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Stevie Young – rhythm guitarist of rock titans AC/DC – has been admitted to hospital in Argentina ahead of the band’s upcoming show in Buenos Aires on Monday, 23 March.

According to a statement issued to Reuters, the 69-year-old guitarist still plans to perform with the band on Monday, and that his admission to hospital was “out of an abundance of caution”.

• READ MORE: Yamaha Chris Buck RS02CB review: one of the most compelling P-90-loaded electrics on the market

“Out of an abundance of caution, he [Stevie Young] was admitted to a local hospital where he is undergoing ​a full battery of tests,” reads the statement. 

“Stevie is doing well and ​is in good spirits. He is looking forward to getting on stage on Monday.”

Stevie Young joined AC/DC in 2014, after his uncle Malcolm Young stepped back from his duties due to health issues. Malcolm sadly passed away in 2017. Stevie had performed with AC/DC before, notably during 1988’s Blow Up Your Video World Tour. His first recordings with the band came on 2014’s Rock or Bust.

AC/DC are currently in the midst of a South America tour, having already played shows in São Paulo, Brazil and Santiago, Chile. After three shows in Buenos Aires on 23, 27 and 31 March, the band will head to Mexico, before commencing a string of shows in the US from July through September 2026.

View AC/DC’s official website for tickets and a full list of dates.

The post AC/DC rhythm guitarist Stevie Young admitted to hospital in Argentina appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Mateus Asato has long had a choppy relationship with social media. As someone who could be regarded as the quintessential Instagram guitarist (though he’s currently enjoying a successful career as an artist, too), he made waves in 2021 when he announced he was leaving social media, citing burnout and a lack of inspiration.

Though he’s now back on socials, he still appears to harbour some resentment towards the way platforms end up making us behave, as shown in a new Instagram Story.

• READ MORE: Guitar.com cover feature: “I know now that it’s not about competition” Mateus Asato is ready to be an artist

In the Story, Asato complains about the current state of the Instagram algorithm, which sees posts from accounts you actually follow enjoying less and less real estate on your feed. Essentially, just because you follow an account, it doesn’t mean you’ll see their posts, and your home page is mostly full of accounts you don’t even follow anyway.

“I miss the old IG,” Asato says. “I really do. At this point, my following section is close to ‘useless’. Everything I see is based on what I searched or spoke previously with someone or myself. Or where I am.”

Asato also complains about the need to post at specific times of the day to maximise audience engagement.

“If you’re overseas, forget it,” he continues. “Or wait until 4am to post it so your content can get the ‘highest’ amount of reach because this is the RIGHT timing where your audience is ALIVE. BS.”

And finally, the guitarist laments the “nonsense urge” social media users now have to add music and a soundtrack to their content.

“I miss just seeing pictures and reading things here without a miserable soundtrack,” he says. “Music is becoming a stupid and wrong source of distraction because of this nonsense urge to add a freaking noise over ANYTHING right now. “I really miss the old ‘meaning’ of the ordinary.”

Credit: Mateus Asato/Instagram

In other news, Mateus Asato recently ended his decade-long partnership with Suhr Guitars, prompting fans to speculate as to where he was planning to go next. He was quick to dispel rumours that he was joining Fender, saying he was “single and happy where I am at this point”.

The post Mateus Asato blasts the “nonsense urge” to add music to our social media posts: “Music is becoming a wrong source of distraction” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

$1,299/£1,199, yamaha.com

When you’re a young guitar player trying to forge their own path, sometimes the weight of 60-plus years of history and baggage tied into classic instruments can weigh you down a little bit.

• READ MORE: Yamaha Pacifica SC Professional review – the ultimate in solidbody sophistication?

It was partly for this reason that Welsh guitar phenom and Cardinal Black member Chris Buck decided to swerve the usual suspects and opt for Yamaha’s Revstar guitar when he first burst onto the scene. “I feel like I’m stepping out of their shadows just by virtue of picking up a different guitar,” was Buck’s reasoning at the time.

It’s easy to forget that the Revstar itself is barely a decade old. Despite having carved itself out a niche as something of an underground modern classic thanks to its blend of high quality, affordability and timeless but unique looks, it’s still very much a new kid on the block compared to much of its competition.

It’s high time, then, for the first true Revstar signature model. And with Buck having established himself as the Revstar’s most consistent and beloved champion – having picked his first one up not long after they launched in 2015, and having since graduated to a premium guitar made by the Yamaha Artist Services (YASLA) custom shop in California – what better choice to be the debut honoree?

Image: Adam Gasson

Yamaha Chris Buck Revstar RS02CB – what is it?

The launch of Buck’s signature Revstar was one of the biggest announcements of this year’s NAMM Show – and also one of the most intriguing new electrics of the year. This is because the RS02CB is a pretty faithful recreation of the YASLA guitar he’s been playing since 2020.

Ever since, this pro-ready instrument has accompanied Buck all around the world, playing countless shows, sessions, clinics and everything in between – this is a workhorse guitar for one of the hardest-working and most respected young players in the business. And if it’s good enough for him, it’s good enough for you… in theory.

Over the last year or two we’ve become used to seeing Yamaha electric guitars pushing the envelope price-wise. While traditionally Yamaha electrics have been priced at the beginner end of the market, there’s little doubt that the brand has some of the finest brains in the business, and are more than capable of turning that skill to making pro-spec guitars for higher-level musicians.

We saw this first with the reimagined Pacifica range that launched at NAMM – guitars that brought every bit of the company’s innovation and know-how to the party but with a four-figure price tag to match.

Image: Adam Gasson

Given that the similarly ballpark Revstar Professional guitars are made in Yamaha’s Japan HQ, you might expect that the Buck version would do likewise, but instead it’s made in Indonesia, just like the Pacifica Standard Plus guitars are.

A little disappointing? Maybe, but we should all know by now that the flag flying over the shop where a guitar is made doesn’t really matter if the craftspeople inside know what they’re doing and are working with great designs and quality materials.

And that’s certainly what you’ll find with the RS02CB. The guitar is built around a set of brand new custom-designed P-90 pickups with Alnico III magnets, which replicate the sound of that YASLA guitar he’s come to rely on so much. These pickups are wired for slightly lower output, meaning greater clarity when played at lower volumes – something that Chris requested himself.

The guitar also features a new one for a production Yamaha guitar, in the shape of an intonatable wrapover tailpiece – as opposed to the various tune-o-matics you usually see on Revstar guitars.

Otherwise it’s very much a case of sticking with the familiar mojo of a Revstar guitar – a chambered mahogany body and neck with carbon reinforcement. The maple top is finished in a classic goldtop shade, and it’s given an extra touch of the classic with a pair of retro-style witch-hat knobs, and split block inlays.

Image: Adam Gasson

Yamaha Chris Buck Revstar RS02CB – build quality and playability

It’s no secret that Yamaha makes some of the most reliable guitars in the business, and the RS02CB is no exception to that rule. Removing the guitar from its gigbag and giving it a very thorough going over, it’s hard to find fault anywhere, to be honest; every seam, every surface is entirely free of marks or other cosmetic quality control issues.

A goldtop with a dark back is a classic for a reason, and in Revstar clothes here it remains utterly stunning in the flesh – striking just the right balance between flair and restrained, classic refinement.

The worst thing about a signature guitar is when it won’t stop shouting about it, thus negating the potential market outside of that artist’s fanbase. The Buck has no such worries on the cosmetic front – the only hint that this is anyone’s signature guitar is a tiny ‘CB’ signature on the back of the headstock.

