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It’s a great feeling when your guitar playing moves away from learning your favourite songs and riffs to coming up with your own. Better still, is sharing those ideas with bandmates or other musicians in a jam/rehearsal setting and hearing them in a brand new context – often resulting in fresh inspiration.

But what do you do when you’re writing guitar by yourself? Some people are blessed with the creative vision and skill to visualise a fully-formed song from the outset, but many of us need some form of accompaniment to help us hear the big picture.

In this guide, I’m going to present a series of techniques and tools that I’ve found useful as a solo composer. We’ll be looking at both free and paid tools, so that you can find an approach that works for you.

Before we dive in, it’s important to remember that writing guitar by yourself does get easier with practice. My early ideas were super simple, and while I still lean heavily on many of the tools highlighted in this guide, sometimes a song comes out fully-formed. When that happens, it’s important to embrace it and not mess with it too much. Many of the world’s greatest songs just poured out in a single sitting with little to no additions.

Our favourite techniques for writing guitar by yourself

Rip off your favourites

Sensationalist headline aside, I do really recommend this technique. I’ve taken rhythms, chord progressions and riffs from artists I love and turned them into something completely different that feels like an authentic representation of my style. Your influences may be very obvious in those early days, but the more you play, the more those influences become a footnote of your songwriting and playing style.

Write all the time

You can’t force creativity, but the more you write, the more you hone your writing skills and ability to construct solid ideas when inspiration strikes. Just hit record on whatever device you’re using and play. Not every session will be fruitful, but that’s OK. Your creativity is like a muscle; the more you use it, the more effective it will be.

Don’t be confined to one guitar

I’ll caveat this by saying I spent the first six years using a single electric guitar and your creativity is by no means affected by the number of guitars you own. However, if you’re fortunate enough to be able to own or at least experiment with different guitars, it can unlock a lot of ideas you’d never consider.

In my 20+ years playing, my guitar collection expanded from my Fender Strat to a Cort M600, to a Squier Bass VI and finally a Jackson JS22-7 Dinky. With each successive guitar, the ideas that poured out whilst playing were ones I hadn’t considered and/or couldn’t work on the previous guitar.

You might find that exploring extended range guitars unlocks new creative paths like me or inspiration may strike when switching from electric to acoustic (or vice versa), or exploring other string instruments like mandolin, gottan or cittern.

Find passionate players that speak to you

What really helps me out of a creative slump is being reminded why I love guitar. Loading up YouTube and checking out the latest ‘Thick Riff Thursday’ from Nick Broomhall, seeing what silliness Dean Lamb’s up to or hunting down an interview with my favourite artists on the Garza Podcast never fails to inspire me. That’s before you add in official guitar playthroughs, rig rundowns, production tutorials on how to sound like ‘X artist’, etc.

Will every video turn into a new idea? No, not necessarily. But it keeps me engaged in that world, so that when I do pick up my guitar, there’s inspiration ready and waiting.

Our favourite free tools for writing guitar by yourself

Best for ease-of-use: Voice memos

Voice memos are an invaluable tool for guitarists, be they solo composers or in a band, and pretty much every one of us has one in our pockets. Record your idea, then connect your phone to a pair of headphones or a speaker and you can overdub lines or write lead parts.

Voice memos don’t even need to involve your guitar. A melody or rhythm might come to you when you’re away from home, so recording a quick voice memo is a great way of retaining that idea and exploring it when you’re reunited with your guitar.

Best for efficiency: Video recordings

The major downside, at least in my experience, with voice memo recordings is that I don’t always remember how I played something, especially if the idea is quite old. By filming your ideas on your phone, you can clearly see what you’re playing. If you’re using pedalboard effects, filming the settings on your board is also really helpful so you can dial in the same tone(s).

The caveat here is storage space, as videos will fill up your phone’s HD much faster than voice memos. A free Google account comes with 15GB of free cloud storage, so you can backup your ideas without fear of losing them.

Whether you choose voice memos or video recordings, I recommend devising a naming structure (key, chords, vibe, etc.) so that when you’re browsing through all your ideas, you can pick out the one you’re looking for quickly and easily find ideas that can be paired together to flesh out songs.

Best for computer-based composition: Tracktion Waveform Free

If you’d prefer to demo ideas on your computer, a free DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) such as Waveform Free is super useful for writing guitar parts by yourself. With unlimited audio channels, built-in FX, third-party audio plugin support and video training resources, this is such an amazing tool and a great way to develop not only your songwriting skills, but your recording and production chops, too.

You can even combine this with your voice memo recordings and drag-and-drop them into Waveform and loop them for overdubbing additional guitar parts, writing solos or accompaniment.

Our favourite paid tools for writing guitar by yourself

Best all-rounder: Guitar Pro

Guitar Pro is an incredible solo songwriting tool – I just wrote a three-part guide series on the very subject, so I won’t go into massive detail here. Costing just £61, this software remains the best investment for my musical development, creativity and songwriting.

Whether you’re trying to write sections with multiple guitar parts, hear what a riff sounds like with bass and drums behind it, or just catalogue your ideas so they are ready for when inspiration strikes, Guitar Pro is, in my opinion, the best tool for the job.

Best for tactile songwriting: Loop pedals

You might look at my previous recommendations and feel like your hands are spending too little time on the fretboard, and to those people I recommend a loop pedal. I’ve had a Line 6 DL4 since the early 2010s – a purchase made more for my love of artists such as Brontide and Minus The Bear, rather than its looping capabilities. It’s a delay modeller for crying out loud! Regardless, I’ve racked up hundreds of hours of looping fun on my DL4, but there are so many fantastic dedicated loop pedals for a fraction of the cost.

TC Electronic’s Ditto+ is a space-saving powerhouse with up to 60-minutes of looping time, while its bigger brother the X2 Looper sacrifices looping time (5 minutes max), it adds FX like stop, reverse and half-speed. Both feature a micro USB which allows you to import/export loops and backing tracks (Ditto+/X2) and work with your loops in a DAW (X2 only).

 

Then there’s Donner’s Circle Looper, which offers the same core functionality as the Ditto, in addition to being a drum machine and metronome. Personally, I find writing with a drum beat is essential to moving ideas along, so having these tools in the same pedal makes a big difference. Like the X2 Looper, you can connect the Donner Circle Looper to your DAW of choice.

At the time of writing, each of these loopers is around the same price point (£89-95), so it’s really about what features you would find the most useful, rather than which pedal is the cheapest.

Best for computer-based composition: Drum libraries and guitar plugins

Building on my point about how drum grooves can unlock creative ideas, I have to shine a light on some of the excellent digital drum libraries available. These libraries contain high-quality recorded samples of iconic kits, players and styles for you to use to build out the rhythm sections of your songs. Sometimes, all it takes is hearing a groove for ideas to start pouring out and it’s why I rate tools like this so much for my own songwriting.

As I write and play predominantly in heavier genres, GGD (Getgood Drums) is my go-to for digital drums, especially as several of their flagship libraries are now available as standalone plugins. For a more jack-of-all-trades drum library, Toontrack EZdrummer 3 is a super versatile plugin and an affordable one at that. I would recommend doing some research of your own and trialing a few different libraries before taking the plunge.

While it can be dangerous thinking that new gear means new ideas, there’s an element of truth in that. For that reason, I’m including guitar plugins as an honourable mention. These don’t necessarily need to cost anything, but they can absolutely spark ideas and break you out of a creative dry spell in the same way that a different style of guitar can. Our guide on the best free and paid guitar plugins is the best place to start.

