Hank Marvin
Interview by uncredited writer, Beat Instrumental, July 1970
ON THE POPULARITY polls, instrumentalists come and go. Jet Harris, one-time bass player with the Shadows, used to win – especially when he broke away and ...

An Interview with Jesse Ed Davis
Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, March 1974
JESSE ED DAVIS plays guitar like a man with a mission. You probably wouldn't find him listed in any guitar polls, but you'd sure as heck ...

Wishbone Ash
Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, June 1974
ANDY POWELL, TED TURNER, and Martin Turner form the front instrumental line of England’s Wishbone Ash, a quartet (rounded out with Steve Upton on drums) which ...

Jeff Beck: Music And Cars And Sex…
Interview by Charles Shaar Murray, NME, November 1974
A DIGESTIVE BISCUIT is poised, somewhat uneasily, a few inches away from Jeff Beck's, celebrated nasty leer. ...

Jimmy Page: Guitars I Have Known
Interview by Nick Kent, Creem, February 1975
(As a guitarist, Jimmy Page has all the bases covered. Clapton has that soaring fluid thing down pat, Beck is the absolute Crowned Prince of Flash ...

Skunk Hunting In W1
Interview by Chris Salewicz, NME, July 1975
THERE'S A delicately detailed brass rubbing of Burlington House above the bed-head in room 420 at the Inn On The Park. Some rock musicians would've tried ...

Dave Mason: One of a Kind
Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, October 1975
THOUGH DAVE MASON admits he’s a songwriter first and a guitarist second, his work on the electric instrument has tagged him as a standout player in ...

Alan White: Can A White Man Sing.....?
Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, March 1976
"NOW TELL ME honestly, what did you really expect when you came to meet me?" The disarming question is posed as yet another Yes album hits ...

Bill Bruford: Have Drum Will Travel
Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, April 1976
IT WAS IN the unlikely setting of the Una Billings School of Dancing's basement that the partnership which will be titillating the timpani of drum freaks ...

Rick Wakeman: Wakeman On The Attack With His Birotron
Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, July 1976
RICK WAKEMAN is one of a very exclusive breed – the International Heroes of the Electric Keyboard. For Rick's meteoric career has been bound up in ...

The Joe Perry Interview
Interview by Steven Rosen, Guitar Player, 1979
UNLEASHING HIGH-ENERGY rock and roll led by Steven Tyler’s vocals and the often dueling guitars of Joe Perry and Brad Whitford, the members of Aerosmith have ...

Aynsley Dunbar: Let There Be Drums!
Interview by Howie Klein, BAM, February 1979
SAN FRANCISCO – Within the world of rock and roll there are certain performers whose distinctive virtuosity transcend their individual works recorded with a particular band ...

Ry Cooder's Search For The Lost Chord
Interview by Noe Gold, Guitar Works, March 1981
Cooder gesticulates in much the same way as he articulates musically – with an emphasis that lets you know he's earned the insight. ...

Moog On The State Of The Synthesizer
Report and Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, June 1981
IT’S NOT UNUSUAL for a musician to become controversial, but it is rare for a musical instrument to be debated. Robert Moog may have envisioned a ...

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. ...

Carlos Santana
Book Excerpt by Stuart Grundy, John Tobler, 'The Guitar Greats' (BBC Books), 1983
CARLOS SANTANA has continuously led the band that bears his name for nearly fifteen years, and maintained a substantial worldwide popularity, something which requires an exceptional ...

Steve Miller
Book Excerpt by Stuart Grundy, John Tobler, 'The Guitar Greats', 1983
WHEN WE MET Steve Miller in the Seattle studio where he mostly works these days, he was planning to make more than one album – not ...

James Burton
Book Excerpt by Stuart Grundy, John Tobler, 'The Guitar Greats' (BBC Books), 1983
ONE OF THE GREAT rock'n'roll guitarists of the 1950s, but a man who remained virtually unknown to all but the cognoscenti until comparatively recently, is James ...

Brian May
Book Excerpt by Stuart Grundy, John Tobler, The Guitar Greats (BBC Books), 1983
AT THE START of the 1980s, the rock band which was generally accepted, if not as the most popular group in the world, then as one ...

Rock Sax: Resurgence Of The Saxophone
Overview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, March 1983
THE SAX IS BACK.

Honking saxophones played a major part in shaping '50s rock 'n' roll, but the instrument's role was virtually eliminated by the guitar after ...