And that’s very good news, because there’s plenty for any guitarist to enjoy here, even if you’ve never heard a note of Chris Buck’s music. A big part of this is down to the impressively luxurious playing experience that invites you in from the very first strum.

The satin-finished neck feels truly effortless from the bottom of the fingerboard all the way up to the top, while the TonePros AVT2 wraparound bridge sets the strings up for a gloriously low action throughout. The fretwork also deserves special mention here – each of the frets is wonderfully set, beautifully polished and butter smooth. Not something that you can say for every manufacturer at this price point and beyond.

Add to this a relatively flat 12” fretboard radius, and you’ve got a real playground for your fingers – especially if like Buck you’re someone who doesn’t mind busting out a searing lead or two. Unlike a lot of mahogany-maple guitars, the chambering of the body means that this Revstar isn’t too heavy either – around 7lbs – meaning practice sessions are comfortable. Even long ones.

The combination of that wraparound bridge and the silky smooth tuning machines (with Kluson-style green buttons) mean that this guitar stays in tune very well, and any adjustments can be made easily and precisely.

This is a very well-sorted guitar that bypasses any of the adjustment period you normally expect when picking up a new instrument. It’s effortless to pick up, play and slide into the zone with.

Image: Adam Gasson

Yamaha Chris Buck Revstar RS02CB – sounds

As you’d expect from any guitar with a pair of P-90s, the RS02CB comes with all the midrange bite you’ll need for blues and rock riffs. But flip to the neck pickup and your amp’s clean channel and softer styles like jazz are a real treat to play, too.

Part of the reason that Buck and scores of players before him have been drawn to the P-90 is their ability to remain impressively versatile within a seemingly limited framework.

Like other Revstars, the Buck signature has a three-way selector switch, with singular volume and tone knobs, with no push-pull functionality for series wiring, for example. This puts a lot of pressure on the controls here to offer that versatility, and the tone pot especially has an impressive spread that allows you to dial in a broad range of sounds.

But as you’d expect from a player like Buck, the guitar really feels like it’s been designed to ensure that the tonal possibilities come primarily from the player and their picking dynamics. As a result, the pickups are highly responsive to dynamic passages feel truly expressive.

That doesn’t mean this thing isn’t ready to rock, and piling on the gain doesn’t seem to phase these pickups in the slightest.

Image: Adam Gasson

Yamaha Chris Buck Revstar RS02CB – should I buy one?

There’s no escaping the fact that $1,200 is a lot of money for a Revstar – it’s a curse of Yamaha’s own making that you can get a guitar that on first glance looks very similar to this for less than half the price, and that mental leap is something the company is clearly also grappling with in the Pacifica realm too.

But the magic is in the details, and while there’s undoubtedly a lot of competition for this guitar in this price bracket, you’re still getting an awful lot of guitar for the money here. It plays superbly, sounds fantastic and has killer looks that aren’t, as Buck points out, burdened by 70-odd years of history. A fitting milestone for a modern classic.

[products ids=”SC8JztJ5X8lk7WSuXvp20″]

Yamaha Chris Buck Revstar RS02CB – alternatives

A lot of the competition for the RE02CB comes from Yamaha’s own line, and if you’re not too wedded to the unique features of the Buck model, you can save yourself over $300 and grab a P-90-loaded Revstar Standard RSS02T ($829.99 / £649). If you’ve got a little more room in your budget, the Gibson SG Special ($1,599 / £1,399) is a tried and true twin P-90 classic, while the Epiphone Les Paul 1960 Double Cut Special ($999 / £999) is another timelessly cool option.

The post Yamaha Chris Buck RS02CB review: one of the most compelling P-90-loaded electrics on the market appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Muse have announced their 10th studio album The WOW! Signal, which is set to arrive 26 June via Warner Records.

The trio’s first full-length outing since 2022’s Will of the People, The WOW! Signal opens with the “opening salvo” of a lead single, Be With You, which starts with layered electronica and synth elements before Matt Bellamy enters the fray with some blistering high-gain guitar. Check it out below:

Per a press release, The WOW! Signal takes its name from a 72-second radio burst detected in 1977 “originating from the constellation Sagittarius with a bandwidth and intensity that suggested a possible extraterrestrial source”.

• READ MORE: Manson and Matt Bellamy have faithfully recreated the crazy guitar from Muse’s Time Is Running Out video
  

“The astronomer who discovered the anomaly famously circled the now-iconic sequence ‘6EQUJ5’ and wrote ‘WOW!’ on the printout beside it – giving the signal its name and cementing its place in scientific and pop-culture lore.”

As such, Muse’s new album seeks to explore “cosmic mystery, existential hope, and the exhilarating possibility of contact with something far greater than ourselves”.

See the full tracklist of The WOW! Signal below:

1. The Dark Forest 
2. Nightshift Superstar 
3. Shimmering Scars 
4. Cryogen 
5. Be With You 
6. Hexagons 
7. The Sickness In You & I 
8. Unravelling 
9. Hush
10. Space Debris

The WOW! Signal arrives 26 June. Pre-save and pre-order via the band’s website.

Credit: Muse

The post Muse announce 10th album The WOW! Signal – listen to its lead single now appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

As far as iconic guitars go, very few match up to Greeny. A 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard once owned by Fleetwood Mac guitarist Peter Green, and then by blues ace Gary Moore, it’s a six-string with an inarguably mythical status.

Nowadays, the guitar is under the custodianship of Metallica guitarist and keen guitar collector Kirk Hammett, who bought it in 2014 for an undisclosed sum.

But had fate gone a different way, Greeny could have ended up in the hands of singer-songwriter and producer Butch Walker, who tells Guitar World in a new interview that he was unable to come up with the cash when the opportunity presented itself.

• READ MORE: “It’s Kirk’s riff, it’s my lyrics”: Gary Holt jokes that he’s owed royalties for his part in writing this classic Metallica track

“Gary Moore was one of my heroes,” Walker says. “I had an opportunity to buy Greeny before it was really making the rounds, and Kirk Hammett bought it. But I just wasn’t ready to spend $250,000 on a guitar at that stage in my life and my career.”

While also recognised for a successful solo career as an artist, Butch Walker has enjoyed success as a producer behind music by P!nk, Avril Lavigne, Taylor Swift and Fall Out Boy.

He continues: “My buddy was a guitar broker, and it started circulating that Gary was going to sell. It had belonged to Peter Green as well, which was cool, but I was actually more psyched that it was Gary Moore’s. I highly regret not coming up with the money somehow. Obviously, that was just a Tuesday and a lunch tab for Kirk Hammett.”

While Butch Walker clearly laments the missed opportunity to pick up a guitar owned by one of his heroes – not to mention one of the most legendary guitars to exist on Earth – it has found a responsible owner in Kirk Hammett, who regularly plays it onstage with Metallica, and has let a string of famous guitar players have a go, including Al Di Meola, Jack White and Jake E. Lee.

In March 2025, Hammett told The Telegraph about the numerous other guitar players who were offered the chance to buy Greeny before he got his hands on it, including his Metallica bandmate James Hetfield, no less.

“It’s been offered to other major players, and they passed on it for whatever reason, but when I saw Greeny, I knew in less than a minute that I was never gonna give it back!” he said. “I had such an instant connection to that guitar, it’s such an amazing source of inspiration and it’s my best-sounding guitar.”