The post Gear and techniques for writing guitar riffs – the essential guide appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

From his infamous struggle with addiction, to repeatedly quitting and rejoining Kiss, the late Ace Frehley lived a pretty chaotic life. However, his ex-bandmates are no longer holding that against him; in a recent interview, Kiss bassist Gene Simmons admits that he wishes he’d done more to help Frehley while he was still alive.

Speaking on the Inside Of You With Michael Rosenbaum podcast, Simmons recalls how the state of Frehley’s personal life was “up and down for 50 years”. However, Simmons admits he could have done more to support Frehley through his alcohol and drug dependency. “I should have, when [I first saw] the disease starting to get a hold of him,” he says [via Blabbermouth]. “I should have, decades ago, took him aside.”

• READ MORE: Ace Frehley’s wild Kiss moments: “A smoke bomb ignited too early inside the cavity of the guitar, and it melted my asbestos costume to my thigh”

While Frehley ended up beating his addictions, being clean and sober for around 20 years before his passing, Simmons still regrets not stepping in to help his bandmate. He admits that an intervention would have been the best port of call, rather than the animosity and anger.

“[I should have] forced him to understand he’s not just hurting himself by his lifestyle choices, but his family, his child and the fans,” the bassist continues, before noting that it was a “stupid and shameful decision” to hide Frehley’s genuine addiction struggles for years.

“Right now the fans who are gonna listen to this are gonna [say], ‘Prick Gene, he never says anything [positive]’… But the kids at home don’t understand [what it was like],” Simmons reflects. “They never met and spent time with Ace. When he’s straight – lovable, everything’s great. When the stuff started to take hold, it was Jekyll and Hyde. You just can’t make smart decisions when you’re drunk or high.”

When Frehley left the band in 1973 and 2002, Simmons would often be met with outrage when trying to explain Frehley’s unreliable nature: “[It’s like] when mum suddenly kicks dad out of the house, and she tries to explain ‘He was a drunk, he was a loser, he was late…’ The fans are the kids, they don’t understand.”

“Ace turned to beverages and chemicals early on, and he wouldn’t show up to do this guitar parts…” he goes on to explain. “The fans don’t like to hear this because he was so talented. Everybody, all the new guitar players, were influenced by him.

The decision to downplay Frehley’s struggles was often due to the band not wanting to worry fans. “[We thought] ‘No, don’t get the fans upset, let’s [pretend] he’s in the band and everything’s okay at home,’” Simmons recalls.

However, despite the addictions Frehley was battling, Simmons insists he was in his own league of guitar playing. “You look at his body of work, and guitar players [like] Eddie Van Halen point to Ace…” he says. “They say, ‘I cut my teeth on guitar by listening to Ace.’”

True to Simmons’ words, countless guitar icons came forward last October to pay tribute to Frehley. Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello named Frehley his “first guitar hero”, while Extreme’s Nuno Bettencourt also praised Frehley’s influence in Kiss, naming them the “first rock band [he] wanted to be like”.

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The post “When the stuff started to take hold, it was Jekyll and Hyde”: Gene Simmons regrets not staging an intervention for Ace Frehley appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Considering Steve Vai has been ranked among Rolling Stone’s Greatest Guitarists of All Time, it only makes sense that he’d live in one of the greatest homes of all time. For the last 30 years, Vai has lived in 10,000 sq ft of luxury – but he’s finally moving on, and his Los Angeles pad is up for grabs.

While it sits at an eye-watering price of nearly $11.8 million, the property seems to be the epitome of luxury. Situated within Encino’s gated Music Row community, the 5-bed house looks like the dream rockstar getaway, complete with a tennis court, gym, swimming pool, home theatre and even a fully-fledged studio out back.

• READ MORE: Courtney Barnett on Kurt Cobain Jaguars, writing for the song, and why she’s learned to push down the feeling she’s “wasting everyone’s time” to nail her guitar solos

Fans might recognise the space as Vai’s Harmony Hut, the guitarist’s personal studio which has appeared in multiple YouTube videos. Originally a small cottage built to house the previous owner’s gardener, the home studio has played an integral role in Vai’s creativity for 3 decades, whether that be tracking parts for albums or recording live playthroughs of tracks (including a sick one-handed Knappsack performance).

The Harmony Hut has also housed countless iconic axes over the years. While Vai will certainly be taking his collection with him, the studio walls have been covered with guitars that have played a role in Vai’s musical history. The eclectic assortment features nods to every step of Vai’s career, starting from his first electric guitar, the Whitesnake Ibanez, to gifts from his collaborators and peers, like Yngwie Malmsteen, Mick Mars, Joe Satriani, and Frank Zappa.

Back in 2001, Vai took to his blog to explain the history of the studio: “There was a gardener that lived in the little shack out back while the house was vacant for 10 years. The poor guy died out there and was not discovered for 2 weeks when the neighbors noticed a funny smell. Ah, a perfect place to make beautiful music, right?”

“I added a small room to t and bumped out the front and put in a huge window, so now when I work at the desk I can look out over the backyard and see the kids, the sun,” he added. “It’s a very comfortable environment with various fabrics on the walls and coloured Tiffany-type lamps that set the room in a warm glow…”

He also explained how, despite the property being “vacant for 10 years” prior to his purchase, him and his wife “saw the potential” of the massive two acres of land.

Alongside the fully kitted out studio, the rest of the house is equally as impressive. From the skylit kitchen, with its open layout and hanging star lanterns, to the warm maroon billiards room, the whole house shows that Vai has pretty good taste. And it’s also got plenty of neat little perks, like a climatised wine cellar and a fire pit for late night conversations after a dip in the pool.

According to the San Diego Union Tribute, Vai relocated to San Diego’s Rancho Santa Fe last year. The sale of his Encino property seems to be the natural next step. “Right before [the Satchvai Band’s] European concert tour with Joe last year, a house came on the market in Rancho Santa Fe and [me and my wife] got it,” Vai explained earlier this month. “We just moved in about a month ago and it’s so quiet, peaceful, and the people are so nice.”

“I’m 65 years old now and I don’t want to grow old in Los Angeles,” he added. “My wife and I raised our family there and it had an energy and vibe that was perfect at the time. But now it’s time for something safer, cleaner and friendlier.”

Check out Vai’s property listing at Sotherby’s International Realty.

The post Steve Vai lists California home for $11.8M, ending an era of working from his Harmony Hut home studio appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Paul Gilbert has become the latest high-profile guitar player to signal a shift away from tubes and towards digital amplifiers.

The shred maestro recently took to Instagram to share a photo of his current rig, which finds a Fender Tone Master Twin Reverb digital modelling combo amp front and centre, alongside his decked out stage-ready pedalboard.

• READ MORE: Answered: more technical guitar questions you were too afraid to ask

In the post, Gilbert explains that the Tone Master Twin Reverb we see in the shot is just one of two: one serves as a monitoring amp while he’s on stage, while the other sits behind him to “rock the house”. “Classic tone that gets my pedals across loud, clear and full of WROC,” he writes, in reference to his latest album.

The rig marks a notable shift in gear choices for the guitarist as of late. As Guitar World notes, his new album was recorded using tube amps: a ‘90s Fender Custom Vibrolux Reverb run through a Randall Isolation Cabinet, plus a Victoria Club Deluxe as a volume boost during solos.

