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2025 is almost over, and so arrives year-end list season, clattering through the swing doors of journalism right after everyone gets bored of sharing their Spotify wrapped. Is there anything more festive than curling up in front of the fire with a mulled wine and several hundred year-end lists? For my sake, I hope not, because here comes another one.

• READ MORE: How Women Are Giving Metal Guitars A Mainstream Moment

Year-end lists are great opportunities to look back over emerging trends, and identify where the strongest innovations lay across the year. And this year I was pleased to see that, while the digital side of things continues to grow in power and usability, the world of analogue amps and bespoke pedals was actually a pretty damn dynamic one this year. My personal gear preferences tend towards the messy, loud and, yes, inconvenient universe of real analogue kit – so without further ado, let’s see what I was impressed by this year.

My favourite guitar of 2025: Jackson Lee Malia LM-87

Jackson Lee Malia LM-87 guitar. Image: Press

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Is it a metal guitar for offset nerds? Or an offset guitar for metal nerds? Who knows, but either way, Jackson’s new Lee Malia signature is absolutely my top pick of 2025’s new guitar releases. Firstly: it looks cool as hell, but manages to keep it relatively classy. This is not the kind of heavy guitar that screams “mettuuull”, shotguns a beer and stage-dives into the moshpit. Instead, its dark, open-pore finish, the offset shape and the weird tune-o-matic nabbed from Malia’s love of vintage Gibsons make it appealingly minimalist but nevertheless mean looking. Sonically, the combo of a subtle P90 in the neck and an absolute jackhammer of a bridge humbucker makes it great for doing textural things as well as drop-A chugs, and ergonomically, the thing is built for speed and comfort – a boon in any genre.

The LM-87 also shares what’s compelling about the Jack Antonoff and Diamond Rowe signatures: Lee Malia’s personality is here, but it’s definitely a guitar that transcends his and Bring Me’s influence. It’s a minor trend, but a trend nonetheless, for signature guitars to feel a little more like the artist is an honest part of the design process, and less like the guitars are very expensive, playable merch. The side effect is that I still feel drawn to the instrument despite the fact that, and Bring Me The Horizon’s kind of metal is very much not what I’d choose to listen to. Long may this approach continue, basically, where artists of all stripes can contribute to the wider world of cool gear, beyond appeals to their fanbase!

Read the full review.

My favourite amp of 2025: Orange Tour Baby

Image: Orange

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It’s no secret I love Orange amps, and I’ve recently been having a very good time with the brand’s solid-state offerings. Late last year I bagged myself a used Super Crush 100, which is essentially a JFET version of the Rockerverb preamp running into a Pedal Baby power amp. It’s a great amp and I love how it sounds and looks, but I was really impressed with one of Orange’s more compact solid-state offerings this year – the Tour Baby.

The Tour Baby is the same size as the Pedal Baby, but adds two preamp channels and a built-in compressor for the cleans. Given its miniscule size but beefy 100-watt power stage, it’s a really compelling option for gigs where you don’t want to load the boot of your car to bursting but still want to kick out some serious dBs on stage. Its overdrive sounds are great too, and it took dirt pedals amazingly – the mid-gain character of the dirty channel was an excellent combo with thick fuzzes. In all, it’s a very Orange take on the compact-solid-state thing, with some added versatility and portability, all for under £400. What’s not to like?

Read the full review.

My favourite pedal of 2025: Old Blood Noise Endeavours Bathing

Image: Press

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A lot of guitar gear is rooted in what was. Innovation may not quite be a dirty word, but there’s a lot of gear that arrives every year – particularly in the pedal universe – that’s retreading old ground. Maybe with pretty carbon comp resistors and unique enclosure designs, but retreading is retreading – but it’s hard to level that accusation at Old Blood Noise Endeavors’ Bathing. It’s a delay with a totally unique signal chain that shunts the feedback through a variable-stage and variable-LFO phaser – which is a whole lot of jargon to say it sounds utterly unique, totally gorgeous and, true to OBNE’s stated goal, very ‘liminal’.

While it’s by no means for everyone, it’s hard to think of a pedal release I was so intrigued by this year, and I have a lot of respect for the approach of aiming for a totally new, uncharted feeling with a pedal – the art of the thing is in the driving seat, and it’s the sort of thing I’d love to see more pedal companies do.

Read the full review.

The post A compact 100-watter, some liminal ambience and a metal offset: this is my gear of the year 2025 appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Neural DSP has announced what could be the biggest plugin collaboration of all time – Archetype: John Mayer X, a digital version of the Mayer’s recognisable and sought-after tone.

• READ MORE: Neural DSP Archetype: John Mayer review – is this the Mayer tone plugin we’ve been waiting for?

Archetype: John Mayer X takes a similar approach to the brand’s other Archetype plugins, in that it sonically captures Mayer’s favoured analogue bits of kit. On the amps side, you get some digital replicant of his three most beloved and commonly used tube amps – a 1964 Fender Vibroverb, John’s #002 Dumble Steel String Singer, and the prototype of his signature Two-Rock head.

On the pedal side, you get versions of the pedals that you’d expect if you’ve ever even dipped a toe into Mayer tone scholarship: a Keeley Katana, an EHX Q-tron, a Way Huge Aqua-Puss, a combined Bluesbreaker/TS-10 Tube Screamer, and, of course, a Klon Centaur. Alongside this you get a huge variety of speaker cab simulations as well as the usual boatload of microphones that come with any given piece of Archetype software. That makes for a pretty compelling collection of sought-after vintage gear, even outside of the Mayer connection!

Neural DSP head Doug Castro said about the launch in a statement: “John’s sound has inspired guitarists around the world, and it was a privilege to work with him directly to recreate the rig that anchors his tone. “There’s an intimacy to the way his rig responds – it breathes, it opens up, it carries emotion – and capturing that behavior was one of the most meaningful projects we’ve taken on.”

The collaboration is notable as it’s one of the few non-heavy plugins Neural DSP has made, although certainly not the first, as it was preceded by Archetype: Mateus Asato and Archetype: Cory Wong.

And, in case you’d wondered if I’d started putting kisses at the end of my headlines – I haven’t. The ‘X’ in this case indicates an expanded approach to the Archetype software, which is understandable given the scope of the gear captured. Perhaps relatedly this is one of the pricier Archetype offerings from Neural, coming in at €199.

Want to know more? Check out our review of the software, or indeed the 14-day free trial is available from Neural DSP.

The post Neural DSP launches Archetype: John Mayer X appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

€199, neuraldsp.com

Back in the early 2000s, I was a woefully underqualified student on a music college guitar course, powerfully unenthused by the guitar heroes I was encouraged to emulate. In truth, I was probably struggling to see myself in the Mount Rushmore shredders because well, I was and remain a witheringly average guitar player. But a few months into the first semester, one of the tutors switched us onto this new young American lad who was taking an unconventional route to guitar success.

• READ MORE: Poly Effects Trails review – probably the world’s most inspiring multi-effects pedal

This kid had landed himself a spot on the Billboard top 40 with a fairly dreadful song about someone’s body being a wonderland. But, listen to his new album, Room For Squares, we were told – there’s a serious guitar player lurking underneath the radio-friendly pop songs.

I’m telling you this not to flaunt my John Mayer credentials – as if such a thing exists – but to explain that I am something of a greybeard when it comes to Mayer tone chasing. But obviously, I’m not alone.

Mayer is probably the most influential guitar player of the last two decades, with some of the biggest artists on the planet citing him as a huge inspiration on their tone, technique and artistry. There are whole websites devoted to analysing every piece of gear in an attempt to emulate his sound. This then, is a big ol’ deal.

Because while Mayer has had signature products before – the wildly popular PRS Silver Sky being the most notable – he’s often been quite secretive about his actual signal chain. Now however, he’s pulling the curtain back and presenting any guitar player with a laptop and an audio interface the opportunity to experience a high-end emulation of his guitar amps and pedals, and presets to show you how he puts it all together.

Whisper it, but this might be the most asked-for new artist-related product the guitar world has seen in a very, very long time.

Image: Press

Neural DSP Archetype: John Mayer – what is it?

Archetype: John Mayer is the latest in Neural DSP’s – maker of the Cortex pedals and a bunch of other high-end digital guitar stuff – series of wildly popular artist-focused guitar plugins.

For the most part, these Archetypes have focused heavily on the shredder, metallic end of the guitar spectrum – John Petrucci, Gojira, Tim Henson and the like – with the occasional flirtations with non-heavy guys like Mateus Asato and Cory Wong.

Landing a bluefin tuna of a fish like Mayer then, is a big deal not just for guitar fans who have been crying out for an official Mayer plugin, but also for Neural DSP. While the Quad Cortex has become hugely popular with fans and artists across the musical spectrum for its remarkably realistic amp profiles (including Mayer himself), the company has struggled to fully cater to the non-heavy audience at times – this is quite the statement of intent that they’re going to change that.