The post “That was just a Tuesday and a lunch tab for Kirk Hammett”: Butch Walker reveals he had the opportunity to buy the legendary “Greeny” Les Paul – but couldn’t afford it appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Back in 2007, Vermont’s Kyle Thomas recorded an album under his new moniker, King Tuff. It was called Was Dead—as in, King Tuff Was Dead—and Thomas cut it on a Tascam 388, an 8-track reel-to-reel recording and mixing machine. He’d traded in an Ibanez electric to buy the Tascam at a music store in Keene, New Hampshire, in 2003. (Thomas didn’t know it then, but at the same time, his garage-rock contemporaries Ty Segall and the Osees’ John Dwyer were experimenting with the same machines out on the west coast.) He stuck an SM57 on his amp, and hit record. No outboard gear, no processing. It was the heart of the lo-fi revival’s heyday.

Thomas moved to Los Angeles, the heart of the genre’s new American boom, signed to Sub Pop, and released 2012’s King Tuff and 2014’s Black Moon Spell, both collections of unrepentant, gnarly garage-rock music. Then came 2018’s The Other and, in 2023, Smalltown Stardust. These were more manicured, high-fidelity endeavors. The arrangements were softer and slower. Production was clearer and more considered. When it came time to take the albums on tour, Thomas faltered. “When I would play the older songs that were more straightforward rock, it was just so much more fun,” he says. “I wanted to make a record with that in mind: What’s going to be fun to play live?”

Moo, King Tuff’s seventh record, is what he came up with. Recorded before departing Los Angeles for good, Moo is Thomas’ return to the Tascam 388, and to the earworm musical dirt-baggery he first traded in. Opener “Twisted on a Train” announces this proudly. Its an A-major foot stomper, led by the perfectly muffled snap of Thomas’ guitar, that recounts a disturbed, weed-gummy-fueled train ride from Tucson to Los Angeles. The cheap-beers-on-the-beach groove of “Stairway to Nowhere” keeps the ball rolling while Thomas looks back on his years in L.A.: “I’m so tired of spinnin’ my wheels / Negative numbers, dead-end deals / Wined and dined in paradise.”

“I really just wanted to get back to how I used to do things, more DIY,” Thomas says of the recording and release plan (Moo is coming out on his own record label). “I just feel more connected to the work that way, and I feel more connected to the fans if I’m actually giving them something that I made personally.” Vermont is a good place to do things yourself, surrounded by weavers and woodworkers instead of influencers and industry dependents: “It’s nice to be somewhere where not everyone’s trying to make it. I think cities trick people into thinking that you have to be there for shit to happen in your life, and I don’t think it’s true.”

Kyle Thomas’ Gear

Guitars & Bass

1995 Gibson SG Standard (with bolt headstock repair by Reuben Cox)

Rickenbacker 660-12TP

1968 Fender P bass

Amps

Early-’60s brown-panel Fender Deluxe 6G3

Early-’80s Fender Super Champ

Effects

Ceriatone Centuria

Dunlop Cry Baby Q-Zone

Vintage Mu-Tron Phaser

Moog MF Delay

Recording Equipment

Tascam 388

Shure SM57

Reconnecting with the Tascam made Thomas realize how important the machine is to his work. Maybe it’s the tone the Tascam imparts that endears him to it, or maybe it’s the particular workflow it demands. Regardless, working with the 8-track device, Thomas felt like himself again. He didn’t sing his vocals a hundred times and comp the best bits together, or overwork his guitar performances until they were flawless. There’s noises—hissing and buzzing and popping—plus other peculiarities and variances from one riff to the next. “It’s all about the performance and just capturing something, and not doing it to death. You can get good results doing things the new-school way,” he admits. “But you might feel sadder at the end.”

So why did it take so long for Thomas to return to his beloved Tascam? “I finally got it fixed,” he shrugs. “That’s really all it was. It was broken.”

Given his recording philosophies, it probably isn’t a surprise to hear that Thomas doesn’t like players who are “too good”: “It’s boring. I don’t think rock music should be perfect. I think rock music suffers when people make it on the computer and fix everything.” Wipers’ Greg Sage and Dead Moon’s Fred Cole are key inspirations for Thomas, alongside imperfect shredders like Jimmy Page and Jimi Hendrix. “I like shittier guitar players better than really good ones, usually, or guitar players that are rough around the edges,” he says. “They can be good, but they fuck up a lot.” The continued pull toward imperfection is, of course, colored by Thomas’ estimation of his own playing. “I’m not a slick guitar player, I’m not smooth,” he explains, then grins. “My hands are shaky. They’re like bald eagle talons.” The influence of more polished players like Tom Petty and Mike Campbell are in frame on Moo, too, especially courtesy of a Rickenbacker 660-12TP—Petty’s signature model—that Thomas acquired just before making the record.

“I think rock music suffers when people make it on the computer and fix everything.”

Thomas is an SG player first and foremost, and he’s played his beloved late-’90s Gibson SG Standard, named Jazijoo, for more than two decades. It’s been thrashed and colorfully decorated over the years, and its cracked headstock kept breaking until Reuben Cox, of L.A.’s Old Style Guitar Shop, put the problem to rest—by driving a bolt through the headstock, Frankenstein’s-monster style, to secure it. Because of its fragility, Jazijoo doesn’t come out on the road these days, but teamed up with a Mu-Tron Phaser that Thomas scored in a thrift store for five bucks in the early ’90s, it’s created the King Tuff sound. To round out that pairing on Moo, Thomas borrowed a brown-panel Fender Deluxe 6G3, which handled most of the guitar tones on the record, along with a small Supro combo and an early-’80s Fender Super Champ.

Almost 20 years after Was Dead, Thomas is back living in the forests of Vermont. His neighbors don’t know or really give a shit about his music, and that’s a good thing. “It’s fucking paradise,” Thomas says, straight-faced, on a video call from a room in his home crammed with music gear. “Obviously L.A. is supposed to be paradise, and it is in some ways, but I don’t know. I really missed the seasons. I get ideas and feelings here that I just didn’t have out there. I do love L.A., but I’m a freak from the woods.”

Gary Holt has joked that he’s owed some royalties for his part in writing Metallica’s megahit Creeping Death.

As the story goes, both Gary Holt and Kirk Hammett were bandmates in Exodus in the early ‘80s, before Hammett left to join Metallica in 1983, filling the slot left vacant by Dave Mustaine’s firing. 

But before Hammett’s Exodus departure, the band recorded their 1983 demo Die By His Hand. And as Holt asserts, while Hammett wrote the song’s riff, he was behind its lyrics, which were later tweaked for the middle section of Creeping Death, which appeared on Metallica’s 1984 sophomore album, Ride the Lightning.

• READ MORE: Gibson Custom Shop recreated Michael Schenker’s 1971 Flying V – and it sold out in a day

“It’s Kirk’s riff, it’s my lyrics,” Holt laughs in a new episode of the the Heavy Stories podcast [via Louder]. “I’ve never been credited, so yeah, that’ll tell you how I feel. I should get paid for that shit.”

He continues: “The song was ‘dying by his hand’ and they – James – changed the line to ‘die by my hand’. 

“You know, I mean, I’m entitled to some money, James. I’ll send you my bank info! It’ll be a fat cheque! But those are Kirk’s riffs and he was more than welcome to them. They were his. I had zero ownership of any of that.”

 

Gary Holt has waxed lyrical on his appreciation of Kirk Hammett in the past. Back in 2024, he explained how he “owes it all to Kirk”.

He recalled meeting the Metallica guitarist in their teenage years: “We became immediate friends. One day, he just said, ‘Want to learn to play guitar?’ And I said, ‘Yeah’, because I always wanted to, but I’m the youngest of six.

