“Pasta, cereal, toilet roll and tinned fruit”: Matthew Herbert has made an entire album from samples of everyday food items
Sombr stumbles over his lyrics but Lindsey Buckingham delivers a blistering guitar solo as they duet on a Fleetwood Mac classic
“We changed a bunch of the keys a bunch of times to try to find what was comfortable for her to sing it”: Linkin Park explain the adjustments that had to be made for new vocalist Emily Armstrong
“Lately, it’s always gone to whoever’s popular. I’m sure the next one will have Harry Styles or Taylor Swift or something. That’s probably how it’ll go”: Veteran songwriter Don Black on who might get the next Bond theme, and why it probably won’t be him
Humble Slash accepts Gibson spirit award: “If Les Paul was around, would he agree that I deserve this thing?”
“He was so much more than a great guitarist and innovator. I cherish the relationship we had”: Slash is honoured with the Les Paul Spirit Award for 2026
“The next morning, we woke up, and were like, ‘We have to make a disco song’”: Digging into the Dua Lipa smash that triggered a disco revival
“A next-generation guitar pedal that will redefine everything”: Zoom embraces NAM and AI stem separation with a $300 touchscreen amp modeler, the Neurig
Ronnie Wood remembers Jimi Hendrix’s quality concerns: “He said, ‘My voice is awful.’ I said, ‘I don’t think you should worry about it’”
“Despite doctors, family and friends urging him to focus on his health, he insists on being on stage”: An “alarmingly frail” Mike Love returns to live duties with the Beach Boys
“I told my band members and record company it was crazy, but no-one agreed. So I gave in to political power and left”: Cult psych guitar hero Hideki Ishima on the Flower Travellin’ Band, inventing the sitarla and his near-miss with the Rolling Stones
“At the age of 13, I bought a Guitar World with Eddie Van Halen on the cover and fell in love with his signature model”: John Mayer shreds Van Halen with Dave Grohl on the Music Man Axis that made his childhood dreams come true
Journey’s Neal Schon hails Deen Castronovo’s return after onstage medical emergency: “He’s back in rare form”
“I feel incredibly lucky that I got to know him, hang out with him and play music with him”: Slash honored with the Les Paul Spirit Award
If you have endless cash, these are the mics to buy: “It became known as the Beatles Mic as it was famously used at the Cavern Club”
“I was writing on the film set, just clicking the rhythm with my nails. I had my guitar there. I figured it out in my head. It all came at once”: Dolly Parton was the undisputed queen of country, but she was also a highly underrated guitar player
“In the beginning we often called our studio an electronic garden – but that garden developed into a factory farming industry”: Kraftwerk’s Karl Bartos tells us how technology curbed the band’s creativity
“The label wanted to hear the song that the video was actually for… I said, ‘Oh, I’ll bring it on Monday morning’”: How Thomas Dolby speedily created his biggest hit over a weekend
“It’s easy for someone who knows nothing about production to identify a bad or weak mix – it will simply sound less ‘good’ than other tracks”: The ultimate beginner’s guide to recording digitally
“Les had seen me play guitar in a seventh-grade talent show and was so unimpressed that he decided to play bass. Glad I could help”: Todd Huth wrote Primus’ early guitar parts, then left them to Larry LaLonde
“I own 26 or 27 bass guitars – everything from Fenders to 6-strings and acoustics. But this one bass has a sound that none of my others have”: How a bass she borrowed (and never gave back) helped shape the sound of Rhonda Smith’s new supergroup
