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On the morning of July 29, 2026, singer-songwriter Glen Hansard tragically passed away after a motorcycle accident in Dublin.

In 2009, I interviewed the Frames and Swell Season frontman for the cover story of our magazine’s seventeenth issue. Back then, he was still touring with the original, worn-through Takamine NP15 as seen in the film Once. Before his Seattle soundcheck, we sat for over an hour at Kells – an Irish pub a short walk away from the famous Pike Place Market clock and fishmongers – with Hansard sharing stories about guitars, life, busking and songwriting. We also talked a lot about his heroes Van Morrison and Bob Dylan, who, in eerie hindsight, had his infamous motorcycle accident sixty years to the day before Hansard’s.

I nursed a beer, while Glen had tea. He was a natural storyteller, which made my job easy. Photographer Maxwell Balmain took pictures for the issue.

After our chat, all three of us walked over to the crowded Market to take some outside photos. Instantly, Hansard started performing with a local busker, who had no clue who he was. The footage launched the Fretboard Journal’s YouTube channel in 2010.

Readers and guitarist friends often ask me about my favorite interview. I’ve been a music journalist for three decades and I’ve been lucky enough to interview a few real rock stars, but I always say, “Glen Hansard.” During our chat, he was utterly present, thoughtful and charming. He spoke with ease, humor and earnestness like no one else. My experience wasn’t unique: Nearly everyone who met him felt like they just stumbled upon their new best friend.

Issue 17 sold out years ago. In light of Glen’s passing, I’m sharing that interview in its entirety below. 

Once a Busker…

Some things never change for singer-songwriter Glen Hansard

By Jason Verlinde

In 1990, with money he received from appearing in The Commitments, young Dublin-based busker Glen Hansard bought himself a guitar. It was a brand new, cedar-topped Takamine NP15 with stock electronics. It cost him around 1000 pounds at the local music store. Flash forward two decades later and the singer-songwriter is still making music—now with the Frames and the Swell Season—on that very same guitar. And, like Willie Nelson’s “Trigger” or Springsteen’s Esquire, it’s become more than an instrument for Hansard, it’s become his curriculum vitae.

On October 22, 2009, I sat down with Hansard at Seattle’s Kell’s Irish Restaurant and Pub while he was busy running around town with musical partner Marketa Irglova promoting the Swell Season album, Strict Joy. After talking shop and snapping guitar photos for nearly an hour, we went outside to take some shots of Hansard in the daylight. Before we knew it, he had befriended a busker and was revisiting his teenage roots on Grafton Street, playing for change on a corner in front of Pike Place Market.

Hansard can not only write, play, sing and act with the best of them, he’s a world-class storyteller. We thought we’d let him riff on some of his formative moments … and give us the lowdown on that tried-and-true Takamine. –Jason Verlinde

First Guitar

When I was a kid, my uncle Paul was super cool. He was the good-looking younger brother of my mother. All the girls loved him. He was working at a theater; he played music in bars. And he was kind of like my father and hero. He taught me A and D chords when I was 8-years-old. He just loved to play, and he brought me to my first concert, the Police, in 1980. U2 opened up for them. They were all we talked about all day long.

He, unfortunately, took a job where he drove a car across Europe with some dodgy guys, and it turned out the car had stuff in it that shouldn’t have been in it. Classic story. He got locked up for a couple years in prison, in Turkey.

All of his stuff basically got left in Ireland, and I discovered his guitar. His instrument was—if I remember correctly, a Hummingbird—but it wasn’t a Gibson. I think it might have been like an Ibanez, some knock-off copy. Beautiful at the time; he adored it.

I discovered it, and learned some Bob Dylan songs on it. The first song I ever picked up was “Bob Dylan’s Dream.” I remember getting a harmonica and learning—picking up the chords … it was A, D and G.

And then I did something very ambitious. I listened to “Famous Blue Raincoat,” by Leonard Cohen, over and over and over until I figured out how to play it. I was going in pretty deep, it is a fingerpicking song. Amazingly, I took on this challenge and figured it out. A year ago, I saw Leonard play in Sydney, Australia, and I watched his hands. I was only wrong by two chords, but the rest I got right! B minor, B, A minor, F sharp minor.

So that was the beginning. Pretty soon after that, I started busking.

When he got out of prison, my uncle freaked out, because I’d knocked his guitar around. I didn’t realize! I was dragging it across the floor, and doing all the things you don’t do to a guitar. It’s only now I can appreciate that, but at the time I was like, “What is getting mad at me for?” I didn’t understand.

Guitar Heroes

As a kid, I was always interested in Angus Young. I grew up Catholic, and they make you take a confirmation, which is kind of like your bar mitzvah. You take on a new name—a saint’s name or whatever. At like 9-years-old, my confirmation name was Angus … he was my God! I guess, if I had guitar heroes, it would be him; Dylan, because his guitar playing is completely underrated; Dave Gilmore, the most amazing player; and maybe Peter Green … JJ Cale. These are all the people that I really adored.

The Takamine

It’s got a few knocks. It’s been played by many different people. I’m a big believer that your instrument is a tool; it’s no more. It shouldn’t be any more. If we identify too strongly with objects, I think we can get into an area where we get very precious.

Now, having said that, I’ve had this thing for so long, and it was always my workhorse. It was never my baby, or my “number one guitar,” or whatever. I’ve got a few guitars, but there are always two I use: a Fender Thinline Telecaster and this guitar. And I just used them both because they’re like an old pair of shoes. They work, they’re the most comfortable, and they sound the best plugged in.

But it became precious when we made Once, because then I noticed people were paying attention to the guitar. People were saying, “Oh, is that guitar you play in the film?” “Is that the guitar you’re playing on the tour?” “Is that the same guitar?” I was like, “Yeah, of course it is. It’s my guitar.” And because it’s gotten so delicate now, because the top of it is really in a pretty awful state, I realize that I’ve got a year or two—maybe three—left in it, in terms of its structure. But luthiers are pretty good at fixing stuff up, so who knows? I might have it for years and years.

I’ve become a little more precious. I bought this [Calton] case for it. I used to just check it in on a flight, in whatever case it was in. Nowadays, I’ll fight to try to get it on the plane with me. Sometimes, I’ll even buy a ticket to put it next to me!

I never thought I was that guy. You meet some people who treat their guitars better than they treat themselves. I don’t believe in this stuff, I believe the guitar is a tool—it’s an object, a piece of wood—it’s a beautiful piece of wood, but when it goes out of your life, it’s gone. And you get another one and you work with that tool.

Very, Very Lucky

I remember one night in Austria, I came out after a gig with my friend, Mic Christopher. Very drunk. I put the guitars down on the street—my electric guitar and my acoustic guitar—and got straight into a taxi, went to another part of town somewhere outside Vienna to this party. When it came time to sing a few songs at the party–two or three hours later–I’m looking for my guitar, and it’s not there! I panicked; I turned white. I ran back to the venue, and amazingly this guitar was still sitting there. There were kids going to school stepping over the guitar! And it was like late at night when we left the place! It was there on the street. My electric guitar was gone; someone picked it up and took it. I had it since I was 15.

But the electric guitar showed up two weeks later, standing against the venue wall. The venue owner came in to work one morning, found it, brought it into the place, and rang me, “Your guitar just showed up, completely untouched, still in tune.” So someone had picked it up, heard that this guy had lost it, and basically felt guilty and brought it back. It’s very, very lucky.

I think for other people this [Takamine] might just be a bit of a plank. But for me, it’s exactly what I need.  For them, I don’t know. But it’s like a thousand people have played my guitar, because if we’re on a session and someone wants to sing a song, I just hand it over. I don’t think about. Maybe they’ll break it, and sometimes people do treat it more rough than I’d like them to—but that’s all a part of all my instruments; that’s what they’re for. 

Busking for Dummies

I’m not a purest, but there’s something about guys who use a microphone (or amplifier) …  not that they’re cheating, but they’re not going to learn as much doing it that way as they will by having to project raw.

That was the biggest lesson I learned: projecting raw. I remember I listened to Before the Flood, where Dylan sings “Just Like a Woman.” I remember making it my goal to be able to sing like that. On Grafton Street, like any street, learning how to project your voice to the point to where it bounces back at you was the goal. And it was all about learning how to play loud, and fast—in that way I noticed I had made more money.

The most lucrative day of the week was always Friday and Saturday night, when everyone was drunk, but that also meant you were going to face a lot of madness as well. It can be very tough, but an education. A baptism of fire.

That guy at the beginning of Once, who steals my money? There was a guy I knew that used to do that. On the street you meet everyone: you know who the pick-pockets are, you know where the whores are, you know who the drug squad are. You figure them all out. If you stand still on any street in the world for long enough, every person in that city will pass you by.

