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May 2026

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75 articles

May 26
- “The man shaving my balls didn’t tell me.” Robert Fripp says he’s still baffled by his bizarre hospital mystery
- “So close that our knees would touch.” David Lee Roth fights tears as he recalls his earliest writing sessions with Eddie Van Halen
- “I said, ‘Bob, this is a folk song.’ He said, ‘No, listen to the lyrics.’” How Alice Cooper spun a 1960s ballad into his own glam-rock anthem
- “He was a very moody sort of guy. He would sit in the corner and not talk to anybody.” Jim McCarty recalls Eric Clapton’s “quite unhappy” time with the Yardbirds
May 25
- “You left your wax cylinders at home?” Jack White welcomes Stephen Colbert back to public-access TV
- “My plan was always to have it fixed up, but the loft burned out of our house.” Dolly Parton on the “little Martin” that launched her music career — and the country star behind her big break
- “He said, ‘I’m probably not gonna make it. Will you buy my Les Paul?’” Vince Gill tells how he came to own his prized 1959 Gibson Les Paul ’Burst
May 24
- “He was shaking the last time I saw him. He had the same thing that killed Lowell George.” Roger McGuinn and Keith Richards remember Gram Parsons, who laid a path for the ’70s California sound and died at 26
- “The only reason I picked them is so I can look at their behinds.” P.J. Harvey on why she stopped playing guitar onstage — and the real reason she chose her first pair of tour guitarists
May 23
- “We smoked a lot of pot together, so that was really helpful.” How Neil Diamond, a bag of weed and a twice-rejected song turned a pair of struggling young guitarists into global stars
- “I kicked him in the wrist as hard as I could. I know I broke it, because I used to wear these great big platform shoes onstage.” Lita Ford on the Runaways, rock and roll — and what happens to hecklers who get in her face
May 22
- “To him I was like this middle-age housewife from somewhere.” Melissa Etheridge walked into a guitar shop — and nobody knew who she was
- “They advertise it as a safe tonic to give you energy — and it’s not.” Brian Setzer on the “health drink” that sent him to rehab
- “I loved Tommy, but I couldn't be around the alcohol and drug thing too much.” Narada Michael Walden on the night he walked away from Tommy Bolin
- “I cried. I told myself I was gonna quit and go to design school.” John Mayer says his label didn’t hear any hits on his album. Then it sold five million copies
May 21
- “His voice was a whisper.” Adrian Belew on the last time he saw Frank Zappa
- “They didn’t attack the record. They attacked me.” When Cher tried to disappear into a hard rock band called Black Rose
- “He put LSD in our coffee and never told us.” George Harrison rejected claims the Beatles were responsible for America’s drug culture
- I’ve tracked down an amazing $599 saving on a legendary Gibson J-45 and $250 off a PRS SE Silver Sky as Guitar Center officially launches its huge 30% off Memorial Day sale
May 20
- “We both laughed when he said that — but he was right.” Gary Moore on how Bob Daisley steered him toward a blues reinvention
- “How are we going to get this home?!” Geddy Lee recalls the winter night he and Alex Lifeson bought his first bass amp
May 19
- “We would listen to that album nonstop.” Eric Clapton reveals the surprising pop influence behind Cream's sound
- “Kirk sat there with Greeny and I had Duane Allman’s goldtop. I was lost.” Charlie Starr on jamming with James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett
- Musician's Friend is helping you beat the holiday rush with up to 60% off in the early Memorial Day sale - get $500 off a wild Gibson and $250 off a gorgeous PRS
- With discounts hitting up to $600 off guitars, there’s no need to wait for Memorial Day because Fender just kick-started the sales early - here’s the 5 sweetest deals with $230 off an all-solid acoustic and $74 off a fuzz pedal
May 18
- “A Beatle touched it.” The vintage charms of Watkins’ Rapier guitar line once enticed George Harrison. Now I understand why
- “An inspiring guitar that can handle just about any style.” We review the Gretsch G2420T Streamliner Hollow Body electric
- “Everyone goes on about the guitar, but I just love that voice.” Phil Manzanera on working with David Gilmour
- “It was not a Randy-and-Ozzy thing.” Bob Daisley claims Ozzy Osbourne misrepresented his relationship with Randy Rhoads
May 17
- “I said it as a joke, but I think it spurred him a little bit.” What Neil Diamond really said to Bob Dylan backstage at The Last Waltz
- “Andy went home and tore the record apart.” Todd Rundgren on the tense sessions for XTC’s ‘Skylarking,’ the hit album that nearly broke up the band
May 16
- “They could squash you down very easily.” Ann Wilson on the sexism Heart faced breaking into the ’70s rock scene
May 15
- “It sounds like some sort of weird Eno art project.” Inside Brian Eno, Phil Manzanera and the “devilish experiment” that became 801, rock’s strangest supergroup
- “I don’t think it’s a dirty song. It's something everybody does." Clarence Carter — famous for “Patches” and “Strokin’” — has died at age 90
- “I had to teach him how to play again.” Pete Townshend put Eric Clapton on the road to recovery. Now he’s finally coming to the Crossroads Festival
