Inhoudsopgave van March 2026 - Guitarist

Future Publishing Limited, Quay House, The Ambury, Bath, BA1 1UATelephone 01225 442244 Email guitarist@futurenet.com Online www.guitarist.co.uk Blues guitar has come to mean many things – and everyone’s interpretation of the term varies. Some might see authentic blues as Piedmont-style fingerpicking or open-chord slide playing on a resonator. Others get their satisfaction in blues from viscerally exciting modern players such as Jared James Nichols, whose work is really hard-charging, soulful rock wearing a bluesman’s suit. None of those interpretations are wrong, all are welcome in the remarkably broad church blues guitar has become. But when we speak of ‘blues guitar’ we might be ignoring something fundamental – for the most influential blues guitarists in history were also powerful singers, and really the interaction between the story of the song, the emotion…

Texas bluesman and session legend par excellence David Grissom has a firm and long-standing bond with PRS. Legend has it that company founder Paul Reed Smith attended a gig where David was whipping up a storm and soon snagged him as a tone-advisor for the brand as well as a signature artist. And, after the completion of his signature guitar in 2007, David set about creating an amplifier in conjunction with PRS head designer, Doug Sewell, tuned to the guitarist’s exacting tastes. Following David’s penchant for preamp simplicity and power amp saturation, a number of high-quality amplifiers bearing his initials have reached the market with details tweaked to achieve consistent tone in different wattage packages. Conjuring the characteristics and peculiarities of David’s four favourite classic amps, a magic blend was…

ThorpyFX’s latest pedal is a collaboration with British boutique amp manufacturer Lazy J. And the intention here is to recreate both the sound and feel of the amp brand’s J 20, a modern evolution of the 1950’s 5E3 Fender Deluxe amp – an object of desire for many guitarists. The J pedal offers the sound of two different amp channels – Normal and Bright – with footswitching between the two. Both channels have their own control knobs, increasing volume and gain, feeding an overall output level knob, which has a little extra headroom for a boost if required. The option of swapping the preamp valves in the real amp is duplicated here by a toggle switch that lets you choose between the lower gain 12AY7 or the 12AX7 for more…

Without doubt, one of the most enjoyable aspects of building an acoustic guitar is the shaping of the guitar’s internal braces. Whether it’s the scalloping of the ends, the profiling of each brace, or the exact positioning of the struts, every maker has their own signature style, which I believe greatly contributes to the sound of the guitar. When it comes to tonal analysis, most of the focus tends to be on the guitar top (the ‘soundboard’) and its delicate balance between supporting the pull of the strings and letting the instrument vibrate to its full sonic potential. But what considerations should we makers give to the back of the instrument? In contrast to its X-braced partner, typical acoustic guitar backs are ladder braced, with four evenly spaced softwood braces…

STAR LETTER UNSUNG GIBSON? I was interested to read your piece on the Gibson Les Paul Music City Special and the backstory of the Marauder and other Bill Lawrence designed guitars (issues 527 and 530). I quite liked these guitars back in the day but couldn’t afford Gibson prices back then. Fast forward to a trip to Denmark Street a couple of weeks ago in search of a Strat for my son’s 40th birthday when I came across a mint condition ‘73 L6-S, which ended up coming home with me. These guitars are a bit quirky but very versatile with series/parallel and in/out of phase configuration, as well as a mid roll-off control and 24 frets. This was one of Gibson’s attempts at a ‘do everything’ guitar (other examples would…

Rock history is littered with the guitarists who left before their bands exploded. Mick Abrahams – who died on 19 December aged 82, following years of ill health – was only with British prog giants Jethro Tull for 1968’s debut, This Was. Yet his lyrical blues playing left a vital mark, while the guitarist escaped footnote status by immediately founding a second notable outfit, Blodwyn Pig, whose powerful, roots-melding albums twice visited the UK’s Top 10 at the turn of that decade. Michael Timothy Abrahams was born on 7 April 1943 in Luton, Bedfordshire, and it was there that he fell into band life with McGregor’s Engine, before joining frontman Ian Anderson, bassist Glenn Cornick and drummer Clive Bunker as the nucleus of the future Tull. Signing to Island, his…

