Larry Graham on when you really need to use a 5-string bass By Nick Wells published 11 May 23 The godfather of slap bass says “I actually love playing a 5-string for other artists, but not for live shows”
Voyager’s Simone Dow on why “prog is perfect for playing at Eurovision” as she brings tech-metal solos to one of the world’s biggest stages By Ellie Rogers published 11 May 23 Can Aussie rockers Voyager win Europe’s favorite song contest like Lordi and Måneskin before them? “It’s a dream,” says guitarist Simone Dow
How a Tom Morello attitude and madcap Kemper experimentation shaped Enter Shikari’s genre-smashing tech-forward guitar sound By Ellie Rogers published 11 May 23 As the electro-rock quartet return with new album A Kiss For the Whole World, guitarist Rory Clewlow and frontman/production whiz Rou Reynolds unpack the synth-like guitar tones behind the tunes
Best Marshall amps 2023: Our pick of amps for rock and beyond from Marshall's full range By Richard Blenkinsop last updated 11 May 23 From bedroom-friendly combos, to stage-ready heads, we count down the best Marshall amps you can buy right now
Best acoustic guitars 2023: 12 top options for guitarists of all ages and abilities By Chris Corfield last updated 11 May 23 Guitar World’s pick of the best acoustic guitars from Fender, Gibson, Martin, Taylor, Epiphone and more
How a Slash superfan ended up trading guitars with his hero… three times: “I was wondering if it was real life or if I’d died” By Amit Sharma published 11 May 23 Guitar collector Todd Puma shares the surprising story of how he came to own a trio of the Guns N’ Roses legend’s personal Les Pauls – and why he bought two of Gibson’s ultra-limited Murphy Lab Greeny models
Rodrigo y Gabriela: “It wasn’t until I got the acoustic that I started to shred more. I felt like I could play faster. With the electric, I wasn’t really attracted to it” By Ellie Rogers published 10 May 23 The Mexican duo’s Rodrigo Sánchez explains how the electric guitar slows him down, and why he and Gabriela Quintero are using backing tracks for the first time as they tour expansive new album In Between Thoughts... A New World
Ally Venable on Les Pauls: “They’re not just one-trick ponies – if you experiment with the controls, you can get a lot of different tones out of them” By Amit Sharma published 10 May 23 The Texan blues hot-shot talks Gibson's famous single-cut, the Wounded Warrior she calls her own and that time Billy Gibbons told her she was playing Sunshine of Your Love wrong
Jeff Berlin: “Look at Jaco Pastorius: clearly a genius, but misunderstood” By Nick Wells published 9 May 23 Jazz bassist Jeff Berlin debunks a myth surrounding Jaco’s early years
Best bass amps 2023: killer low-end amplification options for bassists By Jonathan Horsley last updated 9 May 23 Give yourself the gift of thunder with the best bass guitar amps money can buy – featuring Trace Elliot, Hartke, Ampeg and more
How Kareem 'Big K.O.' Denis and Darryl 'DMC' McDaniels are bringing hard rock guitar back to hip-hop By Andrew Daly published 9 May 23 The Firebird-loving guitarist/producer and Run-DMC legend on their mission to prove hip-hop can be just as heavy as metal, getting gear tips from Billy Gibbons, and why Gibson humbuckers are the foundation of funk and soul guitar
Yvette Young: “I’m really optimistic about the future of guitar. It’s being used in a creative way and people don’t know all the cool sounds you can get from it” By Jenna Scaramanga published 9 May 23 One of the most original guitarists on the planet, combining innovation with accessibility on a new Covet album, Catharsis, Young explains why she’s the virtuoso who just “fell into” the guitar scene
Tony Levin: “D’Angelo’s Voodoo made me want to go back to school as a bassist” By Joel McIver published 8 May 23 The King Crimson bassist names four albums that shaped his sound
Crown Lands’ doubleneck devotee Kevin Comeau on his fearless guitar/bass multitasking, recording with Alex Lifeson’s acoustic and why Smashing Pumpkins’ Siamese Dream is a tonal benchmark By Amit Sharma published 8 May 23 Comeau unpacks his multi-instrumentalist approach on the Rush disciples’ impossibly expansive sound, and explains just exactly where he got that super-cool doubleneck
Rival Sons’ Scott Holiday on his greatest gear hits and misses: “You can basically install a pair of EMG active pickups into a cardboard box and get the same sound” By Henry Yates published 8 May 23 Holiday is no fan of active pickups, and his life in gear involves a flaming Line 6 amp, a foolish trade that said goodbye to some PAFs, and the epiphany that TV Jones Filter'Trons are all you ever need
The Lowlist: Primus' Sailing The Seas Of Cheese – a weird mix of twisted basslines, warped lyrics and general weirdness By Tom Poak published 7 May 23 For the second Primus album, Les Claypool decided that he was bored with the 4-string and his playing needed something to "blow it wide open". Cue 6 string fretless mania…
“Reggae carries that heavy message of roots, culture, and reality. So the bass has to be heavy and the drums have to be steady”: An interview with Aston “Family Man” Barrett By Bill Murphy published 6 May 23 How Aston “Family Man” Barrett brought reggae bass playing to the world with Bob Marley & The Wailers
The 5 Nirvana basslines you need to hear By Joel McIver published 5 May 23 From Smells Like Teen Spirit to About a Girl, here are Krist Novoselic’s five greatest basslines
John Primer: "When I played with Muddy Waters, he set my amp tone up for me. I use the same settings he gave me back in the mid-'70s" By Andrew Daly published 5 May 23 The blues veteran discusses his love of Epiphones (and why he never clicked with Strats), what he learned as a sideman to Muddy Waters and Magic Slim, and the secret to his enviable tone
Metallica’s Kirk Hammett: “With 72 Seasons, I improvised 20, 30 solos, gave them all to Lars and Greg Fidelman, and went, ‘You guys edit them!’” By Jenna Scaramanga published 5 May 23 Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo draw back the curtain on the metal album of the year: the gear shakeups, the Angus Young and Ritchie Blackmore-inspired guitar approach, and the response to critics of Kirk’s improvisational soloing approach