“My parents had purchased pianos for my brother to take piano lessons. It ended up being a place to put family photos [on]. You know, there’d be a trumpet in the closet that someone played for six months, and I think my parents didn’t think I’d stick with it.”

“Six months later, I was in Exodus. So yeah, I owe it all to Kirk [laughs]. The first song he taught me was some Rolling Stone song; for some reason I can’t remember what it was – maybe Wild Horses, something like that.”

The post “It’s Kirk’s riff, it’s my lyrics”: Gary Holt jokes that he’s owed royalties for his part in writing this classic Metallica track appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Radiohead’s return to the stage in 2025 marked the end of a seven-year hiatus – one that guitarist Ed O’Brien initially believed was permanent, and was, at the time, happy about.

In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, O’Brien looks back on the period following Radiohead’s 2018 tour, noting how he’d felt creatively and emotionally spent after decades in the band.

• READ MORE: Radiohead’s Johnny Greenwood “found it strange” the band didn’t play any new material on their recent reunion tour

“I was done with Radiohead,” he says. “It had got to a place where I just wasn’t enjoying it. I just didn’t resonate with it anymore, and I wanted to do my own thing… I think we’d run out of road. We’d run out of inspiration.”

That sense of burnout had been building for a while. The sessions for Radiohead’s 2016 album A Moon Shaped Pool were reportedly difficult, as was the tour that followed. While the rest of the band were keen to get back on the road, O’Brien admits he was reluctant.

“The others said they wanted to tour. I didn’t really want to tour, and they knew that,” the guitarist explains. “But I did it and I’m glad I did. I saw it through to the end.”

When that run finally came to a close, the band had stepped away – a move that, for O’Brien, felt both final and, in some ways, welcome.

“It was kind of scary at first,” he says. “I really thought that was it on Radiohead. Actually, I sort of got off on that. I was just, ‘I’m done with it. I want another life.’”

Thankfully for Radiohead fans, that feeling didn’t last forever. The band eventually regrouped, returning to the stage in 2025 for a limited run of shows across Europe, including Madrid, Bologna, London, Copenhagen and Berlin.

For O’Brien, being back onstage with the band has brought a new perspective: “That tour was very, very emotional, very profound. We all felt that. We’d look at one another on that stage, like, ‘This is amazing.’ I feel like I’m the luckiest person on the planet, and I’m not just saying that.”

Looking ahead, Radiohead are taking a more measured approach to touring. Rather than jumping straight back into a full schedule, the band intends to spread things out.

“It’s definitely happening,” O’Brien says of future live plans. “What we’re going to do is, every year we’re going to do a different continent, and we’re going to do 20 shows each year. No more, no less.”

He also confirms that 2026 will be a quiet year for the band, with plans to reconvene the following year: “We won’t do anything this year, but we’ll do something next year.”

The approach, he adds, is about making sure they can still give each show their full energy.

“We want to give absolutely everything each night,” says O’Brien. We do not ever want it to be like we’re going through the motions or we’re having to run on empty. We’ve got to be able to do it. And you know what? We’re not spring chickens anymore.”

The post “I sort of got off on that”: Ed O’Brien admits he was happy when Radiohead initially broke up – and didn’t expect the band to ever get back together appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Dave Grohl has opened up about life after the death of Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, sharing how he used music as a “crutch” while processing his grief.

In a new interview with MOJO, Grohl reflects publicly for the first time on Hawkins’ death in 2022, calling it a moment that “threw our world upside down” and fundamentally altered his outlook.

• READ MORE: “One day it was nothing but laughs, then it was just over”: Josh Freese is still confused about his Foo Fighters dismissal – and says he needs to be “careful” what he says about it

“Losing Taylor was never meant to be,” says the guitarist. “That threw our world upside down and made me question everything about life, that it was so… It was so unfair. I still have a hard time making sense of it.”

Grohl, who threw himself into work in the immediate aftermath, admits that he turned to music as a way of avoiding difficult emotions.

“I think I was afraid of silence, afraid of having to feel,” he says. “I could have used a bit more of the silence, a bit more of digging deeper. I never want to say music is a distraction, but I was definitely using it as a crutch for some broken limb.”

The musician also reflects on his wider career and the motivations behind some of his past projects, suggesting that not everything he pursued came from a place of necessity.

“I’ve had to reexamine my ambition and intention,” he says. “A lot of those projects over the years were surface validation to prove that I could do it – not that I needed to do it. I was always the guy who couldn’t sit still. I couldn’t take a vacation. I needed the TV on to put me to sleep. It was the silence – the still – that scared me.”

Now, however, “my horizon is much different,” Grohl notes. “There will be plenty of things that we’ll do in the next few years that will remind everyone that Foo Fighters love to circle the planet playing rock shows. Before, I was running on fumes and unleaded gas. Now, I’m just burning fucking diesel.”

Foo Fighters are set to release their 12th studio album, Your Favorite Toy, on 24 April.

The post “I was afraid of silence, of having to feel”: Dave Grohl admits he used music as a “crutch” after Taylor Hawkins’ death appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Gretsch has unveiled the Electromatic Premier Jet, a revamped take on its workhorse Jet platform that focuses on improved playability, stability and a wider range of tones.

Positioned as the “boldest evolution yet” of the Electromatic and Streamliner Jet lines, the Premier Jet keeps the brand’s familiar look and feel but updates the spec where it matters most for modern players.

• READ MORE: Metal-ready shredders and new Broadkaster models: Inside a massive new guitar drop from Jackson, Charvel and Gretsch

At the core of each guitar is a chambered mahogany body with a carved maple top and sculpted contours for what Gretsch calls “exceptional acoustic balance” and playing comfort. It’s paired with a mahogany neck in a performance “C” profile and a 10”-14” compound-radius ebony fingerboard with 22 Medium Jumbo frets. Pearloid neo-classic thumbnail inlays and Luminlay side dots round things out, offering exceptional visibility even on dimly lit stages.

Credit: Gretsch

Electronics are where things get especially interesting. The newly developed Sphera Twin Six humbuckers, powered by Alnico 6 magnets, deliver everything from pristine clean tones to aggressive overdrive right at your fingertips. Aimed at balancing vintage warmth with a more modern edge, they’re voiced to be “beautifully dynamic, exceptionally expressive and addictively powerful”.

As Gretsch explains, “each pickup features twelve adjustable pole pieces for precise attack and unrestrained flexibility. In the neck position Alnico VI magnets pair with clear poly sol coated wire, while in the bridge Alnico VI magnets pair with plain enamel coated wire. Specially calibrated coil winds create the perfect marriage of brilliance and brute force, while vacuum wax-potting keeps noise and interference to a minimum.”

Controls wise, a master volume with treble bleed keeps the top end intact when rolling back, while a push-pull Lumen filter and dual no-load tone controls offer a wide range of usable tones without overcomplicating things.

The hardware takes a similarly practical approach. A Lockdown locking wraparound bridge, locking tuners, and a GraphTech NuBone nut all work to keep tuning stable so you don’t have to babysit your guitars mid-set.

“For years, the Electromatic and Streamliner Collections have offered Gretsch power and fidelity to a broad range of players,” says Gretsch VP Jason Barnes. “While Gretsch has always been renowned for its truly iconic tone and style, the Electromatic Premier Collection elevates the playing experience even further with incredible sonic punch and definition, effortless playability and of course, signature Gretsch style.”

The Electromatic Premier Jet is priced at $799.9/£709/€829 and is available in four finishes – Vintage Pearl, Robusto Burst, Onyx Storm and Clairvoyant.

