Guitar World

Yardbirds, The: Having a Rave-Up With The Yardbirds

Retrospective by Lenny Kaye, Guitar World, September 1981

CLAPTON, BECK and Page: a holy trinity whose rippling lead lines and powerful slashing chords have provided a world on instruction for countless aspiring players. ...

Frank Zappa: The Frank Zappa Interview

Interview by John Swenson, Guitar World, March 1982

FRANK ZAPPA was at the Palladium in New York for his perennial Pumpkin Day concert celebration with his most loyal fans. ...

Van Halen: Eddie Van Halen drops the bomb on Heavy Metal

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar World, January 1984

SIX ALBUMS AGO (including the one yet to be released). Van Halen issued its first record. It was dramatic, intense and bold. and contained within ...

AC/DC: Angus Young: The Man In Short Pants Is Long On Guitar Chops

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar World, March 1984

...but don't ask him what equipment he uses. ...

Queen: Brian May Brings Out the Stars

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar World, March 1984

The Queen guitarist brought together some heavies with Eddie Van Halen on guitar and Phil Chen on bass – for his Star Fleet Project. ...

Gary Moore: Guitar on a Rampage

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar World, November 1984

The Irish terror has been compared to Beck, Van Halen and every whippersnapper coming up on the circuit. ...

Johnny Winter: The Bluesman Do Play Rock and Roll...

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar World, November 1985

...and Cajun-style, and country ...

Eric Johnson: The Warm Tone of a Texas Twister

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar World, May 1986

The soft-spoken guitar genius has waited a long time to spring his music on us. We present a play-by-play of his layered approach to axe ...

Led Zeppelin: Chris Huston, Eddie Kramer's Co-engineer on Led Zeppelin II

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar World, July 1986

FOR MANY, the first two Led Zeppelin albums were Led Zeppelin. The enormous drum sound, those magical guitar tones and just the energy and volume ...

Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Yardbirds, The: Jeff Beck on Jimmy Page

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar World, July 1986

The following excerpts are from a book I wrote in 1978 titled The Beck Book, a documentary detailing the life and music of guitarist Jeff ...

Led Zeppelin, Robert Plant: Robert Plant: Deference to the Taskmaster

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar World, July 1986

In team play, where everything clicks, somebody has to call the shots. ...

Led Zeppelin: Danny Goldberg's Hideaway

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar World, July 1986

IN 1973, DANNY Goldberg was working for Lee Solters, a show business public relations man who included Frank Sinatra as one of his clients, when ...

Led Zeppelin: Rodney B.'s Endless Party

Retrospective and Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar World, July 1986

The parties were legendary, the hotels trashed regularly, the hangers-on flowed constantly when the Zep cruised the skyways. ...

ZZ Top: Billy Gibbons: Sittin' On Top Of The World

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar World, November 1986

"B.G. HERE," drawled the voice on the phone. Billy Gibbons was calling from Arizona where he was en route to Los Angeles for the filming ...

Robin Trower, Procol Harum: Robin Trower: Keeper Of The Dream

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar World, April 1987

The one-time Procol pace-setter has seen musical trends come and go, but he's back to playing among us because he has a vision of the ...

Frank Zappa: Zappa's Inferno

Interview by Noe Gold, Guitar World, April 1987

FRANK ZAPPA'S fully-equipped home recording studio is where he'd most rather be. "I never go out," he says, though his Laurel Canyon home commands a ...

Robyn Hitchcock: Guitar Poet

Interview by Deborah Frost, Guitar World, July 1987

LIKE LOU Reed, Bob Dylan and John Lennon, to whom he has been compared, Robyn Hitchcock's lyrics are so brilliant they tend to obscure everything ...

Paul Jackson Jr.

Profile and Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar World, July 1987

A NATIVE OF Los Angeles, Paul Jackson, Jr. credits "The Lord" for his entry into the protected domain of the session player. While no one ...

Dean Parks: Session Aces: Dean Parks

Profile and Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar World, July 1987

DEAN PARKS is the veteran of this wild bunch, having been a staple in the studios for 15 years. But like every other member of ...

Joe Perry, Aerosmith: Aerosmith: Joe Perry

Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar World, December 1987

Bad Boy Joe Perry has always looked like a guitar hero. Aerosmith's new LP affirms once and for all, that he is the one. ...

Robin Trower: Trower’s Travails

Interview by Bud Scoppa, Guitar World, July 1988

IT’S ONE THING to be influenced by Jimi Hendrix, it's something else altogether to be hounded by Hendrix' ghost, as Robin Trower has been for ...

T-Bone Walker: The Complete Imperial Recordings, 1950-1954 (Imperial/EMI)

Review by Charles Shaar Murray, Guitar World, 1991

CONTEMPORARY BLUES guitar starts here. True enough, everything has its origins in something else: Aaron Thibaux "T-Bone" Walker (1910 – 1975) had hung out in ...

Albert King: An Interview with Albert King

Interview by Alan Paul, Guitar World, July 1991

2003 note: Just days after I became the Guitar World Managing Editor in February 1991, I sat at my desk listening two of my colleagues ...

