Innehållsförteckning för January 2025 från Guitar World

AND SO ENDS another wild year in guitar land. Well, sort of. We like to get an early start on the whole end-of-year thing, so this issue is actually coming to you in mid to late November. Which reminds me — Happy Thanksgiving! I’m thankful for our faithful, dedicated readers, our Defenders of the Faith, our Sounding Board contributors, our Reader Art gang and everyone who subscribes (or peruses GW in the waiting room while getting their tires rotated or barnacles scraped). Where was I? Ah, yes — November! This means we shipped this issue in late October, which, in turn, means that just about anything could’ve happened during the month it took to get this issue into your hands. Did we miss anything? Did Marty Friedman rejoin Megadeth? Did…

TUNE-UPS NEWS + NOTES BETWEEN THE TIME bluesman Tab Benoit released his first solo album, Nice and Warm, in 1992, until Medicine dropped in 2011, he kept his foot on the accelerator, putting out new collections of original music nearly every year. But after nabbing a trio of Blues Music Awards for Medicine, he didn’t darken a studio door for years, instead concentrating on creating music live on stage. Now, after 13 years of studio silence, Benoit is revealing what happened — and it’s a classic tale of a good-natured artist signing a bad business deal. “I was stuck in a record deal for my entire career that I never could get out of, and when I finally got out of it, I just didn’t wanna give away any more…

EXPLOSIVE GARAGE ROCKERS the Courettes released their debut album, Here Are the Courettes, way back in 2015. Brazilian singer/guitarist Flavia Couri’s playing sounds like a crazy mix of Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley and Johnny Ramone. Meanwhile, her husband, Denmark’s Martin Couri, attacks the poor drum kit with a ferocity that makes The Muppet Show’s Animal look immobile. Their new album, The Soul of… the Fabulous Courettes (Damaged Goods Records), channels Motown, Phil Spector and Sixties pop. Sonically, it’s a long way from their debut record, but for Flavia, it’s all coming from the same place. Below, Couri gives us the low-down. The new album has some pretty lavish production values, including lots of extra instrumentation. Is this how your first album would’ve sounded if you’d had the budget? All the…

GRACE BOWERS Song: Anything from Marcus King’s Mood Swings Riff: “What About the Children,” Gary Clark Jr. feat. Stevie Wonder Solo: Post Malone, “Finer Things.” I believe Derek Wells played the ripping solo. Guitar moment: Slash popping up at the Oscars with Ryan Gosling and Mark Ronson! New band/artist: I’ve enjoyed watching Chappell Roan’s rise this year. New guitarist: Daniel Donato New gear: Forever and always, the wah pedal Album you listened to most: Cory Henry’s Something to Say and Funkadelic’s Maggot Brain Guitarist of the year: Too many to name! AARON MARSHALL (INTERVALS) Songs: “The Saboteur,” Stephen Taranto. It has it all, and Stephen is a beast. Riff: The main chorus riff in “STFIL” by Four Year Strong. This is one of those, “Oh, of course it goes like…

THE BEST OF 2024 HIS LATEST The Journey (2023) TO SAY THAT Matteo Mancuso has had a big 2024 would be an understatement. His debut record, 2023’s The Journey, has continued to wow just about anyone who hears it, but now he’s being namechecked by the likes of Steve Vai, Joe Bonamassa and Al Di Meola. Yes, the things Mancuso does are utterly incomprehensible, but he isn’t worried about competing with the greats he’s wowing. “The guitar is such a personal instrument,” Mancuso tells GW. “You can’t compare yourself to other people. I know Steve [Vai] said something like, ‘You can’t duplicate what Matteo does,’ but it’s the same for me — I can’t duplicate what he does. I can’t replicate what Al Di Meola does. I don’t compare myself to…

EDDIE VAN HALEN’S favorite guitar during the mid-Seventies was a Gibson ES-335, but he stopped playing it on stage because his bandmates said that it made him look like Roy Orbison. While good old Roy revived his cool status in the late Eighties about the same time that vintage guitars entered a new era of hip, the original ES-335 in sunburst, cherry red or blonde has sometimes had a bit of an admittedly stodgy, traditionalist image over the years. Gibson’s new ES Supreme semi-hollow electric models give the timeless ES design a flashy makeover thanks to their AAA figured maple tops, brighter, bolder finish options, gold-plated hardware, Super Split Block mother-of-pearl fingerboard inlays and new six-segment modified “diamond” headstock inlay. The beauty of the ES Supreme is more than skin…

WHEN I FIRST received the new Reverend Billy Corgan Signature Drop Z, I thought Reverend sent a Corgan Z-One like the one I reviewed two years ago. The Drop Z looked and felt similar, but immediately my ears noticed that its voice is much deeper, more throaty and more resonant. To my surprise when I checked the specs I discovered that it has a longer scale length (26.25 inches compared to the Z-One’s 25.5 inch scale) and a 24-fret neck instead of 22 frets. The reason why my eyes deceived me is because the Drop Z measures about the same overall length as a Les Paul from the tip of the headstock to the lower strap pin. The bridge is moved down lower on the body so you don’t end…