Of course, we in the guitar community love to put guitarists into one of two camps: tube or digital. But the reality is nothing’s stopping a guitarist from employing both, harnessing the responsiveness of more traditional tube amps while also leaning on the reliability and consistency of a digital model.

That said, most guitarists do, gun to the head, have a preference. And therefore Gilbert’s post does beg the question, is he beginning to lean more towards the digital side of the equation?

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For the pedalboard nerds amongst you, we’re sure you’ve been able to identify a number of units on the virtuoso’s ‘board. We spot an MXR Stereo Chorus, Jam Pedals RetroVibe and a JHS Moonshine V2 overdrive. What else can you see?

The digital vs analogue debate continues to rage in the guitar community, with no signs of a clear winner being found anytime soon. Earlier this year, Lenny Kravitz asserted that digital gear doesn’t sound as good as their vintage counterparts, saying: “It ain’t the same, man.”

But many of the industry’s biggest players have begun to see the benefits of digital amplification.

Last year, Metallica guitar tech Chad Zaemisch reflected on the band’s decision to veer away from heavy physical amps towards digital amp modellers for their live shows, and how it has led to improvements to their stage design and, therefore, fan experience.

“Everybody’s all about content these days, and not a lot of people want to watch a band stand in front of their amp line with nothing else going on,” he said. “Now we can use large video screens. It opens up a lot more opportunities to do different things.”

The post Digital amps have a new convert in Paul Gilbert… appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

John Mayer has reflected on his 2003 track Daughters, saying he wrote it from a “selfish” place, and questioning whether he had the authority at the time to convey the message he intended to.

During a recent appearance at HISTORYTalks – a live speaker series in which prominent figures give public talks – the guitar legend recounted his inspiration behind the track, which featured on his 2003 album, Heavier Things.

• READ MORE: Slipknot x Gucci: the wildest crossover of the year so far?

The song itself sees Mayer giving fathers advice on how to raise their daughters, and more specifically how raising them right affects how they’re able to experience love in a healthy way. Mayer was 25 when the album was released, and currently has no children.

“What was a 24-year-old boy doing, telling fathers,” Mayer said during the event before breaking into laughter [via People].

Beyond the surface of what the song was about, Mayer revealed he had something of a personal agenda while writing it, explaining he was unable to be with a woman he loved.

“I was thinking in very circuitous and clever ways that it was really about me, a young guy, so selfishly upset that he couldn’t be with the woman he loved, because he thought that her father must have had something to do with it,” he continued.

“When you’re young… that’s young logic, and it plays really well in songs. It just does. ‘Come over. I know [we’re] horrible for each other, come over,’ [type of] young.”

He added that “older logic” doesn’t necessarily make for great songs: “Had a tough day, coped with it.’ It’s a tough song to write. ‘Had a rough morning, took a look at the bright side, got a good phone call later, reminded myself, ‘What was I doing worrying?’ It’s not a chorus!”

Listen to Daughters below:

Elsewhere, John Mayer recently reflected on his nerves before performing with Dead & Company for the first time. Explaining how he was desperate to prove himself to the band’s fans and to late Grateful Dead legend Bob Weir – who died earlier this year – he said: “I couldn’t help overplaying in some of those first few tours. You just do. 

“Even if I knew not to overplay, I’m still going to overplay. It’s going to be wordy. I have to adjust my way into the 10-ring on the target.”

The post “What was a 24-year-old boy doing telling fathers?” John Mayer admits one of his biggest hits was “very selfish” and written with “young logic” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

In one of the more left-field crossovers of the year so far, Gucci has used Slipknot’s debut album opener (sic) in its latest – rather bizarre – advert.

The dark, moody ad sees a number of models waking up in a motel room under spotlights, and features a rather strange turn as two models sit in an old American car with the top down, floating around unpredictably under a full moon, soundtracked by Slipknot’s landmark track (sic). No, you didn’t just hallucinate that sentence.

• READ MORE: Answered: more technical guitar questions you were too afraid to ask

The “short film” also features two other songs perhaps more in keeping with the Italian luxury fashion brand: Mina’s Un bacio è troppo poco and Charles Aznavour’s Hier encore.

The clip serves as a promotional video for the brand’s upcoming Generation Gucci collection. Check it out below:

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While never released as a single, (sic) opens Slipknot’s ground-shifting self-titled debut album, which arrived to change the metal landscape in 1999. With its rapid tempo and crushing drop B guitar riffs, the track has become a fan favourite, and according to Setlist.fm [via Louder], it’s the third most-played song in their catalogue at live shows.

Elsewhere in Slipknot World, guitarist Jim Root recently explained to Fender his love of the Telecaster. A flagbearer for Fender in the world of metal – in which players often reach for more conventionally ‘metal-friendly’ brands like Jackson, Charvel, or ESP, for example – Slipknot’s #4 has a number of signature Fender models under his name, including a Stratocaster, Telecaster and Jazzmaster.

“That’s kind of the whole metal, punk rock, rock and roll attitude,” he said. “It’s anti, and going against the grain. And if somebody tells you to do something, you’re gonna do the opposite.

“Everybody thought I should be coming out with some pointy metal guitar that’s got 12 points or whatever. No, how about we just do a classic slab iconic guitar? Guitars, in my opinion, are like sunglasses. The classics never go out of style. They’ll always be there. People will make their version of it, but there’s only one Fender Telecaster.”

The post Slipknot x Gucci: the wildest crossover of the year so far? appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Fender has partnered with Brian Fallon – frontman of longstanding New Jersey rockers The Gaslight Anthem – on a new signature custom Telecaster.

A faithful recreation of the ‘59 Telecaster Fallon toured and recorded with during the early days of the band, the new Limited Edition Brian Fallon ‘59 Telecaster Custom is said to reflect the “sheer versatility of his playing style”, delivering the “perfect tonal balance between raw, powerful resonance and sweet, delicate chime”.

Staying true to Fallon’s original instrument, the guitar’s spec sheet includes a double-bound two-piece alder body finished in a sleek Journeyman Relic black lacquer, paired with a ‘60s-style Oval “C” maple neck and flat-laminated dark AAA 9.5”-radius rosewood fingerboard.

• READ MORE: Fender’s Vintera III Series has landed, with “a targeted focus on iconic moments in Fender history”

Tones come by way of Righteous Sound “Fourth Man” pickups with Dual Stack HS Tele wiring, with the bridge pickup delivering a “mid-range snarl” and the split-coil neck pickup offering up warm, clear note definition”.

Credit: Fender

Further specs include 21 vintage frets, a three-way selector switch, a ‘63 Telecaster bridge with RSD brass saddles, vintage-style tuning machines, and a bone nut.

“Brian’s honest and raw songwriting places him in an incredible group of influential voices from the last few decades,” says Chase Paul, Director of Product Development at the Fender Custom Shop.

“Working together with him on recreating every detail of his favourite Tele, we’re able to give his fans hands-on access to a guitar that helps drive him night in and night out.”

Credit: Fender

“There’s only the switches, and the volume and the tone, and that’s really all you got so you better figure it out,” adds Brian Fallon.

“It’s about taking what you can do and making the best of that, and I think this is the guitar for that. If you need a hammer, that’s a hammer, and everyone needs a hammer. You cannot build a house without it.”

