Few guitarists have a more instantly recognizable sound than Slash. From his legendary solos in Guns N’ Roses to the iconic riffs of Velvet Revolver and, of course, the modern classic anthems with the Conspirators, his tone has become one of the most imitated in rock history. Now, the good news is that getting close to it is more achievable than you might think.

At the heart of his sound is a simple but powerful formula: a Les Paul, a cranked tube amp, and a set of hot humbuckers. Slash has always kept his rig relatively straightforward, letting the guitar and amp do the heavy lifting rather than relying on a pedalboard full of effects. That’s actually great news for anyone trying to chase his tone regardless of budget.

In this collection, and with the help of Guitar Center's Slash gear round-up, we’ve curated this shopping list of everything from his signature Gibson and Epiphone Les Pauls to his go-to Seymour Duncan pickups, Ernie Ball strings, and Dunlop picks. We’ve also covered his current amp setup, including his go-to pedals. So, whether you’re after that raw Appetite-era crunch or his smoother, bluesier modern tone, there’s something here for every budget.

Guitars

To nail Slash's tone, you'll need a Les Paul. Below, I've picked out a few of his signature Gibson models, from the AFD to Jessica, plus some budget-friendly Epiphone options that'll get you surprisingly close to his sound.

That said, Slash's relationship with the Les Paul isn't the whole story. Over the years, he's reached for a scarlet B.C. Rich, a Korina Flying V, and a J-45 acoustic, so I've included those at various price points too.

Amps & Effects

Slash’s approach to amps and effects is refreshingly simple: minimal pedals, a cranked tube stack, and let the guitar do the talking.

For most of his career, Slash was synonymous with Marshall, spending over 30 years with the brand and releasing multiple signature heads. That changed in 2023 when he partnered with Magnatone, a move that surprised the guitar world. The switch came after he grew disillusioned with the consistency of his Marshall tone and stumbled across a Magnatone M-80 50-watt combo, reportedly passed on to him by GNR bandmate Richard Fortus.

He ended up using it for his entire blues record, Orgy of the Damned, and later took the 50-watt combos on a full GNR world tour in place of his Marshalls. This, in turn, resulted in his own signature models with the company.

Accessories

It could be argued that tone starts before you ever plug in. That’s why I've included his Ernie Ball signature strings and his go-to Dunlop picks to get you closer to the Slash sound without breaking the bank.

On the string front, Slash has used Ernie Ball his entire career, and his signature set is a .011-.048 gauge Slinky. These are heavier than most players use on an LP scale length, which certainly contributes to that thick, meaty tone. The sets use Paradigm core wire wound with nickel-plated steel and reinforced ball ends for better tuning stability and durability on the road.

Rounding this section out are Seymour Duncan’s Slash signature pickups. Slash has relied on Seymour Duncan for decades, and there are now three generations to choose from. The original APH-2 uses an Alnico 2 magnet to nail that Appetite for Destruction crunch. The 2.0 is a hotter wind of the same formula, for more output and attack. The newest 3.0, developed for Slash’s SG at Ozzy Osbourne’s Back to the Beginning show, steps up to Alnico 5 magnets for tighter lows and more immediate attack. They are raunchier, but still clear and punchy. All three are hand-built in Santa Barbara and are the exact same pickups Slash’s tech installs in his guitars.

The Grammy Awards got a taste of heavy metal last night as Slash, Andrew Watt, Duff McKagan, Chad Smith and Post Malone joined together for a tribute to the late Ozzy Osbourne.

As pyro shot up from the stage at the Crypto.com Arena, in Los Angeles — and with Ozzy’s wife Sharon and children looking on from the audience — the band performed a blazing version of “War Pigs,” a classic track from Sabbath’s 1970 album, Paranoid.

A highlight of the performance occurred when Slash and Watt teamed up to perform the song’s electric guitar solo, with Malone reaching over at one point to assist Watt with some finger tapping.

Osbourne died last July 22 just weeks after making his final performance at Back to the Beginning. As the band played, tributes to recently departed rock musicians and producers — including Ace Frehley, Mick Ralphs, Blondie drummer Clem Burke, session bassist Anthony Jackson and producer Roy Thomas Baker — appeared on the screen behind them.

At one point, the camera cut to show Yungblud cheering them on. Earlier in the night, the singer and guitarist was honored — along with Nuno Bettencourt, Frank Bello and Adam Wakeman — with the Best Rock Performance Grammy for their rendition of Black Sabbath’s “Changes” at the July 5th Back to the Beginning concert.

Yungblud, who was close to Ozzy, hugged Sharon Osbourne onstage before accepting the award.

“To grow up loving an idol that helps you figure out your identity, not only as a musician but also as a man, is something that I'm truly grateful for," he said.

"But then to get to know them and form a relationship with them, honor them at their final show and receive this because of it, is something that I and I think we're all finding so strange to comprehend. We fucking love you, Ozzy!

Over a 56-year recording career, Paul Rodgers has collected guitar players like a connoisseur collecting fine wines. They’re pulled in by the soulful power of his voice, and he embraces what the combination, and combustion, of that with their playing can do to a song.

Consider the company English-born Rodgers — a solid rhythm guitarist himself, as well as a pianist — has kept, starting with the late Paul Kossoff in Free between 1969 and 1973, the band that put both men on the rock and roll map.

After that he joined forces with Mott the Hoople’s Mick Ralphs in the recently minted Rock and Roll Hall of Fame group Bad Company, for six albums defined by brawny, muscular but still sophisticated hard rock that had few peers for success during the ’70s. (The new Can't Get Enough: A Tribute to Bad Company demonstrates the group's continuing influence, with Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke joining on tracks like "Shooting Star" and "Feel Like Makin' Love" with Halestorm, Blackberry Smoke and Def Leppard's Joe Elliott and Phil Collen.)

Then for his next trick? No less than Jimmy Page in the short-lived band the Firm, delivering a pair of powerhouse albums and Billboard Mainstream Rock chart toppers such as “Radioactive” and “All the King’s Horses.”

Rodgers went on to join forces with drummer Kenney Jones in the Law, then spent five years alongside Brian May in Queen + Paul Rodgers, another supergroup collaboration that brought May and drummer Roger Taylor back on the road and also yielded two live albums and 2008’s The Cosmos Rocks, the first Queen-related studio album since 1995’s Made In Heaven.

Rodgers maintained his impressive six-string relationships outside of his band affiliations, too, and through his seven solo albums — Jeff Beck, Joe Bonamassa, Steve Cropper and Slash among them.

“I don't really know the secret of how guitarists create their own unique sounds,” he tells us, “but I know a good guitar sound when I hear it.”

Here he shares some reflections about some of the best he’s worked with.

Paul Kossoff (Free)

“Koss was my friend and guitar player extraordinaire from before the formation of the band Free. We had met at a jam session. He came up onstage at a blues club in London, the Fickle Pickle, and blew me away with his powerful sound and his fluid electric guitar work. We played like we had been playing together for a long time, There was an instant rapport between us.

“His Gibson Les Paul was, as we used to say, ‘the bees’ knees.’ At the time, Eric Clapton was doing the Les Paul–Marshall stack thing and was playing at the Marquee just across town on Wardour Street in the West End.

The London music scene was referred to as experiencing a blues boom. The blues was the music we all listened to, the likes of B.B. King, Albert King, John Lee Hooker, Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters.

“Paul was one of those instantly recognizable players. You could identify him from just a few notes or chords, as in the opening chords of ‘All Right Now.’ Such a full spectrum of sound — all the high tones and all the low, with just a hint of crunch. I think the uniqueness is in the fingers, but you have to have the right gear too, and Koss had one hell of a great sound, even to this day. He was my soulmate guitarist, and we were in sync musically. Sad we lost him when he was just 25. Such a tragedy.”

Mick Ralphs (Bad Company)

“We were ‘label buddies.’ Both our groups, Free and Mott the Hoople, signed to Chris Blackwell's Island Records. I would see Mick in the office on Bodine St., Notting Hill Gate. Then Mott the Hoople and my next band, Peace, toured the U.K. together. I got to know Mick and liked him as a person — always friendly and so funny.

“We started writing songs together, and songs being the lifeblood of any band, the songwriting turned into a band, Bad Company. He had ‘Can’t Get Enough;’ Mott's Ian Hunter did not feel it suited the band's style, so when Mick played it for me I told Mick that the song was a hit and that I would love to sing it — and we were off to the races on our first album.

“Mick was often, described as a nuts-and-bolts guitar player, but to me he was always so much more than that. Being both a brilliant songwriter and guitarist. One of the great things about his sound was that he was multi-dimensional.

“Take ‘Rock Steady’ or ‘Burning Sky’ or ‘Silver, Blue and Gold,’ and of course the unstoppable ‘Can’t Get Enough’ or ‘Movin’ On.’ If you picture each song or track and focus on the guitar, not just the part he chose to play but the actual sound, each song is a a one-off — never been done before or since. Although there have been lots of copycat attempts — which is the highest praise, I’m told.

“In each song his sound perfectly matched and enhanced the mood and atmosphere of the lyrics — dark, moody and mysterious ‘Electricland’ or the blatantly rock and roll ‘Preacher.’ To me he was, and will forever and always be extremely inspirational. I believe that Mick made Bad Company what it is with his unique and varied guitar sounds.

“I can’t say how he got the variety of sounds he did. They broke the mold when they made him. I’m so happy we learned about our Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction while he was still alive. He was very happy when he heard the news.”

Jimmy Page (The Firm)

“We kind of fell together after I had built a studio in my London home, with the help of a designer, Steve Hoyland, and made a solo album Cut Loose — coincidently the same name as the smash hit American movie at that time.

“But Jimmy and I got together in that studio and began to create music. It was a very mind-expanding, creative and exhilarating time for me. Jimmy would bring along music for me to write lyrics to; the first serious song was ‘Midnight Moonlight Lady,’ and his guitar layering on that is superb — a beautiful, introspective sensitive and deeply personal piece of music.

“I would bring songs along that I had written, like ‘Radioactive’ and ‘Satisfaction Guaranteed,’ and it was pure magic watching him add his signature touches. We weren’t together long — as agreed, two years — but we left our mark on the tapestry of the story that is rock and roll.”

Brian May (Queen)

“I always admired Queen from afar. They had such a good sound. Every word from Freddie and every note from the band was crystal clear.

“When I heard ‘I Want to Break Free,’ the guitar solo was mouth-watering — so good. When we played that song together live, I would always turn around from the end of our 30-foot thrust in the center of huge arenas and watch and listen. Every time it just blew me away.

“‘The Show Must Go On’ is another great song. The passion and commitment is breathtaking, and Brian’s guitar totally matched the incredible moments in that song. His sound burns and pierces the very heart of things. He played ‘All Right Now’, with his massive chord sound, banks of Vox AC30s hooked up together. He uses a six-pence, which is an old silver U.K. coin, for a plectrum, which gave the strings a metallic overtone. After a show the stage was littered with them.”

Jeff Beck

“Now, Jeff Beck took no prisoners. He was outstanding amongst outstanding guitar players, in a league of his very own out in the stratosphere.

“Don't believe me? Listen to ‘Shapes of Things’ with Rod Stewart. The solo on that recording can't fail to blow your gaskets. He was a towering monster on guitar. There's also a track he did in the same time period, the B-side of ‘Tallyman.’ Just listen and you will know what I'm talking about. Actual words fail me, he was just so gut wrenchingly awesome.

“In 2002, Jeff invited me to perform a couple songs with him in London at the Royal Festival Hall. Sharing the stage with him was an exhilarating experience and one that I will never forget. I remember touring with Jeff, Ann Wilson and Deborah Bonham in 2018. Jeff and I would, flip-flop: One night he would close the show, the next night I would close with my solo band. It was so surreal on the nights when he was closing to stand at the side of the stage with my wife, Cynthia and listen to Jeff. It was absolutely breathtaking.”

Steve Cropper

“Steve Cropper was a staple in my listening and learning curve. He followed the emotion of the song and was the gold standard by which I viewed every guitar player. His playing really moved me.

“Steve was a sensitive yet powerful member of Otis Redding’s band on the Otis Blue album, the first vinyl album I ever bought with my own hard-earned cash, and my first love in terms of music. I still have that album. Steve Cropper, Duck Dunne, Al Jackson and Booker T Jones — the core band on ‘A Change is Gonna Come’ — build it incredibly to a climax that moved me to tears, the band working with Otis to tear your heart out.

“And Steve is such a big part of that emotional climb, hitting just the right notes in just the right place — sometimes chordal, sometimes playing lead. He was very, very restrained, nothing flashy or extraordinary until required, as in ‘Rock Me Baby,’ which has such an incredible groove.

“And when he lets it loose on the solo — every note counts with Steve. I was blessed to work with him a few times, most recently in 2021 on his last solo album, Fire It Up. We cowrote a song together: ‘She's So Fine.’ He’s sadly missed, but his contribution to music will always be remembered and appreciated.”

Slash

“Slash played on ‘The Hunter,’ a Steve Cropper/Albert King song on my Tribute to Muddy Waters blues album in 1993, and gave the recording his own inimitable interpretation of the blues with a fiery solo and some outstanding rhythm guitar playing. I think Slash is influenced by all the right people, old-school and blues, with his powerful Les Paul and his Marshall stack. He has great stage presence, witnessed when he joined me and performed at Woodstock in 1994. He was ripping it up in the rain and sounding good with Andy Fraser on bass and Jason Bonham on drums.

“I invited him up for a jam when Queen and I played in Los Angeles at the Hollywood Bowl in 2005. The crowd loved it and so did I. Most recently we performed together as a tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd's Gary Rossington on the CMT Awards show. That same year I also sang on his latest album, Orgy of the Damned, on which Slash's guitar playing once again shines a light on the blues with his excellent sound and unique style, pure gold, raw and bluesy.”

Joe Bonamassa

“When I first met Joe, he told me that he was a huge Free fan, which impressed me, because most people in America are aware of Bad Company, not Free, other than ‘All Right Now.’ He had taken a deep dive into Free’s catalog, and the songs that he preferred weren’t the commercial songs, which intrigued me — songs like ‘Walk in my Shadow’ and ‘Fire and Water.’

“So when he asked me to join him at New York's Beacon Theatre in 2011 to record a live DVD, I accepted. And which songs did we decide to play? ‘Walk in My Shadow’ and ‘Fire and Water.’ Joe and his band were tight and nailed both songs. I really like his tone and sound and his phrasing is blinding liquid.

In 2024 Joe organized a tribute album to B.B. King, B.B. King's Blues Summit 100 [out February 6, 2026]. He asked me to record a track and I chose ‘The Night Life.’ I have always liked that track; the sentiment spoke to me. The next generation of guitar greats has arrived, and Joe is leading the way.”

Though he’s been on the road with the Joe Perry Project, guesting at the VMAs, lending a hand to Bad Company at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and recording the newly released One More Time EP with old friend Steve Tyler and new pal Yungblud, Joe Perry still craves more.

He’s 75, but he refuses to rest on his laurels. The guitarist — who told us the top 10 records that changed his life — insists that, while he might take a moment to catch his breath at the end of 2025, he’s looking ahead to 2026.

Unfortunately, it may not include Aerosmith, whose future is uncertain. There are whispers of a final show, and maybe even a documentary about the band’s journey, neither of which Perry will dismiss. But in the meantime, his focus is on One More Time,.

Beyond that, he managed to find time to dig in with Guitar Player, where he peeled back the onion on lessons learned from — and friendships with — Alice Cooper, Johnny Winter, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck and Slash.

Alice Cooper

“The first time I met Alice was when we were making the Sgt. Pepper movie [Aerosmith recorded a highly praised cover of the Beatles’ “Come Together” for the star-studded 1978 feature film, in which Cooper appeared the character Father Sun]. Around 1980 or ’81, when I was away from Aerosmith, my manager got us together to see if we could write some music for Alice’s next album.

“So we got to hang out and got to be friends. When they were working on the first Hollywood Vampires record, they asked me to sit in on a couple of songs. I ended up becoming part of the nucleus of the band.

“Years before, I remember reading that he was supposed to be the reincarnation of a 400-year-old witch — you know, that was part of his thing. But that paved the way for a lot of bands to make performance art part of their show, on top of playing great rock and roll.

“The nice thing about the Vampires is that he didn’t have to put on that persona. He got a chance to just be a real rock singer and talk to the audience, so it was a whole different thing for him.

“The process of making albums with Alice was really easy. He’s not interested in ego; his ego is in his back pocket. For him, it’s about whatever is best for the band. It’s a reflection of his personality, and he's just a really good guy.

“Of all the lead singers that I’ve worked with, I have to say that he’s neck and neck in terms of most fun. And that’s not to cast aspersions on some of the other guys. He's just got a great sense of humor.”

Johnny Winter

“I remember seeing him live with Rick Derringer. That band was killer, and I remember seeing him play at the old [Boston] Tea Party club, which was probably 800 seats, and he just killed it. He played slide most of the night.

“Back then, our paths never crossed, but the bus driver that we had for almost 11 years had been Johnny’s bus driver, so I had a couple of secondhand stories about him.

“When he was in L.A., I had a chance to meet him. He remembered that we had played our first big gig at the Academy of Music. They put us on the bill with Humble Pie and Edgar Winter and Johnny. I think this was his first appearance since he’d gotten out of rehab, and that was an amazing show to watch. We got to watch him, and when his brother announced that he was coming out to play, the roof just came off the place.

“Johnny was really personable and really nice. When you get a chance to meet somebody like that, who you’ve worked up to and admired for decades, it was just really great to be able to shake his hand.”

Jimmy Page

“I’ve been influenced by Jimmy. I mean, he was a real pioneer, not only with the music he was making but with his production and writing. Jimmy was at the forefront of all that was happening in rock.

“For a while in the 1960s, he was like the most sought-after young studio guitar player. That’s how he made his living and learned to produce from being in the studio all of the time. He knew how to get what he wanted out of a recording session. I don’t think he gets enough credit for that. Everybody puts him in the guitar hero bag, but his production skills… there aren’t many guys who can do what he was doing.

“That’s one of the things that I learned from him, along with how used instruments and wrote those songs and use the blues format — although there’s a lot of Zeppelin that doesn’t sound anything like the blues. They were into world music from Morocco and India, and they brought those sounds into the mainstream.

“It meant a lot to befriend Page. When they don’t have guitars in their hands, these guys are just another person.”

Jeff Beck

“When it came to using the whammy bar, Jimi [Hendrix] was at the forefront of that, but Jeff took it further. You know, you put some Super Slinky strings on there, and you adjust the whammy bar, and you can do things and get sounds that no one ever heard before from not just the electric guitar but any instrument.

“Jimi used it for an effect, but Jeff used it more as a musical tool than anybody. He was two steps ahead of everybody else.

“That’s just what Jeff was about. He had a sense of melody and dynamics, where some of the most beautiful music on any instrument was played by Jeff Beck on a Stratocaster. And I think that when he put down the Les Paul and really started using the whammy bar, that’s when he started finding his voice.

“But he never could really work with a singer. He tried once in a while, and would play some one-off stuff as his career went on, but really, in the last 20 to 25 years of his career, he really started doing things with the guitar that no one had ever heard before.

“But they’re all people. You know, they say that you should never meet your heroes because you might not find the person that you think they are. It’s like, ‘Wow, man, if I could just get in a room with him, and party with him…’

“I’ve been lucky to meet some of the guys that I really respected in terms of ability and their career, and they were also really nice guys — like guys I would give the keys to my house to. Jeff was one of those guys.

“So it was really cool being able to meet Jeff. He had a wicked sense of humor, but he was quiet for the most part. I got a chance to spend enough time with him to find out what kind of person he was, and he and his wife are pretty cool and a really nice couple.”

Slash

“And Slash is one of those guys I’d give the keys to my house to. When I first heard Guns N’ Roses’ music on Appetite for Destruction, I was like, “Okay, this is it. This is a great fucking record.” They paid their dues, and that summer they opened for us, and we saw them going from learning and being a club band to becoming an arena band.

“They learned how to carve their own space, because you can do things really differently, like Kiss or Alice [Cooper], you know, by bringing performance art, but still rock out. And I hand it to Kiss — they were fucking amazing, and different. But we just wanted to play rock and roll, and that’s what Guns ’N’ Roses was all about, too.

“They were all about just getting out there and rocking and giving the audience something to fucking see. And then they left the arena, or club, or theater, or whatever; they were two feet off the ground, you know? I could always tell if we did a good show or not — because we always thought that we weren’t as good as we should have been — was we’d be sitting in the dressing room, and as the kids were leaving, if I heard bottles breaking, and kids laughing, I knew we did a good show.

“Slash and Axl Rose would come into our dressing room, and they’d just rocked the shit out of the audience, and they’d talk with us and ask us questions about this, and that. That’s how I got to know Slash. They were still young, and trying to find their place in the hierarchy, and you’re always wondering if you’re ever gonna be as good as the headliner, you know?

“I mean, jeez, we opened for so many bands, and a lot of them were bands we really liked. We’d always wonder if we were ever going to be able to keep doing it, thinking, How long will it last? But they were finding their way, and they did, and they came out of that by the end of the summer and were ready to blow the top off the world, which they did, and still do.

“And a lot of that has to do with Slash and his guitar playing, you know? You can tell that with the kind of guy that he is, he never gives it up. You can never accuse him of phoning it in. I can’t say that about all the people that I’ve bumped into.

“You gotta have respect for someone who can make it in this business as a career, but the music business is a bitch, man. You can have talent dripping out of your fingers, but you can get passed right by. But getting to know Slash over the years, and finding out what he’s all about, even with their ups and downs, and breaking up and all that, it’s been really cool.”

Frank Sidoris has shared the letter he received from Ozzy Osbourne after auditioning for a spot in his band. Although short, the heartfelt letter, written to explain why he didn’t get the gig, gives a candid look at the legend’s humble personality.

The singer and heavy metal icon, who passed away July 22 at 76, was auditioning players in the spring of 2017. At the time, Black Sabbath's The End tour had entered its final stages, and Ozzy wanted to go back out on the road solo.

Sidoris — who joined Slash feat. Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators in 2012 and is also part of Wolfgang Van Halen’s Mammoth — was afforded the chance to take part in a private, and very loud, audition as the Prince of Darkness searched for a new guitarist.

“I was invited to Ozzy's home to perform two songs for him to audition for his band after the Sabbath reunion,” Sidoris explains. “We loaded my amp, guitar, et cetera, into his movie theater, and I played ‘Mama I'm Coming Home’ and ‘Diary of a Madman’ while he sat about 10 feet away from a very loud amp — at his request.

“He sang every word over me, playing at concert volume, which was comforting and hilarious, as it was just him and I in the room with his assistant,” he continues.

Unfortunately for Sidoris, the audition was unsuccessful, as Ozzy opted to reunite with his longtime foil Zakk Wylde, with whom he’d parted after 2007’s Black Rain.

But to Sidoris's surprise, Ozzy went to great lengths to explain his decision in a letter, which Sidoris has shared as a story on his Instagram.

“Frank, I wanted to thank you for coming by to play for me and taking the time to learn my songs. You are a talented musician, and it's obvious to me why you've already had success in this business at a young age.

“I've decided to work with Zakk Wylde, writing and recording my next studio album as well as playing guitar on my upcoming tour dates this summer. Zakk has been with me a long time, and I know that having him play with me is something my fans really want to see.

“I wish you continued success.

“God Bless, Ozzy.”

The revelation about the auditions is also intriguing. Gus G. had replaced Zakk Wylde in Ozzy's band in 2009 and co-wrote Ozzy;s 11th solo album, Scream. However, the guitarist’s time with the band was soon eclipsed by the reformation of Black Sabbath, and he was quietly phased out of the picture.

Wylde’s return was celebrated by the fanbase. He’d been an almost ever-present in the band since 1987, save for a brief period away in the wake of an audition for Guns N’ Roses. The fact that Ozzy had tried other candidates out instead of solely asking Wylde to return shows that the singer wasn’t simply resting on his laurels.

