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Guns N’ Roses‘ Sweet Child O’ Mine is a certified classic – but does it live up to the hype? Well, Lorna Shore’s Adam De Micco doesn’t seem to think so.

In a new interview with Guitar World, the deathcore guitarist puts the iconic 1987 track on blast. “I was at the gym once and heard Guns N’ Roses,” he recalls. “Sweet Child O’ Mine is a terrible song – I hate Axl’s voice and don’t even like Slash’s playing. But it stands the test of time.”

• READ MORE: “I’m not that fast on the guitar, but I don’t want to be”: David Gilmour explains why speedy solos never interested him

Despite his feelings, he notes that the hit still receives praise to this very day – and that’s what intrigues him about it. “Nowadays music comes and goes in less than a year, yet there are bands from 30, 40 years ago, and people are still excited to hear it, and I’m like, ‘How?’” he muses.

Rather than outright denying the impact of the track, the Lorna Shore riffer has instead made it his mission to pen a song that feels just as timeless. At least, that was his approach while melding the likes of death, symphonic and prog metal on the band’s latest offering, I Feel The Everblack Festering Within Me.

Rather than hunting for the most complex sounds, Guns N’ Roses made him remember that there’s a beauty in simplicity. “After touring Pain Remains, riffs or ideas I thought were cool didn’t land when we played them live,” he reflects. “You realise a part is too complicated, or isn’t musical or digestible.”

Just as Ozzy Osbourne’s Crazy Train inspired a young De Micco and rhythm guitarist Andrew O’Connor, De Micco wanted to capture a “digestible” sound that was equally as bold and confident. Those are the tracks that get stuck in your mind – and they lend well to being learnt by budding riffers, amplifying their significance.

“[Sweet Child O’ Mine] became my main inspiration – writing something timeless,” he explains. “I wanted to write a guitar lick that some kid wanted to learn.”

Elsewhere on the record, Lorna Shore of course knock out their usual mix of “very technical and over the top” riffs for Prison of Flesh, while also “completely dialling back” for cuts like Unbreakable.

I Feel The Everblack Festering Within Me is out now.

The post “I hate Axl’s voice and I don’t like Slash’s playing”: Metal guitarist calls this Guns N’ Roses classic “terrible” – but also admits it’s his “main inspiration” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Can’t shred? No problem. Plenty of top-tier guitarists prefer to take things slow, and Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour is one of them.

In a new chat with NPR, Gilmour explains why speedy chops have never interested him. “I’m not that fast on the guitar, but I don’t want to be,” he says. “Even if I could, [my style] is what I love. It’s what I’ve spent my whole life doing.”

• READ MORE: Save big on Prime Day guitar deals at Positive Grid, Sweetwater and Thomann – here are our top picks

While people often inquire as to why he prefers a slower style, the Pink Floyd legend insists its something he “doesn’t really think about”, personally. “I don’t pre-think things very often,” he explains. “I’m not trying to work out what would be new and exciting or different. I’m just hunting for an emotion, in the moment.”

“I started out playing music in bands when I was 16 or 17, and I’ve never stopped…” he continues. “[Musically], I just follow where I’m led.”

Last November, Gilmour also explained his slower, more “tuneful” approach in an interview with YouTuber Rick Beato. While slower solos come easily, Gilmour admits that he struggles to feel inspired when the pace kicks up a notch.

“I wasn’t gifted with enormous speed on the guitar,” he told Beato at the time. “There were years when I was younger were I thought I could get that if I practiced enough. But it just wasn’t ever really going to happen.”

Gilmour isn’t the only artist to reflect on the struggles of attaining high-speeds on the fretboard. In fact, in his later years, Eddie Van Halen even told Guitar Player journalist Jas Obrecht that he’d grown tired of whiplash-fast playing. “Sure, that’s fine and dandy when you’re young… playing as fast as you can doesn’t really hold much water for me now,” he said in 1991.

The Van Halen icon even admitted that quick playing can sometimes even detract from a song, as its more of an “ego” boost to showcase your skills than to make a track better. “To me, a solo is to highlight song – it’s not to show off,” he concluded.

Later this month, Gilmour is set to release a live album, The Luck and Strange Concerts. The 17 October release will be full of live versions of tracks from his 2024 solo record, Luck and Strange.

Gilmour is also in the midst of releasing teaser tracks for the 50 year anniversary of Pink Floyd’s 1975 album, Wish You Were Here. A deluxe boxset is due to drop this December, which will include plenty of demos and live recordings from the era.

The post “I’m not that fast on the guitar, but I don’t want to be”: David Gilmour explains why speedy solos never interested him appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

After recently giving its Tone Master FR-12 cab a vintage Tweed makeover, Fender is continuing to expand its amp offerings with the new Super 62, the latest addition to its American Vintage Amplifier series.

Harnessing both the raw tone of ‘50s-era tweed amps and the classic clean tone of the mid-’60s, the Super 62 offers a “warm and woody clean sound alongside a sweet overdrive when cranked”.

• READ MORE: Save big on Prime Day guitar deals at Positive Grid, Sweetwater and Thomann – here are our top picks

The Super 62 is powered by a pair of 6L6 tubes, driving 40 watts into dual 10” Celestion Custom Design speakers, while a phase-shifting harmonic tremolo offers a “rich dimension to any sound”. The amp also features six 12AX7 preamp tubes, as well as one 5AR4 rectifier tube.

With a single-button footswitch included, the Super 62 has two channels, both with Volume, Treble and Bass controls, while Channel 2 also has Speed and Intensity controls, and there’s a master Presence control, too.

Last week, Fender gave its Tone Master FR-12 full-range, flat-response cab a Tweed reskin, offering lovers of both amp modellers and vintage-aesthetic amplifiers what might be the perfect cab solution.

The Super 62 is priced at $2499.99 / £2,439.

For more information, head to Fender.

The post Harness the raw tone of ‘50s tweed amps and the mid-’60s cleans with Fender’s new Super 62 combo appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

October 7-8 marks Amazon’s second Prime Day of the year. But while Prime Day deals are generally geared towards consumer electronics and other mainstream-type items, some of the biggest online music retailers are also slashing prices on gear.

So here at Guitar.com towers, we’ve hunted down some of the best deals from the likes of Positive Grid, Sweetwater, Thomann and Reverb, and collated them right here so you can see if there’s anything that takes your fancy…

• READ MORE: Geezer Butler to sell signed amps used at Black Sabbath’s final show

First up, over at Positive Grid, you can get the brand’s groundbreaking Spark 2 smart amp – which we gave 9/10 in our review – for just $296.65, down from $349. That’s over $50 off a decked out practice amp with AI features, a built-in looper, Bluetooth and loads more.

