Guitar.com

Could fans ever hear new music from Panetera’s touring tribute lineup? Possibly – but don’t expect it to arrive under the Pantera name, says Zakk Wylde.

The guitarist – who shares the stage with classic Pantera members Phil Anselmo and Rex Brown, alongside Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante – speaks in a new interview with Music Radar, where he addresses a question fans have wondered about since the lineup first hit the road 2022.

• READ MORE: “Maybe he felt my part was getting bigger than a band member should be”: Jake E. Lee on contract negotiations for Ozzy’s The Ultimate Sin

“Yeah, you never know,” says Wylde. “We could do something as like The Traveling Wilburys or something! [Laughs] Nah, you know what I mean, call it something different.”

Originally formed to honour the legacy of Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul, the tribute lineup has since taken in arena tours, major festivals and high-profile support slots with Metallica. With all four players juggling multiple bands and projects, though, finding time to create something in the studio together wouldn’t be easy.

“Well, I mean, Phil’s busy right now. He’s doing a Down thing, and then he has En Minor,” Wylde explains. “I think he’s doing a Scour thing, too. So Phil’s doing that. I think Rex is still writing, and he’s doing another Rex Brown record, and then, obviously, Charlie has Anthrax, so he’s been doing that, and then, obviously, we got the new Black Label [album], so I don’t know.”

Still, the door isn’t closed.

“I don’t know. But you never say never,” he continues. “Because it’s just like, we could all [be sitting there] one day, Philip might just call and go, ‘Guys, why don’t we get together, and we’ll do something, all of us – and we’ll get two other of our buddies in here, and then we’ll do a band.’ You know what I mean? So yeah, you never know.”

And if that hypothetical project ever did take shape, don’t assume it would stick to the current four-piece setup. Wylde imagines something looser – think rock supergroup as opposed to a traditional band.

“Like the Eagles or whatever!” he says. “They have six guys in a band or something like that, and everybody’s kind of singing or whatever, you know?”

In the meantime, Black Label Society’s US tour kicks off on 27 February in San Antonio, Texas, while Pantera’s next show is set for 24 May as part of a four-date European run supporting Metallica.

The post “You never say never”: Zakk Wylde says new music with Pantera’s tribute lineup is possible appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

$3,789/£3,699, gretschguitars.com

The big-bodied outline of a single-cut Gretsch Falcon is one of the most recognisable guitar shapes out there. But even the kindest observer will admit that historic iterations of the double-cut Falcon have lacked the elegance of the single-cut – or indeed its double-cut rivals from other brands.

• READ MORE: Gretsch Synchromatic Falcon review – “this guitar is going to make Falcons a much more common sight on everyday stages”

In recent years, however, the DC Falcon has enjoyed something of a resurgence – perhaps in part due to the benediction of the beatified Johnny Thunders, but also the success of the signature models of Guns N’ Roses man Richard Fortus. I can hand on heart say that those Fortus guitars are some of the best Gretsch guitars I’ve played in recent years.

Now then, fans of the form can enjoy a new “refined” take on the concept – and it all looks very promising indeed.

Gretsch Professional Series Falcon Center Block LTD – what is it?

Professional Series guitars represent the top end of the Gretsch production instruments – they’re hand-crafted in Japan, and are the very best guitars the brand makes outside of the very limited number of USA instruments made by the Gretsch end of the Fender Custom Shop in Corona, California.

The “Center Block” bit of the model designation refers to the fact that while traditional Falcons were big, unrestrained hollowbody instruments, this is one of the semi-hollow designs that the company has been producing since 2013 in a concession to the demands of actual playing musicians.

The body shape here is, as Gretsch tells it, a “refined” version of the classic Gretsch DC design, and in practice this is a sleek instrument with tight curves. Seen in silhouette, the all-maple body is almost identical to a Gibson ES-355. This won’t be a coincidence.

There are other similarities here too; the most important being the 24.6” scale length – unusual for a Gretsch Falcon, which usually boasts a full fat 25.5”. This is halfway to a Fender Jaguar and a touch shorter than the Gibson standard. Whatever next?

It’s a limited edition beast, however, so if you’re keen to make friends with this particular bird of prey, you’ll have to be quick sharp about it.

Gretsch Professional Series Falcon Center Block LTD – build quality and playability

Decanting the Falcon from its posh leather hard case, and a sigh of satisfaction is unavoidable. Let’s face it – the aesthetics of a Gretsch guitar are a large part of the story and will doubtless help prospective buyers decide if they want it, need it or can’t live without it.

This is a very grown-up guitar. Much like a midnight blue tuxedo looks better under lights than a black fabric variant, the Midnight Sapphire metallic finish, sparkly gold flake bindings and gold hardware are a definite statement of intent. It’s pretty fucking rock and roll to be honest.

That same gold hardware contains some very Gretsch flourishes. We have the bejewelled gold arrow knobs typical of a Falcon – in this case with a master volume on the treble side ear which has a treble bleed circuit, an individual volume knob for each pickup and a master no-load tone control with “Squeezebox” capacitor.

Premium appointments should be expected with a Professional Series guitar, and it doesn’t disappoint here.

For starters, we have a pair of bona fide TV Jones Filter’Trons bringing the noise – a Classic at the neck and a Classic plus at the bridge – this by itself is a reliable indication of an incoming good time.

Providing the wobble, we have the reassuring presence of a Bigsby B7, and praise be: it’s a string-through version, and therefore much less of a hassle to restring. The Adjusto-Matic bridge is pinned in place and while it lacks vibrato-friendly niceties such as roller saddles, Gretsch has provided stability with a set of locking Grover Imperial tuners.

Further professional accoutrements can be found in the shape of a set of gold strap locks tucked in the case pocket, and you even get Luminlay glow-in-the-dark position markers – which give you a much better chance of seeing what is going on under stage lights than a Gretsch Falcon usually affords the player.

Gretsch Professional Series Falcon Center Block LTD – sounds

As a Gretsch enthusiast of many years, I have experienced the agony and the ecstasy of a Falcon on stage and in the studio. It has often been said – especially of vintage models – that if a Gretsch is the most reliable guitar in your arsenal then you need all the luck you can get. That’s why so many come with a horseshoe inlaid on the headstock.

Yes, they have their foibles, and as such I was pretty confident I would know what to expect with this guitar, but my expectations are blown out of the water with the first open chords.

There is magic to be found in a guitar built around a shorter scale length – the trebles are sweet, woody and expressive and if you get it right there should be no compromise in bass content or articulation. Gretsch has got this very right indeed.

The neck Filter’Tron is velvet smooth, complex and responsive. It makes even the simplest shell chords sound expensive and delicious. Add a touch of harmonic tremolo pedal, a gentle dip of the Bigsby and then bask in throbbingly joyful economy of style.

The middle position is a blender’s dream, which allows a little of the bite of the bridge unit to come through – hinting at delights to come. Okay, there’s only one tone control for both pickups, but the guitar is responsive enough to hand position and playing dynamics that this really doesn’t feel like a compromise.

The bridge pickup on its own is probably where these guitars will spend the majority of their time. From Neil Young-style rhythmic grumbling to Lana Del Rey sex riffs, this is an immediately nourishing sound – evocative and uniquely Gretsch.

But let’s face it, double-cut aficionados treading the path of Thunders, Fortus and Duffy will be just as intrigued to see how this Falcon handles the rough stuff. Backhanding it with a Crowther Hot Cake, I am immediately rewarded with a bellicose roar that would fit nicely in any genre that demands a more hooligan approach.

The scale length and rolled fretboard edges make for a grippy playing experience that encourages bends and double stops – the improved access to the higher end of the neck is also appreciable.

The humble chunk of maple inside the body is responsible for a huge amount of this guitar’s tonal identity. While there is ample “air” in the voice, the instrument remains immune to unwanted feedback at all but the highest volumes.

Wanted, longed-for, even cherished harmonic feedback however, is here in spades and there are few things more joyful than feeling that controllable surge under the fingertips – a touch of vibrato is all it takes to make the beast spiral off into a howl. Yum.

Gretsch Professional Series Falcon Center Block LTD – should I buy one?

If you’re training your sights on spending the thick end of four grand on a semi-acoustic electric guitar, you expect something special to come of it. Thankfully, Gretsch knows exactly what those sorts of players require and have perfectly calibrated this bird accordingly.