IN THIS LESSON, I’d like to discuss playing over what’s known as a I - VI - II - V (“one-six-two-five”) chord progression, which is common in a variety of musical styles, from country to rock to folk to jazz and blues. You’ll find it in many old blues tunes, such as some by Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, through the later recordings of Eric Clapton and many others. The examples I offer here are played in the key of F and with a swing-eighths feel. And all of the chords have a dominant 7 quality or implied tonality. So the basic underlying progression is F7 - D7 - G7 - C7. FIGURE 1 shows a rhythm part based on this progression: I begin with a boogie pattern on F5…

“KILLING FLOOR” Slash feat. Brian Johnson SLASH’S COVER OF this popular old Howlin’ Wolf blues standard features the ageless hard rock guitar god playing as great as ever and sporting a Gibson ES-335 as he authentically performs the song’s signature funky riffs and serves up an inspired and characteristically feisty, well-structured solo. Backed by an ace rhythm section that includes guitarist Tash Neal providing solidly supportive rhythm accompaniment, Slash and company authoritatively lay down the song’s playful, catchy groove behind veteran AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson’s throaty, soulful vocals. Both guitarists use their bridge pickups throughout and dial in just the right amount of tube amp distortion to create rich, fat tones with bite, without exceeding a level of gain that would muddy some of their chord voicings, which include not…

O Eddie, where art thou? I understand that Eddie Van Halen is more [associated with] the Eighties, but to leave him off the cover of your Seventies issue [November 2024] is confusing. Van Halen and Van Halen II came out in 1978 and 1979. Those two records stood the guitar world on its head! Plus, the GW poll results on page 42 has Van Halen at the top of the list as the greatest guitar album of the Seventies. — Michael Ballard, Mather, California What? No mention of Paul Kossoff? In GW’s Seventies issue, I didn’t see anything about a band called Free! One of the biggest hits in the Seventies was this song called “All Right Now.” So I would like to submit my unsung hero, Paul Kossoff! Thank…

FOR WITHIN THE Ruins’ new comic book-themed Phenomena II album, vocalist Steve Tinnon obsessively thumbed through back issues of Blade and Superman to craft his lyrical character studies. As for founding guitarist Joe Cocchi, he ended up analyzing a different kind of superhero: himself. Ten years on from the metal bruisers’ initial aural ComiCon, Cocchi wanted the sequel to both honor and expand upon his virtuosic canon. “It was fun to be like, ‘Let’s look back to where we were and where we were coming from,’” the guitarist says of revisiting the tone palette and techniques of their first Phenomena. “It was almost like ghostwriting, in a way. You listen to a band, and then you go, ‘Yeah, that’s up my alley… maybe I can pick some highlights and try…

WELL THAT WAS an interesting 12 months, wasn’t it? 2024 proved to be quite the rollercoaster, with its fair share of ups, downs and in-betweens. Some might say, if you’ll pardon the pun, the biggest news of the year was the return of Britrock superheroes Oasis, with the Gallagher brothers finally managing to put their differences aside and reunite one of the most beloved guitar bands of all time. Their Live ’25 Tour will include stadium dates in the U.S., U.K. and elsewhere next summer, and singer Liam has even hinted at the possibility of new music arriving in the near future. But that wasn’t the only comeback. Another pair of brothers — Rich and Chris Robinson of the the Black Crowes — released new music in the form of…

SLASH THIS YEAR, SLASH’S Rolodex was every bit as important to him as a Gibson Les Paul or Magnatone amp, with the Guns N’ Roses guitarist leveraging all his convening powers for the all-star blues album Orgy of the Damned — before repeating the trick and launching the touring S.E.R.P.E.N.T. Festival to make money for good causes and take the art form nationwide. Orgy was an opportunity to show the world a side to his playing that we hadn’t seen since the Nineties (via his Blues Ball live project), and yet you don’t need to dig that deep into Slash’s back catalog to find examples of blues phraseology — the influence has always been there. He had been wanting to do some of the Orgy tracks since forever — “Killing…

AS A COMPOSER of instrumental guitar-based music, I’m continually challenged with trying to write single-note melodic themes that tell a musical story and develop it in a conversational way while carrying the song forward. An effective way to accomplish this goal is to utilize and combine various elements and techniques, such as chordal arpeggios, scales and legato articulations. As an example of how I do this, I’d like to cite the title track from my latest album, Charisma. FIGURE 1 illustrates the first 10 bars of the tune, which begins in bar 1 with a fat-sounding Bbsus2 (Bb, C, D) chord, voiced on the A, D and G strings. On beat 4, I hammer-on from C to D on the G string, switching to a Bb major triad (Bb, D,…