Or why not grab the smaller 10-watt Spark MINI – with onboard Bluetooth and smart app integration – for just over $200, down from $249? You can check out all the latest Positive Grid deals by clicking the button below:

[deals ids=”6nBL9El8aFSkJtYyxtQlNW”]

Meanwhile, over at Sweetwater, we’ve spotted a massive $600 off this Gibson Les Paul Standard ‘60s in Sparkling Burgundy, taking its price tag down to just $1,999. You can also grab the SE Silver Sky – the affordable version of PRS’s collaboration with John Mayer – for a cool $170 off, meaning you pay just $679. Check out all the latest guitar deals at Sweetwater below:

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Thomann’s also hosting some excellent deals you can take advantage of, like this B-stock Sterling By Music Man St. Vincent Goldie, discounted by over 30%, meaning you pay just £735 instead of over £1,000. If you’re a St. Vincent fan, this deal might be a no brainer…

Or if you’re more shred-inclined, this B-stock Charvel PM PLUS SRS SC1 HH HT is £839 down from £899 – a cool £60 saving ready to be snapped up. View all of Thomann’s latest hot deals below:

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And finally, we’ve searched the second-hand market over at Reverb, and found the following sweet deals on guitar gear. Check out this 2002 ESP LTD EX-351D Diamond Plate Explorer, with a 20% price drop, taking its usual £800 price tag down to just £645.

Or try this PRS SE Silver Sky in Moon White, now priced at just £599 down from £895 – almost £300 off! View all the best bargains at Reverb by clicking the button below:

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The post Save big on Prime Day guitar deals at Positive Grid, Sweetwater and Thomann – here are our top picks appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

$129/£79, blackstaramps.com

Whether you’re preserving ideas from a writing session or recording a breakthrough EP like Steve Lacy’s Demo, a smartphone is the most immediate device most of us have for capturing sound.

But despite the improvement in phone mics over the last decade, getting something to truly sound good without some pricey external hardware in the mix has proved stubbornly elusive… at least until now.

• READ MORE: EarthQuaker Devices Easy Listening review – can an amp simulator this simple actually sound good?

The Polar GO from Blackstar is the most compact iteration of its impressive Polar family of audio interfaces. But what’s really exciting about it is the combination of size, features and price it offers. This promises to be an affordable interface that will make your audio sound better… and you won’t even need a mic to do it.

Blackstar Polar GO – what is it?

Blackstar describes the GO as not an audio interface but a “complete, pocket-sized studio designed for the modern creator” – and while that seems like the sort of marketing hyperbole you’d normally treat with an eye-roll, when you take a closer look, you can see what the British company means.

So, yes, it’s an audio interface, but it’s one that’s absolutely tiny (it comfortably fits in the palm of your hand), complete with a rechargeable built-in battery, a combined ¼-inch/XLR input with 48V phantom power, a USB-C out for plugging into your phone/laptop and a 3.5mm headphone jack for live monitoring.

Most excitingly, however, it also comes with Blackstar’s ProCapture Stereo Mics – a pair of onboard microphones to offer quality stereo recordings to elevate what you’re doing without the need for any kind of bulky traditional mic. This is plug-in-and-play recording – but with less plugging in.

That’s further enhanced by the GO’s onboard DSP engine that applies the onboard reverb, compression, EQ and noise control (editable via the Polar GO app) to make what you’re capturing sound pro-ready before it even hits your stream or recording software. You’re able to save one setting at a time to the hardware to use independently from the app.

Effectively, in goes your vocal or instrument signal; out comes a tailored sound to record in GarageBand, BandLab or whathaveyou, or stream/upload to YouTube, TikTok or Twitch.

In addition to the simple onboard controls (input and output) you also get the Polar GO App, which supports iOS and Android (even my gracefully ageing Pixel) and allows you to tailor your sound by tweaking the EQ, compression, reverb and the like to taste. It also allows you to record video directly while you’re playing, and comes with a bunch of presets designed to enhance various input sources.

Blackstar Polar GO – build quality

The striking thing about the Polar GO as a physical device is how compact and light it seems – even with that in-built battery that promises about four hours of recording time, it still only weighs 136g, or less than five ounces in old money.

Despite that it manages to squeeze all its various essential inputs and outputs into its case without it feeling cramped – the power and data USB-C ports are on one side along with the headphone out, while the combi XLR/jack input and buttons for power and phantom power are on the other, leaving the top clear for the input and output knobs, status LEDS and the mics themselves.

It all serves to keep the cabling and tangling of said cables to an absolute minimum. The light weight means you can easily pull it off a desk/bench/knee if you’re not careful. But it feels rugged enough, and if you’re really worried about such things, the Polar GO’s base is magnetic, so you can attach it to a mic stand or similar with any Magsafe or similar mobile phone mount.

Blackstar Polar GO – in use

While the Polar GO’s knobs, connections and mics are all impressive in themselves, what really matters is how they interact with your smartphone.

For me, an Android user, it proved incredibly simple to feed a signal from the interface to mobile apps like Fender Studio and my phone camera app’s video function, by connecting the interface to the phone via USB-C. With sound achieved with minimal fuss, it was time to open the app and play around with the settings on Blackstar’s Polar GO App.

Here you’ll find a good range of presets for different types of input, including mic’d acoustic guitar or vocals, bass guitar and external vocal mic, plus reverb (‘space’) settings with preset ‘Hall’, ‘Cave’, ‘Room’, ‘Plate’ and ‘Vocal’ parameters.

One slightly disappointing thing is that there are no bespoke electric guitar presets, which struck me as odd given Blackstar’s pedigree with digital guitar sounds. The upshot is that you’ll either want to add effects and the like to your guitar signal before it hits the GO – via an amp modeller or pedalboard, for example – or at the other end with an amp and effects plugin. This is no biggie given the ubiquity of such options nowadays, but it’s a small drawback for electric guitar players.

You have the option to multi-track (or simultaneously record) via the mic and line inputs, which is a big plus for singer-songwriters. For a full-band live recording, you’d need an interface with more channels, and you’d probably be recording onto a computer, anyway.

The headline item is definitely those ProCapture Stereo Mics, however – they are a huge upgrade on what you’d normally get from a smartphone mic. I was amazed at the sensitivity of the mics when monitoring with headphones. The mics captured all the fine, textural detail of acoustic playing, as well as background noises in the room.

It’s easy to see why Blackstar is pitching the GO as much to, podcasters and ASMR content creators as musicians – they’ll certainly capture all the detailed nuances of a sound. In fact, they pick up so much more than a smartphone mic, you’ll need to be mindful of movement during recording – it’s easy enough for a stray chair creak or rustle of clothing to be picked up.

One other thing to be aware of is that the Polar GO App is smartphone-only, so while you can plug the interface into a Mac or Windows laptop, its full functionality is only available to mobile users.

Should I buy the Blackstar Polar GO?

Obviously, something this portable isn’t going to offer the features and functionality of a full-size audio interface, but what’s impressive is how few compromises you actually have to make with the Polar GO.

The onboard mics are what make this a true game-changer, however; significantly reducing the amount of kit you need to take with you to be able to record excellent-sounding audio on the go. With a keen price and sensible sound-enhancing on-board features aimed at those who just want to sound good without hassle, this is one of the best smartphone audio interfaces out there.

Blackstar Polar GO – alternatives

Building microphones into the actual audio interface is a USP that sets the Polar GO apart, but there are plenty of more traditional mobile recording interfaces out there should you not need them. IK Multimedia’s iRig Pro I/O ($169.99) offers similar combi input flexibility to the GO, and even adds MIDI if you should need such a thing, while the more compact TC Helicon’s GO Guitar Pro ($79/£69) is a solid budget option.