It’s also an impressively versatile and responsive instrument, no matter what you throw at – within reason. Okay, it’s rubbish for Malmsteen covers but you knew that already. In fact, that’s probably a relief.

This is indeed a special instrument – it has the looks, the attitude and the sound that you’ve been dreaming of. The only question is, have you got the minerals?

Gretsch Professional Series Falcon Center Block LTD – alternatives

You’re dealing with some true heavyweights at this price point, and you won’t go far wrong with any of the options at this point, really. I was very impressed with the Heritage Custom Shop Core Collection H-555 ($4799) I reviewed last year. If you really want to give it the beans, price-wise, the Collings L-235 LC ($6,925) is a truly superlative take on the semi-hollow concept. Finally, if money really is no object, a Gibson Custom Murphy Lab 1964 ES-335 Reissue ($8,099) is hard to beat.

The post Gretsch Professional Series Falcon Center Block LTD review: “it has the looks, the attitude and the sound that you’ve been dreaming of” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Six-string sidekick on landmark albums Bark at the Moon (1983) and The Ultimate Sin (1986), Jake E. Lee is an integral part of the Ozzy Obsourne story.

When hired by Ozzy in 1982 at the fledgling age of 25, he had limited experience, and as he explains in a new interview with Guitar World, his limited songwriting and publishing rights on Bark at the Moon led to him pursuing a more robust contract prior to the recording of The Ultimate Sin.

• READ MORE: Mötley Crüe win legal battle over Mick Mars – former guitarist ordered to partially pay back $1.5M advance for not completing tour

“They realised they got away with something on Bark at the Moon,” Lee explains. “They knew it was something that would never happen again.”

When it came time to discuss Ozzy’s Bark at the Moon followup, Lee says he was adamant on signing a contract before going any further.

“I told him, ‘I’m not doing anything until I get a contract,’ and so, that came pretty quickly…’” he says.

“It was something that lingered over the Bark at the Moon sessions. When those were done, I became unhappy, so with The Ultimate Sin, before I gave him my demos, I said, ‘I want a contract that says exactly what I’m gonna get out of this record. I need a songwriting credit. I want the publishing I deserve.”

Lee had a vision for The Ultimate Sin which he clashed with producer Ron Nevison over, and that vision ultimately shaped the sound of the record.

“I wanted to hear the guitar like an orchestra. Kind of like having violins on top, cellos on bottom and then having moving and melodic parts. It was about more than basic chords and one guitar sound. That wasn’t my vision…”

He goes on: “I remember we had a big band dinner, and Ozzy raised his glass and said, ‘This is a toast to Jake E. Lee, who practically produced this record and was a very important part of making it.’ Maybe he felt like my part was getting bigger than a band member should be.

“I don’t know; a lot of things came with that. We were writing for the next record; I was pushing boundaries and getting rejected. I was bored with the restrictions. I’m sure Ozzy didn’t like that. But as far as The Ultimate Sin, I stand by it.”

Jake E. Lee ended up being dismissed by Ozzy’s wife Sharon Osbourne in 1987, and was subsequently replaced by Zakk Wylde.

The post “Maybe he felt my part was getting bigger than a band member should be”: Jake E. Lee on contract negotiations for Ozzy’s The Ultimate Sin appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

For the last two years, Mötley Crüe have been involved in an ongoing legal battle with ex-guitarist Mick Mars. Following his retirement in 2022, Mars alleged that the band were withholding profits that were rightfully his. However, a new ruling has declared that Mars actually owes his former bandmates $750,000.

Despite Mars’ public crusade against the Mötley Crüe gang, arbitrator Honorable Patrick J. Walsh found that Mars had received a $1,500,000 advance payment to perform at 138 Mötley Crüe shows. Mars’ departure from the band meant that he never fulfilled his end of the bargain, rendering him un-entitled to the sum.

“[Mars] understood when he received the advance that it was an advance and that he had to pay it back if he stopped touring,” Walsh concludes in the final arbitration documents. “He stopped touring. Therefore, he must pay it back.”

• READ MORE: “I don’t want to go hear a bunch of C and D tracks”: Should bands play their biggest hits live? Nikki Sixx thinks so – and here’s why

“Mars is ordered to pay to MCI the pro rata rate for the shows he missed between September 2021 and today,” he continues. “He is not required to pay for shows that have not taken place.”

When Mars first pursued legal action against his former bandmates, his claim centred around his entitlement to the band’s profits as he hadn’t left the band, he had only retired from touring. As a result, he believed he was still owed a 25% cut of profits, including touring revenue.

However, as the arbitration document reveals, a 2008 amendment to the band’s governing agreement stated that if a member “resigns from performing”, he “in no event” would be “entitled to receive any monies attributable to any live performances”.

Furthermore, Nikki Sixx’s testimony claimed that Mars himself had “proposed this amendment” due to concerns that “Vince Neil [vocalist] and/or Tommy Lee [drummer] would again choose to leave the band and he wanted it to be clear… that anyone who left would not share in revenue from touring”.

Alongside the arbitrator ruling in favour of Mötley Crüe, the band were also cleared of allegations that they don’t play live. Mars had publicly alleged that Sixx’s basslines and Lee’s drumming in particular were pre-recorded. In 2023, he even claimed that he had been the only member of the band to ever play live, noting that Sixx “did not play a single note on bass”.

As Business Wire reveals, Mars “formally recanted his prior claims during sworn testimony”. When faced with “extensive live performance recordings” and a testimony from New York University professor specialising in music technology, Mars was “forced to admit under oath that his statements were false”.

The suit also reveals that Mars was cut from the band due to his own “deteriorated” guitar playing. The document explains that the band “believed that his guitar playing had so deteriorated that they had to make provisions to cover for his mistakes when he strayed during concerts”.

Mick Mars has not yet responded publicly to the ruling.

The post Mötley Crüe win legal battle over Mick Mars – former guitarist ordered to partially pay back $1.5M advance for not completing tour appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

It wasn’t too long ago that guitar music was considered passé by the mainstream – a fact that’s frankly mind-boggling to reflect upon now. In 2026, indie and post-punk are two of the hottest genres in the Western world, and heavy metal is the biggest it’s been since the halcyon days of the early 2000s. This year seems set to thrust all those styles and more to new heights, with some of the biggest guitar heavyweights of all time preparing to release new music. From veterans like Bruce Springsteen to a slew of promising up-and-comers, these are the guitar albums everybody should keep an eye out for over the next 12 months.

• READ MORE: Unprocessed’s Manuel Gardner Fernandes names the viral shredders you need to watch in 2026

Bruce Springsteen

Is there any septuagenarian busier than Bruce Springsteen? Still regularly touring five decades into his career, he was recently the subject of a blockbuster biopic and has a ton of music lined up for 2026, chiefly his next solo album. The Boss has been cagey regarding what it’s going to sound like, but he told Rolling Stone in June that he’s also got a box set of unreleased material, Tracks III, on standby. “This is all music from different points in my work life that I’ve made, some with the band, without the band, some that go way back,” he said. A new covers album, the follow-up to 2022’s Only the Strong Survive, has been recorded as well. The man just will not stop.

Phoebe Bridgers

The queen of indie folk melancholy, Phoebe Bridgers hasn’t released a new album since 2020’s Punisher, having taken a detour for her collaborative project Boygenius. That dry spell may come to an end in 2026, however, as multiple sources hint that solo LP number three will come out soon. Among those fuelling the speculation is Phoebe’s own mum, who took to Instagram in January to give her “bold” prediction for the year ahead: “Phoebe Bridgers drops an album.” In addition, former Ticketmaster CEO Nathan Hubbard said on a podcast last year that both Phoebe and Harry Styles will mount comebacks in 2026, and the Harry prediction has already come true…

The Cure

It’s hard to trust Robert Smith with timeframes nowadays, given he initially wanted to release The Cure’s comeback album Songs of a Lost World for the band’s 40th anniversary then missed that deadline by five years. But, when the record was finally unveiled in 2024, he announced that it would be part of a trilogy, with a follow-up already in the can. Surely, if it’s all been recorded, there can’t be another decade-plus wait like there was for Songs…? The stars align even more clearly when you consider all the live dates the goth rock kings have planned for the summer. Fingers crossed that some new tracks come out before The Cure take the stage again.