So, what actually is it? Well it’s a guitar plugin, which will work standalone or with your DAW of choice, that offers a bunch of amps and effects exhaustively modelled on Mayer’s own gear, plus a bunch of presets for that gear created not only by the man himself but by a boatload of other artists, too. Yep, if you’ve ever wondered what John Petrucci, Lee Malia or Plini would do if they were plonked down in front of John Mayer’s rig – wonder no more.

Specifically, what we get here are replications of John’s three most beloved and commonly used amps – a 1964 Fender Vibroverb, John’s #002 Dumble Steel String Singer, and the prototype of his signature Two-Rock head. All three come with corresponding cabs, and there’s an interesting fourth option, “The Three-In-One Amplifier”, which combines all three together as Mayer himself would do, under one streamlined control panel.

You can run each of the amps through any of the connected speaker options – and there are a boatload of mic options, both in terms of type and placement, as you’d expect with any high-end guitar plugin.

Image: Press

Effects-wise, the signal chain offers 11 effects in total, split up into various stages in the chain. And if you ever doubted that Mayer was both extremely online and extremely aware of the internet’s feverish obsession with his signal chain, the fact that all the pedals here are rendered as if clumsily covered in black paint – a nod to Mayer’s habit of ‘blacking out’ certain pedals on his real ‘board to throw off the tonehounds – should remove them conclusively.

In terms of actual pedals, we have five Mayer staples in the pre-effects slot – a Keeley Katana, EHX Q-tron, Way Huge Aqua-Puss, Klon Centaur and a combined Bluesbreaker/TS-10 Tube Screamer. At the other end we also have a Providence Chrono Delay and the reverb bit of a Strymon Flint, and there’s also a studio EQ and compressor after the amp stage.

The most interesting part of the rig, however, is the ‘Gravity Tank’ a Neural-designed hybrid harmonic tremolo and spring reverb tank that puts together the sound of John’s favourite units in a bespoke unit that sits between the pre-effects and the amps.

You also get a transpose function that enables you to go up or down 12 full steps, a noise gate, doubler, plus a built-in tuner, metronome and all the MIDI jiggery you’d expect.

There are 18 built-in Mayer-designed presets, plus multiple presets from over 40 different artists, and a shedload from Neural itself – you can of course, create and save your own too.

Image: Press

Neural DSP Archetype: John Mayer – usability

Neural’s Archetype platform is a mature one at this point and if you’ve used any of Neural’s plugins before the basic setup is as you’d expect. Even if you’ve never used one before however, the interface is extremely straightforward and intuitive.

Across the top of the interface, no matter what you click on, you have the five editable parts of the signal chain – pre-fx, verb & trem, amp, cab, EQ and comp, and post-fx. Below that you have another permanent bar with the input and output level, noise gate, transpose, doubler and a menu to select presets. At the bottom you have an outlined depiction of the four amp and cab options so you can see at a glance what you’re playing through anywhere, while the big space in the middle is devoted to a suitably WYSIWYG depiction of whatever it is you’re currently editing.

Each effect and amp is clearly laid out in the manner you’d expect from the originals, though the blacked-out thing isn’t the most helpful at a glance. The coloured labels don’t exactly pop with their slightly washed-out colour palette, while the labels for the controls are scrawled in what you assume is Mayer’s fair hand. Again, it’s not the most legible thing I’ve ever seen, and from an accessibility standpoint it would be helpful to be able to alter the font to something more legible – but they’re hardly the first pedals, virtual or otherwise, to put form over function in that regard.

Speaking of pedals, as is the nature with all other Archetypes, the signal chain is fixed to Mayer’s preference in terms of both the overarching chain and the individual components therein. That means if you wanted to move, say, your Aqua Puss to your post fx bank, it’s a no-go – it’s sat at the end of your pre fx slot and that’s where it will stay.

Image: Press

The fixed chain has other limitations too – not least the decision to have an either/or situation with the TS-10/Bluesbreaker pedal – and then there’s the amps. Each amp has its own tone stack when selected independently, but it defaults to whatever Mayer’s preferred option for the three-in-one option. In this mode you also only get the ability to tweak the level of each amp, a master gain, plus output and room send.

What’s more, each amp only offers a single channel, and the tone stack is obviously condensed quite considerably from what’s on the front of the real thing – for example, the Vibroverb only has four controls (volume, bass, treble, output) and a bright switch.

This is less of a criticism than it is a note of caution – if you’re buying this expecting to get a fully realised replication of a Steel String Slinger or a Two-Rock, you’ll be disappointed. Instead, think of it more like what Mayer considers the most important bits of each amp – and this is an artist plugin at the end of the day. If you’re buying something for its endlessly editable and configurable sonic options, plenty of options exist.

Image: Press

Neural DSP Archetype: John Mayer – usability

Booting up the plugin on my 2022 MacBook Pro, I naturally reach for the USA Strat that has been a faithful companion for over 20 years – it’s only as I go to plug it in that I recall that both the guitar and its finish choice (sunburst with a tortie pickguard) were the direct result of me spending too much time poring over Mayer’s Any Given Thursday live DVD in a grubby Coventry student house in 2004. The past is nothing if not cringe. Anyway!

The presets are obviously the right place to start for any signature product like this. While Mayer can be a cantankerous character at the best of times, it’s good to see that he hasn’t been totally obtuse here – there are no less than five presets here that have the word ‘Gravity’ in their name. Give the people what they want, John.

I start with ‘Gravity Clean’ because of course I do, with my Strat’s in-between position selected, and well… there it is. Taking into account the fact that Mayer is many dozens of forces of magnitude better at playing guitar than I am, and that my well-loved old Strat is far from a ’64, all it takes is those first five notes to raise the eyebrows at how close this sounds to the man himself.

The presets run a nice gamut of the sort of tones Mayer has become associated with, from meaty Hendrix and SRV-adjacent leads to tastefully restrained bluesy cleans, through to more raucous affairs. The ‘Just Plain Dumb’ preset is frankly, far from it – chaining all three dirty options in the pre effects into a cooking Dumble is certainly a wild ride, but one that is bags of fun.

Isolating all three amps really shows the effort and time that has clearly gone into capturing the sounds, as they really do have distinct and enjoyably authentic characteristics. The Vibroverb is like a warm hug no matter how you set it, while the Steel String Singer certainly lives up to Alexander Dumble’s reputation for creating amps that will show off exactly how good a player you are for good or for ill – forgiving this thing ain’t.

The three-in-one is obviously meant to be the headline event here though – it’s the one that most of Mayer’s presets make use of, but it’s a truly enjoyable experience regardless. The best part is the way you can use the three level controls to precisely tailor how much of each amp you want in your particular sonic gumbo – and the three are different enough that you can easily compensate for anything you don’t like about one with an extra dollop of something you do.

The effects are very impressive across the board, but the star of the show is that Gravity tremolo/reverb tank. The tremolo, in particular, throbs with a wonderfully organic and warm tonality that you rarely find in digital recreations.

And as silly as they might seem from the outset, some of the non-Mayer artist presets – looking at you John Petrucci – do a nice job of showing that there’s utility here beyond Mayer’s bluesy heartlands.

Image: Press

Neural DSP Archetype: John Mayer – should I buy it?

The good thing about Neural’s Archetypes is that you don’t really need me to answer that question for you – a 14-day free trial is available for you to download and let your ears be the judge.

If you’re a seasoned user of plugins and in-the-box guitar stuff, boot it up and have a go. The sting in the tail is that it’s quite a bit more expensive than other Neural artist Archetypes – but you are getting a lot for your money.

The other thing to weigh on is the fact that, despite being a longtime user of various digital guitar solutions – including Kemper, Fractal and Neural – Mayer is often held up by the guitar community as a bit of an analogue messiah.

As a rule, he’s all about big amps, real effects pedals, and putting them together to make massive sounds – can a digital plugin really come close to that? Well… yes and no. Within the scope of some headphones and a laptop, you’re not going to capture the full majesty of playing through several hundred thousand dollars’ worth of boutique and vintage gear on a giant stage.

But you can feel the care and attention to detail that’s gone into this from a sonic point of view – it really does capture the essence of those sounds you hear on stage and on record in a way that I’ve not heard from other plugins, and presets that claim to offer you some of that Mayer magic in digital form.

I have no doubt that the man himself would never claim that this is going to replace his analogue rig – this is a guy who built mini isolation boxes for his amps so he could use them at The Sphere for Dead & Co this year, don’t forget. But what it offers him, and all of us, is the ability to capture some of that magic in a much more affordable, accessible and replicable way. Arguably, it’s what Mayer fans have been asking for for decades.

Image: Press

Neural DSP Archetype: John Mayer – alternatives

Not down with the digital thing? Well Fender don’t currently make a Vibroverb but the ’68 Custom Vibro Champ Reverb ($1,049/£899) is a smaller and quieter substitute. Mayer’s Two-Rock signature has been discontinued for a while, but a Silver Sterling signature will set you back the thick end of $7,000/£6,399. Dumbles? Most clones emulate the Overdrive Special as opposed to the Steel String Singer, but the Overtone SSS 100 from Ceriatone ($2,000) is one option. Alternatively, if you just want a very high-quality suite of guitar amps and pedals in plugin form, without the Mayer endorsement, Paradise Guitar Studio from Universal Audio ($149) is well worth an audition.