The post Blackstar Polar GO mobile audio interface review: “I was amazed at the sensitivity of the mics” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Fancy owning a piece of Black Sabbath history? Well, you’re in luck – Geezer Butler has hand-signed 15 amps amps used during Sabbath’s grand Back To The Beginning farewell show, and they’ll be available to buy on Reverb next week.

The 15 amps on offer are Butler’s very own Head of Doom Bass Magnifier created in partnership with Ashdown Engineering. The amps boast 600 watts of power, with a 9-band EQ, Sub-Harmonic generator, as well as the signature Doom control, which offers a 12AX7 preamp stage for rich harmonic distortion.

• READ MORE: Kirk Hammett says Tony Iommi uses “smart chords” – this is what he means

The amps also come with dual inputs for passive/active basses, as well as a pair of illuminated VU meters, footswitchable EQ settings. So it’s a quality amp… which also happened to be used during the most important show in Sabbath history.

As well as being signed by Butler, each amp will also come with its own certificate of authenticity.

If you don’t manage to get your hands on a genuine Back To The Beginning amp next week, don’t worry. Ashdown Engineering will also be offering a new speaker cabinet in line with Butler’s creative input. The Cab Of Doom will be a made-to-offer cabinet, handcrafted to the same specs as those used during Sabbath’s final show.

The Cab Of Doom cabinets will be 2×15” and 2×12” cabinets, with 300 watts RMS at 8 Ohms and a custom medal grill screen-printed with Geezer’s signature fallen angel artwork. The Cab Of Doom will serve as Ashdown’s third collaboration with Butler, joining the Head Of Doom amp and the Pedal Of Doom.

For those keen to know when the Head Of Doom amps officially go on on sale on 14 October, you can sign up here.

The post Geezer Butler to sell signed amps used at Black Sabbath’s final show appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

From 72-hour benders to knocking back four bottles of cognac a day, Ozzy Osbourne lead a wild life. In fact, in his posthumous memoir, Last Rites, the Black Sabbath frontman labels himself a “world-class” addict – he binged and smoked so much that he was left wondering just how his body managed to keep going for 76 years.

“If I were to go to bed tonight and not get up tomorrow, no one would be surprised,” he reflects in Last Rites. “Death’s been knocking at my door for the last six years louder and louder… At some point I’m gonna have to let him in.”

However, every passing day came with a bitter note of sadness. While he was managing to evade death, he was constantly aware of his peers who weren’t as lucky – namely his guitarist Randy Rhoads, who died in a plane crash in the ‘80s.

• READ MORE: Kirk Hammett says Tony Iommi uses “smart chords” – this is what he means

Rhoads would perform as Ozzy’s guitarist for three years up until his death in the fatal crash in 1982, which also saw the death of makeup artist Rachel Youngblood and the pilot. The pilot had been attempting to ‘buzz’ over Ozzy’s tour bus and wake him up, but a false move lead to the plane clipping the bus and crashing into a house.

From his 42-pill a day habit to admitting he was stoned during every episode of The Osbournes TV show, Ozzy was constantly haunted by how he was still living, while Rhoads was not.

“Not a day goes by when I don’t ask myself, why am I here not them?” Ozzy writes in his Last Rites. “I had 70 great years, which is a lot longer than I ever expected or probably deserved.”

However, in a statement announcing the memoir, Ozzy admitted he wouldn’t change anything about his life. “People say to me, if you could do it all again, knowing what you know now, would you change anything?” he said [via NME]. “I’m like, fuck no.”

“If I’d been clean and sober, I wouldn’t be Ozzy,” the statement continued. “If I’d done normal, sensible things, I wouldn’t be Ozzy. Look, if it ends tomorrow, I can’t complain. I’ve been all around the world. Seen a lot of things. I’ve done good… and I’ve done bad.”

Elsewhere in his memoir, Ozzy also recalls how the “unofficial leader” of Black Sabbath, guitarist Tony Iommi, first dealt with losing his fingertips. “He just invented himself a set of new fingertips using an old Fairy Liquid bottle, then re-taught himself how to play,” he writes.

Another section also sees Ozzy admitting that taking Van Halen on tour might have been a mistake. “You wanted your support act to be good, but didn’t want to upstage yourself,” he admits. “[We would go] back to our dressing room in silence and just sit there, staring at the fucking wall. [Every night],Van Halen just slaughtered us.”

Last Rites is out now.

The post “Not a day goes by when I don’t ask myself, why am I here and not them?”: Ozzy Osbourne’s posthumous book reveals he was haunted by Randy Rhoads’ death for the rest of his life appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

After Behringer launched the $69 Centaur Overdrive last year, Bill Finnegan – creator of the original Klon Centaur, sued the brand’s parent company Music Tribe over “blatant counterfeit”.

News of the suit spread quickly in the guitar world, and some Behringer Centaur Overdrive units were being listed on the second-hand market for up to $2,000, with collectors preempting a discontinuation and rise in scarcity.

In the following days, Behringer changed the name of the unit from Centaur to Centara, and made a number of visual changes, like putting the Behringer logo on the pedal’s front face, and changing the graphic design of the centaur. Quietly since, the name of Behringer’s pedal has again been changed to ‘Zentara’.

The dispute went quiet in recent months, but it’s now been revealed that the case has been dismissed by the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

A court document confirming the lawsuit’s dismissal is available to read on CourtListener – although it doesn’t provide much information other than the fact the case has been dismissed, and that there are no costs incurred to either party.

Though purely speculation, it’s possible Behringer/Music Tribe and Bill Finnegan reached an out-of-court settlement, either monetarily or through an agreement which stipulates the conditions upon which Behringer can continue to sell the Zentara.

Guitar pedal clones are very common, with brands issuing their takes on classic units commonplace. In terms of the legalities of pedal clones, it’s not possible in most cases to patent the design of an electronic circuit, so pedal makers protect their products via trademarks regarding their trade dress – effectively how a product looks.

In his lawsuit against Behringer, Bill Finnegan noted that “consumers expressed extensive actual confusion… with many rushing to purchase Defendants’ counterfeit pedal believing Defendants are delivering on a mass scale a discounted product licensed or endorsed by Plaintiffs”.

It’s worth noting, though, that – in the US – trademark laws are written so that if a company doesn’t enforce its trademarks, it marks it harder for them to fight future cases of infringement.

This formed the basis of Dean’s defence in its legal battle against Gibson, as it argued the guitar giant had taken too long to enforce its trademarks. In that case, Gibson’s award after triumphing was recently upped from $1 to over $168,000.

The post Klon Centaur maker’s lawsuit against Behringer has been dismissed appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Ken Parker – legendary luthier and creator of the Parker Fly – has died aged 73, days after launching a GoFundMe to help pay for his cancer treatment.

A statement on Parker’s website confirms he passed away peacefully at his home in Gloucester, MA on October 5, 2025, with his life companion Susan Kolwicz by his side.

Ken Parker recently announced his retirement from luthiery, after revealing he was diagnosed with cancer in early 2023, and that the illness steadily eroded his ability to work.