Into the Mystic 

When I was busking, one of the people that I became very friendly with was Marina Guinness. She was of the brewing family and she knew I loved Van Morrison, because she heard me singing his tune. She said to me one day, “You know, Van is having this party—his 50th birthday party—at my house. Why don’t you come along?” I said, “What?” “Come along. Take it easy. Don’t make a big deal of it. Bring your girlfriend. Bring a bottle of Port. Treat him with respect, because we’d love for you to come.”

So, I was overjoyed with the opportunity. Her place is way outside the city. I drove out on my scooter with my girlfriend; it was late, and we got there, and we got in. And I thought it was going to be a party, but it wasn’t 20 people. It was Van sitting with just a few friends. And I was introduced to everybody, sat down, we ate some food … just being quiet and sort of being in the background.

It was amazing; I’m sitting here with Van Morrison! And a couple of drinks were had, and then someone came into the room we were in and said, “Everybody, come on into the kitchen… Van is singing some songs.” Van was there with Jerry Lee Lewis. And Jerry Lee and Van are standing at the fireplace, and they’re both singing beautiful old country songs—beautiful.

At one point Van says, “Anyone want to hear a song? Any requests?” I’m a huge fan, but I didn’t know whether I should say it, or whether I shouldn’t. No one else was shouting out, so I said, “Van… ‘I’m Hungry For Your Love’?”

“I’m Hungry For Your Love,” is a great song, but a fairly lesser-known song.

He looks at me, and he says, “You don’t know me!”

I was just like, ‘Jesus Christ!’ I turned away, and I walked outside. I kind of freaked out. The first thing I’d said to him, and I just got BAM!

So I went outside, and I was thinking about taking my head off, thinking I just shouldn’t have come here. And Marina came out, and said, “Glen, come on. Don’t let that get in the way. Come back in, have a good night. Relax!”

So I went back in and stayed at the back of the room, and just enjoyed listening to him.  He said, “Anyone else want to sing a song?” And Marina said, “Glen … Glen will sing.” And I was like, “Oh, no!” Freaked out, you know?

I went up and he handed me the guitar, stood up and walked out of the room. I was like, “Oh, fuck!”

So I sang a song and there was nobody else to play, and people asked for another one, so I sang a second one. He comes back in, and sat down with his back to me. And I finished my second song, and he swung his chair around, and he said, “What did you want me to sing?” I said, “Hungry For Your Love.” And he says, “Do you know it?”  I say, “Yeah.” He said, “Well, play it,” and he put me on the spot.  And thank God I know his songs.

So I played it, and he’s listening to me, and about halfway through the song he starts going, yeah … yeah, and then sings a little harmony with me. I’m blown away. I’m flipping freaking out. I’m singing his song, and he’s singing harmony to me.

And then I finished that song, and he says, “All right. Come on.” I said, “Where?” “Just come on, follow me.” He brings me up the stairs of this beautiful old house, goes into one of the rooms, and sits me down on the couch. He was ready to sing. He sits down opposite me. He’s had a few drinks, and he should be downstairs mingling. And I start playing one of my songs.

He listens to it, he picks the guitar up. He says nothing. I say, “Well, will you play me ‘Hungry For Your Love’?”

He plays it, hands me the guitar. He plays a second song, takes the guitar. “What do you want to hear?” And we pass the guitar, and I’m not kidding you, for hours we passed the guitar. We ran out of songs after an hour-and-a-half.

The sun was coming up, and I remember his girlfriend at the time came into the room at the end, and said, “Come on, we have to go.” And he’s like, “Right.” And he stood up, comes over, pats me on the shoulder, and says, “Nice voice. Nice songs. Blah, blah, blah,” and walks out. And that was it. That was my encounter. That was all he said: “Nice voice. Nice songs. Blah, blah, blah.”

But what was amazing for me, the gift that I’d been given that night, was that I got to watch his hands. I got to watch his neck. I got to watch how he lifted his head into notes.  I got to watch how his body leaned into chords.

I got to see Van the way no one probably gets to see him, except maybe his girlfriend, or his kids, or whoever. I got to see a master up close, and to digest every inflection—to use or not use—in my own palette all this experience. Do you know what I’m saying? I went to be being a proper apprentice that night.  The education was profound because it was up close and personal with a master.

Meeting Dylan

I was busking and Dylan was in Dublin to do a gig, which, of course, I was going to because I’m a huge fan. He was number one. He was staying at this hotel, the Westbury Hotel.  I was down the street and someone comes out and goes, “Bob-Fucking-Dylan just walked out—got out of the van around the corner!”

I just grabbed my guitar and ran … left the money in my case, everything there. I ran around the corner and Dylan was getting out of a truck. He was hanging out, going into the hotel. And I did this stupid thing: I just took a harmonica out of my pocket and I handed it to him. It was a stupid thing to do, give Bob Dylan a harmonica, but he took it, and he was like, “Hey, thanks.”

And that was it; he was gone. But the weird thing was maybe a year or two later … I was rehearsing with my band, and Dylan was rehearsing next door with his band in the rehearsal place we were in, because they were beginning a European tour. We finished our rehearsals, the drum and bass player had gone home, and I was running over one last song, and we didn’t know he was rehearsing next door, because all we were told was, “There’s someone famous next door. Don’t annoy them. Stay out of the way.” We didn’t care. We thought it might have been U2.

But at one point, Colin, our violin player, just looked at me like someone had died, and we turned around, and standing in our doorway was Bob with his foot up, and he’s smoking a cigarette, and he just says, “Sounds good.” And I walked up to him, and I just said, “Bob,” and I shook his hand, and was totally freaked out.

He shook my hand, and I said, “Bob, meeting you [for me] is what it must have been like when you met Woody.” And I think I must have said the right thing, ‘cause Bob was like, “Oh, Woody! Man, Woody was amazing!” He said, “I never got to hear Woody play.” And Bob starts talking … Bob Dylan started talking to me about Woody Guthrie! And I knew just enough about Woody—through Dylan—to hold a conversation with him.

We talked for a minute-and-a-half about Woody Guthrie, and he took off. And I shook his hand, and I ran home. I told my mother I’d shook Bob Dylan’s hand. It was unbelievable.

The next morning, a phone call came in to the rehearsal space. They gave Bob Dylan’s manager my number, and he rang up, and he said, “You must have impressed Bob. Do you want to come to London and open for him?”

It was amazing; he was like, “Can you get a flight? If you can get a flight, you can do the gig.” That was basically how he put it. We went out to the airport and explained our situation, and they canceled five people off the flight for us! We walked on stage, and I said, “Yesterday, I was rehearsing with my band to Dublin, and Bob Dylan appeared in the doorway, and we chatted for a few minutes, and here we are. This is amazing.”

 Keeping It Road Worthy

A few months ago, a luthier contacted me via email about fixing my guitar for me.  I really wasn’t sure how I felt about it. We were in L.A. and doing press, and he lives an hour’s drive south, and we went down, and we visited him. He asked me to leave the guitar with him for a couple of days, because he just wanted to observe the inside of it.  He asked me how I felt about him reinforcing the part where it’s all damaged.

I took a risk, and I left it with him. I came back a couple of days later, and he had done this kind of amazing job, where he had basically put a very thin layer of wood underneath the holes, which basically means that the holes may not grow anymore.

But he didn’t change the aesthetic at all. He wanted to put lacquer—some sort of resin on the holes, which would have made the wood darker, and which would have meant I wouldn’t be able to wear the guitar down anymore.

But I didn’t let him do that, because I think there’s something very natural about the way the thing is. I didn’t want to change anything. But the reinforcement inside me was very happy with. He did an amazing job!

Marketa was amazing. I was kind of weird about [leaving my guitar with a stranger], but I wasn’t saying that. Mar just turned to him and said, “If you fuck up that guitar, I will kill you!” She really had my back.

The post Tribute: Glen Hansard (1970-2026) first appeared on Fretboard Journal.

Following the launch of its Outlowd amps in partnership with singer-songwriter superstar Ed Sheeran, Orange has given some more love to its non-signature line, issuing a brand-new amp in a micro-lunchbox format, the Baby Terror.

Delivering 20 watts of power, the new amp joins the company’s Baby series, is designed with portability in mind, and can fit in backpacks, on desktops, in rehearsal rooms and on small stages.

• READ MORE: Japanese man arrested, 40 guitars seized after numerous complaints by neighbours
  

Nowadays, the tradeoff between portability and sound quality is smaller than ever, and the Baby Terror is said to deliver the same classic Orange tone despite its tiny form factor.

Offering a significant amount of sonic control, the amp features a standard three-band EQ to create the kind of brightness, warmth, or power needed for any type of genre playing. The additional presence knob can also fill out the sound quite well on top of the frequency specifications. Then, for the really heavy moments, flick Orange’s classic “Tubby” switch to add that extra low-end.

