culture.

• READ MORE: Rick Beato says excessive phone scrolling is the reason he can’t downpick like James Hetfield

In an interview with The Guardian promoting his collaborative concept album on AI, made with Sean Ono Lennon, Claypool says, “To me the bass was a more sultry instrument, whereas the guitar sounded kind of wimpy.” He also explained his playing style as “holding down the root of the bass but also trying to play the rhythm guitar parts”.

Elsewhere in the interview, he also spoke of how his bass chops led him to audition for Metallica to replace Cliff Burton after his sudden passing. Kirk Hammett was a former classmate of Claypool’s, but it just wasn’t meant to be: “I didn’t know how popular they were,” he says. “We played a song or two and I said, ‘Hey, you guys want to jam on some Isley Brothers?’ Nobody laughed.”

Claypool also spoke of his early friendship with Hammett during an interview with Rick Beato last year. Hammett actually wanted Claypool to be a singer in one of his early bands when they were just teenagers, and gave him some cassettes so he could learn a few tracks for an audition, including Cream’s Sunshine Of Your Love.

“But also on there was Hendrix. I’d never heard Hendrix before. I was 14 or whatever so he turned me on to Hendrix and all these different things. But I chickened out. Back then I was total Bobby Brady, you know, croaking and cracking. But I met this other guy that needed a bass player,” Claypool recalled.

“Everybody wanted to be Eddie Van Halen, so bass players were a very rare commodity… I didn’t find out till years later that [Hammett] was kind of pissed at me for bailing on his thing to go play bass in this other band.”

Claypool’s band with Sean Ono Lennon, The Claypool Lennon Delirium, will release their third album, The Great Parrot-Ox and the Golden Egg of Empathy, on 1 May. The concept album features 14-songs reflecting on morality, mortality, and the warnings of AI. You can pre-order the album now.

The post Les Claypool says he chose to be a bassist because the guitar sounded “wimpy” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

$179/£169, acornamps.com, joespedals.com

The clip is easy to find on YouTube – just search for “Josh Homme’s secret weapon”. The Queens of the Stone Age frontman goes off to find the amplifier, a crappy little 1980 Peavey Decade practice combo, then pops it up on his lap and tells the interviewer: “This thing is incredible.”

• READ MORE: DOD Badder Monkey review: much-memed pedal gets a bananas reissue

That was enough to prompt Peavey to create a signature reissue of the amp itself, as well as including a Decade model in the line of pedals it put out last year. And it also prompted Atlanta builder Acorn Amplifiers to give this 10W titan the proper boutique stompbox treatment – in the shape of the Solid State Preamplifier.

Image: Richard Purvis

Acorn Amplifiers Solid State Preamplifier – what is it?

Strictly speaking, this isn’t a Peavey in a box – it’s a Peavey in a box in a box. Because the SSP is a compact version of the Acorn Solid State, a bigger pedal that includes a recreation of the Decade’s output stage and can be plugged straight into a speaker cab. The preamp-only model might not be able to do that but it keeps all the core features – three-band EQ, footswitchable ‘normal’ and ‘saturated’ channels, pre and post gain controls – and adds a toggle switch marked ‘thick’ for a chunkier tone option.

The main drawback of the downsizing process seems to have been in reducing the gap between the two footswitches. Hitting one and not the other on an empty floor can be tricky; in the middle of a packed pedalboard, it’ll surely be like trying to perform brain surgery with barbecue tongs.

One design feature I do like is the light-up Acorn logo, which turns from cheery green to fiendish red when you engage the saturated channel (and is extra-bright when running off 18 volts). Pity there’s no way of telling which channel is selected when the pedal’s in bypass, though – you just have to remember how you left it.

Image: Richard Purvis

Acorn Amplifiers Solid State Preamplifier – what does it sound like?

Deliberate spoiler for anyone who just wants to know if it sounds like Songs For The Deaf: yes, in the right setup, it absolutely does. But between the channel footswitch and the toggle, there are four very different sound zones to explore here and that’s just one of them.

The normal channel goes from clean to medium-scuzzy, adding a crisp edge to the top end and some decidedly solid-state firmness to the bottom. This could certainly serve as an always-on tone improver for some players. The firmness doesn’t last long when you flip the switch down, however: now you get a more wiry kind of crunch that flirts with horribleness at times but mostly keeps things nicely clear and ultra-sparkly.