“It hasn’t been easy living with this nasty disease, having chemo treatments that zapped my energy and slowly took away my ability to earn a living,” he wrote.

“Now, I’m on a breathing machine 24/7 and I’ve started to lose the use of my left arm. I humbly ask for your support to reduce the medical and personal debt that I’ve incurred and to help with my family’s expenses.”

Reflecting on his career, Parker added, “Throughout my life, I’ve done something that I love and am proud of – making guitars that advance the art, science and craft of building far beyond traditional methods. Most importantly, it has been a true joy and especially gratifying experience to see my guitars in the hands of all of you gifted and aspiring players, and I thank you for that opportunity.”

In a YouTube video posted earlier this week, Parker revealed he’d been spending much of the past year passing on his knowledge and expertise to his colleague Sam Krimmel.

“Sam has this gift which feels remarkably similar to the gift that I feel that I have that’s allowed me to do my work,” he said. “I’ve never had a deeper and more interesting work relationship on a daily basis than I have with Sam, and we work together very, very well.”

Born August 25, 1952, Ken Parker built his first guitar from wood and cardboard aged just 13, and later an electric bass for his brother Alan.

In the early ‘70s, Parker moved to Rochester, NY, to work with furniture maker Richard Newman, where he designed his first archtop guitar. He later began working at Stuyvesant Music on instruments for a number of high-profile musicians.

Parker opened his own shop in Connecticut in 1983, working with stringed instruments including violins, cellos, Renaissance lutes and vintage and contemporary guitars.

1990 saw the launch of Parker Guitars – co-founded by both Ken Parker and Larry Fishman. The brand would later launch the iconic Parker Fly in 1993, a radically innovative electric guitar featuring a composite material body and a hybrid pickup system.

Perhaps one of the most high-profile endorsees of the Parker Fly was former King Crimson man Adrian Belew, who had his own signature model.

Ken Parker’s GoFundMe is still active at the time of writing, having raised $134,000 of its $450,000 goal.

“Ken’s family is still faced with a great deal of debt,” a statement on the page writes. “So, please, continue your contributions in Ken’s honor… they will be greatly appreciated.”

Learn more at GoFundMe.

The post Ken Parker – iconic luthier behind the groundbreaking Parker Fly – has died at 73 appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

As a guitar player of twenty years or so, there’s one instrument that I keep coming back to: the acoustic guitar. Graduating from the half-size classical guitar I started on, my eyes were set on a solid-body electric and a high gain amplifier that felt like a natural progression for me as a young rocker.

• READ MORE: More Unusual First Guitars That Rock Stars Started Their Careers On

Instead I was presented with a dreadnought acoustic, as primarily a test of my commitment to the instrument, but an unknowingly practice tool that I would come back to time and again. Much like walking with ankle weights or cardio in the swimming pool, the acoustic guitar can serve as a form of resistance training.

This makes movement and technique more difficult, and while it boxes you into building muscle, it’s also training you to listen to what sounds right at its core, i.e. tuning, fretting and timing for consistency and dynamic. For the hours of practice I spent on this guitar on those formative years of playing, I want to say thank you.

For any beginners reading, that acoustic guitar you’re struggling with is doing you a lot of good, and for more experienced players, it might be good to get back into the habit of acoustic practice to keep those chops up!

This is for a few reasons, the first being that while those of us who grew up aspiring to be amplified rock gods, the electric guitars we strived after often had smaller gauge strings, coupled with a lower action to make it easier to bend notes and jump around the fretboard. The acoustic guitar we had kicking around the house usually had some heavy and old strings, the higher action making it an overall more difficult beast to wrangle.

But here’s the kicker: having to get my practice routines right on an acoustic guitar gave me more dynamic ability in both my picking and fretting hand, as well as calloused fingers and muscles in my arms and hands that made my eventual flitting around the neck of an electric guitar feel like child’s play.

Harder to play

Conventionally, in E Standard, an electric guitar might be strung with .009 or .010 gauge strings, often nickel wound at the highest end, acoustic guitars instead using steel or bronze strings and often being .012 or .013 in size in the same tuning. This means it’s a little more difficult to fret, to bend notes and barre chords, but this can form an important part of your practice routine.

Improperly fretted notes can buzz and ring, requiring you to really push down and move between every note like you mean it. Lighter gauges allow a little more freedom for bending, but your bends on an acoustic really need to be bent right up to the intended pitch, an acoustic guitar often being played without additional effects or other processing to mask your imperfect playing. Bent notes might warble and ring until you get them right, and you best believe your acoustic guitar won’t let you get away with it like an overdriven electric guitar.

Can’t hide behind effects

This leads me to my second point, the acoustic guitar generally being a mostly unprocessed instrument, meaning there’s no distortion, delay or chorus to make you sound better than you are! Effects are good for augmenting a great performance, and what makes for a great performance? Consistent practice.

Distortion and drive will compress and attenuate your playing which might lead to inconsistent picking, but the acoustic guitar will leave your playing exposed, forcing you to focus on accuracy, consistency and tonality. You’re also forced to assess the relationship between your picking and fretting hand. Buzzing frets or scratchy picking are laid bare on your trusty steel string acoustic.

Campfire test

All of this is in the pursuit of practicing enough to sound good on an acoustic guitar, and this isn’t entirely unlike the renowned “campfire test” for songwriters. The “campfire test” is simple: a good song will work whether it’s performed with a full backing band or around a campfire with just an acoustic guitar and a vocal. While the additional layers and harmony are there to expand on the emotional and musical impact of your song, if they instead act as a crutch for your song, well, you might have some work to do.

Practicing on an acoustic guitar borrows from this same thought process, stripping away everything except your skills, timing and talent, and forces you to focus on your playing without augmentation. Your playing shouldn’t rely on effects as a general rule of thumb, though we’ll exclude players like Kevin Shields from this. As you were, shoegazers.

All of this is to say, that while I struggled, fumbled and cussed through hours of practice with my acoustic guitar, every minute has made me a better guitar player because at a foundational level it taught me to play every note like I mean it, bend right up to pitch and beyond, and gave me great dynamic control of my picking hand. Without distortion and overdrive hiding fumbled picking, or reverb and chorus clouding my timing, I was able to focus on my technique and playing, and you can ensuring you’re getting the most out of your practice. And hey, while there’s a case to be made for practicing with the gear you’ll play live, the acoustic guitar will always be there to go back to; and somehow it’ll never seem to get easier to wrangle.

The post A love letter to the acoustic guitar: thank you from my calloused fingers appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Rudolf Schenker asked Uli Jon Roth to agree to one last favour before he left Scorpions to pursue a project of his own.

Things were looking good for the band at the time of Roth’s departure, with them having released a number of successful albums including Fly To The Rainbow and In Trance, and their international fan base was growing. However, Schenker says Roth’s unhappiness became fairly obvious to him as time went on.

• READ MORE: “I was never really interested in great guitar playing if the other stuff wasn’t there”: Uli Jon Roth on why he never got in Van Halen

Speaking to Get On The Bus, Schenker recalls how Roth informed him of his decision to quit: “One day in the morning, on Sunday, he came. Uli Jon Roth came to me. I was living in a normal apartment in Hanover. And [he] said, ‘Rudolf, can I talk to you?’ I said, ‘Sure. Come in, come in.’ So [he said], ‘Rudolf, I want to quit.’”