Credit: Fender

“Growing up idolising both Bruce Springsteen and Joe Strummer, Brian’s love for this ‘working man’s’ instrument was undeniable,” Fender adds. “In his mind, a Telecaster matches his style – it not only represents his heroes but symbolises the same no-nonsense approach to songwriting and performing he admires.”

The Limited Edition Brian Fallon ‘59 Telecaster Custom is available now, priced at £6,199 / $6,825. Learn more at Fender.

Credit: Fender

The post “It’s a hammer, and everyone needs a hammer”: Brian Fallon unveils no-nonsense “working man’s” signature ‘59 Telecaster appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Neural DSP has released Darkglass Ultimate, a revamped plugin that brings its iconic Darkglass sound into a complete, studio-ready bass rig.

Available as a free update for existing Darkglass Ultra users, Ultimate builds on the original Ultra by combining Darkglass’ defining tones with a full signal chain and creative tools, allowing you to move from an initial bass idea to a finished track all in one place.

• READ MORE: “The only way this thing goes out is if I’m 100% satisfied”: What Cory Wong told Neural DSP when offered his own signature Archetype plugin

At the heart of Darkglass Ultimate are the same two circuits that helped define the original plugin: the B7K Ultra and Vintage Ultra. The B7K Ultra delivers a tight, aggressive drive with controlled low end and clear articulation, while the Vintage Ultra introduces a warmer, rounder character inspired by classic tube-style amplification. Together, they cover a wide tonal range that’s consistent and immediately usable in a mix.

With this release, Darkglass Ultra evolves into a creative platform for bass – extending beyond preamp modelling into a signal chain designed for modern bass workflows.

For starters, Darkglass Ultimate adds a full pre- and post-effects chain, including compressor, fuzz, auto-wah, and octaver up front, plus chorus and delay for after the amp section. There’s also a 9-band graphic EQ built specifically for shaping bass frequencies, plus cab simulations based on DG210C and DG810ES cabinets with adjustable microphone positioning for more detailed tone shaping.

In addition, Neural has bundled in a handy set of tools aimed at day-to-day playing and writing, including transpose, tuner, metronome, and a selection of production-ready presets designed to get ideas moving quickly.

This extends the Darkglass sound beyond the B7K Ultra and Vintage Ultra into an all-in-one bass toolkit, combining its defining tones with the tools needed to shape, refine, and bring sounds to completion.

“With Darkglass Ultimate, we’re expanding the Darkglass sound into something more comprehensive,” says François Barrillon, Lead Product Manager for Plugins at Neural DSP. “For many players, that sound has been a reliable starting point – something they shape around and build on. This release brings more of that process into the same place, so you can experiment, refine, and carry a sound further without stepping outside of it – while preserving the clarity, power, and character that define Darkglass.”

Neural CEO Douglas Castro adds, “We’ve taken the core Darkglass tones and expanded them into a more complete setup, bringing more of the signal chain within a single environment and making the process of shaping and developing a sound more fluid – so players can spend less time managing their tone and more time creating with it.”

For existing Darkglass Ultra users, the upgrade to Darkglass Ultimate is free. A 14-day free trial is also available if you’re looking to test the plugin before purchasing.

The launch also ties into Neural DSP’s annual Birthday Sale, running through 6 May, which offers 50% off all Neural DSP plugins – including Darkglass Ultimate – and 30% off selected products like Archetype: John Mayer X.

In the meantime, Neural DSP will host a giveaway featuring both software and hardware prizes, with winners drawn on multiple dates throughout the campaign.

More details are available at Neural DSP.

The post Neural DSP expands its Darkglass bass plugin into a full creative rig with Darkglass Ultimate appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Dave Grohl has been reflecting on Nirvana’s legacy and the difficult period following Kurt Cobain’s death, explaining why even returning to the band’s most iconic songs once felt completely off-limits.

Speaking with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Grohl says that the aftermath of Nirvana wasn’t just about grief or moving on – it reshaped his entire relationship with music for a while.

“I think that we all wound up in places that felt… I don’t want to say comfortable, but safe,” says Grohl [via Guitar World]. “When I went into the studio and recorded that stuff by myself, I felt safe there. And I can’t speak for [bassist] Krist [Novoselic], but I think at that time it was like we were just trying to get our feet back on the ground. For me, that’s something that I thought, ‘Okay, well, music is the thing that’s going to rescue me.’”

• READ MORE: “I’d go back to my mother’s house and sleep in my childhood bed and feel like life is still real”: Dave Grohl on coping with Nirvana’s sudden mainstream success

But even as he found his way back into recording with the Foo Fighters, revisiting Nirvana’s old catalogue still proved difficult.

“It’s such a weird thing to feel afraid to play songs,” Grohl explains. “And for a long time it’s like I was even afraid just to sit down at a drum set and play the opening riff to Smells Like Teen Spirit. It just seemed sort of forbidden.”

“And so the few times that Krist and Pat [Smear] and I have gotten together to do it, it’s a trip,” he continues. “It’s like a time warp. It’s like a time capsule. The noise that the three of us make together, you don’t really get that noise anywhere else.”

“When you’re in the room and it happens, the way that Krist strums his bass lines, the bass that he uses, the equipment he uses, his sense of feel and time, it’s like all of those things combined with Pat like with that crazy Germs/Pat Smear guitar thing. And then some loud-ass drums, when it happens, you’re just like, ‘oh fuck, I remember this. Shit, I haven’t heard this in 35 years’. It’s a really beautiful sound and a beautiful feeling.”

Elsewhere in the chat, Grohl also looks back at Nirvana’s earliest days, including a meeting with record label executives before Nevermind was released. Sitting in a high-rise office across from a major label exec, Grohl remembers Cobain being asked what the band wanted.

“Kurt says, ‘We want to be the biggest band in the world,’” he recalls. “And I think we all laughed. I don’t know if he was kidding. Still to this day I think about it.”

While the prospect sounded impossible at the time, Grohl notes there was always something clear about Cobain’s writing.

“The songs that he wrote, I think he wrote them to be heard,” he says. “I think that most songwriters when they write songs, you want them to be heard or you want them to be felt or you want – not necessarily validation – but you want someone to feel what you feel just as a listener wants to feel what the artist feels.”

“I don’t know what the exact intention was,” he adds, “but I do know that Kurt was one of the greatest songwriters of all time. And it was inevitable that his songs would be recognised as some of the greatest songs of all time.”

Meanwhile, Foo Fighters’ latest album Your Favorite Toy is now out. Listen to the title track below.

The post Dave Grohl says playing Nirvana songs felt “forbidden” after Kurt Cobain’s death: “For a long time I was afraid to play the opening riff to Smells Like Teen Spirit” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Even for a player who’s tackled the catalogues of Frank Zappa, Alcatrazz, and Eddie Van Halen, some guitar parts remain as demanding and impossible as they come. Just ask Steve Vai.

Speaking in a recent interview with Rock Antenne, the virtuoso opens up about the unexpected challenge of learning Robert Fripp’s intricate guitar work for BEAT, the supergroup celebrating King Crimson’s 1980s material. While Vai initially thought he had it covered, reality soon hit as he started physically working through the parts.

• READ MORE: Steve Vai struggled to play Brian May’s Red Special guitar due to its strange neck: “I just remember thinking, ‘I can’t play this thing’”

“I had to make sure I could play this stuff,” Vai explains [via Ultimate Guitar]. “So I listened to it, and I felt ‘Yeah, OK. I can get this.’”