Switch to the saturated channel and the first thing you might notice is a fractional difference in output level – up or down, depending on where the pre gain is set and whether you’re using 9v or 18v. Sadly, there are no individual volume controls to correct that; happily, this channel is a monster. The effects of the toggle seem to be magnified here: the thin mode is beautifully abrasive, in stark contrast to the chunky richness – albeit still edgy – of the thick setting.

In both cases it really does sound just like the dirty channel of a small transistor amp from the 80s: raw and insolent in the best way imaginable. It’ll even do the old doomy scoop if you kill the thickness, set the mids to zero and max out the gain.

Image: Richard Purvis

Acorn Amplifiers Solid State Preamplifier – should I buy it?

The sound of this pedal is hard, dry, unrefined – all the things that some of us longed to escape from when a little practice amp was all we had. But that stuff has a vibe of its own, and a usefulness beyond mere nostalgia, especially when it’s presented in such a smart and multifaceted package.

Practical issues might limit its appeal for live work, but maybe it’s fitting that the SSP’s real strength should lie behind the scenes as a recording tool – just like Josh’s old Peavey.

Image: Richard Purvis

Acorn Amplifiers Solid State Preamplifier alternatives

It’s made in Taiwan, but the Peavey Decade Preamp ($199/£179) does have the right name – in the classic spiky font – on the front. More interested in the Josh Homme connection? The Stone Deaf PDF-2 (£160) is the latest version of a drive and EQ pedal he actually uses, while the Funny Little Boxes Skeleton Key (£99) is a ‘dirty boost’ inspired by the sounds of QOTSA.

PS. Thanks to Joe’s Pedals, Acorn’s UK dealer, for the loan of the SSP.

The post Acorn Amplifiers Solid State Preamplifier review – the ‘Peavey in a box’ you didn’t know you needed? appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Back in November 1997, Pearl Jam had the opportunity to open for the Rolling Stones across four shows at California’s Oakland Stadium. And on the final gig of the run, frontman Eddie Vedder was invited to actually play with the Stones for one song only.

And in a new interview with Howard Stern, Vedder recalls choosing which song he wanted to play with the band. After initially being sceptical about performing Let’s Spend the Night Together for fear he wouldn’t be able to “keep up” with frontman Mick Jagger, he opted for the band’s 1981 ballad, Waiting on a Friend.

• READ MORE: Gibson uses 3D scanning and period correct materials to create an “exact replica” of Keith Richards’ prized 1960 ES-355

Describing the “interesting experience” of performing with the rock legends, Vedder recounts the daunting experience of playing on a stage so big, and performing the song with minimal prior rehearsal.

“There was no introduction or anything,” Vedder says [via American Songwriter] , adding that when he asked whether he should go out on stage when the band started performing the song, “everyone turned their head, like, ‘I have nothing to do with this.’”

“Mick looked like a football field away … and he’s singing it already, and I’m coming in for the second verse. So I just kind of tucked my head down… and then just walked to the middle and started singing. It was okay.”

Vedder recalls later telling guitarist Keith Richards: “Hey, sorry, man – your man [Mick] left me hanging a bit there,” to which Richards replied: “Don’t you worry about it, me boy. He’s been doing that to me for 35 years.”

Vedder also remembers being struck by the “liquidity” of Keef’s playing: “You’re standing on the side of the stage, and it’s a big stage. It’s a stadium in Oakland, and Mick’s in the middle and then Keith, and you’re standing right next to Keith’s amp, like behind it. And then you’re listening to the liquidity of what he plays. It’s like he’s never playing the same thing once.”

You can listen to audio from the performance below:

 

The post “He’s never playing the same thing once”: Eddie Vedder shares what he learned about Keith Richards “liquid” guitar playing by sharing a stage with him appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Vinnie Vincent hastens to call his new album Guitarmaggedon “one of the greatest rock albums of all time”. In fact, the former Kiss guitarist is so confident in his latest body of work that he’s placed upon it a $2 million barrier, which one wealthy rock fan must pay him in order to hear it.