The post Neural DSP Archetype: John Mayer X review – is this the Mayer tone plugin we’ve been waiting for? appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Guitar and bass brand Höfner has filed for bankruptcy in Germany, a new filing in the Fürth District Court in Bavaria reveals.

Few details about the insolvency have been made public, however the filing does reveal that “provisional insolvency administration” has been ordered for Karl Höfner GmbH & Co as of 10 December. An insolvency administrator has been appointed, who will proceed to attempt to rectify debts over the next three months. Höfner has been contacted for comment.

The company has a long and storied history. It was founded by Karl Höfner in 1887, in what was then the Austria-Hungarian town of Schönbach, and is now Luby in the Czech Republic. Over the next few decades, the company grew to be one of the largest suppliers of stringed instruments in the area and for export. Operations were unsurprisingly scaled back during World War II, and its facilities were put to use making supplies for the German army. Germany’s postwar reconstitution meant the expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia, and Höfner relocated to West Germany, opening a new factory in Bubenreuth in 1950.

The company would go on to expand its facilities across the 50s, 60s and 70s. Höfner was acquired by the Boosey & Hawkes group in 1994, which led to further expansion. In 2003, Boosey & Hawkes sold its musical instrument division, including Höfner, to the Music Group as part of a rescue buyout. In December 2004, Höfner was sold to long-time general manager Klaus Schöller and his wife, finance director Ulrike Schrimpff.

The brand has made countless different instruments across its history, but one remains perhaps the most recognisable: the 500/1 bass guitar, AKA the Violin Bass, made most famous by Paul McCartney, who was seldom seen playing anything else while he was in the Beatles. The bass remains Höfner’s most recognisable instrument, and has seen many other notable users since McCartney. McCartney’s first 500/1 bass has its own unique history – it was stolen in 1972, only to be found in an attic in suffolk after nearly five decades of hunting.

Stay tuned for updates on this developing story.

The post Höfner files for bankruptcy appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

In one of the many ways that I am crushingly unoriginal as a guitar player, Back To The Future is a Very Big Deal for me. To call those three movies formative on me probably understates things somewhat.

• READ MORE: Does it matter that Marty McFly used the ‘wrong’ guitar in Back to the Future? According to Michael J. Fox, it makes “little difference”

Among the guitars and sports memorabilia that clutter up my home office, an ‘OUTATIME’ license plate sits proudly on my desk, while an Enchantment Under The Sea Dance poster sits framed over my shoulder. So unabashed is my love of BTTF in fact, that when I left Guitarist magazine a decade ago, the traditional ‘leaving cover’ given to departing staff as a farewell saw me expertly photoshopped into the red body warmer of Marty McFly, stepping out of a DeLorean.

All of which is a roundabout way of saying that when, earlier this year, Gibson and Epiphone announced their partnership with the movie to release a pair of commemorative instruments modelled on the mythical ES-345 used by Michael J Fox in the movie, I was paying attention.

The cold financial realities of being a guitar journalist meant that I was never going to be in for one of the 20 grand Gibson models, but the Epiphone version? That might well be in reach… or so I thought.

Because in reality, I would have needed a time machine built out of a DeLorean to get one – by the time I’d umm’d and ahh’d about whether I really needed it (I didn’t, by the way) all 1,985 of them had sold out.

I wasn’t really surprised by that– I doubt you were either. I am far from alone in being a guitar player for whom Back To The Future was hugely important to them. I’ve interviewed a lot of musicians who were born between 1970 and 1990, and by and large it’s more notable when one of them doesn’t cite Marty McFly as a musical touchstone.

And yet in the back of my mind, I knew it wasn’t just that. Plenty of genuine fans were buying the guitars, sure – but as the brand new instruments started popping up on Reverb and eBay with vastly inflated price tags in the following weeks, it was clear that plenty of people had simply bought them to flip for a profit. And it was even worse with the Gibson version.

Obviously, I wasn’t surprised by this. Scalpers are a fact of life in a culture that has become more and more obsessed with limited-edition drops and artificial scarcity. Whether it’s trying to cop the latest Palace x Nike collab, a Snoopy Moonswatch or god forbid, a Labubu, there will always be people trying to profit in these situations at the expense of people who would just quite like to own the thing in question.

Image: Epiphone

The Scale Of The Problem

But how big is the problem in the guitar world? It’s always been quite hard to quantify – it certainly felt like something that was a growing issue, but how big was it exactly. Well, thanks to Reverb, we can now get a sense of the full scale of it.

As you may be aware, every year Reverb crunches the vast amount of data it holds on the buying and selling of new and used music gear across the globe to provide a list of the best selling products in various categories. 2025 was no different, but as I was perusing the lists this year I saw something that made me do a double-take.

At the top of the best-selling new electric guitars for 2025 was, you guessed it, the Epiphone Back to the Future ES-345. This guitar, which was offered for sale exclusively via Gibson’s own website and a few select dealers – and as a reminder, was limited to just 1,985 units – beat every other new guitar launched in 2025.

And let’s not forget, while Reverb may have got its start as a used gear marketplace, it’s now a place where a huge chunk of the gear sold is new – often by retailers. Don’t be under any illusions – a significant proportion of all the gear sales in the US, Europe and beyond now goes through Reverb.

For this guitar to beat out every single non-limited run new guitar made by Fender, Epiphone, Gretsch, PRS and everyone else this year… try and wrap your head around that. How many of those guitars that were bought must have been flipped for profit to have the BTTF Epiphone standing alone on the podium? It’s mind-boggling.

A glance at the other categories shows some similar red flags – if not quite as brazen. JHS’s troubled NOTADÜMBLË – a 15,000-run pedal kit that was sold exclusively via the brand’s website and discontinued after a month – is sitting pretty at number three in the overall pedal category. Elsewhere, Joe Bonamassa’s 500-run MXR Deep State sold out in a day, but still somehow made the top 10. A quick search of both sees them mainly listed for twice the amount they cost a few months back.

Image: Epiphone

Spoiling Our Fun

But does it really matter? You can argue that it’s capitalism working as it’s supposed to, I guess. But I can’t shake the sense they’re ruining the entire point of releasing products with limited production runs – the fun and excitement of trying to bag one.

Obviously, this isn’t a guitar-specific problem – practically every leisure activity you can think of has to deal with scalpers in some shape or form. StockX exists, for crying out loud. I don’t blame the brands, retailers or marketplaces for this – nobody’s managed to fix this problem for shoes, trading cards or anything else, so expecting guitar to lead the way seems a tad unreasonable.

There’s also nothing wrong with buying something, using it for a bit and then selling it on, of course. If you make a profit on it along the way, good for you. But what I hope we can push back on, collectively, is the normalisation of flipping in guitar culture.

Image: Epiphone

It’s that active desire to buy something with no intent to do anything more than stick it on Reverb for double what you paid for it – that feels quite gross to me. And looking at forums and social media, it seems like a lot of the guitar community agrees.

Perhaps the only way to fight back is to stop giving in to the price-gougers – ask yourself, do you really want that thing so much that you’re prepared to give some chancer double what it should cost to get it?

If we all decided to not play the game, the prices would start coming down because nobody wants a guitar they’re not playing kicking around the house long-term. In the end, that’s what I decided to do.

I was disappointed, sure, but in the months since I can’t honestly say I’ve missed it. Maybe in a few years the prices will come down and I’ll pick one up, maybe I won’t – but whatever happens, I won’t let the scalpers turn something that’s suppose to be fun into something so… heavy?

The post Scalpers are ruining the fun for real guitarists – and now I have the data to prove it appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

When billionaires throw holiday parties, expectations tend to rise well above lukewarm wine and a dutiful covers band.

That was the case last Thursday (11 December), when Eldridge Industries chairman Todd Boehly hired out New York’s Capitol Theatre and turned what was ostensibly a corporate holiday party into a full-blown all-star rock showcase.

• READ MORE: Justin Hawkins takes another brutal swing at Yungblud: “if the future of rock comes from musical theatre and Disney, if this is Ozzy’s heir, we’re in trouble”

The 1,800-capacity venue in Port Chester reportedly played host to an in-house band led by Slash and Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan, alongside Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith and producer-guitarist Andrew Watt.

Performing under the name The Dirty Bats, the group was joined throughout the night by a rotating parade of guest vocalists including Bruno Mars, Eddie Vedder, Yungblud, Brandi Carlile and Anthony Kiedis, who donned a cowboy hat for his cameo – because why not.

The setlist leaned heavily on rock canon, with covers of Motörhead’s Ace of Spades and Iggy and the Stooges’ Search and Destroy sitting alongside covers of Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix and Nirvana. Mars, in particular, made a strong case for himself as the night’s wildcard, strapping on a Fender Stratocaster for Whole Lotta Love, Fire, and a ferocious take on Smells Like Teen Spirit.

Slash, meanwhile, stuck to familiar territory, wielding a sunburst Gibson Les Paul in front of a line of his signature Magnatone amps, while a selection of Fender combos sat ready for guest guitarists to plug into.