Gojira

It’s been nearly five years since France’s enviro-metal behemoths put out their last album, but you can’t blame them. After the Fortitude tour lifted Gojira to arena-level, they spent the next few years consolidating their position, playing incessantly in both Europe and America. Then, in 2024, a performance during the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games catapulted them even further. Progress on new material has been slow but steady, with drummer Mario Duplantier saying in 2023 that their upcoming release will be “heavier” than Fortitude. He doubled down last year, telling people to expect a “more modern but more metal sound” and revealing that work is “almost finished”.

Alabama Shakes

In 2018, at the height of their Grammy-gobbling career, roots rock revivalists Alabama Shakes went on a surprise hiatus. The downtime let frontwoman Brittany Howard dedicate herself to her blossoming solo career, then got complicated and presumably extended by drummer Steve Johnson’s series of legal problems. The band regrouped without Johnson in 2024, before signing with major label Island and releasing the exuberant single Another Life last August. The developments have led many to speculate that a long-awaited third album is on the horizon, especially as more and more tour dates for the spring and summer get announced. The expectation’s pretty huge, but if anyone can deliver quality regardless, this lot can.

Mastodon

Mastodon’s 2021 album Hushed and Grim was a monument to late longtime manager Nick John, who died of pancreatic cancer in 2018. Unfortunately, times haven’t got any easier for the sludge metal four-piece. They parted ways with founding guitarist Brent Hinds last spring, marking their first lineup change in a quarter-century, and Hinds was in a fatal motorcycle crash in Atlanta just a few months later. Despite all the turmoil, the band are carrying on with album number nine and involving new guitarist Nick Johnson in the writing process. “[The songs are] all over the place,” drummer/singer Brann Dailor told Metal Hammer last year. “I hear some punk rock in there, but then I hear some insane prog and I hear the heaviest version of ourselves poking its head out again.”

Yard Act

“We’re making the greatest third album any band has ever recorded,” post-punk’s socially conscious cheeky chappies quipped in September. Already beloved for their breakthrough debut The Overload and dance-flecked follow-up Where’s My Utopia?, Yard Act are out to cement their reputation as the next big thing, having recorded with former Nine Inch Nails and Beck bassist Justin Meldal-Johnsen. The Yorkshiremen describe their next release as “the sweet spot” between grindcore agitators Napalm Death and prog rock icon Bill Nelson, promising new textures in a sound that’s already touched upon funk, disco and Pulp-ish Britpop. The band have never been boring, but this could well be their most interesting offering yet.

Man/Woman/Chainsaw

One of the most exciting new bands of the last couple years, Man/Woman/Chainsaw make rock without limits. The six-piece have two guitarists, a violinist and a keyboard player in their ranks, with many members also serving as co-vocalists. On songs like Only Girl, they make irreverent statements that unite indie, baroque pop and heavy riffage under the banner of big, catchy singalongs. 2024 EP Eazy Peezy brought plenty of people onto the hype train, and the next stop will be at their debut album, which they hope to put out this year. “We’re working on a load of new material which will help lift the mind and cleanse the soul,” keyboardist Emmie-Mae Avery told Dork in January.

Slift

Slift write psych-rock epics with prog, jazz and metal bits – not exactly a mainstream approach to music. But, during the pandemic, the Frenchmen defied all logic, hosting a live session that reached more than a million YouTube users. 2024’s Ilion made their songs even more widescreen, and the trio have since secured a reputation as a top-notch live act, playing very loudly in front of kaleidoscopic videos. They ended their last album cycle in the summer and want to put out some more immediate material suited for the stage. “We’ve got the big concept and most of the songs,” singer/guitarist Jean Fossat told this writer in 2024. “It’s just demos, but we can’t wait to start playing these songs.”

Lowen

Lowen are based in London but draw influence from frontwoman Nina Saeidi’s ancestral homeland of Iran. Their music mixes modern heavy metal, inspired by Akercocke and System of a Down, with distinctly Persian melodies and vocals. Plus, the lyrics on their 2024 debut Do Not Go to War with the Demons of Mazandaran used Middle Eastern mythology to comment on Iran’s current, authoritarian regime, which prevents Saeidi from ever visiting the country. The singer recently told The Guardian that album two is in the works, and that one song will sample sounds from the Iran–Israel War in June. “I do not agree with anything that Israel has done,” she said. “It’s bad to bomb Iran. None of those governments are good – neither is ours.”

Courtney Barnett

A modern alt-music guitar hero, Courtney Barnett has dealt in acoustic ballads and fuzzy indie compositions alike. In October, she returned with the noisy Stay in Your Lane: her first new music since her soundtrack project End of the Day two years prior. A press release from the Grammy-winning Aussie called the song the first entry in Courtney’s “next musical chapter”, setting a distorted rock’n’roll precedent for album number five. Stay in Your Lane was recorded in L.A. with producer John Congleton (St Vincent, Big Thief), and Courtney’s recent setlists show other new songs in her repertoire, entitled Sugar Plum and Mantis. Safe to say, more is coming soon.

Elín Hall

Since she released her last album Heyrist í mér? (Can You Hear Me?) in 2023, Icelandic singer/songwriter/actress Elín Hall has played Yungblud’s festival Bludfest, won a few film awards and released a string of singles. Basically, she’s been inescapable, and she’ll continue to be so for the foreseeable future as well, with her fourth record set to come out this year. On her website, the musician says that her next release will be her first English-language effort. She also spills that it was produced and partially co-written by Grammy winner Martin Terefe, who’s collaborated with the likes of Adele and Elín’s old chum, Yungblud. Expect ambience, darkness and the plucking of a good few acoustic guitar strings.

The post The 12 new guitar albums you should all be excited for in 2026 appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

[Editor’s note: Teisco is owned by Vista Musical Instruments, which, like Guitar.com, is part of the Caldecott Music Group.]

Teisco has launched a vibrant new collection of Mini Pedals, comprising 12 compact stompboxes which don’t compromise on tone.

The Mini Series offers a range of “essential” sounds for players of all levels, covering all the basic needs on your pedalboard, including fuzz, overdrive, delay, modulation, and tuning.

• READ MORE: RhPf Electronics Mosrawr review – a noise-bringer that’s designed for post-rock and shoegaze

Teisco says the sound of these pedals defies their tiny sizing, and they deliver “powerful, inspiring tones, proving that portability no longer comes at the expense of sound quality”. Each one is inspired by Japanese aesthetics, and showcases a distinctive design on its face.

They utilise modern circuitry and true bypass switching to ensure optimal signal integrity, and make for an ideal entry point into pedals for budding musicians or those looking for no-nonsense pedals to meet their basic tonal needs. Each one offers super streamlined controls, with most featuring just three dials.

Speaking of innovative pedal design, you can now get a pedal inspired by some of the biggest celebs out there – from Millie Bobby Brown to Britney Spears and Adam Driver. Celebrity Pedals makes handmade and all-analogue stompboxes with punny names. Rated five stars on Reverb, its catalogue includes some real highlights, one being the Taylor Shift octave pedal, available in three variations, the Millie Wah-bie Brown, and Fuzztin Bieber – just to name a few.

Prices for Teisco’s Mini pedals start at $59. Find out more and view the full range over at Teisco.

The post “Huge in tone, mini in size”: Teisco’s vibrant new Mini pedal line covers all the bases of your pedalboard appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

It goes without saying that Steve Vai knows his way around a guitar. Even when Frank Zappa took Vai on tour in 1980 at the tender age of 20, he deemed the budding axeman a total “genius”. But as he found when he joined David Lee Roth’s band a few years later in 1985, Vai realised his ability to craft a “big rock guitar tone” was lacking.

Nowadays, of course, Vai could probably tackle any guitar tone he needed to. But as he explains in the latest issue of Guitar World, he was “embarrassingly inexperienced” in this area when he joined Roth’s band.

• READ MORE: “My job is to imagine things worth existing, and then making them real as an artist”: Jacob Collier is championing a new way to play guitar

At the time, Roth had just severed ties with Van Halen. Keen to forge his own musical path, Roth was working on a bold, hard rock opus of a debut. To ensure 1986’s Eat ‘Em and Smile was a smash, perfecting the riffs was paramount – and Roth put full faith in 25-year-old Vai to fulfil his vision.