- “Django had only two fingers, Pete. Get on with it!” Peter Frampton on adapting his playing as IBM progresses
- “He was like, ’This artist needs a guitar player.’” Grace Bowers got a text from Jimmy Jam — three days later, she was playing the Grammys with Chris Martin
May 14
- “It was beat to hell — but it was the best-playing guitar ever.” How a battered Jimi Hendrix Strat helped inspire My Chemical Romance’s change in direction
- "If you want classic Fender tube tones, the Blues Junior IV remains among the cheapest ways of achieving them." We review the Fender Blues Junior IV tube amp
May 13
- “Joe took it really badly.” Aerosmith producer Jack Douglas, who died May 11, on the time Steve Hunter replaced Joe Perry on “Train Kept A Rollin’”
- “The faders were so clogged with cocaine they wouldn’t move.” Geezer Butler on the time Black Sabbath and the Eagles shared a studio
May 12
- “A straightforward tube combo hiding serious 21st-century tech.” We review the Supro Airwave 1x12 combo
- “They didn’t know what it was!” Ritchie Blackmore on the mysterious illness that took him out of Deep Purple — and brought in Christopher Cross
- “We did call him — he just didn’t answer.” Alex Van Halen explains why Michael Anthony was replaced by Wolfgang
- Win tickets to see Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Evening, featuring “Mr. Jimmy” Sakurai
May 11
- “There are so many special memories within the walls — not to mention the rooftop.” Coming soon: A chance to stand where the Beatles played their last concert
- “She’d obviously done him to death.” Pete Townshend on the woman who preoccupied him and Jimmy Page at the Who’s “I Can’t Explain” session
- “What kind of idiot does that?” Eric Clapton hit by object thrown from crowd at Madrid show
May 10
- “What I learned at GIT.” Jennifer Batten delivers three must-know fusion licks
May 9
- “He was angry I’d given away a No. 1 hit.” Neil Diamond says he was fired five times before the Monkees scored a hit with his song “I’m a Believer”
May 8
- “It was such great stuff.” Steve Vai says he’s heard Eddie Van Halen’s unreleased recordings
- “I said, ‘Do you remember that guitar that went missing?’” Ronnie Wood says he took a bass guitar from a store to play with Jeff Beck
- “He told me it was the best record he ever made.” The last music Steve Cropper heard before he died was his own new album
- “We’re not Lady Gaga. We’re not Elton John. We’re two random dudes.” The story behind Angine de Poitrine, the viral masked microtonal duo
May 7
- “I was like, ‘Ed, you better stop smoking.’” Valerie Bertinelli recalls the night she met Eddie Van Halen — and the “tragic, scary” years that followed
- “Obviously, I thought I wasn’t drinking enough.” Joe Walsh on his secret to a long career — and life
- “I still get emotional talking about John and George.” Paul McCartney says the Beatles are haunting his new album
- “They were literally pushing each other out of the way.” Adrian Smith recalls Bruce Dickinson and Steve Harris’s stage battles in Iron Maiden
May 6
- Win tickets to see Eric Johnson in Northern California at Guitar Player Presents
- “That's a form of abuse.” Sting says he won’t leave his $245 million fortune to his kids
- “It would lift me up so I could work that night.” Eric Clapton says Jeff Beck pulled him out of a late-career slump
- ”Multiplying anything by the number 64 makes it huge.” How many pickups is too many? This guitar has 64
- “You are Robert Smith from the Cure!” Mick Jagger recalls the unexpected moment that led to a Rolling Stones collaboration
May 5
- “There was a box of cocaine on every shelf.” Robben Ford recalls his wild all-night sessions with George Harrison
- “It’s sacrosanct.” St. Vincent says Larry Carlton’s Steely Dan guitar solo should always be played note-for-note
- “These songs are played a lot. They’re often not played well.” Guitar Center reveals the riffs customers play most — and “Stairway to Heaven” isn’t No. 1
May 4
- “It sounds like a terrible B-flick horror soundtrack.” Eddie Van Halen on the night he got drunk and wrecked Marvin Hamlisch’s piano
- “What am I gonna play on this song that’s got 18 Steve Vai guitar tracks on it?” Joe Satriani and Vai on the upcoming SatchVai album — and their plans for the group’s future
- “It felt like there were insects in my legs.” Peter Frampton recalls the moment he knew something was wrong
May 3
- “Look up!” Olivia Rodrigo reveals the hidden note Jack White left in her ‘SNL’ dressing room
- “12 of my guitars are stolen and I have to fly to Philadelphia and do a show.” Metalocalypse creator Brendon Small says he lost rare instruments gifted by Joe Satriani and Steve Vai
May 2
- “Even Clapton came out and gave me the thumbs up.” The day Ministry’s Al Jourgensen shut down a studio — while Eric Clapton was recording next door
May 1
- “It was like getting into a swimming pool with lead weights tied to your boot.” Mark Knopfler on his grueling 10-hour Steely Dan session that resulted in just seconds of music
- “I had already died. I wasn’t afraid of death anymore.” Melissa Etheridge says a “heroic dose” of cannabis led to a life-changing awakening
- “That was an uncomfortable spiral downward.” David Coverdale on Tommy Bolin replacing Ritchie Blackmore in Deep Purple