The night closed with everyone piling onstage for Johnny B. Goode and Rockin’ in the Free World – a fitting finale to a holiday party where money is no object and the guest list plays arenas for a living.

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Still stuck chasing the perfect rig? Kiss guitarist Tommy Thayer says he’s long since stopped worrying about “magic guitars” and his latest album is proof of that.

Speaking to MusicRadar about his newly released EP Bombshell, Thayer says some of its best sounds came from gear he barely remembers using – including a Gibson SG he never thought much of previously.

• READ MORE: “I really don’t find either of those guitars particularly comfortable”: YouTube star Bradley Hall on classic guitar designs like the Stratocaster and Les Paul

The EP reunites Thayer with longtime friend and collaborator Jaime St. James of Black ’N Blue. Describing the process as “super organic”, Thayer says of the project’s start: “Jaime and I got together simply because we’re so close and thought it would be fun to record again. We sat down intending to revisit a few old tracks we liked, but Jaime happened to show me two new ideas he had, and I loved them.”

“So, we just dove in – writing, finishing the songs, and working out arrangements right there in my living room with an acoustic guitar and recording the ideas on my phone.”

Once the material was ready, the pair headed into a Portland studio with producer Rob Daiker, who Thayer says took the reins when it came to gear and tones.

“It’s funny – people have asked me about the gear and guitars I used to record with Jaime on our new EP, and honestly, this is the truth – I’m not totally sure!” Thayer admits.
“Rob Daiker isn’t just an amazing engineer and producer. He’s also a guitar player and a fantastic musician in his own right. So he had a whole arsenal of guitars and amps ready to go, and he set me up completely.”

Still, one instrument did leave an impression. An old Gibson SG he’d brought along almost as an afterthought ended up making its way onto the record.

“I did bring along an SG I’d had hanging around for years, which I never thought was a particularly good-sounding guitar,” he says. “It was just something I happened to have with me in Oregon. But when we plugged it in at the studio, it ended up sounding great, so I used it a bit. Beyond that, Rob had everything dialled in.”

For Thayer, the experience reinforced a lesson that’s only become clearer with time – that gear matters far less than the people using it.

“Back in the old days, we all had those special guitars or amps you had to bring into the studio because they were the ‘magic’ guitars or instruments you couldn’t do without,” he says. “But over time I’ve realised it doesn’t really matter as much as I used to think.”

“What makes the difference is having someone in the room who knows what sounds good and understands the tone you’re aiming for. After that, it’s in your hands – literally in your hands. That’s what truly makes a great sound. With that, you can make almost anything work.”

The post “It doesn’t really matter as much as I used to think”: Kiss guitarist Thommy Thayer on recording his new EP without “magic guitars” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

The Rolling Stones have reportedly cancelled plans for a UK and European tour in 2026, after Keith Richards admitted he “didn’t think he could commit” to the demands of another full-scale stadium run.

According to The Sun, the Stones had been exploring a return to Europe following the success of their Hackney Diamonds tour in the US last year. The band – whose 2024 tour grossed an estimated $235 million – were said to be weighing up dates at major stadiums across the UK and mainland Europe, after earlier touring plans for 2025 were quietly shelved.

• READ MORE: Ronnie Wood celebrates 50 years as a Rolling Stone with new paintings of bandmates Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts

Had it gone ahead, the run would have marked their first live shows since the 2024 Hackney Diamonds tour, which sold close to one million tickets across North America. But those plans now appear to be on ice, with guitarist Keith Richards reportedly reluctant to sign on for another lengthy stretch on the road.

The news was first reported by The Sun, citing an American music critic familiar with the situation: “The Rolling Stones had all the big promoters throwing loads of ideas and dates at them for next summer,” the critic said. “But when they properly sat down to discuss the tour, Keith said he didn’t think he could commit and wasn’t keen on a big stadium tour for over four months.”

A spokesperson also added: “The band were looking to tour earlier this year but couldn’t make it work either. It’s hard for their fans but The Stones will get back onstage when they’re good and ready.”

Despite the uncertainty around touring, the band’s creative engine hasn’t stalled. Speaking to The Sun in September, Ronnie Wood confirmed he was still waiting on the green light for 2026 dates, while producer Andrew Watt revealed that the Stones have been back in the studio working on new material.

“You will be getting new music from the Rolling Stones with an album next year,” Wood said at the time. “It is almost done.”

The band’s most recent release, Hackney Diamonds, arrived in 2023 and marked their first album of original material in 18 years.

The post Is Keith Richards finally slowing down? Rolling Stones cancel tour plans as guitarist “didn’t think he could commit” to the gruelling schedule appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

While the Fender Stratocaster and Gibson Les Paul are, by most accounts, the two most popular guitar designs ever – and have very much shaped the world of music as we know it today – some modern players aren’t entirely convinced, and prefer builds with more modern spec sheets to suit their playing styles.

Take YouTube star Bradley Hall for example, a formidable player who has built a loyal following of nearly 600,000 subscribers for his comedic takes on guitar culture. He’s also a guitarist for Swedish power metal outfit Twilight Force.

• READ MORE: “If you come up to the factory and draw it with me, I’ll do it!”: Mark Tremonti reveals how Paul Reed Smith challenged him to design his “coolest” custom guitar

Asked in a recent Q&A for his thoughts on classic guitar designs like the Strat and Les Paul, Hall explains: “I really like the sound of classic guitars like Les Pauls and Strats. They’re amazing guitars for recording, but they’re just not very practical, in my opinion.”

He goes on: “I really don’t find either of those guitars particularly comfortable, especially traditional Strats. I love the sound of a Strat, but man, those guitars are just so uncomfortable to play…

“Les Pauls are a bit more comfortable, but they just feel horrible, especially when playing standing up. They’re just not very ergonomic at all, and I hate the pickup switch being up here. Sucks ass.”

Les Pauls have long gained a reputation for being heavy, which can make them more uncomfortable to play for long periods standing up than other, lighter guitars. And as Bradley Hall points out, a Les Paul’s pickup selector switch is located above the pickups rather than below, which can make on-the-fly pickup switching less seamless.

Bradley Hall’s comments are sure to spark a response from guitar purists who swear by either the Strat or the Les Paul, but a bit of healthy debate in the guitar world never hurt anyone, now, did it?

The post “I really don’t find either of those guitars particularly comfortable”: YouTube star Bradley Hall on classic guitar designs like the Stratocaster and Les Paul appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Of all the guitars in Mark Tremonti’s arsenal, there’s one he regards as his numero uno. And that’s Stella, a bold design the Creed and Alter Bridge man worked on personally with PRS head honcho Paul Reed Smith.

If you’ve been lucky enough to catch Creed at one of their 2025 shows, you’ll have seen Tremonti donning the Explorer-esque build throughout the set. And in a new interview with Revv Amps recorded before the band’s Edmonton, Alberta show in August, he recounts how the guitar became a reality.

• READ MORE: “I took it to my hotel room and played it all afternoon!”: How Iron Maiden’s Adrian Smith got his hands on the legendary Greeny Les Paul

“I was talking to Paul about doing a new guitar design, and he was like, ‘You know what, if you come up here to the factory and draw it with me, I’ll do it,’” Tremonti says.

“So I went up there, we got on the dry erase board and started drawing shapes, and once we got kind of close I was like – when Paul started getting close – I said, ‘What about these lines here if they did this,’ and he just gave me the pen and let me draw what I envisioned. And between the two of us we came up with a design.

Next, Tremonti recalls, Paul and his team transferred the drawing to a computer programme which allowed them to visualise the guitar in three dimensions.

“It looked amazing, and they built me two of them,” he goes on. “The first was a black one, the second one was brown. The brown one was my favourite for years until they made this one… 

“This is one of the best-sounding and -playing guitars I own. I absolutely love it. I named it Stella before I had my baby girl. We always planned on naming our daughter Stella, so I was like, we haven’t had a daughter yet, so I named it Stella before my daughter was born.

“[It’s] definitely one of my most talked about guitars, one of my most played guitars. Of all the guitars I’ll play tonight I’ll probably play this the most.”

Elsewhere, Mark Tremonti showcases his #2 guitar, a Charcoal Burst single-cut PRS with a Dimebag Darrell sticker on its lower bout.

“When Dime passed, a fan was handing out stickers at a House of Blues show we were at,” he says. “So I just immediately put it on here. Vinnie [Paul] even came up to me and thanked me because he had heard I had put this on there. This is my tribute to Dime.”

Watch the full interview below:

The post “If you come up to the factory and draw it with me, I’ll do it!”: Mark Tremonti reveals how Paul Reed Smith challenged him to design his “coolest” custom guitar appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Few guitars have quite the same legendary status as Greeny, the 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard once owned by Fleetwood Mac’s Peter Green, and now under the custodianship of Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett.

As the story goes, Peter Green played the guitar while with John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers before selling it to blues ace Gary Moore in the early ‘70s for around £120 – a sum no higher than Green had originally paid for it.