That confidence was backed up by a detailed “music transcription book” covering every note of the era’s three albums – a “godsend”, as Vai put it.

“But once I started putting my fingers to the actual parts, I realised that they’re booby-trapped,” he says. “They’re Robert Fripp parts. And he has a unique technique that he developed his entire life, through vision and discipline. And I have a totally different technique.”

“I just felt that probably about 80% of the stuff was easily under my fingers the way he did it, and then probably 15% I got the same notes but I changed the way he did it, because our techniques were too alien to each other.”

“But there was a small percentage of stuff that was just ruthless and just so out of my ballpark at my age,” Vai adds. “And there was Frame by Frame, y’know there’s that one riff [sings fast melody]. It goes at breakneck speed, it’s impossible to pick, and it goes on forever. I couldn’t do that consistently every night. So, I changed it a bit, but that’s the only one.”

Thankfully, Vai didn’t have to second-guess those adjustments for long. As he’s previously shared, Robert Fripp himself had given him the green light to put his own spin on the parts.

“Fripp said, ‘If I were sitting in the audience, I wouldn’t want to see you doing my kind of solo. I wanna see Steve Vai go crazy!’ So, that’s what I do,” he told Vintage Guitar.

Meanwhile, BEAT – featuring former Crimson members Adrian Belew and Tony Levin alongside Tool drummer Danny Carey and Vai himself – will kick off their European tour this summer.

View the full list of dates on the band’s official website.

The post “They’re booby-trapped!” Steve Vai recalls the difficulty he faced learning Robert Fripp’s guitar parts for BEAT appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

There might be no such thing as a stupid question, but that doesn’t make asking it any more embarrassing. The world of guitars and gear can be an especially complex space to navigate – with brands, forums and the whole online guitar space seemingly overflowing with people arguing about right and wrong seemingly without end.

• READ MORE: Answered: Technical Guitar Questions You Were Too Afraid To Ask

But in truth, getting the tones you want starts with a basic understanding of your gear and how to use it. So here, we’ll answer some common technical questions about guitar that maybe you’ve always wanted to ask but never felt comfortable doing so. With this knowledge in your back pocket, you should be able to keep your guitar in better working order, and have more fun as a result.

Why Does My Guitar Go Out of Tune So Fast?

This can be from a variety of causes. The most common issue is string stretch, especially if your strings are new. As you play on a new set of strings, they will stretch, and you’ll find yourself having to tune them back to pitch fairly quickly.

Another common issue is friction at the nut or, less commonly, the bridge. The strings do travel through the slots carved into the nut on most guitars, and when you bend the string, it needs to be able to travel through that slot. Sometimes, if the nut slots aren’t properly carved or lubricated, the string can bind in there and result in the strings sticking sharp. Many guitars with vibrato systems have tuning stability issues as well, so you need to ensure that those systems are properly set up and maintained.

Temperature changes can also play a role. Metal expands and contracts with heat, and wood responds to humidity. A guitar that was perfectly in tune in your living room may drift once it’s brought into a cold rehearsal space or a warm stage environment. For touring guitarists, this can be a constant battle.

Why Do My Strings Buzz?

Buzz happens when a vibrating string lightly touches a fret somewhere along its path. Because guitar strings vibrate in an arc rather than a straight line, there has to be enough clearance above the frets to accommodate that movement. If the string sits too low, it will collide with the next fret as it vibrates.

That clearance is controlled by several setup factors working together: neck relief, action height, and nut slot depth. The truss rod adjusts the slight forward curvature of the neck known as relief. Some people think their neck should be dead straight, but without that subtle curve, the strings would sit too close to the frets in the middle of the neck. Action height, controlled at the bridge, determines how far the strings sit above the fretboard overall.

There are a few ways to check for proper relief but what I do is put a capo at the first fret, then I use my finger to fret the string at the twelfth fret, (some people will fret the last fret or on acoustics, where the neck connects to the body) then I use a feeler gauge to check the clearance at the sixth fret. I like to set up the action somewhere between .004” and .008” for electrics and .006” and .010” for acoustics. Some players like a lower action, and some like a higher action, but anything less than .004” and you’re probably going to have fret buzz.

Should I Touch My Amplifier Tubes?

I’ve watched techs handle tubes with white cotton gloves like they’re defusing a bomb – that’s a bit overkill, if you ask me. Yes, tubes are made of glass. Yes, you shouldn’t spike one into the floor like a touchdown celebration. But they’re a lot tougher than they sometimes are presented to be.

I’ve heard people tell me that you can’t touch a tube with your bare hands. The thinking goes that the oil from your skin will create hot spots on the glass and burn the tube out early. There is a grain of truth in this, but it only applies to halogen lightbulbs, which use a quartz envelope that reacts badly to skin oils.

A vacuum tube might look like a lightbulb, but it’s not – they’re made of standard borosilicate glass and so don’t have that problem. In short then, don’t touch your car headlights, but your tubes are absolutely fine!

Where you do want to be careful is the temperature. A tube that’s been running gets hot, and hot glass is more vulnerable to thermal shock than cold glass. But the real reason you shouldn’t touch a tube when it’s hot… is because touching hot glass will burn your fingers!

Does Higher Pickup Output Mean a Better or Heavier Tone?

Pickup output is one of the most misunderstood specifications in the guitar world. It’s often assumed that a higher-output pickup will automatically sound heavier, more aggressive, or better suited for rock and metal. In reality, output only tells you how strong the electrical signal is, not what the pickup actually sounds like.

Higher-output pickups usually achieve that extra signal strength through more wire windings around the coil. But adding windings doesn’t just increase volume. It also changes the pickup’s frequency response. As the coil gets hotter, it tends to lose some high-end clarity and emphasize midrange frequencies. That’s why many vintage-style pickups with relatively low output can sound incredibly articulate and dynamic, while some hotter pickups sound thicker and more compressed.

Magnet type also plays a major role. Ceramic magnets often produce a tighter, more aggressive response, while Alnico magnets tend to sound smoother and more open. Two pickups with similar output levels can therefore sound completely different depending on their design.

Other major factors in a pickup’s tone include pickup design (single coil or humbucker, blade or pole-piece, potting, etc), wire gauge, windings and winding style, the pots you’re using, and the setup of the pickups (height and position) – all of that will have just as much (if not more) of an influence on a pickup’s tone than just the output.

The key point is that output is just one piece of the puzzle. It can hint at how a pickup might behave, but it won’t tell you everything about the tone. The only real way to know how a pickup sounds is to hear it in action.

If you have specific questions, you can send them in anonymously, and we will answer them in future articles. In the words of Red Green, remember, I’m pulling for ya, we’re all in this together.

The post Answered: more technical guitar questions you were too afraid to ask appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

The rumour mill can churn out some corkers, but Ritchie Blackmore is determined to set the record straight. On a recent Instagram livestream, the Rainbow and Deep Purple guitarist has debunked a long-standing belief that there’s bad blood between him and Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page.

Despite claiming that “most guitarists aren’t nice people” elsewhere in the livestream, Blackmore insists that Page is one of the good guys. “’Jimmy Page’ – very good friend!” he says upon reading a fan’s comment. “Don’t believe what they say. I read the other day that I hated him! I can’t believe they said that!”