Albert Lee
Interview by Michael Goldberg, Musician, May 1983
IT HAPPENS all the time. Some well-meaning rock fan comes up to guitarist Albert Lee and starts telling him he's a great player. "And man, just ...

James Jamerson: Motown's Unsung Hero
Obituary by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, August 1983
THE EMPHASIS IN pop falls on people in the spotlight but some of the biggest contributions to our pop culture come from the musicians who stand ...

New Orleans Pianos: Talking Fingers
Film or DVD Review by Don Snowden, Boston Phoenix, September 1986
You don't have to be addicted to New Orleans piano style to savor the rich portrait of Stevenson Palfi's Piano Players Rarely Ever Play Together (now ...

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 of ...

The Cure's Lol Tolhurst: A Dose Of Keyboard Fever
Interview by Mark Dery, Keyboard, August 1987
EVER SINCE schoolmates Robert Smith, Laurence "Lol" Tolhurst, and Michael Dempsey formed Easy Cure in 1976 – the name was eventually shortened to the Cure – ...

Guitar Gods Of Planet Earth
Comment by Metal Mike Saunders, Revolution, 1989
AFTER 20 YEARS, it's just occurred to me: This rock 'n' roll stuff has lots of guitars. I call up Chuck Eddy and he says, "Yup, ...

Of Ice Fields, Breath Mints & Corn Flakes: Leo Kottke
Interview by Bruce Pollock, Guitar, October 1989
TRYING TO COME up with enticing copy about Leo Kottke, is a little like writing an ad for Kellogg's Corn Flakes. There's something about him ...

Ray Cooper: Who Are Those Blokes Up There With Ray?
Profile and Interview by Robert Sandall, Q, October 1990
Wherever stellar rockular personages gather together he's there at the back, shiny of pate and blurred of hand. But who is this Bongo Basher By Appointment? ...

Back to Bass: Bernard Edwards
Interview by Don Snowden, Bass Player, April 1991
"I THINK 'GOOD TIMES' is the song we're remembered most for," said Bernard Edwards of the reunited Chic. "We were a commercial band and a lot ...

Is There Life After Rock Guitar Godhead?
Overview by Roy Trakin, Musician, 1994
ALVIN LEE HAD reached the pinnacle of rock guitardom. Of course, by the time Woodstock was over, his "I'm Going Home... by helicopter" histrionics would have ...

Kristin Hersh: Lipstick, Powder and Saint
Interview by Elaine Cusack, Guitar, January 1994
"Oh I look just like a sad old hooker!" wails Kristin Hersh as a false eyelash falls from her heavily made-up face and just misses the ...

When Guitars Speak: Innovations From Ulmer, Torn and Moore
Review by Geoffrey Himes, The Washington Post, June 1995
IT'S EASY to understand why so many jazz and pop musicians have gravitated toward the buzzing, grinding and squealing of guitar distortion, even if those noises ...

Singing The Body Electric
Overview by Mark Sinker, The Wire, September 1995
The story of the first electronic instruments is as twisted and circuitous as their primitive, labyrinthine wiring. Mark Sinker goes in search of these often bizarre ...

Return Of The Weird: Lothar and the Hand People
Report and Interview by Steven R Rosen, Denver Post, October 1995
"YOU THINK THERE'LL be enough interest in this that I'll be able to make a fortune giving theremin ...

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. ...

Man Among Men, Guitarist Among Guitarists
Interview by Hank Bordowitz, Guitar Player, October 1996
YOU KNOW BO Diddley invented that beat, one of the driving forces of rock and roll. You know he had a bunch of seminal hits ...

Harry Partch's Original Invented Instruments: Barbican, London
Live Review by Andy Gill, Mojo, February 1999
IT'S NOT every day – or every decade, come to that – that UK audiences get a chance to witness Harry Partch's bizarre instruments "in the ...

Randy Holden
Interview by Richie Unterberger, Perfect Sound Forever, April 1999
RANDY HOLDEN might be the Great Lost Guitar Hero of the 1960's. ...

Scotty Moore's Classic Axe Goes Under The Hammer
Report by Barney Hoskyns, Mark Pringle, Rock's Backpages, April 2000
Former Elvis Presley producer weeps after auctioning off "the most important guitar in rock and roll ...

His Time Is Tight: Jim Keltner
Profile by Tim Riley, publicbroadcasting.net, January 2002
Jim Keltner has drummed for everybody from Bob Dylan to Steely Dan to Ry Cooder; he drives a lot of the better rock albums you own ...