The letter, Sidoris adds, “proves that he was truly everything that you would hope he was as a person.

“It was an honor to be in his welcoming presence and feel his genuine warmth in person.”

It takes someone with a vision and purpose to ask, “Are you gonna go my way?” Lenny Kravitz fit the bill when he wrote that very song in 1992.

Now a young — very young — guitarist has claimed that song for a new generation.

Bay Melnick Virgolino is all of 10 years old, but he made a convincing argument that he is leading the way for guitar’s future when he performed Kravitz’s hit on America’s Got Talent. The pint-sized New Yorker blew away the judges and the crowd with his spot-on rendition in which he not only shredded on a PRS guitar as tall as him but also sang with the conviction of a much older performer.

Speaking with the judges before his performance, Bay revealed that he’s been playing the guitar for five years — half his life — and that he was inspired by a guitarist old enough to be his grandfather.

“I was five years old and I was obsessed with Slash,” Bay said of his main influencer, who was also obsessed with guitar from a young age. “I wanted to learn how to play, so I asked my mom for lessons.”

Mom responded, and Bay clearly jumped at the opportunity, making himself ready for prime time at the tender age of 10.

But Bay was equally impressive with his stage banter. As his parent stood off to his left, he commended them for their support.

“They're my biggest supporters.

“They're kind of like my roadies,” he added, to laughter.

But once he began playing his electric guitar, there was no laughing — just gaping jaws that erupted into cheers when the youngster began singing… and doing so with authority.

Bay not only has some true guitar face — he has enough mojo to get the crowd singing and dancing along with him.

After his performance, he turned his attention to the judges he’d blown away just seconds before. As their comments reveal, they weren’t just impressed by his age — it was his true talent that won their approval.

“I think Lenny Kravitz would be so proud of you,” former Scary Spice Mel B said. “You got so into it and did all those riffs. I really felt it.”

“I think you are one of the coolest kids I’ve ever met,” added actress Sofia Vergara. “You are a little, mini, tiny superstar.”

“I don’t have to say anything. This audience said it,” quipped Howie Mandel. “You are amazing. You are memorable. You’re like a rock star. You really are.”

Then came Simon Cowell’s turn. He added a personal note to what he’d just seen.

“I really can relate to that.,” he said. “My son Eric just learned how to play drums, and I was just thinking, Gosh, it must be the best feeling in the world for you and your mom and dad right now just to be there after that.

“Because you’re so good. You really are. And you’re having the best time you’ve ever had, aren’t you?”

Bay’s success reminds us of another pre-teen prodigy we saw on the program’s sister show, Britain’s Got Talent — namely Olly Pearson, the 11-year-old shredder who blew away that show’s judges and audience last March with a medley of hits by AC/DC, Van Halen and Queen.

As for Bay, in case anyone thinks he’s been sitting at home waiting for his America’s Got Talent moment, think again. The kid has videos all over YouTube, including this impressive take on Jimi Hendrix’s “Voodoo Child,” performed with bassist Jack Lopez and drummer Ezra Kessler at a benefit concert to raise money for kids and families affected by the L.A. wildfires, March 14, 2025.

It’s a Saturday afternoon, and guitarist Tracii Guns is seated in the back of a tour bus. This is where he’s spent most of his time since March, when he and his band, L.A. Guns, hit the road in the U.S. After a short break in June, he and the group will be back at it until October, and chances are they’ll be booked through the end of the year.

“All the real work gets done between touring,” he says. “You write songs, you record, you sign the contracts, you do the merch — you do all that stuff. Then, all of a sudden, you're thrown out into the total chaos of the road. That’s when it all goes crazy and it’s impossible to schedule anything, because things keep changing. That’s just the way it is.”

Change has been a near-constant for the band during its 42-year-career. L.A. Guns have been through something like 30 members, and that’s not even counting the period in the early ‘80s when they merged with Axl Rose’s Hollywood Rose to become Guns N’ Roses, which the guitarist famously quit in 1985. There were multiple breakups and reunions, and between 2006 and 2012 there were two versions of L.A. Guns: one led by Guns and the other run by lead singer Phil Lewis.

Guns and Lewis got back together in 2017, and from all accounts, their relationship appears to be solid. In 2023, they recorded a ripping set, Black Diamonds, with guitarist Ace Von Johnson, bass guitar player Johnny Martin and studio drummer Adam Hamilton, and the same lineup checks in on the band’s latest release, Leopard Skin.

It’s a frisky and feisty, good-natured album, one that throws elements of AC/DC, Zeppelin, the Stones and ’70s glam into a vacuum-sealed bag. Nearing the age of 60, Guns still has a seemingly inexhaustible supply of inventive and energetic electric guitar riffs up his sleeve. Indeed, on the opening one-two punch of “Taste It” and “Lucky Motherfucker,” he conducts a veritable masterclass of uproarious licks.

“I actually get scared when I realize I have to come up with new material,” he says. “If you have to fulfill a contract, you’ll get that email with the deadline. That’s when I start to panic, like, Oh, shit, what am I gonna do?”

Despite the terror, however, the prospect of looming deadlines seem to focus his creativity. Even so, Guns says, “We won’t send anything out till three or four of us are satisfied and the music isn’t boring anywhere.” He smiles. “Rule of thumb: Don’t be boring.”

Let’s go back to the early ’80s. Was the Sunset Strip a minefield of rock bands looking to be the next Mötley Crüe or Van Halen?

That's fairly accurate. It was definitely like that when we put the original L.A. Guns together, which was before Guns N’ Roses and before Axl was in the band. We wanted to be Ozzy meets the Scorpions. I saw Mötley Crüe at the Troubadour, and I was like, “Whoa, that is so loud!” They were scary looking, too.

Suddenly, everybody was loud and scary looking. They really broke through the ice. They were kind of the end of the hardcore punk rock L.A. scene. Suddenly, all these long-haired punk rockers were playing extreme-sounding metal.

Guitar-wise, where did you fit in? You weren't exactly trying to be the next Eddie, so what was your lane?

It was weird because I really was into Pat Smear from the Germs, but I was also into Jimmy Page and Randy Rhoads and Joe Perry and Ritchie Blackmore. I was really into Blackmore.

Nobody puts Ritchie Blackmore and Pat Smear together.

Or Johnny Thunders and Michael Schenker. I loved Johnny Thunders’ attitude, like, “I might suck, but I’m awesome.” Snotty muso players laughed at him because he didn’t sound like Eddie Van Halen, but he didn’t care. I didn’t care either. Maybe because I was an older teenager and kind of stupid, but I thought, Nobody does what I do.

When you hired Axl Rose and L.A. Guns became Guns N’ Roses, did you and Axl share a common musical vision?

We definitely did. We were the best of friends. And then things got weird, but our vision was identical. Then we brought Izzy [Stradlin] back into the mix. He was just my roommate, and we never played together per se, but we never stopped talking about what was cool.

It was all about being cool. I found that Axl was a very empathetic person when it comes to the vocal style he admires — like Dan McCafferty from Nazareth, and obviously Bon Scott and Brian Johnson. He loved Blackie Lawless. I was always forcing Robert Plant down Axl’s throat. He didn't grow up a big Zeppelin fan, but he knew I was a big Zep head. When Axl was in L.A. Guns, we were a metal band. We were straight-up metal.

What was the vibe on the band around town? Were labels scouting you guys?

It was so weird. Toward the end of L.A. Guns and becoming Guns N’ Roses, we had built our audience. We weren’t savvy about the business. We never thought we'd get signed. We never even talked about it. But suddenly we had all these guys hanging around – “I’m from this label, that label, blah, blah, blah.” When I left, Guns N’ Roses got signed pretty quick.

Your parting with Axl wasn’t entirely amicable. Can we say that?

People can Google that shit. I turned that question down 117 times in the last three months. People know. I'm trying to promote L.A. Guns, not some argument over Ecstasy.

Did you have a sense that Slash was going to replace you? How did you feel about that?

Oh yeah. When I left, I knew Slash was going to be the guy because he was in Hollywood Rose. It was the right thing to do. He was my guitar buddy growing up, since we were 11 years old. Him coming in was just going to happen.

So I left and reformed L.A. Guns, and it was the greatest thing because everything that we did leading up to the signing of Guns N’ Roses led to the signing of L.A. Guns six months later.

Nothing about what went down changed your relationship with Slash?

No, no, no. The only two people that argued for the next three months were Axl and me, and then we were fine.

Before you released the first L.A. Guns album, Guns N’ Roses started to take off. You still had no regrets about leaving?

I don’t regret leaving Guns N’ Roses. They were awesome with Slash. How could I have regret when half the band’s name is my name? I’m arguably their biggest fan of all time.

I remember we were mixing our first record, and I got a cassette of Appetite from Geffen. I went and listened to it by myself in Studio A, and I was like, “Fuck, this is so good.”

I got the other guys and told them, “You guys gotta listen to this.” I loved “It’s So Easy.” I never heard that song before, and I was like, “Goddamn, that's fucking cool.”

I'm listening to it with the guys, and they pretended they didn't get it, but I told them, “No, no, no. This is fucking awesome.” They didn't believe in it, but I did.

Based on that success, I knew it was a clear channel for L.A. Guns, because to me, Guns N’ Roses is what broke us all away from Mötley Crüe and Ratt and a lot of the other stuff that we didn't want to be lumped with in. The only way to have success is to not be like somebody else.

The first two L.A. Guns albums went Gold. A lot of people consider that period as being the classic lineup of the band. Do you agree?

Of course I agree. Every band and situation is different. It's like with Iron Maiden: Paul Di'Anno on the first two records, which is what I love — I think that's the greatest Maiden period. They went with different guitar player, different singers, and obviously with Bruce they're huge. Sammy Hagar joins Van Halen — huge.

As you said, you were a fan of punk back in the ’80s. How did you feel when grunge came in?

I felt the same way. I was like, “This is killer!”

Grunge made life difficult for a lot of bands associated with the Sunset Strip.

I think it opened the door. If the ‘80s were the party, then Nirvana and Soundgarden and Alice in Chains were the hangover. Everything got sad and meaningful, while the previous rock scene wasn't very meaningful. I mean, sure, there was “Every Rose Has its Thorn” and “The Ballad of Jayne” and “Sweet Child O’ Mine," but other than that, it was about getting laid and whatever.

We were never big enough for grunge to affect our numbers. We just kept making records and touring. Things pretty much stayed the same.

Do you think you’re a better guitar player than you were 30 years ago?

I'm a more educated player. Does that make you better? I don't know… It makes me be able to sit with a guitar when I'm recording and have an alternative point of view, whether it's rhythmically or melodically. I have more options now because I'm better educated.

On the other hand, is there something to be said for naivete? When you're young, you do it because it feels good. When you’re older, you tend to get more cerebral.

I would agree with that. To me, that was the beauty of making those first couple of records. I was just flying — hit the button and go. I think there's something to be said for the energy of youthful guitar playing.

I talked about this with Eddie Van Halen. I was, like, 26 or 27, so he must have been 36 or 37. We were talking about he said, “You’re still young. You're only on your third record, so you can do whatever you want.” I said, “Yeah, but so can you.” He said, “Yeah, but I got my own studio now. I know what a compressor does now. I know what a delay does now. I know all these things… ”

You mentioned how you were flying on the first couple of L.A. Guns records. A lot of people feel the same about the first three Van Halen records.

Yeah, it was an explosion. That's the greatest thing about a band that has something new to say, especially that combination of David Lee Roth and Eddie Van Halen. Out of the gate, it was like, “Whoa, I like this!”

You talked about how you get scared when you have to write a new record. Do new ideas come to you as easily as when you were younger?

I think that's the beauty of me embracing and researching different styles. I continue to go down the rock and roll rabbit hole. I feel like I've kind of maxed out on metal in a lot of ways. But I really love the guitar, and I really love loud amplification. Am I scared? No. I'm scared that I'm going to be 60 next year, but as far as music, the only thing I think I'd be scared of other than getting old is being homeless.

“I’d probably have practiced a little more If I knew I was going to affect that many people’s lives,” Ace Frehley told us when we asked him about the five tracks most essential to his career.

And indeed, Ace has been an influence on countless players, thanks to his well-loved guitar licks and melodic solos, all of it performed on a Gibson Les Paul.

Be it the solo for “Shock Me,” which Frehley has said he did in “one take,” the flange-soaked-meets-wah-drenched solo in “Rocket Ride,” or the one in “She,” which Gene Simmons revealed was a note-for-note re-creation of Robby Krieger’s solo in the Doors’ track “Five to One,” there’s simply no denying that Ace Frehley’s unschooled, off-the-rails style was a harbinger for hair metal and thrash.

Proof of this can be found in numerous interviews with players like Dimebag Darrell, John 5, Slash, and many others, in which they've spoken Frehley's praise. Hell, even grunge icon Mike McCready and alt-hero Tom Morello have shown Ace loads of love over the years.

But what does Ace think of the adoration that generations of six-stringed heroes have thrown his way? Specifically, what does he think of his influence over Dime, John 5 — who has his own Kiss museum filled with personal artifacts and mementoes — and Slash?

GP wondered, and so we asked Ace — who recently told us what he thought of his Kiss replacements — to recount his thoughts and experiences with all three.

Dimebag Darrell

“I was good friends with Dimebag. I actually spent a weekend at his home, and he was a good guy! And he was a fun guy. He always said I was a big influence on him — but he played a lot faster than me. He was heavy metal. He played more speed metal than blues.

“But Dimebag was a great guy, and he had my face tattooed on his chest. [laughs] And man, we had a lot of fun one weekend at his house!”

John 5

“John 5 is a dear friend of mine. He actually called me up, and he said, ‘I’m a little nervous about playing with Mötley Crüe,’ so he invited me for the first show. He wanted a little moral support. [laughs]

“And then, me, him and Nikki [Sixx] were handing out backstage after the show. I think it was in Atlantic City, in New Jersey.

“But John is really technical. I mean… he can play anything. He can play stuff by Glen Campell, and he’s just a really great, technical guitar player. He definitely surpasses me, you know? I just have one style. I can’t play 10 different kinds of styles — but John can play country, metal, and he can even play country. You know… he’s just an amazing musician.

“But for the most part, he pretty much just stands up there, whereas I kind of, you know, developed certain types of physical moves. I remember that in the early days with Kiss, I used to bend back really far, and I had all these sorts of physical moves and choreography with Kiss. And a lot of that was actually created by Kiss’s first road manager, Sean Delaney, who had a big hand in getting us to do all those moves.”

Slash

“Slash is another good friend of mine. He says I influenced him, but I have to be honest — I don’t know how. [laughs]

“He never told me. He just said that he’s a fan of my guitar playing, and I never questioned it. So you’d have to interview Slash on that one. But we did do a song for my first Origins album [Vol. 1] together, which was ‘Emerald’ by Thin Lizzy. We did that together, live in the studio, and we traded off solos. He’s a great guitar player.”

Despite being just 18 years old, Grace Bowers is a shining light for the future of blues guitar. She’s been championed by the likes of Devon Allman, Margo Price, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, and Susan Tedeschi since releasing her debut album, Wine on Venus, last year.

Bowers' rise has been nothing short of meteoric, with her talents and fame belying her youthfulness. Having regularly posted clips of her playing on social media in recent years, the comments sections of those videos soon played host to some reputable names.

“My guitar heroes would start commenting on my posts,” she tells Classic Rock. “I’ll never forget the day that Brian May commented on one of them. That was when I had to step back and be like, ‘Wow, that’s wild.’ It was kind of crazy how things all just built up so big before we [Grace Bowers & the Hodge Podge] put a single song out.”

Impressively, Bowers already has nine years of playing beneath her fingers and says a certain top-hatted guitarist was responsible for drawing her to the instrument.

“Slash is the reason I picked up a guitar when I was nine,” she says. “I somehow found the 'Welcome to the Jungle' music video by Guns N' Roses,” she told Marty Music. “You know, Slash in that, with his Les Paul and everything. He looked cool. I wanted to look cool like Slash, so I asked my mom for a guitar."

The pair crossed paths at a show in July last year, providing a full-circle moment for her.

Hearing B. B. King’s "Sweet Little Angel" on the radio shortly after sent her on a voyage of self-discovery via blue music’s rich history.

“That’s the song that made me realize I love this, that I want to do this forever,” she says.

Yet, despite being drawn to the blues, Bowers is veering away from one of its archetypal trademarks. Wine on Venus is brimming with happiness and smiling riffs, rather than the tales of woe and stinging licks that typically define the genre.

“I don’t hate sad songs,” she tells CR, “but I don’t think I’ll ever write a sad song. Being in the studio with all those people, there’s no reason to be sad about anything. I think what came out in the music was how much fun we all had recording.”

Even when the core of a song comes from a place of hardship or tragedy, she finds light in the darkness.

“The title track was written about my nana and before she passed,” she reveals. “Before she died she would tell everyone not to worry because she’ll be drinking wine on Venus because it’s the brightest star. I like that idea, it’s so out there.”

Bowers has gone on to share stages with Dolly Parton and Gary Clarke Jr., and rub shoulders with Billy Gibbons, and Orianthi, earning her a Gibson endorsement at the tender age of 14.

Her fast ascent through the ranks, coupled with her age, has seen her face her critics but she’s intent on winning them over one gig at a time.

“I get disrespected before I even play,” the guitarist told Guitar World last year. “People take one look at me, a young female, and immediately get a thought in their head of what I am, and they don’t take me as seriously as they should.”

Shinedown's Zach Myers, Michelle Malone, Driver Williams (Eric Church) Lynyrd Skynyrd's Damon Johnson, Trev Lukather, Steve Stevens, and Mother Mother's Ryan Guldemond were among the stars to hail her 2024's best new guitarist in Guitar World's end of year issue.

Jeff Beck was an atypical guitar hero — a guitar hero’s guitar hero, even. He didn't align himself with the showmanship of many of his peers, and even turned down a spot in John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, a band well-known for launching the careers of players like Eric Clapton and Mick Taylor.

While that may have earned him the respect of his peers, it nearly cost him his career on two occasions. The first was when Jimi Hendrix arrived on British soil and Eric Clapton simultaneously began his meteoric rise, leaving Beck in the dirt.

“Next thing you know, Eric was moving ahead with Cream, and it was kicking off in big chunks. But me, I was left with nothing,” he told Guitar World in 2010.

Beck survived and found his groove with 1975’s Blow by Blow, and a whole new generation of guitar players began to admire him.

That includes Slash, a true heavyweight of the next generation of shredders. And it was with the Guns N' Roses guitarist that Beck once again saw his career nearly come to a crashing halt.

Guns N’ Roses were at the height of their powers in the early ‘90s and were supporting the release of 1991's Use Your Illusion by journeying across South America with Aerosmith and Beck in tow. Naturally, such a star-studded guitar lineup provided scope for some off-the-cuff jams, but they nearly came at a huge cost for Beck, as Slash revealed to Guitar World later that year.

“I finally got to jam with Jeff Beck,” he told the magazine, "and we blew his ears out — literally.

“That night, he woke up with this insane screaming in his ears. He had to go to the hospital and everything. Later, he called me up to say he was pissed and that he might not be able to play live anymore because my amp gave him tinnitus.”

Beck was used to his own measured onstage setup. Slash and his “dangerous” cohorts played far louder and proved too hot for Beck to handle.

“I don't think it was really my fault,” Slash explained, “but my rig was the straw that broke the camel's back.

“I wanted to pack it up that day, send the amps home, and find a nice little job selling life insurance or something,” he added with a laugh.

Slash also recalled how Beck's virtuosity allowed the guitarist to perform elaborate riffs, licks and techniques almost subconsciously. "I was in a jam session with him, Joe Perry, Lenny Kravitz, and Gilby [Clarke]," Slash recalled, "and Jeff was playing all this amazing shit while simultaneously talking to me.”

In related news, Beck's Yardbirds legacy was celebrated earlier this year with a replica of his 1959 Les Paul Standard. Meanwhile, Joe Perry, who featured on that near-fated tour, ended up owning one of Beck's ultra-rare early Klon Centaurs.

Through iconic gigs with Aerosmith, as a solo artist and with the Hollywood Vampires, Joe Perry has been known for playing his red 10-string B.C. Rich Bich, his oft-favored and ever-changing Frankensteined Burned Strat and his Gibson "Billie" semi-hollowbody guitars, to name a few.

However, one electric guitar from Perry's 600-plus-strong collection stands out: a 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard 'Burst. While the guitar has meaning, if you've seen Perry perform live, you'll know he's not one to stagnate on one guitar for more than a song or two. "I always buy stuff that I know I'm going to use or that looks interesting," he says.

That checks out, as dozens of oddballs reside within his collection. "Some of those guitars might not be the hippest guitars in the world, or whatever, but it's always inspiring to pick up something that's got a different sound to it," he says. "You tend to play differently. That's where the ideas come from."

Returning to the 'Burst in question, Perry first came upon the guitar in the early ’70s after trading a '60s Guild Starfire, for it. The guitar stuck with him throughout the decade, during which time he wrote He was thick as thieves with the ’Burst until the early ‘80s, when he sold the beloved axe to a music shop in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

That's not surprising, as Perry admits to clearing proverbial decks when he left Aerosmith in '79 and after divorced his first wife in the early ’80s. The ’59 'Burst was just another casualty. What's more, Perry was searching for new sounds and wanted to avoid being chained to a guitar so closely related to his image onstage and in the studio with Aerosmith.

But it didn't take long for regret to set in. "There's a fair amount of guitars I don't have anymore that I wish I did," Perry says.

When looking back at the story of Joe Perry's '59 Les Paul, one has to understand that when Perry sold it, it wasn't an uncommon occurrence. Ace Frehley admits to doing the same thing around the same time, although the former Kiss six-stringer was funding a gambling trip, not rebuilding his life.

So there are stark differences. And who could blame Perry for wanting a change and some extra cash in his pocket as he embarked on a solo career?

Another point to consider is that while 'Bursts were going for decent dollars in the early ’80s, they sure weren't going for the six-figure numbers that late-1950s Les Paul Standards command these days, let alone one played by the guitarist of a legendary band.

As a result, Joe’s guitar was long gone by the time regret set in. When Aerosmith regrouped and rolled into the '90s on a wave of success via Permanent Vacation, Pump and Get a Grip, he had no idea where his favored 'Burst was.

Little could did he imagine that his guitar had made an appearance on MTV in a music video for Guns N' Roses' "November Rain.”

By then, Perry was deep into his search for the guitar. "We were starting to make some money after the band got rolling again," Perry says. "I thought It would be great to track down a couple of guitars that I'm missing. I started making phone calls around Boston and looking around.”

Remarkably, it was his bandmate Brad Whitford who hipped Perry to the news that his ’Burst had landed with another famous owner.

"I remember being in the studio, telling my guitar tech, 'I'm trying to track down my Les Paul,’ when Brad walked over,” Perry explains. “Brad said, ’Your Les Paul? I know where it is.’ He pulled out a guitar magazine with Slash's collection.

“And there it was. That's when I found out Slash had it."

Ironically, Aerosmith had shared the stage with Guns N' Roses in '92. In fact, Perry and Slash were pals. As a result, the guitarist felt emboldened to ask his friend for his guitar back. "I called him," Perry says. "I told him, 'Hey, I'll pay whatever you paid for it.'"

Slash wasn't having it. "He begged me not to ask. He said, 'Please don't ask me that.' But I'd call him every once in a while, just to see how he was, and I'd ask him, just as a joke.” Perry says, "I understood. If I had one of Jeff [Beck]'s guitars, I wouldn't wanna give it up. I definitely understood how he felt about it."

While most of Perry's pleas were joking in nature, the pressure of owning the iconic ’Burst was too much for Slash and had caused an unspoken rift between the two guitarists. "He wasn't around," Perry says. "I tried getting in touch with him, and I realized he didn't want to be asked anymore. It was getting in the way of our friendship."

