Guitar Magazine September 2021

Welcome to the September issue of Guitar Magazine. This month’s coverstar is one of a quartet of Gibson’s new Nashville-made ES models that we have on test – and the timing couldn’t be more apt. As I type this, I’m en route to Music City to attend the 2021 Summer NAMM show. In addition to being my first long-haul flight since the start of the pandemic, rather more significantly, it’s also the first major in-person musical instrument industry event to take place in North America since Winter NAMM in January 2020. By the time you read this, Guitar.com will be awash with all the hottest new gear from the show, so head to the website and follow our socials to ensure you don’t miss a beat. Elsewhere in this issue, you’ll…

The Guitar Magazine team were shocked and saddened to hear of the passing of Michael Leonard on 2 July following a short battle with cancer. Editor of Guitar Magazine from 1993 to 1998, Michael was later appointed editor of Guitar Techniques, Guitarist, MusicRadar, Country Music and Vintage Rock, and in recent years had been a regular contributor to Guitar.com. His other roles included a stint as European Editor of Gibson.com and editor of the official Fender Magazine. He also contributed to Mojo, Q, The Independent, Rolling Stone and Billboard. Michael was born in Wigan in 1966 but grew up in Exeter, graduating from the University of Bath with a degree in economics and politics in 1988. By his own admission, he “fell into” publishing in the early 1990s but, during the…

Join the conversation Email us at editors@guitar.com DIAMOND GEEZER I was enjoying the beautiful image of the vintage Gretsch guitar in your most recent issue [How To Buy A Vintage Gretsch, issue 395] when my eye was drawn to a packet of old Black Diamond strings in the guitar’s case and I was instantly transported all the way back in time to 1965. Back then, I was the proud possessor of a Futurama jumbo acoustic and, at that time, about the only easily available strings for budding guitar players were either Black Diamond or Cathedral. Most of my guitarist friends agreed the former were the preferred make but there was one definite drawback – there was no choice of string gauge. Not only could you not choose light or medium strings to make…

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Who is Delilah Bon and why did you feel the urge to bring her to life? “Delilah was created last year completely by accident. I was touring with my band [Hands Off Gretel] when I spoke out about women’s safety at shows. I wrote about my own experiences online, how I was having to deal with men trying to kiss and touch me off stage, only to be met with resistance from people saying that I was asking for it because of how I chose to dress. I was riddled with anxiety then, playing shows. A man started shouting ‘hashtag me too’ at me on stage as I tried to sing, and I saw girls getting shoved to the back. I had so much I wanted to say but I was…

Now signed to the London-based indie label Hassle, North Walians’ The Joy Formidable continue to make headway with their take on brooding, anthemic rock. On their last LP Aaarth, the trio united the personal with the mythical and symbolic, and that theme broadly continues here, with vocalist and guitarist Ritzy Bryan emulating nature through her melodies and riffs. She gives us her top moments from Into The Blue. FARRAGO “I love experimenting with guitar sounds, the stranger the better. I sometimes go into the studio with a visual of what I want to hear, the cross-sensory idea of ‘seeing music’. A lot of my visualisations are inspired by the natural world. Can you get a guitar to sound like the ambience of the night sky? The breaking of a wave? The opening…