• READ MORE: “It doesn’t work!”: Gojira’s Joel Duplantier explains why he doesn’t like bands playing albums in full live

Moore played the guitar for three decades – both in Thin Lizzy and throughout his solo career – before selling it in 2006 for a sum between six and seven figures. The guitar passed through the hands of several private collectors before Hammett bought it in 2014.

And a chance encounter at a hotel in Canada presented Iron Maiden legend Adrian Smith with the opportunity to get his hands on Greeny, and naturally, he jumped at the offer.

“Kirk’s a great guy,” Smith says in a new interview with eonmusic [via Ultimate Guitar]. “He’s a lovely guy, and I bumped into him in a hotel in Canada. We were just waiting for the lift. We’re just checking in, and Metallica were there, and the first thing I said to him, I said, ‘Oh, you bought Greeny.’ He goes, ‘Yeah, I’ve got it. You want to play?’ I said, ‘Yeah!’”

“So I went to his room. [Photographer] Ross Halfin was there as well, because he’s a mutual friend, although I know Kirk a little bit, and we sat, and he gave me the guitar and a little practice amp, and of course, I did [Fleetwood Mac’s] Oh Well. And then he says, ‘Look, I’ve got to go out.’”

Smith explains that Hammett and Halfin were busy taking photos, so Hammett suggested Smith take Greeny back to his hotel room and play it to his heart’s content.

“I took it to my hotel room and I had a little practice amp in there, and I just played it all afternoon,” Smith goes on. “It plays great; it’s the intonation, the feel, the sound. I mean, it’s just a wonderful, great guitar. I’m glad somebody’s using it, and it’s not on a wall in somebody’s air-controlled, climate-controlled guitar locker. It’s out there being played, as it should be.”

Kirk Hammett regularly plays Greeny onstage with Metallica, and you can watch him do so yourself at any of Metallica’s upcoming 2026 tour dates.

Check out the band’s official website for more info.

The post “I took it to my hotel room and played it all afternoon!”: How Iron Maiden’s Adrian Smith got his hands on the legendary Greeny Les Paul appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

There are some rules of guitar that most of us stick to. Rock bands play Les Pauls, Jazzmasters and Telecasters are for indie kids (and country stars). Strats are for everything. And pointy guitars? Well… they’re just for metal, right?

• READ MORE: The Guitar Influences of Eddie Van Halen

Well, if you cast your eye across the biggest festival stages over the last few years, however, you’d have noticed something rather unprecedented happening. From Glastonbury to Coachella and beyond, a new generation of guitar-playing women have reclaimed the most aggressive and angry looking guitar shapes for a new generation. And for styles of music that have never seen such pointy and angular instruments before.

We can probably trace this back to Phoebe Bridgers. The Grammy-winning guitarist triggered an entire generation of angry guitarists when she smashed a BC Rich Warlock – a model more associated with Mötley Crüe, Slayer, and Guns N’ Roses than with indie’s resident sad-girl laureate – at the end of a Saturday Night Live performance in 2021, but it was clearly more than a stunt.

The guitarist began using Warlocks almost exclusively in the coming years, including as part of the cultural phenomenon that was Boygenius, but she would by no means be the last.

Phoebe Bridgers performing with Boygenius at Oyafestivalen in 2023. Image: Per Ole Hagen/Redferns via Getty Images

At Glastonbury this year, Wet Leg ditched the prairie dresses and neutral-toned Fenders for a new and more confrontational stage presence. This shift was epitomised by frontwoman Rhian Teasdale, who ditched her trusty Telecaster for an even weirder BC Rich curio – a lime green transparent acrylic-bodied Warlock.

And that wasn’t the only pointy guitar around the neck of a guitarist at Worthy Farm that weekend. Fellow Wet Leg guitarist Hester Chambers was rocking the pointy headstock of the none-more-80s Kramer Jersey Star.

Elsewhere, Turnstile’s Meg Mills was helping reinvent hardcore for a mainstream audience with her trusty pink Jackson Soloist in hand, while over on the Pyramid Stage, Olivia Rodrigo’s co-guitarist Arianna Powell was another guitarist propelling the set forward with a Soloist in hand.

By the end of the festival, it became clear that this isn’t just a gear shift, but a key change away from the age-old archetypes.

Meg Mills of Turnstile performing at Alcatraz in 2025. Image: Sergione Infuso/Corbis via Getty Images

Silver. Glittery. Crazy.

So why is it that more and more women in pop are reaching for pointy metal-adjacent guitars, and what does that say about gender, genre, and the evolution of our modern-day guitar heroes?

Originally a P-bass player, Emily Smith from rapidly rising Welsh upstarts Panic Shack never expected to pick up the Silvertone Apocalypse bass — the four-string version of KISS guitarist Paul Stanley’s early 2000s signature model — let alone be seen with it.

“I remember typing in Google, ‘Silver. Glittery. Crazy’,” she laughs from her home in Cardiff. For Smith, the shift isn’t just about aesthetics: it’s about subversion. “If you’re a woman, people assume you’ll gently play an acoustic guitar, shy away, and not take up space. I love that these artists are like, ‘No, I’m gonna get that crazy guitar. I want to stand out!’ It’s not all dainty, cutesy guitars. It’s ‘look at my minging rock guitar’. It’s disgusting and I love it.”

Young women are no longer being put into a Daisy Rock-shaped box when it comes to guitar inspiration. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying that of course, but a generation of new players are having their FYPs filled up with female musicians who aren’t ashamed to break with conventions.

Emily Smith of Panic Shack. Image: Press

It’s why you’ll see Willow Smith rocking a Jackson King V at Coachella, or you’ll see Halsey’s pop pyrotechnics backed up by seven-string Warrior-toting guitarist Vixen. A Jackson artist, Vixen has definitely noticed a shift in who uses the pointy stuff.

“These instruments were traditionally designed for men’s bodies, so I’m seeing a lot of offsets and shorter-scale options,” they explain. But for the skilled session musician, this shift is something deeper than gear choice. “Why try to be a slightly worse version of someone? Just do your own thing.”

For Vixen, the use of out-there shape guitars like the Warrior and the King V is key to that “thing”. “The pop scene requires drama,” they explain. “It’s about dynamics, ups and downs – so let’s bring out the white V, you know?”

Willow Smith performing at Coachella in 2023. Image: Presley Ann/Getty Images for Coachella

Full Circle

In some ways, this return to the pointy, the dramatic, and the genre-agnostic is a full-circle moment. In the 70s and 80s when many of these weird and wonderful guitars were first designed, shred and metal had yet to claim them.

Take a few minutes and look up Latin-pop legend Jose Feliciano posing in a suit and open-collar shirt with his custom Soloist with ‘Jose’ written in the Jackson font on the headstock – it’s wonderfully incongruous, and can be filed alongside a similarly amazing shot of Wrecking Crew legend Carol Kaye playing a BC Rich Warlock in while dressed a chic 70s housewife.

But as Tim Hillier-Brook, who heads Artist Marketing manager for Fender’s Specialty brands (Jackson, Gretsch, Charvel, and EVH), puts it, today’s revival isn’t about irony; it’s about reclamation.

“Men have had thirty years of playing guitars because they could,” he insists. “The idea that you need a bullet belt to play pointy guitars doesn’t exist anymore.”

Rhian Teasdale of Wet Leg performing at the Royal Albert Hall in 2025. Image: Chiaki Nozu/WireImage via Getty Images

Rejecting the pressure to perform on a “correct” instrument resonates strongly with Smith, especially when confronted with purist opinions.

“If anybody said anything to me about using an instrument that’s metal, I’d be like, ‘Oh, fuck off!’” he exclaims. “It’s just a guitar at the end of the day; it’s not that deep.”

Vixen is equally unfazed by this sort of mindset. “It no longer has to be, ‘If I’m playing this genre, I have to play this guitar.’ It’s cool to play something different and to make it work.”

And women are making it work – everywhere. Fender’s 2019 study famously found that women made up 50 per cent of new guitar players. Their 2022 follow-up revealed that many bought guitars online to avoid the intimidation of traditional stores.

As Danielle Haim puts it on the band’s Women In Music Pt. III track Man From The Magazine: “Man from the music shop / I drove too far / For you to hand me that starter guitar.” And if the chart-topping LA sisterhood is still fielding that kind of prejudice, what chance does a new, fresh-faced player have?

Arianna Powell performing with Olivia Rodrigo at BST Hyde Park in 2025. Image: Lorne Thomson/Redferns via Getty Images

Screen Idols

With physical stores still feeling fraught in some cases, thankfully, digital spaces have become a lifeline. Just as Ableton has equipped a whole new generation with access to studio gear and home recording opportunities, social media has made discovery democratic.

“Artists with huge followings like Willow Smith and Phoebe Bridgers,” continues Hillier-Brook. “People will see them and go ‘Cool, I’m going to buy that.”

Now, if someone is curious about picking up a guitar, they can simply find the model they want online, without being subjected to a character assassination.

New players without that traditional knowledge curve through dad-focused guitar mags and gatekeeping open mic nights are coming to guitar, thinking less about their forefathers and more about how the instrument fits with their identity and lifestyle.