WALKING THE TALK (Guitarist, December 2011) “I’ve never been a real hot player, and a lot of kids are hot players. I’m slow because I walk slow, talk slow, sing slow – the whole works. It isn’t because I feel that way, that’s just the way I am.” DIVINE INSPIRATION (Guitarist, December 2011) “My mother’s brother was married to a sanctified preacher’s sister. And when I heard him play the guitar, that was the nicest thing ever. That’s about the first time I started paying attention.” HALLMARK VIBRATO (Guitarist, December 2011) “When the Hawaiian people would play, it was so mellow, so good to your ears. Every time I’d get a guitar, I’d always trill my hand and it became a habit. Guys would say, ‘How’d you do that?’ I’d…

FENDER JOHNNY MARR SIGNATURE SPECIAL JAGUAR £2,949 CONTACT Fender Musical Instruments EMEA PHONE 01342 331700 WEB www.fender.com What You Need To Know 1 That looks a bit different from Johnny’s first signature Jaguar. Yes, it’s only offered in one colour this time around and it’s ‘limited’, although Fender doesn’t say if that’s a specific number or limited simply to demand. The big difference here is the trio of lipstick single-coil pickups. 2 So, Fender is now making lipstick pickups, then? No, these come from Kent Armstrong and are referred to as ‘custom designed’, but Fender doesn’t give us any more info or specifics. Don’t forget the first JM Jaguar used Bare Knuckle-wound Jaguar-style pickups, so the new model continues that theme. 3 There’s a third switch on the control plate…

Swannell Guitars IA £3,700 (INC CASE) Contact EMAIL jamie@swannellguitars.co.uk WEB www.swannellguitars.co.uk Specialising in high-end, impeccably made acoustics, Ely-based Jamie Swannell currently has one electric model in his catalogue, and he explains that it is named after “St Ia, who floated across the Irish Sea on a leaf. She landed in Cornwall and gave her name to St Ives, the town I grew up in.” It was there that Jamie made his first electric guitar, while still at school, in his dad’s shed. Some years later his decision to follow the guitar-making life led him to Newark School of Musical Instrument Crafts where he graduated in 2015 with a Distinction and was invited to teach, which he did before totally focusing on his own guitars – mainly acoustic, with the exception…

Practical Classics Every acoustic player should have a J-45 or a J-200, but reissues can prove pricey – enter Epiphone with this compellingly priced duo p8 The Next Stage The original Line 6 Helix was a watershed bit of kit for many players. So is the next-gen Stadium XL Floor worth the upgrade? p100 Jason Isbell The American alt-rock songsmith talks about his characterful new Martin signatures and their place in his musical world p108…

Abbey Road Studios is probably the most famous recording facility in the world. While it was opened with a concert by Sir Edward Elgar on 12 November 1931, its international fame can be traced back to four Liverpudlians who first entered the building in 1962 and changed everything: The Beatles. George Harrison’s 1957 black Duo Jet guitar was probably the first Gretsch electric to make music there and was certainly used to record Please Please Me, the band’s first No 1 single (according to some charts, though officially From Me To You takes that honour) and their debut album of the same name. Harrison acquired more Gretsch guitars and The Fabs continued to record at Abbey Road. While Gretsch still offers the type of guitars that Harrison played all those…

New releases From £169 CONTACT Various WEB See below It’s that time of year again! While we eagerly await the changing of the clocks, there’s a glimmer of light shining from the gear industry – as it once again converged for the NAMM Show at the end of January (just after we went to press with this issue). That can only mean one thing: we’re about to experience a GAS leak. This month and next, we’ll be bringing you the new-release highlights, starting with this lot as an appetizer. There’s plenty to get excited about, with big-name acoustics, affordable ranges and a whole lot of effects, so stay tuned. [SW] FAITH PJE LEGACY FG4 £1,565 If you know about Faith, you’ll know that its PJE series leans into Patrick Eggle’s…