It’s pretty common for a creative person to play down their talent and creative output in a bid to stay humble. It would appear Vincent suffers from no such concerns…

• READ MORE: This Line 6 Helix Floor has been used onstage with Ed Sheeran – and it’s listed on Reverb for a totally reasonable price

Bearing a $2 million price tag, Guitarmaggedon is a fully completed album comprising 10 tracks in total. That’s $200,000 per track, for the mathematically challenged…

Essentially, Vinnie Vincent’s marketing strategy for the album is as follows: one wealthy fan must pay him $2 million, after which point they are free to release it and share it with the wider world, should they choose to do so. 

The fee includes a selection of artwork accompanying the album, including per-song artwork – you know, in case you were worried you weren’t getting your money’s worth.

“I am very proud of this very special album,” Vincent explains [via Guitar World]. “The entire album will be offered in master format only for $2,000,000. This includes 10 songs mixed in master, final product format, all the master files of the artwork, related posters, and 10 separate vinyl and CD packaging art for each individual song, should the buyer choose to release the album on a per-song basis.

“The buyer can choose to release the entire album in any format they desire; vinyl, CD, or any other configuration, in whole or in part, at their discretion. All marketing plans and ideas require approval by Vinnie Vincent. The price does not include any right, title, or interest in the copyrights and/or trademarks related to Vinnie Vincent or the product itself.

He goes on: “If the buyer wishes to purchase any associated rights in the compositions, a separate agreement can be arranged and negotiated. The price will also include a perpetual license to use the brand name, ‘Vinnie Vincent Invasion’ and ‘Vinnie Vincent’ for the life of the album.”

It’s easy to brand such prices as slightly ridiculous, but there are enough wealthy music fans out there to make it worth having a shot in the eyes of the seller. Just take the recent Jim Irsay auction, for example, which saw David Gilmour’s legendary black Fender Stratocaster sell for a gargantuan $14,550,000.

The post Former Kiss guitarist Vinnie Vincent has released an album – but you’ll have to pay $2 million to hear it appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Reverb is a great place to find unusual gear gems, and occasionally, you might just come across something that’s been used on stage with a huge celeb.

Right now, one seller has listed their used Line 6 Helix Floor, and says it’s been used on stage with Ed Sheeran, of all people. The seller, based in London, has owned the Helix Floor since 2019, and says it has been used on tour with not only Ed Sheeran, but also R&B singer Jorja Smith.

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They say it is in great condition minus one small screw missing from the IEC power socket, but the unit itself works perfectly fine. They’re also including an original Helix backpack case for transport. The seller doesn’t have much information on their profile, but has provided a YouTube link of them using it for a performance of Bad Habits with Sheeran in 2021 (though it is difficult to see the unit in shot).

• READ MORE: Laney just launched its pocket-sized smart amp, the Prism-Mini – and you can already save $30 at Sweetwater
  

They also say it was used for a recorded performance of Smith’s Falling or Flying on Later… With Jools Holland, and one of the provided pictures shows the unit displaying “She Feels” on its screen, the title of a Jorja Smith song. Most gear used alongside well-known artists is often sold at higher prices, but this Helix Floor is listed at £660. Most brand-new Helix Floors still sell for around £999.

The Helix Floor first launched back in 2015, and has undergone several updates over the years that have expanded its offerings of amps, cabs, mics, and effects. The Helix utilises Line 6’s HX modelling engine, and captures the sonic nuance and dynamic response of vintage and modern gear.

Line 6 has recently upped the ante for its offering of floorboard modellers with its new Helix Stadium line. At its huge announcement last year, the company teased the pair of new modellers, with the flagship Helix Stadium XL Floor earning an earlier release and shipping out at the end of 2025. Now, the standard Helix Stadium Floor has just begun shipping.

While the XL model offers the most “comprehensive and integrated guitar processor ever created by Line 6”, according to the brand, the smaller Helix Stadium Floor offers a cheaper, more streamlined alternative. It scraps the built-in expression pedal, and halves the amount of effects loops, external expression pedals, and drum trigger inputs it can support to just two each.

To check out the Line 6 Helix used on stage with Ed Sheeran and Jorja Smith, head to Reverb. 

The post This Line 6 Helix Floor has been used onstage with Ed Sheeran – and it’s listed on Reverb for a totally reasonable price appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Laney launched a brand new compact smart amp last week, and you can already save your pennies on it over at Sweetwater.