So Perry mended things with Slash. "I said, 'I'm not going to ask you anymore — not even in kidding,’” he explains.

The 'Burst remained with Slash into 2000. By then, the guitarist was four years out of Guns N’ Roses and deep into his solo career, with his ’59 ’Burst in hand.

But while Perry had stopped asking Slash about the guitar, little did he know his wife, Billie, had taken up the cause. Slash and Perry shared the same lawyer, and she’d been communicating through him to Slash, trying to get the ’59 ’Burst back in Joe’s hands.

By then, after years of owning the guitar and building a collection, Slash was ready to part with the guitar. Joe’s 50th birthday bash was coming up and it seemed the perfect time to reunite him with his instrument.

And Slash had a plan.

Perry had hired Cheap Trick to perform at the bash. “They asked me what I wanted for my birthday, and I said, 'I want to play a set with you guys. I want to play your songs,’” Joe recalls. “I love those guys.

“So I got up to play a short set with Cheap Trick. And that's when they handed me the guitar."

Just like that, for the first time in nearly two decades, Perry was reunited with his long-lost '59 Les Paul ‘Burst. "I played the set with that guitar," he says. "It was an amazing night, I'll tell you. But I mean… I got my guitar back. I couldn't thank Slash enough. And I got to play with Cheap Trick!"

In the years since, Perry hasn't let the infamous ‘Burst go. The odds are that the guitar will be with him until the end, which is fair. Even though it's not his main guitar, the ‘Burst’s legend will be forever tied to Perry's towering legacy, and vice versa.

At 74, Perry remains a guitar junkie. His collection continues to grow, ebb and flow, and it is always functional. But no matter the space between plug and plays, the iconic ’59 Aerosmith 'Burst remains. Over the years, its legend has grown, with Gibson's Custom Shop even producing faithful recreations of Perry's prized Les Paul.

Though nothing compares to the original, which reminds Perry that there are other guitars he let get away. "I wish I had a few of the pieces I lost at the end of the '70s," he admits. "But I still have some stuff, like custom Aerosmith amps and a lot of old foot pedals.

"There's a fair amount of guitars that were sold or stolen. I don't have the guitar, the [early-70s Fender] Strat, that I played 'Walk This Way' on; I wish I did. But I've got my Les Paul back, thanks to my wife, Billie, and thanks to Slash."

The thorny subject of the greatest guitar solo of all time has long been a fiercely contested debate, probably because every solo is different. How do you compare, say, “Comfortably Numb” with “Crazy Train,” or “Stairway to Heaven” with “Sultans of Swing”? It’s impossible. Still, public opinion ebbs and flows, and we wanted to find out which solos currently rank among our readers as the greatest of them all.

So we ran a poll on GuitarPlayer.com to find out and here we present the results. We’ll take a look at the stories behind the songs and find out just what made those lead guitar breaks so great through conversations with Brian May, Kirk Hammett, Michael Schenker and others.

20. Gary Moore | “Still Got the Blues”

GUITARIST: GARY MOORE (1990)

The definitive blues guitar ballad.

Presented as the title track from his 1990 album, this wistful tune in A minor became Gary Moore’s calling card fairly late in his career, when he reinvented himself as a blues artist. There’s a point in the solo where you can hear the Belfast great switch from the neck humbucker to the bridge on the 1959 Les Paul Standard he nicknamed Stripe and start deviating from its main theme, mainly sticking within the A minor pentatonic scale, with a few notes from the Aeolian and harmonic minor scales.

Moore was plugged into his prototype Marshall JTM-45 reissue head with one of the company’s newly designed Guv’nor distortion pedals out in front. More than 30 years later, this remains one of the most raw and expressive blues tracks, with Moore almost fighting his guitar at points, yet never failing to deliver the goods

19. Metallica | “Fade To Black”

GUITARIST: Kirk Hammett (1984)

Metallica’s first ballad features some of Kirk’s most epic playing.

Recorded at Flemming Rasmussen’s Sweet Silence Studios in Copenhagen in February and March 1984, Ride the Lightning, Metallica’s sophomore album, was more progressive and stylistically greater in scope than the all-out thrash assault of their debut, Kill ’Em All. That change is evident on “Fade to Black,” which features acoustic guitars and a nonstandard structure more akin to the “Stairway to Heaven” school of songcraft. But it is the song’s timeless melodic solo that most vividly signals a stylistic shift in guitarist Kirk Hammett’s playing. And the signature element he employs for the last solo is arpeggios.

“I have been playing that song for so long now,” Kirk tells our sister publication Total Guitar. “For the very last solo, I know how I want to start it, but then I am in an area where I can improvise for 16, 18 or 24 bars, and then [drummer] Lars [Ulrich] will hit a certain fill, which means that it’s up and it’s time for the arpeggio part. And then I just slide right into those arpeggios.” And they are arpeggios played on two strings, Hammett specifies. “When guitar players first started incorporating arpeggios into their playing, before the whole Yngwie sweep-picking thing, arpeggios were played on two strings – not three or four strings,” he explains. “And that was what the vogue was at the time in the 1980s, so I have been playing those for a long time. I use my middle finger just to anchor my position on the neck.”

That’s a great tip from the man who plays the solos. But how should you tackle them yourself? First, there are two essential scales you’ll need to know: the B natural minor scale and the B Phrygian mode, both shown below. These cover you for the entire opening 30 bars, which, let’s face it, is a lot of music, so this is a good reason to learn a couple of shapes if ever there was one.

To make it simpler, most of your time is spent in the natural minor scale. Not until around bar 20 will you find yourself briefly landing on the C note, which appears in the Phrygian mode. The bottom line is that Hammett improvises this part of the solo live – and these are the shapes he uses.

Up next are those two-string arpeggio shapes, and they’re 16th notes – all of them! At 142 bpm, it’s pretty fast, but Hammett doesn’t pick every note, opting to use pull-offs to make those rapid licks easier. It’s definitely something to experiment with and if you’re still struggling, you could try adding in an occasional hammer‑on, too.

18. Steely Dan | “Kid Charlemagne”

GUITARIST: Larry Carlton (1976)

Messin’ with the “Kid.”

Steely Dan’s catalog is filled with remarkable guitar solos, but Larry Carlton’s brilliant work on The Royal Scam’s “Kid Charlemagne” remains the most celebrated. Carlton strings together a series of tasty phrases that follow the underlying chord changes with a blend of inside and outside playing that is technically mind bending and emotionally satisfying.

“I was pretty familiar with the tune, so I just improvised,” he tells Guitar Player. “People think I’m kidding when I say that, like I had worked the solo out beforehand, but I didn’t. It was straight improv, and it worked.” Very well, in fact. Perhaps more has been written about his solo than of the song itself.

Despite the acclaim, Carlton was, and remains, nonplussed. “When the record came out, there was a wonderful review of the tune in Billboard and they raved about the solo,” he says. “I put the record on and listened to it with my wife, and at the end of it I said, ‘I don’t know. It just sounds like me.’”

17. Cream | “Crossroads”

GUITARIST: Eric Clapton (1968)

The finest rock and roll cover of an acoustic blues song.

It started as a blues tune called “Cross Road Blues” by Robert Johnson and became one of the finest examples of natural ability, soulfulness and showmanship from a virtuosic 22-year-old guitarist named Eric Clapton. His reimagining of the song as “Crossroads” further cemented a legacy that by then had earned him the nickname God.

Famously recorded at San Francisco’s Fillmore West venue for supergroup Cream’s Wheels of Fire album, Clapton’s arrangement retains the soul and spirit of Johnson’s original but updates it for a contemporary audience raring to cut loose and be entertained by dazzlingly quick, passionate musicianship.

Remarkably, Clapton is no fan of the performance: He complains that the band lost the “one” in the first verse of his second solo break, thereby throwing off his phrasing. That’s perfectionism for you. For everyone else, this four-minute track remains a source of fascination more than 50 years on.

16. Eric Johnson | “Cliffs Of Dover”

GUITARIST: Eric Johnson (1990)

Heavenly tones from the Texan great.

This instrumental won Eric Johnson a Grammy for its exquisitely tasteful guitar playing and jaw-dropping tones. For the recordings, the Texan musician mainly stuck with his early ’60s ES-335, though he chose to use his 1964 “Virginia” Strat for the opening lead and parts of the main solo. The guitars were fed into a 100-watt Marshall Super Lead, with an Echoplex and BK Butler Tube Driver to help achieve those smooth, violin-like tones and warm sustain.

“I first heard him in 1986 on Live at Austin City Limits,” Joe Bonamassa told us in 2015. “It was ‘Cliffs of Dover,’ and it was just terrifyingly good guitar playing. I wasn’t even sure if it was real! Then I saw him live, and his tones were the best I’d ever heard. I wondered how this guy was getting all of these sounds out of his Strat. I’d never seen anybody have such a forward-thinking rig like that.”

15. Prince | “Purple Rain”

GUITARIST: Prince (1984)

The Purple One’s defining guitar moment.

The epic outro to “Purple Rain” – which takes up nearly two thirds of the song itself – stands out as some of Prince’s finest work on the six-string, wailing away in G minor pentatonic and occasionally including some more modal notes, like the minor 6th. There’s also that repeating motif that dances around the 2nd and minor 3rd intervals.

It’s simple and effective, setting things up for the vocal melody that comes in toward the end. It’s not a busy solo by any means. Rather, the Purple One chose to leave a lot of space in between the lines he played and focus on big hooks instead of monster licks.

Prince would extend the solo for up to 15 minutes in live performance. While there are many great live renditions of this track, his half-time performance for 2007’s Super Bowl in Miami is the stuff of legend. Shredding alone onstage in the middle of a storm, Prince seemed to be living the moment for which this song was written.

14. Deep Purple | “Highway Star”

GUITARIST: Ritchie Blackmore (1972)

Race with devil on English highway.

“I wrote that out note for note about a week before we recorded it,” Ritchie Blackmore said of his remarkable and most definitely memorable solo to “Highway Star.” “And that is one of the only times I have ever done that. I wanted it to sound like someone driving in a fast car, for it to be one of those songs you would listen to while speeding. And I wanted a very definite Bach sound, which is why I wrote it out – and why I played those very rigid arpeggios across that very familiar Bach progression – D minor, G minor, C major, A major. I believe that I was the first person to do that so obviously on the guitar, and I believe that that’s why it stood out and why people have enjoyed it so much.

“Over the years, I’ve always played that solo note for note, but it just got faster and faster onstage because we would drink more and more whisky. [Keyboardist] Jon [Lord] would have to play his already difficult part faster and faster, and he would get very annoyed about it.”

13. Guns N’ Roses | “Sweet Child O’ Mine”

GUITARIST: Slash (1988)

A game of two halves.

Slash’s solo on this Guns N’ Roses breakthrough single is rock guitar at its finest. The first half is laid-back and modal, built around the Eb minor scale with a few major 7ths thrown in for a harmonic-minor flavor. The second half is much more aggressive and bluesy, and sticks mainly to position one of the pentatonic scale an octave up the neck in the same key. The bends feel that much wider and the vibrato more pronounced.

Slash plays the first section on the neck pickup for thickness and warmth before switching over to the bridge for more bite, with his Cry Baby engaged. Perhaps most impressive is his off-the-cuff sense of feel and how he strings it all together, which is the mark of any great guitar solo. Remarkably, although Slash’s riff was responsible for the song’s creation, he wasn’t fond of the song originally. “We were a pretty hard driving band, and that was sort of an uptempo ballady type of a thing,” he said. “So it’s grown on me over the years.”

12. Ozzy Osbourne | “Crazy Train”

GUITARIST: Randy Rhoads (1980)

Fretboard fireworks galore on Ozzy’s Blizzard of Ozz comeback.

The Double-O has often cited Randy Rhoads as the man who saved his career – and when you hear the solo on “Crazy Train,” you understand why. Although Rhoads’ classical- and modal-based approach was far from Tony Iommi’s blues leanings, he was, like Ozzy’s old bandmate, a true inventor.

There’s a section toward the end of this solo that actually sounds like a train squealing off the tracks, thanks to the use of a chromatically ascending trill that then descends in key. Rhoads concludes the solo with a fast-picked F# minor pentatonic phrase before a rapid Aeolian legato run ending with a big bend on the 19th fret.

The shredder performed the solo with his customized Jackson guitar through a Marshall and a couple of 4x12s while sitting in the control room. “We’d plug the guitar directly into the console,” recalls Blizzard of Ozz engineer Max Norman. “We’d preamp it in the console and send it down to the amp from there. That way we could control the amount of gain that hit the amp.”

11. Michael Jackson | “Beat It”

GUITARIST: Eddie Van Halen (1982)

Breathtaking results from an unlikely pairing.

Asked to contribute guitar to Michael Jackson’s Thriller album, Pete Townshend declined but offered a suggestion: How about Eddie Van Halen? Jackson and producer Quincy Jones thought that was a great idea, and got Ed onboard to play the solo to “Beat It.” But after hearing the part where he was asked to solo, the guitarist was unhappy with the chord changes and had the engineer edit the tape to create a new pattern that better suited what he had in mind.

Ed knew Jackson might be surprised and possibly unhappy with his executive decision. “So I warned him before he listened,” he told CNN in 2012. “I said, ‘Look, I changed the middle section of your song.’ Now in my mind, he’s either going to have his bodyguards kick me out for butchering his song, or he’s going to like it. And so he gave it a listen, and he turned to me and went, ‘Wow, thank you so much for having the passion to not just come in and blaze a solo but to actually care about the song and make it better.’” And he did it for free.

10. The Beatles | “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”

GUITARIST: Eric Clapton (1968)

An uncredited Slowhand makes a rare guest appearance with the Fab Four.

By 1968, George Harrison was penning compositions that rivaled those of his bandmates John Lennon and Paul McCartney. “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” was every bit as good as anything his musical partners wrote, but no one could get up the enthusiasm for it, so Harrison invited his pal Eric Clapton to play on the session, knowing it would put the Beatles on good behavior.

Using Harrison’s 1957 “Lucy” Gibson Les Paul through a Fender Deluxe amp, Clapton doesn’t so much mimic the haunting, aching main melody as he creates a harrowing song within a song. His descending bends and release notes, and that inimitable vibrato, are on full display and are appropriately tear-jerking, weaving a dramatic narrative that builds to a shattering climax.

9. Chicago | “25 OR 6 TO 4”

GUITARIST: Terry Kath (1969)

Wah-drenched ecstasy.

This magazine once described Terry Kath’s “25 or 6 to 4” solo as “Wes Montgomery meets Jimi Hendrix,” and it’s a fair point, as Kath was influenced first by jazz and, later, hard rock. As a founding member of the jazz-rock band Chicago, he held down guitar duties for the group until his tragic death from an accidentally self-inflicted gunshot wound in 1978.

Though his superb playing graced many tracks – notably “Introduction” and “Free Form Guitar,” both from the group’s 1969 debut, The Chicago Transit Authority – there’s no denying the power of his soloing on the group’s early hit “25 or 6 to 4.” Kath uses his wah generously to add emotion to his lines, giving them at times a frenetic despair.

Kath most likely played his Gibson SG Standard, as pictured on Chicago Transit Authority’s inner sleeve, using his favored string set, as revealed to GP: the high E string from a tenor set and a standard set for the rest, moved down one string (i.e. high E for the B string, B for the G string, and so on).

8. Lynyrd Skynyrd | “Free Bird”

GUITARIST: Allen Collins (1974)

The Bird is the word.

As it happens, the four-minute-and-24- second guitar solo that closes “Free Bird” was originally added to give singer Ronnie Van Zant a chance to rest his vocal cords during Lynyrd Skynyrd’s relentless performance schedule. At 143 bars long, the solo is far and away the most epic offering here (in fact, it’s 286 bars of recorded music because the whole thing is doubled).

The tune appeared on the group’s eponymous debut album in 1973, and guitarist Allen Collins delivered the lot on his 1964 Gibson Explorer. As Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Gary Rossington once told Guitar World, “The whole long jam was Allen Collins himself. He was bad. He was super bad! He was bad-to-the-bone bad. When we put the solo together, we liked the sound of the two guitars, and I could’ve gone out and played it with him. But the way he was doin’ it, he was just so hot! He just did it once and did it again, and it was done.”

7. Dire Straits | “Sultans Of Swing”

GUITARIST: Mark Knopfler

An understated guitar hero fingerpicks his way to glory.

Right when the world was crowning Eddie Van Halen the new King of Guitar, along came the rather unassuming Mark Knopfler – schooled in rockabilly, blues and jazz – who demonstrated that you didn’t need walls of distortion to turn heads.

Knopfler composed this pub-rock classic on a National steel guitar but thought it sounded “dull” – that is, until he picked up a Stratocaster, at which point the song “came alive.” Using nary a hint of grit on a Fender Twin, he fingerpicks not one but two standout solos.

The first features a lyrical section of elegant, Chet Atkins-style single-note and chordal bends that sigh and swoon with dreamy romanticism. In itself, that would be enough, but the outro solo is the real attention-grabber, on which Knopfler builds to a dazzling set of spitfire 16th-note arpeggios – cleanly played, precise and rousing every time you hear it.

6. The Jimi Hendrix Experience | “All Along The Watchtower”

GUITARIST: Jimi Hendrix (1968)

The greatest solo in a cover version.

This song tops any list of covers that are better than the original. Guitarists invariably refer to it as a Hendrix cover rather than a Bob Dylan original, proof of how much Hendrix made it his own. Jimi’s rhythm playing is astounding, both in the intro and in the deft chord/ melody work of the verses, and of course, there’s the small matter of four guitar solos to consider. The man many refer to as the best of all time makes the most of his Strat and Marshall rig here, but it’s his offering at the 2:20 mark that we’re interested in. Following an opening run of octaves, he gets into his stride with a typically blues-based minor pentatonic approach in C#.

At 2:32, the main solo explodes into a trademark combination of rhythm and lead, plus funky scratching on muted strings. It’s worth playing along with the scratches, trying to keep a loose wrist and consistent down-up strumming. Those few beats alone will teach you a lot about Jimi’s groove and feel.

To get the sound, select a bridge-position single-coil pickup, dial in delay at around 350ms, add compression for sustain and opt for a Vox wah pedal or something similar. You’ll hear the wind begin to howl.

5. Eagles | “Hotel California”

GUITARISTS: Don Felder & Joe Walsh (1977)

Those iconic twin-guitar harmony lines took the Eagles to new heights.

The title track from the Eagles’ fifth album, and without doubt the song the band will be most remembered for, “Hotel California” frequently tops greatest guitar solo polls. The solo begins at 4:20, forming an extended coda, over which guitarists Don Felder and Joe Walsh trade licks before joining together to play those iconic harmonized licks at 5:39.

As it turns out, those harmony lines work in a relatively simple fashion. Felder and Walsh play an arpeggio of every chord, and the harmony is created by one of the guitars always playing one note lower down in the chord. For example, the notes of the Bm chord are B, D and F#, so, if the higher guitar plays an F#, the lower guitar will play a D, and so on.

This nugget of information can take you a long way to mastering those descending arpeggios. We won’t go as far as to say you could easily work it out by ear, but if you know the chords to the song, it’s possible to jam along. And you can’t say that about many of the solos on this list!

4. Queen | “Bohemian Rhapsody”

GUITARIST: Brian May (1975)

It might just be the biggest rock song of all time.

Following Freddie Mercury’s 1991 death and a cameo moment in 1992’s Wayne’s World, “Bohemian Rhapsody” became a trigger point for a worldwide outpouring of affection and respect for Queen. Their renewed popularity would continue into the new millennium as Ben Elton’s We Will Rock You musical and the band’s discovery of a different way to exist behind frontman Adam Lambert brought their music to a new generation.

And “Bohemian Rhapsody”? Unsurprisingly, it’s Queen’s best-known song, and its brief nine-bar solo is a short and sweet musical interlude, bridging the verses to lead into what’s become known as the song’s “operatic section.” Those two words alone should warn you that this song shouldn’t work. There’s no chorus and, aside from two verses, no repetition. But of course it does work, and Brian May’s solo is the perfect melodic break.

His phrasing is loose and natural, moving across the backbeat rather than sticking to a rigidly timed grid. The fastest licks are expressive bursts, rather than repetitive noodling, and his articulate pre-bend and vibrato technique demonstrates his beautiful touch. Somehow, within the confines of the complex structure of “Bohemian Rhapsody,” this solo is made to order.

3. Led Zeppelin | “Stairway To Heaven”

GUITARIST: Jimmy Page (1971)

Heaven-sent soloing.

From the moment Jimmy Page plays the opening run on his ’59 Fender Telecaster, right through to the flurry of notes and the wailing bend that completes it, this is guitar-solo perfection – a masterpiece of composition. Rather than wander aimlessly, Page creates a song within a song.

The opening phrases set the scene, as he adds notes to the pentatonic scale to follow the song’s final chord progression. A rapid mid-solo repeating lick raises the bar before a game of question-and-answer with a haunting overdubbed guitar leads into that last flurry and bend. As we say, it’s all about the composition: licks that track the chord changes, the contour of the melody and the pacing of the widdly bits all take the listener on a journey.

Three takes were recorded (the other two allegedly still survive, presumably locked in a Led Zeppelin vault somewhere), all of them improvised, although Page has reportedly said that he had worked out the opening line. But while we’re all certainly curious to hear those solos, let’s face it: They’re not going to be any better than the one we’ve come to know and love all these years.

2. Van Halen | “Eruption”

GUITARIST: Eddie Van Halen (1978)

Eddie’s iconic solo that shook the world.

With its mix of fast legato hammer‑ons and pull-offs, pinched harmonics, whammy-bar dives and two-hand tapping, Eddie Van Halen’s mind-blowing instrumental guitar solo inspired a generation of guitar heroes. While the tapping gets the attention, his tone, blistering legato and creative note choices are all equally important. Amid all that virtuosity, Eddie still played with joyous rock and roll abandon.

Remarkably, Ed was never completely happy with the released recording. “I didn’t even play it right,” he told Guitar World. “There’s a mistake at the top end of it. Whenever I hear it, I always think, Man, I could’ve played it better.”

His admission aside, the track is a technical opus. The first eight bars are a bluesy affair, whose virtuoso legato licks perhaps recall the mojo of Jimmy Page’s breakdown solo in Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love.” It’s a theme Eddie develops over the following eight bars, taking notes from the major and minor pentatonic scales to add chromatics.

His tapping finale is probably one of the least understood solo sections in rock history. Eddie’s taps are not always on the beat, which makes for tricky timing changes as he switches from tapping the first and fourth sextuplet notes to the third and sixth notes. From start to end, “Eruption” is a masterpiece that would take most guitarists a lifetime to perfect.

1. Pink Floyd | “Comfortably Numb”

GUITARIST: David Gilmour (1979)

Gilmour’s greatness comes through in waves.

In a 1992 interview with MTV’s Ray Cokes, Gilmour was asked what he thinks of Keith Richards’ theory that songs, lyrics and guitar solos are “just out there in the air and you sort of grab them.” Gilmour agreed. “I think he’s right. They sort of appear as if they are out there in the air. But I don’t know how they get there.” But the best ones he said, just happen. “The best ones do, but often you work very hard and struggle over them.”

Gilmour's two "Comfortably Numb" solos are certainly among his best, and it’s easy to understand why our readers voted his efforts to be the number-one pick in our poll. But the real question is, which of those two solos qualifies for inclusion? Whichever way you go — and granted, most fans prefer the first solo to the second — there's certainly plenty to justify the song's position at the top.

The tone is legendary. Gilmour’s signal chain consisted of his iconic black Strat, then featuring a DiMarzio FS-1 bridge pickup, into a HiWatt DR103, with the essential EHX Ram’s Head Big Muff pedal. The FS-1’s fatness and the Big Muff’s smoothness leave no hint of the harsh treble that can plague Strats. With some extra help from an MXR Dyna Comp, Gilmour had so much sustain that he could hold notes as long as he wanted. As in his live rig, he combined a WEM 4x12 cab with a Yamaha rotary speaker lower in the mix, to add subtle modulation. The epic delay was added in the mix.