Artist: Eric Gales Album: A Tribute To LJK (Provogue) Eric Gales no longer stands as the underdog threatening to take the world by storm. Why? Because he’s already done it and is now enjoying recognition with Grammy nominations and sold-out performances across the globe. But Eric is keen to acknowledge that it might have been a different story had his older sibling not shown him the musical ropes from an early age. Eric’s latest album, A Tribute To LJK, acts as a doff of the cap to his brother. The record starts with a familiar voice saying, “All hail, a tribute to our brother Manuel Gales, also known as Little Jimmy King,” followed by 47 minutes of the most life-affirming blues. As the leader of the Memphis Soul Survivors, Little…

As founder of EarthQuaker Devices, Jamie Stillman hasn’t just been at the forefront of the boutique effects boom, he’s shaped its direction with a spirit for leftfield turns. None more so than with his trailblazing approach to reverb that manifested with the Afterneath. First released in 2014, with a few iterations since, it did more than change the scale of EarthQuaker’s operations – based in Akron, Ohio, under Jamie and CEO (and wife) Julie Robbins – it inspired other makers to explore new realms of creativity with reverb pedals. “My approach is hands-on, especially with the reverb side of things,” Jamie tells us. “I know what I like – I like a giant, massive canyon and cathedral-style reverb with a lot of high-end content and reflections all over the place.…

It is a curious truth of the music industry that while some artists chase fame their entire careers, others are dogged by the megastardom they never wanted. Chris Rea – who died shortly before Christmas at the age of 74 – was the most reluctant of rock legends, comparing himself to a captive monkey in one interview with this writer and bemused by the gulf between the music he really wanted to play (deep slide-blues) and the clutch of chart hits that made him one of the bankable names of the late 80s and early 90s. Born in Middlesbrough on 4 March 1951, Christopher Anton Rea was the son of an Italian ice cream mogul with whom he had a strained relationship (“Dad was a distant figure,” he said, “a…

Francis Rossi, as you might be aware, is a talker. By the end of our allotted hour with the Status Quo lifer, we have enough material to fill this entire magazine – and still he wants to keep going (“Until I tell you to fuck off, you’re fine”). Most of it is unusable, of course, consisting of silly voices, off-the-record slander and his sweet-but-infuriating habit of twanging a guitar to illustrate his point. But Rossi does want to get at least one serious message across: he is inordinately proud of his new solo album. And why wouldn’t he be? Co-produced by Andy Brook, The Accidental is a potent collection of driving boogies and instant melodies – drawing a line under Rossi’s recent run of mostly acoustic music – to reconnect…

You suspect BB would smile to see it, maybe break out that warm butterscotch laugh – then give a disbelieving shake of the head at all the fuss. As Joe Bonamassa gathers the great man’s acolytes for the all-star BB King’s Blues Summit 100, it calls to mind the Charles Darwin quote that the company a man keeps is the best measure of his worth. By that metric alone, King is a giant. And yet, to thumb through the guitarist’s back pages is to be reminded of a towering figure in his own right: not just a player who changed the possibilities of his instrument, but an instrument of social change himself. Immortality wasn’t on the cards when Riley B King took his first breaths on 16 September 1925. Born…

It’s safe to say that BB King was a Gibson man through and through. Aside from his brief dalliance with a Fender Esquire in the 50s, BB’s favoured first-call guitars all started their lives at a Gibson factory. The teenaged Blues Boy’s first instrument was a modest L-30 f-hole acoustic bought around 1940, soon going electric with a retrofit DeArmond pickup. In the 50s, as well as that Fender Esquire, he played a few other Gibsons, including a Byrdland, an ES-125 or an ES-175, as well as an ES-5N – influenced by his hero T-Bone Walker, who used an identical instrument. Quite how many Lucilles there were is unclear, although in BB’s 1996 autobiography he was already up to number 16… By the early years of the 60s, BB had…

