Deep Purple Guitarist Simon McBride Shares His Mesmerizing Guitar Approaches

Simon McBride of Deep Purple performs at Mediolanum Forum of Assago on October 17, 2022 in Milan, Italy (Image credit: Sergione Infuso/Corbis via Getty Images)

If you like in-depth interviews with great guitar players AND you like to hear them play, then you need to listen to our No Guitar Is Safe podcast.

Presented by Guitar Player and hosted by Jude Gold, No Guitar Is Safe is free to listen to at your leisure on iTunes, Spotify, Soundcloud, or wherever you get your podcasts.

With over 150 episodes uploaded there’s plenty to get your teeth into.

Ready to “fly the ‘copter” all the way to Germany?

Well, being that Jude Gold was just on tour with Jefferson Starship opening shows for Deep Purple all over Europe (so cool!), you know there was NO WAY he was not going to land an interview with their brilliant new guitarist, Simon McBride.

Host Jude Gold (left) chats to Deep Purple guitarist Simon McBride backstage at the Rudolf Weber-Arena in Oberhausen, Germany. (Image credit: Jude Gold)

This exciting episode takes us all the way to Oberhausen, Germany, for an inspiring backstage guitar hang with the Irish six-string virtuoso, where, in a side room at the town’s Rudolf Weber-Arena (FKA the König-Pilsener-Arena) Simon plugs in his custom Paul Reed Smith.

Here, he demonstrates many of the captivating electric guitar approaches employed each night on stage with his legendary bandmates – Ian Gillan, Ian Paice, Roger Glover, and Don Airey.

Simon also reflects on what it means to take over the guitar chair from longtime Deep Purple guitarist Steve Morse – who, after 28 years in the band, stepped down earlier this year.

Elsewhere, the maestro reveals what it’s like follow in the footsteps of Deep Purple’s founding guitarist, Ritchie Blackmore; trade licks each night with the band’s formidable keyboardist, his good friend Don Airey; and start off one of the world's most iconic guitar songs each night, "Smoke on the Water."

Thank you for listening!

Visit the Deep Purple website for news and tour info.

Whether he’s interviewing great guitarists for Guitar Player magazine or on his respected podcast, No Guitar Is Safe – “The guitar show where guitar heroes plug in” – Jude Gold has been a passionate guitar journalist since 2001, when he became a full-time Guitar Player staff editor. In 2012, Jude became lead guitarist for iconic rock band Jefferson Starship, yet still has, in his role as Los Angeles Editor, continued to contribute regularly to all things Guitar Player.

Watch Jude play guitar here.