However, when Vai rocked up at New York’s Power Station studios, he realised just how unprepared he was. He’d brought along his Carvin X-100B… and it absolutely wasn’t going to cut it. “The Carvins weren’t cutting through for the more aggressive tracks,” he says.

While Vai was stressing over his weak tone, a guitar guardian angel would soon fly to his aid – or, rather, Steve Stevens. Billy Idol’s trusted guitarist was recording in the same studio, and was more than willing to help the young guitarist. “Luckily, Steve Stevens was recording across the hall,” Vai explains. “I mentioned my tone troubles, and he lent me one of his favourite Marshall heads and cabs. Boom! Instant magic! I ended up using his rig for most of the album.”

At the time, Stevens was working on two 1986 records, so its unclear whether his studio stint was for Idol’s Whiplash Smile or Ric Ocasek’s This Side of Paradise. Regardless, Vai was grateful for the assistance, both saving Roth’s debut and Vai’s reputation.

“He saved my bacon!” Vai laughs.

In other news, Steve Vai recently recounted his surreal encounter with Brian May as he celebrated his own custom Red Special guitar. “I played it like a baby giraffe on roller skates – but it was heaven,” he said.

The post “He saved my bacon!”: How Steve Stevens saved an “inexperienced” Steve Vai from tonal humiliation appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Social media sensation. Six-string sidekick to the stars. Mateus Asato has worn many hats over the course of his musical career. His latest, of course, is that of fully fledged solo artist, as he gears up to release his landmark debut album, ASATO on 27 February.

He’s crafted a serious name for himself since his early days growing up in the Brazilian countryside, and so it’s only natural he’s always pondering where the future might take him next. For now, Asato seems all-in on his solo career, but might he consider playing alongside other acts in the future?

• READ MORE: “Practising is boring”: Geese guitarist thinks the best way to learn guitar is playing gigs, not woodshedding technique

“Right now, I’m in this phase of sharing my message with my own guitar,” Asato tells Guitar World in its new print issue. 

“I’ve done tours by myself in 2019, and that was really amazing. I have so many expectations to continue that chapter. I don’t close the door, but I feel like right is a big standby moment. The main focus for me is to share my instrumental work. But I might get tired of playing my own music and be like, ‘Why not?’ You learn a lot from playing [other] people’s music.”

It’s not the first genre you’d associate with Mateus Asato, but he explains that he’d be open to the idea of playing with a heavier band, should the opportunity ever present itself.

“I think it’s definitely more doable for me to join a band, so yes, I would consider,” he continues. “For example, in 2023 I did a project with Mike Shinoda from Linkin Park, and afterward I went to his studio to write songs for the band.

“I remember that kind of put that sort of flame in my heart, like, “Wow, what if they invite me to play?’ I would love to join a band like that. I know it’s not my cup of tea – like, nu metal – but it’s cool. I’ve played so many styles, so yeah, to join a band like that would be so cool.”

Mateus Asato recently announced he was ending his longtime partnership with Suhr Guitars. In the aftermath, fans speculated as to which brand he might partner with next, but he quickly dispelled any speculation by saying he was “‘single’ and happy where I am”.

Mateus Asato’s debut album, ASATO, lands on 27 February.

The post “To join a band like that would be so cool”: Mateus Asato reveals the nu metal band he’d love to join appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Dave Mustaine has further explained why he doesn’t want former members of Megadeth to join them on their final tour.

In an interview shared earlier this January, Mustaine said doing so would be a “huge undertaking” and that he didn’t want their gigs to come off as a puppet show. The band released their self-titled, final album last week, and will be retiring for good following its supporting global tour.

• READ MORE: Dave Mustaine thinks there’s a “changing of the guard” at the top of metal: “All of our elder statesmen have satisfied their roles”

Further expanding on his comments in a new interview with NME, Mustaine also says that he wouldn’t want any previous members to join them, as some have said negative things about him in the press.

“If we were to look at doing that, then you’ve got some members that are deceased. You’ve got some members that I’m friends with, but they can’t play anymore like Chuck [Behler, drummer from 1987-1989]. And then you’ve got a couple guys that are saying very bad things about me in the press. So why would I want to play with those guys?” he quizzes.

“We did this before with Marty [Friedman, guitarist from 1990-2000], and I’m sure that if the opportunity presented itself and the timing was right, I would reconsider having one of the guys from the band’s alumni play with us. But if it was something that didn’t end very well, why would I? There’s not a valid reason to do something like that, especially when we have limited time on stage anyway.”

On the band’s final album, Megadeth have also recorded their own rendition of Ride The Lightning, a track that Mustaine worked on during his time in Metallica. Though originally believed by many fans to be somewhat of a flip off to the metal giants due to Mustaine’s firing from the group and tense relations with its members thereafter, he’s clarified that the track is actually a nod of respect.

He told Record Collector, “The idea just felt good, so I agreed. I wanted to close the circle and pay my respects to James [Hetfield, Metallica frontman] and Lars [Ulrich, Metallica drummer]. I personally have always thought James was an excellent guitarist, so I think it was the right thing to do.

“Panic [Mustaine’s first band] was never solidified as a real band, so my first real band was Metallica. Now that I’m going into retirement, I think it’s the right way to pay my respects,” he explained.

Megadeth’s final album is out now. You can find a full list of their scheduled tour dates via the official Megadeth website.

The post Dave Mustaine says he won’t have ex-members on Megadeth’s final tour because some have been “saying bad things in the press”: “Why would I want to play with those guys?” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Guitarists often have wildly differing approaches to practice. Virtuoso Steve Vai, for example, last year recounted the crazy schedule he developed as a “neurotic” teenager, which found him happy if he managed to get in nine hours of practice a day.

Others, like Geese guitarist Emily Green, find dedicated guitar practice to be tiresome – she even calls it “boring” in a new interview with Guitar World – and prefer to hone their chops on the road and on stage. 

• READ MORE: “Washburn’s business model was too slow – I was so frustrated”: Why YouTube star Ola Englund launched his own company, Solar Guitars

It should be noted, in fairness, that Steve Vai also keeps his skills sharp on stage, and has performed hundreds – if not thousands – of shows over the course of his near-five-decade career. But Emily Green isn’t convinced by dedicated practice sessions.

“Practising is boring,” she says. “Getting better at guitar by playing in a band with people is much more interesting [and] the best way to learn how to play guitar. The scales and stuff just feel very dry to me.

“I don’t really know practical theory. It’s like I’m in a room with the lights off, and I know how to find my way around because I’ve been in that room my whole life. I know where everything is, but wouldn’t it be so much easier if the lights were turned on?”

The extent to which guitarists should know theory has long been a source of debate in the guitar community.

Last year, jazz-funk maestro Cory Wong made waves when he said guitarists should be able to point at every single note on the fretboard.

Unsurprisingly, virtuoso – and Steve Vai’s old teacher – Joe Satriani agreed with Wong, but other prominent guitarists expressed their opinion that a comprehensive grasp of the fretboard is not all that important.

Jack White responded hilariously, writing: “Ok it’s a deal; I’ll find the C, but I’m not learning all those other notes.”

View this post on Instagram

Guitarists all over weighed in on the debate at the time, with one writing in disagreement: “I’ve been playing guitar for 40 years and I couldn’t [name every note on the fretboard]. But I can write a good song. That’s all I care about.”

Another agreed with Wong, writing: “Only other guitarists would be so pressed over a professionally working guitarist saying you need to know the basics of your instrument. Sure, you technically don’t need to know squat for your original project but when you start working with true pros, you’ll be glad you worked out the basics of music theory.”

Check out all of Geese’s upcoming tour dates via their official website.

The post “Practising is boring”: Geese guitarist thinks the best way to learn guitar is by playing gigs, not woodshedding technique appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Modulation pedals are all about adding movement and colour. Imagine your guitar sound as a beautiful landscape photograph in black and white – now think of it turned into a video clip, with green grass swaying in the breeze and ripples moving gently across the blue water. And maybe a couple of rabbits, just for scale.

That’s what all the stompboxes in this roundup are doing – some in a simple and low-key way, others with a much more dramatically transformative effect. It’s an idea with a long and distinguished history, and the last half-century or so would have had a very different soundtrack without phasers, flangers, chorus pedals and the rest.