The Prism-Mini is a new rival to Positive Grid’s Spark GO, offering a whole bunch of presets, Bluetooth connectivity, a full-colour LCD screen, and an accompanying Tone Wizard app for tweaking and fine-tuning your tone. This tiny blue amp is already on sale with $30 off.

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Small but mighty for a pint-sized desktop amplifier, it has a 14-hour rechargeable battery, a built-in tuner, and features 100 presets (50 factory, 50 user). You’ve also got 17 amps and 32 effects on board, and you can even use up to six effects simultaneously in stereo.

• READ MORE: Victory Amplification’s new PowerValve 200 brings “authentic valve response and tone to modern rigs”

Its 50 factory presets are not just your run-of-the-mill tones either, as they were inspired by Laney’s endorsed artists, including Tony Iommi, Billy Corgan, Devin Townsend, Lari Basillio, Tom Quayle, and Jack Gardiner.

These sounds are all delivered through a rather serious speaker setup for an amp this size – the Prism-Mini features dual 1.5” woofers and a true stereo 3W + 3W output, promising a “wider and more detailed soundstage” than the typical single-speaker mini amp.

The back panel also hosts a headphone jack for private listening, and the free Tone Wizard app enables players to not only control their effects and amps, but also stream music from a smartphone. Additionally, it even provides you with an app-based drum machine.

In other Laney news, the brand unveiled the Supergrace Loudpedal in January, a floor-based dual-amplifier platform that puts Billy Corgan’s live rig within reach. Developed in close collaboration with the Smashing Pumpkins frontman, Supergrace captures the core of his touring sound.

At its heart are two of Corgan’s essential amplifier voices: the high-gain Carstens Grace, and the famed Laney Supergroup, distilled into a single, compact 60-Watt floor unit.

The Laney Prism-Mini is reduced to $149.99 now at Sweetwater.

The post Laney just launched its pocket-sized smart amp, the Prism-Mini – and you can already save $30 at Sweetwater appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Recording an Ozzy Osbourne album should be a dream gig for any guitarist. For Jake E. Lee, however, making 1986’s The Ultimate Sin was a “terrible” experience – largely thanks to clashes with producer Ron Nevison.

In a new interview with Guitar World, the former Ozzy guitarist looks back on the making of the record, and how tensions with Nevison escalated to the point where the producer even suggested replacing him altogether.

• READ MORE: “I don’t like the way they look or sound. I have no fondness for them at all”: Jake E. Lee hates Telecasters… but there was one which changed his mind

Asked what it was like working with Nevison, Lee doesn’t mince words: “Terrible. [Laughs] It was butting heads from the beginning,” he says. “Ozzy gave us a list of producers, and it wasn’t my choice per se, but he asked me, and I thought Nevison was a guitar producer since he’d worked with UFO and Led Zeppelin, so he had my vote.”

The problems started almost immediately – beginning with something as simple as studio hours. Lee, who had recorded Bark at the Moon during late-night sessions, insisted that rock music was a “nighttime” affair.

“I’m a nighttime guy, right? To me, rock is nighttime music you play in clubs until closing time. It didn’t feel like a daytime thing to me,” says the guitarist. “I recorded at night, and that’s how we did Bark at the Moon. Max Norman, who produced that, was cool with that. Ron Nevison wasn’t. He told Sharon [Osbourne] that he wanted to start no later than noon.”

“Sharon told me that, and I said, ‘Noon? I’m not even thinking about waking up then. I won’t start any earlier than 6 p.m.’ So right off the bat, we had problems, and Nevison told Sharon, ‘I know a lot of guitar players… we don’t have to use him. We can use other people to come in and play the parts. I have all the demos.’”

The idea was shot down by Sharon immediately. As Lee recalls, “It was ridiculous. He obviously had no idea what Ozzy was. He’s not somebody who brings in fucking guitar players. But Sharon told me that, and I said, ‘Really? And what did you say?’ Sharon said, ‘I told him he was out of his fucking mind. You’re playing the guitar. How about we start at 3?’”

“That was a good compromise, so I said I’d come in at 3, but I never did,” Lee admits. “I’d get up, look at the clock and if I saw it was 3, I’d say, ‘Oh, shit, I better get ready…’ But I never showed up earlier than maybe 4. I just hated the idea of forcing myself to wake up and play during the day. It felt wrong to me to make an album that would last forever that way. It irked me.”