The Baby Terror also has another volume that’s footswitchable when it’s time to shift from lead to rhythm. Take a step down while your other guitarist gets to solo their heart out then come back strong when the band is full force again. The port for that is right in the back alongside the FX send and return to make easy access for pedal boards.

Considering how simple it is to take the Baby Terror around (it comes with its own soft carrying case), it’s perfect for recording sessions, especially because it has an XLR balanced out for direct connections to interfaces and sound boards.

“The Baby Terror is proof that small does not have to mean less features,” says Sarah Yule, Managing Director of Orange Amps. “It is small enough to carry with one hand, but serious enough to become your main amp – however big your rig is.”

The Orange Baby Terror is currently available for purchase at £199/€229/$249. For more information, head to Orange Amps.

The post Tiny form factor, classic Orange sound: meet the Baby Terror appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Rock and roll might be a way to stick it to the man, but in Japan, if you rock too hard, the man will take your guitars.

As reported by The Japan Times, a 61-year-old Kyoto resident name Kazunori Yokoi recently had 40 guitars seized and was arrested after his neighbours complained for years about him playing guitar too loudly.

Apparently, Yokoi was playing so loud that the complaining neighbours faced adverse health effects, including sleep deprivation and tinnitus.

• READ MORE: Someone made a guitar out of rare Pokémon cards – and we’re here for it
  

After the residents made multiple reports to no result, cops finally got involved. To back up the complaints with evidence, police measured the decibel level in the neighbourhood, which at times registered over 80 dB – about the same as a vacuum cleaner or a crowded train station.

And apparently the guitar playing wasn’t always all that musical, either… “It was awful because all kinds of sounds were jumbled together all day,” says one of the older neighbours.

According to his neighbours, when Yokoi wasn’t shredding his heart out, he was broadcasting his stereo out his window at full blast. No matter how good he was at playing or how fire his playlist was, it’s understandable how that could be rather disruptive.

The Japan Times stated that Yokoi was arrested for assault. In addition to his 40 guitars, which were “mostly electric” the police took amps and a CD and radio cassette player.

Usually when guitars are involved in crime, it’s because people are stealing the instruments and selling them. Not because someone is playing too loud. Back in April, police busted an organized crime ring focused on stealing guitars from a series of Guitar Center retail stores along the West Coast of the United States.

Rebellion is very much in the spirit of rock and roll, and it seems Kazunori Yokoi had a serious case of stick it to the man-eosis. Still, to play so disruptively that police come and confiscate your instruments – and arrest you – has to be worthy of some kind of medal.

The post Japanese man arrested, 40 guitars seized after numerous complaints by neighbours appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Jimi Hendrix’s onstage guitar destruction has become one of rock’s defining images. According to his former roadie Eric Barrett, however, there was more to it than a simple act of rock ‘n’ roll excess.

In his upcoming memoir Experienced: On the Road with Jimi Hendrix and Beyond, Barrett recalls witnessing countless smashed guitars during Hendrix’s tours, including one particularly painful moment when a pristine Fender Stratocaster met its end during an encore in Bologna.

• READ MORE: “The thing was beat to shit”: The time My Chemical Romance’s Ray Toro got to play one of Jimi Hendrix’s Strats

Barrett writes that Hendrix often “took all of his frustrations out on the equipment” at the end of a show.

“He beat the hell out of the amplifiers and poked bloody great holes in the speakers with the neck of his guitar,” Barrett recalls [via The Sunday Times]. “No wonder the last roadie took a bucketload of acid and fucked off mid-tour.”

The destruction was rarely planned, either.

“He’d never warn me before a performance,” Barrett writes. “I don’t think he knew himself until it came time for the encore.”

Keen to save at least some of the band’s gear, Barrett says he’d regularly try to persuade Hendrix to sacrifice one of the older guitars instead.

“Before he went on stage, I’d always point out an old guitar, or one I’d rebuilt, and say, ‘Jimi, if you’re gonna smash a guitar tonight, please use that one.’”

“Sometimes he’d listen to me, other nights he didn’t. I remember one really beautiful Fender Stratocaster; I watched in horror as he destroyed it during the encore in Bologna.”

Eventually, Barrett decided to ask the question countless fans have probably wondered over the years: why destroy perfectly good guitars at all?

Hendrix’s answer, he says, had little to do with theatrics.

“Eric, I just couldn’t get any more out of it, man,” the guitarist told him. “I squeezed every note and every sound that guitar was ever going to give me. It had nothing left to give.”

The anecdote is one of many stories featured in Barrett’s forthcoming memoir, which chronicles his time working alongside Hendrix during the guitarist’s late-1960s rise. Experienced: On the Road with Jimi Hendrix and Beyond will be released on 4 August.

While guitar smashing is part of the fabric of rock and roll – with icons like Jimi Hendrix and Pete Townshend routinely laying waste to their instruments, those who’ve destroyed theirs in recent years haven’t exactly been met with the same level of adoration.

In 2021, singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers kicked up a storm when she smashed a stage monitor using her Danelectro during a performance on Saturday Night Live. The stunt drew the attention of David Crosby, who called it “childish stage drama”, and DragonForce’s Herman Li, whose issue wasn’t with the smash, but that the guitar wasn’t expensive enough. “Come on, you’re on Saturday Night Live, you can’t be smashing a $500 guitar – too cheap!” he said. The guitar later sold for over $100,000.

Fender Chief Product Officer Justin Norvell even chimed in, noting the “long-standing tradition” of guitar smashing in rock music, and saying Fender was “alright with it”, but that “there’s always a balance that we have to strike”.

The post Modern guitarists get criticised for smashing guitars, but Jimi Hendrix was celebrated for doing so – here’s why he did it, in his own words appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

D’Addario has again addressed accusations that it used AI-generated music in a recent promotional video for its new NYXL HD electric guitar strings, insisting the track was performed by a human musician and arguing that an unusually heavy production chain is what caused the misunderstanding.

Last week, the string and accessories giant came under fire after guitarists online claimed a demo for its new NYXL HD strings sounded suspiciously like it had been generated using AI. The company was also criticised after comments disappeared from the original post and some users claimed they had been blocked.

D’Addario initially denied the allegations, admitting only that the demo was “over-produced” but not AI-generated. In a statement to Guitar World, the company said it had “made a choice to demo these products in a fully produced mix” – a decision it conceded “backfired”.

In a follow-up post, D’Addario added, “Setting the record straight, this string demo was certainly over-produced. However, it was not created by AI. All guitars were tracked in real-life, drums and synths were MIDI programmed, plus a whole lot of plug-ins and production.”

It also shared a behind-the-scenes video showing the recording session and guitar tracks used to create the demo.

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That explanation, however, did little to settle the debate. YouTuber Danny Sapko and other users pointed to apparent differences between the original demo and the behind-the-scenes recording session, arguing the two didn’t appear to match.

Now, in a fresh statement posted to social media, D’Addario has offered a more detailed explanation of its stance as well as how the track was produced.

“We are a music company. Built by musicians for musicians,” the company writes. “So naturally, we share the growing alarm that generative AI can remove the musician from the creative process.”

“In a recent post featuring one of our products, many people questioned whether we employed generative AI in our demo track. The track was written and performed by one of our employees who was proud to create an original piece to show off a new string he helped to develop.”

According to D’Addario, it was the excessively complex production process – rather than generative AI – that gave the recording its artificial-sounding qualities.

The company says the guitar performance was processed with “an excess of plug-ins”, while the drums were created by blending Logic’s stock ‘So-Cal’ kit with EZ drummer, with all velocity set to the maximum value of 127 “to get a big sound”. It argues those production choices “subtracted all the dynamics and added a lot of digital noise”, creating many of the hallmarks listeners associated with AI-generated music.

“There were excessive non-AI tools used to make the original composition sound ‘more produced.’ This added a lot of extra noise and inorganic details to the mix, which people misunderstood as signs of AI generation.”

Addressing the discrepancies people spotted between the original promo and the later workflow video, D’Addario says the footage showed an unmastered collection of stems rather than the finished mix. “The video we posted last week… featured a DAW clip which was a pre-mix and pre-master pile of stems that did not sound like the finished product,” it explains.

The company also clarifies that while no generative AI was used to write or perform the music, AI-assisted mastering tools were used during the final production process.

“While generative AI was not used in the creation of the music, by virtue of using Logic’s ‘Mastering Assistant’ feature and LANDR’s Assisted Mastering, AI did assist with the mixing and mastering process post-DAW export.”

It adds that “most of the digital artifacts” highlighted by critics came from “an unusual take on modern production techniques”, including “4 compressors in series on the drums adding high-end fuzz” and auto-tune on the guitar introducing aliasing.

D’Addario says the delay in issuing a fuller explanation came as it tried to understand why so many listeners had interpreted the recording as AI-generated, adding that it will reconsider “what degree of production is appropriate” for future product demos.