YAMAHA REVSTAR ELEMENT RSE20 £439 This second-wave Revstar model retains the Dry Switch of the original series, which is very similar to the Jaguar’s bass-cut control. Used here to create a more single-coil-like (but still hum-cancelling) optional sound to the full Alnico V humbuckers, this RSE20 is a good-sounding guitar that comes in a choice of five smart ‘café racer’ colours with chambered body and quite unique style. At this price, it’s a good option as a modding platform, too. https://uk.yamaha.com DANELECTRO TRIPLE DIVINE £750 As the home of the lipstick single coil, Danelectro has been using these pickups since the 50s. The Triple Divine sports three Vintage 50s Lipsticks, the bridge pickup is overwound, while the switching is done Strat-style via the five-way lever switch. Nice touches such as…

We always knew Jason Isbell could play. But even long-standing fans who remember the Alabama country star’s twisty fingerstyle on 2013’s Southeastern were stopped in their tracks by last year’s Foxes In The Snow. Inspired by his divorce from former bandmate Amanda Shires and new relationship with artist Anna Weyant, this 10th album found Isbell relieving his trusty backing band, The 400 Unit, in favour of a virtuoso man-and-guitar format. And as the 47-year-old tells us today, the model he chose proved pivotal, with Isbell not only tracking every song on a 1940 Martin 0-17 at Electric Lady Studios, but using that example as the jump-off for his two new signature acoustics designed alongside the Pennsylvania luthier. What can you tell us about the pre-war 0-17 you used on Foxes…

Assembling any array of disparate parts into a usable instrument is always a bit of a leap into the dark. If you’re careful and stick closely to a specific style, you’ve got more chance of success. But combining, as I did here, a refinished Fender Road Worn Stratocaster body with a new-to-me Guitar Anatomy neck and staple-magnet pickup from Green Pickups in Manchester, I had no idea of the outcome. As I mentioned in the first part of this adventure in issue 532, I was a little concerned about the flatter end-curve of the GA neck as it fits into the body. Visually, it’ll be hidden by the fretboard overhang, but the flatter curve could mean it sits too far north. Using a Wilkinson 21-fret vintage neck as a template,…

“When is a ’59 ’Burst not a ’59 ’Burst? The answer is when it’s a ‘Double O’. Most people associate 1960 Les Pauls with vibrant cherry sunbursts that never fade, reflector control knobs and skinnier neck profiles, but those features were not introduced right at the start of the year. Well into 1960, Gibson continued building Les Pauls using necks, bodies and even pickups that had been made in 1959. These ’59-spec early 1960 ’Bursts have become known as ‘Double O’s because the first two serial number digits were zeros. That’s why they look, feel and sound indistinguishable from 1959 Les Pauls. “Gibson must have become aware of the fading finish issues. The aniline red pigment that most manufacturers used was not light-fast and would rapidly bleach out when exposed…

In recent times we’ve examined a host of Epiphone guitars, both acoustic and electric, many of which have exceeded the magical £1k barrier. In the main, they’ve proved to be superb instruments that, in some cases, have caused us to question why we’d part with a load more cash for something with that ‘other’ name on the headstock. Here, though, we find two unashamedly budget guitars, neither of which busts even the £500 ceiling. It will be interesting to see how the degree of cost-cutting required to hit this price point affects the build, playability and sound. Checking over the big-bodied J-200 Studio reveals that it’s very tidily built, both inside and out. While a five-ish grand Custom Shop Gibbo is constructed using solid, and often finely figured, maple for…

