Players How Lynyrd Skynyrd, Molly Hatchet and "the Randy Rhoads school of soloing" helped Ozzy Osbourne and Zakk Wylde write No More Tears Zakk Wylde talks through the making of Ozzy Osbourne’s immortal 1991 track, No More Tears "I was playing the wrong key and everything, but it didn't seem to matter": Watch George Harrison play a Little Richard classic with Deep Purple in 1984 “I really enjoyed the show,” Harrison said of the rest of Purple's performance that evening. “I sat on the stage for part of the show behind the loudspeakers, and then I walked down and sat right in the center of the hall, and it wasn't too loud. It was really funny" “It was a way to kind of memorialize the folks that I lost”: Grieving the death of his grandparents and close friend Joey DeFrancesco, jazz guitar ace Dan Wilson found solace in creating his beautiful new album, Things Eternal For this dazzling LP, Wilson recorded a stirring array of covers and originals, all the while channeling the lessons he's learned from George Benson, and approaching the material more like a drummer than a guitarist Grid List Latest Players ”If you don’t get your act together, then you can’t expect your band to be.” Session player and bandleader Ben Misterka shares his wisdom on playing savvy in the post-pandemic world By Jimmy Leslie published 4 December 23 With performance budgets crunched to the max, life on the road these days is more challenging than ever. Here’s how to make the most of your opportunities “It’s the sound of the Stones: a five-string with a six-string on top. Guitars are amazing things – you can make an orchestra out of them…” Keith Richards on life without Charlie, The Beatles and the Stones, and new album Hackney Diamonds By Brad Tolinski published 1 December 23 In an exclusive interview, Keith Richards talks about the magic of the new album Hackney Diamonds, and why losing a string created a whole new sound for the Rolling Stones “We worked out a big, long harmonized guitar solo. It’s my little homage to Thin Lizzy.” Foo Fighter Chris Shiflett on his new solo album Lost at Sea and why he's happy to not be the loudest guitarist in the room By Jim Beaugez published 27 November 23 After he regretted not playing more guitar on his solo albums, Chris Shiflett assembled a six-string dream team for Lost at Sea. The result is a treat for the ears “I had a gold Klon but I lost it in Hurricane Katrina...” Blues supremo Eric Johanson on being both a Metallica and Jack White fanboy and why he’s into tone as much as music By Jim Beaugez published 23 November 23 With the help of "a really gritty velcro fuzz", blues guitarist Eric Johanson gets into the raw experience of the moment on his latest album, The Deep and the Dirty “I have a few guitars but if I don’t play them for a while, I punish myself by giving them away. It’s not fair to have a guitar in a lockup…” The Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde and James Walbourne on songwriting and the “solo-shy” James Honeyman-Scott By Marc McStea published 23 November 23 Chrissie Hynde has been leading The Pretenders for 45 years now. She and co-guitarist James Walbourne on developing style, the pressure to stay faithful to old guitar parts and more... "I wanted Eric Clapton on My Guitar Gently Weeps for a bit of moral support and to make the others behave..." Jamming with Eric Clapton, recording with the Beatles: A long-lost interview with George Harrison By Dan Forte published 22 November 23 “I've always been embarrassed at the idea of being in Guitar Player magazine. I'm just a skiffler. I do ‘posh skiffle’, that's all it is…” In 1987, George Harrison sat down with us for a classic interview, looking back across his career… From playing fiddle on street corners during the Great Depression to becoming one of the biggest Telecaster heroes of the 20th century – here's why you should immerse yourself in Jimmy Bryant's Country Cabin Blues… By Jim Campilongo published 19 November 23 Jimmy and pedal-steel supremo Speedy West (aka “the country jazz John and Paul”) have a swingin’ good time on this fun 1960's shredfest which belies his difficult reputation Pink Floyd didn't mean anything to him, he told Thin Lizzy he wouldn't jump around onstage and he once had an accidental top 10 hit: The career of Snowy White, rock's easiest-going guitar hero, in five songs By Joe Matera published 16 November 23 Blues player, session legend and "accidental frontman", Snowy White has worked with everyone from Thin Lizzy to Pink Floyd. Here are five deep cuts he considers his best. Steve Lukather: "I realized it was okay to play a bad note when I saw Larry Carlton six years ago. He broke his E string, and everybody was like 'Oh, no.' Then he took his clippers and clipped off the B and G strings and played a killer solo!" By Jas Obrecht published 14 November 23 In this classic GP interview, the session guitar and Toto king reveals how Carlton (especially his work on Steely Dan's Royal Scam) changed his view of what was possible within the confines of rock guitar playing "The keyboard player said ‘Why are you just hitting random chords?’ I said, ‘You never know, I might get lucky!'" How Loverboy's Paul Dean wrote Working For The Weekend By Joe Matera published 13 November 23 How Loverboy made their floor-filling, meat-market moving, chart-topping, soundtrack favorite 1981 hit Working For The Weekend 123456789Archives Get The Pick NewsletterAll the latest guitar news, interviews, lessons, reviews, deals and more, direct to your inbox!Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors MOST READ1Learn to play like Snarky Puppy's Mark Lettieri with the ultimate funk baritone guitar lesson2How Lynyrd Skynyrd, Molly Hatchet and "the Randy Rhoads school of soloing" helped Ozzy Osbourne and Zakk Wylde write No More Tears3GP Presents Jerry Harrison & Adrian Belew’s Remain in Light, with X, December 30 in San Francisco – Win Tickets4"An amp worth auditioning if you’re in the market for a gig-worthy, low-watt combo that punches above its weight class": Does Fender's Tone Master Princeton Reverb amp live up to the lofty precedent set by its tube-powered sibling? 5"I was playing the wrong key and everything, but it didn't seem to matter": Watch George Harrison play a Little Richard classic with Deep Purple in 1984
”If you don’t get your act together, then you can’t expect your band to be.” Session player and bandleader Ben Misterka shares his wisdom on playing savvy in the post-pandemic world By Jimmy Leslie published 4 December 23 With performance budgets crunched to the max, life on the road these days is more challenging than ever. Here’s how to make the most of your opportunities
“It’s the sound of the Stones: a five-string with a six-string on top. Guitars are amazing things – you can make an orchestra out of them…” Keith Richards on life without Charlie, The Beatles and the Stones, and new album Hackney Diamonds By Brad Tolinski published 1 December 23 In an exclusive interview, Keith Richards talks about the magic of the new album Hackney Diamonds, and why losing a string created a whole new sound for the Rolling Stones
“We worked out a big, long harmonized guitar solo. It’s my little homage to Thin Lizzy.” Foo Fighter Chris Shiflett on his new solo album Lost at Sea and why he's happy to not be the loudest guitarist in the room By Jim Beaugez published 27 November 23 After he regretted not playing more guitar on his solo albums, Chris Shiflett assembled a six-string dream team for Lost at Sea. The result is a treat for the ears
“I had a gold Klon but I lost it in Hurricane Katrina...” Blues supremo Eric Johanson on being both a Metallica and Jack White fanboy and why he’s into tone as much as music By Jim Beaugez published 23 November 23 With the help of "a really gritty velcro fuzz", blues guitarist Eric Johanson gets into the raw experience of the moment on his latest album, The Deep and the Dirty
“I have a few guitars but if I don’t play them for a while, I punish myself by giving them away. It’s not fair to have a guitar in a lockup…” The Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde and James Walbourne on songwriting and the “solo-shy” James Honeyman-Scott By Marc McStea published 23 November 23 Chrissie Hynde has been leading The Pretenders for 45 years now. She and co-guitarist James Walbourne on developing style, the pressure to stay faithful to old guitar parts and more...
"I wanted Eric Clapton on My Guitar Gently Weeps for a bit of moral support and to make the others behave..." Jamming with Eric Clapton, recording with the Beatles: A long-lost interview with George Harrison By Dan Forte published 22 November 23 “I've always been embarrassed at the idea of being in Guitar Player magazine. I'm just a skiffler. I do ‘posh skiffle’, that's all it is…” In 1987, George Harrison sat down with us for a classic interview, looking back across his career…
From playing fiddle on street corners during the Great Depression to becoming one of the biggest Telecaster heroes of the 20th century – here's why you should immerse yourself in Jimmy Bryant's Country Cabin Blues… By Jim Campilongo published 19 November 23 Jimmy and pedal-steel supremo Speedy West (aka “the country jazz John and Paul”) have a swingin’ good time on this fun 1960's shredfest which belies his difficult reputation
Pink Floyd didn't mean anything to him, he told Thin Lizzy he wouldn't jump around onstage and he once had an accidental top 10 hit: The career of Snowy White, rock's easiest-going guitar hero, in five songs By Joe Matera published 16 November 23 Blues player, session legend and "accidental frontman", Snowy White has worked with everyone from Thin Lizzy to Pink Floyd. Here are five deep cuts he considers his best.
Steve Lukather: "I realized it was okay to play a bad note when I saw Larry Carlton six years ago. He broke his E string, and everybody was like 'Oh, no.' Then he took his clippers and clipped off the B and G strings and played a killer solo!" By Jas Obrecht published 14 November 23 In this classic GP interview, the session guitar and Toto king reveals how Carlton (especially his work on Steely Dan's Royal Scam) changed his view of what was possible within the confines of rock guitar playing
"The keyboard player said ‘Why are you just hitting random chords?’ I said, ‘You never know, I might get lucky!'" How Loverboy's Paul Dean wrote Working For The Weekend By Joe Matera published 13 November 23 How Loverboy made their floor-filling, meat-market moving, chart-topping, soundtrack favorite 1981 hit Working For The Weekend