The statement concludes with D’Addario reiterating its broader position on AI in music: “Remember, we are a company whose products can only be used by people. If AI replaces musicians making music, then we’re out of business. Of course, that’s nothing compared to the chilling thought of musical expression being co-opted by machines. As a company made of hundreds of people, we desperately want to preserve human expression through music.”

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The post “If AI replaces musicians, we’re out of business”: D’Addario responds again to claims it used AI-generated music in a demo appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

The music world is mourning the loss of Glen Hansard, the Irish songwriter, Frames frontman and Oscar-winning musician, who has died aged 56 following a motorcycle accident in Dublin.

Hansard’s management confirmed the news in a statement, saying: “With broken hearts we announce the passing of Glen Hansard in the early hours of this morning [29 July].”

“We are still dealing with the shock of it all, so we kindly ask that the privacy of Glen’s family, colleagues and friends is respected at this difficult time.”

Hansard first made his name after forming Irish rock band The Frames in 1990, before reaching an international audience with his acting debut in Alan Parker’s musical-comedy The Commitments. His biggest breakthrough came with the 2007 film Once, in which he starred opposite Marketa Irglova. The pair – who also recorded together as The Swell Season – won the Academy Award for Best Original Song with Falling Slowly, bringing Hansard’s songwriting to a much wider audience.

Beyond The Frames and The Swell Season, Hansard enjoyed a successful solo career, with 2015’s Didn’t He Ramble earning a Grammy nomination for Best Folk Album. Just last month, he released the second instalment of his latest project, Don’t Settle (Vol. 2 – Transmissions West).

Hansard is survived by his wife, Finnish poet Maire Saaritsa, and their three-year-old son Christy.

As news of his passing broke, tributes have poured in from across the music world.

Singer-songwriter Finneas reflected on the profound impact Hansard had on him from a young age: “Glen Hansard. North Star songwriter, most wonderful person. The first song I ever got on a stage to perform was Falling Slowly when I was 11,” he wrote.

“His songs made me want to write songs and they also made me cry. When our family met him in Dublin in 2019, he greeted us like old friends even though we were just his fans. Today I am a heartbroken fan. Hope he knew how much he meant to so many, this is how much he meant to me.”

Bruce Springsteen also remembered meeting Hansard in Ireland “many years ago”.

“He was always nothing but a great musician, a good friend and a generous and gracious man,” Springtsteen wrote. “Always positive, smiling and ready to sing.”

In a lengthy tribute, U2’s Bono described Hansard as an “angelic presence” and “a most musical and mischievous archangel of Ballymun”.

“Of all the grand and gigantic venues he and The Frames played, you sensed the street was his most favoured place to perform. And street people, his favourite audience,” he wrote. “I’m telling myself this morning that if he never existed, then he can never cease to exist. For me, he will always be everywhere I see a coin spinning into an open guitar case.”

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Producer Andrew Watt, who played alongside Hansard in Andrew Vedder’s ‘Earthling’ solo band, also paid tribute, expressing gratitude for the time they spent together: “You will never be forgotten. How lucky was I to spend as much time both on and off the stage with you?…studios, dressing rooms, bathroom floors, long car rides, guitar stores…your ability to move people with that bellowing Irish tenor of yours is unparalleled.”

Read more tributes below.

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The post “His songs made me want to write songs – and they also made me cry” Music world pays tribute to Glen Hansard following fatal motorcycle accident appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Of all the free upgrades available to a guitarist, pickup height is the one most people leave on the table. There are no parts to buy and no soldering involved – all you’ll need is a screwdriver and ten minutes. And yet the same players who’ll agonize over capacitor values will happily leave their pickups sitting wherever the factory left them.

• READ MORE: Why do guitars have pickup covers and what do they actually do to your tone?

This is, to put it mildly, a shame. Because moving a pickup a millimeter or two can change how a guitar sounds and feels more than a pickup swap does. So before you go reaching for that screwdriver, it’s worth understanding what’s going on under the strings.

Can We Talk About Magnets For A Second?

A magnetic pickup works because your strings are made of steel. The magnets in the pickup throw out a field, and when a string vibrates inside that field it disturbs the flux, which induces a tiny voltage in the coil wrapped around the magnets. That voltage is your signal.

The thing to grasp is that a magnetic field gets weaker very quickly as you move away from the magnet – not in a straight line, but steeply. So the closer the string sits to the pole pieces, the more of that dense field it’s swimming in, and the bigger the signal it generates. Raise the pickup and the output goes up. Drop it, and the output falls away. That’s the part everyone knows, and if output were the only thing in play you’d simply crank every pickup as high as it’ll go and enjoy the extra volume. But it isn’t, and you shouldn’t.

For Every Pro, A Con

Here’s the bit that trips people up. Those same magnets that let the pickup hear your strings are also, gently, trying to grab them. Steel strings are ferromagnetic, so a strong magnet sitting close underneath exerts a real, physical pull on them.

Get the pickup too close and that pull starts to fight the string’s natural vibration. You lose sustain, because the string is being pulled into being centered over each pole piece. Worse, the magnetic tug acts as a second force on the string alongside its own tension, and the two don’t always agree.

The result is a warbling, slightly out-of-tune quality – players often describe notes that “flutter” or beat against themselves, and intonation that wanders even though the saddles are set correctly. Some of the old hands call it “Stratitis,” because vintage-style Strats with their strong Alnico rod magnets are classic offenders.

It’s nearly always worse on the neck pickup. A vibrating string moves furthest from rest near the middle of its length – roughly where the neck pickup lives – so the string is physically closer to those magnets through the swing of its vibration. The bridge pickup sits where the string barely moves, which is part of why it stays clearer even if it is set quite high.

It’s also worse on the wound strings, especially the low E and A, simply because there’s more steel there for the magnet to grab. And when you fret a note at the 12th, the string sits closer to the pickup than it does open, so the higher you play, the more the magnet interferes. If you’ve ever raised a neck pickup for more output and found your guitar suddenly sounds sour on the top frets, that’s exactly what happened.

Here’s A Good Starting Point For Your Setup

Beyond raw output and the pull, height also nudges the character of the sound. Closer pickups tend to sound a touch more compressed and aggressive, with the dynamics squashed slightly. Back them off and you’ll often hear a bit more openness, bloom and dynamic range, at the cost of some level. Neither is “correct” – a player chasing a snarly, in-your-face bridge tone might want it close, while someone after a glassy, bell-like neck sound will usually find it lower down.

The convention is to hold the string down at the highest fret and measure the gap from the top of the pole piece to the bottom of the string. The reason we fret the string is that that’s the worst-case distance and the point where magnetic pull bites hardest.

Manufacturers publish starting points, and they’re a sensible place to begin rather than gospel. For Fender’s single coils, you’re broadly looking at somewhere around 2mm on the treble side and a little more on the bass side, with the hotter, higher-output sets sitting a touch lower than vintage ones to keep the magnetic pull in check. Humbuckers behave more politely – the bar magnet sits below the coils rather than directly under the strings, so the pull at the string is gentler and you can run them closer. Gibson essentially tells you to set them by ear, but somewhere around 1.6mm on the treble side at the last fret is a fair opening bid.

Most techs will set the bass side slightly lower than the treble side; the wound strings have more energy and more steel, so they want a bit more room. Be sure not to set things so high that a hard-strummed string can actually clack against the pole pieces – it’s easy to do on the neck pickup if you’re heavy-handed.

If you’re running active pickups like EMGs, most of this is moot. They use weak magnets and a built-in preamp to do the heavy lifting, so there’s very little pull and height makes far less difference to output. Set them close and forget about it.

The last job is getting your pickups to play nicely together so the volume doesn’t lurch when you flick the selector. Because the neck position is naturally louder, you generally end up with the neck pickup lower and the bridge pickup higher to even them out.

Plug in, switch back and forth between positions while you play, and adjust until the jump in level disappears. It’s fiddly and it’s iterative – raise one and the balance shifts, so you go round again.

Which is really the whole approach in miniature. There’s no single right number on a feeler gauge, only a setting that suits your strings, your magnets, your playing and your ears. Start from the maker’s spec, move in small turns of a quarter-turn or so, and keep playing as you go. The tape measure gets you in the ballpark; the warble, the sustain and the balance between positions tell you when you’ve actually arrived.

The post What actually happens when you adjust your guitar’s pickup heights? appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

After speculation reached fever pitch earlier this week, Black Sabbath legend Tony Iommi has officially announced his first solo album in 21 years, From the Dark. Arriving 23 October via BMG, the album will be the Godfather of Heavy Metal’s first solo album since 2005’s Fused.

Tony Iommi’s riffs are legendary and have literally given birth to and shaped an entire genre, but he couldn’t do it alone, and so he’s pieced together a backing band consisting of Norwegian vocalist Jørn Lande, Mercyful Fate bassist Becky Baldwin, and former Robbie Williams drummer Karl Brazil.