In fact, it’s widely agreed that the first ever effects unit designed for the electric guitar was a modulation device: the DeArmond Tremolo Control of the 1940s. Tremolo is one of the simplest effects of all, just making a signal rhythmically louder and softer – and it shouldn’t be confused with up/down pitch vibrato (although Fender famously did: if you see ‘vibrato’ on a black-panel amp, that’s the trem channel).

The psychedelic swirliness of phasing and flanging started out in the 60s as tape-based studio effects, but the transistor revolution soon paved the way for compact stompboxes that could replicate those sounds plus the shimmery warble of chorus – sometimes in glorious stereo – and the legendary Uni-Vibe effect, which can sound like all of the above going off at once.

Those, then, are the main pillars of modulation. But there are also some very interesting effects to be found beyond the vintage-correct basics – and they’re all covered below.

At a glance:

• Best pedal for chorus and vibrato: Mythos The Fates
• Best retro chorus: Ghost Note Audio The Swirls
• Best phaser: Beetronics Larva
• Best flanger: Walrus Audio Polychrome
• Best tremolo: Electro-Harmonix Nano Pulsar
• Best Harmonic Tremolo: Jam Pedals Harmonious Monk
• Best rotary speaker simulator: Neo Instruments Micro Vent 122
• Best Uni-Vibe-inspired pedal: ThorpyFX ER-2
• Best pedal for lo-fi wobbles:: Chase Bliss Generation Loss MkII
• Best mutli-modulation pedal: UAFX Astra
• Why you can trust Guitar.com

[products ids=”Dj6GzrQhiBvY16DUZimpj,7Xl6gusfAkTHAu4ZTowMo,3UU5pfcASmXMmXZI9qtx5M,6cUUVfASegj91GOPxhdXOE,4R75Ukb8KrIE0aaYIA13I0,6hS9iXALEqmeEHkp5lsJSj,ug2AGZwoY4XKfVHaO3FOX”]

Best pedal for chorus and vibrato: Mythos The Fates

[products ids=”Dj6GzrQhiBvY16DUZimpj”]

It’s a miracle that chorus made it out of the 80s alive… and yet, having been overused so horribly throughout the decade of excess, it’s been having something of a revival in recent years. This simple but classy analogue effort from Mythos – based on the old Boss CE-2 – is about as good as it gets, bringing the watery wiggle in tasteful style.

And there’s more! The chorus effect is produced by applying a gently oscillating pitch-shift then blending it with the dry signal… so if you take that dry signal away, you’re left with pure pitch vibrato. With some chorus pedals this comes across as an afterthought, but the Fates – like the Jam Pedals Waterfall, which is a superb compact alternative – treats vibrato as a worthy modulation effect in its own right.

Need more? Read our Mythos The Fates review.

Best retro chorus: Ghost Note Audio The Swirls

Yes, the Swirls is another chorus – but the gap between this and the Mythos is so wide you could drive a 1984 Bentley Continental through it. For a start it’s stereo, and it’s digital… plus it’s actually two modulation effects in one (the second being a non-oscillating ‘detune’ shift), with a compressor thrown in for good measure. The overall result is what Ghost Note calls “an entire 80s rack in a pedal”.

And that’s exactly what it sounds like. A bountiful array of knobs and switches gives it supreme tonal versatility, but ultimately the Swirls is about one thing: gigantic, spectacular, shamelessly syrupy lushness. It’s worth buying a second amp just so you can set this thing up in stereo and bask in it until you feel queasy.

Need more? Read our Ghost Note Audio The Swirls review.

Best phaser: Beetronics Larva

[products ids=”7Xl6gusfAkTHAu4ZTowMo”]

When you buy a phaser you’re really getting two pedals in one box: at fast speeds it’s an agreeably pulsating wibble-wibble effect, but slow it right down and you have a gently sweeping frequency filter that arcs up and down in a uniquely musical way. The Beetronics Larva does both of those things brilliantly, and even lets you ‘ramp’ from one setting to another by holding down a footswitch.

Just note that, while most phasers set out for a degree of tonal transparency, this one has a preamp that colours the tone quite heavily. For some that might be an issue, but for others it’ll be a bonus – especially as, if you crank the gain, that preamp gets properly gritty, turning the Larva into a combined phaser and overdrive pedal. So I guess that makes it three pedals in one box?

Need more? Read our Beetronics Larva review.

Best flanger: Walrus Audio Polychrome

[products ids=”3UU5pfcASmXMmXZI9qtx5M”]

Flanging is closely related to chorus in terms of how the effect is produced, but the result tends to be more like a phaser with an attitude problem. A flanger can swoosh like a jet engine, it can clang like grinding sheets of metal… and if you’ve got a good one that lets you keep the feedback in the circuit nicely controlled, it can also sound surprisingly pretty. The Walrus Polychrome is a good one.

An analogue flanger that sets out to do everything, with the added perk of having a cute lizard on the enclosure, the Polychrome covers all the classic 80s indie/goth tones but can also go deep into more hazardous sonic territory. It’s a blast – though it has a strong rival in the ThorpyFX Camoflange, which sounds different but also has a lizard on it.

Need more? Read our Walrus Audio Polychrome review.

Best tremolo: Electro-Harmonix Nano Pulsar

[products ids=”6cUUVfASegj91GOPxhdXOE”]

There’s nothing basic about the cheapest pedal in this guide. In fact, compared to what the average tremolo pedal could do 20 years ago – and what a lot of similar-priced units can do even today – the pocketable Pulsar is a veritable multi-tool of modulation.

First of all, while some make do with rate and depth controls, this unit adds a volume knob – useful for boosting the output to compensate for any perceived level drop caused by the tremolo itself. And then you get the nifty combo of a triangle/square wave switch and a shape knob, allowing for complete control over the character of the sound. Oh, and if you use both outputs, it suddenly becomes a whole new effect: an automatic stereo panner.

Need more? Read our Electro-Harmonix Nano Pulsar review.

Best Harmonic Tremolo: Jam Pedals Harmonious Monk

[products ids=”4R75Ukb8KrIE0aaYIA13I0″]

Harmonic tremolo has come out of nowhere to hit the pinnacle of hipness, and the Harmonious Monk can take a slice of the credit for that. This pedal takes a simple idea – splitting the high and low frequencies of your signal and applying tremolo to them separately – and turns it into a wonderfully tangy effect, somewhere between standard trem and phasing.

If you really want to go to town on the harmonic bit, tweaking the crossover point and time lag between the two frequency bands for a rainbow of tonal coloration options, grab yourself the amazing Spaceman Effects Delta II; but for most people, there’s no need to look beyond the Monk. That is, as long as you don’t mind having a stompbox with a picture of Dan and Mick from That Pedal Show on the side…

Need more? Read our Jam Pedals Harmonious Monk review.

Best rotary speaker simulator: Neo Instruments Micro Vent 122

The rotary effect was never intended for guitarists: Donald Leslie’s original invention was designed for Hammond organs. But the harmonically complex Leslie swirl – created by the combination of a full-range speaker in a rotating drum and a high-frequency horn spinning independently – was just too lovely to be left to keyboard-clompers. Like a phaser, a rotary pedal sounds very different at fast and slow speeds; but unlike a phaser, it gets extra-swooshy when ramping between the two because the virtual horn and drum accelerate and decelerate at differing rates.

You have several great-sounding options in this category, most notably Neo’s own full-size Ventilator II and twin-footswitch Mini Vent II; but if you want a compact Leslie sim that runs off a standard 9v power supply, and are happy with mono-only output, the Micro Vent 122 is the undisputed champ.

Need more? Read our Neo Instruments Micro Vent 122 review.

Best Uni-Vibe-inspired pedal: ThorpyFX ER-2

[products ids=”6hS9iXALEqmeEHkp5lsJSj”]

The DeArmond Tremolo Control wasn’t technically a pedal, and the Leslie speaker definitely wasn’t… which means the Japanese-made Honey/Shin-ei Uni-Vibe of the late 1960s must surely qualify as the first ever modulation stompbox. Jimi Hendrix and David Gilmour famously used it, but what actually is a Uni-Vibe? Well, it’s a sort of phaser, but with a distinctively throbby quality, and it’s powered by a lightbulb inside an array of LDRs (light-dependent resistors).