• READ MORE: “You don’t want to talk to me, because I’m nobody”: Eddie Van Halen was “too humble” about his guitar abilities, according to Ritchie Blackmore

He goes on to explain that the pair have actually known each other for a very long time. “The first time I met him was 1963, or 1962…” Blackmore says. “I knew he was going places… not only did he have a style, but he had the playing ability. And he just looked right playing the guitar. He was a star in the making, Jimmy Page.”

The guitarist even recalls the last time him and Page saw each other, which would have been at the Rainbow Bar & Grill restaurant in Hollywood. “He said to me, ‘Where did you learn all your runs from?’… It was quite a compliment coming from him.”

Blackmore also notes that he and Page grew up in the same village of Heston in Middlesex, highlighting that they have a lot in common beyond their musical abilities. “I never knew that he was even in the village,” Blackmore reveals. “We were both 15 or 16 at the time… He’s a magical guy. A great guy. Always will be!”

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Looking back, it’s unclear exactly where the rumour might have stemmed from. In a 1975 with International Musician & Recording World magazine, Blackmore seemed to downplay his appreciation of Page’s skills, but his wording isn’t exactly hostile. After singing Jeff Beck’s praises, labelling him his “favourite guitarist”, he casually adds that “I’m not too struck on Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton”[via Classic Rock]… and that’s it.

In 2015, Blackmore also hinted that his feelings towards Page were pretty positive. “I knew he was going to be somebody,” Blackmore explains in the Ritchie Blackmore Story documentary [via Guitar Player]. “Not only was he a good guitar player, he had that star quality. There was something about him he was very poised and confident, but not arrogant.”

“I thought, ‘He’s going to go somewhere that guy, he knows what he’s doing,’” he concluded. “He was way ahead of most guitar players and he knew he was good too. He was very comfortable within himself.”

The post “Jimmy Page is a magical guy… Always will be!”: Ritchie Blackmore sets the record straight on Led Zeppelin ‘feud‘ appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Might a trove of early Black Sabbath demos be about to see the light of day? A number of early recordings – from when Sabbath were called Earth – previously owned by the band’s first manager Jim Simpson, are now in the hands of Sabbath’s original members, and could soon be released. Here’s what’s happened: 

Last year, Jim Simpson – who managed Sabbath from 1968 to 1970, overseeing their name change from Earth, plus the recording of their landmark albums Black Sabbath and Paranoid – announced his plans to release a number of early Sabbath recordings in an album titled Earth: The Legendary Lost Tapes via his Big Bear Music record label. 

The announcement came not long before Sabbath were due to play their momentous swansong show, Back to the Beginning.

• READ MORE: Watch Megadeth perform their Ride the Lightning cover for the first time ever
  

The album was set to feature eight songs, including Evenin’, Wee Wee Baby, Free Man and Song For Jim, as well as future Black Sabbath songs Warning and Wicked World, and even a cover of Blue Suede Shoes.

But the release was blocked after Sharon Osbourne – wife of late singer Ozzy Obsourne and his longtime manager – threatened Simpson with legal action in November, saying the band’s members didn’t want those old recordings released.

“You know that, as a band, Black Sabbath don’t take things lying down and you can be assured that if you go ahead with this against the band’s wishes we will take any action we can where their rights are infringed, both here [in the UK] and in America,” she said [via Louder].

But in a new appearance on The Osbournes podcast, she reveals she and the Black Sabbath members concerned have “settled” with Jim Simpson, and hints at what might happen next.

“We settled with Jim Simpson and the band now have their demos back,” she says. “And all four of them own it, which is where it should be. All of that stuff should be theirs. So it all ended well.”

As for whether the recordings will ever see the light of day, Sharon doesn’t shut the idea down: “We’re going to talk about what everybody wants to do with it, and we’ll go from there.”

She continues: “I just think it’s historically important for music lovers of that genre. And then we got [the rights to] the pictures that were taken at that time, too. So that is all so important… I’m just happy that it’s where it should be – with the band, and what they wanna do as a band, what they’re going to do with it. So that’s great.”

When Jim Simpson announced his plans to release the album, he said: “These recordings clearly demonstrate what fine music they produced right from the very beginning. We recorded these tracks at Zella Studio in Birmingham in 1969, but held back from releasing them as their style was evolving so quickly.

“Now, some 57 years later, the recordings assume a greater importance, illustrating how these four young men from Birmingham, barely out of their teens, were excellent musicians and a fine band, fully deserving of all the success that was to come their way.”

The post Black Sabbath have settled a legal dispute with their original manager over the release of early demos – could they soon see the light of day? appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

After 4 decades, Megadeth are officially calling it quits – but the thrash metal legends are making sure to honour their roots on the way out. Most notably, frontman Dave Mustaine has buried the hatchet on any lingering hostility with Metallica, even knocking out knocking out a brand new version of Ride The Lightning on Megadeth’s final record.

While fans were already excited to hear Mustaine’s recorded reworking of the 1984 track, Megadeth’s take on Ride The Lightning has just made its live debut. The thrashers knocked it out at their show on Sunday 26 April at the Movistar Arena in Colombia – and, based on a fan recording from the crowd, it went down pretty damn well.

• READ MORE: David Ellefson says Megadeth’s music is the “most timeless” of all the big thrash bands

Mustaine plays the track like it was made for him – which makes sense, considering he was involved in its creation. Despite leaving Metallica in 1983, he was a co-writer on the iconic 1984 track. Due to his role in the track’s creation, Mustaine has explained that the new Megadeth recording feels less like a ‘cover’, as he was equally as involved in its creation.

“I wrote music in that song, it just makes sense,” he told Record Collector back in January when asked why he decided to re-record the track. “It’s not a cover song. It’s a song that I wrote part of, and it just feels different. It doesn’t feel like we’re doing a song by another band.”

Last year, Mustaine also explained that Megadeth’s version of Ride The Lightning comes as his way of ‘honouring’ Metallica as a key step in his musical journey. “It wasn’t really that I wanted to do my version…It was about respect,” he explained to Rolling Stone.

Elsewhere in the interview, he even praised the “fucking powerhouse” of a guitarist that is James Hetfield, adamant that he has “always respected” the frontman. “I wanted to do something to close the circle on my career right now, since it started off with [Mustaine’s band before Metallica] Panic and several of the songs that ended up in the Metallica repertoire, I wanted to do something that I felt would be a good song.”

“Our intentions were pure,” he states. “I didn’t have any reason I was going to say, ‘Oh, hey man, this thing that we’ve had for 40 years where you guys will never tour with me, me doing the song is going to change things.’ That wasn’t it at all. It was more about: This is my life going forward. I want to do things that are respectable… I mean, I hate to say this, because it’s just so fucking arrogant, but the guitar playing in Metallica changed the world.”

For more info on the band’s final world tour, head to Megadeth’s official website.

The post Watch Megadeth perform their Ride the Lightning cover for the first time ever appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

$129.99 / £99, fender.com

Here’s a fun challenge – make a few hundred words about a new tuner pedal anything other than excruciatingly dull. I’ll give it my best shot! Perhaps with liberal use of exclamation marks! OK, maybe not. Anyway, despite being a pretty essential part of your setup (surely the most essential pedal you’ll ever buy), tuners risk being pretty bland, especially when your job is normally to find new adjectives for how scrunkly a new fuzz pedal sounds.