Danny Gatton, Reverend Horton Heat: Timelocked Moments: Danny Gatton and Rev. Horton Heat

Review by Charles Shaar Murray, Guitar World, 1993

Danny Gatton: Cruisin’ Deuces (Elektra)Rev. Horton Heat: The Full Custom Gospel Sounds Of Rev. Horton Heat (Sub Pop) ...

Living Colour: Stain (Epic)

Review by Charles Shaar Murray, Guitar World, March 1993

WHAT’S YOUR favourite colour? Between the death of Jimi Hendrix in 1970 and the arrival of Living Colour’s 1988 debut album Vivid, the hard rock ...

Baker Bruce Moore, Ginger Baker, Jack Bruce, Gary Moore: BBM: Around The Next Dream (Virgin)/Ginger Baker Trio: Going Back Home (Atlantic)

Review by Charles Shaar Murray, Guitar World, 1994

WHOEVER FIRST claimed that guitar, bass and drums are the "three primary colo(u)rs of rock and roll" ignored the possibility that some of us might ...

Replacements, The, Soul Asylum, Jayhawks, The, Hüsker Dü: The Minneapolis Scene: Left Of The Dial

Overview by Marc Weingarten, Guitar World, August 1995

In the early Eighties, Hüsker Dü, The Replacements and a handful of other scruffy Minneapolis bands forged what is now known as indie rock. This ...

Neil Young: Journey Through The Past

Retrospective by Marc Weingarten, Guitar World, September 1995

Neil Young is the ageless chameleon of rock. In this history of his long and distinguished career, Guitar World traces his evolution from hippie icon ...

Paul Westerberg's 1962 Gibson Melody Maker

Interview by Alan Paul, Guitar World, June 1996

PAUL WESTERBERG may be known for his bittersweet lyrics and forlorn melodies, but his sentimentality certainly doesn't extend to his guitars. ...

Phish: Trey Anastasio, The Brains Behind Phish

Interview by Alan Paul, Guitar World, December 1996

OVER THE LAST several years, Phish has emerged as rock's most surprising success story, building a massive grass-roots following and becoming one of the nation's ...

Nirvana, Kurt Cobain: Kurt Cobain: The Lost Interview

Interview by Jon Savage, Guitar World, 1997

In July of 1993, Kurt Cobain gave a dramatically candid interview to respected British rock journalist Jon Savage. Freely discussed were such controversial topics as ...

Hubert Sumlin, Howlin' Wolf: Hubert Sumlin: The Wolf’s Man

Interview by Alan Paul, Guitar World, 1998

INTRODUCTION: I had heard that Hubert Sumlin was a genuinely nice guy. But before I ventured uptown to a Manhattan club to interview him, there ...

Jimi Hendrix: Blues (MCA)

Review by Charles Shaar Murray, Guitar World, 1998

Let’s get the paradoxes out of the way right up front: the blues was a musical space to which Jimi Hendrix would always return in ...

Radiohead: The Golden Age of Radiohead

Profile and Interview by Mac Randall, Guitar World, April 1998

ON A FRIDAY RELAUNCHED itself in the summer and autumn of 1991, playing a series of gigs at Oxford's Jericho Tavern and circulating its first ...

Bob Dylan: A Session With Bob Dylan

Memoir by Happy Traum, Guitar World, 1999

IN OCTOBER OF 1971, I got a call from Bob Dylan asking me if I'd like record some songs with him for his Greatest Hits, ...

Jimi Hendrix Albums: A Guide

Guide by Charles Shaar Murray, Guitar World, 1999

ARE YOU EXPERIENCED? (MCA) HENDRIX AS superstar-in-waiting, UK-style. Rough, raw, crunchy, funky and designed for maximum impact, this ...

Stevie Ray Vaughan: Blue Smoke: The Life and Death of Stevie Ray Vaughan

Retrospective and Interview by Alan Paul, Guitar World, April 1999

NINE YEARS AFTER his death, Stevie Ray Vaughan’s influence only continues to grow. It can be heard in barrooms and arenas around the globe, in ...

Doors, The: The Doors: The Scream Of The Butterfly

Retrospective and Interview by Alan Paul, Guitar World, February 2003

IGNITED BY THE success of 'Light My Fire,' the first two Doors albums introduced rock audiences to the tortured mind of Jim Morrison and his ...

Black Keys, The: Guitarist Dan Auerbach Discusses Gear, Influences and the Latest Black Keys Album, El Camino

Interview by Ted Drozdowski, Guitar World, March 2012

His Nashville studio is full of sweet vintage gear, but Dan Auerbach isn't just a retro-obsessed guitar hound. The Black Keys guitarist gets his motor ...

Freddie King

Retrospective by Ted Drozdowski, Guitar World, August 2012

NOTE: This is an expanded version of a piece that was in the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame's induction program in 2012: the lengthier ...

ZZ Top, Black Keys, The: Billy Gibbons and Dan Auerbach

Interview by Ted Drozdowski, Guitar World, October 2012

MISSISSIPPI FRED McDowell's haunted, woody voice sails through the air as the Black Keys' Dan Auerbach nurses a cup of coffee and flips through a ...