He continues, “I said, ‘Yeah.’ [Roth replied,] ‘You don’t say anything more?’ I said, ‘No, because I was watching you. I could see that you, sooner or later, will move to your own project.’”

The project that Roth went on to pursue was his band Electric Sun, which formed in 1978. They went on to release three albums together, with their first being 1979’s Earthquake. But, before his exit was made final, Schenker wanted just one more thing from Roth.

“‘Do this Tokyo Tapes [live] album with us as a last piece, as a Last Testament for the Scorpions,’” he asked him. “We went to Japan. We played the Tokyo Tapes album. And then, Uli left.”

Interestingly, despite Roth’s time in Scorpions leading to him being cited as an inspiration for many great metal guitarists, Roth has said he doesn’t consider himself a metal fan.

“I’m not a metal guy,” he told the Scars and Guitars podcast back in August. “When I was in the Scorpions and the name heavy metal barely existed, we were considered, if you want to classify it, as a melodic hard rock band.

“So, metal, the name, came afterwards, and then it became something which is actually not my cup of tea. Most metal, for me, is just a little bit too hardcore, a little bit too distorted, and, for me, maybe a bit two-dimensional. And what I mean by that is the lack of dynamics.”

The post Rudolf Schenker reveals the “one favour” Uli Jon Roth agreed to before his Scorpions departure appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

In recent years it’s been heavily suggested that Rush was done and dusted, and that surviving members Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee would never head back out on the road.

Earlier this year, Lifeson said he wasn’t keen on tarnishing Rush’s legacy by reforming, saying: “I’d rather be remembered for that legacy than return as the top Rush tribute band”. “Some days I wake up wanting to go out and tour again and some days I don’t,” he added.

But now, in an announcement set to send Rush fans into overdrive, Lifeson and Lee have announced they are heading out on tour in 2026 – yes, as Rush – with 12 dates in seven cities across the US, Canada and Mexico.

• 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

The tour – dubbed Fifty Something – is described as a celebration of 50-plus years of Rush music, and of the legacy of late drummer Neil Peart. It also marks the first time Lee and Lifeson will tour together since the finale of Rush’s R40 tour in 2015 at the Forum in LA. In something of a full circle moment, the Fifty Something tour will kick off at the Forum.

Cities Rush will hit on the tour are: Los Angeles, Mexico City, Fort Worth, Chicago, New York, Toronto and Cleveland.

Filling in on drums will be Anika Nilles, a German drummer, composer and producer who has previously played with Jeff Beck.

“It’s been over 10 years since Alex and I have performed the music of Rush alongside our fallen bandmate and friend Neil,” says Geddy Lee. “A lifetime’s worth of songs that we had put our cumulative hearts and souls into writing, recording and playing together onstage. 

“And so, after all that has gone down since that last show, Alex and I have done some serious soul searching and come to the decision that we fucking miss it, and that it’s time for a celebration of 50-something years of Rush music. So in 2026 my BFF Lerxst (aka Alex Lifeson) and I are going to hit the road once again to pay tribute to our past and to Neil by performing a vast selection of Rush songs in a handful of cities. No small task, because as we all know Neil was irreplaceable.”

Of touring drummer Anika Nilles, Geddy Lee goes on: “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.

“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. Before we hit the stage, we also hope to add another musician or two to expand our sound a wee bit and free up Alex and I, in order to show off some of our new fancy dance steps.”

“Lerxst, Anika and myself, along with many of our longstanding crew members have been hard at work rehearsing and designing the kind of RUSH show you’ve grown accustomed to expect from us. We dearly hope you will come along and help us celebrate our history together.”

Speaking on the reunion tour, Carrie Nuttall-Peart and Olivia Peart, Neil’s widow and daughter, add: “We are thrilled to support the Fifty Something tour, celebrating a band whose music has resonated and inspired fans for generations, and to honour Neil’s extraordinary legacy as both a drummer and lyricist.

“Neil’s musicianship was singular. Compositions of intricacy and power that expanded what rhythm itself could express. As both a drummer and lyricist, he was irreplaceable…”

They conclude: “As the band enters this new chapter, it promises to be truly unforgettable. We are excited to see how their new vision unfolds, and to hear this legendary music played live once again.”

View a full list of dates on the Fifty Something tour below:

• Sun Jun 07                             Los Angeles, CA                                  Kia Forum
• Tue Jun 09                              Los Angeles, CA                                  Kia Forum
• Thu Jun 18                             Mexico City, MX                                   Palacio de los Deportes
• Wed Jun 24                           Fort Worth, TX                                      Dickies Arena
• Fri Jun 26                                Fort Worth, TX                                    Dickies Arena
• Thu Jul 16                               Chicago, IL                                         United Center
• Sat Jul 18                                Chicago, IL                                         United Center
• Tue Jul 28                               New York, NY                                      Madison Square Garden
• Thu Jul 30                               New York, NY                                      Madison Square Garden
• Fri Aug 07                               Toronto, ON                                        Scotiabank Arena
• Sun Aug 09                            Toronto, ON                                          Scotiabank Arena
• Thu Sep 17                            Cleveland, OH                                       Rocket Arena

Learn more at Rush’s official website.

The post “Alex and I have done some serious soul searching”: The wait is over – Rush are heading on tour in 2026 appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Zakk Wylde has been reflecting on the final Black Sabbath show that took place in July, and has shared his awe at how Ozzy Osbourne managed to pull through despite his health struggles.

The band’s final gig took place at Villa Park in Birmingham, UK earlier this summer, and formed part of one giant celebration of all things metal, all while raising money for charity. Osbourne sadly passed away just a matter of weeks later, and his loss was felt deeply across the world by both fans and fellow artists.

• READ MORE: Kirk Hammett says Tony Iommi uses “smart chords” – this is what he means

Wylde, who joined Osbourne’s solo band in 1987, previously shared how challenging the final gig was to pull off. While his main concern was ensuring that Osbourne himself was doing okay, he also said that pretty much everything was pulled off on the fly.

Further looking back at the big day and his time spent playing for Osbourne in a new interview with Rock Feed, Wylde says the Prince of Darkness somehow always managed to tough out his shows.

“[With] Ozz, you’re talking about fortitude and persistence and just refusing… I mean, I even wrote to him after the show. I was like, ‘Ozz, so proud of you, man.’ He never quit. Like, never quit. I can’t tell you how many times his voice would be banged up,” he explains (via Ultimate Guitar).

“I’d be like, ‘I have to say a couple of prayers to John Paul II, Mother Teresa, and the big guy’, several times during the show… But he’d always end up pulling through these gigs. I mean, I’d always stare at him in amazement and just go, ‘That’s my hero, man,’ all the time.”

Another player who has since looked back on their last interaction with Osbourne is Nuno Bettencourt. Though now known for his stellar guitar work in Extreme, Bettencourt was offered a job with Osbourne in the 1990s, but turned it down as he was busy with his own band. He’d also previously auditioned to play for him as a teenager, but didn’t get selected.