The first solo, in D major, uses the Strat’s neck and bridge pickups together, permitted by a custom switching arrangement. His phrasing here is the more unconventional of the two, with arpeggios and sliding passages. Gilmour’s use of the bar for vibrato – aided by its shortened tremolo arm – again distinguishes him from typical bluesers, inspiring many a fusion player in the process. He rakes into the beginning of many of the phrases, similar to Brian May, extracting all the excitement he can from every note.

By comparison, the outro solo’s licks are more standard, with phrases similar to Hendrix’s. The passages at 4:57 and 5:12 could be from “All Along the Watchtower” or “Foxey Lady,” but in this epic track few listeners would make the connection. It sounds both masterful and improvised at the same time. Gilmour has explained he created this impression by recording five or six takes and compiling the finished solo from the best bits of each. The result is stunningly well written, with a combination of repetition and development that keeps the excitement building for two minutes. The Hendrix-style blues lick returns at 5:27, longer and more intricate than before. The aggressive double-stops first appear at 5:15, and by 5:35 he has turned that idea into a motif.

For the climax, Gilmour shoots up an octave just when it seems he’s wrung every inch of expression from his maple neck. He descends back down the neck, incorporating one of his spectacular three-fret bends on the way, and finishes with another take on that double stop motif. It has all the excitement of an improvised performance, and all the structure of a careful composition.

Both solos share brilliant rhythmic awareness. Gilmour uses triplets, sextuplets, 16th and 32nd notes freely, within the same phrase. And check out the effect at 5:10 when he plays a lick in 16th notes and then immediately repeats and expands in sextuplets. A good solo can have great tone, rhythms, melody or expression, but only a work of rare brilliance features them all to this degree.

Late-night talk shows have long been a great source for classic live performances from music's biggest names, particularly in the 1980s and ‘90s, when the likes of Leno and Letterman would battle it out nightly for supremacy. One music legend making an appearance was reason enough to tune in — but when two show up, well, that's must-see TV!

That's what happened when Brian May invited Slash to stop by The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on April 5, 1993, to trade solos on the Queen classic track “Tie Your Mother Down.”

May was on The Tonight Show to promote his debut full-length album, Back to the Light, which (although officially released in September of the previous year) had only just dropped in the U.S. market to align with the now solo artist's supporting tour.

Performing two songs on the night — with a short chat in between — May kicked off his appearance with a solid rendition of the album's title track. Jump to around the one-minute mark if you'd rather skip Leno's questionable Cockney accent in the intro.

Backed by Cozy Powell on drums and Neil Murray on bass, as well as Jamie Moses and Spike Edney providing guitar work and keyboards, respectively, May delivered his trademark treble-boosted tone through several Vox AC30s. However, things really get interesting during the second song of the night: the May-penned cut “Tie Your Mother Down,” from Queen's 1976 album A Day at the Races:

With the song powering toward the solo section, May encourages the audience to "Please welcome Mr. Slash!" The Guns N' Roses guitarist enters, with a Les Paul slung low and a cigarette hanging from his lip, and delivers some slippery and sleazy pentatonic phrases throughout the performance. The pair even treat the audience to a good old-fashioned guitar duel to bring matters to a close.

At the time, Slash was performing on the Skin N' Bones leg of GNR's Use Your Illusion tour, one that had seen Brian May open for the band on some of the dates.

In the interview section of the clip, May sheds some light on the creation of the Red Special, the guitar he famously built in his teens with help from his father. "It came out of pieces of the old fireplace," May explains to Leno, confirming the story that apparently had some doubters. "People think it's a wind-up, but yeah, it was made from pieces of fireplace, tables and motorbike valve springs. It's a piece of junk, really, but it works."

Following the performance, May supported Guns N' Roses on 14 dates of their European tour, revealing at the time how the support slots took the pressure off him while he was finding his footing in the new role of frontman. Although the tour was riddled with injuries, dramas and controversy for GNR, May praised the band, telling MTV, "You hear all these stories about Guns N' Roses, but these people are professionals." The tour would be Slash's last with the band until he rejoined in January 2016.

May and Slash were no strangers, of course, with Guns N' Roses playing their part in the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert at Wembley Stadium in April '92, as well as May later joining the L.A. rock band onstage for a couple of tracks during their own show at the London venue.

Earlier in 2024, the Queen guitarist dropped a couple of hints regarding a new partnership with Gibson that seems likely to result in a signature run of the Red Special. "We have spoken about such things, and it would be lovely to have an edition of the Brian May guitar based in the States," May told Guitar World, before mentioning that he has a "great relationship" with Gibson.

No more information on the release has been revealed as of yet; however, we may not have to wait too long for an update.

When Jane’s Addiction split in 1991, Dave Navarro very quickly found himself with a new job opportunity laid at his feet. But while many players wouldn’t second-guess a chance to join Guns N’ Roses, Navarro turned the offer down.

“I don’t think that would have been the right call at the time,” the guitarist reflects in the latest issue of Guitar Player, believing too he wouldn’t have been the perfect fit others suggested he was. “I’ve played with Slash a million times since then. I love playing with Slash. But I think I’m a little more left-of-center than they were.

“Guns was pretty much a straight-up, in-your-face rock band, which I fucking love,” he goes on. “But as a guitar player, I like to get down on my knees, turn delay knobs and make a bunch of noise like Kraftwerk or some shit. [laughs] That does not work for Guns N’ Roses.”

A life in GNR, then, wasn’t to be, but Navarro was still searching for his next project. Soon after, he found everything he was looking for in Red Hot Chili Peppers, replacing the outgoing John Frusciante.

“That was a very difficult role to step into,” he admits. “They were so set on what they were. It really was another trial by fire. All of a sudden, I had to work within another context that had completely different influences, and these were musicians that I’d never worked with in my life.”

Navarro would stick around for just one album – 1995’s One Hot Minute – before Frusciante returned. Looking back, he says he struggled to get into the swing of things.

“Weirdly, it was kind of like the beginning of Jane’s Addiction, where I’ve got these guys who don’t play the same stuff that I do,” he says. “With the Chili Peppers, I was in this band that doesn’t play the same way I do – except now, we’re doing it in Madison Square Garden. [laughs] I mean, my first show was at Woodstock! Talk about the pressure being insane.”

Pressure aside, his short-lived tenure in the band can be deemed a success, with Navarro helping shape a heavier, more riff-heavy sound. Ultimately, he’s thankful for the experience.

“There’s no question that I became a better guitar player as a result of having done that,” Navarro asserts. “Playing with Flea and Chad Smith was a crash-course master class in musicianship. I’m really grateful for the time spent with them, but it was a bizarre concept to join the group, and a very bizarre time.”

Bizarre is certainly one word. By the time he left the band in ‘98, the band was fractious, with Flea inviting Frusciante, who had just left rehab, to rejoin the band as a Hail Mary attempt to keep them together.

In recent years, Navarro has been kept from playing live as he’s battled with a severe bout of Long Covid. With that now, thankfully, behind him, he has rejoined Jane’s Addiction and is making up for lost time.

“I’m living in the moment right now, we’re having a good time,” he recently told Guitar World. “It feels the best it felt in maybe ever.”

His new, in-depth chat with Guitar Player details his triumphant comeback. Asked about the guitar-playing legacy he is leaving behind him, he quips: “When I think about my legacy, I don’t think about what I’ve done; I think about who I’ve done it with.”

To read the new issue, which includes the full Navarro interview, plus conversations with Mark Tremonti, Neal Schon, and recent Total Guitar cover star Marcin, head to Magazines Direct to pick up a copy.

When Eddie Van Halen sadly passed away in 2020, he left behind him an untouchable legacy of innovation, having taken guitar playing to new heights via finger-blurring tapping, acrobatic whammy bar techniques, and banshee-like harmonics.  

But beneath all the flash and flair, Slash saw Eddie Van Halen for the blues player he really was. That foundation, he feels, helped him stand head and shoulders above the rest. 

“That was the coolest thing about Eddie for me. All the great ideas he had that were uniquely his own, all these left-field kind of things, underneath all that was a really tasty blues guitar player.” 

The statement comes from the latest issue of Guitar World, in which Slash explores his everlasting love for the blues, with plenty of column space dedicated to praising the late guitar hero. 

“He just added all these other ways to branch out his expression on top of that,” he continues. “And that’s why nobody could ever touch him.”

Of course, it’s easy to be distracted by the fireworks of Eddie’s playing, but as a young player, he idolized Eric Clapton. In truth, that adoration never wavered.  

Indeed, he could even play Clapton’s Crossroads solo – to many the pinnacle of shred before Eddie reshaped the guitar landscape with Eruption – note-for-note.

He once told a Rolling Stone journalist that Slowhand was “at the top of my list” of influences.   

“What attracted me to his playing and style and vibe was the basic simplicity in his approach and his tone, his sound,” he explained.

“He just basically took a Gibson guitar and plugged it straight into a Marshall and that was it. The basics. The blues…. the only guy solo-wise was Clapton to me.”

Eddie's bluesy undertones can be clearly heard in the gluttonous 12-minute jam, Blues Breaker (from Star Fleet Project) where he traded licks with Brian May across a track honoring Clapton. Here, he got to indulge himself in full-blown blues playing like never before. 

The top-hatted guitarist, who released his tribute to the blues, Orgy of the Damned, in May, acknowledges that Eddie isn’t the only player to take the blues template and lace it with pyrotechnics. But he believes those who can pull off such a feat and therefore take blues guitar to new and interesting places deserve all the praise they get. 

“That’s what I’ve always been attracted to,” he says. “It doesn’t matter whatever technique it is that they’re using, as long as it’s theirs. I mean, Yngwie? Yngwie means it. He fucking owns that shit, whether you like it or not.”

Slash is the cover star for the new issue of Guitar World, featuring alongside Samantha Fish and Christone "Kingfish" Ingram. The trio will be touring together, alongside an exciting cast of blues players, under the S.E.R.P.E.N.T Festival banner later this year as Slash takes his new album, and that boundless love for the blues, out on the road.  

Head to Magazines Direct to pick up a copy of Guitar World and read the Slash interview in full.

Electric guitar great Michael Schenker is paying homage to his UFO glory days with a brand new studio album, and he’s teamed up with Slash for its lead single. 

My Years with UFO marks over 50 years since the ‘German wunderkid’ joined UFO’s ranks aged just 17. His talents helped propel the band to new heights during his original, '70s-era tenure, creating “one of the most celebrated periods in the annals of rock” in the process.   

The record sees Schenker and an all-star cast of guest musicians putting a fresh spin on UFO classics, with a Slash-lacquered take on Mother Mary giving the first taste of what’s to come. 

Erik Grönwall (previously of HEAT and Skid Row) handles vocal duties for the track, but it’s the Slash/Schenker partnership that grabs the headlines – and in some style. 

Re-energized with modern production, the guitars are thick and lead lines plentiful as Schenker makes the most of his Rolodex for the new record. 

Adrian Vandenberg appears on Too Hot to Handle alongside Joe Lynn Turner and Carmine Appice, with other guitarists hand-selected by Schenker including Whitesnake’s Joel Hoekstra, Gamma Ray’s Kai Hansen, John Norum (ex-Europe), and Michael Voss. 

Meanwhile, there's a revolving cast of vocalists, including Axl Rose, Biff Byford, Joey Tempest, and Dee Snider. Deep Purple's mainstay bass player, Roger Glover, lends his low-end to Only You Can Rock Me.

A total of 11 tracks have been revisited for the record, with Schenker’s core band made up of Derek Sherinian on keyboards, Brian Tichy on drums, and Barry Sparks on bass. 

Schenker guested on Sherinian's 2022 album, Vortex, alongside Zakk Wylde, Nuno Bettencourt, and Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal. 

Though short-lived, Schenker’s time in UFO produced five studio albums, and the now-iconic Strangers in the Night live album, which features one of Kirk Hammet’s favorite ‘under the radar’ solos. 

My Years with UFO releases worldwide on September 20. It will be the first of a trilogy of new albums for the guitarist, who has penned a record deal with earMUSIC. Follow-ups are expected in 2025 and 2026. 

Head to Michael Schenker for more information.

Michael Schenker – My Years with UFO

1. Natural Thing (feat. Dee Snider & Joel Hoekstra)
2. Only You Can Rock Me (feat. Joey Tempest & Roger Glover)
3. Doctor Doctor (feat. Joe Lynn Turner & Carmine Appice)
4. Mother Mary (feat. Slash & Erik Grönwall)
5. This Kids (feat. Biff Byford)
6. Love to Love (feat. Axl Rose)
7. Lights Out (feat. Jeff Scott Soto & John Norum)
8. Rock Bottom (feat. Kai Hansen)
9. Too Hot Too Handle (feat. Joe Lynn Turner, Adrian Vandenberg & Carmen Appice)
10. Let It Roll (feat. Michael Voss)
11. Shoot Shoot (feat. Stephen Pearcy)

By the late-80s, Kramer, Charvel, and Jackson had established something of a stranglehold on the electric guitar market, but Guns N’ Roses producer Mike Clink believes that Slash – via the band's 1987 debut album, Appetite For Destruction – helped tilt the balance back in Gibson’s favor. 

Guitarists like Eddie Van Halen, Mick Mars, and Randy Rhoads, very much the poster boys of '80s guitar, had budding guitar players all over the world drooling over their preferred models. As such, the Les Paul, strongly associated with the ‘60s blues rock movement, fell out of fashion with younger musicians. 

In a new interview with Guitar World, Clink explains how Appetite For Destruction created a whole new appetite for Les Pauls.   

“It’s a special guitar that clearly means a lot to him. That’s his baby,” he said of Slash's original Les Paul.

“When we did Appetite, it was that Les Paul into a Marshall. With the popularity of that record, all the aspiring guitar players wanted a Les Paul. I feel like he did a lot to bring the Gibson Les Paul back – not that it necessarily ever went away, but there was a big rise in popularity after [the band's] debut.”

Appetite for Destruction was released in July 1987 and catapulted the band to stratospheric success. It still holds huge sway today – Sweet Child o’ Mine, since Spotify’s relatively recent launch in 2006, has accumulated well over a billion hours of playtime. 

Tone-wise however, its success went against the current. 

“At the time there were all these hair bands playing other brands in competition with Gibson,” Clink continues. “When Guns N’ Roses broke, guitar players started saying ‘I need that tone: a Les Paul into a Marshall!’ The success of that record brought those guitars back into mainstream popularity.”

Ironically, the Les Paul that was used extensively on the album wasn’t even a Gibson at all – it was a Kris Derrig-built replica.

The luthier was based out of MusicWorks, a guitar store located in Redondo Beach, California. He’d constructed the ‘59 Les Paul replica with highly figured book-matched maple, notably without the cherry-tinted edges of the originals.   

Its inherent tonal magic came from a pair of Seymour Duncan Alnico II humbuckers with black-and-white “zebra” coils and some vintage electronics that Derrig sourced from the shop. 

But the minor detail of the guitar not actually being a Gibson didn’t bother the firm, which duly reaped the rewards of the album’s popularity. 

Slash officially joined the Gibson family in 2010, working with the multi-faceted gear brand to recreate the Derrig Les Paul and, this time, stamp the Gibson name on its headstock. 

“Getting the Derrig was an interesting sort of perfect storm,” Slash recalls. “I went from having no identifiable sound during the basic tracks for Appetite to getting this guitar, with these particular pickups, played through a particular rented Marshall amp. All those contributing factors made for a really great guitar sound that has served me ever since.”

Those Seymour Duncan humbuckers would later become the template for Slash's signature pickups, with the Marshall head, as Clink details, a Frank Levi mod. 

“He was not doing well, but had continued doing mods for friends of mine. The amps he worked on are still around and still exist. He was only doing those mods for friends and special people.”

Lenny Kravitz is not one to spend too much time looking back. Indeed, in a recent conversation with Guitar Player about his fiery new album, Blue Electric Light, the electric guitar ace revealed that though Blue Electric Light hasn't even come out yet, he's already begun work on his next album.

We did ask Kravitz, however, about the stories behind five of the songs that made him a household name. 

High-octane collaborations, sudden, manufacturing-halting bursts of inspiration... the stories behind these songs are as eclectic as the tunes themselves.

Mr Cab Driver (Let Love Rule, 1989)

“This was a crunchy riff idea I had – very simple. I was trying to get to the studio one day, and I couldn’t get a cab to pick me up, because a lot of times, if you’re Black and you’re hailing a cab, and you’re going uptown to Harlem, or Brooklyn or whatever, they don’t want to take you.

“Anyway, I got to the studio after an hour of trying to get there, and I was just pissed off. I picked up the guitar and this song is what came out. I was kind of going for a New York, late-’60s or early ’70s grunge kind of sound, maybe some Velvet Underground or something, you know? A real simple thing. The tone on the guitar is real cool – broken up but kind of clean at the same time. A street sound.”

Always On The Run (Mama Said, 1991)

“That was about me and Slash. We went to high school together. I met him again when Guns N’ Roses came out and we were both at an awards show. I said to him, ‘I know you, dude!’ Then we spoke and realized, oh shit, we went to school together. [laughs] 

“Anyway, we said we should work together sometime, and then at the end of one of his tours he flew from London on the Concorde to the States, where I was working on the Mama Said album. He came in with the riff for this, I got behind the drum kit and we worked out an arrangement and got it down real quick.

“I picked up a Les Paul and did the opposing part, which I call the funk part – the counterpart. The two guitars together just fit and weave perfectly together. I did the bass part on a Gibson EB bass, and that was it. I then took the track home, wrote the lyrics and melody, and went back in to finish the song. I did a horn chart for it, and there it was, man. It was just a beautiful combination.”

Tunnel Vision (Circus, 1995)

“I used a custom-colored, black ’60s Strat with a matching painted headstock for this. My vision was for a Hendrix-y, funky kind of thing. It was an experience with an amp and a guitar that sounded great together, so I just started fucking around. Then, next thing, this song starts to appear. 

“Obviously, Hendrix and funk guitar are key parts of my musical DNA, so this kind of a song is a natural for me. I like the doubling of octaves on the riff and doubling of the chords. It was great fun to play. I like to think of it as funky rock and roll.” 

Rock And Roll Is Dead (Circus, 1995)

“There is admittedly a Led Zeppelin feel on this one; I really love Jimmy Page’s playing. Yet again, it was one of those times where a guitar and an amp hit a sweet spot and a riff came out. Very simple, but a great vibe to get that electricity and a very straightforward rock and roll solo. 

“In my head, I was doing my Zeppelin-y guitar kind of thing, but then the vocals go off in a whole other direction. It’s just my love of guitar – just playing like a kid, expressing that freedom and joy that the guitar gives you. There’s something magical about playing like the kid that you were in junior high school, making up riffs, you know? That’s the fun of the electric guitar. That’s something that I never lose whenever I pick up a guitar.”

Fly Away (5, 1998)

“The album was done. I’d already turned it in and they were getting ready to manufacture it. I was still in the Bahamas, at the legendary Compass Point Studios in Nassau, where so many incredible records have been made. 

“I was testing out an amplifier, and those chords sounded so full and crunchy, and they made me play that chord pattern by virtue of the sound. I thought the chords just sounded real good, so I pulled out the drums and started putting the whole thing together, and next thing I knew, I had the track. 

“My daughter was going to school in the Bahamas, and every morning I’d drive her along the coast road. I had this great stereo in my Jeep, and we would blast this track every day on the way to school. I had no idea what it was going to be, and then one day I just heard the whole thing. 

“So, I went in the studio, wrote the words, cut the vocal, and now I had this track. But I didn’t know what to do with it – the album was done, right? I thought I’d use it as a single B-side, but a friend of mine who is an architect – not someone in the business – heard it and said, ‘You have to put that song on the album. What’s wrong with you?’ He was so pissed off at me, he said he would no longer speak to me if I didn’t put it on the album. [laughs] He said I was gonna fuck up our friendship. [laughs] 

“So I called the record company, who said it was too late but send the song and they’d listen to it. Next thing I know, they said they were stopping the manufacturing and putting the song on the album. We had a huge hit and a Grammy. I obviously don’t know what a hit is – I just know what I do. But it all came from trying out an amplifier and a guitar.”

• Lenny Kravitz's Blue Electric Light can be pre-ordered now.

It’s well known that Amazon isn’t the best place for guitarists to shop, and while the latest Amazon Prime Big Deals Day might be great for deals on a pair of AirPods, there’s not much for guitarists.  Not all is lost if you’re looking for a good deal though, as Positive Grid is offering up some excellent discounts with up to 20% off their smart amps, Riff audio interface, and some select accessories.

The sale isn’t huge, but we’ve saved you some time by picking out the best deals below. We’ve also done some quick calculations for you too, so you can see what the actual reduction is in case rather than a percentage amount. If you’re shopping from the UK or EU you can still grab a great deal, but just note some of the reductions may differ from what we’ve stated here.

If you do want to wait for Black Friday, we’d recommend checking out our Black Friday guitar deals hub for all the biggest savings before the Cyber Weekend arrives. We’ll be regularly updating it, so it’s worth bookmarking the page and checking back, as we’ll have the scoop on all the early Black Friday deals and the best offers from the weekend itself. 

Amazon Prime Day deals are coming around once again, and that means big price drops on popular products from leading brands and that's music to our ears. The online retail giant has just launched their Prime Big Deals Days event, which runs from 10th-11th October, and thankfully it includes some tasty discounts on musical goodies well ahead of the Black Friday guitar deals landing next month. 

Now, we’ll be the first to admit that we were ready to write off this sales event, expecting money off toasters and smart home devices but nothing for guitar players. Luckily, that’s not the case as you can score sizable discounts on a range of Roland and Boss products. 

The Boss Katana-50 MkII EX is arguably one of the most respected practice amps of the last few years. Loaded with world-famous effects, leading amp models and a trio of power settings, this really is one of the best practice solutions on the market. Right now you can save 15% at Amazon.

Pedal fanatics will be glad to see a couple of Boss compact pedals amongst the sales items, with the BC-1X bass compressor and CP-1X compressor receiving 15% off for a limited time. 

Of course, there is plenty more available with digital pianos, synths and drum kits all included so we encourage you to take a look for yourself. 

Over the last five years, we’ve all seen Gibson transform into the forward-thinking, history-conscious brand it is today. Central to that change has been fellow music lover and “guitar nerd” Cesar Gueikian who joined the firm in 2018.

An accomplished guitarist, Cesar has performed and recorded with a host of notables including Metallica’s Kirk Hammett and Rob Trujillo, Dave Mustaine, Richie Faulkner, Jared James Nichols, Mana and more. All in all, he is a passionate musician with a love of songwriting who really understands and appreciates the artists working in today’s guitar world.

Along with his world-class business acumen, Cesar’s passion for music has helped shape the successful Gibson we see today. In addition to playing a key role in revamping the company’s strategy, just some of his achievements include creating Gibson Media, launching Gibson TV, and securing partnerships with an impressive list of Gibson artists.

“I have had the opportunity to work closely with Cesar as we have rebuilt Gibson over the past five years,” said Chairman of Gibson Brands, Nat Zilkha. “He has established a remarkable track record at Gibson, shaping our product, our marketing, our artist relationships, and many of our important growth initiatives.

But the praise doesn’t end there; a plethora of Gibson artists has stepped forward to weigh in on the man Slash described as “one of, if not the smartest, most passionate Gibson guitar enthusiasts I've ever met.”

Tony Iommi commented on how Cesar helped reverse Gibson’s ailing status. “I can’t believe how Cesar has transformed Gibson from a brand on its way down and out to the success it is today,” said the Black Sabbath guitarist. “He went out of his way to meet with musicians and take note of what we were saying, gathering a great team around him. It’s now a company I’m proud to be associated with.”

Kirk Hammett kept it short and sweet: “I’m going to quote what a wise man once said to me: do epic shit, bro!”