Learn more at Gretsch.

The post “Pinnacle of the Electromatic collection”: Gretsch’s new Electromatic Premier Jet packs “premium appointments” and upgraded specs into a sub-$1k package appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

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The post Why Taylor’s Next Generation Grand Auditorium is the ultimate player’s guitar appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

The inner workings of Steely Dan have always remained under a cloak of mystery and intrigue. Known for their perfectionist streak in the recording studio, Steely Dan’s esteemed hipsters Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, were a world unto themselves.

• READ MORE: “Nothing pisses me off more than someone throwing a label on me: I’m 19!” Grace Bowers is determined to forge her own path

While vocalist and keyboardist Fagen remains the sole surviving member of the pair – guitarist and bassist Becker passed away in 2017 – the duo etched a musical legacy that continues to both enthral fans of their music, and musicians alike.

With albums such as 1972’s Can’t Buy A Thrill, 1976’s The Royal Scam and 1977’s Aja, Steely Dan married their love of the absurd with unique sophisticated musical complexity.

Tales of their studio escapades have become legend, best exemplified by the duo’s fastidious approach in capturing the right guitar solo for Peg where they churned through a succession of studio guitar aces such as Robben Ford, Rick Derringer, Elliot Randall and Larry Carlton among others, before finally settling for Jay Graydon’s blistering six-string offering.

Keep It Brief

When it came to a Dan recording session, guitarists hired for the session were usually given a brief prior to the session. “There were cases where we had lines or we had particular rhythm parts in mind, but a lot was always left up to the individual with the guitar,” Walter Becker explained to this writer in a rare interview in 2010.

“Guitar players are so idiosyncratic in how they voice chords and how they approach chords and so on. You want to tell somebody the effect you want to create, and what you want to end up with, more than you want to tell them how to create that effect because if you have strong, interesting players, they already have developed their own personal techniques for doing that sort of thing.”

An aficionado of the blues, Becker always sought a particular kind of guitarist to lay to tape a blues-infused solo. Yet, many times at the eleventh hour, it was Becker himself who wound up being tasked with the performance.

“In some cases, we just couldn’t find anybody that really was the right combination of things that could play blues style electric guitar, and also play over changes,” he said. “There weren’t too many people that really could do that back in the 70s. Now of course, there are lots of people who could do it.”

Keep It Low

While Becker himself was also a competent bassist, he and Fagen would also employ the services of bass virtuoso Chuck Rainey whose contributions, according to Becker, were integral to the duo’s recordings.

“Chuck always liked to hear the demos and hear the bass parts that I had on demos because he got a certain amount of information out of it,” recalled Becker. “There were a few things that were written that Chuck played, but mostly Chuck just got the chord chart. He would hear things on the demos that he liked or that told him something about what the general approach was.

“He basically created the bass lines himself and of all the great bass players that we’ve had a chance to work with from time to time, he was by far the best at that, at creating a part that really worked with the song and worked with what the other players were doing.”

Keep It Jazz

Fagen and Becker were one of the very few songwriters who were able to successfully incorporate jazz harmonies within a pop framework. “I don’t think most people wanted to do that,” admitted Becker. “Very few people really. Jazz and jazz harmonies, especially in the 60s and 70s, for many people evoked the notion of the music that their parents danced to at the USO or something, or the band that played the theme music for the Ed Sullivan show and stuff like that.

“So, jazz harmony and jazz instrumentation had been co-opted into sort of less reputable forms of music that didn’t have any of the interesting, powerful elements of jazz that we love, such as improvisation and really driving rhythm sections and that kind of thing. So, most people just weren’t even interested in doing anything like that.

“And I think probably up until a certain point, we were the only people really and we spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to integrate. We experimented with a lot of writing and over a period of years, on how to integrate the different elements that were in our songs.

“In other words, how to integrate humour into the lyric of a song without them becoming novelty songs, and how to integrate jazz harmonies into rock band sounds, rock band combos and rock band rhythms and stuff like that without it sounding like half ass jazz or without it sounding like, without it evoking the sort of out of date, old generation.”

Their taste in adding those sophisticated jazz harmonies into their songwriting, saw the pair experiment with multiple chord voicings as a way to stamp their take on their music.

It was through this trial-and-error approach, that Becker and Fagen came up with the ‘Mu’ chord, which became an integral part of their signature sound. At its core, the ‘Mu’ chord is basically a major chord with an added 2nd, and due to the added 2nd being paired to the chord’s 3rd, it results in a mildly dissonant sounding chord.

“When we started writing, some of the songs that we wrote were sort of folk-ish types of songs,” explained Becker. “And so, we were looking for ways to make the triads sound better and richer and ways to add a little dissonance and colour to the chords. And that ‘Mu’ chord was one of the ways that we came up with doing that.”

Keep It Appropriate

While much of Steely Dan’s output has been noted for its production sheen, they made sure that polished veneer never replaced the music’s substance, of which was the primary goal for both Fagen and Becker. “First of all, the sense that from the beginning the substance of the song, is the substance of the song,” explained Becker cryptically.

“And that’s not always the case for everybody. I think a lot of pop music now is predicated on the idea that the style and the trappings are more important than the substance and that the substance shouldn’t interfere with the style and the trappings, which is just a completely different 180 degrees from the way that we look at it anyway.

“So, I think the thing is that the production has to be appropriate, has to advance the cause of the substance of the song. It has to add to the impact of the song rather than diminish it or obscure it or overwhelm it. There are times when you can create some interesting effects by having a very unlikely production combined with a particular song, but generally speaking, it’s very easy for things to be overproduced and over fussed with and over ornamented.”

Looking back over the group’s prolific 70s period, Becker admitted that both he and Fagen weren’t cut out to be touring musicians, preferring instead the studio environs where they thrived and could allow their creative spirit to run freely.

“In the 70s, we were completely wrapped up in the idea of writing songs and making records,” he expressed. “That’s what we really wanted to do, and the touring just seemed to detract from that; it burned up a lot of energy. All of our equipment was always broken and destroyed the flow of work as regards to writing and recording, so we stopped doing it.”

The post The guitar secrets of Steely Dan: as revealed by Walter Becker: “All of our equipment was always broken” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Press Release

Source: Mark Pucci PR

Corey Harris/Alvin Youngblood Hart/Guy Davis – new album, Fight On!: True Blues Vol. 2 (out April 17 on Yellow Dog Records), from three of today’s deepest, most decorated acoustic blues masters who reunite to summon ancestral spirits with songs both long remembered and newly created.

Advance music and album pre-orders HERE!  

Even as they step back in time, Guy Davis, Corey Harris and Alvin Youngblood Hart—who won ardent acclaim for their first True Blues project in 2013—prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that African American blues remains as vital and vibrant as ever.

These three first met at the Chicago Blues Festival in 1996 and are now coming together nearly 30 years later for a powerful follow-up to their acclaimed first True Blues collaboration. The album features nine tracks blending traditional material (Charley Patton, Rev. Gary Davis, Virginia songsters) with original compositions.

“I have a photograph somewhere of Corey, Guy and myself at the Chicago Blues Festival, 1996,” remembers Alvin Youngblood Hart. “A time when we were being touted by the ‘Blues Establishment’ as ‘The New Saviors Of The Blues.’ So whatever man, it was destiny that we’d end up doing something like True Blues. This new album is a continuation, or reunion of the project we started over a decade ago.”

“The thematic tie of the record lies in the fact that we are three African-American bluesmen who are fighting to maintain our cultural legacy and heritage,” adds Corey Harris. “Each of these nine tracks represents a contemporary image of traditional Black lifeways.”