The friction didn’t stop there. Lee says he prefers recording in the live room with his amp cranked “because I like getting feedback”, but his first session brought about another dispute – this time about temperature.

“I went into the room, and it was fucking freezing,” he recalls. “I was like, ‘What the hell? Can you warm up the room?’ Nevison said, ‘No. I like my musicians to be awake. The cold keeps them awake and alert.’”

“I said, ‘Fuck you. You know what it also does? It makes my fingers fucking slow because they’re frozen. I can’t play like that.’ So we argued about the temperature in the room, which I won. I said, ‘I’m just not fucking playing when my fingers are fucking cold. Fuck you.’ [Laughs] He acquiesced.”

The post “Sharon told him he was out of his f**king mind”: Jake E. Lee recalls when producer Ron Nevison tried to replace him on Ozzy Osbourne’s The Ultimate Sin appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Jerry Garcia’s legendary “Tiger” guitar barely had time to settle into its new home before it was back in action. Just one day after selling for a staggering $11,560,000 at Christie’s, Derek Trucks put the instrument through its paces onstage with the Tedeschi Trucks Band at New York’s Beacon Theatre.

• READ MORE: Dusty Hill’s sheepskin bass and an Eddie Van Halen stage-played Charvel: The guitars up for grabs in the second day of the Jim Irsay auction

Trucks’ performance came during the band’s ongoing Beacon residency, immediately following the historic auction in New York City. Tiger was purchased as part of the Jim Irsay Collection, a multi-day sale featuring hundreds of the late Indianapolis Colts owner’s prized possessions, from rare instruments to pop culture memorabilia.

The guitar was purchased by Bobby Tseitlin of Family Guitars, who makes it clear that Tiger is part of a “living, breathing collection”, meant to be played rather than “locked away in a vault or hidden behind glass”.

Tseitlin is also owner of a number of other high-profile instruments, including items once belonging to the Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir and Jerry Garcia, as well as a Dave Davies-owned Flying V and a Telecaster belonging to blues guitarist Mike Bloomfield.

Derek Trucks must have been visualising his performance before the historic Christie’s sale, as it’s also been revealed he was sat next to Tseitlin when he placed his winning bid. Despite the instrument’s eight-figure value, Trucks wasn’t overly careful with his performance at the Beacon Theatre, and even ended up breaking a string mid-set…

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“Every scratch, every worn fret, every vibration in the wood carries the fingerprints of the musicians who played them and the songs that defined generations,” Family Guitars notes on its website. “Our mission is simple: keep these guitars alive.”

On Friday night, Trucks put that philosophy into action, performing several songs on the instrument, including Blind Willie McTell’s Statesboro Blues, Frank Zappa’s Willie the Pimp, John Prine’s Angel From Montgomery, and Garcia’s own Sugaree.

Speaking to Rolling Stone, Trucks describes the guitar’s unique feel: “It’s a really heavy guitar, but it’s really articulate when you play it. So there’s no hiding anywhere. You’re going to hear all of it, every note. It almost speaks like a piano in some ways, where everything’s clean and even. It’s not for the faint of heart. You need to know what you’re doing to play that guitar. I wasn’t worried about hurting that thing. It’s a big old heavy beast, and he can handle it.”

The Christie’s auction also made headlines beyond Tiger, with David Gilmour’s black Fender Stratocaster fetching $14,550,000, claiming the title of the most expensive guitar ever sold, a record previously held by Kurt Cobain’s MTV Unplugged Martin D-18E.

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The post Derek Trucks played Jerry Garcia’s “Tiger” guitar live just one day after it sold for $11.5 million – and broke a string appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

The music industry isn’t very good at understanding artists who don’t want to sit in a box, particularly strong young women. This is the story of Grace Bowers, and even we don’t have her figured out like we thought.

Today she is happily “doing nothing”, and her uber-chilled manner is exactly the same as it is when she’s playing before thousands or walking red carpets. ‘Would you say you’re an old soul?’ Guitar.com asks, expecting a resounding yes. While in some respects she agrees, Bowers feels she’s in the right place at the right time. None of this ‘born in the wrong generation’ schtick.