“The last words we said to each other when we took the big group photo, I grabbed his hand, saying, ‘Thank you for everything, and thank you, Ozzy, for what you mean to me,’” Bettencourt told Page Six at the VMAs.

“He pulls me in by the hand. He goes, ‘You were the only guitar player who said no to me.’ But he laughed! He goes, ‘I love you and thank you for being here.’”

The post “I’d be like, I have to say a couple of prayers to John Paul II, Mother Teresa, and the big guy”: Zakk Wylde was scared Ozzy Osbourne wouldn’t get through Black Sabbath’s final concert appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Buckethead has responded to a complimentary Facebook post by Slash commending his guitar skills.

Buckethead – real name Brian Patrick Carroll – played with Guns N’ Roses between 2000 and 2004 following Slash’s departure, and appeared on the band’s long-delayed 2008 album Chinese Democracy.

• READ MORE: “It’s really important for guitarists to have something identifiable about the way they sound. In 2025 that’s getting lost”: Where can’t amp modellers compete with physical pedalboards? UK math rock guitarist weighs in

Reposting a video of Buckethead jamming with Primus’s Les Claypool on his social media, Slash wrote last week: “This is some of the funkiest music you’ll ever hear! Buckethead and Les Claypool of Primus creating pure magic together. The bass lines are absolutely insane and Buckethead’s guitar work is next level as always.

“If you love funk, progressive rock, or just incredible musicianship, this jam will blow your mind! Both legends pushing each other to new heights. Support Buckethead whenever you can!”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Slash (@slash)

To repay the favour, Buckethead has made a social media post of his own waxing lyrical about the genius of Slash’s playing.

“Just wanted to say that Slash is one of the greats of all time, as everyone knows” he writes. “He was involved in writing music and his playing transcends decades and to reach such a wide amount of people playing really incredible guitar is such a rare thing.

“In the time I was involved in attempting to play his parts, never really could I have captured the essence of him. So much of who he is comes from his playing. I’ll always be in awe of how great he is.”

Though Buckethead possesses otherworldly guitar talents – which match his similarly extraterrestrial aesthetic – it’s not all that surprising he found it hard to emulate Slash’s guitar playing, given their respective backgrounds. Slash’s musical identity is rooted in the rock ‘n’ roll excess of the ‘80s, while Buckethead is widely praised for his head-spinning shred capabilities, which he does while wearing a family-sized KFC bucket on his head.

The post “His playing transcends decades – I could never really capture the essence of him”: Former Guns N’ Roses guitarist Buckethead on the genius of Slash appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Floorboard amp modellers have sure made touring easier for a growing number of artists, but are they impacting our identities as players?

The small yet mighty power of gear like the Neural DSP Quad Cortex means bands no longer need to transport heavy and somewhat fragile gear across borders, but can rather chuck all the tones they need quite literally into a backpack. But without physical pedals and real life amplifiers, some artists are concerned that sonic identity and uniqueness could slowly fade away.

• READ MORE: Brian Wampler likens the rise of amp modellers to Napster’s impact on music: “I think it’s going to take a big chunk of the market”

This is a concern recently raised by Tom Peters of UK-based math rock band, Alpha Male Tea Party. In an interview with Guitar World, Peters likens the modeller’s impact on the creation and performance of music to Spotify’s vast effect on how we listen to it.

“Why do I insist on a massive physical board when modellers exist? Well, one, I’m quite stubborn; and two, I feel it’s really, really really important for musicians in bands to have something identifiable about the way they sound and what they do. And in 2025 that’s getting lost,” he explains.

“The heart of my board is the Boss ES-8 switching system. I used to hate doing all the tap dancing, so I’ve got a bunch of pedals set up on MIDI – you can look at it and say, ‘This is complex,’ but anyone with a Quad Cortex or your basic laptop freebie has more options in the box than I do on my board.

“For me, modellers are a bit like Spotify. I don’t connect with music in the same way I did when I went to a store to buy a CD. Back then I’d wilfully choose to buy something and add it to my collection. Spotify gives you all the music in the world, ever. People listen to it and go, ‘That’s a great record’ – and then move on to another one. Within two weeks of an album cycle people have moved on.”

To clarify, Peters doesn’t judge or shame anyone for using modellers, and notes that they do indeed work very well, “But I don’t think I’d ever get that excited about having a box that has literally every single tone in it, because I haven’t worked to get them,” he continues.

“Another thing we’re losing now is our interaction with tactile processes, and that’s so important to me. I don’t really like looking at menus. It’s just tedious: these dead-end neural pathways. A lot of it is about the response of it when I’m playing. People talk about convenience, but I don’t want to feel comfortable all the time. Convenience isn’t helpful to creativity; it’s a slightly inverse relationship.”

Artists who have used modellers on the road include Metallica, Foo Fighters’ Chris Shiflett, and Slipknot’s Jim Root. Though they proudly sing the praises of such tech, these artists also still argue that their love of traditional gear has not gone anywhere.

Like it or lump it it’s a market that is only getting bigger, with Line 6 recently launching its monumental Helix Stadium range, offering entirely new modelling technology.

The post “It’s really important for guitarists to have something identifiable about the way they sound. In 2025 that’s getting lost”: Where can’t amp modellers compete with physical pedalboards? UK math rock guitarist weighs in appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Devin Townsend has argued that bands like Mötley Crüe were the reason metal never got the credit it deserved in the industry.

In a new interview with D’Addario, Townsend opens up about the philosophies that shaped his music journey, and why he thinks the music business failed to take metal seriously.

The Canadian musician, known for his experimental approach to metal and sound design, says his fascination with music began as a way to express himself safely as a kid: “My fascination with music became more practical than anything else because I could express myself in a way that wasn’t gonna get me in trouble from my parents at least.”

• READ MORE: Devin Townsend says “90 percent” of the job for modern musicians is being a content creator

In particular, his obsession with echo and space began after hearing Judas Priest’s Victim of Changes. “I remember hearing Victim of Changes and KK Downing had the echo on the guitar,” he says. “And the thing I found so compelling about that… is echo made even the most profoundly wrong choices intentional, and it kind of forces the hand of it just by having it insistently repeat. And so Judas Priest, Motorhead, Bon Scott, that sort of era, I just loved it. And then Van Halen.”

Like many young metalheads, Townsend recalls finding belonging through the guitar.

“We’re all in the metal shop and we’d be making whammy bars and everybody passing around tablature for Eruption and everything,” he says. “There was a certain amount of social collateral that came with being able to play an instrument. I remember very specifically being in the band room in grade eight and you know, I‘m a super awkward kid and I got shit hair and like the whole works.”

“And I remember hearing these kids in the back room saying, ‘Well I think that kid out there knows how to play guitar.’So I came in and played a bunch of Judas Priest riffs and all of a sudden these dudes were like, ‘Okay, you can be our buddy now.’ And I was like, ‘That’s all you gotta do? Wow.’”

But for all his love of the genre, Townsend feels the wider industry never fully understood what metal could offer.