Meanwhile, Cesar himself had this to say: “I am honored and humbled to take on the permanent CEO role! Gibson is a passion project for me. Our board of directors, chaired by Nat Zilkha, has been incredibly supportive over the last five years, giving me an opportunity to merge my biggest passion, which is not just music and guitars, but Gibson guitars with my business background, and I don’t take this for granted.”

Further support came from Lzzy Hale (“Cesar operates on a level of passion that is otherworldly”); Dave Mustaine (“I can’t think of a better, more passionate, intelligent person, to be at the helm of [the] Gibson empire”); Emily Wolfe (“Cesar has a knack for innovation in the gear world”); and many more artists besides.

Cesar’s colleague Mark Agnesi also sang his praises, adding, “I can’t think of a better leader to take Gibson forward into the next chapter,” as did Mat Koehler who said, "Cesar becoming Gibson's CEO means everything to my team and I, and we couldn't be more excited about the future with him at the helm.”

With more back-slapping than a warehouse full of Maestro Echoplexes, it’s fair to say the general feeling is that Gibson has been, and will continue to be, in good hands for the foreseeable future.

Congratulations, Cesar! Here’s to another five years.

The guitar you see here is a Gibson Double 12. Appearing as a custom-order instrument from 1957 alongside the Double Mandolin with Sunburst, Solid White and Solid Black finish options, this unique electric model features a 12-string neck and a 6-string neck. Both mahogany necks have a standard Gibson scale length of 24 3/4-inches and sport a bound rosewood fretboard with double-parallelogram inlays.

The semi-hollow Double 12 was constructed with a spruce top and laminated maple sides/back and was superseded by the SG-style EDS-1275 solidbody by 1962. Sporting a solid mahogany body and neck, this double-headed axe was famously wielded by Jimmy Page, Don Felder and Slash.

Shipping records show only 110 Double 12/EDS-1275 models were shipped between 1958 and 1967. However, following its reintroduction in the mid ‘70s, roughly ten times that number were shipped by the end of the decade.

Suffice it to say, early examples are very rare. But then vintage guitar veteran David Davidson specializes in such highly collectible instruments and is down to share some of the coolest guitars from the Well Strung Guitars vault with us.

“This is a pretty neat guitar,” begins David. “I stumbled across it almost by accident, but it has an amazing story. This is a prototype from ’57, with no serial number. It’s an EDS-1275 hollowbody with a spruce top. It has a Polaris White finish and features a six-string neck and a 12-string neck. It has four PAF humbucking pickups and switchable necks. It’s not so much that it’s different from the regular production guitars – more that this is likely the one pictured at the 1957 Chicago NAMM Show.

“The original owner (I bought it from her son) was Jeanette Dixie Lee Fogel, and she was in a band called Dixie Lee and the Rhythm Ramblers. She got to play this double-necked Gibson after her husband backed over her Kay guitar and amplifier with his station wagon. He destroyed the instrument completely, so he went running out looking for a new guitar. This is all documented in letters from two of her sons.

“Dixie Lee was a big fan of The Collins Kids and Joe Maphis and liked the idea of having a double-necked guitar. So they went to order one and were surprised when it showed up at the music store less than a week later. They couldn’t understand how Gibson made it so fast. Normally, it would have taken weeks. We can only conclude the guitar was already made.

“They thought they were going to have a custom-made guitar, and normally it would have taken way longer. But Gibson already had this EDS-1275 Double 12 built. They just needed to box it up and ship it. My reasoning is that after they had it at the NAMM Show, the order came in and they just decided to pack it up and send it out immediately.

“She played with different people like Little Jimmy Dickens, Billy Grammer, Stoney Cooper, Clyde Moody, Leon Rhodes and Larry Collins. So she was a pretty happening player and singer. She passed away in 1968, and after the guitar ended up with her family, they relocated from Charleston, South Carolina, to Nichols, South Carolina. The oldest brother, Harold, had become the caretaker of the instrument, and when his father died the sons made a decision to find the guitar a new home. I remember the phone call.

“They called me in 2016 and told me the story. Harold said, ‘We used to have famous musicians at the house all the time when we were little boys – Joe Maphis and all these other people like Jimmy Bryant. It was a big deal and it’s a special guitar.’ But then he told me there was no serial number on it and I was like, ‘Wow I’ve not seen a 1275 without a serial number.’ But having dealt with a lot of rare guitars I know that many early first-edition Gibsons were not serial numbered. This is because they weren’t sure if they wanted to sell them to the public. Interestingly, 1952 Les Paul Goldtops weren’t serial numbered, either.

“This guitar is in immaculate condition except the tuner buttons had shrunk to virtually nothing. When I got it, I put period-correct repro Kluson tuners on so that it was a usable instrument. The originals are in the case. It has the original case. It looks like an Explorer case – a large, rectangular brown type with a pink lining.

“I’ve seen a lot of double-necks in the past and I have a lot of double-necks now because I built a collection of different types for the Songbirds museum. Now, I have many of them back, although I’ve sold some recently. Slash just bought a black one and the only cherry-red one that was ever made. (He posted it on Instagram, so people can see it on there.) But this guitar is very special, too. I mean, I’ve never seen another one with no serial number, and the pots are dated to the 16th week of 1957. They didn’t introduce this model until 1958, so it’s very, very early. I’ve owned six 1958s and they all had 1958 pots.

“I recently bought a ’59, which has just landed here at Well Strung Guitars. It’s a white one that is pretty beat up, but it’s cool – great vibe. This ’57, however, is super clean. She took incredible care of it. I laughed because when I got it there were four polishing cloths in the case. It’s one of those guitars that plays really well and has been played a lot. But it’s also been well taken care of. Plus, it’s never been tampered with in any way. It didn’t take much to set this up and get it playing. The playability is unbelievable. Both necks play incredibly well. It’s wonderful to see.”

Vintage guitar veteran David Davidson co-owns Well Strung Guitars in Farmingdale, New York
info@wellstrungguitars.com / 001 (516) 221-0563

It’s virtually impossible to pare decades of rock and roll down to a top-ten list. There are, however, some guitar solos every player needs to know about.

Here are some of the greatest ever committed to record...

10. "Statesboro Blues" by The Allman Brothers Band from 'At Fillmore East' (1971)

Guitarist: Duane Allman

Although the end of "Layla" may be more memorable to most folks, Allman’s Statesboro slide show verifies his title as the undisputed king of bottleneck guitar. 

Slick as oil but with the ability to stop on a dime, Allman not only redefined how slide guitar was played but also created a recycling market for empty Coricidin bottles.

9. "Sweet Child O' Mine" by Guns N' Roses from 'Appetite for Destruction' (1987)

Guitarist: Slash

While Axl swayed and sashayed like Steve Wonder around his mic stand, Slash laid back with his Les Paul, patiently waiting for his turn in the spotlight. 

Then, with his blistering ascent up the E harmonic minor scale – which kicks the second solo of this tune into high gear – the top-hatted genius single-handedly breathed new life into wah-pedal sales.

8. "Crossroads" by Cream from 'Wheels of Fire' (1968)

Guitarist: Eric Clapton

Slowhand? Not on this track. Clapton pulls out every blues-rock move in his lick-tionary for this roadhouse romper. 

The true voodoo of this solo lies at the crossroads where major and minor pentatonic tonalities meet, mingle and blast off from E.C.’s fretboard. 

Ol’ Scratch surely smiled when he heard this one.

7. "Crazy Train" by Ozzy Osbourne from 'Blizzard of Ozz' (1980)

Guitarist: Randy Rhoads

You almost wonder if Ozzy named this tune after hearing Rhoads’ white-knuckled rock and roll ride up and down the F# minor scale. 

What more could you want in a metal guitar solo? Tapping, rakes, bends, trills ascending legato runs... 

Rhoads set Eighties guitarists on the rails of neoclassical rock with this one. All aboard!

6. "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin from 'Led Zeppelin IV' (1971)

Guitarist: Jimmy Page

Jimmy Page's "Stairway” solo is nothing short of divine. 

His resolution to the natural F note in the opening minor pentatonic lick of the solo couldn’t have been more perfect if the Almighty himself had chosen the note.

5. "Sultans of Swing" by Dire Straits from 'Dire Straits' (1978)

Guitarist: Mark Knopfler

Sultan says, “Spend less time making your harem moan and more time making your guitar cry and sing!” 

For those of you who’ve learned the outro solo the lazy way – playing eighth-note triplets for the daunting Dm, Bb and C arpeggios – get your fingers back to the wood shed. 

Those are 16th notes that the “Sultan of Strat” rips off.

4. "Free Bird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd from 'Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd' (1973) 

Guitarist: Gary Rossington and Allen Collins

To paraphrase Adrian Belew in King Crimson’s "Indiscipline," "I repeat my licks, I repeat my licks, I repeat my licks…” 

This could go on forever – kinda like the outro solo to "Free Bird," in which guitarists Rossington and Collins double each other for most of this pull-off parade. 

It’s impressive not because of the degree of difficulty of the licks but because of the sheer volume they need to recall – 27, including variations!

3. "Eruption" by Van Halen from 'Van Halen' (1978) 

The Holy Grail for all aspiring rock guitarists. Learn Eddie Van Halen's "Eruption" and you’ve earned some serious bragging rights. 

But if you really want props, you’ve got to tame the whole volcano, not just the tremolo picking and tapping sections.

2. "All Along the Watchtower" by the Jimi Hendrix Experience from 'Electric Ladyland' (1968)

Jimi Hendrix offers plenty of reason to get excited in his "Watchtower" solo. 

Besides his masterful manipulation of the C# minor pentatonic scale, Hendrix’s wah-drenched octave climb and the double-stops in the latter half bear out his gift for melodic embellishment. 

It’s enough to make any cat growl.

1. "Little Wing" by Stevie Ray Vaughan from 'The Sky Is Crying' (1991)

With little bits of Jimi, Wes and Mayfield, and a whole lotta soul, SRV exhibits exceptional dynamic prowess throughout, making this reverent Hendrix cover his own. 

A seemingly lost art among modern-day guitarists, Vaughan’s R&B-style chord melody is like priceless art. It should be both admired and studied.

“Hi, my name’s Slash. Can you sell me some Les Pauls?”

Back in 1988, that was how the man born Saul Hudson first came in contact with the Gibson guitar brand. Guns N’ Roses had only recently released their debut effort, Appetite for Destruction, an album on which Slash, in what is now rock-guitar lore, recorded most of his parts using a 1959 Les Paul copy built by luthier Kris Derrig. As the band hit the road in support of the record, he took the Derrig with him. Not surprisingly, the axe, one of his only guitars at the time, quickly took a beating from intense onstage use. So Slash retired the Les Paul copy from live work and went looking for the real thing.

Which is what led him to Gibson. “At that point, Guns N’ Roses hadn’t quite crested that wave. We were sort of still a fledgling L.A. club band that had a record deal, just like all the rest of ’em,” Slash recalls. “But I called Gibson and they said, ‘Yeah, we’ll work something out.’ They sold me two Les Pauls at dealer cost. And that’s how our relationship started.”

That relationship has grown into, arguably, the most visible and fruitful collaboration between an artist and guitar brand of the past 30-plus years. Slash has not only been instrumental in returning the Les Paul to unrivaled prominence in the guitar universe, he has also helped design some of the best-selling and most highly regarded artist models in the marketplace.

And the partnership has only gotten stronger and deeper with each year. In 2017, Gibson named Slash its first-ever Global Brand Ambassador, and today the Slash line of Gibson guitars continues to expand (see, for one, the signature J-45 acoustic offerings). What’s more, the brand recently launched a record label, Gibson Records, which issued the 2022 Slash (featuring Myles Kennedy & the Conspirators) album, 4, as its debut release.

Now, Slash has aligned with Gibson on another new venture – a massive, deluxe hardcover book, The Collection: Slash, which is the first offering from the newly created Gibson Publishing. Across its oversized 364 pages, Slash tells the stories behind the guitars he has used throughout his legendary career, all of them accompanied by gorgeously detailed photos of the instruments themselves. The premium coffee-table tome is a must-have for any guitar fan, and is available in Standard, Deluxe and a truly stunning, limited-to-500-copies Custom Edition that is hand-signed by Slash and nestled inside a clamshell protective box with premium case candy.

In any iteration, The Collection: Slash is a package unlike any seen before. As for why the man himself wanted to do it? “I mean, what’s better than a book full of guitars?” Slash asks with a laugh. “And the way Gibson proposed putting it together, I just thought it was so cool. It was an exciting prospect, and it just started from there.”

In addition to chronicling dozens upon dozens of instruments from Slash’s substantial stash (including, in a very cool move by Gibson, many quintessential non-Gibson models) compiling The Collection: Slash afforded the musician the opportunity to become reacquainted with some of the lesser-used six-strings in his life.

“I have to admit that I buy a lot of guitars,” Slash says. “And I’m a little bit of a pack rat, because I’ve never gotten rid of anything. And while you’re constantly aware of additional things that you keep adding to the stockpile, doing an exposé like this I realized that, while I play a lot of these guitars pretty regularly, some of them, they don’t get enough use. It made me feel like, God, I want to put ’em all in a room where everybody can just walk in and look at them! Now, in a way, they can.”

Here, Slash takes us on a tour of some of the standout guitars in The Collection: Slash, recalling when each instrument came into his life and how it continues to be a part of his musical experience today.

KRIS DERRIG REPLICA

One of the most famous Les Pauls is not a Les Paul at all. Featured on almost all of Appetite for Destruction (“I played an SG on ‘My Michelle,’” Slash reports), the Kris Derrig replica is the source of that album’s coveted guitar tones, and arguably reignited the Les Paul flame single-handedly in the ’80s. It also originally boasted Seymour Duncan Alnico II humbuckers, which were the template for Slash’s signature pickups.

“Getting the Derrig was an interesting sort of perfect storm,” Slash recalls. “Because I went from having no identifiable sound during the basic tracks for Appetite to getting this guitar, with these particular pickups, played through a particular rented Marshall amp. All those contributing factors made for a really great guitar sound that has served me ever since.”

Amazingly, the heavy wear across the top and back is almost entirely the result of Slash using the guitar, then in pristine condition, onstage for less than a year. “I’m hard on my guitars,” he admits. “And with the Derrig, I realized what an effect my live attack had on it. That’s when I finally broke down and called Gibson and said, ‘I need a Les Paul.’ I just didn’t want anything to happen to it. So I put it away.”

GIBSON LES PAUL “JESSICA”

When we think of Slash’s Les Pauls, designs like the Derrig and his signature models come to mind. But it’s likely another Les Paul, one he calls Jessica, that we’ve seen him wield most often. Slash acquired the guitar from Gibson – one of the two factory seconds with three-piece tops the company sent him after he retired the Derrig copy from road work. “It became my main stage guitar with Guns and through Velvet Revolver,” he says. “It still is.”

Onstage, he continues, “Jessica is the main Appetite guitar. I open the set with her for ‘It’s So Easy’ and ‘Brownstone,’ I play ‘Paradise City’ with her, and I play ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ with her.”

As for what makes the now heavily worn instrument stand apart from his many other Les Pauls? “The guitars that you take out on tour and play the most are the ones you feel most comfortable with, the ones that give you what you want from them, the ones that are consistent,” he says. “Back then it was one of two guitars that I had for the road, so I made it work. And now it’s a central part of what I do.”

GIBSON LES PAUL “THE FIRST ‘BURST” – 8 3096

While Slash has always been adamant about the fact that he acquires guitars for their playability rather than pedigree, this Les Paul is one that offers both in equal measure. Dubbed “The First ’Burst,” this Standard was one of two that left Gibson’s factory on May 28, 1958 with ’Burst specifications, including PAF humbuckers and a Cherry Red finish. One of those instruments featured a three-piece top, while Slash’s ’Burst is a two-piece with a slightly off-center join.

“It was definitely an acquisition because of what it is,” Slash says of the First ’Burst. “But it’s also a really great-sounding guitar. And that was the bigger selling point for me – it has amazing tone.”

So much so that Slash has used the historic guitar in the studio, specifically, on the Conspirators’ 2014 album, World on Fire, which was recorded not long after he acquired the instrument. That said, he adds, “I wouldn’t take it on the road.” For that, he continues, “Gibson made me a replica, which sounds really great as well.”

1959 LES PAUL STANDARD – 9 0844

These days, Slash owns several authentic ’59 ’Bursts. But this one, acquired in the early 1990s, was his first, and it remains his favorite. “It has a particular sound that I’m drawn to, a certain kind of attack and personality that I recognize,” he says. “It’s the go-to ’59 for me because I know what it does.”

In addition to sporting a gorgeous finish, the guitar is easily identifiable via a telltale “snakebite” – small holes in its top that evidence the one-time addition of a Bigsby vibrato. And while Slash keeps it away from the stage, he says he has used it in the studio with the Conspirators on several occasions, in particular the ballad “The Great Pretender,” from 2016’s Living the Dream, and the band’s cover of Elton John’s “Rocket Man.”

“The PAF pickups just sound so sincere,” Slash says. “The guitar is much different from, say, the Derrig, which is a much more modern-sounding Les Paul – it’s louder, it’s got more attack. If you do like a slow blues thing or anything like that, the tonality on this particular ‘59 is really great for that kind of stuff.”

2002 SLASH LES PAUL PROTOTYPE

This limited-run Custom Shop guitar is “what I would call the first ‘official’ Slash model,” Slash reveals. “This is when I think of us as going into business together for real, and when Gibson started to actually have this idea of me sitting down and designing a guitar with them and then putting it into production.”

The 2002 Slash Les Paul boasts a rich Tobacco Burst finish and Seymour Duncan Alnico II humbuckers, as well as a custom “Slash” truss-rod cover. But the most unique aspect is undoubtedly the inclusion of a piezo pickup system that offers a selection of acoustic and hybrid acoustic/electric sounds, controlled via a three-position mini-toggle switch between the guitar’s volume knobs.

“I did use the piezo for a second, and it actually sounded really good,” Slash says. “But my physical approach to an acoustic sound didn’t work on electric guitar – I hit it too hard when I’m playing acoustic stuff, so doing it on electric was not really conducive to that sort of attack. So eventually I phased it out. But it was a cool idea at the time.”

EARLY 1970S EPIPHONE 6830

This Japanese-made steel-string acoustic isn’t the oldest guitar in Slash’s collection, but it is the one he’s had the longest. “I think I was probably in high school when I got it,” he says. “And I cherish the fact that I’ve managed to keep it and nothing’s happened to it.”

Slash calls the Epiphone the first “good acoustic” he ever took ownership of, and he received it in a moment of goodwill. “When I was 15, I would do some babysitting, and this one kid I babysat for, his parents had it hanging on the wall next to a mandolin,” he recalls. “I asked them, ‘Can I play it while the kid’s sleeping?’ I was still playing it when they got home, and they actually ended up giving it to me.”

These days, the Epiphone is far removed from all-night strum sessions. “I haven’t pulled it out and played it in a long time, because the tailpiece is threatening to come off and I had to bolt it down,” Slash says. “So I just sort of leave it alone. It’s more of a keepsake than anything.” He laughs. “Besides, I have plenty of acoustic guitars to beat on. I don’t need to beat on that one.”

1959 GIBSON FLYING V – 9 1705

“When I was doing the Use Your Illusion records I was looking for different guitars for different songs, and it was the first time I ever had any money to do that,” Slash recalls. “I became aware of the korina ’58s and ’59s, and so I went to my friend who is a guitar broker. He came up with two Explorers and this V, and I bought all three. It was one of those purchases where I was like, ‘Well, let’s see how these sound.’ And it was, ‘Oh, this is fucking awesome!’”

For fans looking to hear that sound, tune your ears to Guns N’ Roses’ cover of Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.” “I went to the studio, that guitar was there, and I laid all the tracks down in a couple of hours,” Slash says. “The tone on it was so great that it was literally a one-take solo – just a throw-and-go. That guitar, because of the way it sounded, is what led that to be such an easy thing to do.”

As for what he thinks is so special about those original Vs? “They just have a certain tonal quality, this smooth, sweet tone that you cannot find in any other guitar,” Slash says.

1980 BC RICH MOCKINGBIRD

As a teenager, Slash chose a B.C. Rich to be the first “good, brand-name instrument” he ever owned. He has a variety of examples, the most recognizable of which is this red 1980 Mockingbird, which he famously employed in the studio and the music video for the Use Your Illusion track “You Could Be Mine,” as well as on Velvet Revolver songs like “Sucker Train Blues.”

“This is the one guitar that I have a photographic memory of acquiring,” Slash says. “I bought it from a guy in front of [defunct L.A. nightclub] the Cathouse. I hardly knew him, but I saw him regularly every Tuesday night when I would go down there. He told me he had a Mockingbird that he was looking to sell, and he goes, ‘I’ll bring it down.’ And the following Tuesday at, like, 11:30 at night, he comes walking down Highland Avenue with a guitar case. I bought it from him on the sidewalk.”

While the guitar is one that Slash will often reach for when he’s in need of a whammy bar, some of the Mockingbird’s unique appointments – an onboard preamp, Varitone switching, coil splits – are roundly ignored. “The knobs are a cool novelty-type of thing, but I’ve never found much use for them,” he says. “I was never one of those ‘coil-tappers.’”

The Collection: Slash, Custom Edition

Limited to 500 copies worldwide, and hand-signed by Slash, the Custom Edition ($999) measures 297 x 420 mm (11.69 x 16.54”) and comes inside a premium clamshell protective box with case candy, including an Axe Heaven Appetite Les Paul miniature guitar, an exclusive Slash bandana, a guitar pick tin with Dunlop guitar picks, a cover poster, four guitar art prints, and a certificate of authenticity. 

The Collection: Slash, Deluxe Edition

The Collection: Slash Deluxe Edition ($249) is presented in a Les Paul slipcase and measures 240 x 340 mm (9.45 x 13.39”). It includes a cover poster, four guitar art prints, and a certificate of authenticity. The initial print run of the Deluxe Edition is hand-signed by Slash and limited to 1,000 copies. 

The Collection: Slash, Standard Edition

The Standard Edition ($149) offers a widely accessible version of the coffee-table book featuring 364 pages in hardcover, in a slightly more compact size of 240 x 340 mm (9.45 x 13.39”). 

To order any edition, visit Gibson.com. 

If you're in the market for a new guitar, then you're in luck as the Black Friday guitar deals have officially launched. The next few days are the biggest discounting period of the year, and this latest offer from Musician's Friend proves it. Right now you can score up to 50% off big-name brands, including Fender, ESP, Music Man, D'Angelico, Epiphone, Gretsch and more. 

This sale is populated with everything you'd ever need to make music, with discounts applied to everything from high-octane electric guitars to earth-shattering guitar amps, stunning acoustic guitars and must-have guitar accessories. So, no matter your playing style, guitar preferences or budget, you're sure to find something to get excited about here. 

We always get excited to see a decent amount knocked off a Player Series Fender, and Musician's Friend hasn't disappointed us, slashing an impressive $150 off the Fender Player Telecaster Plus. This stunning Tele delivers the bright and articulate attack you'd expect from this humble guitar, while the inclusion of a flame maple veneer and striking blue burst finish adds a modern flair. 

Next up, we need to mention the ridiculously cool Gretsch G2657T Streamliner, which is now only $449.99! Decked out in a stunning Ocean Turquoise finish and packing Gretsch's Broad'Tron humbucking pickups and a licensed Bigsby vibrato, this streamlined semi-hollow is an absolute steal. 

If you're looking for a seriously versatile axe, then the Sterling by Music Man Cutlass, in stunning Rose Gold, is the guitar for you! This guitar is effortless to play and its HHS setup means it will cover a lot of sonic ground - and better yet, there's a mega $100 off right now! 

Elsewhere on the site, you'll find a Black Friday coupon, which grants customers 15% off items over $99. 

Obviously, there are lots more on offer, so we suggest that you take the time to take a look through the entire sale. 

