“He said it himself in the letter to me – that there are only so many notes on the piano – and that’s why I was annoyed. I was like, ‘You get it, so why is this happening?’”: Sam Smith reflects on their 2015 songwriting dispute with Tom Petty
Does your digital piano have Wi-Fi? Roland’s new FP-40 does, along with upgraded speakers and its latest Piano Reality engine
“We’d made this record that was so far to the left of Rumours. And when it didn’t sell 16 million copies, that was hard. There was a lot of anxiety”: Lindsey Buckingham on the highs and lows of life with Fleetwood Mac
“Rock ’n’ roll is an old person’s game now – there’s still loads of people 10 years older than me who are doing it. I imagine they’ve got personal trainers and better health regimes than I do”: The inimitable Robyn Hitchcock on the enigma of songwriting
“What we found was horrifying”: Footage of Les Paul’s destroyed home surfaces after iconic studio was quietly ripped down by private developers
“When I congratulated Amy, she said to me, ‘I knew what I was doing’”: Amy Winehouse “knew exactly what she had created” with Back to Black, says her former bass player and musical director
“An exceptionally accurate model of the original Prophet, with a clutch of incredibly useful enhancements”: GForce Prophet-5 review
“For under $600 it does something quite special – it opens up a new sound-world”: Gretsch Electromatic CVT Baritone review
“You will not meet a punk-rock songwriter who doesn’t love the Descendants. They’re responsible for what’s so popular today”: The secret to Descendents’ seminal punk guitar sound and why Milo stood the test of time
“I never saw what the big fuss was about Clapton to begin with”: Angus Young’s thoughts on Eric Clapton – and the players he prefers
“I don’t think anyone is anywhere near Ray Davies as a songwriter. He’s the best we’ve ever had. Closely followed by Paul McCartney”: Graham Coxon on his unearthed solo adventures, the challenge of writing for Blur and Damon Albarn’s guitar skills
“It’s a song that has been misinterpreted greatly, to say the least. I think people too often look for symbolism in songs when they’re simpler than they seem”: How an irresistible track about dreaming big turned into the breakout hit for Counting Crows
“Don’t play, or even look at, this bass if you’ve got a hangover”: The biggest bass guitar launches this month
“Coming back at this age, your fear is that you can’t do it anymore, and you’re going to be a compromised version of yourself”: Geddy Lee details the intense preparation behind Rush’s reunion
