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July 2025

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15 articles

July 27
- "Ozzy would say, ‘Bob and I get on like a house on fire. The fire brigade’s just left!’” Ozzy Osbourne’s first two albums created an empire. His former right-hand man reflects on the singer’s greatest decade
July 26
- “Ozzy had also requested a remote switch so that he could turn the pedalboard off from the next hotel room while on the road.” Randy Rhoads’ constant practice drove Ozzy crazy. The solution? A tiny pedalboard designed to please them both
July 25
- “The blues run pretty deep in my playing.” David Gilmour reveals the impact of Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix on his signature Pink Floyd guitar style
July 22
- "By the time Eric left we were getting known. The Clapton cult as such had started." John Mayall recalls Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Taylor in Guitar Player's December 1970 issue
July 20
- “I raided every music store in the country looking for old Gibson SGs.” Pete Townshend on his desperate search for the guitar behind the Who’s status as rock legends
July 19
- “It was just as good, if not better, than Pete Townshend.” Eddie Van Halen could play this Who album note for note says Michael Anthony
July 18
- “I used to get into terrible trouble with Dave by trying to add too much piano to what he laid down.” Ray Davies on the origins of the Kinks' “You Really Got Me” — and what guitarists get wrong about serving the song
- "I’m carrying the torch for Rage Against the Machine riffs, for the memory of Chris Cornell, and for the idea that music that speaks out against injustice really matters." Tom Morello on why he won't shut up and play his guitar
July 15
- “A lot of the things on our record that sound like heavy chorusing are actually just detuned instruments.” Robert Smith explains the simple hack that makes the Cure songs so appealing to the ear
July 10
- “I missed out on being in one of the biggest rock bands in the world!” He played all the guitars on Jon Bon Jovi’s first hit but got passed over for Richie Sambora
July 6
- “You’re very similar to Jimi in that way. I’m just a part-time employee.” Jeff Beck told Stevie Ray Vaughan he reminded him of Jimi Hendrix. Here’s why
July 5
- “I was sleeping on the floor in somebody’s apartment.” Mark Knopfler on the moment he discovered the virtues of fingerpicking — and the pedal that’s essential to his guitar rig
July 4
- “Ozzy took a look around and said, ‘You’re joking aren’t you?’ I said, ‘It’s a lot nicer on the inside.’ ” Zakk Wylde cracks us up with tales of Ozzy as he reveals the stories behind his greatest tracks
- "When I can play that, that's when I'll finally admit I'm a good guitarist." Sophie Lloyd names five life-changing solos — and the one she saw as her ultimate challenge
July 3
- “I sent him a postcard: ‘You gotta get out of Winnipeg.’ So he went to Thunder Bay, met Stephen Stills and started Buffalo Springfield.” Randy Bachman on sharing guitars and amps with Neil Young as rock and roll upstarts