The Johnny Marr Interview
Interview by Joe Matera, Total Guitar, 2003
Joe Matera: Boomslang showcases a new sound for you that seems to be the culmination of all the different musical influences you've been exposed to since ...

Back to Bass-ics: Jack Bruce
Interview by Joel McIver, Bass Guitar, April 2003
The bass maestro behind Cream, for several years now a successful solo artist in his own right, looks back on his remarkable career with Joel ...

Ben Harper on the Inside
Interview by Ted Drozdowski, Guitar World Acoustic, June 2003
BEN HARPER'S NEW Diamonds on the Inside (Virgin) is a fireworks display of guitar. Colorful melodies played on an array of acoustics and electrics burst from ...

Bassically Speaking: Lemmy
Interview by Joel McIver, Bass Guitar, June 2003
ALTHOUGH THE WORLD of metal is full of fearsomely talented bass players, many of which have appeared on these hallowed pages in recent months, few are ...

Robben Ford At The Newcastle Opera House
Live Review by Craig W. Thomas, unpublished, November 2003
I'M TIRED OF the bullshit. I'm tired of TV advertising in my face. I'm sick of calls trying to sell me health insurance and I'm sick ...

The Guitar: Axes To Grind
Comment by Andrew Mueller, The Guardian, November 2003
ACCORDING TO A body of instrument suppliers called the Music Industries Association, in the last 12 months the British people bought no less than 700,000 acoustic ...

A Fender Custom Shop Master Built Experience
Special Feature by Tom Watson, Strat Collector, January 2004
EVERYONE WHO grew up with "rock 'n' roll" during the 50s and 60s in the United States understood its message. Rebellion. The music served as an ...

State of the Vintage Strat 2004: Four U.S. Experts Share Their Opinions
Overview by Tom Watson, Strat Collector, February 2004
WHILE AUTOMOBILES were designed to be driven, coins designed to be spent, and stamps designed for licking, such items have come to be valued and collected ...

How to Buy a Fender Stratocaster, Part One
Guide by Tom Watson, Strat Collector, February 2004
THE ARTICLE BELOW is not about collectible Stratocasters, vintage or otherwise. The information is provided in response to a frequently asked question: How in the world ...

World Of Bass: Melissa Auf Der Maur
Interview by Joel McIver, Bass Guitar, April 2004
MONTREAL-BORN bassist Melissa Auf Der Maur, something of a four-string legend on the alternative rock and grunge scene since the early 1990s, has recently released a ...

How to Buy a Fender Stratocaster Part Two: New Instruments
Guide by Tom Watson, Strat Collector, April 2004
THE THRESHOLD questions considered in Part One of How to Buy a Fender Stratocaster were: What is your budget? and What purpose will the instrument serve? ...

Seven Fender Stratocaster Models That Pay Tribute to Jimi Hendrix
Special Feature by Tom Watson, Modern Guitars, November 2004
OVER THE 34 years since his untimely death in 1970 at the age of 27, the music of Jimi Hendrix has inspired legions of budding guitarists ...

Moogers And Shakers
Film or DVD Review by Charles Shaar Murray, Observer Music Monthly, January 2005
THE NAME ACTUALLY rhymes with 'vogue,' but the incorrect phonetic pronunciation somehow seems more appropriate to the noises made by the eponymous instrument created in the ...

The Stratocaster Chronicles by Tom Wheeler
Book Review by Tom Watson, Strat Collector, February 2005
Apart from the weight of its own history, the Strat abides.
– Tom Wheeler, The Stratocaster Chronicles ...

Steven Drozd of The Flaming Lips
Interview by Steven Rosen, ultimate-guitar.com, June 2006
STEVEN DROZD, guitarist for The Flaming Lips, plays guitar, keyboards, drums, sings, writes, entertains and philosophizes. He does a lot of different things. And that's really ...

First Effects: Caught by the Fuzz
Retrospective by Matthew Frost, Guitar Buyer, April 2007
In the first part of our new series, Matt Frost takes a trip back to 1965. It's the 27th of May and the Rolling Stones are ...

Sleep Easy Jeff Beck
Essay by Tom Graves, Rock's Backpages, September 2007
ON TOP OF the indignity of coping with a severed digit (which is coming along quite nicely, thank you very much) I learned last week that ...

Inside Pink's Funhouse
Interview by Greg Phillips, Australian Musician, September 2009
Greg Phillips speaks with the Pink band ...