Check out more from the Musician's Friend Holiday Sale below

• View the full electric guitar sale
• View the full acoustic guitar sale
• View the full amp sale
• View the full recording gear sale
• View the full live sound sale 

Right now, Guitar Center is offering over a third off the regular price of Boss DS-1 Distortion Kits in this incredible deal that also includes two six-inch patch cables.

Dubbed "the greatest guitar event on Earth,” the firm’s Guitar-A-Thon sale sees the price of this package slashed from $89.99 to just $58.99 – that’s a huge saving of $31!

With over 1.5 million units sold, the DS-1 Distortion is Boss’s best-selling effects pedal – and for good reason.

Seen on the pedalboards of countless pro guitarists over the decades, this tried and trusted dirtbox is a benchmark of tone.

Boss DS-1 Distortion

The Boss DS-1 Distortion is a king among distortion pedals and is one of the most popular effects units of all time.

Unveiled in 1978 following the launch of Boss’s iconic compact pedal series the previous year, the flexible DS-1 Distortion set a standard for all that followed.

Great for rhythm and lead sounds, this Boss classic features three simple controls – tone, level and distortion – with which to dial in your perfect settings.

Known for its edgy voice, the DS-1 Distortion allows electric guitar players to cut through a band mix. Whether on stage or in the studio, this Boss staple can be relied on for world class tone every time.

Popular with beginners and pros alike, it’s a great pedal to have in the toolbox and is built to withstand decades of use.

Long sold with a five-year warranty, Boss pedals are famously tough and are frequently cited as modern classics (just ask Joe Satriani or Steve Vai!)

British blues-rock legend Paul Kossoff (1950-1976) would have turned 72 this week.

Although the Free guitarist’s untimely death at the age of 25 was a great loss to the guitar world he remains one of the most influential ‘Burst slingers in music history.

Synonymous with the Les Paul Standard, Kossoff’s tone is a touchstone for many – including Guns N’ Roses guitarist Richard Fortus who cites him as one of his biggest influences.

Yesterday, on Kossoff’s birthday, Fortus shared an audio clip of an inspired guitar solo he recorded for a tribute album in aid of Melia Clapton’s Turn Up For Recovery.

To record this outstanding guitar solo, Fortus ran his recently acquired 1960 Gibson Les Paul Standard into a pair of rare vintage tube amps – a mid-’60s Park and a ’59 Fender Bassman.

A dream guitar for decades, the purchase of this Holy Grail of tone was funded by the guitarist’s gargantuan gear sale at Chicago Music Exchange that comprised over 200 items including amps, acoustic guitars and electric guitars.

“My initial goal was to buy a ‘Burst, but I figured I’d get a refin or a headstock repair – something more affordable,” Fortus told Guitar Player.

“I went through everything and sold anything that I didn’t use. It was an interesting process. I’d amassed this collection over the years because I never sold anything; I only bought stuff.”

A discerning musician with an ear for great tone, the GnR guitar twin carefully set about finding the perfect ‘Burst. It was, however, as if the guitar found him instead.

“As soon as I played it, I knew it was the one,” he recalls. “I played eight different ‘Bursts that were up for sale and when I plugged this one in, I was like, ‘Fuck. This is definitely the one.’ 

"They vary. Wildly. But I knew straight away. It's absolutely perfect."

At that point, Fortus was certain he had found exactly what he was looking for and became the second custodian of a 1960 Gibson Les Paul Standard.

“It’s had one previous owner who owned it from new,” he tells us. “It's in great shape. It’s definitely been played but it’s been really well taken care of. It's completely faded but there's no scratches or anything.”

Right now, Fortus is out on the road with Gun N’ Roses, although his beloved ‘Burst won’t be making an appearance on stage any time soon. Like Slash, he intends on keeping it safely locked up at home in the vault.

“I use it all the time in the studio to record with,” he enthuses, “and I've played live with it once. But I'm not going to be taking it on out with Guns.

“Slash takes his Derrig on tour, but he doesn’t take his old ones out either.”

Browse the Guns N' Roses catalog here.

We'd go as far as to say Positive Grid is the current champion of the very competitive practice amp space, and it looks like 300,000 guitarists agree with us. The smart amp innovators have just hit a massive milestone with the original Spark 40 and its new tiny version, the Spark Mini, reaching 300,000 players worldwide! To celebrate this outstanding achievement, Positive Grid has slashed the prices on all their amplifiers, bundles and software – but you'll need to be quick if you want to take advantage of these deals as they are only available for a very limited time. 

Some players may be surprised by this news, but not us. Positive Grid has continued to push the boundaries of what is possible with an affordable practice combo, and frankly, it's easy to see why this clever little practice companion has become so popular.

This sales event covers most of Positive Grid's range, with money off stand-alone amplifiers, bundles with accessories and headphones, and even their mega-popular Bias Amp 2 software, so we highly recommend having a look for yourself to see what is available.

To give you a taste of what you can expect, the original recipe Spark and Control footswitch is available with an extra $40 off – as well as a free bag – with the code CONTROL40. If software is more your thing, then you may want to take advantage of the 40% reduction of the ever-popular Bias Amp 2. 

At the heart of the Spark 40 and Mini is the excellent Bias Tone Engine which serves up an array of tones from shimmering clean to crushing high-gain, harmonically rich blues and warm, mellow jazz - as well as a myriad of studio-quality effects including reverb, delay, chorus and tremolo to name a few.

Of course, with an amp as technologically advanced as this, you'd expect more, and boy, does the Spark deliver. Innovative features like Auto Chords - which figures out the chords from your music library or streamed songs - and Smart Jam, which listens to the notes you're playing and creates a backing track in a style of your choice, mean this amp will revolutionize your entire practice routine. 

If you want to know more, you can check out our glowing 5-star Positive Grid Spark review and Positive Grid Spark Mini review to see exactly what we thought of them. 

Discover more great gear with our buyer's guides 

• Plug in with one of the best guitar cables
• Need a guitar on a budget? Here's our list of the best electrics under $1000
• Want an affordable amp? Well, here are the best guitar amps under $1,000
• Get the best of both worlds with the best acoustic electric guitars

Gibson has built a limited run of four custom Les Paul electric guitars that have been touring the world, played onstage by the likes of Slash, Maná and Paul McCartney, that will now go to auction to raise money for the Ukraine relief effort.

The Gibson Guitars For Peace Les Pauls all feature the azure blue and gold of the Ukrainian flag, and will be sold at auction via Julien’s Auctions, with bidding open from October 11. 

Anyone who attended or tuned into the coverage of Glastonbury would have seen Paul McCartney playing one, and he expressed his support for the people of Ukraine.

“I’m happy to auction this beautiful guitar of mine to benefit the fine people of Ukraine,” said Paul McCartney in a statement. “Hopefully it will help them through this aggressive Russian invasion.”

The guitars have traveled with an accompanying autograph book, which has collected the signatures of a multitude of global stars. Among those supporting the fundraising effort are Gibson brand ambassador Lzzy Hale of Halestorm, Nile Rodgers, The Rolling Stones, Mark Knopfler, Paloma Faith, Margo Price, the Charlatans, Madness, Aquaman himself Jason Momoa, Alex Lifeson, and many more.

“It’s been heartbreaking to watch the innocent people of Ukraine in such turmoil,” said Lzzy Hale. “I’m so proud of my Gibson family for stepping up to provide a bit of hope to our fellow humans.”

“It is an honor to represent the brave sovereign state of Ukraine,” added Slash. “I’m proud to support them during this conflict.” 

Alex Lifeson also offered his support, and congratulated Gibson’s charity arm, Gibson Gives, for pulling the relief effort together.

Gibson Gives is also releasing a Guitars For Peace T-shirt, which is emblazoned with its logo on a blue-and-gold heart design. All proceeds from the auction and the T-shirt sale will go to the humanitarian relief efforts in Ukraine, with the Disaster Emergency Committee allocating the funds. 

A portion of the money raised will be used to support music programmes when the war ends.

James “JC” Curleigh, president and CEO of Gibson Brands, said that music has united people throughout history, particularly in times in conflict. 

“Despite the dark circumstances, we stand by our amazing artists with our support to launch ‘Guitars for Peace,’ and to envision a better future for Ukraine and its citizens,” he said.

“It is an honor to represent the brave sovereign state of Ukraine,” said Slash. “I’m proud to support them during this conflict.” 

The Gibson Gives Guitars For Peace T-shirt is available to buy now, shipping September 26. The Guitars For Peace auction opens on Julien’s Auctions on October 11, with auction wrapping up both in-person and online at the Icons & Idols: Rock ‘N’ Roll event at the New York Hard Rock Cafe on November 11 to 13.

Chicago Music Exchange has long been a Mecca for guitar players seeking out their perfect Gibson.

With a huge array of Gibsons on offer, it's always a good idea for those on the lookout to keep tabs on what they have in stock.

From the newest Standard and Artist models to Murphy Labs aged instruments, they’ve got it all.

Some of the coolest Gibson electric guitars to be found at Chicago Music Exchange are the CME Exclusive instruments.

Working with the Gibson Custom Shop directly, these "CME spec" guitars cannot be found anywhere else.

The CME Exclusive Gibson Les Paul Standard '50s and CME Exclusive Gibson Les Paul Standard '60s have been thoughtfully put together with specialist knowledge, expertise and passion.

Recently introduced as “love letters to one of rock’s most fundamental brands,” this fine pair of ‘Bursts can be seen and heard in action here…

Making the most of what the Gibson Custom Shop has to offer, these special order Les Pauls have been tastefully designed with looks, sound and feel in mind.

Of particular merit are the instruments' CME T-Type pickups – a collaborative design originally developed for a run of CME Exclusive SG Standards back in 2019.

Delivering classic hard rock tone, these unique humbuckers are replicas of the vintage Gibson ‘T-top’ design, as found in Jimmy Page’s “number one” Les Paul.

Here’s a brief rundown of the specs…

Gibson USA Les Paul Standard '60s Tomato Soup Burst

Body:

• Solid mahogany with AA figured maple cap
• 1960-style Tomato Soup Burst gloss nitrocellulose lacquer finish

Neck:

• Solid mahogany with Slim Taper profile
• 22-fret rosewood fingerboard with medium jumbo frets and 12” radius

Pickups & Electronics:

• Dual CME T-Type humbuckers
• 3-way pickup selector switch
• Independent pickup volume and tone controls
• Hand-wired Orange Drop capacitors

Hardware:

• Nickel-plated ABR-1 Tune-O-Matic bridge and aluminum stop bar
• Grover Rotomatic tuners with kidney buttons

Plastics:

• Cream pickguard, switch washer and jack plate
• Gold ‘top hat’ knobs and amber switch tip

Gibson USA Les Paul Standard '50s Dirty Lemon Burst

Body:

• Solid mahogany with AA figured maple cap
• Late ‘50s-style Dirty Lemon Burst gloss nitrocellulose lacquer finish

Neck:

• Solid mahogany with Vintage '50s profile
• 22-fret rosewood fingerboard with medium jumbo frets and 12” radius

Pickups & Electronics:

• Dual CME T-Type humbuckers
• 3-way pickup selector switch
• Independent pickup volume and tone controls
• Hand-wired Orange Drop capacitors

Hardware:

• Nickel-plated ABR-1 Tune-O-Matic bridge and aluminum stop bar
• Vintage Deluxe tuners with plastic keystone buttons

Plastics:

• Cream pickguard, switch washer and jack plate
• Gold ‘top hat’ knobs and amber switch tip

Visit Chicago Music Exchange for more information.

Nowadays, Slash is known the world over as the lead guitarist in Guns N’ Roses – the L.A. hard rock band with whom he made a name for himself as one of the most influential players in guitar history.

As a fan of the Gibson Les Paul design, he had a great deal to do with re-popularizing the iconic electric guitar when GnR hit the bigtime in the late ‘80s.

This eventually led to his current signature collaborations with both Gibson and Epiphone.

But like so many guitar players before and after, Slash came from humble beginnings. It was through sheer determination and hard work that he made it happen.

In this interview extract from the December 1991 issue of Guitar Player, the guitarist recounts how he first got his world-famous chops together (and explains why he once tried to demolish a wall with a Les Paul copy.)

How did you get started?

My first guitar was a one-string Spanish acoustic that was lying around the house. I taught myself a UFO song and “Smoke on the Water.”

My grandmother was really sweet; she bought me an Explorer copy that I flipped out on. Unfortunately, it was a piece of shit.

Then I got a Memphis Les Paul copy. At rehearsal one day, I ended up sticking it through a wall neck first because I could not keep the fucking thing in tune.

Did you practice a lot?

I was a workaholic. I'd play 12 hours a day. I picked it up really quick because I was naive in a way. I wasn't starstruck and I wasn't so flipped out by other guitar players that they intimidated me.

I didn't feel like I was trying to reach some goal. I was just learning. A lot of people go, “It's gonna take me 10 years to reach this place,” and it freaks them out.

I’m real single-minded, so once I got into guitar that's all I did. It basically replaced school.

At some point you got a good instrument.

That was a B.C. Rich Mockingbird. I wish I had it now. I hocked it during one of my so-called bad periods. But I played that while I was going through different bands.

Later, I got a handmade Les Paul copy, built by a guy who makes awesome guitars, better than anything the company produces now – nothing against Gibson.

I think that’s when I turned into a Gibson freak – Gibson and Marshall. That’s been my standard until this album [Use Your Illusion I & II.]

When you were coming up, did you see many hot players in L.A.?

I couldn't afford good enough concert seats to pick up anything from watching guys perform. But for some reason, when I listened, I understood how to go about it.

Eddie Van Halen was the only one who might have thrown me for a loop, but I never tried to emulate him, because I always thought that style was his.

It really bummed me out when everybody ripped off his whole trip.

Did you have any formal instruction?

One teacher, Robert Wollan – a great guy who had a lot to do with me getting into guitar – pointed me in the right direction.

As all music teachers are supposed to do, he started me reading music and playing “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” It was so boring!

But Robert played the shit out of the guitar – he’s still one of the most amazing players I’ve ever met. I’d bring in records and he’d play “Stairway to Heaven” note for note.

It really pissed me off, because I’d sit there with this bullshit Mel Bay. Finally, I quit and spent a lot of time teaching myself. I worked full-time to support my guitar habit and stayed up until god-knows-when practicing and learning.

My main thing was Jeff Beck at that time. I remember learning “’Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers” note for note, getting every subtlety.

There was Aerosmith, Ted Nugent, Cheap Trick and Zeppelin.

I sold my soul to the guitar. If I quit playing now, I’d have no future.

Browse the Guns N' Roses catalog here.

Get tour info here.

The release of Legacy: A Tribute to Leslie West demonstrates the respect felt by so many axe heroes for Leslie West’s unique talents.

The breadth of artists that contributed to it – from contemporaries like Robby Krieger and Martin Barre to shred legends such as Yngwie Malmsteen and Marty Friedman – highlights the fact that a truly great artist can transcend all genres.

Blackberry Smoke’s Charlie Starr formed a close friendship with West in his later years and was keen to be a part of the star-studded album project.

Any favorite personal memories of time spent with Leslie?

I got to play “Mississippi Queen” with him at the Beacon Theater in New York City. We jammed for something like 10 minutes before he even played the riff. It was mesmerizing.

What are the highlights of Leslie’s back catalog for you?

When you make two records as strong as Climbing! and Nantucket Sleighride, it’s hard to single out specific highlights, but for my money, not much is better than “Sittin’ on a Rainbow” and “To My Friend” [both from Climbing!].

Those two pieces of music cover the spectrum.

Why did you choose to cover “Silver Paper,” from Climbing!?

I don’t believe you could go wrong with any Mountain track, but this one has always hit home with me.

What is it about Leslie’s playing that spoke to you?

His playing is like a soulful singing voice. He never overplayed. His guitar was just an extension of his own amazing singing. Plus he has the best tone ever.

Order Legacy: A Tribute to Leslie West here.

Howard Alexander Dumble, the genius boutique guitar amp maker who passed away in January, counted many of the electric guitar's biggest names as clients. 

Eric Johnson, John Mayer, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Orianthi, and Joe Bonamassa are just a few of the big names who use Dumble's meticulously-crafted amps. Now, apparently, you can add Slash to that impressive list. 

In a recent interview with Premier Guitar, the top-hatted guitar legend revealed that he only recently played a Dumble for the first time during the sessions for his new album with Myles Kennedy & the Conspirators, 4.

“It was the first time I consciously knew I was playing through a Dumble amp,” Slash said. “I’ve been hearing that name forever, but I didn’t know what it was. [Dave Cobb, 4's producer] introduced me to a Fender that Dumble had customized, and it sounds fuckin’ amazing. I didn’t actually record anything with it, but it just sounded really good.”

The amp sounded so good, in fact, that Slash subsequently reached out to Dumble to secure one of his coveted amps for himself.

“I got in touch with Alex after the session and he actually did a Fender for me,” Slash said in the interview, which Premier Guitar says was conducted before Dumble's passing. “It sounds really great. He’s not easy to get in touch with or to get him to do something, it became very apparent. So it was an honor to have him do something for me. But I didn’t know the history before. 

"There was some discrepancy over the cost of it for a second, but he and I got to be good friends as a result of that," Slash added. "I didn’t know how much it cost, I thought ‘five’ meant five-hundred bucks!”

It's hard to know for certain, given the personal nature of Dumble's builds, but it seems – given what we know about the timeline – that Slash's Dumble is likely one of the final projects the great craftsman ever completed. 

Myles Kennedy is known for his gigs fronting two of rock’s leading acts, each of which is centered around an avowed guitar star: Alter Bridge, with Mark Tremonti, and Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators.

But in addition to being an in-demand vocalist, Kennedy is also a pretty stellar six-stringer himself. In fact, growing up in Washington, the now 51-year-old saw himself as a guitar player who also did some singing, rather than the other way around. And in his first major band, the ’90s alternative hard-rock combo Mayfield Four, he handled both lead vocals and lead guitar.

In more recent years, of course, the guitar slots in Kennedy’s bands have been well taken care of. And even when Kennedy stepped out on his own with his 2018 solo debut, Year of the Tiger, it was with a more folk-rock-influenced effort that saw his guitar playing function primarily as a rhythm accompaniment to his vocals.

All that said, Kennedy admits that in the past few years, “I really started to miss guitar a lot, especially improvising and lead playing. So I started to rekindle that love. I would sit on my couch for hours every day and just play. And I started to think, Well, on my next solo record…”

Now, that next solo record is here. It’s titled The Ides of March (Napalm Records), and, true to Kennedy’s word, it’s an unabashed electric guitar-centric effort, with his songwriting and vocals surrounded by a blitz of explosive solos, melodic lead lines, bluesy slide licks and high-energy riffs.

For those who think of him as a singer who also dabbles in guitar, well, maybe the truth is actually something closer to the reverse. “I really wanted to explore my relationship to the guitar this time out,” he says. “Because when I was younger, I was the kid who sat in his bedroom all day, every day, trying to be a guitar guy. I was obsessed. I still am.”

When we first listened to The Ides of March, we assumed, given your status as a singer, that you were mostly playing rhythm guitar, and not the lead parts as well. But it’s all you – the rhythms, the leads, the slide work.

[laughs] I started as a guitar player, and it’s so funny how life has worked out. If you would’ve told me when I began playing guitar and playing in bands locally, “One day, you’re going to be this guy who’s more known as a singer,” I’d have said, “No way!” Because I was really shy. 

I didn’t want to sing. But once I started writing songs, because I lived in a community with a finite number of other singers and musicians, I thought, Well, I guess I’ll just learn to sing and do this myself. And I don’t want to say I abandoned guitar playing, but my focus shifted dramatically.

Were you mostly self-taught, or did you take lessons? You seem to have a pretty solid grip on theory and technique.

I was a sponge. I studied with this guy named Joe Brasch, who’s a local guitar hero in my community. I’d go in every Tuesday or Thursday, and it was the highlight of my week. I learned all that stuff from him – a lot of theory, understanding how to hit the changes, things like that. And later on, I studied two years at a community college, taking nothing but music classes. I learned how to arrange for big band and the history of jazz, and I played in jazz bands. And so, yeah, I was kind of a freak. [laughs] I loved it so much.

Diving into the new record, it’s clear that, from a lyrical perspective, you really focused on our current cultural moment – the pandemic, lockdown, societal ills, divisions among people.

I remember, in February 2020, I was touring with Alter Bridge and I was talking with my manager, who told me, “We’re supposed to get a solo record done later this year.” And I thought, Oh, that’s going to be interesting! Because we were supposed to go to Asia, and we had all this other stuff going on. So how was I going to write this record? Little did I expect but, about three weeks later, the world essentially shut down, so I had plenty of time to write, and I took advantage immediately.

We got off the road in late February; I gave it about a week and then I started working. And this was as everything started to shut down, and all this information was coming out and there was a lot of uncertainty. It was, for lack of a better word, concerning. You know, “Where are we going?”

And so a lot of these songs were written early on in that process, and they’re definitely a reflection of what so many of us were feeling in those uncertain times. But I didn’t have any agenda, because I’m not that guy. Other people can do that, I can’t. 

I look at the world, and I reflect on how it’s affecting me emotionally, and my family, and then I put it into songs. But when I hear these songs now, it’s pretty palpable. You know, if I listen to “The Ides of March,” you can hear the uncertainty and…I don’t want to say fear, but definitely concern.

That one in particular is so epic in terms of the arrangement, songwriting and guitar playing. And it climaxes in a great, dramatic solo. It’s certainly the centerpiece of the record.

That, to me, was the most important track to get right. I felt like I didn’t have a record until that song was done. The genesis of it – that melody and the chord sequence – came to me in a dream. I recorded it on my phone and then came back and revisited it, and I thought, Oh, this could be something cool. And it’s different from a lot of the things I do.

So it was a journey. It took a long time to find each one of those parts and build it. The whole thing took about six months total. And the part that was the most challenging was the coda. It was a lot of, “Is this gonna work? Is that gonna work?” I just kept going back to the drawing board. I wanted it to be uplifting, because when I was writing the song, I felt like the clouds were parting at the end. You could see the blue sky, and I wanted the music to follow the narrative.

There’s also some great slide playing throughout the record. The first single, “In Stride,” on which you play a resonator guitar, would be an example. What’s your history with slide guitar?

I’ve had the luxury of getting to jam with Gov’t Mule a few times, and standing onstage next to Warren Haynes is mind blowing. He’s like the Jedi master. But the first person that led me to pick up a slide and try to understand how it worked was Bonnie Raitt.

Back in the early ’90s I was in an R&B cover band, and her version of “Thing Called Love” was big. So I learned that slide part at the beginning. And from there I just started to listen to different players. Derek Trucks was an influence, obviously.

And another guy who was big for me was Ian Thornley from Big Wreck, who we toured with quite a bit back when I was in the Mayfield Four. Ian is a monster slide player, and he’s the person who turned me on to a lot of different altered tunings.

There’s a song called “Lyla” on the second Mayfield Four record [2001’s Second Skin]. We were hanging out in Ian’s kitchen one day and I was playing it in regular tuning. He said, “Why aren’t you playing that in open G? It’d be so much easier, so much cooler.” I was like, “Oh, yeah. You’re right! Thanks, Ian!”

What gear did you use on The Ides of March?

A lot of this album was informed by older instruments. I’m a PRS guy, and I love PRS, but I would pick up an old Telecaster or an old ES-335, and it got to me somehow in a different way. I really fed off of that on this record.

I’ve been really lucky to acquire a handful of cool instruments along the way, two of which were used a lot this time – a 1958 Gibson ES-335, which I played on a lot of the solos, and a ’53 blackguard Telecaster that I wrote a fair amount of the record on and used to track it as well.

And for slide, I have a 1954 Fender lap steel that’s great, but those single-coil pickups have a lot of hum, which was challenging. I ran it through an Amplified Nation amp, and if we turned the gain up to get it to sing, the buzz would come. So we had to mess around with playing in different parts of the room. It was a real interesting process trying to get that figured out. But I think it sounded great in the end.