This is another category where your list of options is long, and many of them sound superb; but the ER-2 might just be the one to get because, quite aside from its perfect vintage tones and ultra-rugged build quality, it has a vibrato mode – the Uni-Vibe’s more subtle setting, largely ignored by most players – that sounds much nicer than it really should.

Need more? Read our ThorpyFX ER-2 review.

Best pedal for lo-fi wobbles:: Chase Bliss Generation Loss MkII

[products ids=”ug2AGZwoY4XKfVHaO3FOX”]

The Generation Loss MkII does things that go way beyond modulation however you define it – including extreme tonal filtering and the addition of gratuitous background noise. The idea is to make your clean tone sound like something that’s been rescued from an old VHS videotape – a fine example of digital tech being used to create an analogue feel.

But it’s the other part of that ageing process that interests us here: a range of lo-fidelity vibrato and chorus effects with an element of randomness that adds depth, charm and – if you’re old enough to remember the pre-digital age – nostalgia. The Gen Loss is an expensive pedal, and the word ‘niche’ hardly feels strong enough for it, but it is addictive. And you can easily turn the background noise off.

Need more? Read our Chase Bliss Generation Loss MkII review.

Best mutli-modulation pedal: UAFX Astra

Only got space on the pedalboard for one modulation unit and can’t decide which effect you need most? Ah, just get a bigger board. Or, if that sounds like too much fun, you could always compromise by investing in a single pedal that does the lot… or at least, most of it.

The Kernom Elipse is a strong contender here – an analogue pedal with digital control that lets you blend between different effect types and then dial in a bonus phaser – but Universal Audio’s compact Astra is probably a better bet. Yes, it has some annoying design quirks, but the bottom line is that UA’s digital chorus, flanger, tremolo and phaser sounds are simply unbeatable.

Need more? Read our UAFX Astra review.

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 modulation pedals: tremolo, chorus, flange, phase & beyond appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Neil Young has provided residents of Greenland with full access to his entire music catalogue for free as a gesture of peace.

Young’s decision to do so follows US President Donald Trump’s threats to annex Greenland for “national security reasons”. Young, who often speaks out on political issues, is a prominent critic of Trump, and has previously taken legal action to prevent him from using his music at campaign rallies.

• READ MORE: The guitar gear used by Neil Young on the classic Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere

Greenlanders who wish to take Young up on his offer will need to provide their name, email address and phone number to get free access to his complete archive for 12 months. In a statement shared via his Neil Young Archives website, the Canadian-American musician writes, “As a gesture of kindness and respect, we stand with you along with a strong majority of Americans.

“I would like to offer a free one-year subscription to all Greenland residents. I hope my music and music films will ease some of the unwarranted stress and threats you are experiencing from our unpopular and hopefully temporary government. It is my sincere wish for you to be able to enjoy all my music in your beautiful Greenland home, in its highest quality.”

He concludes, “This is an offer of Peace and Love. All the music I have made during the last 62 years is yours to hear. You can renew for free if you are in Greenland. We do hope other organisations will follow in the spirit of our example.”

Last year, Young played at Glastonbury Festival after originally withdrawing due to involvement from the BBC. He headlined its mighty Pyramid stage and brought out some of his most iconic instruments, including Hank Williams’ 1941 D-28, his Bigsby-loaded ’54 Goldtop and of course, his famous Old Black.

Find out more and sign up via the Neil Young Archives website.

The post “This is an offer of Peace and Love”: Neil Young gifts his entire catalogue to residents of Greenland appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

The intersection of heavy metal and guitar YouTube has proved to be a verdant ground for innovative new guitar companies to bloom. Alongside Rob Chapman’s Chapman Guitars, Ola Englund’s Solar Guitars has been another key success story in this area.

Now nearly 10 years later, Solar is a widely revered guitar company catering to the heavier inclined, but what prompted Englund – who was with Washburn at the time – to do his own thing in the first place?

• READ MORE: Guitar.com Magazine: how to get your copy of the January/February 2026 issue

As he explains in the new issue of Guitar World magazine, Englund felt disillusioned with the speed at which his designs with Washburn became available to the public, and was inspired to start his own brand instead.

“I had a successful model with Washburn,” he says. “I brought them my designs, they released it and it did very well. But being a social media, YouTube guy. I know the world moves so fast now and people’s attention spans are so short.

“I felt that Washburn’s business model; was too slow. There was a bureaucracy behind everything – the making of the guitars, selling to dealers and getting them to distributors.

“It’s such a long process before an actual customer gets to see the guitar – like, about a year – and I was so frustrated because I knew people wanted the guitars but had to wait a long time before they could get them.”

Englund – who has nearly 1 million YouTube subscribers, and also plays guitar in bands The Haunted and Feared – explains that upon the expiration of his three-year contract with Washburn, he was faced with a decision: either renew for another three years, or take matters into his own hands.

“After my three-year contract ended, I figured I could stay there for another three years, but I knew I could do so much better if I could find some people to do a new company with me,” he continues. 

“The guy I worked with at Washburn had just left the company, so I gave him a call and we decided to create a model that went straight from us to the consumer because we know exactly what the audience wants. They tell me.

“I took my designs out of Washburn, and we formed Solar. We launched in late 2017 and had 300 guitars to sell and ship immediately. We’ve grown very fast.”

In other news, Extreme guitar legend Nuno Bettencourt made waves in the guitar industry late last year when he followed in Ola Englund’s footsteps, ending his 35-year relationship with Washburn to start his own guitar company, Nuno Guitars.

The post “Washburn’s business model was too slow – I was so frustrated”: Why YouTube star Ola Englund launched his own company, Solar Guitars appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

When news of Rush’s 2026 Fifty Something reunion tour surfaced, prog fans were in a frenzy – the ‘rush’ for tickets lead to Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson expanding the sold-out tour within days, announcing a further 17 dates. Now, Rush are giving fans another reason to get excited: new music may be on the horizon

In a MusicRadar interview, Lee reveals that he and Lifeson have been brainstorming new Rush tracks. However, fans will have to wait until after tour before anything is finished. “My intent, before we got into this celebration of Rush’s history, was to put some music together,” he says [via Blabbermouth]. “I assumed I would be doing that on my own, not with Alex. When we started jamming, I started seeing the possibility of doing something. But that went on hold, because there’s too much work.”

• READ MORE: “I like grabbing something that I don’t think is the ‘right’ thing and seeing how that works”: Why Alex Lifeson still reaches for the $57 Japanese guitar his parents got him

“If we manage to survive the tour, go back to Canada, and have a rest, who knows what will happen,” he teases. “But I suspect some music will eventually come out.”

Following on from drummer Neil Peart’s death in 2020, it seemed the Rush days were over; Lifeson was adamantly “not interested” in a Rush reunion back in 2024. Hell, even last January Lifeson told Classic Rock that he didn’t want to reunite and tarnish Rush’s “legacy” by sounding like a “bad Rush tribute band”.

Considering how adamant Lifeson seemed to oppose a reunion, it made the news of the 50-year celebration an even greater surprise to fans – news of new music is just an extra cherry to top things off.

While Peart’s iconic shoes are impossible to fill, German drummer, composer and producer Anika Nilles is stepping up to the plate to join the remaining Rush duo on tour. And, according to Lee, she might even be involved in crafting new Rush tracks.

“It would be fun to see what [Nilles] can do in a creative situation,” he tells MusicRadar. “That would be fun. But it’s all speculation until it isn’t, so…”

When news of Nilles joining the band broke, Lee and Lifeson emphasised how challenging it was to find a drummer that would honour Peart’s memory. “Life is full of surprises, and we have been introduced to another remarkable person; an incredible drummer and musician who is adding another chapter to our story while continuing her own fascinating musical journey,” they explained.

“Her name is Anika Nilles, and we could not be more excited to introduce her to our loyal and dedicated Rush fanbase, whom, we know, will give her every chance to live up to that near impossible role… No small task, because as we all know Neil was irreplaceable.”

The post “If we manage to survive the tour, who knows what will happen”: Geddy Lee says new Rush music could be on the cards soon appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

JBL has launched its new line of BandBox Bluetooth speakers/practice amps – and with on-board AI-powered stem separation technology, they might just supercharge your guitar practice sessions.