• READ MORE: Tony Iommi awarded an MBE for services to music and charity
  

Tony Iommi serves as co-producer of the record alongside Mike Exeter, who is credited on Black Sabbath’s final album, 13, released in 2013.

The announcement arrives alongside the launch of new single World Alone, which you can check out below:

As you’d expect from one of the founders of heavy metal, the track is rooted firmly in high-gain guitar riffs and a thunderous rhythm section. Iommi gets creative on the accompanying music video, which features a protagonist named The Believer thrust into a “twisted video game to save his life and ultimately find salvation”.

The rest of the album is said to be similarly heavy, with Black Times a “sucker-punch strike that takes no prisoners”, and Beyond the Dead featuring a “stately and sinister riff interwoven with epic orchestration”.

The track was premiered today at a special global streaming event hosted in Iommi and Black Sabbath’s hometown of Birmingham, England, a “stone’s throw” from the famous Black Sabbath Bridge.

Scent of Dark and Deified – two other tracks released by the Sabbath guitarist in recent years – will later be released as part of a deluxe-edition CD.

“It’s an album we’ve really enjoyed making. We’re not trying to prove anything – it’s a great album, it rocks!” says Tony Iommi.

Check out the full tracklist of From the Dark below: 

1. Over The Violent Sun
2. Black Times
3. World Alone
4. Beyond The Dead
5. Stormwatcher
6. Death Wake
7. Return Of The Arbalist
8. Legacy

The album’s announcement lands just a few days after the first anniversary of Ozzy Osbourne’s death. Last week, Iommi paid tribute to his fallen Black Sabbath bandmate.

“It’s now a year since Ozzy’s passing and I still can’t believe that he’s not with us,” the guitarist wrote. “I watch him on YouTube and it feels like he’s still here with us. We always stayed in touch, almost every week or so and we’d usually talk about our ailments and then about what we’d been doing that particular week.

“The fans have been absolutely brilliant and the love and respect that they have shown for him has just been amazing. I’m so glad that we were able to play one final show with the original line up of Sabbath at the Back To The Beginning show in our home town of Birmingham! There will never be another Ozzy. I miss you my dear friend.”

From the Dark is available to preorder now.

The post The wait is over: Tony Iommi has announced his first solo album in 21 years appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

We’ve seen our share of wacky guitar builds. YouTuber Burls Art has treated us to most of them, and is the man behind potentially the heaviest guitar in existence – a 40 lb six-string made from melted copper wire – and another made entirely from plastic dumped in the ocean.

But there’s another creator vying for the title of king of viral electric guitar builds. Luis Orozco, guitarist, creator and founder of custom guitar company Gepettos Guild has also made a name for himself making one-of-a-kind six-strings, and his latest build is a sight to behold.

Essentially, he’s built a T-style guitar from scratch, and wrapped it in vintage Water-Type Pokémon cards…

• READ MORE: Fender CEO compares cover bands to AI in music: “Cover music has been sort of analogue AI for a long time”

Gyarados, Poliwrath, Feraligatr, Suicune – and, of course, the “GOAT”, Blastoise – all make the cut, and are placed on top of the guitar’s body, sealed in a quarter-inch of resin, and sprayed all over with a light metallic blue burst. The result? An instrument that’s a Pokémon collector’s dream guitar…

The guitar itself is a stunning example of custom DIY guitar building mastery, although no bonus points for the left-handed model in the video below holding it upside down…

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The Water-Type Pokémon guitar is currently not listed for sale on the Gepettos Guild website. This isn’t the first time Orozco has put Pokémon cards in a guitar though; there’s another guitar available featuring Fire-Type Pokémon cards, priced at $3,400.

To make a living out of custom guitar builds, you have to get creative, and Luis Orozco’s builds have to be some of the weirdest out there. Check out this one with an actual dead fish…

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Take a look at more of Luis Orozco’s otherworldly guitar builds at Gepettos Guild.

The post Someone made a guitar out of rare Pokémon cards – and we’re here for it appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

There are all sorts of reasons to plug a guitar into a computer or smartphone, from recording onto a digital audio workstation (DAW) to livestreaming a performance, or using apps for practice, creativity or tuning. Unfortunately, no PC or phone that you’re likely to buy is actually optimised for these uses.

To bridge the gap between an analogue guitar input and a digital device, we need to add a gadget called an audio interface to the signal chain. Not many guitarists would claim that their interface is glamorous or exciting, but these desktop boxes do useful work. Above all, an audio interface ensures that your guitar or microphone signal arrives into your computer’s recording software (DAW), or onto another device such as a smartphone, in a computable form without losing its character.

The most basic benefit of an audio interface is that it (usually) has inputs for ¼″ instrument cables and microphones, which are not present on computers, plus an output such as USB-C that connects to your digital device. Good ones also help the computer to pick up audio signals smoothly and with minimal latency, thanks to features such as on-board ASIO (Audio Stream Input/Output) drivers and analogue-to-digital signal conversion.

One of the most important aspects of recording is listening, and an audio interface helps with this too, as you can plug your headphones or studio monitors into it for low-latency playback. Most interfaces also have controls to tweak the input signal from your guitar, so it won’t be too loud (causing ‘clipping’ – an unwanted distortion) or too quiet.

Any guitarist who is getting into home or studio recording should consider picking up the best audio interface to suit their budget. While most of these gadgets do similar things, there are differences in functionality and performance that will shape the sound of your recordings or livestreams.

At a glance:

• Focusrite Scarlett Gen 4 2i2
• Fender Quantum LT2
• Universal Audio Volt 1
• Audient ID4 MkII
• Fender Link IO
• TC Electronic Helicon GO
• Fender Quantum LT16
• Audient EVO 4
• Universal Audio Apollo Twin X
• Behringer UMC1820
• Why you can trust Guitar.com

Focusrite Scarlett Gen 4 2i2

The fourth-gen Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 is pretty much perfect for the average bedroom recording setup or small studio. It’s straightforward, dependable and equipped with a crowd-pleasing set of inputs and features.

There are two inputs on the front where you can plug your guitar or bass straight in; or you can point a mic at your amp’s speaker cone and feed it into the mic inputs on the back of the interface.

Perhaps best of all, the controls are very clear and accessible, and the LEDs around the input and output dials make it easy to set volume levels without clipping (or tell whether a signal is actually being picked up!)

Fender Quantum LT2

Of all the audio interface brands you could choose, you just know that Fender is going to treat a guitar’s signal well. This is our favourite model from the titan of Telecasters and Twins, with a superb direct input that will keep your guitar or bass sounding very much like itself, even after it’s been converted into 0s and 1s.

The mic input (on the rear of the interface) is also a standout, with an impressive 75 dB of gain to help you capture fine details or quiet audio sources (such as a shy vocalist). There’s also a ‘Mixer Mode’ that allows you to use the Quantum LT2 as a simple mixer (no computer required), which could come in handy for brand practices or live sound emergencies.

Universal Audio Volt 1

An audio interface-lover’s audio interface, the Universal Audio Volt 1 is a great entry point into the UA ecosystem. This brand has carved out its own niche in the premium recording equipment market, with a focus on analogue components, ultra-low latency and vintage design.

Essentially, the Volt 1 gives you that whole, alluring proposition in a compact, budget-friendly(ish) package. It does the basics brilliantly, with a single input and controls for the input gain, monitoring volume and headphone volume. Plus, there are some interesting extras including a ‘vintage’ button that runs your signal through a tube pre-amp emulation circuit.

Audient ID4 MkII

Despite its reasonable pricing, this interface from Audient has a swanky look and feel. Its compact, square-ish footprint fits nicely onto even a crowded desktop.

If you were to make the brave (and possibly foolish) decision to open the metal enclosure, you’d find essentially the same mic preamp circuit which Audient has been using in various products since 1997 – known for its capability to put out a clean signal with minimal unwanted distortion.

There are some handy features here that you won’t find in the average interface. Alongside the ¼″ headphone output is an ⅛″ option that can be used at the same time, which is a great option for engineers listening back to recorded audio with a musician (and telling them how great they are – but let’s try one more take…)

Fender Link IO

A handy, pocket-sized interface that’s ideal for recording onto a smartphone, the Fender Link I/O is one of our favourite options from the more basic end of the guitar interface functionality spectrum.

It doesn’t do much, but it does its job well, with a Fender-designed input, a fool-proof volume control and on-board clipping detection.

The main downside to the Link I/O is that its functionality is relatively limited. You could pay a little extra and get your hands on a much more fully featured audio interface – so the question is whether you’ll actually use those added capabilities.

TC Electronic Helicon GO

Another simple guitar interface designed for on-the-go use, the TC Helicon Go connects your instrument to a smartphone and also works as a standalone headphone amp. (It can be used as a minimalist PC interface, too).

