“Being a musician in Latin America is difficult. You end up paying almost three times the standard price for a guitar”: Nervosa’s Prika Amaral on her unconventional playing style and overcoming Brazil’s broken music scene
“It was a pedal designed to make your bass sound like a trombone, but I could make it sound like Jimi Hendrix”: How Ralphe Armstrong unlocked Hendrix-inspired expression on one of Jean-Luc Ponty’s most adventurous recordings
“I said, ‘This guy has had 18 top 10 singles. He’s a great writer.’ But there was something not quite there”: Drumming legend Carl Palmer recalls how an eccentric pop star almost ended up singing for ’80s rock supergroup Asia
“John Lennon laid down a simple guitar part. Then David asked me if I wanted to go to dinner with them!” The genius of David Bowie’s guitar collabs in 9 classic tracks
“John Lennon laid down a simple guitar part. Then David asked me if I wanted to go to dinner with them!” The genius of David Bowie’s guitar collabs in 9 classic tracks
The surprising history of the first-ever signature guitars, from custom builds for teachers to high-profile artists
“In the past, what I do would not have been considered production – it would have been considered noise”: When a young Skrillex explained how he made his early dubstep bangers
“I got word that Chester was gone, and it just hit me so hard. I never listen to that song the same anymore”: Stone Temple Pilots bassist Rob DeLeo has experienced the death of his lead singer twice – and somehow found a way to keep playing
“Right when I started with the Ramones is when I bought a guitar. The first song I learned to play was a Ramones song”: How the Ramones took New York punk round the world
“Somebody threw a live chicken on stage, and I threw it back, thinking it would fly. It didn’t, and the audience tore it pieces!”: Alice Cooper’s crazy early years – and the hit song that Gene Simmons described as “a sucker punch in the kidneys”
My pick of the best guitar gear launched this week: a meet and greet with Billy Gibbons, the modeler we’ve all been waiting for, and a Butterscotch Blonde wristwatch
“I have them because they sound so bad – if it sounds good on them, then it’ll sound good anywhere”: Erol Alkan on the gear that he trusts above all else
“I spoke to him the night before he passed. He said to me, ‘I really feel tired and really worn out’”: Tony Iommi on dealing with his grief for Ozzy, and his new solo album
“At The Troubadour, she broke the seal on this brand new tune. And I was sure I knew the song already because it was such a classic immediately”: The iconic Carole King song that she believed was heaven-sent – and how James Taylor took it to No 1
“I was like, ‘I think just no drums.’ And they’re like, ‘What if it’s electric guitar and dubstep? We’re not putting a piano in this’”: How Max Martin and Shellback casually informed Taylor Swift that they were going to turn her ballad into a banger
“I was with Eric Clapton and said, ‘Why don’t you come to the studio and play on this song?’ He said, ‘Oh, no – I can’t do that. Nobody’s ever played on a Beatles’ record”: The music theory behind The Beatles’ While My Guitar Gently Weeps
“This is before tape. We’d record our harmonies and then put another layer on top. We were very young, but learning to produce”: Art Garfunkel remembers how he and Paul Simon started their recording career