Those of us who used a Portastudio multi-tracker back in the day might have thought we’d heard the last of it… But now JHS Pedals has released the 424 Gain Stage, a new pedal that replicates a Tascam 424 MkI Portastudio’s signal path using its original op-amps. The pedal is said to have been largely driven by artists such as US guitarist/producer Michael Todd Gordon – better known as Mk.gee – who employs a Tascam at the core of his rig. This musician was also name-checked by Eric Clapton, who said “[Mk.gee] has found things to do on the guitar that are like nobody else”. The pedal has an output to an amp but also an XLR DI output that can be connected to a mixing desk or audio interface.…

Artist: Jussi Reijonen Album: Sayr: Salt | Thirst (Unmusic) There’s something wonderfully enchanting about the latest studio album from Finnish musician Jussi Reijonen. After spending the last two decades experimenting with the Middle Eastern flavours of the oud, he’s come back to his steel-string acoustic – which he likens to a wise old friend for deep conversations over a cup of coffee. The 40-minute recording comprises just two tracks, which feel incredibly intimate and in the moment, almost placing the listener in a flickering candlelit cabin right next to the player himself. With its genre-defying mishmash of Western folk and Arabic dissonance, it’s the kind of music that will leave you transfixed for hours on end. Coming Home For Jussi, these latest recordings felt like coming full circle – and…

I’ve never been a fan of big jam sessions, especially with super-technical players. While they no doubt include incredible displays of dexterity and cleverness, they usually leave me wanting, since all the players can really do is show off. It’s thrilling for a minute or two but quickly becomes boring. Put those same virtuosi in their own bands, though, and it’s a different story. “My preference has always been for groups or solo artists who create a cohesive sound using a well-established ‘family’ of players” So my preference has always been for groups, be they self-contained rock, pop, blues and jazz outfits, or solo artists who create a cohesive sound using a well-established ‘family’ of players. I’ve seen James Taylor many times and his ‘A-plus’ line-up has remained stable for…

AUDIO ▸ http://bit.ly/guitaristextra Recently, we’ve been exploring extended chords, and while we did touch on some altered chords, this is a fuller explanation with tips on how to avoid some common pitfalls with the naming conventions. That being said, it’s important to remember that the names are only an attempt to describe/itemise the different sounds available to us. Altered chords aren’t necessarily extended, but this can be the area that spawns the most intimidating names, some of which we’ll attempt to demystify here. Let’s start by defining exactly what ‘altered’ means in this context, which is: moving a note within a chord out of the ‘parent’ scale. For example, a C augmented (usually written as ‘aug’) triad contains C-E-G# (Root-3rd-#5). The 5th has been raised (augmented) by a semitone, giving us…

Most would label Jerry Garcia the ‘frontman’ of the Grateful Dead, a Bay Area band born out of 1960s counterculture. But Bob Weir’s importance cannot be understated. Weir shared writing credits on Truckin’, Sugar Magnolia, Looks Like Rain and Hell In A Bucket, and his laid-back style of rhythm (and occasionally lead) guitar made him indispensable to the Dead – especially after Jerry Garcia’s drug addiction took hold. Robert Hall Weir, to whom we’ll refer as ‘Bobby’ from here on, was born on 16 October 1947. He was 78 when he died on 10 January 2026 after he “succumbed to underlying lung issues” that followed a cancer diagnosis in July 2025, said an official statement. Bobby was born in San Francisco, an area that helped influence a life spent mainly…

The double-CD and three-LP release in honour of BB King’s 100th birthday, BB King’s Blues Summit 100, was a labour of love for Joe Bonamassa. To say that the album features a who’s who of blues guitarists young and old is really only the tip of a very large iceberg. Indeed, when Joe announced the project to the blues guitar world, it expanded exponentially, such was the clamour it created. Artists including Marcus King, Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram, Larkin Poe, Jimmie Vaughan, Warren Haynes, Dion, Aloe Blacc, Kirk Fletcher and not forgetting Eric Clapton were eager to lend their hands – and guitar playing – to a selection of songs that BB had made famous throughout his long career. And what a joyous celebration of one man’s contribution to music and…

