Feature archive

June 2025

Filter

Year
Month

22 articles

June 30
- “Bob said, ‘What’s that?’ I told him, ‘That’s one of your songs, man.’” Roger McGuinn says Bob Dylan didn't recognize his own song when the Byrds performed it for him
- "Eric Clapton just tried your amp, and he’s asking if he can have it.” Über producer Bob Rock learned the secret sauce behind Alexander Dumble's amps during his long friendship with the famed designer
- “He found it in my gear trunk and threw it away! I couldn’t believe it.” Tony Iommi’s tech threw out the one-of-a-kind treble booster behind Black Sabbath’s classic guitar tone
June 28
- “He was the first person to instill in me a sense of purpose." Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Duane Allman, George Harrison and John Lennon performed with him. Today he’s virtually unknown
June 25
- “When I first heard Van Halen’s version of ‘You Really Got Me,’ I laughed. It really misses the point of the whole meaning of the song.” Dave Davies on Eddie Van Halen, Jimmy Page and the Kinks’ power revolution
June 24
- “David Bowie came along one day and said, ‘I’ve got a song I’d like you to record.’” Guitarist Mick Ralphs on how a Bowie song for Mott the Hoople accidentally led to the formation of Bad Company
June 23
- “We had to tell her that the console had quit. They didn't like that at all.” Never mind Keith Richards and the Rolling Stones. Here's how Grady Martin, Nancy Sinatra and Ann-Margret helped the fuzz pedal become every guitarist's favorite effect
June 21
- “The next person that walks across this stage is gonna get effing killed!” Pete Townshend declared war at Woodstock when Abbie Hoffman interrupted the Who in the middle of their biggest gig
- “We had a barney and I said, ‘Oh, eff you!’ I think George played bass.” When Paul McCartney stormed out of a Beatles session, George Harrison was the glue that held it all together
June 20
- "It hit me hard, much like Eddie Van Halen’s ‘Eruption’ did years earlier. This whole new world opened up for me.” Alex Skolnick on five jazz albums every rock and metal guitarist needs to hear
- “His spirit was in the room with us the whole time.” The late Glen Buxton makes an appearance on the new Alice Cooper album, courtesy of a rediscovered guitar riff
June 14
- “If he was that tuned into me and missed that point, then he missed the whole point.” Eric Clapton on the one thing Eddie Van Halen didn’t understand about playing the blues
June 13
- “It’s the most weird song. I’ve no recollection of ever recording it.” How a John Lennon rocker got banished from the Beatles' albums
June 12
- "I got a guitar, amp and $500 for eight bars of work.” Wrecking Crew guitar aces Billy Strange and Tommy Tedesco recalled the mad guitar genius of the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson
- "It started with some mad experiment I was cooking up in my hotel room one night” Dave Stewart reveals how Stevie Nicks inspired one of Tom Petty’s biggest hits — which led to one of Mike Campbell’s greatest guitar solos
June 9
- “He kicked me in the butt one night. I was playing rhythm and he said, ‘Go on. Play lead!’" Stephen Stills on the guitar skills he learned following Jimi Hendrix for two years. "He was my guru"
- “They’ve got two guitar players, but we’ve got Jimi.” Ernie Isley recalls sitting next to Jimi Hendrix as the Beatles made their American television debut on The Ed Sullivan Show
June 7
- “I guess you guys aren’t ready for that yet.” Michael J. Fox never spoke truer words. Here’s what ‘Back to the Future’ got wrong about Marty McFly’s Chuck Berry–inspired guitar show
- “I turned the radio on one day, and there it was. I thought, Hey, I made it!” Donald Fagen, Walter Becker, seven guitarists — and one impossible solo. How Jay Graydon nailed it on Steely Dan’s “Peg”
June 6
- “Oh my god, they’re closing the casket with that guitar in it!’” Chuck Berry was buried with a Gibson ES-355. His son reveals his family's brain-twisting task to honor the Father of Rock and Roll
June 4
- “I wasn’t going let anybody fix it. I just left the electronics broken.” Eric Schenkman on the bizarre mishap that gave his guitar its signature sound on the Spin Doctors' new album (Dweezil Zappa's Strats have it too)
June 1
- "I was hurt. I was damaged. I gave it away to end that chapter of my life.” John Fogerty didn’t want his Creedence Clearwater Revival guitar back. He got it anyway and revived his love for his classic tracks