When Vixen caught millennial musician Nai Palm of Aussie outfit Hiatus Kaiyote, they were intrigued to find her picking up a Randy Rhoads to play out the band’s sultry sounds. “Not only was it bad ass to have that guitar anyway, but to play it in a neo-soul way is like you really don’t give a fuck,” they explain.

Nai Palm of Hiatus Kaiyote performing at Coachella in 2023. Image: Arturo Holmes/Getty Images for Coachella

Panic Shack’s Smith agrees about her role within her brash and bold foursome, who recently brought their high-kicks and hotpants to the BBC’s Later…with Jools Holland.

“We’re all very out there,” she agrees. “It makes sense to have a guitar that represents your style and personality.” And in pop – a genre built on the razzle dazzle – that matters more than ever.

“It is a conversation piece,” adds Hillier-Brook. “The aesthetic of a show is arguably more important than it’s ever been. You want people to leave thinking that was a complete spectacle!”

Perhaps that’s why earlier this year, after a decade-long legal battle with producer Dr Luke, Kesha returned to the stage as an independent artist, wielding a Jackson Rhoads.

It was, in many ways, the ultimate guitar power move: reimagining a guitar designed to be played with the Prince Of Darkness himself, Ozzy Osbourne, as a vehicle for a pop artist to celebrate her independence.

Emily Smith performing with Panic Shack. Image: Press

“If you’re a woman playing guitar, you’re already doing something against the grain,” Vixen agrees. “So why not lean into that?”

For Smith, the empowerment goes beyond the stage. Picking up that gleaming Silvertone every night means seeing herself – loud, unapologetic – reflected back.

“The whole industry is intimidating as a woman or someone who’s not a guy,” she admits. “I know that the other girls in the band, Romy and Meg, only now feel confident to say ‘I’m a guitarist!’”

It takes more than talent to stand out; it takes courage. Because underneath the outrageous shapes, the bold finishes, and the sneers from traditionalists, most players want the same thing: to be heard.

“Just because you’re standing there gurning doesn’t make you look like a more serious musician,” Smith says. “If you listen closely, we’re doing the same thing as you are.”

The post How Women Are Giving Metal Guitars A Mainstream Moment appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Back in September, The Darkness’ Dan Hawkins labelled Yungblud’s VMAs Ozzy Osbourne tribute as “nauseating”. In the months since, Justin Hawkins has backed his brother up, revealing just why the pair are critical of the Doncaster rockstar.

The point of contention is how some are heralding Yungblud as Ozzy Obsourne’s “heir”. However, Justin thinks Harrison is just too squeaky-clean to be the next generation’s Prince of Darkness. “If the future of rock comes from musical theatre and Disney, if this is Ozzy’s heir, we’re in trouble,” Justin tells Classic Rock in a new interview.

• READ MORE: The Darkness guitarist slams Yungblud’s VMAs Ozzy tribute as “nauseating” and “s**t” – but what’s the problem?

For those unaware, Yungblud, AKA Dom Harrison, previously starred as on Disney Channel show, The Lodge. The show ran between 2016 and 2017, with Harrison taking on the role of Oz, a cheeky, boy-next-door rocker – arguably a watered down, PG version of what he’s up to nowadays.

Despite Harrison moving on from his Disney days, most recently collaborating with Aerosmith for the One More Time EP, the Hawkins brothers can’t detach Harrison from his past. Harrison’s career has certainly been a bit more family-friendly than Ozzy Osbourne’s rampage of bat-chomping and drug-addled benders, that’s for sure.

With that in mind, The Darkness just can’t see him being Ozzy’s “heir”. Previously, Justin has also told Classic Rock that Harrison’s recent metamorphosis has felt like “101 School of Rock stuff”. But who can blame Justin for his caution; rockers are going to be critical of anything that threatens to encroach on Ozzy Osbourne’s legacy.

While Justin insists his and his brother’s opinion was never intended to start a “spat”, he did throw a slight dig at Harrison elsewhere in his chat with Classic Rock interview. Namely, he criticised Harrison’s use of auto-tune during the VMAs. “We said [called it a] ‘bit shit’ [because of the] auto-tune that was being run in real time,” he says. “If the future of rock needs auto-tune to carry a song, then we are in trouble.”

However, Harrison has previously proved his worth at Black Sabbath’s Back To The Beginning show. His performance of Changes showed some real vocal skills, and his performance has been repeatedly praised as an unsuspected standout of the event.

While the Hawkins brothers aren’t set to accept Yungblud as “Ozzy’s heir” any time soon, the Osbourne family have repeatedly expressed feelings that Harrison is similar to Ozzy. In a new interview with Piers Morgan on his Uncensored talkshow, Ozzy’s wife, Sharon Osbourne, seemed fond of the idea of Harrison portraying her late husband.

After revealing there was a “deal” agreed upon and that the job now was to “look for people to work on the movie”, Morgan asked “do you have any idea who you want to play him?”. After Sharon admitted she has someone in mind, she refuses to name anyone – but, when Morgan suggests “Yungblud?”, she lets out a small smile. While she doesn’t deny the suggestion, she simply says: “I’m not saying a word.”

The post Justin Hawkins takes another brutal swing at Yungblud: “if the future of rock comes from musical theatre and Disney, if this is Ozzy’s heir, we’re in trouble” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

As we all get older, so do our favourite rock albums. As a result, an increasing number of bands are embarking on milestone anniversary tours to perform their most iconic records in full; last year, Slipknot toured their debut record to celebrate its 25th anniversary, while Liam Gallagher embarked on his own solo tour to mark 30 years since Oasis’ debut.

However, French metallers Gojira aren’t too fond of a cut-and-dry anniversary tour. Despite 2026 marking 20 years of From Mars To Sirius, frontman Joe Duplantier insists the album’s anniversary tour will offer more than a back to front performance of the record.

“We already tried it in rehearsal, and it doesn’t work,” he explains of the concept. His reasoning is rooted in how a live show differs from the intimacy of listening to a record. “For me, listening to an album is about lying on a bed, headphones on, following a story,” he explains in a new issue of Rolling Stone France.

• READ MORE: The Gear Used By Eddie Van Halen on ‘Van Halen I’

Duplantier notes that performing the record in full might even be a disservice to the original record. With all the “crazy things happening”, the intricacy and beauty of a record would simply get lost in the chaos of a live environment. He adds that “moments of calm” might also lose their magic, as quieter tracks wont translate as well in a massive arena.

In the end, the result is a diluted version of what was originally put to record. With that in mind, Duplantier would much rather breathe new life into From Mars To Sirius to honour its anniversary. “It’s the album that propelled us to international success,” he reflects. “We already tried [playing it in full] in rehearsal, but it doesn’t work!”

“We want to shake things up to give it a boost,” he explains, noting that the shows are set to have plenty of “surprises” for fans. One of which has been a massive flying whale, in honour of the album artwork and track Flying Whales.

The idea of giving old tracks a “boost” has been a staple of Gojira’s work as of late. Earlier this year, Gojira performed at Black Sabbath’s Back To The Beginning show, putting their own spin on Sabbath ‘s 1972 classic, Under the Sun/Every Day Comes and Goes.

As Duplantier explains, the band “reshaped”, “modernised” and “shortened” the track, transforming it into something more in-line with Gojira’s style. While the frontman notes the track wasn’t the band’s “usual groove”, he embraced the challenge to pay his respect to Sabbath’s legacy.

Despite the challenge, Gojira pulled their cover off without a hitch. They even made a point of knocking it back out on 22 July, the day Ozzy Osbourne passed away, to honour the heavy metal legend. “We were informed [of Ozzy’s passing] in the middle of the concert. When we played Under the Sun/ Every Day Comes and Goes, everyone was overwhelmed with emotion; people were crying in the audience.”

The post “It doesn’t work!”: Gojira’s Joel Duplantier explains why he doesn’t like bands playing albums in full live appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

While 1994’s Parklife served as Blur’s breakout record, the band only began to understand the gravity of their newfound fame the following year. Thirty years on from The Great Escape, drummer Dave Rowntree recalls how 1995 marked Blur’s shift from a humble indie group to a chart-topping “boyband”.

In a new interview with Classic Pop, Rowntree notes how The Great Escape saw the band’s main demographic of fans totally change. “We’d gone from indie kids to screaming girls,” he recalls. “Some members of the band found that wonderful, others regretted it.”

• READ MORE: The Gear Used By Eddie Van Halen on ‘Van Halen I’

While Blur have never been a boyband – they play their own instruments, for a start – they were a group of charming young lads in their 20s. Once their Britpop and indie tunes hit the mainstream, girls quickly took a shine to them, covering their walls with posters and dreamily obsessing over Damon Albarn.

“It had never occurred to me that we could fit into the boyband mould,” Rowntree laughs. “We knew Take That reasonably well, and of course they consciously played up to it, [but] we never had. To have it suddenly coming our way was interesting.”

While Rowntree notes that the hysteria “didn’t last” for too long, the group experienced their own mini version of Beatles-mania. One such incident happened in Spain, when the lads were escorted from a radio station, while another saw bassist Alex James and frontman Albarn being locked inside of a shop in Florence while police sent away crowds of rabid fans.