Considering its bargain price, this feels like a worthwhile acquisition for anyone who travels with their electric guitar or bass, or for guitarists interested in playing around with creative music apps on their phone. Speaking of which, the Helicon Go is tailor-made for use with the TC Helicon range of smartphone apps, which includes Go Record and various effects options.

Fender Quantum LT16

If you’re looking for the best available Fender package for recording guitar, bass and more, this interface would be our pick. It comes with Fender Studio Pro 8, which is a good DAW (recording software) that features a bunch of official Fender amp and effect models, so you can take a dry guitar signal and make it sound deliciously Fenderish.

The interface itself is highly capable and designed for studio use, with eight mic/instrument inputs that can be used for live recording or efficient multi-tracking with a roomful of musicians, plus eight line inputs on the back. Its pricing reflects the fact that this interface goes beyond the average bedroom musician’s needs.

Audient EVO 4

Impressive sound is at its most accessible with the Audient EVO 4. This interface combines palm-sized portability and user-friendly simplicity with a price that’s pleasingly affordable relative to the performance. The on-unit buttons and dial link up smoothly with a functionally expanded digital control panel, which makes it easy to identify and adjust the gain on each of the two channels. An even better feature (for the time-pressured, novice or lazy) is the ‘Smartgain’ button, which you can press to make the interface set appropriate levels automatically.

This isn’t a dedicated interface for recording guitars, but it does have some nice guitarist-focused credentials. Its input circuit is based on a classic valve amp input, and you also get access to some handy ARC software including Softube and a Strymon Cloudburst plug-in.

Universal Audio Apollo Twin X

Happy to spend big on an exceptional interface? This Universal Audio model is pricey, but you get the pro-level performance that you pay for. It’s super-powerful, with Thunderbolt 3 connectivity that shifts data radically faster than USB-C and brings latency down to an imperceptible minimum.

As we’ve come to expect of UA interfaces, the Apollo Twin X has glamorous gubbins to complement its beautiful enclosure and UI. Its pair of Unison mic pre-amps are designed for analogue-like character, while its analogue-to-digital converters use crystal oscillators to ensure an accurate translation from input signal to audio data (and back into your cans).

Behringer UMC1820

This formidable 8-input interface from Behringer gives you the capability to work on expansive studio projects at a hobbyist-friendly price – it’s expandable to 18 inputs digitally. Despite its wealth of connections and controls, the UMC1820 is not especially complex to use – especially if you’ve already had experience with studio rack units. In fact, there are some handy shortcuts, including the ‘PAD’ button on each of the eight input channels, which instantly takes a chunk off the gain on the relevant input. The signal and clipping LED indicators make it easy to identify which inputs are working and which need some gain rolling off.

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 audio interfaces for guitarists: mobile, desktop and rack units compared appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

At the 2026 Wintergrass festival in Bellevue, Washington, the Fretboard Journal teamed up with filmers I Know We Should to capture some of our favorite artists (and talk gear).

In this session, we hear from Missy Raines & Allegheny.

First, they perform, “Cold Wind” and “Cold Black Water.”

Then, we talk gear with the full band.

Register now for Wintergrass 2027. The lineup in 2027 will include Sierra Hull, Jerry Douglas Band, East Nash Grass and other bluegrass favorites.

Video by Brad Wagner, audio by Juan M Soria.

We’ll be sharing more highlights from Wintergrass 2026 on a weekly basis here and on our YouTube channel.

The post Wintergrass Sessions: Missy Raines & Allegheny first appeared on Fretboard Journal.

PRS has appointed a CEO for the first time in its history: Jack Higginbotham, formerly the guitar giant’s Chief Operating Officer.

As for the way the company operates, it seems business will continue to function as normal, with Higginbotham overseeing day-to-day business operations, and Managing General Partner Paul Reed Smith – whom the company is named after – continuing to lead guitar development.

PRS says Jack Higginbotham will regularly travel around the globe to strengthen manufacturing processes, dealer relationships, vendor connections, and “every aspect” of PRS Guitars.

• READ MORE: Fender CEO compares cover bands to AI in music: “Cover music has been sort of analogue AI for a long time”

Jack Higginbotham was an obvious candidate for the company’s first-ever CEO. A 41-year veteran of the guitar brand since its founding in 1985, he’s worked across many different departments, from his first job in the woodshop, to operations management, purchasing, sales, customer service, marketing, artist relations, and as president for 15 years.

“Jack Higginbotham has been a leader with PRS since the beginning,” says Paul Reed Smith. “He is deeply deserving of this role. I look forward to continuing our close relationship building and selling guitars and amps for the world.”

“PRS is an exciting place to be, now more than ever, and I’m thankful to be surrounded by talented, focused teams in the US, UK, Europe and Japan,” adds Jack Higginbotham.

“As Paul is heard to say, ‘This is our time.’ As I navigate my fourth decade as a PRS employee, I’m looking forward to using my experiences as well as our collective experiences to position us well for the next 40 years. I am grateful for the opportunity and look forward to what is to come!”

Learn more at PRS Guitars.

The post PRS has appointed its first-ever CEO – here’s how it will affect the brand appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

As the Fender Telecaster continues to celebrate its 75th anniversary, Fender CEO Bud Cole has shared his views on AI – and he believes that it has the potential to “help create a whole new world of guitar players”.

Cole’s views crop up at the end of a new interview with T3. In contrast with much of the rest of the music industry rallying against AI, the Fender CEO believes that AI isn’t a bad thing. In fact, he likens its ability to rework existing music to budding musicians covering existing songs to learn the ropes and find inspiration. “I actually believe cover music has been sort of ‘analogue AI’ for a long time,” he insists.

• READ MORE: “Our goal was simple: have a conversation… Thomann chose a different path”: Fender directly sues Thomann for copyright infringement
  

And covering artists was something he himself did before dipping his toes into writing his own music. “I listened a lot to REM, U2, The Smiths and The Cure, and at some point I got sick of just listening to them – I wanted to play it, so I learned to play guitar,” he explains.

Thereon out, he would copy tracks, learn how they worked, and then and twists these skills into new songs. This, if we consider Cole’s view, would be an example of an artist carrying out their own act of ‘analogue AI’. Though, if we’re nit-picking, ‘analogue AI’ would technically just be non-artificial intelligence… meaning that Cole is just describing the typical learning process and adaptive nature of normal, human intelligence.

Though, Cole is convinced AI is a helpful new addition to a musician’s tool belt. “I think we have to be careful, but we should look at how this technology can help us,” he says. “I believe that AI is actually going to help create a whole new world of guitar players that use it. To help connect with other musicians, to be more productive.”

In his words, it could be the ultimate way of elevating new guitarists “students of songwriting to masters of songwriting”.

A similar argument has been parroted by Zakk Wylde in the past. Back in March, he told Qobuz: “If AI listens to all of Ozzy Osbourne’s melodies and gets a feel for what Ozzy’s style is, and then hears Tony Iommi’s riffs and then it could hear the tendencies Bill Ward plays, certain fills he does, and the way Geezer Butler plays bass, and it listens to the lyrics… and it comes up with something, it’d be no different than a songwriter trying to come up with something that Black Sabbath would write.”

However, Wylde wasn’t framing this as a defence for AI. While he admitted the process is similar to a musician copying another artist, he knuckled down and stated that it could never fully replace a strong artist. “It doesn’t bother me [if AI rips off The Eagles], because I’m still gonna buy the record from The Eagles!” he said.

The post Fender CEO compares cover bands to AI in music: “Cover music has been sort of analogue AI for a long time” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Remember the solo record that Tony Iommi teased last year? Well, it looks like it’s finally finished. 21 years after the release of Iommi’s 2005 collaborative effort with Glenn Hughes, Fused, the Black Sabbath legend is set to share details of a new solo record tomorrow (29 July).

Iommi has teased the announcement on Instagram. In a new post, the guitarist can be seen riffing away on his Tony Iommi Signature Epiphone SG Custom, with a caption that simply teases a date: 29 July.

• READ MORE: “There’s no pressure. I don’t have to do it by next week”: Tony Iommi confirms he’s working on a solo album

Considering Iommi has been teasing a new record since last year, fans are certain the mysterious date will reveal more information about the long-awaited album. Some are even guessing that the clip might be taken straight from a new music video.

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The announcement has also been teased on the streets of Birmingham, with billboards being put up bearing Iommi’s signature crucifix. The billboards have a scannable QR code, which directs you to a site called secret.iommi.com. Once there, you will find an unknown word/phrase slowly taking form (as it stands, there is only an R and an N), as well as a button reading ‘revolution giving birth’.

The link takes you to a scheduled YouTube livestream, set to happen on July 29 at 3:30pm (BST). This is where we assume the announcement will finally take place.