“Metal is a dynamic that I feel was undervalued by the music industry at large because it was tied to the aesthetic of Mötley Crüe and all that shit,” he says. “Because I was a very sensitive kid and consequently, a very sensitive adult, I do find that it’s visceral in ways that other music isn’t, and it managed to scratch an itch, but as a dynamic, as a texture.”

That sensitivity, explains Townsend, also came from his deep connection to the natural world growing up in Vancouver – a relationship that continues to shape his sound today.

“Being from Vancouver and up north there, my ability to recognise my own emotional process was tied to the weather. So if it was raining, I would be able to get a sense of what it felt like to participate in the rain through echo and suspended tonalities, you know, like a ninth or a second.”

“It always seemed to resonate with that. And also the mountains, you know, the Rocky Mountains up there. We used to go on family vacations up north, and we’d just drive for eight hours. The emotional component of the scale of that was something that, from a very young age, I felt like a compulsion to try and express, I believe.”

The post Devin Townsend says metal was “undervalued” by the music industry thanks to “Mötley Crüe and all that s**t” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

£899/$899, martinguitar.com

When it first arrived nearly a decade ago, Martin’s Dreadnought Jr was a real leap into the unknown for America’s oldest acoustic guitar brand. It was a smaller guitar that felt, well, big – with a scaled down version of Martin’s most famous body shape, it had the proportions and look of a classic acoustic guitar, and an impressively loud and layered sound to go with it.

• READ MORE: Martin D-X2E Billy Strings review – “you certainly don’t need to be a bluegrass phenom to appreciate its charms”

The Dreadnought Jr was a bona fide hit, bringing dread aesthetics and tonality to those with smaller frames or who wanted something more compact to take it on the road. It was such a hit that the Junior Series soon became a thing, with basses and 000 models added to the fold in the following years.

Now however, on the back of redesigning their hugely popular X Series entry-level guitars last year, it’s the turn of the Juniors – and this time they’re trying to make these small guitars feel bigger than ever.

Martin D Jr E StreetLegend – what is it?

The most striking difference between the new Dreadnought Jr and its forebear is an issue of scale. While the original guitars opted for a very compact 24-inch scale length, the new guitars up the ante to a ‘full-size’ 24.9 inches on their 14-fret necks. Now, that’s still some way short of a real Dreadnought’s usual 25.4-inch scale, but it’s on par with what you’d expect from some 000 and 00 guitars.

While this might not be an X Series guitar, it’s still made in Martin’s Mexican facility and like those models the Junior guitars feature playability-enhancing upgrades to the select hardwood neck, including bevelled fingerboard edges and ‘optimized’ string spacing.

You also get the same all-solid body woods that made the original Junior Series so well-liked – in this case you’ll find a spruce top paired with sapele back and sides. And there’s also the addition of Martin’s E1 electronics system to the package, meaning you can plug this in should you so desire.

The biggest departure for this particular Dreadnought Jr however, is in the looks department. While the original D Jrs were available in either classic natural or more recently a StreetMaster worn sunburst, this guitar adds Martin’s hugely polarising StreetLegend faux-relic’d option to the range.

Ever since Martin debuted the StreetLegend concept with the premium D-18 model a few years ago, guitarists have been divided about it. Effectively, Martin uses an advanced printer to ‘print’ the wear pattern of a real Martin guitar onto a brand new guitar’s top.

That original StreetLegend pattern (which is a dead ringer for ‘Grandpa’ – Kurt Cobain’s D-18 that probably not coincidentally lives in Martin’s museum in Nazareth) was on a natural-finished guitar… here it’s been applied to a sunburst. I guess there’s no point spending an extra $200 on a finish if you’re not going to draw attention to it, right? Regardless, it’s probably the most eye-catching finish Martin has ever put on a standard-line production guitar from the Mexico factory.

Martin D Jr E StreetLegend – build quality and playability

The impressive thing that the Dreadnought Junior does, just like its forebear, is to not immediately look or feel like a smaller guitar when you pull it out of its supplied padded softshell gigbag.

Its looks and dimensions are ‘right’ and not so much of a departure that you’d feel like Ed Sheeran should you strap it on and play out with it. This is in part because it’s not that much of a downsize – 360mm (14.2 inches) wide and 112mm (4.41 inches) deep as opposed to the full-size dread being 397mm (15.6 inches) by 124mm (4.88 inches).

That inch or so definitely helps it feel a little more comfortable played seated however, and the playability is further enhanced by the new scale length – you really get the sense that this is a proper, real, full-sized Martin guitar.

In terms of playability, I personally found the action a little high out of the box, but it is still perfectly playable as long as you don’t want something overly slinky. This is further enhanced by the nicely rolled fingerboard edging, string spacing that threads the needle for comfortable fretting and chord work.

In terms of the visuals, there’s no doubt that the StreetLegend burst definitely looks more impressive at a distance than it does up close. You can really tell that it’s been printed on when you’re sat playing it, and that illusion breaking is only enhanced by the fact that the back and sides are not only un-aged, but don’t have a burst/paint on them at all. It all feels a bit disconnected aesthetically, and I can’t say I’m in love with it – I certainly wouldn’t pay an extra $200 (almost a third of the cost of the natural version) to get it.

I understand why Martin wanted to go big on the ‘look at me’ effect of the StreetLegend… but I can’t help wonder if they’d have sold a lot more of them if they’d kept a natural finish instead of the burst – it certainly would have been less jarring with the back, sides and neck.

Martin D Jr E StreetLegend – sounds

The killer hook for the original Dreadnought Junior was its sound, and the way that it condensed so much of the classic Martin dread tonality into a more compact body. Obviously, you’re not going to get the same booming projection as you would a full-sized dreadnought here – that’s physics – but it’s a seriously impressive effort.

The sound is well balanced and warm, with the low-end softly permeating the high-end sparkle. There’s a lot of midrange to contend with here though, which can get a little overwhelming if you’re doing a lot of heavy strumming.

Tuning stability and intonation on the new neck was impressive and rock solid – the new open-gear tuning machines feeling really reassuring as you drop into DADGAD or other altered tunings.

The Martin E1 pickup and preamp system is a relatively simple affair, but that’s no bad thing – with a tuner, volume and tone controls, and a phase reverse switch for reducing feedback and increasing bass response. As an all-solid guitar, you also know that it’s only going to sound better with age, too, as the woods dry out over time.

The tuner has a useful muting function to ensure you don’t inflict the sound of a mid-gig tuneup on your audience and while the sounds aren’t going to win any awards, they do a nice job of replicating the instrument’s natural tonal profile.

Martin D Jr E StreetLegend – should I buy one?

The mid-price acoustic guitar market is one of the most brutal and competitive out there, so you have to take your hat off to Martin in some respects for doing something to try and stand out from the natural-finished pack with the StreetLegend finish option.

You’re always going to pay an extra premium for the Martin headstock logo at this price point, and there are clearly many guitars out there with similar specs and performance for a fair chunk less money than even the basic Dreadnought Junior. They don’t say ‘CF Martin & Co’ on the peghead though, and we’re all kidding ourselves if we don’t think that matters.

Putting an extra 200 bucks on the base price to get an artificially aged top though? That is a different gravy, and one that I’m personally not at all sold on.