Grace Bowers on the Guitar.com Cover. Image: Alanna Taylor for Guitar.com

The proof in the pudding? Her winning combination of utilising social media and playing as many live shows as possible to get where she wanted to be. Now 19 years old, she’s shared stages with artists like Slash and Dolly Parton, has played the US national anthem at an NFL game, and even performed at the 2024 Grammy awards with Coldplay’s Chris Martin.

But Bowers doesn’t want to be defined as a guitar prodigy, or as any one thing at all. We’re about to meet a completely different version of her, and in another five years we’ll likely meet another. She’s excited about this, and is working on new music that is a huge departure from her 2024 funk-laden debut, Wine On Venus.

Image: Alanna Taylor for Guitar.com

“I’m leaning very heavily on rock and punk, while also combining some pop elements. It’s more me. The stuff I was doing before, I got really into funk and was in this jam band world. I realised very quickly, ‘Oh, I do not fuck with this,’” she laughs.

“I feel like there’s such a movement right now with hardcore and punk. Rock bands are coming back. You have Geese and Yungblud… it’s super inspiring to me. I’m like, ‘What can I add to this?’ What I have is not straight ahead rock, it’s very modern sounding.”

“Nothing came naturally at first. I f**king sucked when I first started. It was years and years of non-stop practice”

Diving in

This is a woman with a mission, and one that’s been in her back pocket from her early gigs in dingy dive bars. Originally from a small town in the East Bay of Northern California, Bowers and her family moved to Nashville in the middle of the pandemic, when guitar became her core focus.

Her relationship with the instrument began far before then, just not as smoothly as you may think: “Nothing came naturally at first. I fucking sucked when I first started,” she confesses. “I was trash. It was years and years of non-stop practice.”

Bowers began playing at age nine, and with no other musical members of her family, she had to figure things out on her own. She once had dreams of becoming a football player, but stumbling upon Guns N’ Roses’ Welcome To The Jungle music video made her instantly want to learn her way around a guitar.

Image: Alanna Taylor for Guitar.com

“When I first started I had a teacher and he taught from a church. I would always come to him asking to play AC/DC’s Highway To Hell. He was like, ‘No, that’s not Christian. I can’t teach you that.’ I’m like, ‘Okay, whatever,’ and I go home and learn it by ear,” she remembers.

Moving to Nashville wasn’t an intentional way for Bowers to chase music. Her family wanted a change, and it’s almost as if by destiny the sweet sounds of Music City became inescapable and influential. “I was immediately surrounded by music 24/7, I didn’t have a choice!” she says gleefully. “It definitely inspired me. Being able to go to shows and be around other musicians was something I never would have gotten where I used to live, so that honestly changed my life.”

Meanwhile, Bowers’ social media presence was burgeoning, and opportunities to play in front of real people began to land in her lap. Summarising the vibe of these early dive bar shows, Bowers treads carefully. “It’s kind of dirty, honestly. But you know what? Some of the most fun I’ve ever had has been on a cramped stage with people I just met. You have a musical freedom knowing that half these people aren’t listening. On the other side, maybe the other 50 per cent are listening, and you never know who’s in the crowd.

“I get people in my DMs all the time like, ‘How do I start doing what you did?’ Dude, go to open mics! Go see local bands, get connected. At the same time, keep posting your stuff on social media,” she urges.

“I feel like there’s such a movement right now with hardcore and punk. Rock bands are coming back”

On another planet

Bowers recorded her Wine On Venus album when she was 16. Produced by John Osborne and made with the Hodge Podge band formed off the back of various jam sessions, its sound naturally became a funkadelic melting pot of soul and blues. Now, over a year on from its release, her connection to the album has certainly changed.

“I can’t go back and listen to it,” she admits. “I had never written a song before and my agent was like, ‘I’m having trouble booking you because you don’t have music out.’ I’m super glad that I did it. It was an incredible experience, and there are songs on it that will always be near and dear to my heart because of what they were written about.” Its title track was dedicated to her grandmother, who lived to be 100 years old.

Image: Alanna Taylor for Guitar.com

“At the same time, it’s not the kind of music I want to make anymore. I didn’t even know what kind of music I wanted to make when I was 16. I also don’t tour with that band anymore, so it definitely stands as a phase of my life that is documented. But I don’t really associate myself with it anymore.”

