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December 2025

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43 articles

December 23
- “I feel like we all still have a lot of great ideas and a desire to keep creating.” Tommy Thayer teases future Kiss activity and says the band “has a lot in the works”
December 22
- “There's only one time Frank commented on my future — and I'm reluctant to mention it.” Steve Vai on Frank Zappa's prophetic words about his career
December 20
- “Finally, no Sam versus Dave debates.” A new Van Halen album features Eddie, Alex and Wolfgang Van Halen playing classic tracks without a vocalist
December 19
- “Nothing was planned. It was all a first take.” The “accidental” 1976 smash hit created by a virtuoso rock group and the most recorded guitarist in history
- “It’s cut so that you can have boobs and play guitar.” Olivia Rodrigo on St. Vincent’s signature model and the power of women in rock
December 18
- “I think the band's happier the way they are.” Steve Morse says “a couple of guys in Deep Purple” were glad to see him go
- “He came up with the melody. I didn't write that.” Ace Frehley said one of his greatest Kiss guitar solos was written by someone else
December 17
- “They played their whole act to virtually no one.” Paul McCartney on seeing Jimi Hendrix perform to an empty club — and those rumors about their supergroup with Miles Davis
- “He looked up at me and said, ‘That’s how the snare cuts through.’” Greg Lake on what happened when Robert Fripp asked him to play bass on King Crimson's debut album
December 16
- “The most ferocious, dynamic pickups I've ever heard in a Telecaster.” From Cinderella’s Tom Keifer to Keith Urban — how a vintage Fender “Nocaster” made a cross-genre commute
- “He goes, ‘Yeah, I’ve got it. You want to play it?’” Iron Maiden’s Adrian Smith took Kirk Hammett's fabled “Greeny” Les Paul for an afternoon. Here’s what he said
- “Instead of using a bass drum, I had an ax and a large log of wood.” Nick Mason on Pink Floyd’s “lost album” following their smash hit ‘Dark Side of the Moon’
December 15
- “Christmas came early!” Tony Iommi on the left-handed Red Special Brian May gifted him. But what's this special modification?
December 14
- “It started with a suggestion to come up with something Beatle-ish, like ‘Ticket to Ride.’” The guitarist behind the 1960s pop hitmakers who sold more records than the Beatles and Rolling Stones combined
December 12
- “I could take this Mexican-made version out on tour and nobody would know the difference.” Jason Isbell says this is what you need to know about guitars made south of the border
- “This amplifier carried a different kind of history — one we couldn’t let drift away.” How the Beach Boys' Dumble Overdrive Special ended up in Hawaii, and the celebrity who’s now recording with it
December 11
- “It was the worst show I've played in my life. I could not stop thinking: He's right there!” Jerry Cantrell on his friendship with Eddie Van Halen and how the rare guitar Ed gave him went missing
- “Surely Jimi Hendrix would have wanted his fellow musicians to receive everything to which they are entitled.” Hendrix's Experience bandmates Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding sue Sony over lost royalties
- “He said, ‘The problem with you guys is that you never do ballads.’ I said, ‘I’ll give him a ballad.’” Jimmy Page on the Beatle who inspired Led Zeppelin’s most beautiful song — and why it owes a debt to James Taylor
December 10
- Win tickets to see the Johnny A. Trio at a special Guitar Player Presents event in Oakland, California
- “When he was around, he would hear something and say, ‘That’s a little bit leftfield, but what if we do this?’” Steve Morse says 95 percent of his ideas for Deep Purple were dismissed, but he found a kindred spirit in one member
- “I gave him 1,600 bucks and my guitar. It was all the money I had in the world.” Vince Gill on the guitar that launched his career, and the vintage treasures that have inspired his muse
December 9
- “It can be a creamy and gooey boost, and it can breathe saturated fire.” Strymon launches its new Series A line of analog pedals with the Fairfax, a “full tube amp circuit” in a pedal
- “He was a star — I couldn’t put him onstage, could I?” The pop singer who Jimi Hendrix saved from disaster by playing offstage, behind a curtain
- “For almost 20 years I didn’t even want to talk to these guys.” Rik Emmett speaks on Triumph’s rocky career and triumphant return as the band announces a 50th anniversary reunion tour with Phil X
December 8
- “Pete came in and went, ‘You bastard!’” Pete Townshend claimed this guitar innovation was the Who’s idea. The Rolling Stones’ Ronnie Wood proved him wrong
- “I just stopped by the studio to say hello to Quincy Jones. He said, ‘Let's have you play on this one.’ Then he stuck a guitar in my hands.” The jazz guitar great who fell into success with George Benson and Michael Jackson has died
- “I said, ‘I thought you were a whole band! How were you doing that?’” Randy Bachman on the obscure jazz guitar genius whose influence runs through the music of the Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive
December 6
- “One of the nurses said, ‘John Lennon.’ I thought, What does John Lennon have to do with it?” A surgeon remembers the night he tried to save the former Beatle’s life
December 5
- “They put us on the bill with Humble Pie and Johnny Winter.” As Joe Perry teams up with Yungblud for a new EP, he tells tales of his adventures with guitar icons Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Slash and other rock greats
- “We were just jamming when our organ player started to yodel.” The Dutch prog-rock band that combined Chuck Berry guitar riffs and yodeling to score a top-10 hit
- “So even after he passed, Jimmy found a way to join the party.” Kenny Chesney reveals Jimmy Buffett's ashes were smuggled into his Rock Hall induction for a performance with James Taylor and Mac McAnally
- “We were trying to be the Beatles, the Hollies, and the Beach Boys, all in one.” Randy Bachman on the rehearsal accident that led him to became the the guitarist for Canada's biggest American hitmakers
December 4
- “He told me I’d never see him with it, but he used it to record.” Jeff Beck had a secret love affair with a PRS guitar. Paul Reed Smith is trying to track it down
- ““Why do I need a pick? I have five right here on this hand.” Fingerstyle virtuoso Marcin on why a plectrum is “the most limiting thing in the world”
- “He said, ‘You have something that these other guys here don’t.’” Jimmy Page says this separated Steve Lukather from his peers
- “I kept it right on my knee. Couldn’t move too much, ’cause it would vibrate off.” The late Steve Cropper on his ingenious substitute for a guitar slide on the timeless Sam & Dave hit “Soul Man”
December 3
- “I said, ‘Man, look at this.’ I didn’t know what a hippie was. But they were going crazy.” Buddy Guy on Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page — and the famous guitarist in the audience he thought he was a cop
- “I was sitting in the dressing room, and he came straight in like a rabid dog.” Tommy Emmanuel on the night he showed up an electric guitar legend before a full house — and was promptly put in his place
December 2
- “I said, I think I can help you. Hold my beer.’” Joe Bonamassa on the artist who demanded Eric Clapton play “The Thrill Is Gone” — and why only an icon can tackle the B.B. King hit
- “They are a pack of bastards!’” Former Thin Lizzy guitarist Eric Bell on his regret-filled experience playing “Whiskey in the Jar” with Metallica
- Black Friday and Cyber Monday might be over, but these 69 deals for guitarists are still live – act fast before they're gone forever
December 1
- “I wouldn't be at all surprised if we weren't lost at that point in the song.” The Cream track Eric Clapton doesn’t like — even though it’s the key to his legend as a guitar virtuoso