As a young boy, by way of his father who was involved in the music business, a young Billy Gibbons got the chance to sit in and watch BB King do his thing live and in the flesh while in the studio. Surely, this would have impacted anyone, let alone an aspiring young six-stringer. But judging by Gibbons’ ZZ-Top catalogue, which includes big-time hits and even bigger and very old-school bluesy-meets-rock licks, one could say that said studio foray impacted Gibbons more than most. As for what he learned as a child watching a legend like King, Gibbons tells Guitarist: “The importance of some serious professionalism at that moment took hold. BB and company were, well… they were gettin’ down to business with no foolin’ ‘round.” Later in life, Gibbons…

Many vintage Strat fans will have a favourite year, and 1963’s features tick a lot of boxes. Of course, having a famous owner never does any harm to a guitar’s value and – although not best known as a Strat guy – Noel Gallagher owned and played this one. Gardiner Houlgate’s dedicated guitar auctioneer Luke Hobbs takes up the story. “The Strat has had a body refinish and a replacement pickguard. There are some body stamps under the ’guard with four numbers and the initials ‘BK’. Somebody suggested to me that they might indicate a factory refinish, but I don’t believe that. “The electrics are largely original and there’s no evidence that the pickups have been rewound, but the volume pot has been replaced. The original has been retained in…

LINE 6 HELIX STADIUM XL FLOOR £1,980 CONTACT Yamaha UK WEB https://line6.com What You Need To Know 1 A new Helix? It’s about time! The original Helix has been around for 10 years, and although there have been various HX models in between, Line 6 has finally unveiled the official successor of its large floor processor. 2 The competition has got a lot more sophisticated in the past decade. That’s true, and this new model reflects the tech changes with touchscreen operation, improved amp modelling and Wi-Fi, among other innovations. 3 Is there more than one version? Yes, this is the XL model, but there is also the Stadium Floor, which loses some of the socketry and doesn’t have the treadle and scribble strips. When Line 6 introduced the Helix…

What was the first serious guitar that you bought with your own money? “That depends. It’s kind of a deep question because what qualifies as a serious guitar? To me, the first serious guitar that I bought with my own money was my first electric guitar, which was a Gretsch Traveling Wilburys [TW-100T] model that I got for $45 bucks at a pawn shop down the road from where I lived. It was serious because I was like, ‘I’m finally gonna play guitar.’ “But in the way that you’re probably asking, my first serious guitar was a Highway One Stratocaster. I still have it to this day; it’s my blue Strat. That was the first one where I was like, ‘I really want to do this thing.’ I played that…

Fender quickly backed down when Gretsch raised objections to the use of the Broadcaster name, and Harmony may have had similar grounds for complaint. After all, the H44 Stratotone predated the Stratocaster by two years. With its no-truss rod through-neck construction, a poplar body, Waverly tuners and a single DeArmond ‘Hershey bar’ pickup, the H44 has acquired a cult following among retro blues and Americana pickers. Prices have climbed accordingly, but most of these instruments need a fair bit of work to make them playable, and this example is no exception. The most obvious issues with this Stratotone were an up-bowed neck and fairly high string action. Some work was needed to establish the cause and severity of these problems, but, like most luthiers, I have a special tool for…

One-Chord Blues Tutor Richard Barrett | Gear used Fender Stratocaster, Keeley-modded Boss SD-1 & Vox AC15 Hand-Wired Difficulty | 10 mins per example IN A WORLD where we’re so often encouraged to expand our vocabulary, learn more scales, play over complex changes and improve our technique, this example solo takes the contrary approach of exploring simple bluesy ideas over a single chord. It does venture a little outside of the regular pentatonic shapes towards the end (check out Example 3), but this is the exception, rather than the rule. In this section we’re looking for interesting melodic lines instead of deliberately referring to specific chord tones, but – deliberately or not – this is what’s going on during the last four bars… One of the advantages of staying with a…