“It was very exciting, as every band wants to be The Beatles,” Rowntree notes. “We weren’t the first or the last band that happened to, but those were hairy, crazy times.”

Regardless of the new mania that surrounded them, the band were more excited about the doors that the fandom was opening for them. More fans meant selling more tickets, which meant bigger, more ambitious shows. “We worried if we could fill these stages just by being ourselves,” Rowntree admits as he reflects. “[But] we loved building stage sets that Damon could interact with in interesting ways.”

Rowntree picks out one of the band’s more ambitious ideas, which took place during Dan Abnormal. “We came up with some pretty berserk ideas,” he explains. “For example, ‘McNormal burgers’ were hid in the rafters, before they were lowered over audiences… We wanted everything as big and bold as possible!”

The Great Escape (30th Anniversary Edition) is out now.

The post Blur drummer reveals that some of his bandmates loved them becoming a “boyband”: “We’d gone from indie kids to screaming girls” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Still looking for last-minute Christmas gifts? You’re in luck, because Thomann is offering one of the most treasured Electro-Harmonix pedals for less than £50.

The EHX Bad Stone was originally launched in the late 1970s and was reissued by the brand in 2015. It remains faithful to the original circuit design and three-knob control layout, but features up-to-date enhancements for today’s players, and can now be yours for just £47.

• READ MORE: Guitar.com Deals Of The Week: pre-Christmas savings to stuff your stockings with

The Bad Stone delivers six stages of phase shifting, and also hosts a manual mode that lets players freeze the phase. Its Rate knob controls the phase shifting speed – which goes from very slow to a rapid, oscillating warble – while its Feedback knob determines the depth of the phase effect. A toggle switch is also onboard for selecting Auto or Manual modes.

All controls are super simple to use, and the pedal is housed in a compact, rugged die-cast package that shrinks down the original Bad Stone to a more typical modern pedal size. To hear how it sounds and find out more, you can watch the video below:

In other EHX news, the brand has teamed up with JHS Pedals to revive Bob Myer’s long-lost dual Op-Amp Big Muff design as the EHX Big Muff 2, described as “a sharper, louder, more aggressive take on the classic Big Muff voice.”

But that’s not all from the EHX camp, as it also recently informed the subscribers of its email newsletter that the company has a plan to solve an AI-induced energy crisis by harvesting a near-infinite supply of energy that’s hiding out in the planet’s magnetosphere.

To shop this deal on the EHX Bad Stone, head over to Thomann.

The post One of the most iconic pedals ever for under 50 quid? Grab this incredible Thomann deal while you can appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

The Guild Polara is an ultra-light, rock-ready machine with simple yet effective controls, and you can now get your hands on it for less than $500.

Launched at NAMM in 2024, this Polara range followed on from the success of Guild’s 2023 collaboration with Kim Thayil. This standard version is the most affordable of the lot – among the Deluxe, Artist Signature, and USA versions – and you can now get a further 20 percent off it via the zZounds Reverb shop, knocking it down to $439.95.

• READ MORE: The 10 best acoustic guitars for all styles and budgets

We reviewed the Polara shortly after its launch, and awarded it a glowing 8/10. While its no frills layout means it’s not the most versatile guitar, we loved its striking aesthetics and described it as a “tone-packed rock machine” that will “remind you exactly why you fell in love” with guitar in the first place.

A brilliantly accessible model, the standard Polara offers uncovered HB-2+ pickups, described as “modern extensions” of the coveted Guild HB-1 oversized humbuckers built in a traditional size with Alnico V magnets. A diagonal string layout matches Guild’s compensated stop bar design first introduced in the early 1970s, and its string-through body design delivers glorious sustain.

This double cut dream offers plenty of access to the upper frets for soloing and classic rock shredding. It has an ultra-light ergonomic Mahogany body, making it an ideal workhorse guitar, and a mahogany U-shaped neck hosting a rosewood fingerboard. Its uber sleek and simple design is completed with basic controls for master volume and tone.

Infallible for players of all abilities, this standard Polara is sold brand-new through Reverb and comes in a vibrant Voltage Yellow colour. Hear it in-play in the video below:

You can shop this deal now via Reverb.

The post We said this Guild “reminds you exactly why you fell in love” with guitar – and you can get an incredible 20% off it at Reverb appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

As much as we love it, and while guitarists themselves have continued to evolve, there’s no escaping the truth. The electric guitar is an instrument rooted in technology from the early 20th century, with a playing technique that predates the printing press.

But what if we took all the technological innovation the last seven decades have afforded us, and approached this wonderful thing of ours with fresh eyes? The Circle Guitar is one answer.

The Circle Guitar on the Guitar.com Cover. Image: Andy Ford for Guitar.com

If you’ve seen it, you will no doubt have an abiding memory: the disc. The spinning wheel that gives the guitar its name, covered in tiny plectrums, strums the strings in a way that no human could – freeing both hands up to create sounds, effects and textures that even the greatest guitarist couldn’t create on their own with a conventional instrument. With the rhythm aspect controlled by the guitar (the rhythm and pattern of which is determined by MIDI), you can interact with the guitar in new ways: create impossible chord shapes, experiment with new types of string muting and string bending, work the onboard volume faders to precisely bring in each note at the right moment.

Creator Anthony Dickens describes the circle as “an electro-mechanical guitar that uses a MIDI-enabled physical sequencer to strum the strings”. Sounds straightforward, right? But to see it, to hear it, to play it is like nothing else you’ve ever experienced with six strings. It’s dizzying, confronting and exhilarating all at once.

Image: Andy Ford for Guitar.com

Pushing The Envelope

The man who designed this guitar from a cyberpunk future is an unassuming, down-to-earth chap from the South West of England. Anthony Dickens’ first experience of the instrument was some rapidly aborted classical guitar lessons at school. He didn’t give the guitar much more thought until he was flicking through his dad’s record collection a few years later. The 12-year-old happened upon a cellophane-wrapped sample single given away with Smash Hits magazine, celebrating some artist he’d never heard of by the name of Jimi Hendrix.

“For two years, I listened to nothing else apart from every single thing Jimi Hendrix did,” Dickens explains today. “I was just obsessed from that moment on with music and guitars.”

“The thought was a simple one really – what if I could strum a guitar, but that strum never ends?”

Dickens’ obsession expanded: Led Zeppelin, Metallica, Rage Against The Machine. Rave music was also everywhere in the UK in that period, but Dickens struggled to really connect with it until he heard the uniquely experimental sounds of Aphex Twin – it was like a light had been turned on.

“When I discovered Aphex Twin, the first thing about it was that he was sort of an enigma,” Dickens says. He adds, tellingly: “And then I heard that he made his own instruments, and I was like, fucking hell, that is cool! That is the ultimate freedom, isn’t it?”

Dickens’ cousin taught him the basics of sampling on his Atari ST, and he was off making his own ‘esoteric’ electronic music. The logic went: “I’m not in a band, so I’m gonna try and do it myself!”

Image: Andy Ford for Guitar.com

Design For Life

Dickens also had a passion for making things, and went to university to study furniture design. That said, he planned to pursue music as a career once he was done with his degree. But a final-year exhibit in London complicated matters.

“I ended up winning these awards!” Dickens explains. “Instead of going to Brighton with my three other mates, to go head first into writing music and probably set up a label, I had to ring them up and go, ‘I’ve won this design award. I’ve got to stay in London and I’m going to work.’ It’s a sliding doors moment because it started me on a design career… but the tension has always remained.”

As a designer, Dickens has since worked with everyone from Red Bull to Audi – but he never stopped thinking about ways his two passions could combine. Around 1996, he started to seriously contemplate how music could influence design and vice versa.

“For me, it’s always about: how can I find a new way of expressing myself that nobody else has done before? It’s about people exploring new ways of communicating, and progressing that historical lineage of creativity.”

“It’s almost like the guitar has been left behind. Look at the evolution of music technology – and yet the guitar is the way that it is, and that’s all it should be”

After considering and discarding various ideas over the years, true inspiration struck in 2018. “I was trying to think about how I could change the way that I interacted with a guitar,” Dickens recalls. “The thought was a simple one really: ‘What if I could strum a guitar, but that strum never ends?’ No matter how fast your hand is, there has to be a moment where your downstroke ends and you have to bring it back up for the next one. But I thought, ‘What if it never ended?’”

Dickens landed on the idea of sticking a wheel onto a guitar, putting a load of plectrums onto it, and spinning it by hand. So he made his first prototype – using a cheap acoustic guitar with a hole drilled into it, skateboard ball bearings, a laser-cut piece of plastic, the cheapest, thinnest plectrums he could find, and a doorknob off a kitchen cabinet.

“I started spinning it around, and it sounded amazing – you could make it sound like a swarm of bees, this incessant, endless thing. Immediately I thought, all right, there’s something there.”