How about other amps and effects?

As far as amps go, I have a 1958 Fender Deluxe that has the 5E3 circuit. So many guitar players that I love use and record with that. It’s a simple amp, but when you put a microphone in front of it, it just works. And my producer, Elvis [Michael “Elvis” Baskette], had a nice 1974 Marshall combo. If I was going to have one side of the mix be the Deluxe, the other side a lot of times was the Marshall.

For effects, I used a few EarthQuaker Devices pedals, including one of their delays. And for overdrive I had a Fulltone Full-Drive 2 and a Klon clone. In fact, on “In Stride,” to give the secret away, I’m playing a newer National Resonator into a Klon clone into the Fender Deluxe. Now, I understand there are purists who will say, “Wait a minute, you put an overdrive pedal in front of a Deluxe?” ’Cause that’s a big no-no. But it worked, so we were like, “Well, you know…”

When GP rounded up more than a dozen electric guitar heroes and asked them to share their thoughts on Eddie Van Halen in the days following his death in October 2020, one thing stood out.

There was far more, almost all of the guitarists pointed out, to Eddie's playing than just his technical brilliance. It's a sentiment that top-hatted Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash echoed as well, in a recent interview with producer Dave Cobb on Apple Music’s Southern Accents Radio.

“When I first heard… the Van Halen debut record, it really fucked me. That was a heavy fucking record,” Slash said, when asked about Van Halen's influence.

“That was the moment that the '70s just changed… And as a guitar player, I was just a kid, I was just picking up the guitar at that time. I hadn't even started at that moment. I started like the following year, but when I started getting into guitar playing, everybody was trying to emulate Eddie.”

While doing so, Slash argues, many guitarists missed – in their pursuit of technical perfection – much of what made Eddie's playing so special.

“They were all sort of focusing on the obvious techniques and the fucking finger tapping and the harmonics and the tremolo bar stuff and all these really fucking great techniques that Eddie had,” says Slash. 

“But the way that he did it was such a part of his personality and it was such a part of his melodic sensibility that it had this really sort of musical fluidity that nobody after that really ever came close to, playing that style of guitar playing, and so I always loved Eddie.”

For his part, Slash is currently prepping the release of 4, his upcoming album with Myles Kennedy & the Conspirators. Set for a February 11 release, it was prefaced by the hard-rockin' single, "The River Is Rising,” and recorded live with Cobb in Nashville’s legendary RCA Studio A.

The follow up to 2018’s Living the Dream, 4 will be released on Gibson's newly-founded record label, and can be preordered here.

Happy birthday to Guns N’ Roses guitarist Richard Fortus!

A member of the hard rock titans for the best part of two decades Fortus’s long and varied career has seen him perform with a diverse range of artists including Thin Lizzy, Psychedelic Furs, and The Dead Daisies.

As one of the industry’s most prolific session guitarists Fortus has lent his superlative talents to countless projects over the years. From some of the world’s biggest names in music such as Enrique Iglesias and Rihanna to film scores, commercials and video games – he’s done it all!

While being immersed in such a broad variety of gigs over the years, Fortus has constantly strived to refine his electric guitar tone, and his new Gretsch signature Falcons – the white, Bigsby-equipped G6636T-RF and black, V-stoptail G6636-RF – are the culmination of a lifetime's experience in music.

These Falcons are not just any Gretsch semi-hollowbody electric.

“Gretsch is, in many ways, the tone of rock ‘n’ roll for me,” says Fortus. “From classic Duane Eddy [and] Cliff Gallup to Malcolm Young – it really encapsulates rock ‘n’ roll.”

With a solid bottom end and sparkling, chime-y top end Fortus’s classic Gretsch Filter’Tron sound sits around Slash’s more midrange-prominent vocal guitar tone, allowing each to occupying their own space within Guns N’ Roses’ unique sonic picture.

Far from being off-the-shelf parts the pickups in the new Gretsch Richard Fortus Signature Falcons are the result of painstaking experimentation.

“Gretsch were in rehearsals with us, and they were winding pickups on the spot while I’m trying them out,” Fortus told Guitarist magazine. “We had a cycle of four different guitars, as well as my normal live guitars to compare them to. Plus, when you’re on in-ears, you’re listening under a microscope. You can hear every detail.

“Our front-of-house engineer was in the other room in a control room environment, so he was listening too and giving us feedback. We’d go back and forth zeroing in on the perfect tone. Gretsch were amazing. They were as tenacious as I was in trying to find the perfect blend.”

The team eventually settled on a unique design incorporating elements of vintage-style PAF and Filter’Tron pickups. Consequently, this versatile humbucker is able to produce both iconic tones. 

“When you roll the volume down to around seven, you’re very much in classic Filter’Tron territory," says Fortus. "And as you bring the volume up you get more of that round PAF thing.”

Here’s a quick rundown of specs for each of the two models…

G6636T-RF Richard Fortus Signature Falcon

BODY

• Arched laminated maple top and back
• 1.75" (44.45 mm) depth
• Center block construction
• Vintage White gloss finish

NECK

• Maple set-neck construction with U-profile
• 25.5" (648 mm) scale length
• 22-fret ebony fingerboard with 12" (305 mm) radius
• Pearloid Neo-Classic Thumbnail inlays

ELECTRONICS

• Dual custom wound Filter'Tron pickups with nickel covers
• Master volume with treble bleed
• Master tone with no-load pot

HARDWARE

• Bigsby B6CP
• TonePros TP6R bridge with roller saddles
• Grover Rotomatic die-cast tuners
• Nickel finish

G6636-RF Richard Fortus Signature Falcon

BODY

• Arched laminated maple top and back
• 1.75" (44.45 mm) depth
• Center block construction
• Black gloss finish

NECK

• Maple set-neck construction with U-profile
• 24.6" (625 mm) scale length
• 22-fret ebony fingerboard with 12" (305 mm) radius
• Pearloid Neo-Classic Thumbnail inlays

ELECTRONICS

• Dual custom wound Filter'Tron pickups with nickel covers
• Master volume with treble bleed
• Master tone with no-load pot

HARDWARE

• V-stoptail
• TonePros TP6R Tune-O-Matic bridge
• Grover Rotomatic die-cast tuners
• Nickel finish

Visit the Gretsch website for more information.

Arriving February 11, 2022, Slash featuring Myles Kennedy & the Conspirators’ new album – 4 – will be the first LP to be released on the brand-new Gibson Records label. Earlier this year, Gibson announced the launch of their new venture in partnership with “the world's most artist-friendly international record label,” BMG.

“It's an honor to be the first release on the new Gibson Records,” said Slash. “It's a zenith in our partnership for sure and having worked so closely with Gibson for so long, I know they will be a label that genuinely supports their artists creatively. Not just me, but all the artists they choose to work with. It's perfect.”

4 follows up 2018’s Living the Dream – the third studio album by Slash featuring Myles Kennedy & the Conspirators. Following the release of Slash’s eponymous debut solo album in 2010 which featured a host of singing legends including Chris Cornell and Ozzy Osbourne, the first SMKC long-player – Apocalyptic Love – appeared in 2012, followed by World on Fire in 2014.

Recorded live in Nashville’s legendary RCA Studio A with producer Dave Cobb (Chris Stapleton, John Prine, Jason Isbell) the new SMKC album promises to be unlike anything heard from the band to date. Taking a new approach, Cobb and the band decided to track virtually everything live – electric guitar solos and vocals included.

Speaking of the album’s recording process Slash said, “It has a very spontaneous, fun kind of thing to it, and I love that. That’s really the major difference on this record – we did it more or less live, and the mistakes are all in there. It’s the sound of the five of us just jamming together in one room.”

SMKC have today offered the first teaser from 4 with their “The River Is Rising” video. Featuring some mean tremolo riffing this Gibson Les Paul-laden banger sets the scene as the opening track for a dynamic album of myriad sounds and styles.

“It grabs you right out of the gate,” says Slash.

Pre-order 4 by Slash featuring Myles Kennedy & the Conspirators here.

On 17 September 1991, Guns N' Roses released their much-anticipated Use Your Illusion albums. This double dose of hard rock hit the shelves in tandem, immediately peaking at the top of the charts. Supported by the lead single "You Could Be Mine," Use Your Illusion II reached the number one spot while Use Your Illusion I followed closely behind at number two. Bolstered by a massive world tour, both albums would eventually go on to reach multi-platinum status.

Later that year, Guitar Player caught up with Slash to talk about the "blood, sweat, and tears" recordings. Here's what he had to say...

Rumor has it you’ve got a pretty righteous guitar collection.

About 50 guitars. I’m really a guitar freak. I spend money on what – snakes, guitars, and cars? I try not to spend too much on women. I keep everything in storage; I don’t take the really good shit out on the road because things get too banged up. There was a point when I had to take the guitar that I used for Appetite on the road, ‘cause it was the only guitar I had. Now, it’s beat to shit.

The ’59 repro?

Yeah, the hand-made yellow flame-top with zebra [Seymour Duncan] Alnico II pickups. For the first record, I must have gone through 10 guitars trying to find one I liked. And I couldn’t afford to buy some ridiculously expensive Les Paul. When our former manager showed up with this one, it became my main studio guitar.

Did you use it on “Sweet Child O’ Mine”?

Yeah. For almost everything on Appetite and then for most of the heavier songs on Use Your Illusion.

You used other guitars on this album?

Some fucking great guitars – a ’58 V and a ’58 Explorer. There’s a certain nasal sound you can hear on “Heaven’s Door,” “Locomotive,” and a couple of other songs – it’s almost [Michael] Schenker-sounding. That’s just the tone control on the V, no wah pedal. There were a couple of other guitars that people aren’t used to hearing me play. 

I used one of those small-scale Music Mans like Keith Richards has. There’s a Travis Bean that I use for slide on “Bad Obsession” [Illusion I]. When I first got into slide, I went to a Joe Perry Project show; he had a Travis Bean, and it sounded killer. So when I saw one in the paper, I bought it. It has a gorgeous mahogany body with this real subtle rainbow in the finish – it’s almost airbrushed. 

I played maybe 20 different guitars on Use You Illusion: a Strat, a Dobro, a 6-string bass, a banjo, some acoustics. But the sound that I’m recognized for is my Les Paul through a Marshall half-stack.

Will there ever be a Gibson Slash model?

At one point they had an idea for a Slash Les Paul. I gave them my best live guitar; they had it for six months, trying to get the weight and density and everything right. God bless the guys who worked on it, ‘cause they’re really cool, but they sent me four instruments and none of them sounded anywhere close to it. 

I’m sort of pissed off at Gibson, because in the six-odd years that I’ve been with them, I’ve only gotten three gold-tops that I can use live. And I’ve spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on old Gibsons. We just cannot seem to get a sound that I’m happy with from the new ones.

How do you set up to record?

For the basic tracks, I play with the band, using headphones; we’re all in one room. The main goal is to get the bass and drums down. It’s a great vibe and I wish I could record my final tracks that way, but I can’t. I need to be in my own studio – away from where the basic tracks are done – in the control booth. I don’t let anybody in from the band, if I can help it. 

On “Shotgun Blues” [Illusion II] Axl and some friends popped in, and I did the solo in one take. Sometimes you just want to fuckin’ jam in front of somebody. Usually no one was in the studio except for Mike [Clink, Producer] and Jim Mitchell, our engineer. That’s really my element. I love it.

What happens after the basic tracks?

I redo all my parts. There are a lot of guitars on the album. Izzy has only one guitar throughout the whole record; he comes out of the left speaker. He recorded most of his stuff during basic tracks. I did all the overdubs and harmonies, plus my regular rhythm track. There are a couple of songs, especially ones I wrote, where I beefed up the tracks over on Izzy’s side, ‘cause he’s got a particular sound that doesn’t necessarily…

…weigh as much.

Yeah, exactly. It falls out of balance. I did all that, the acoustics, and my other instruments in five weeks. For 27 songs, it was pretty quick.

Did you cut all your rhythm tracks and then do all the solos, or did you complete one song at a time?

Because there was so much material, I debated both approaches. But I ended up going in and doing the entire song. If there were four different parts on that song, I just get into it and do ‘em. Otherwise, even if you switch rhythm sounds for each song, you’d end up playing all your rhythms the same. You need to get into one song at a time, so when you go to the next one, it’s a whole different entity.

How do you set up for overdubs?

When I was doing my guitars, I stood out in front of the main monitors with Mike and the engineer. Just blasting as loud as possible.

Playing through the monitors, how did you get you trademark feedback?

That’s a major problem that I’ve been battling for a long time. Normally, you go out into the studio and stand in front of your Marshall. With headphones on you can’t even hear the tracks – I don’t know how people deal with it. 

Anyway, my techs came up with a trick. I bet them that it wouldn’t work. They set it up so that I was coming through the monitors and a MESA/Boogie [Mark III combo]. I had the monitor so loud that even though the Boogie was right in front of me, I could still hear the band and sit in the control room. I got a lot of feedback that way.

Did you have to stand in certain places?

I’d find a cool spot and put a piece of tape on the ground. Then girls would come down to the studio and hang out. I’d get in the next day and find these shapes on the floor where they’d had a ball with the tape. I was completely confused: “Where’s my spot?” Or somebody would come in and tidy up. I’m like, “Fuck, do not touch anything, leave everything alone!” I love things to be a complete disaster. 

For every beer we drank, we’d stick the label on the [control room] glass – we almost covered the whole thing. One day we got to the studio and the manager had cleaned up. The whole environment was shot – all the porn pictures were taken down.

For your Dobro and slide parts, did you play in standard or open tuning?

The Dobro in “You Ain’t The First” [Illusion I] is in standard tuning. I used something I picked up from Keith Richards for “Bad Obsession.” You take the low-E string off and just have five strings. That’s how I play it live, too, in open G [GDGBD, low to high]. I think those are the only slide tunings I used.

And the banjo in “Breakdown” [Illusion II]?

It was a 6-string banjo tuned like a guitar and played with a flatpick. I don’t know shit about real banjo.

Your classical guitar solo at the end of “Double Talkin’ Jive” [Illusion I] is poignant.

Thank you; I enjoyed doing it. That Ramirez was one of my better finds – expensive, but beautiful. It’s really satisfying to heat that the solo has some emotion. It was done pretty quick. Actually, I didn’t spend too much time on anything. It was always one or two takes, more or less. If the intonation was really off, Clink would tell me, and I’d go back and maybe punch in. 

But we never spent entire days on guitar solos. We’d take an entire day and do a whole song. Of course, for the really long songs, it would take two days to get all that shit right. But I’d like to think that it was more rock and roll than what most bands are doing these days.

What steel-string acoustics do you play on the album?

I have several Guilds – a nice 12-string and a couple of great big dreadnoughts. I used a Gibson J-100 too.

Do you use the same picks for electric guitar and acoustic guitar?

Yeah. I’m real simpleminded about that. I use the heaviest picks I can find for everything. I don’t believe in switching picks like people switch guitars. It would probably be worthwhile, especially for strumming an acoustic – a thin pick is definitely easier to use. 

Mine are purple [Dunlop] Tortex, really rigid. I have to work harder for certain subtle things: Sometimes when I get up the neck to play soft, I really have to pay attention to the pressure I’m putting on the strings to get the right sound, whereas with a light pick you can strum away. But I can’t be bothered to change. And I can’t be bothered with string gauges, either – I stick to Ernie Ball .010s and that’s that. I’m really simple when it comes to equipment. I don’t like to switch around too much.

Browse Guns N' Roses albums here.

One million is an awesome number of plays by any standard, but one billion plays? That can be hard to get your head around. To put it into perspective: one million seconds equates to about eleven and a half days, whereas one billion seconds adds up to more than 31 years. Big difference. By the same logic, the amount of time people have spent listening to Guns N’ Roses’ “Sweet Child o’ Mine” on Spotify so far totals well over 11,000 years!

Appearing on Guns N’ Roses’ record-breaking 1987 debut album Appetite for Destruction, the “Sweet Child o’ Mine” single was originally released in June 1988. Bolstered by heavy rotation on MTV, it became a number one hit and helped introduce the band to a far wider audience than the underground hard rock scene of the late '80s.

Although the genesis of “Sweet Child o’ Mine" is attributed to Slash’s unforgettable opening riff, it was far from his favorite track and its inclusion on Appetite was chiefly at Axl Rose’s suggestion.

Speaking on the origins of “Sweet Child o’ Mine,” Slash told attendees at a private masterclass hosted by Guitar Center in 2010: “Where the riff came from, I don’t really remember, but I started playing this pattern. I mean it was one of those things I was in the process of discovering as I came up with each note and sort of turned it into something that kept rotating.

“Along the way, Izzy [Stradlin] started playing the chords that went along with it – behind it. And I guess Axl had overheard us playing it (he was upstairs) and unbeknownst to us he had started writing lyrics. A couple of days later we were at rehearsal doing sort of preproduction or whatever and Axl goes, “Play that song you guys were playing the other day.”

 “I always complain about [“Sweet Child o’ Mine"] because it was so up-tempo, ballad-y kind of thing – really rubbed me the wrong way. Even though I made up the riff, I didn’t know it was going to turn into… And so, I came in with the chord changes for the actual solo part which, for me, was the only redeeming part of the song.”

While the original full-length 5:55 version of “Sweet Child o’ Mine" is being streamed on Spotify, the track was significantly edited down for MTV, much to the chagrin of Axl Rose who told Rolling Stone in a 1989 interview, “I hate the edit of “Sweet Child O' Mine” … My favorite part of the song is Slash's slow solo; it's the heaviest part for me.”

On the subject of GN'R singles... Last Friday, the band put out their first release since 2008's Chinese Democracy album in the form of the "ABSUЯD" single. Making its live debut last week, "ABSUЯD" sees Guns N' Roses returning to form as they hit the road once again on a worldwide tour.

Get Appetite for Destruction here.

Following last year's launch of the Gibson Slash Collection signature guitars, sibling brand Epiphone has recently unveiled their own equivalent models as part of their Inspired by Gibson line-up. Sporting the same finish and model names as the Gibsons these new Epiphone Les Pauls are are effectively clones. But how do they measure up? According to Gibson Brands’ Senior Product Development Engineer, Richard Akers, and Product Manager, Aljon Go, they are virtually identical.

How have the Epiphone Slash models been able to achieve such a close likeness to the Gibson equivalents?

Aljon Go: Product Development now services every brand together. So, we have people from the Gibson side and the Custom Shop side and the acoustic side, and the Epiphone side (myself and Richard Akers). We’re a big think tank. Richard is like the Swiss Army knife of the team. He’s a rare breed because he’s got so much knowledge of how things have been done over time. He’s worked at Gibson for many years.

Richard Akers: I’m trying to bring the technical side to the table, but with the love and passion of being a player. Marrying those two together is what’s been very helpful for me over the years. My background is electrical engineering, so I’ve got that piece. But it all started from a love of playing guitar as a kid. That’s what drove me to it. I’ve been with Gibson now for 28 years.

Aljon and I focus on Epiphone, but at this point in the game it’s a team effort. In the past, things have been siloed, where each division – each business unit – was sort of held in isolation. But now it’s a complete team effort between all of the business units within the Gibson brands. So, we work very closely together with Gibson USA and Gibson Custom Shop

How did you manage to get the Gibson and Epiphone Slash finishes to look so similar?

Go: We worked really hard with Gibson and Slash to make sure that those finishes were replicated as authentically as possible. We just wanted to clone them. So, you’ll notice they have a very similar look. The looks are the same and our factory has done an amazing job of our Inspired by Gibson range thus far. The fans have been very happy about that. We just want to continue to grow that level of authenticity.

Akers: We’re in much closer alignment than we’ve ever been companywide. Particularly the models based on Gibsons that are made by Epiphone. We’re the closest we’ve been in my history with the company.

Why do you think that is exactly?

Akers: I think it’s been a combination of a couple of things. Our factory in China has really come of age and is hitting on all cylinders. We’ve got people over there that I’ve worked with for decades now. The people on the ground really know what they’re doing. We have our American management team there on the ground. So, we can really elevate what we’re doing from a production standpoint. That’s one aspect of it. But that’s been in process for many years. 

The other thing is our new leadership team that took over Gibson has been very, very supportive of letting Epiphone become what we’re capable of becoming. We’re working very closely with the other divisions to really fine tune details. We’re in this very close alignment, and that’s been the biggest part of the equation of the last two or three years.

Go: Even though Epiphone is older than Gibson, we’ve always been treated like a little brother. And now, because our factory has been executing so well, we’ve proven we make amazing guitars. We listen to our fans because we’re all players. I’ve been playing Epiphone guitars all my life just like Richard. And we’re bringing Epiphone back – the way it was meant to be. Our founders at the ‘house of Stathopoulo’ would have had it no different. They wanted quality in their little shop in New York, and we’re delivering it now. It feels great to be able to do that.

The Slash Collection are guitars we would be proud to play on any stage. That’s the whole game. That’s why we say, “Epiphone: for every stage.” You can pick it up and play it in an arena, and you can pick it up and play it in your garage. It doesn’t matter. These are quality instruments, so we’re very proud of that.

How similar are the Slash Gibson and Epiphone pickups?

Akers: These Alnico II ProBucker pickups being used in the Epiphone Slash guitars are identical in construction to the Alnico II BurstBuckers being used in the Gibson Slash models. The neck and bridge pickups are different as the bridge pickup is slightly hotter – like an overwound BurstBucker 3 in the bridge and an overwound BurstBucker 2 in the neck.

Go: We wanted to be authentic to the Gibson version, and that also included using orange drop caps and CTS pots in the circuit… People need to know: if you’re a fan of the Gibson Slash Les Pauls you can get that experience with a very accessible Epiphone which uses the same type of pickups. We were able to make a clone of that very same guitar in our overseas crafteries. And it’s very, very close. It is the Boba Fett of Jango Fetts!

How do you think the Epiphone and Gibson Slash guitars compare overall?

Akers: Gibson is still the aspirational brand. If you can afford it, go for it. They’re great guitars. With the highest quality materials. There are slight differences, and someone with a very refined ear can perhaps tell them apart. But for the majority of players, an Epiphone will serve their needs very well. You could buy an Epiphone and take it to the biggest stages in the world and feel comfortable that you’re going to have a professional quality instrument that will perform and be able to get your musical inspiration across. As Aljon said: these Epiphones are “for every stage”.

What was the process like in terms of working with Slash on the custom pickups?

Akers: Gibson worked directly with Slash on developing these pickups to his exact specifications and needs. They worked very closely and got the frequency response to where Slash needed it. There was a lot of back and forth and discussions on what he needed tonally. [Gibson Master Luthier] Jim DeCola sent out sample sets until they found the golden version. And we followed suit by cloning them. Epiphone makes exactly what was developed with Gibson and Slash. It’s just a different point of manufacture.

Are these Epiphone Les Pauls reminiscent of Slash’s tone?

Go: Slash seems to think so. Ultimately, he’s the guy that says, ‘Does this work for me? Thumbs up, or thumbs down?’ And he gave it a resounding thumbs up for Gibson and for Epiphone. He was very pleased. The moment he received the prototypes he posted about it on Instagram, which we were very excited about. It was just one of those resounding ‘you’ve nailed it’ situations. Richard has worked with Slash for many years. The relationship between Gibson and Epiphone and Slash goes back a long way. We’re very excited to just keep it rolling. I love the guitars we make, but regardless of what we think, the ultimate test is for the artist. And we can’t ask for much more than their stamp of approval.

To what extent has Epiphone also been listening to customers?

Go: That’s the great thing about Epiphone’s Inspired by Gibson line – we had an opportunity to really give players what they wanted. In other words, a guitar they didn’t have to mod. And we had that same approach with the Slash guitars: you’ve got great pickups, great hardware, a Graph Tech nut, and CTS pots. Also, Slash requested the binding look like his Gibson USA guitars.

