Blues

Latest about Blues

Eddie Van Halen circa 1984
Eddie Van Halen was "a pretty complex person" says his longtime friend and biographer

By Phil Weller Published

Steven Rosen had a 26-year friendship with the guitarist, whose personality was split between the guitar and the rest of his life, he says

Guitarists
LEFT: Joe Bonamassa poses with a Les Paul Standard. RIGHT: Studio portrait of guitarist Leslie West, Chicago, Illinois, March 26, 2009.
Joe Bonamassa on the playing advice he got from Leslie West 30 years ago — and how it's elevated his live performances

By Phil Weller Published

It turns out the late guitarist gave similar advice to another blues-rocker who made it one of his essential tips for other players

Guitarists
American blues guitarist and singer Buddy Guy performs live playing a Fender Stratocaster guitar on the American Folk Blues Festival tour in London in October 1965.
Buddy Guy on his unconventional means of discovering the joys of feedback

By Phil Weller Published

The guitarist said the absence of stages in Chicago's juke joints brought musicians and audiences together, resulting in a lesson in the joys of feedback

Guitarists
Sinners Film
“I’m listening to the guitar riffs and what they’re talking about. It’s just blues music sung by white people.” How Alice In Chains' blues influences and three 1932 Dobro Cyclops guitars made 'Sinners' one of the year's biggest films

By Phil Weller Published

The blues-meets-horror blockbuster features a wealth of blues greats, including Buddy Guy and Christone “Kingfish” Ingram

Guitarists
Blues singer John Lee Hooker wearing hat, posing w. his Gibson ES-335 at home, October 7, 1990.
John Lee Hooker told us how the blues is supposed to be played

By Jas Obrecht Last updated

The blues giant also called Stevie Ray Vaughan "one of the greatest" and raved about B.B. King and Muddy Waters in this engaging chat from our August 1992 issue

Guitarists
LEFT: Mick Abrahams of UK blues rock band Blodwyn Pig in Anson Rooms, Bristol University Student Union June 1970. He founded band after leaving Jethro Tull. RIGHT: Ian Anderson onstage in 1999
Ian Anderson and guitarist Mick Abrahams regroup the original Jethro Tull in 2002 for a return to their blues roots

By Phil Weller Published

The get-together reveals how the prog-rock innovators might have turned out were it not for Anderson's ambitions

Guitarists
Cory Wong performs at The O2 Institute Birmingham on October 12, 2023 in Birmingham, England.
Cory Wong sets a new bar for guitar excellence. But Stevie Ray Vaughan probably wouldn't have passed his test

By Phil Weller Published

The funk maestro says if guitarists can't ace this one skill, “I would not consider you an advanced guitarist”

Guitarists
Molly Miller Lesson
Molly Miller shows six licks that put the power of modes to work in blues and jazz

By Jon Bishop Published

Often the best way to develop modal vocabulary is by learning short phrases which resonate with "flavor" notes that are uniquely placed in the mode

Lessons
Derek Trucks of Tedeschi Trucks Band performs at PNC Music Pavilion on July 07, 2019 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Guitar Player presents 50 badass blues guitar solos you must hear

By GP Editors Last updated

From the players of old to the guitarists shaping the blues scene, this list serves up a cross section of the genre’s finest solos from across nearly a century of guitar blues

Guitarists
Billy Gibbons
Billy Gibbons explains the role Cream and Jimi Hendrix played in the creation of ZZ Top

By Phil Weller Published

The fuzz blues icon was pushing a psychedelic sound when the opportunity to tour with Hendrix shaped the future of the Texan trio

Guitarists
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