Last year, Iommi teased the new record on Eddie Trunk’s Trunk Nation. The guitarist revealed he had been working on a new solo record before Back To The Beginning temporarily took his eye off the ball. “I was doing my own album until [Back To The Beginning] came up, and then, of course, I had to stop and concentrate on [preparing for] the Sabbath [performance],” he told Trunk [via Blabbermouth].

He continued: “But I’m continuing next week on trying to finish off what I started with this album. And then who knows what I’m gonna do then? It’s great, really, ’cause if something pops up, I’ll do it, if I want to do it. So it’s a good thing.”

The guitarist also revealed that he had “one singer on [the record]” at the time.  “It started off as… an instrumental album… but then I thought, ‘Oh, I wanna try it with a singer,’” he explained.

To tune into Iommi’s official announcement on 29 July, head here.

The post Is Black Sabbath legend Tony Iommi about to announce a solo album? appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

“Brand-new guitars, fresh out of the factory, yet already carrying an air of wisdom and a story untold…” Meet Harley Benton’s new Aged Series, a line of affordable electric guitars and basses that come pre-aged straight out of the factory.

Relic’d guitars are nothing new, there remains a strong appetite for instruments that look like they’ve been to hell and back. A real vintage instrument with authentic bruises and some rich history doesn’t come cheap, and often, neither do the new guitars that mimic a life on the road via relicing.

But Harley Benton’s new Aged Series looks to put aged, battered-looking instruments in the hands of those on a tighter budget.

• READ MORE: “They dragged it out like a dead body”: Musician fumes at American Airlines after guitar destroyed beyond recognition

The series consists of five models in total: the T-style TE-62, S-type ST-62, the offset JA-62 and two bass models. There’s American alder bodies, vintage caramelised Canadian maple becks and laurel fingerboards across the board, with Light and Heavy aging options available on each.

The aging process is done by hand, Harley Benton says, so the finish and hardware wear will vary slightly between instruments.

A range of classic colours are available across the board, too, including Lake Placid Blue, Seafoam Green, 3-Tone Sunburst, Olympic White and Candy Apple.

“After two years of refining, scaling and finessing, we can no longer keep this to ourselves,” says Harley Benton. “We’re finally proud to let these raconteurs loose.

“We’ve always had ambition here at Harley Benton. The Aged Series is a dream that’s been years in the making. We’ve been working hard to develop a durable finish to nail the character and patina that make these guitars so breathtaking. The result? Authentic, hand-aged instruments, each one unique in aesthetic, all for incredible value, and we’re ever so deeply enamoured.

“These are instruments that already look like they’ve lived a lifetime of adventure. Like they’ve got stories to tell. Whether gigging, shooting content, rehearsing, or just letting one hang on your wall longer than any responsible adult should, these are the kind of guitars that make people stop, star-struck, and say: ‘Wow! How long have you been touring for?’”

These are Harley Bentons we’re talking about, so you’re probably wondering about the price? Each model in the Aged Series clocks in at just €249.

Learn more at Harley Benton.

The post Heavy-relic’d guitars for under £250? Meet Harley Benton’s new Aged Series appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

You’ve heard of the tuna fish… but what about the tuna fuzz? Jack White’s Third Man Hardware has just released a pedal as quirky as the White Stripes’ frontman himself, canning up a heavy burst of fuzz into a small ‘tuna tin’ stompbox .

Created in collaboration with Beetronics, the Old Zoo-Lion Meat pedal comes as a limited release, with only 333 units created. With its one-knob design, the fuzz pedal allows you to produce strong vintage tones without the frills; once you’ve twisted the single Phlegmatic Roar knob to control your output volume, all fuzz control is then determined by your guitar’s volume knob.

• READ MORE: Jack White apparently wanted to use The White Stripes’ Seven Nation Army as a James Bond film theme

While the design is inspired by Beetronics’ own Tuna Fuzz, the Third Man Hardware collaboration serves up a unique design. The can’s artwork has been designed by Rob Jones (AKA Animal Rummy), who often works with White, from producing tour posters to having his artwork, Cardiff Giant Baby, displayed in White’s current London art exhibition.

The design in question truly plays into the ‘tuna can’ of it all – though, as the pedal’s name suggests, it acts as if it contains Old Zoo-Lion Meat. On the pedal, there’s even a drawing of the Old Zoo-Lion in question, and he’s depicted as an old, wise man reading a book. “Stewing in listless anxiety amid my kingdom of plastic rocks…” his speech bubble reads, as he ponders over his experience living as a caged being.

Inspired by the biblical tale of Samson and the lion (a biblical tale of a man killing a lion, only to discover a swarm of bees inside of the lion’s corpse), the design also mentions Timnath, the place where the biblical tale takes place. And then, thanks to its transparent bottom, you can admire Beetronics’ inner circuit board which bears the image of a bee.

In a video showcasing the pedal in full force, you can see a bee-headed player really putting it to work. “Eat up, then plug in to give your guitar a belly full of BEES, like the carcass of Samson’s legendary leonine corpse,” the pedal reads.

The Old Zoo-Lion Meat fuzz pedal is currently sold out, but it was on sale for $150.

Alongside the Old Zoo-Lion Meat fuzz pedal, White has been feeding his fans plenty of goods as of late. Not only is his current London art exhibition, These Thoughts May Disappear, running until 13 September, but he also recently released a new album, Frozen Charlotte.

White is set to embark on an European tour this August, before dipping back to the US to perform a slew of shows through to November.

For more information on the Old Zoo-Lion Meat fuzz, head to Reverb.

The post Jack White cans up some fuzz for the Old Zoo-Lion Meat tin-can pedal appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Having only started playing school events and backyard shows in 2025, Untitled never imagined they would become one of the most talked about new bands in the alternative rock and grunge scenes.

• READ MORE: Yard Act’s Sam Shipstone on clichés, concision and how guitars returned to their core: “Great bands really find their style, and that’s the thing they sit on”

Rather than setting out with a goal in mind, having fun was always most important for the four teenagers that make up the Los Angeles-based group. “We just wanted to get together and play,” begins vocalist/guitarist Danny, whose first guitar was a cheap Fender Stratocaster that he’s since modified.

Such a DIY ethos relates to the type of music that he, guitarist James, bassist Juan, and drummer Lorenzo started creating in their garage. “We just make whatever we want and don’t follow any trend,” Danny continues. James, who is self-taught and started out trying to make his own riffs on a bass before buying a $80 black Strat, adds that they prefer to not stick to a specific genre. “We bounce around and whatever we’re feeling in the moment is what we do.”

This freedom to create without restrictions stems from the band’s vast range of influences. Having respectively learned by ear and from tabs, for Danny it’s Alex G and early punk bands like The Germs, while guitarist James is a big fan of Foo Fighters and Nirvana as well as Green Day, Blink-182 and Weezer. Untitled’s bassist, Juan, has more of a mellow taste and is into Radiohead, while the drummer, Lorenzo, prefers Led Zeppelin.

Natural Instincts

Following their own instinct has worked well: in November 2025, a video of the band jamming went viral on Instagram and TikTok. “We posted a little guitar intro and it blew up,” Danny recalls. James ponders that, because people “liked the vibe”, they made edits using the song on their photos and videos.

And, with the band having used specific hashtags on their own posts – namely #Nirvana and #Radiohead – such correlations undoubtedly helped introduce a new generation to the music of their heroes. “We wanted fans of those bands to maybe gravitate towards it,” Danny considers, adding that reviving the grunge scene was also in the back of their mind.

Amid the hype, however, the band had one problem: the aforementioned riff wasn’t actually part of a song — yet. Though a somewhat unorthodox approach, the band began writing a song based around what people were commenting about how the guitar riff made them feel. “Normally when you write a song, you build and write a story in the form of a song, whereas we wrote a part, and people wrote the story,” Danny considers.

While crafting it was a challenge, they had no choice because Untitled had a show coming up. “I wrote random lyrics, but also lyrics that people can relate to,” Danny recalls, before James nods his head in approval. “I think he did a good job at capturing the vibe of the song.”

Feeling that they “had to release it before people lost interest”, Untitled decided to share Restless with the world. “We had nothing to lose,” James says, adding that he and the band were a little nervous to put their first offering out. They had no reason to be: Restless became the fastest-streaming rock song in the world in the weeks after its release.

Go It Alone

What made this achievement even more impressive was the fact that the band self-released that debut single with no team or promo at the time. Unsurprisingly, an old-fashioned A&R scrap ensued, with majors and independents hoping to strike while the iron was hot. “It almost took on a life of its own,” Danny says of Restless. “We didn’t understand the gravity of what was happening,” James reflects.

“At first, it was mind-blowing,” he recalls of the band being hit up by five labels a day. The group ended up choosing Good Talk Records / Create Music Group, who usually release hip-hop records. “The CEO, Jonny Shipes, was the only one from all the record labels who actually seemed like he enjoyed us,” Danny considers.