• READ MORE: Line 6 Helix Stadium XL review – “bewilderingly ambitious… but it feels like the future”

Pretty much only one tuner recently – the Walrus Canvas Tuner – has managed to create any sort of buzz, because you can put memes on the LCD screen when it’s bypassed. However, while there has not been as much of a furore of excitement about the new Fender Strobo-Sonic Pro, it is still worth talking about.

Image: Press

Fender Strobo-Sonic Pro Tuner: Functionality

Despite Fender making a version of basically everything guitar-related under the sun, the Strobo-Sonic is actually its first dedicated tuner in quite some time, following the PT-100. Unlike the quite basic PT-100, here we’ve got fast and accurate strobe tuning, and quite a sizeable display.

First things first, no, it’s not a screen like that of the Walrus Canvas tuner, and so you cannot upload pictures of your beloved family members or hilarious cat gifs to be shown when the tuner is bypassed. You can’t rotate this screen angle either to position the Strobo-Sonic Pro pedal sideways on your pedalboard if required. A bit of a shame, but lest we forget, some of the Walrus Canvas’ fun-factor came at a relatively higher price – just under $150. What you lose in putting memes on your board, you gain in still having an extra $50 compared to the Strobo-Sonic.

There are two modes you can have the display work in – needle or strobe. Needle is your standard tuner mode found on pedals like the Boss TU series – whereas strobe has a scrolling set of blocks, the speed and direction of which indicate your distance from the target pitch.

The screen itself is bright and readable, and its discrete LED nature means that it’s pretty unambiguous, even at a distance. There’s an auto-dim mode for bright environments, which is fine, although the light sensor for this function does look weirdly like a camera, giving the thing at first glance the look of a blocky, early smartphone.

And speaking of blocky – its otherwise sleek, minimal design is slightly undermined by a stonking great logo, written in a vaguely futuristic italic that seems to have been taken directly from a PlayStation 2 racing game. It’s not the most tasteful thing in the world, sure, but this is why the gods gave us black electrical tape.

Image: Press

There are a few other utility features on board – you can adjust the tuning reference frequency, if you like, and you can turn off the auto-dim feature. You can also change the bypass mode – true-bypass, buffered, or ‘mute’, which is a buffered mode that keeps the pedal always listening, with the footswitch muting your signal. The mute state of the pedal in this and the other modes is shown by a big red “MUTE” indicator on the screen, which is good to see – clear, unambiguous stuff like this does matter in the heat of the moment on stage.

And one final note of practicality before we get to the exciting stuff – the jacks here are top-mounted – all of them, not like the Canvas Tuner’s slightly weird and impractical audio-on-the-top/power-on-the-side approach. So that’s a big plus if space is at a premium on your ‘board, and fortunately, the pedal is wide enough that using pancake jacks is fine too.

So, the actual tuning! In use, the Strobo-Sonic Pro is remarkably fast – I’ve been using the same V1 EHX 2020 Tuner for years, and I was actually blown away by how much quicker the Strobo-Sonic tracked a note’s pitch – it was a much smoother and more responsive experience, and I never overshot the mark because of this. It quickly responded no matter what signal I threw at it – bass and baritone guitar included.

Additionally, due to how the strobe mode works, it is extremely accurate – ±0.01 cent compared to the needle’s (and most other tuners’) ±1 cent – on stage and in most settings this gets you to such fine detail it won’t make too much of a practical difference, however it’s a really handy thing if you want to set intonation, or want things to sound dead-on in the studio.

Image: Press

Fender Strobo-Sonic Pro Tuner: Should I buy one?

Let’s be honest – a £45 second-hand TU-2 from 2004 with half the paint scraped off will do 90% of the job of any other tuner. However, I find the Strobo-Sonic Pro to be a very effective and efficient piece of kit, and for speedy and accurate strobe tuning, it’s a relatively affordable thing that definitely feels worth the extra money over a cheaper unit. Yes, it could look sexier, but ultimately, it’s a tuner pedal, it’s not here to be sexy – it’s here to tune, and it tunes really damn well.

Fender Strobo-Sonic Pro Tuner alternatives

For a more premium experience, you can always check out Peterson’s Strobostomp HD and Mini line, pretty much the de facto high-end tuner pedals. If you’re desperate for something a bit more ‘aesthetic,’ then, yes, the Walrus Canvas Tuner ($/£148.99) will do you well, and you can put memes on it. If you’re not fussed about the last 10% of performance or the memes, and want to save a little cash, you can’t really go wrong with Boss’ TU-3 ($109.99/£99) – pretty much the industry standard, and good enough for countless professional pedalboards. Try the Waza version if true-bypass is a must. The TU-3 can also be used to power some other low current draw other effects by daisy-chaining, as can the TC Electronics PolyTune 3 ($63.90/£59.99), which represents great value. It has switchable true bypass or analog buffer as standard too.

The post Fender Strobo-Sonic Pro Tuner review: fast and accurate strobe tuning for a great price appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

With well over 40 million monthly listeners on Spotify, Radiohead remain one of the most listened-to rock bands on the planet. And at nearly 3 billion streams on that one platform alone, Creep still stands as the group’s most enduring hit.

And in a new interview with Uncut, guitarist Ed O’Brien reflects on the song’s impact, saying were it not for its success, the band might have been out of the game entirely afterwards.

• READ MORE: Billy Strings details “extreme pain and crazy ketamine trips” after horror skateboarding injury leads to tour rescheduling

Asked about the moment in his career when he felt Radiohead had created something completely artistically new, he replies: “I think The Bends, really.

“You could feel the influences on the sleeve of Pablo Honey, but The Bends was pretty diverse. If you think about the way that that album bookends, it starts with Planet Telex and ends with Street Spirit. Two quite different songs – the power and the sonic playfulness of one, and then the emotion of the other.”

He continues: “We knew there were flaws with the first album, and it was propped up massively by Creep.

“If Creep hadn’t been as big as it was, there’s a very good chance we may never have made another record, because the record company would have dropped us.”

Despite its lasting success as Radiohead’s biggest track, the band famously dislike it, and only very rarely play it during live shows. 

Frontman Thom Yorke has, in the past, unaffectionately called the track “Crap”, and according to the Guardian, answered a Montreal crowd’s request for them to play the song with “Fuck off”. He has also previously called lovers of the track “anally retarded”.

As the story goes, guitarist Jonny Greenwood even injected some grating crunchy guitar blasts at the start of the chorus as an act of sabotage to ruin the song during the recording of My Iron Lung, but they were later kept by the producer.

The post “If Creep hadn’t been as big as it was, there’s a good chance we wouldn’t have made another record”: Ed O’Brien on the impact of Radiohead’s biggest hit appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Bluegrass maestro Billy Strings has detailed a horror skateboarding injury which has forced him to reschedule a series of upcoming shows.

In a new post on Instagram, the guitarist reveals he attempted a trick backstage following a show on Saturday night (18 April), and ended up breaking his leg.

“Well, can’t say y’all didn’t warn me about screwing around on my skateboard!” he writes. “Saturday night I walked off stage right before the encore – I was all zazzed up from a really fun show. 

• READ MORE: “You don’t want to talk to me, because I’m nobody”: Eddie Van Halen was “too humble” about his guitar abilities, according to Ritchie Blackmore
  

“I grabbed my board and tried to do a trick I’ve done a million times (back 180) and landed awkwardly and broke my leg. I heard it snap over the screaming crowd! Sounded like a damn 2×4.”