As for the album’s title, Guy Davis states: “The fight we are waging is to keep this precious music form alive. To us, there is not so much difference between our arrangements of blues classics and our newly created work. It’s all connected to the ancestral spirit.” Raw, heartfelt and sounding absolutely nothing like a dusty museum piece, Fight On!: True Blues Vol. 2 is a loving celebration of shared music and friendship, a long-dreamed-about project that now, countless tours and conversations later, finally arrives.

 

Behringer’s parent company, Empower Tribe, is suing Boss – and its parent company Roland – alleging its use of polyphonic tuning technology in several of its products infringes upon the patent of the TC Electronic PolyTune.

Polyphonic tuning – a method by which a guitarist can play and tune multiple strings at the same time, as opposed to monophonic tuning – is used in the PolyTune by TC Electronic, another brand under the Empower Tribe umbrella.

The technology also features in a number of Boss products, including GT‑1000, GT‑1000CORE, GX‑100, and GX‑10 multi-effects pedals. Empower says this breaches its patent for the PolyTune.

Boss filed a motion to dismiss the claim on 9 October, 2025, arguing that Empower’s original patent is invalid for a number of reasons. Firstly, Boss claims the technology simply collects and displays data, meaning it was never patentable as it’s an “abstract idea” rather than a concrete technological solution.

In Boss’ motion, while the nature and right to obtain patents for new technologies is acknowledged, it points to an exception “long-held” by the US Supreme Court: “Laws of nature, natural phenomena and abstract ideas are not patentable”. Under this provision, Boss says Empower’s polyphonic tuning patent is not valid.

“Tuning is the quintessential definition of an abstract concept because musicians have been tuning stringed instruments by ear for as long as there have been stringed instruments,” Boss says. “A musician would play a note, compare it in their mind to what the note should sound like, and then adjust their instrument, repeating the process until the notes matched…

“Likewise, a musician has been tuning by ear multiple strings played at the same time allowing a person to differentiate ‘two pitch frequencies simultaneously’… Plaintiff’s opposition [Behringer/Empower] would have the Court believe that the ‘683 Patent [the PolyTune patent] invented polyphonic tuning.” Boss also says the PolyTune’s polyphonic tuning technology is achievable using generic hardware, and therefore not patentable for the same reasons that most guitar pedals aren’t patentable.

Empower has responded to this motion to dismiss with its own opposing motion, stating that Boss is “vastly oversimplifying” the technology described in the PolyTune patent in order to make its point, and overall strongly rebukes essentially all parts of Boss’ motion. In terms of the lack of an “inventive” aspect to the original patent, Empower argues that the court should at the very least undergo an “intensely factual inquiry” to determine if this is the rather than just “take [the] Defendant’s word for it”, and accept the motion to dismiss.

But why are we only hearing about this dispute now? Well, pending further ruling from the court, Boss has opted, as of March 2026, to remove the polyphonic tuner function from its GT‑1000, GT‑1000CORE, GX‑100, and GX‑10 multi-effects pedals.

This was discovered by YouTuber John Nathan Cordy, who posted a video earlier this week detailing the firmware update which removed polyphonic tuning from the above Boss pedals.

“Although [Boss parent company] Roland has developed many patented products on its own, it decided that instead of creating a polyphonic tuner itself, it would simply knock off Empower’s patented device instead,” Behringer’s initial lawsuit read [via Guitar World].

“[The] defendants have never sought or obtained a licence of the patent, and are not authorized to practice any claim of that patent,” Behringer says, adding that it contacted Roland to “reach an amicable solution”, but Roland “denied infringement” and “refused to negotiate a potential settlement”.

Many in the guitar and wider music gear community have been quick to point out that Behringer regularly produces products heavily inspired by classic pieces of gear.

This isn’t the first time Boss and Behringer have been at odds, either, after Boss sued Behringer in 2005/2006 over the trade dress (appearance) of many of its effects pedals. The suit was ultimately settled under confidential terms.

Just last year, Bill Finnegan, creator of the iconic Klon Centaur overdrive pedal, sued Behringer over its Klon copy. Behringer subsequently changed the name of its pedal from “Centaur” to “Zentara”, along with a number of visual design elements. The lawsuit was ultimately dismissed.

Guitar.com has reached out to both Boss and Behringer for comment.

The post Behringer takes Boss to court over alleged patent infringement appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

One of the most iconic Flying V guitars in history is being given its flowers. Gibson’s Custom Shop has faithfully recreated Michael Schenker’s 1971 Flying V, with a limited run of 50 hand-signed Collector’s Edition guitars selling out in just one day.

Based on 3D scans of the original instrument, which is currently owned by Metallica’s Kirk Hammett, the Michael Schenker 1971 Flying V Collector’s Edition serves as a testament to one of the most influencial guitars in hard rock and heavy metal. The original guitar was used to record UFO’s first three records, with the guitar soon undergoing a striking black and white makeover. With its new look, the Flying V became Schenker’s signature axe.

• READ MORE: Rich Robinson on why the Black Crowes channeled the spirit of “20-year-olds showing the f**k off” on their new album

This Collector’s Edition is crafted with a mahogany body, three-piece mahogany neck with a slim artist profile, and a one-piece rosewood fretboard with 22 medium jumbo frets. Of course, the Flying V headstock and pickguard also boast the same black and white paint job as Schenker’s original Flying V.

Elsewhere, the guitar is also fitted with Schaller M6 tuners and a Corian nut. There’s also a pair of uncovered T-Top humbuckers with Alnico 5 magnets, each wired with unique volume controls and a shared tone knob. There’s also a Switchcraft three-way toggle, as well as a quarter inch output jack.

All 50 instruments have also been hand-signed by Schenker himself on the back of the headstock, which is sure to delight those that managed to snag a guitar. The instrument also comes housed in a custom replica flight case, while fans will also receive a commemorative mahogany display block featuring a #56 Medallion (presumably a nod to when the Michael Schenker Group’s 1980 track Cry For the Nations peaked at #56 in the UK).

Speaking about his limited edition Collector’s Edition guitar, Schenker sings praises for the Flying V. “When I was about 16 years old, I broke a string at a show and my brother was playing a V and I had to take a solo, so he quickly gave me his guitar,” he recalls. “That’s when I noticed there was something about the guitar… It almost became like part of my body.”

While the release coincides with the 50th anniversary of UFO, it’s a perfect way to reflect on the impact Schenker’s sound has had on the guitar world. Hammett in particular has spoken highly of Schenker, revealing in Gibson Publishing’s 2025 release, The Collection: Kirk Hammett, that having the Flying V in his collection feels akin to owning a “religious relic”.

Credit: Gibson

“Wolf Hoffman got it from Michael Schenker’s tour manager, who had been sitting on it for like, 20 years,” Hammett explained. “But it’s the original V that Michael Schenker played on UFO albums, Phenomenon, Force It, and No Heavy Petting. It’s crazy because you can still see some of the red finish, if you look at certain spots on the guitar.”

“The Schenker Flying V is almost like a religious relic for me,” he added. “It represents so much of my youth and all the travails I went through in just trying to learn how to play guitar and be a great improviser and soloist like Michael Schenker. I spent so much time as a teenager just staring at this guitar on the back of UFO’s Force It album… I used to stare at it and go, ‘I need to get a Flying V’. Little did I know that, decades later, I would have the very Flying V that I was staring at!”