In line with the punky spirit Bowers is channeling within her new music, she’s becoming more and more in tune with what she wants, and has less time to care about what others want from her.

“Nothing pisses me off more than someone throwing a label on me,” she says ardently. “I’m 19! The music I play now versus the music I played when I was 16 or 17 is vastly different. People get upset about that. I’m like, think about when you were 16… You were probably a different person. That’s what kind of sucks about being on social media all the time; I’ve grown up in front of so many people.”

Image: Alanna Taylor for Guitar.com

There is one thing that has remained consistent across her career so far that will likely never waver: Bowers’ connection to the Gibson SG. Though she may occasionally dabble with a Stratocaster when in need of a different sound, it’s the SG she is most drawn to.

“First of all, they look cool,” she states. “I feel like I can get most of the things that I need out of the SG because it has a lot of versatility that people don’t realise. They probably see an SG and associate it with Angus Young or Tony Iommi. Really, it can be used for everything.”

Bowers’ pedalboard is “pretty bare”, but she never goes without a wah pedal (typically a Vox or Dunlop Cry Baby), keeps a highly-coveted Analog Man King Of Tone on constant, and occasionally uses a chorus pedal on a low setting. She’s not opposed to the idea of embracing an amp modeller to save on space, but right now, Bowers bleeds tube amp supremacy: “Fender Deluxe Reverb all the way. It has never done me wrong.”

“Some of the most fun I’ve ever had has been on a cramped stage with people I just met”

Reaching for the stars

Before we get out of Bowers’ signature curly blonde hair, we take some time to look back on the bedlam and beauty of all she has conquered. “If you told me five years ago, ‘You’re gonna play the Grammys one day,’ I’d be like, ‘Get out!’ I never would have thought that posting videos from my bedroom could lead to something like that. It’s trippy,” she says.

The trick to performing with world-famous artists and nailing it? “Don’t overthink it,” she replies. “For me, it goes better when I just let things happen. They’re asking you to play with them because they like what you do. So you shouldn’t all of a sudden start to change or overthink. They’re asking you for you, and not to sound like someone else.”

While at the Grammys, Bowers also got to meet Taylor Swift, who reassured her she knew exactly how she felt as someone who was also once the only teenager in the room. Elsewhere on her bucket list of dream collabs is Olivia Rodrigo, and she’s a big fan of trailblazing women in modern punk.

Image: Alanna Taylor for Guitar.com

“It would be a dream to open for her,” Bowers says dreamily. “There’s a lot of really awesome bands out right now. I just met The Linda Lindas – I’m a huge fan of them, and Amyl And The Sniffers, Lambrini Girls.”

With such a large and colourful career, she thankfully has outlets that allow her to switch off and stay in tune with herself outside of music. She works with a modelling agency and loves to experiment with style, “whether it’s high fashion or a really cool pair of blue jeans”. She skateboards, enjoys long drives in Tennessee, and has “an obsession” with exploring abandoned buildings – don’t say we didn’t tell you she’s full of surprises.

Bowers can put one word on her experience in music so far: “wild”.

“The hardest part about it is being away so much and missing out on normal teenager stuff. I stopped going to school midway through my sophomore year. The pros of it are that I get to travel the world and I’ve experienced so many things that I never would have experienced had I stayed in school, and I’m so glad I didn’t.”

Image: Alanna Taylor for Guitar.com

Bowers’ new goal? Blow all preconceived notions of her career out of the water. She doesn’t want to be ‘Gen-Z’s answer to’ your favourite formative blues-rocker, she doesn’t want to be ‘the next’ anyone. She’s the first Grace Bowers.

“I’ve never tried to copy anyone else. I don’t want to do something that someone’s already done before, and I feel like that sets me apart,” she declares. “People are either gonna appreciate the growth, or not be cool with that. I don’t care either way. That’s always been my thing. I’m gonna do what I want to do, and I’m not doing it to impress anyone else.”

Words: Rachel Roberts
Photography: Alanna Taylor
Photo Assistance: Mallory Lowery
Glam/Styling: Lisa Bowers

The post “Nothing pisses me off more than someone throwing a label on me: I’m 19!” Grace Bowers is determined to forge her own path appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.