Image: Andy Ford for Guitar.com

On Your Ed

Dickens began pursuing the Circle Guitar project in earnest shortly before the pandemic. At Somerset House’s Makerversity space, he connected with people who could fill in expertise gaps, such as the coders and engineers who helped develop the motorised spinning wheel and the MIDI control that could accurately and consistently keep time. Dickens eventually also added a hex pickup to enable each string to be treated as an independent signal, with onboard volume faders for each one.

As he continued to tinker, Dickens needed some validation that he was on track. “I thought I had to put some videos on social media. Just to see: are we being absolutely mad? If I’m finally going to put my love of design and music together into something, I need to find out if it’s really worth pursuing.”

Some thought the Circle Guitar was madness, while others thought it was genius. But one particular cosign pushed the project forward.

Dickens had watched a That Pedal Show episode with Ed O’Brien, where the Radiohead guitarist insisted that searching for new sounds and textures was more important than any kind of technical virtuosity. It struck a chord, and so he dropped O’Brien an Instagram message about the Circle Guitar. “Within an hour, he got back to me going, ‘Wow, this is amazing. I’d love to come and play it,’” Dickens remembers. “And a week later he was in my house!”

“Every single guitar hero was an agitator, because they were doing something that hadn’t been done before”

O’Brien would later characterise the Circle Guitar as “extraordinary”, telling Reuters it was “almost like playing a different instrument”. “It’s like learning a new language, really. I want to spend a lot of time with it.”

Chances are your first encounter with the Circle Guitar was a direct result of that meeting in August 2020. While at Dickens’ house O’Brien recorded a short phone video of him using the Circle Guitar to create some otherworldly sonic textures, and shared it on Instagram. It quickly went viral, and before long Dickens was fielding queries from artists and producers keen to try it for themselves.

In the five years since that video, the Circle Guitar has changed dramatically both inside and out – and Dickens is ready to share his vision with the world. The first batch of production instruments have been completed, each one custom-tailored to the requirements of the artists and innovators who ordered them.

Image: Andy Ford for Guitar.com

O’Brien will take delivery of one of them, Phish bassist Mike Gordon another, as will A-list producers Paul Epworth and John Congleton. True innovation doesn’t come cheap – the Circle Guitar costs £7,995 – but guitarists as diverse as Muse’s Matt Bellamy and Idles’ Lee Kiernan have been wowed by the Circle Guitar’s potential.

The faith these artists have placed in Dickens has empowered him to assemble a small team of investors and collaborators to help him achieve the Circle Guitar dream. US-based software engineer David Ashman is responsible for coding the guitar’s firmware and designing the internal electronics, while respected UK luthier Manson Guitar Works – which is owned by Bellamy – produced the necks and bodies for the first batch. [Editor’s Note: Meng Ru Kuok, Founder & CEO of Caldecott Music Group is a part owner of Manson Guitar Works. Guitar.com is part of Caldecott Music Group.]

Another key figure in helping the project move forward is Freddie Cowan, former guitarist in indie-rockers The Vaccines. When Dickens moved to the quiet Somerset village of Frome to work on Circle in earnest, he discovered that Cowan was his neighbour, and he became a hugely important voice in the development – if you’ve seen a Circle Guitar demo online in recent months, Cowan is likely the man playing it.

Image: Andy Ford for Guitar.com

The Future of Guitar

Even with a formidable team behind him, Dickens still toils away in his workshop to assemble each and every Circle Guitar. There are some who see his brainchild as some sort of technological interloper, transgressing on the pure and good world of electric guitars. It’s a position he understands, even if he hasn’t got much patience for it.

“It’s almost like the guitar has been left behind,” he argues. “Look how the evolution of music technology has exploded – and yet for some reason the guitar is the way that it is, and that’s all it should be. Some people get annoyed because they see the Circle as cheating, because you don’t have to play it like a normal guitar – but you can still buy the old ones! And the intention was never to create something to shortcut learning; it was about exploring new ways to play the guitar. But,” he adds with a wry smile, “it’s also quite fun winding people up as well.”

The unique venn diagram of Dickens’ interests made him the perfect man to conceive of the Circle Guitar. But it still comes back to that maverick creativity and expression that Jimi Hendrix captivated him with all those years ago.

“The beauty of innovation is that it’s deep within us – we’re compelled to find something new”

“For the purists out there, every single one of their guitar heroes was an agitator when they first came out,” Dickens explains. “Because they were doing something that hadn’t been done before, and it probably pissed off a load of other musicians too! This is what humans do. We are always pushing things. The beauty of innovation is that it’s deep within us – we’re compelled to find something new.”

With batch one completed and deposits for the second batch now being taken, Dickens is ambitious about the future of the Circle Guitar. He has plans for new devices, and intends to use feedback from batch one’s owners to refine the concept and better cater to the needs of artists – something that remains at the heart of the Circle ethos.

“The thing that [guitarists] always tell me is that Circle forces you to think differently,” Dickens says. “And for a musician, that’s their job – they’re constantly trying to reinvent themselves. They’re trying to find different ways of responding to their instrument. So that’s what I’m hoping that Circle as a brand is going to keep doing – giving these tools that allow them to open new doors of sonic exploration.”

Words: Josh Gardner
Photography: Andy Ford
Location: Distillery II Studios, Bristol

The post The Circle Guitar is the most revolutionary new guitar in half a century – and artists are queuing up to be part of it appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

What makes you want to buy a guitar? It could be a visual aspect like shape or colour, or maybe it’s the electronics or wood. For Keith Urban, it needs to pull an unusual riff out of him.

Urban, who has just launched his first ever live album, High And A(live), has been sharing his best tips for buying guitars, including what is most important to him. It doesn’t matter if a guitar is expensive or cheap, if he manages to play something entirely brand new on it, he’ll likely buy it.

• READ MORE: “She was always willing to confront her inabilities and work on them”: Keith Urban explains why he saw Taylor Swift’s huge potential when she supported him in 2009

He tells Guitarist in its new print issue, “I think maybe it’s about bonding with something. That’s all it is for me. l usually base it on if I pick it up and play it, and a riff or something comes out of the guitar that I’ve never played before, I get very excited about that particularly.

“It happens on really cheap guitars, too. I’ve walked into stores and found fairly cheap guitars, you know, for a couple hundred bucks, and kind of gone, ‘Wow, l’ve never played that riff before.’ Then maybe another riff comes out of it, and I go, ‘This guitar’s got some stuff in it.’ So l’ve bought guitars based on that,” he explains.

Asked if he’d rather buy a cheap guitar and an expensive amp, or vice versa, Urban responds, “The guitar comes first, but… Man, that’s a great question. I was going to try to give an answer, and I was like, ‘You don’t believe that, Keith’ [laughs]. Because, really, either one works.

“To me, ‘good’ is something that pulls something out of me that feels and sounds really good. Regardless of how much it is, what brand it is or anything about it, to me, that’s a good guitar. That beats tone,” he concludes. “Because the tone could be shitty and that’s actually part of the character of the guitar you just played.”

Keith Urban will go on tour in 2026. You can find out more via his official website.

The post Keith Urban says this is the best way to tell if you should buy a guitar: “I get very excited about that particularly” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Steve Stevens has recalled how Eddie Van Halen “shook up the world” when he rose to success, as shredding became an obsession – but with some unintended consequences for the rest of the guitar scene.

Stevens kicked off his own career in the 1980s, just as Van Halen were soaring, and remembers how record labels were looking to sing players who could tap and shred in the same style.

• READ MORE: The Guitar Influences of Eddie Van Halen

Stevens has worked with artists like Michael Jackson, Vince Neil, and prominently Billy Idol, as well as having worked on his own solo music. In an interview with Guitarist, he says he never gave into the pressure of shred-sanity, and still prefers “having a dialogue” with other band members on stage.

“I wasn’t from LA. I didn’t grow up watching Van Halen thinking, ‘Oh shit, what do we do now?’ A lot of guys did. Eddie shook up the world, no doubt. I became friends with him later, but I never wanted to play like him.

“Record labels were signing anyone who could tap and shred. The good ones, like Warren DeMartini and George Lynch, found their own voices, unlike guys that were just Eddie clones. But, really, my true love is collaborating on a good song.”

He continues, “I’m definitely not looking for my moment of glory three minutes into a song, waiting for the guitar solo. I enjoy being part of the band more than anything and having that dialogue with the guys on stage, playing and locking in with the drummer.”

Another guitarist who has recently reflected on the impact of Eddie Van Halen’s work is Steve Lukather, who was also a good friend of his. Speaking to Forbes, he said that Ed “changed the world”, but not everybody understood what he was about.

“People mistook him for a parlour trick because he did the tapping thing. He actually stumbled upon it by accident. It had been around for a while. He was in a trio, and filling up the sound is hard. Think Cream [with Eric Clapton],” Lukather said.

“Ed’s rhythm-playing and solos were like one fluid movement. I don’t think he ever played the same thing twice, and that used to drive the guys in the band crazy.”

You can find out more about Steve Stevens’ work via his official website.

The post Steve Stevens claims 80s guitar music suffered due to the obsession with finding “clones” of Eddie Van Halen: “Record labels were signing anyone who could tap and shred” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.