On the YouTube video announcing the release, some fans believe the recreation deserves to be a permanent part of Gibson’s offerings to honour Schenker’s impact on music. “Gibson, release a production model,” one user pleas. “Michael’s influence deserves way more than 50 guitars. He’s incredibly important.”

The guitar – which is now sold out – was priced at £14,899 / $16,999. You can find out more at Gibson.

The post Gibson Custom Shop recreated Michael Schenker’s 1971 Flying V – and it sold out in a day appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Amid Sinners’ bloodthirsty vampires and Irish step-dancing, the 2025 blockbuster is a love letter to the blues. And that love was on full display at this year’s Oscars, with Ludwig Göransson bagging the award for Best Score and the cast pulling off a show-stopping performance of film’s track I Lied To You.

This weekend, Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre stage transformed into a Mississippi juke joint, a central location throughout Sinners. The stage felt equally as bustling and alive as the juke joint in the movie; as lead actor Miles Caton struts across the stage, vintage Dobro guitar in hand, multiple artists emerge to join in the performance.

• READ MORE: “I’ve thrown that guitar across the stage and it’s still in tune!” – John Osborne talks the joys of creating Fender’s first B-bender signature model

A majority of those involved also played an integral role in the movie. Some played key acting roles, like Buddy Guy, who played the older version of Caton’s character, wielding a Strat, or Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram, who served up blues licks on his signature Telecaster. Elsewhere, other artists worked on the score, with Brittany Howard performing on a Gibson SG while Eric Gales opted for a Kiesel.

But that’s not all – a few other artists hopped onstage for a boogie, too. Notably, hip-hop star Shaboozey even appeared, adding some further joy to the marvellous display of blues excellence.

With the majority of the film taking place in a juke joint, and central character, guitarist Sammie (played by Caton) finding a supernatural power within bluesy riffs, blues is the heart and soul of Sinners. Considering how much effort director Ryan Coogler put into honouring the blues, it’s no surprise that so many people wanted to show their support.

Of course, the movie’s love of music was rightfully honoured. Swedish composer Göransson was awarded the Oscar for Best Score, and he took the opportunity to thank the blues for guiding him throughout his life. “My dad bought his first blues album in Sweden in 1964,” he reflected. “It was a John Lee Hooker album, and even though it was from the other side of the world, in a place where my dad had never been, and could not relate to, the music was so powerful that it changed his life.”

“When I was seven years old, he put a guitar in my arms, and it became everything to me,” he continued. “The guitar opened up a lot of doors to me; it brought me to the States and eventually led me to one of the greatest storytellers of our time, Ryan Coogler.”

The post Sinners’ love letter to the blues won Best Score at the Oscars – and Buddy Guy, Kingfish and Eric Gales came out for a star-studded mid-show performance appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

While improv and exploration are key to the duo’s performance, restraint and simplicity have equal weight.

Any guitarist can tell you that there aren’t many things that’ll give you as much value for money as a good electric guitar. Over the years, you’re paying pocket change per month, or fractions of a penny per riff – but for many of us, the economic reality is that we’ll need to choose a value model to manage the up-front cost.

Some of the best value electric guitars are beginner models from the likes of Squier and Yamaha, providing a solid introduction to the instrument without daunting levels of investment. For those shopping a little further up-market, another reason to buy a value guitar is to add a totally different set of sounds to your repertoire – an affordable ‘second guitar’ can bring a much wider range of sounds to within your grasp, especially if you want to change up things like the bridge, pickup or scale setup from your main guitar.

It’s quite tricky to define a ‘value electric guitar’. Rather than fixating on the lowest-priced options, the potted reviews below are focused around relatively inexpensive guitars that are genuinely good examples of their type, with prices ranging from the low £100s to around £1,000. We believe that all of these guitars are genuinely good value, with craftsmanship and playability that you can enjoy for years to come.

At a glance:

• Our Pick:: Squier Classic Vibe Custom Esquire
• Best for advanced guitarists: Sterling By Music Man Rabea Artist Series Sabre
• Best value offset: Eastman Fullertone Offset ’62
• Best affordable Stratocaster: Squier Sonic Stratocaster HSS
• Best value rock guitar: Manson MBM-2H
• Best value guitar for speedy playing: EVH Wolfgang Standard TOM
• Best value singlecut guitar: Heritage Ascent+ H-150
• Best affordable guitar for clean sounds: Gretsch G5230T Electromatic Sparkle Jet
• Best guitar for begginner guitarists: Yamaha Pacifica 112J
• Best value guitar for downtuned metal: Jackson Lee Malia LM-87
• Best affordable kids guitar: Squier Mini Stratocaster
• Why you can trust Guitar.com

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Our Pick:: Squier Classic Vibe Custom Esquire

Squier Classic Vibe Custom Esquire. Image: Adam Gasson

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It often takes a while for a guitarist to learn that simplicity is a virtue. Whether you’ve made that revelation after years of playing, or you’re looking for an outstanding first guitar, this Custom Esquire from the Squier Classic Vibe range will help you cut straight to what matters most: great tone and fun, fluid playing.

There’s only one pickup, but it’s a cleverly wired one supplying a different set of filtered tones for a varied sound. The faux-‘neck’ position is everything we’d hope for in an Esquire: bright, sweet, punchy, and capable of some really spiky sounds when used with gain-based effects.

As you can see, this guitar is quite a looker. Its classy, double-bound, early 60s, custom colour design is a classic vibe indeed.

Need more? Read our Squier Classic Vibe Custom Esquire review.

Best for advanced guitarists: Sterling By Music Man Rabea Artist Series Sabre

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If you’re a devotee of rock or metal, you’ve probably cast a few admiring glances (or at least an admiring ear) at the Music Man Rabea Massaad Artist Series Sabre. The only trouble with the YouTube heavyweight’s signature edition guitar is the price, which is well over £3,000/$4,000.

The good news for budget-conscious musicians is that you can now pick up an affordable version of the ‘Rabea’ that comes pretty close to the real deal: the Sterling By Music Man Rabea Artist Series Sabre. This rock and metal workhorse has a low action for easy soloing right up and down the neck, and it sounds awesome when it’s lathered in gain.

Need more? Read our Sterling By Music man Rabea Artist Series Sabre review.

Best value offset: Eastman Fullertone Offset ’62

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This guitar only just scrapes into the ‘value’ bracket, but it’s something special that might warrant the extra outlay, especially if you’re looking for an instrument to play long-term. We were enamoured at first glance with its offset vibes and unique Göldo trem system – and once our reviewer had actually played the Eastman Fullertone Offset ’62, it was true love.

Beautifully, ergonomically sculpted, the Offset ’62 practically melts into the player’s body. It sounds as good as it feels, with impressive pickups delivering plenty of snap, jangle or punch, as per your selected settings. For guitarists who play with feeling, this elegant and idiosyncratic offset can capture the mood.

Need more? Read our Eastman Fullertone Offset ’62 review.

Best affordable Stratocaster: Squier Sonic Stratocaster HSS

Image: Adam Gasson

 

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A good beginner guitar doesn’t just have to be cheap – although the Squier Sonic Stratocaster HSS is – it’s also got to be approachable. Who’s going to want to continue learning through sharp fret-ends, terrible sounds or miles-high string action? Luckily the Sonic Strat is a very approachable instrument indeed, with a pleasantly playable satin-finished neck, and far better-sounding pickups than a guitar at this price point has any right to be loaded with. And whether you were inspired to pick up a Strat by Hendrix’s dive-bombs or by more subtle wobble, the standard vintage-style vibrato unit will get you there.

Need more? Read our Squier Sonic Stratocaster HSS review.