The new Dreadnought Junior is undeniably an upgrade on the previous version, one that plays and sounds fantastic, and remains an accessible first rung on the ‘solid wood Martin’ ladder that sets itself apart from the X Series. For me though, I’ll be taking the natural version – I imagine most of you reading this will too.

Martin D Jr E StreetLegend – alternatives

The vast majority of players will be more than happy with the natural Dreadnought Jr ($699) though if you want a less unsubtle take on the artificial ageing idea, the StreetMaster version is $799. If you want an affordable all-solid dreadnought that’s also got some big brand associations, the Fender Paramount PD-220E ($699) is hard to beat, while if you’re not too bothered about all-solid woods, the Gretsch Jim Dandy Dread ($189) is a remarkably good value guitar with old-school vibes.

The post Martin Junior Series D Jr E StreetLegend review: “this guitar feels Junior in name only” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Fender’s Tone Master range is designed to offer guitarists digital amplifiers which replicate the look and feel of vintage tube models.

When we got our hands on the Tone Master FR-12 – a full-range, flat-response active cab unit with a 12-inch speaker – in 2023, we gave it a strong 9/10 in our review, citing its affordability and time-honoured aesthetics.

• READ MORE: Put your pedal to the metal with Gamechanger Audio’s new Motor Pedal

The Tone Master FR-12 essentially offers a solution to players dabbling with amp modellers, but who also don’t want to give up the look and feel of having an actual amplifier.

So the fact the Big F has just given the FR-12 a Tweed reskin is certainly going to pique the interest of the section of the Venn diagram interested in both modern amp modellers and vintage amps.

As stated, the Tone Master FR-12 Tweed boasts a full-range, flat response powered speaker, meaning it replicates faithfully “every detail of your amp simulations”. This time, though, it comes wrapped in a ‘50s-era tweed covering and brown-striped grill cloth.

Elsewhere, the unit features an integrated 1000-watt power amp, delivering the volume and headroom you need for a multiplicity of studio or stage environments.

There’s also an onboard three-band EQ and high-frequency cut control, meaning guitarists can fine-tune their tone beyond the amp modeller they’re running through.

The Tone Master FR-12 Tweed is available now, priced at £579 / $649 / €689.

For more info, head to Fender.

The post Fender gives its Tone Master FR-12 cab a vintage Tweed makeover appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Last month, Yungblud joined forces with Extreme’s Nuno Bettencourt, and Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and Joe Perry for a raucous Ozzy Osbourne tribute at the VMAs. However, it was met with some criticism – namely from The Darkness’s Dan Hawkins, who called the supergroup “nauseating”.

While Hawkins’ slammed the performance, labelling it “another nail in the coffin of rock and roll” on his Instagram, Yungblud is taking the criticism on the chin. In his own words, the impassioned performance of Crazy Train, Mama, I’m Coming Home, and Changes was an “organic” display of the “power” of rock music. “I think we were probably one of the only acts singing live there,” he reflects in a new episode of The Magnificent Others podcast with Billy Corgan.

• READ MORE: He brought the house down at Black Sabbath’s farewell gig, and once hilariously defied a no-moshing order at a Japan show. Like it or not, Yungblud is the star rock music needs
  

Elsewhere in his criticism, Hawkins noted that it felt like the group were jumping on a bandwagon “to further their own careers”. However, Yungblud doubles down on the authenticity of his love of rock and roll.

Thanks to his dad’s guitar shop, Harrison was raised around rock. “I’m a kid from a guitar shop whose education was T-Rex, Bowie, The Sex Pistols, The Clash… it’s truly in my blood, you know?” he explains.

Doubters aside, other rockers have gladly taken Harrison under their wing. Ozzy Osbourne was vocal about his appreciation of the young rocker, even gifting him a cross while filming the music video for Harrison’s 2022 single, The Funeral. Now Aerosmith are giving him the stamp of approval.

Harrison and Aerosmith are set to release a collaborative five-track EP, One More Time, this November. The first track, My Only Angel, serves as the first taste – and it sounds like a pretty strong pairing. And it was in the works long before the VMAs performance.

“Me, Steven [Tyler] and Joe [Perry] got together before the Ozzy thing was even about,” he tells the Smashing Pumpkins frontman. “We were just going to write together for fun… but when your heroes are like, ‘yo, do you want to get in the studio?’ you’re just like, ‘yeah!’”

“We heard our voices together, and Steven was like, ‘oh my God, you can get up to the places where I can go!’” he recalls. “There was almost this friendly competition between me and one of my all time vocal heroes, someone that I’ve sat in my room and studied.”

In terms of the EP, Harrison insists it’s “real fucking rock” to the core. “Like guitars, live drums, solos in every song, wailing, screaming,” he explains. “Me and Steven are just competing with each other [vocally] in the most beautiful way.”

Looking forward, the haters are going to have to suck it up, because Harrison’s rock and roll era is only just beginning. “I would love to be able to play stadium rock all over the world,” he insists. “Because I think that’s where I come alive as a frontman.”

One More Time is due to drop 21 November.

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Gamechanger Audio has just released the Motor Pedal, the world’s first electro-mechanical synth pedal equipped with a DC electro-motor block core controlled via a gas pedal.

A unique meeting point between a fuzz, octaver and synth, the Motor Pedal’s musical motor oscillator is an opportunity to really find the ‘biting point’ of your sound. The pedal motor’s rotational speed will match the frequency of your performance in in real time, with the option of pumping on the gas to tweak your sound – and there are five unique modes to reshape its sound.

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Whether you’re into the glitchy, raw feel of the standard Motor mode, or the resonant analogue vibrations of the Coil Mode, the Motor Pedal has plenty of creative potential. There’s also MXD mode, a cross-modulation of the motor with a digital waveform for harsher, metallic textures, as well as the pitch-locked M-Wave and Vocoder modes.

In terms of the physical gas pedal, you can also flick between different modes to tweak how the pedal plays with your sound. You can use it as an Accelerator to pitch shift, a Brake for downwards pitch-shifting or totally pumping the breaks to halt the motor, or a Clutch to create drones and disconnect the motor from its pitch-tracking. The pedal can also play with Volume and be used to Drift for some lovely vibrato.

Elsewhere, the pedal also has Tone Boost, a pair of independent volume knobs, Glide and Vibrato as well as an X-MOD Mode to use amplitude modulation to mix and cross-modulate across all the motor engines.

The pedal isn’t merely for guitar riffing, however. The pedal can tweak just about any sound, from singing to a harp, as YouTuber Emily Harpist showcases in a review of the Motor Pedal.

However, there is somewhat of a drawback to utilising an electro-motor block as your core sound engine – it wears down over time. Gamechanger Audio has managed to add in a pretty humorous way of making you aware of the state of your motor, however; an ‘engine light’ on the pedal will light up orange, before eventually turning red. According to Gamechanger Audio, the block should last you anywhere between 3000-5000 hours, with a replacement motor block set to cost under $30.

Gamechanger Audio’s Motor Pedal is available now for £299.

The post Put your pedal to the metal with Gamechanger Audio’s new Motor Pedal appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.