The 33-year-old guitarist – whose real name is William Lee Apostol – goes on to detail the “interesting couple days” he’s experienced following the incident.

“Complete with the most extreme pain and crazy ketamine trips and operations stuff, but the staff here at UVA (hospital, Charlottesville, Virginia) rules,” he says. “They screwed me all back together. They are absolute angels on earth.”

Apostol explains that despite his best intentions to continue with his planned tour dates, doctors and family members have convinced him to reschedule in order to let the injury heal.

“I had every intention of carrying on with the tour and Dave Grohling it,” he continues, referring to the time Dave Grohl performed a number of shows atop a Game of Thrones-style guitar-themed throne after breaking his leg. “He even texted me and offered me the throne!

“I really don’t want to let anybody down, but after some long talks with this doctors, my friends, band and colleagues, my wife etc, I should probably let this thing heal. I don’t believe that I could give you guys the show you deserve coming right out of this surgery, and these first few days are really important as far as keeping this thing elevated and letting it heal.

“Plus I’m all messed up on pain killers and stuff. It’s a dumb ass mistake and it’s all my fault… I feel like such an idiot. But what are ya gonna do , ya know? At least I didn’t hit my head or break my wrist or something.”

Billy Strings’ 22 April date in Charlottesville was rescheduled to 4 August, while three shows in Fishers, Indiana on 24, 25 and 26 April have been rescheduled to 6, 7 and 8 August, respectively. All tickets will be honoured at the new dates.

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View a full list of Billy Strings upcoming tour dates via his official website.

The post Billy Strings details “extreme pain and crazy ketamine trips” after horror skateboarding injury leads to tour rescheduling appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Eddie Van Halen was one of greatest guitar players to ever live, but surprisingly, he wasn’t always overly confident about his chops.

In a recent interview, Deep Purple legend Ritchie Blackmore recalls his interactions with the late guitar icon, recalling his “humble” and somewhat socially reserved nature.

“[He was] very humble, almost too humble,” Blackmore says [via Guitar Player]. “He would often come backstage at our shows and go, ‘You don’t want to talk to me, because I’m nobody,’ and I could never understand why he would say that. He always used to underestimate himself. He basically reinvented the guitar with his hammer-on technique.”

• READ MORE: David Lee Roth sold his publishing catalogue last year and says he’s feeling “rich”

Blackmore goes on to explain how Eddie was “too sensitive” and turned to drinking to be social, adding that his sensitivity was why he found it difficult to relate to some of his guitar legend predecessors.

“Unfortunately for Eddie, he was too sensitive,” Blackmore continues. “And of course the business brought him down. He started drinking because he needed to drink to socialise. He was very sensitive, and I can relate to that.”

Of course, Eddie Van Halen wasn’t the only late guitar legend with a strong sense of humility; Randy Rhoads – often perhaps unfairly touted as EVH’s rival – was also known to be immensely humble despite his genre-defining guitar skills under Ozzy Osbourne.

“He was almost like Eddie Van Halen; very similar attitude, very humble, which I always appreciate when I talk to people,” Blackmore says. “There’s no reason to be conceited about music.”

Despite his humility, though, there’s no denying that Eddie Van Halen’s guitar skills changed the landscape of rock music at the time. Last month, Dokken guitarist George Lynch recalled watching Van Halen support UFO at California’s Golden West Ballroom in 1976.

“It was somewhat dramatic, because I don’t know if UFO knew what they were in for,” Lynch said. “And I love UFO – we all love UFO – but they got their ass kicked. I mean, they came up, and I don’t think they were ready for that.”

Elsewhere in the same interview, Ritchie Blackmore recently made the bold claim that “most guitarists aren’t nice people”, but named one player who bucked the trend.

The post “You don’t want to talk to me, because I’m nobody”: Eddie Van Halen was “too humble” about his guitar abilities, according to Ritchie Blackmore appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

David Lee Roth has revealed that he sold his music publishing catalogue last year, adding his name to the wave of legacy rock artists monetising their back catalogues in the streaming era.

The former Van Halen frontman shared the news during a backstage interview with the Associated Press at this year’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California, where he also joined R&B artist Teddy Swims onstage for a surprise performance of Van Halen’s Jump.

• READ MORE: Why people still pick up guitars in 2026, according to Gina Gleason: “Guitar is one of those magic things that still wields this power”

“I sold my publishing eight months ago,” Roth tells AP, before adding: “Ask me how I feel.”

When prompted, he replies: “[I feel] rich. [Laughs] For the first time in my life I can rub two coins together and create a little interest. No, really.”

The 71-year-old musician is credited with writing the majority of lyrics across Van Halen’s first six albums, and has long claimed authorship of “every word you heard, every syllable, every melody” during his tenure with the band.

His move follows a broader trend in recent years that has seen a growing number of classic rock acts cashing in on their catalogues. Artists including Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Stevie Nicks and Sting have all sold rights to their songwriting or publishing, while bands such as Pink Floyd and Kiss have also struck major catalogue deals.

The surge has drawn in a range of buyers, from major recording labels like Sony to private equity firms and asset management groups such as Hipgnosis, all betting on the long-term value of song ownership in a streaming-led market.

In 2024, Queen reportedly sold their catalogue to Sony Music in a landmark deal worth around $1.27 billion (£1 billion), underlining just how lucrative music rights have become in today’s industry.

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Gina Gleason has spent enough time around guitars to know the instrument’s appeal isn’t just about sound. According to the Baroness guitarist, the guitar’s enduring pull lies, in part, in the way it “appeals to one’s sense of wanting to figure things out”.

Speaking with Guitar World, Gleason reflects on why, even as listening habits, production tools and the wider music industry continue to evolve, people are still buying guitars, learning riffs, and starting bands.

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“Guitar is one of those magic things that still wields this power,” she says. “It looks awesome and it seems somewhat effortless, but I can hear that what’s happening is complex. It appeals to one’s sense of wanting to figure things out.”

“The reward is looking cool, having a cool hobby, and being in spaces with likeminded people passionate about the same things as you.”

For Gleason, that sense of identity doesn’t just stop at playing – it extends into the culture of gear collecting as well: “I teach guitar, too; my student Bill tells me that pedals appeal to his collector sensibility – ‘This one’s a different colour!’ Guitars are like cool classic cars: ‘Well, this one is red!”

Addressing the enduring appeal of Telecasters, in particular, Gleason says, “they have such a unique sound. If you have a trained ear and listen to a lot of music, you can probably start to equate different sounds with gear. With the Tele, there’s no question. It cuts through and has a brightness and brilliance.”

“And the players who started using them – the Danny Gattons and Jimmy Bryants – appeal to this sense of virtuosity. The iconic sound is so crisp and clear it gets associated with a high level of playing. There’s nothing to really hide behind. Danny Gatton knows what’s going on!”

As for her recent gear obsession, Gleason says she’s been “really into the [EHX] Big Muff Op Amp pedal for solos and boosts” of late.

“I just got a Big Muff 2; our tech, Jesse Anderson, mods Big Muffs so we use them a lot on tour,” says the guitarist. “I recently got an EVH 5150 EL34, too. I used one for the Tele demos and thought, ‘Man, I need one of these!’”

The post Why people still pick up guitars in 2026, according to Gina Gleason: “Guitar is one of those magic things that still wields this power” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.