Akers: We increased the binding width slightly. This is another one of these nuances when you get to Asian manufacturing versus US manufacturing; there’s sometimes a difference between [metric] and imperial units with respect to the standard off-the-shelf part. It’s ever so slightly different, but Slash noticed it straight away. This is why working with artists who are really in tune with their instruments is so great. He brought it up and said, “Man, why is that binding narrower?” I mean it was a miniscule amount smaller. But we said, “Yeah, you’re right! Let’s improve that.” So, we made that change. It’s a cosmetic thing, but it’s important to the overall appearance of an instrument. The way someone feels about the instrument influences the way they feel about it when they’re playing it.

It’s like the color of food…

Akers: It matters. I was fortunate enough to have a conversation with Les Paul before he passed. When he was developing the log, he said, “People hear with their eyes.” That’s why he put the two wings on the ‘log’. He said he went out with the log and played it and people were like, “What the hell are you doing? That thing sounds terrible!” But after he went to the Epiphone factory and stuck the archtop wings on it, people heard it differently. And it’s the same with all of these finely nuanced details. The binding was a small feature that has nothing to do with tone. But Slash noticed it. And now when you see it, and you hold the guitar, you just feel like you have something of quality. It makes a difference.           

One thing that always rang true with me and has always been my driving principle to some degree is that that good design doesn’t necessarily cost more. You can do things to improve an instrument that doesn’t cost more. So, with that in mind, we’ve got free reign to go in and make the changes. I mean, it didn’t cost us any more to change that binding, but the overall impression of the guitar is better. 

The Les Paul Standard seems to be a timeless design…

Akers: When its right, it’s right. It’s the essential tool for the style of music that evolved around the tool. It’s a chicken and egg thing. The guitars themselves influenced the direction of where music went. I mean, if you look at a Stradivarius violin: hundreds of years after its creation, it’s still unmatched. When you get it right – when you get all those elements working together – it’s timeless.

Slash really helped bring the Les Paul Standard back in the late '80s…

Akers: He put them back on the map in a big way. Around the time, there was a reversion back to more of a blues-based rock – straight forward rock ‘n’ roll – and the Les Paul was right there at the heart of it. If you listen to Appetite for Destruction, it still sounds great today. It doesn’t sound dated. It just sounds like great rock ‘n’ roll.

Go: I think a hundred years from now, people will look back on the Les Paul and the humbucking pickup and go, “Damn! That’s some good shit!” It’s the heart of rock and roll.

Check out more from Epiphone's Inspired by Gibson range, including the November Burst and Vermillion Burst Slash J-45 flat-top acoustics, here.

As well as owning one of the first ‘Bursts ever made, Slash has enjoyed a long and fruitful history with Gibson. Having done the sales of Les Paul Standards no harm in the late ‘80s when he exploded onto the world stage with Guns N’ Roses, several Slash signature Les Paul models have emerged from the Gibson factory.

• Our pick of the best Epiphone Les Pauls available today

Following the release of the Gibson Slash Collection in 2020 (currently comprising of the Slash Les Paul Standard; Slash "Victoria" Les Paul Standard Goldtop; and Slash J-45) a more affordable alternative has just been unveiled as part of Epiphone's Inspired by Gibson Collection.

As well as inheriting the model names of their Gibson siblings the Epiphone Slash guitars are available in the same finishes. In addition to the Slash "Victoria" Les Paul Standard Goldtop these include Appetite Burst, Anaconda Burst, Vermillion Burst, and November Burst for the Slash Les Paul Standard, while the Slash J-45 acoustic is also available in the latter two finishes.

Featuring high-quality appointments throughout, the Epiphone Slash Les Paul Standards feature a mahogany body with AAA flame maple veneer and pro electronics including Epiphone Custom ProBucker pickups, CTS pots, and Orange Drop caps. 

Of similar merit, the Epiphone Slash Collection J-45 ‘dreadnought’ is constructed using solid mahogany for the back and sides along with a solid Sitka spruce top. An LR Baggs VTC preamp and under-saddle pickup allows flexible amplification when required.

Watch Slash talk about his new Epiphone range of signature models...

For more details visit Epiphone's website here.

On this day in 1987, Guns N’ Roses released Appetite for Destruction – the era-defining album that would go on to sell over 30 million copies. To put that into perspective: a line of 30 million 12-inch LPs would easily stretch from LA to London. Thankfully, Guns N’ Roses were able to make that journey themselves when they played their first gigs outside of the US at London’s Marquee club during June 1987.

Soon after, Guns N’ Roses established a worldwide reputation for their super-charged live shows – during which time Appetite for Destruction unexpectedly blew up the entire rock ‘n’ roll scene. Meanwhile, the band’s enigmatic lead guitarist quietly gained a devoted following of his own as legions of budding electric guitar players gleaned their musical education from a solid diet of GN’R licks.

Decades later, and with Guns N’ Roses never far from the eyes and ears of the music world, generations of guitarists have been schooled – knowingly or otherwise – by Saul Hudson aka Slash. Aside from helping to repopularize the Gibson Les Paul Standard in the late ‘80s, references to Slash’s technique and sound can be seen and heard everywhere from acoustic guitars to Marshall stacks.

In this candid clip from Slash’s official YouTube Channel, he reveals some home truths about his own musical upbringing. “I didn’t realize music was my calling ironically enough, cuz I was raised on tons of music and loved music all through my childhood,” he says. “But it wasn’t until I actually picked up the guitar when I was about 14 years old that, all of a sudden, that was going to be my thing.”

Buy Appetite for Destruction here.

Late last year, IK Multimedia released AmpliTube 5, the latest incarnation of its popular effects and guitar amp modeling software. Headlined by 129 new gear models, for a total of over 400, the software has already won itself quite a few fans, among them Guns N' Roses' top-hatted guitar-slinger, Slash.

In a new interview with IK Multimedia – posted yesterday, May 27, to the company's YouTube channel – Slash revealed why he has increasingly turned to AmpliTube as the perfect demo tool, especially for fleshing out new Guns N' Roses songs.

“I did a lot of demos with AmpliTube, just because it was so convenient that you don’t have to leave the house,” he said.

“We’ll be on the bus or in my hotel room, I’ll take an idea, record it on AmpliTube, and then download it and send it over to the guys. And I do that all the time.

“It makes it a lot easier for me to write, and it also makes it a lot easier for me to get an idea down spontaneously.”

Slash also had kind words for the new models and features in AmpliTube 5, saying “All things considered, it [AmpliTube] was great to begin with – no lie, it was pretty impressive just to start – but it’s gotten even better.”

You can check out the full interview above.

With the release of Guns N’ Roses’ Appetite for Destruction in 1987, the band’s guitarist, Slash, emerged as one of the most influential guitarists of the 1980s and ’90s, with a style – and a guitar – that harkened back to the classic blues-based rockers of the 1960s.

Ironically, this vintage-looking Les Paul – the one Slash used on Appetite for Destruction – is not a Gibson. 

It is a replica made by Kris Derrig of MusicWorks, a guitar store located in Redondo Beach, California. The top, like those of the most sought-after original Les Pauls, features highly figured book-matched maple, but with no cherry tint around the edges of the top. 

The serial number is ink-stamped in the style of a 1959 Gibson, but the neck profile is actually that of a ’58. The special sound of this guitar comes from a pair of Seymour Duncan Alnico II humbuckers with black-and-white “zebra” coils and some vintage electronics that the maker had in his shop.

Despite the fact that Slash’s favorite Les Paul was a replica, his influence on sales of real Gibson Les Pauls was so great that Gibson welcomed him as an endorser and in 2010 intro­duced a replica of this replica as the Slash Appetite for Destruction Les Paul.

Just as hard rock had splintered into glam, at the dawn of the ’80s it fractured again into a new brand of metal that incorporated some of its glammiest pretensions, as practiced by emerging bands like Def Leppard and Mötley Crüe. 

At the same time, established acts like Kiss and Queen skittered away from their hard-rock roots to adopt, respectively, a more metal-pop and pop-rock sound. Through it all, one artist led the way for most hard-rock guitarists: Eddie Van Halen. 

The early ’80s saw his band reach the heights of popularity, resulting in a wave of guitarists who raised the bar for technique, speed, and virtuoso shredding. 

John Sykes, George Lynch, and Warren DeMartini were just the tip of the supersized iceberg that included guitar wizards like Steve Vai and Joe Satriani, each of whom would carve out his own place in the more progressive realms of instrumental rock. But not everyone abandoned hard-rock’s origins. 

Slash and Mötley Crüe’s Mick Mars showed there was still a place for blues-based lead work – and stood out from the pointy-guitar-wielding pack.

John Sykes

John Sykes may not be a household name, but any fan of ’80s hard rock knows his work. That’s Sykes’ dynamic playing – part masterful melodist, part muscular shredder – on Whitesnake mega-hits like “Still of the Night,” “Is This Love,” and the indomitable “Here I Go Again.”

Describing his goal with the formerly pub-rocking Whitesnake – whom he joined in 1983 and exited, under acrimonious circumstances, just after recording their massive-selling 1987 self-titled album – he said he wanted to bring in a “modern, edgy guitar sound with melody, finesse, and drive,” and that he did.

It’s also a pretty accurate description of Sykes’ guitar approach throughout his career. Sykes came on the scene in 1980 as a member of New Wave of British Heavy Metal also-rans Tygers of Pan Tang, but within a few he years hooked up with Phil Lynott in the final version of Thin Lizzy, joining the band for one album, Thunder and Lightning, and a farewell tour.

Tracks like “Thunder and Lightning” and the Lynott/Sykes co-write “Cold Sweat” showcased his massive, blues-rock-on-steroids-tone, which came courtesy of his 1978 Les Paul Custom “Black Beauty” through modded Marshalls (later Mesa/Boogies). 

They also demonstrated a truly overwhelming lead style influenced by Sykes’ rock and metal forebears (Page, Blackmore, Gary Moore, et al.), with the intensity increased by 10 notches. 

In his hands, pentatonic runs were blistering bursts of alternate-picked lines that climaxed in screaming sustained notes and squealing artificial harmonics, spiked with tapped flurries, frantic tremolo-picked phrases, and wide, vocal-like vibratos. 

Sykes later helped bring Whitesnake kicking and screaming into the shred-obsessed ’80s, where they sold a bazillion units of their 1987 self-titled album. For what it’s worth, Whitesnake leader David Coverdale had to hire not one but two guitarists to fill his prodigious shoes after Sykes left the band that same year. 

Key Track: “Still of the Night”

Mick Mars

Like Ace Frehley, Mick Mars had the misfortune of working with bandmates whose antics, both onstage and off, effectively overshadowed him. What’s more, Mars was a few years older than his ’80s guitar-playing peers when he joined the band and something of a traditionalist compared to the rest of the Sunset Strip crew. 

After all, he had grown up listening to the likes of Clapton, Beck, and Mike Bloomfield and playing in ’70s-era blues rock bar bands, rather than woodshedding two-handed tapping and other EVH techniques in his bedroom. Which means that he came at ’80s hard rock and metal from his own distinct, and less-peacocking, angle. 

“My goal was always to play something that fit and something that was memorable, not just a barrage of notes,” Mars said. “And because I didn’t play all the scales or do this or that, people thought that I was this crap guitar player.” Maybe at one time. Nowadays it’s widely known that Mars was the Crüe’s secret songwriting and sonic weapon.

He co-wrote ’80s anthems like “Girls, Girls, Girls” and “Dr. Feelgood,” and where many of his Sunset Strip peers liked trebly, overly distorted tones, his sound was flat-out massive. 

Credit this in part to his decision, beginning with Mötley’s 1981 debut, Too Fast for Love, to tune down a full step, as well as his attention to gear. In the band’s early days, he was often seen wielding a not-insubstantial Les Paul Custom “Black Beauty,” and more recently has kept an arsenal of humbucker-loaded Strats nearby. 

His amp setup, meanwhile, has evolved to include a massive assortment of powerful units, from Marshall JCM800s and Soldano SLO-100s to Fryettes, Hiwatts, and Riveras. “When I’m standing in front of my amp onstage, it’s putting out 124 dB,” he’s said. “But it doesn’t hurt. It’s just a really fat, warm tone.” 

Key track: “Girls, Girls, Girls”

Warren DeMartini

Warren DeMartini was just 19 when he joined Ratt, and it didn’t take him long to achieve rock immortality. One of the first things he brought to the band was the partial-chord–specked, insanely catchy, EVH-like main riff to what would become the band’s breakthrough hit, “Round and Round.”   

DeMartini (along with co-guitarist Robbin Crosby) remained a first-rate riff man throughout the decade, and you’d be hard pressed to find a budding ’80s player who didn’t log endless hours learning how to play the hard-charging six-string parts that powered arena-rock anthems like “Lay It Down,” “Back for More,” and You’re in Love.” But it was as a soloist that DeMartini truly shined and stunned. 

He was part of the first wave of post-EVH hotshots who could rip through insanely intricate note flurries effortlessly. And he did it with little more than a custom-graphic emblazoned superstrat (Charvels, in DeMartini’s case) loaded with a high-output humbucker (a Seymour Duncan JB) and a Floyd Rose, and plugged into a cranked amp (often a Marshall “Plexi,” though he used a Fender Super Champ on Ratt’s 1984 full-length debut, Out of the Cellar).  

What’s more, DeMartini’s distinctive vibrato and use of techniques like four-notes-per-string runs and hammer-ons and pull-offs to create long, smooth legato lines added a layer of melody and finesse that many of his shred peers lacked.

He could even get super-bluesy, as on the 1988 hybrid-picked hit “Way Cool Jr.” The ’80s, he has said, “was an exciting time for me because I had all these techniques and patterns but had never used them exactly in that way. So there was an element of coming up with something almost while I was actually recording it.”

Ratt broke up (for the first time) in the early ’90s, after which DeMartini assumed the lead-guitar positions in Dokken and Whitesnake, which left him having to master the guitar parts of predecessors like George Lynch, John Sykes, and Steve Vai – no easy task! As always, he handled the riffs, licks, and solos with supremely shreddy style.

Key track: “Round and Round”

George Lynch

There were plenty of hotshot guitarists tearing it up on the Sunset Strip in the mid-to-late ’70s, but three undoubtedly stood out: Eddie Van Halen, then–Quiet Riot guitarist Randy Rhoads…and George Lynch. 

At the time, Lynch was playing with a band called the Boyz, who had enough clout – and Lynch enough of a rep as a supreme shredder – that, in an oft-told story, Kiss’s Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley came to see them headline at the Starwood in L.A. The story ends, of course, with Simmons taking the opening band that night, Van Halen, back to New York to record a demo.  

The rest, as they say, is history. Lynch, however, went on to do just fine himself, hooking up with singer Don Dokken in his namesake band, Dokken, and quickly becoming lauded as one of the most technically proficient and idiosyncratic shredders in the ’80s hard-rock and metal scene.

His solos often took an “anything goes” approach, mixing pentatonics with more exotic scales and diminished tones, switching between majors and minors, and incorporating wide finger stretches, warped vibratos, whammy-bar pitch bends, tapping, string skipping, screaming harmonics, and more, all of it enacted with precision and at superhuman speeds on his custom-graphic ESP, and sometimes Charvel, superstrats. (He also made heavy use of a hand-built parts guitar that he dubbed Tiger.) 

When Lynch brought it all together, as on the 1987 instrumental “Mr. Scary,” he created one of the most iconic guitar songs of the era. Since the ’90s, he has been in and out of Dokken as well as led his own band, Lynch Mob. 

Key track: “Mr. Scary”

Slash

By the mid ’80s, the hard-rock guitar landscape was overrun with pointy-guitar-wielding, Aqua Net–abusing “Shreddy” Van Halen speed demons.  

Until Slash came along. The Guns N’ Roses guitarist is widely credited with triggering a 180-degree turn in the guitar universe, injecting the scene with a much-needed shot of bluesy soul and classic-rock style. And while those hair-conscious guitarists didn’t exactly disappear with his arrival, you could rightly argue that hard-rock guitar playing styles changed dramatically after Slash came on the scene. 

Furthermore, while there was certainly still a healthy representation of custom-graphic superstrats in Sunset Strip clubs and MTV videos post-1987, when Guns N’ Roses released their epochal debut, Appetite for Destruction, Slash returned the Les Paul to its iconic status – even if, as we all know now, his Appetite studio model was actually a copy built by luthier Kris Derrig.  

Whether or not you buy into the mythology that’s been built around him over the decades, it’s hard to deny that Slash is the most influential and recognizable hard-rock guitarist of the past 35 years. 

His tone is so revered that a literal cottage industry of signature gear – led by massively popular Gibson guitars and Marshall amps, but also including pickups, pedals, strings, and more – has blossomed around him, with generations of players aiming to nail his gritty, biting, and bright rhythm sound as well as his celebrated, ridiculously round, honeyed, and often wah-inflected lead tone. 

As for his playing? Suffice it to say many of his riffs and solos – from “Welcome to the Jungle” and “Paradise City” to “November Rain” and “Anastasia” – are standards of the guitar repertoire, as is the opening lick to “Sweet Child o’ Mine.” 

These days, Slash is as busy as ever, releasing albums with his own band, Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators, and taking part in Guns N’ Roses’ Not in This Lifetime… outing, the third highest-grossing concert tour of all-time. At the dawn of his fifth decade in the public consciousness, he’s still planted firmly at the top of the guitar heap. 

Key Track: “Sweet Child o’ Mine”

Having already elicited "ooo"s and "aaaa"s with its new 2021 signature and custom guitars, Gibson has further detailed its new-for-2021 offerings with the announcement of its new acoustic guitar lineup.

The assortment of acoustics is headlined by new signature models for Orianthi, Slash, Tom Petty, and Noel Gallagher, with notable new additions to the company's Modern and Historic ranges also being announced.

First off is the Orianthi SJ-200, which is the former Michael Jackson and Alice Cooper guitarist's spin on Gibson's classic Super Jumbo-bodied SJ-200.

Unfortunately, we remain without photos or specs for the Slash Collection J-45, Tom Petty SJ-200 Wildflower, and Noel Gallagher J-150 models, but we hope to bring you that info soon.

In addition to its new signatures, Gibson has also expanded its Acoustic Modern collection to include the Vintage Sunburst Hummingbird Standard, Cherry J-45 Standard, J-45 Standard 12-string, and Wine Red and Autumn Burst SJ-200.

Like its Modern collection brethren, these acoustics boast classic designs with modern features like SlimTaper necks with a flatter fingerboard radius and pickup systems.

Gibson also announced an expansion of its Acoustic Custom Shop Historic collection, with the 1939 J-55, 1952 J-185, 1934 Jumbo, 1936 Advanced Jumbo, 1942 Banner J-45, 1942 Banner Southern Jumbo, and 1960 Hummingbird all joining the fold.

As opposed to the Modern collection's blend of the traditional and, well, modern, the Historic collection focuses on historical accuracy and attention to detail.

As with the signatures, we're rather short on photos and specs for the new Modern and Historic acoustics, but we'll provide those for you as soon as we receive them.

For now, point your browser over to gibson.com.

Nailing all of the nuances of Slash's solos on Guns N' Roses' cover of Bob Dylan's "Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door" is difficult enough with two hands. YouTuber Gondorian_tomatoes_, however, pulled it off with just one.

With a prosthetic attached to his left elbow, the guitarist not only hits all the notes, but Slash's tone, dead-on in his own version of the two solos, which you can check out in the video above.

"I was born missing my left arm below the elbow," Gondorian says in the video's caption, "and play my guitar with a prosthetic arm using an attachment that holds a guitar pick."

In response to a commenter, he added that “The prosthesis is model[ed] around a forearm shape (as I have my elbow but not much below it) and where the 'wrist' is there's a screw thread attachment.

“So the attachment onto the prosthesis is a ball and socket joint with a piece of metal on. In that piece of metal there's a slit cut out that can fit a guitar pick inside that is then secured with screws. I hope that makes sense haha it's difficult to describe it without showing in person.”

Gondorian_tomatoes_ has also filmed excellent takes on the "Bohemian Rhapsody" solo, James Hetfield's solo from Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters," and Tom Scholz’s towering lead on Boston’s "More Than a Feeling."

You can check them out on his YouTube channel.

Just weeks after he unveiled his latest signature Gibson Les Paul, the "Victoria," Slash has teamed up with Ernie Ball to create a limited-edition signature set of guitar strings.

The culmination of Ernie Ball's 30-plus-year relationship with the Guns N' Roses guitarist, the new 11-48-gauge Slinky strings feature the company's proprietary, corrosion-resisting Paradigm core string wrap, and are treated with Ernie Ball's Everlast nanotechnology, which aims to prevent tone-killing debris from collecting on the wire.

Finally, the strings are reinforced on the ball end with heavy duty RPS brass, to prevent string slippage.

The Ernie Ball Limited Edition Slash signature string set is available now – in packs of three in a metal string tin bearing Slash's logo and image – for $34.99.

For more info on the strings, stop by ernieball.com.

A couple of days ago, Gibson announced an expansion of its Slash Collection in the form of its new “Victoria” Les Paul Standard Goldtop.

While the guitar's specs were clear enough, one unknown about the guitar was the source of its name. Now, Slash has revealed the unusual, and somewhat amusing, reason why he dubbed his new signature Goldtop "Victoria." 

“Back in the late ’90s, I had a bunch of guitars stolen out of my studio in my house,” the top-hatted Guns N' Roses guitarist told Consequence of Sound.

“I’ve actually managed to get [just about] all the guitars back, but I never knew exactly who was behind the theft. And one of the guitars I didn’t get back was a Goldtop that was stolen.

“So, I’ve been trying to find another Goldtop to replace it over the years. Then at some point I found out who was responsible for the theft, not long ago, and her name was Victoria, so I decided to name the guitar after her!”

The fifth Les Paul in the Slash collection, the “Victoria” features a maple top, a solid mahogany body with a dark finish on the back, a C-shape neck profile, and a rosewood fretboard with 22 medium jumbo frets.

It's outfitted with a pair of Gibson Custom BurstBucker Alnico 2 pickups – controlled by two sets of volume and tone knobs and a three-way toggle – and hand-wired electronics with Orange Drop capacitors.

Elsewhere, the guitar features an ABR-1 Tune-O-Matic bridge, color-coordinated hardware, Vintage Keystone tuners, and acrylic trapezoid fingerboard inlays.

Like its Slash Collection brethren, the "Victoria" also comes with Slash’s “Skully” signature drawing on the back of the headstock, Slash’s signature on the truss rod cover, Slash’s signature Ernie Ball strings, and four Slash Jim Dunlop Tortex picks.

The Gibson Slash Collection “Victoria” Les Paul Standard Goldtop is available now – with a vintage-style hardshell case that includes a blank truss rod cover, if buyers don't like the Slash-signed truss rod cover – for $2,999.

For more info on the guitar, stop by gibson.com.

Gibson has expanded its Slash Collection with the new “Victoria” Les Paul Standard Goldtop.

The fifth Les Paul in the collection, the “Victoria” features a maple top, a solid mahogany body with a dark finish on the back, a C-shape neck profile, and a rosewood fretboard with 22 medium jumbo frets.

Sonically, the guitar is outfitted with a pair of Gibson Custom BurstBucker Alnico 2 pickups – controlled by two sets of volume and tone knobs and a three-way toggle – and hand-wired electronics with Orange Drop capacitors.

Elsewhere, the guitar features an ABR-1 Tune-O-Matic bridge, color-coordinated hardware, Vintage Keystone tuners, and acrylic trapezoid fingerboard inlays.

Like its Slash Collection brethren, the "Victoria" also comes with Slash’s “Skully” signature drawing on the back of the headstock, Slash’s signature on the truss rod cover, Slash’s signature Ernie Ball strings, and four Slash Jim Dunlop Tortex picks.

The Gibson Slash Collection “Victoria” Les Paul Standard Goldtop is available now – with a vintage-style hardshell case that includes a blank truss rod cover, if buyers don't like the Slash-signed truss rod cover – for $2,999.

For more info on the guitar, stop by gibson.com.