Best value rock guitar: Manson MBM-2H

Manson x Cort MBM-2H. Image: Adam Gasson

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Carrying more than a sprinkling of Matt Bellamy stardust, this Cort collab from Manson is one of the best (relatively) affordable options from the Muse virtuoso’s workshop. Our reviewer found this guitar a delight to play, with lightweight, well-balanced construction, a soft, V-shaped profile to the neck and generous custom carves to accommodate your forearm, thigh, or whichever other body parts you might happen to rest your guitar against.

The MBM-2H is as playable as it is sparkly, with a low, slinky action, highly responsive pickups and a fun killswitch that you can use to stutter your guitar sound (or simply shut it off during the quiet bits of a song).

Need more? Read our Manson MBM-2H review.

Best value guitar for speedy playing: EVH Wolfgang Standard TOM

EVH Wolfgang Standard TOM. Image: Adam Gasson

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Not content with single-handedly making two-handed tapping cool, the late, great Eddie Van Halen also managed to design one of the best accessible hard rock guitars in history: the Wolfgang. The Standard TOM is a wallet-friendly version of the maestro’s masterpiece, and while it replaces the original’s Floyd Rose vibrato system with a Tune-o-Matic bridge, it’s largely true to the blueprint.

This may be the cheapest EVH Wolfgang out there, but the Standard TOM plays beautifully and sounds impressive. It’s lightweight, resonant, and has a smooth, oiled finish to the maple neck that’s perfect for fleet-fingered playing.

Need more? Read our EVH Wolfgang Standard TOM review.

Best value singlecut guitar: Heritage Ascent+ H-150

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This Heritage is an ornately-finished single-cut that demonstrates impressive craftsmanship and great playability. It packs two humbucker pickups, each with a push/pull potentiometer that can split the coils for a single coil sound, and these deliver a superb range of classic rock tones, from smooth, dark sounds at the neck to honk and snarl at the bridge. It’s a great guitar for retro chords and riffs, with plenty of sustain and resonance.

Need more? Read our Heritage Ascent+ H-150 review.

Best affordable guitar for clean sounds: Gretsch G5230T Electromatic Sparkle Jet

I hope you don’t mind the brief first-person intrusion, but I (the compiler of this article) have one of these lovely-looking, spangly Gretsches at home, and I’d highly recommend it as a first (or alternate) guitar. It’s my go-to for warm, mellow sounds when playing Motown, pop or folk-rock songs, and I often find my hand drawn to the chunky tremolo arm for added retro wobble.

The short-ish scale length is ideal for beginners or guitarists with smaller hands as it makes elaborate chord positions easier to achieve, while the slender, U-shaped neck profile offers plenty of purchase for your thumb.

Best guitar for begginner guitarists: Yamaha Pacifica 112J

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Surprising beginner guitarists with its superior playability since the 1990s, Yamaha Pacifica is the budget S-type (Stratocaster-like) guitar line par excellence.

There are Pacificas for all sorts of budgets these days, but arguably the best option at a minimal cost is the 112J. It’s a versatile choice for adventurous beginner guitarists, with a host of tones available via its trio of pickups (two single coil; one humbucker) and a softly rounded neck that goes easy on your fretting hand.

The finishing on this budget model is understandably basic, but the 112J is nonetheless a solidly made guitar that will suit beginners and newcomers – as was ever the case with Yamaha Pacificas.

Best value guitar for downtuned metal: Jackson Lee Malia LM-87

Image: Press

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Maybe you’re into Bring Me The Horizon. Maybe you’re not. The Jackson Lee Malia LM-87 – named for the BMTH lead guitarist – is an excellent value guitar, either way. This distinctive signature edition from Jackson brings bucketfuls of vintage cool and metal aggression, with an eye-catching yet accommodating offset shape and a Tune-o-Matic hardtail bridge for easy tuning adjustment – perfect for drop tunings.

What we liked best is how the LM-87 sounds. The distinctive-looking bridge pickup with its large, hex-head polepieces is excellent at picking up the detail from individual strings, so you can hear the complexity of crunchy chords, even when you have some gnarly distortion in play.

Need more? Read our Jackson Lee Malia LM-87 review.

Best affordable kids guitar: Squier Mini Stratocaster

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You’re never too young to rock out – the only thing standing in your way is that most electric guitars are not made for little hands. Thankfully, the youngest guitarists can start out with a mini guitar, such as this cute, scaled-down Strat from Squier.

Don’t mistake this for a toy: the mini Stratocaster has three proper single-coil pickups, sports a decidedly decent Indian laurel fretboard and is designed by Fender. Helpfully, it also has a slender, C-shaped neck profile that’s relatively easy for younger guitarists to fret, and the hardtail bridge offers decent tuning stability for parent-pleasing tonality.

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 value electric guitars: 11 affordable options for beginners and players on a budget appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Ever heard a riff so darn good you wish you’d written it? It’s happened to most of us, and those moments invariably inspire us when we write our own riffs later down the line.

In a February interview with the Garza Podcast, Zakk Wylde touches on Ozzy Osbourne‘s tendency to borrow ideas from his favourite riffs. The guitarist explains that the Prince of Darkness was particularly inspired by Jimi Hendrix’s Foxey Lady, which  inspired the riff for Ozzy’s 1988 track, Miracle Man.

• READ MORE: Rich Robinson on why the Black Crowes channeled the spirit of “20-year-olds showing the f**k off” on their new album

Plenty of artists take inspiration from their peers, using music as a springboard to create something new. “That’s why I always tell kids [songwriting] is just like cooking,” Wylde explains [via Ultimate Guitar]. “You learn how other songs are written, and you’re inspired or influenced by them. Or you remember it, and then you tweak it and bend it [to make a new song].”

Wylde goes on to explain that Ozzy was inspired by other artist’s riffs throughout his career. The guitarist picks out N.I.B from Black Sabbath’s 1970 debut as a case in point, noting how it twists elements of Cream’s Sunshine of Your Love. “You end up mutating it, bending it, and changing it,” he says. “Then it’s a whole new song, which is awesome.”

Even the most legendary and accomplished guitarists take inspiration from their heroes when writing guitar parts. Wylde also notes how late Pantera axeman Dimebag Darrell compared an unspecified track with its inspirational origin. “I went ‘If you didn’t tell me that, I would have never got it, because you changed it around a bit,’” he says. “But that spark of inspiration led [him] to where [he] ended up with a specific song.”

Countless riffs have been borrows and twisted, from Metallica nabbing a riff from David Bowie’s Andy Warhol for Master of Puppets, to the Red Hot Chili Peppers taking inspiration from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ Mary Jane’s Last Dance for their 2006 smash hit Dani California.

On the flip side, those whose riffs serve as inspiration for others often don’t mind. In 2006 rumours floated around that Petty was going to sue the Chili Peppers, but he quickly shut that down in an interview with Rolling Stone. “I seriously doubt that there is any negative intent [from the Red Hot Chili Peppers],” he said. “It doesn’t bother me,” he confirmed. “If someone took my song note for note and stole it maliciously, then maybe. But I don’t believe in lawsuits much. I think there are enough frivolous lawsuits in this country without people fighting over pop songs.”

“A lot of rock and roll songs sound alike,” he adds. “Ask Chuck Berry! The Strokes took American Girl [for 2011’s Last Nite]. I saw an interview with them where they actually admitted it. That made me laugh out loud. I was like, ‘OK, good for you!’”

The post Zakk Wylde says the riff for Miracle Man was inspired by this classic Jimi Hendrix song appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

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