“After taking meetings with different labels constantly for several days, you can work out who actually cares and who is just going down a list of bands,” James ponders. He adds that the band were keen to pick a smaller label, and someone that “genuinely cared, because we want what we put out to be the best it can be”.

Being flown out to meet Shipes in New York was proof of their whirlwind success, and further surreal moments followed. Alongside receiving backing from Jakob Nowell (frontman of Californian ska-punk band Sublime) – “he wanted to work with us which is really crazy,” Danny says – they got an Instagram follow from the band Cage The Elephant. Ben Goldstein, who manages Julian Casablancas of iconic rock band The Strokes, also helped Untitled out until they found official management. “He was another cool person who reached out to us,” Danny says.

Stick To Your Guns

Considering their rapid ascendence, Untitled would be forgiven for compromising on their sound, but that hasn’t happened at all. Crucially, the band are still making music for pure enjoyment, just like they always have. Following up a viral hit that has since clocked up 46 million Spotify streams and counting wasn’t an easy task, however. “It was a lot of pressure,” Danny admits. “Having such a big song, all eyes are on you. We felt that, for whatever was next, there was going to be a lot of judgment, so we wanted the next song to be at least kind of good,” he laughs.

Again, they delivered: their second single, Say It Again, is equally as impactful, as is its follow-up, Nothing Good. Now, the band is working on a debut album. “We want to showcase ourselves as much as possible,” James teases, adding that alongside tracks that share a “similar vibe”, there will be some softer ones too. “People will be able to tell where we have experimented with stuff, but it will all still feel cohesive,” Danny hints.

Long before that record gets released, though, they’re gearing up to play their first shows outside of America, including a debut UK tour that will culminate with a show at London’s iconic 100 Club in Camden. “It’s crazy to think about, but we’re really excited,” Danny says of their increasingly busy schedule.

Considering that getting to this point was not something they envisioned, their advice for anyone starting a band is simple. “Don’t care what people think,” Danny affirms; “just make whatever you want, have fun with friends and express yourself”. James has the final word, suggesting that aspiring musicians shouldn’t doubt themselves so much. “A lot of people question whether they should put the music out or not, but you just have to because you never know what’s going to happen.”

Untitled’s Six Guitar Heroes

James

“Billie Joe Armstrong because Green Day’s songs were the first ones I learned on guitar. They’re nostalgic to me and they teach you a lot of different skills that you’ll need as you progress.

“Mark Knopfler, the guitarist from Dire Straits, too: whenever I listen to those songs, he just makes the guitar sing in a different way. It’s mesmerizing.”

Juan

“I love Jonny Greenwood from Radiohead, especially the fast bits of In Rainbows.”

Lorenzo

“Paul McCartney, because of how versatile his bass lines are.”

Danny

“Alex G because of the beautiful chords, and Kurt Cobain because of how simple it is.”

The post Meet Untitled, the teenage LA grunge revivalists whose guitar riff went viral on TikTok appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

From performing in front of their high school to crashing into London pubs for sweaty sing-alongs, Green Day have always loved a chaotic, impromptu gig. Almost four decades into their career, nothing has changed – only this time, in perhaps a punk rock first, the Californian opted to perform on the top of an ice cream truck.

That’s right – on Friday (24 July) Green Day clambered aboard a Mister Freezie ice cream truck at Gallagher Square outside Petco Parkto during this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. Rather than 99s, fans were served up ’94 classic, Basket Case… though, there were a few free Nimrods-branded ice creams too, courtesy of frontman-turned- ice-cream-vendor Billie Joe Armstrong.

• READ MORE: “I’m totally a guitar guy” the OG Red Wiggle Murray Cook on Spinal Tap moments, 40s Martins and embracing his blues-rock soul

Of course, the ice cream truck was quickly crowded with people. Fans gathered to witness the spectacle, and a few were lucky enough to walk away with free t-shirts and cassette tapes – a true cherry on top of this peculiar punk rock sundae.

I don’t care if Green Day playing Basket Case on an ice cream truck at San Diego Comic Con happened to you it should’ve happened to me instead pic.twitter.com/BVNjDljqGH

— lady stardust (@cinethanhunt) July 25, 2026

The appearance was the band’s own way of hyping their upcoming film, Nimrods, inspired by Green Day’s 1997 record of the same name. Writer and director Lee Kirk crafted the coming-of-age flick with the guidance of the band, and it is set to follow a young band’s tour-van-road-trip in a bid to secure a support slot opening for Green Day.

The film is set to drop in the UK on 11 August, before receiving a US release on 14 August. It will also feature a soundtrack of classic Green Day tracks, as well as their new track I’m Never Gonna R.I.P. and four previously unreleased live recordings from a performance at the Palladium in Los Angeles.

The soundtrack will also feature music from Mckenna Grace, The Paradox, Ultra Q, and a few cuts from the film’s central fictional band, Analog Dogs.

This isn’t the first time Green Day’s music has been transformed into another medium; 2004’s American Idiot was famously adapted into a broadway show. Back in 2010, Deadline alleged that actor Tom Hanks (yes, that Tom Hanks) was even trying to get the play adapted into a fully fledged feature film.

IGN addressed the concept of an American Idiot film in a recent interview, with Armstrong explaining: “We’ve talked about it a lot… there’s always talks about it but we’ve just got to figure out when. But, right now, it’s all about Nimrods.”

The post Green Day serve up Basket Case and a few ice cream cones from the top of a Mister Freezie van appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

We’re all aware of Schrödinger’s Cat – the notion that, within the confines of a closed box, a cat is simultaneously both alive and dead in the limbo before you actually check. However, if you were to apply the same thought experiment to, say, an airline handling your guitar, Schrödinger’s theory doesn’t apply. Because artists often know whether their guitar has been bashed around by airport handlers even before cracking open their case.

In fact, sometimes even the case is a casualty. That was unfortunately the case for digital creator Titus Tucker, one of the most recent guitarists to face a devastating loss at high altitude. After flying with American Airlines, Tucker shared a video accusing the airline of damaging his guitar – and we use the term ‘damaging’ very lightly.

• READ MORE: “I’m totally a guitar guy” the OG Red Wiggle Murray Cook on Spinal Tap moments, 40s Martins and embracing his blues-rock soul

For those easily disturbed, look away now… but the condition of Tucker’s guitar is ghastly. As Tucker explains that it’s a new guitar in a brand new case, the pile of wood and strings on the floor is almost unrecognisable as an instrument. Honestly, it’s cartoonishly destroyed – as if handlers dropped the case down a flight of stairs, reversed over it with a lorry, and finally placed grenade placed inside before loading it onto the plane.

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This isn’t just exclusive to American Airlines, either. Just yesterday, Nashville artist Ella Hennessee shared her experience with United Airlines, accusing the airline of mishandling her childhood guitar. “I didn’t don’t y’all dropped luggage 25,000 ft apparently,” she jokes in a clip as she inspects cracks down the side of her guitar.

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Of course, United Airlines have faced quite a bit of bad press in the past surrounding the way it treats instruments. In 2009, Canadian musician Dave Carroll dropped the ultimate United Airlines diss track, United Breaks Guitars, after the airline refused to front the cost of his $3,000 guitar broken in transit. In the end, the airline ended up paying far more than $3,000 – because the protest track had such an impact that the airline’s stocks dropped by $180 million in a single day.

Elsewhere, Southwest Airlines also received bad press last year for mishandling Emily Wolfe’s guitar. The blues rocker accused the airling of breaking her signature Epiphone White Wolfe, resulting in a snapped headstock.

Wolfe’s experience saw her filing a report, only for the airline to wipe its hands clean due to instruments being classed as “fragile items” – essentially meaning that the company considers it the owner’s responsibility if a guitar breaks in transit.

“If airlines can damage professional-grade instruments, charge us extra to check them, and then refuse to take responsibility, it puts every traveling musician at risk,” Wolfe wrote on her Instagram post. “This is not just about one guitar. It is about protecting the tools of our craft.”

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The entire debacle raises a very worrying concern – if your guitar gets damaged mid-tour, it’s just an extra cost on top of the ever-hiking cost of touring. Artist Devin Townsend has even admitted he cuts costs by travelling with just an acoustic guitar as it’s cheaper than lugging around more gear… if his sole acoustic broke, what then?

With airlines attempting to pass the blame on to the individual and refusing to pay out, travelling puts artists in an incredible vulnerable position. It sadly seems we’ve made little progress since 2009’s United Breaks Guitars, but hopefully more artists sharing their experiences online will pressure airlines to take more accountability for any damage that happens on flights.

The post “They dragged it out like a dead body”: Musician fumes at American Airlines after guitar destroyed beyond recognition appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.