While the BandBox line – comprising the Solo and more powerful Trio – will no doubt find an audience among Bluetooth speaker fans and general audiophiles, onboard stem separation makes them an alluring prospect for musicians looking to upgrade their practice. Ever wished you could remove the solo from your favourite track so you can play along yourself? With BandBox, you can.

• READ MORE: Looking for an affordable floor-based amp modeller? This one from Harley Benton is now under £200

That’s the general principle, but let’s dive a bit deeper into the specs on offer with both the BandBox Solo and Trio.

BandBox Solo

Aimed at individual musicians looking for a raft of practice-friendly features, the 30W BandBox Solo features a single guitar/mic input, and allows guitarists to stream songs via Bluetooth, and use JBL’s Stem AI feature to reduce or even completely remove specific elements of a track.

The Solo also sports a built-in looper, pitch shifter, tuner and integrated LED screen, as well as a range of amp models and effects including phaser, chorus and reverb, all controllable via the companion JBL ONE app.

There’s also a headphone in for quiet practice sessions, plus a USB-C output for recording straight into your DAW.

BandBox Trio

The 135W BandBox Trio offers a more powerful option, with four instrument inputs, as well as a 6.5” woofer and two 1” tweeters.

Perfect for group sessions of band setups, the four-channel mixer allows you to balance levels while crafting tones and applying effects, while a replaceable battery means you can undertake longer practice sessions without fear of running out of charge.

As with the Solo, the Trio is loaded with a built-in tuner, metronome, looper and integrated LCD colour screen, as well as steam separation capabilities, JBL ONE app compatibility and a USB-C output for DAW recording.

“JBL BandBox is created with musicians’ needs in mind, and made possible by cutting-edge technology,” says Carsten Olesen, President of Consumer Audio at HARMAN, JBL’s parent company. 

“This is the first speaker to feature an on-device Stem AI algorithm capable of removing vocals or instruments, without the need for cloud processing or an internet connection. With this breakthrough, it’s easier than ever to practice, improve and enjoy playing music either on your own or with friends.”

Pricing and availability

Available from February, the BandBox Solo is priced at £199, while the BandBox Trio is £529.

For more info, head to JBL.

The post These Bluetooth practice amps from JBL have AI stem separation – and might just change the way you practice guitar appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

The first Guitar.com Magazine of the year is out this week – and comes in a bundle with NME Magazine! Here’s how you can get a copy of the January/February 2026 issue.

Last April, we announced the relaunch of the Guitar.com print edition after a four-year hiatus, featuring Mateus Asato and Yvette Young on the covers of the first two issues. This Thursday, you’ll be able to get your hands on the third issue of Guitar.com Magazine, featuring unmissable features and reviews, which comes with a copy of the January/February 2026 issue of NME Magazine.

Mark your calendars for Thursday January 29 at 2pm GMT – that’s when the cover stars of both magazines will be revealed and the mags go on sale exclusively via retailer Dawsons. The waiting room is open, so check it out now.

Besides Guitar.com, MusicTech has also returned to print. Guitar.com, MusicTech and NME are sister publications under NME Networks. The new Guitar.com and MusicTech print editions alternate with every bi-monthly edition of NME Magazine – which itself was relaunched in 2023 – meaning three print editions per calendar year for each brand.

Subscribe here for more information about Guitar.com Magazine and to receive an exclusive queue jump opportunity, where readers can get their hands on a copy before anyone else. Guitar.com will send out queue jump tickets shortly before the magazine goes on sale to subscribers on the mailing list.

The post Guitar.com Magazine: how to get your copy of the January/February 2026 issue appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

It’s Mei Semones’ world and we’re all just living in it. Well, it certainly feels that way when you’re at one of her concerts and the room erupts in a vortex of jazz, indie pop, accompanying scat singing and threads of bossa nova. It’s funny, feeling so overwhelmed by the technical prowess blasting from stage yet melting totally into its magnetism.

• READ MORE: “My job is to imagine things worth existing, and then making them real as an artist”: Jacob Collier is championing a new way to play guitar

But this Brooklyn-based guitar enthusiast embodies genre fusion in its truest form, wielding her usual PRS McCarty 594 to produce spellbinding jazz-adjacent songs that build from the foundation Chet Baker laid down. And with her full-length debut album Animaru a raging success, this Berklee alumna is well on her way.

“One of the things I love about jazz is that it values the individual voice of a musician, and you really need to have your own voice and your own sound,” Semones tells us from her home in New York. “It’s a tradition that people are learning from, and transcribing what other people have played and taking that language to make it your own… I don’t know, I just really like that part of it.”

But it wasn’t always jazz guitar for Semones. In fact, it wasn’t always guitar at all. At four years old she’d picked up the piano – a gift from Grandma to Semones and her sister. But it didn’t feel quite… right. “I switched to guitar when I was 11,” says Semones.

“I just wasn’t enjoying piano as much anymore, and I watched this movie called Back to the Future.” A sly smile tugs knowingly on her lips before she continues: “There’s that scene where Marty McFly plays a Chuck Berry song and I thought it was really cool. I wanted to play electric guitar because of that.”

Shining Light

Still, it took a little longer to find the area of guitar where Semones now feels most comfortable. Although she’d expressed a new interest in learning guitar, she first had to try nylon-stringed models, classical guitar and rock before she settled on jazz in high school. “My school had a really good jazz program, so that’s when I got into it and started writing my own songs,” she says. Her songwriting and immediate talent for the instrument shone right through, earning Semones a place at Berklee shortly afterwards, which is when she moved from her home town in Michigan to New York to start a blossoming music career.

When Guitar.com speaks to Mei Semones now, she’s just finished a busy tour in Europe and is gearing up to perform in Japan before ending the show run in the US. One of the things her fans adore about her style is how you can hear grains of rock and chamber pop in every third or fourth bar when Semones’ PRS and her bandmate’s drums marry at just the right volume and ferocity. But the next bar might fall into this intoxicating jazz scale that Semones effortlessly mimics with her weightless, dainty vocal. In truth, you never know what you’re going to get at a Mei Semones gig.

“Writing this way comes pretty naturally to me,” says Semones after a pause. “I’m not necessarily thinking about blending different genres to go from bossa nova to rock, say, because I don’t really think of that. I just happen to enjoy these different types of music and they’re also my influences. That’s what I’ve listened to and that’s what I’ve studied, so what comes out is just a blend of those things together.”

Tools For The Job

But as much as you can credit the songwriter and performer for creating such charismatic music, the player must also pick the right instrument and equipment that works best for their style to get the most attuned result. Semones is no exception to this rule:

“My primary guitar is the PRS McCarty 594, semi hollow body, mostly because of how it feels to play, the tone and how comfortable it is. But my first electric guitar was an Epiphone Les Paul, which my dad got me. Not long after that I went to a guitar building camp and made my own Stratocaster-style guitar, which was my second one. Then I got my first acoustic steel string guitar, which was a Hohner, and I still have it now.

“My dad then got me an Ibanez Artcore guitar for high school jazz before I got my PRS for college as a professional-grade guitar. We picked it up from Sweetwater at their headquarters in Indiana, which we drove to from Michigan, and we were there for around eight hours because I tried out so many guitars.

“At first, I didn’t like the bird inlays on the neck of the PRS because I thought it was a bit too flashy. But I just fell in love with it as soon as I played it. Now, it’s probably my favourite guitar I’ve ever had.”

It’s no wonder Semones loves her PRS so much – it’s taken her from being a humble college student to a rising innovator, known for writing original work orchestrated to fit both English and Japanese lyrics.

Since her debut EP Kabutomushi came out in 2024, it’s been clear the 25-year-old is brilliant at conveying feelings of platonic love in both languages. “Both feel pretty natural, because I feel like I’ve been writing songs with lyrics in both languages for a good while now,” she says. “Whatever pops into my head first or fits the melody better in that moment is what I go for.”

Everything Semones releases feels entirely original, and it’s pretty difficult to find another artist she directly sounds like. And when that’s the case with a musician, it can be pretty hard to guess who their inspirations were growing up.

Semones has a good think about her answer for this question before she delves into one: “When I was younger, it was definitely Nirvana for me,” she begins. “But when the Smashing Pumpkins came about, I’d say they were the first band I got into that were directly similar to my own taste. But other than that, I listen to a lot of jazz grades. I really like [Thelonious] Monk and Charlie Parker and Wes Montgomery. There are those classic [musicians] that a lot of people love like Jim Hall or Wayne Shorter as well, but on the flip side I really enjoy João Gilbertoi who’s a Brazilian artist and a huge influence for me.”

Needless to say, there’s certainly an amalgam of inspiration swirling around the music industry. There are the classic trailblazers Semones so aptly credits, plus new performers alike who are inventing their own pocket of genre, but it’s hard to imagine any jazz performer or similar going without crediting Chet Baker at some point. In 2025, Semones contributed towards a collaborative album, Chet Baker Re:imagined, which featured various other young, inspirational musicians like Matilda Mann and dodie covering some of Baker’s greatest hits.

“It was great because I actually love Chet Baker so much,” says Semones of her experience covering My Ideal for the record. “In terms of vocal inspiration, Chet Baker is one of the big ones. Alongside Gilbertoi, they’re my two main vocal inspirations, I would say. So, I was so happy when they reached out to me about [contributing to this record]. I had three options for the songs I wanted to pick, and My Ideal happened to be one of them. It’s actually my favourite song on Chet Baker Sings, so I was really happy about that.”

Having achieved so much in her short career so far, Semones wants to continue reaching for the stars. But, at the same time, she doesn’t have too many expectations as of yet. “I just want to keep going this way and developing as a songwriter,” she says. “I guess the main focus and my long-term goal would be to continue practicing guitar and getting better at it. I want to be the best guitarist that I can be in my lifetime. Hopefully one day I’ll get to the point where I’m good enough at guitar to record a jazz trio album or something like that, because I would love to do that. Or, although it’s definitely not time yet, maybe one day I’ll get to do a jazz standards album and have friends come on and feature on it with me.

“I just hope everyone can listen to and enjoy my music. What makes me really happy is seeing kids at my show who are there with their parents, because I think that’s really sweet. And sometimes I’ll get to meet fans who are learning the guitar and say my music is inspiring them to do it, and that makes me really happy. Music can be interesting to everyone, of all ages too, and I just love it.”

The post Meet Mei Semones, the jazz-founded guitar virtuoso whose genre-defying music knows no bounds appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

The amp modeller market is ever-expanding, especially hot on the heels of NAMM, but their high cost means a large number of players are often priced out of getting their hands on one.

Harley Benton offers a super-affordable amp modeller unit, and you can get one for just under £200 via Thomann. The DNAfx GiT Pro offers over 50 amp models, more than 40 effects, and 31 IR cab sims that can be configured and stored as patches in up to 200 memory slots using its colour display.

• READ MORE: Boss makes a splash ahead of NAMM with new GX-1 and GX-1B multi-effects units, plus a new busker-friendly Roland Cube Street amp

Now just £199, this Pro version is the flagship model in Harley Benton’s DNAfx GiT line, which also features a standard version and streamlined core version, both of which are also reduced over at Thomann down to £111 and £77 respectively. It’s low price point and wide array of tones make it great for beginners or those looking to try out a modeller for the first time.

The 51 amp models included with this Pro version offer reproductions of a wide range of well-loved rock amplifiers, from the warm, clean sound of Californian vintage amps and to the rugged overdrive of British amps, and more. These can be combined with its cab simulations and effects such as a compressor, EQ, wah, distortion, reverb, and delay.

Its five inch display is accompanied by five controllers located directly below the screen, which allow users to create and organise their patches, control a built-in looper, and check the tuning of their guitar with the integrated tuner.

Hear it in action below:

Shop this deal and more via Thomann.

The post Looking for an affordable floor-based amp modeller? This one from Harley Benton is now under £200 appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

It’s been a landmark few days in the world of heavy metal, as genre titans Megadeth have just dropped their final-ever album. As you might expect, Dave Mustaine’s swansong is chock-full of abrasive riffs and searing solos (try Let There Be Shred on for size).

One of the biggest things that’s got people talking in the runup to the album’s release, though, is the inclusion of Ride the Lightning, a cover of the Metallica classic which Mustaine helped write all the way back in the early ‘80s.

• READ MORE: NAMM 2026 is done and dusted – and loads of the gear debuted is already available at Sweetwater

But Mustaine helped write a number of Metallica songs before he was fired in 1983, including a selection from the band’s debut album, Kill ‘Em All. So why did he choose Ride the Lightning for Megadeth’s final record?

“We were working on the album and my son, Justis, said, ‘Why don’t you do a Metallica song, Dad?’” he recalls in a new interview with Record Collector.“I thought, ‘I don’t think so.’ 

“Then I thought about it more and the idea just felt good, so I agreed. I wanted to close the circle and pay my respects to James [Hetfield, Metallica frontman] and Lars [Ulrich, Metallica drummer]. I personally have always thought James was an excellent guitarist, so I think it was the right thing to do.

“Panic [Mustaine’s first band] was never solidified as a real band, so my first real band was Metallica. Now that I’m going into retirement, I think it’s the right way to pay my respects.” 

While it was important to pay his respects to his former band, Mustaine says he was also conscious not to make the cover too similar to the original.

“When the time came to actually do the song, we thought, ‘Do we want to make it a little longer? Do we want to make it a little fast? Do we want to extend the solo section?’ We started working on it and everything came together nicely. We did speed it up a bit and we did try to do a couple of things a little different from the original version. It was a great song to play.

“Because I wrote music in that song, it just makes sense. 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.”

Asked whether he’d ever consider recording covers of the other Metallica songs he had a writing credit on, Mustaine replies: “Not anymore. No. I think I said what I wanted to. Unless something gigantic happens, I don’t know that I’ll be going into the studio again. If I do, it probably won’t be for a very long time.

“With my hands the way that they are, it’s hard to sit in the studio all day long and play guitar. Nine months we were in the studio working [on Megadeth], every day, from the morning hours up until seven o’clock at night. My hands got roasted.”

Megadeth’s last-ever album is out now. The band will embark on a massive final world tour from February. See the official Megadeth website for tickets and details.

The post “It’s not a cover song. It’s a song I wrote part of… It doesn’t feel like we’re doing a song by another band”: Dave Mustaine on Megadeth’s Ride the Lightning appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Have you ever dreamt of a pedal with Dr. Phil’s face on it? Maybe you’d enjoy a Fuzztin Bieber or a Splitney Spears? Well, look no further than this bizarre lineup of stompboxes from Celebrity Pedals that are straight out of a fever dream.

Handmade and all-analogue, these pedals take inspiration from celebs and meme stars, and have incredibly great punny names and designs. Not just for laughs, these weird delights have been used by some pretty huge musicians who have played with artists like Beyoncé, John Mayer, Phoebe Bridgers, Miley Cyrus, and more.

• READ MORE: RhPf Electronics Mosrawr review – a noise-bringer that’s designed for post-rock and shoegaze

Rated five stars on Reverb no less, the Celebrity Pedals catalogue includes some real highlights, one being the Taylor Shift octave pedal, which is available in three variations. Also right at the top of its listing is the Millie Wah-bie Brown: a wah inspired by Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown and her character Eleven, complete with glowing eyes.

This one is an envelope filter loosely based on the Mutron with an added volume knob to prevent the volume boost that sometimes occurs with old school envelope filters. It also has a low pass switch to keep the warmth and bass frequencies present, and a handy sensitivity control.

View this post on Instagram

View this post on Instagram

Some of these celeb names work just great – you can also get an Adam Driver (yep, an overdrive) or a Distorsean Paul distortion pedal, both of which are priced at £160 respectively. Most pedals are priced between £100-300, though there are some great deals across the Celebrity Pedals range.

The Djent Reznor – described as a combination of a BB Preamp and a Tube Screamer, with symmetrical and asymmetrical clipping switch – is now reduced to £150. You can also grab a Hocktave (based on the ‘hawk tuah’ meme) with 21 percent off, or a Splitney Spears II signal splitter for just £89.

Find out more or shop now via the Celebrity Pedals Reverb shop. 

The post Djent Reznor and Millie Wah-bie Brown: check out these unhinged celeb-inspired pedals appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.