READER ART OF THE MONTH If you’ve created a drawing, painting or sketch of your favorite guitarist and would like to see it in an upcoming issue of Guitar World, email GWSoundingBoard@futurenet.com with a .jpg or screenshot of the image. And (obviously...), please remember to include your name! DEFENDERS of the Faith Dave McCullough AGE: 54 HOMETOWN: Pharr, TX SONGS I’VE BEEN PLAYING: “Meditation,” “Misty,” “Message in a Bottle” and the blues GEAR I WANT MOST: Taylor GS Mini Andrew Green GUITARS: Self-built T-shaped object and mahogany S-shaped object, modded Epiphone SG with P90s, Epiphone Dot, Harley Benton JA-CC60 SONGS I’VE BEEN PLAYING: Red Hot Chili Peppers “Suck My Kiss,” Incubus “Nice to Know You,” Led Zeppelin “Black Dog” and the blues GEAR I WANT MOST: Matchless 30/15 2x12 combo…

THE JOYOUS BLASTS of distorted power chords propelling Life of Sin, the debut album by Philly punks the Bad Ups, are enough of an adrenaline boost that it’s easy to overlook the level of songcraft guitarists Travis McKayle and Mike Dougherty have up their tattooed sleeves. Raised on the country-and-western tunes his grandfather played at backyard parties and the reggae his Jamaican father played around the house, frontman McK-ayle’s musical inspirations run as deep as his interest in non-trad instruments — for punk, at least. “It’s like, ‘three chords and the truth,’ or whatever they say,” McKayle says. “I always liked bluegrass a lot because the tempo is a lot closer to a NOFX beat.” But for now, he’s keeping his interest in banjo and melodica to himself in favor…

Q: What was your first guitar? Something from a yard sale when I was seven. I took it to my guitar teacher on the first day of my lessons, but he said, “I can’t teach you on this. You need to get a proper instrument.” So I went out and got a Gibson Marauder and learned on that — so that was my first real guitar. Q: What was the first song you learned to play? “Purple Haze.” I learned it in the open position, though, and it didn’t sound like “Purple Haze.” I remember getting into an argument with my mother when I told her, “This is ‘Purple Haze,’” and she said, “No, it’s not. I saw Jimi Hendrix live, and ‘Purple Haze’ didn’t sound anything like that!” So…

EVH SA-126 SPECIAL $1,799, evhgear.com GOOD THINGS, AS the old adage goes, come to those who wait. Having been teased by Wolfgang Van Halen two years ago, following an intensive period of testing on the road and in the studio, the SA-126 Special semi-hollow was finally made available to the public in May. Given that it was the first instrument designed without any input from Eddie, it marked a new chapter for EVH Gear, while still referencing the guitar hero’s January 26 birthday. It comes with a chambered mahogany body, a basswood center block and a pair of hot humbuckers designed by Fender pickup guru Tim Shaw for more aggression and punch than typical guitars of this ilk. Despite this, it can handle high-gain situations without feeding back and also…

THE BEST OF 2024 HER LATEST Wine on Venus (2024) AT THE BEGINNING of 2024, a then-17-year-old Grace Bowers couldn’t have imagined she’d drop her uber-vintage, totally bodacious guitar smorgasbord, Wine on Venus. And she definitely didn’t think she’d be one of Guitar World’s guitarists of the year. But here she is, now 18, and having accomplished all that (and more). “Oh, man,” Bowers says. “I don’t even want to know who else is on that list because I’m probably not worthy to be listed next to them.” Bowers has earned it. There’s been buzz about her before she broke out, but Wine on Venus confirms that she’s here to stay. She’s made no bones about her love for classic rock and blues, and despite her vintage-inspired cover of Led Zeppelin’s…

SOUNDCHECK DONNER MUSIC MAY not have been on your radar since it surfaced in 2012, but if you’ve been online-gear surfing, you’d know that the global brand has launched some seriously neat guitar products lately. Take, for example, their co-branded collaboration with Jack White’s Third Man Hardware for the excellent-sounding Triple Threat multi-effects pedal, which offers three essential guitar effects in a stylishly packaged compact floorboard for less than a hundred dollars. You also can add their Hush Series travel guitars, Circle Looper (which I use religiously) and fantastic mini-pedals to that list. Sure, you wouldn’t be wrong pointing out that Donner's targeted consumers are usually entry-level and budget-conscious players, but for what it’s worth, the overall quality of their products can’t, and shouldn’t, be overlooked. The recent introduction of…

LAST MONTH, I discussed a few ways to begin a slow blues solo. I’d now like to talk about approaches to wrapping it up, which is an entirely different matter. The most important part of a slow blues solo is how to get out of it! At that tempo, I typically like to take two or three choruses, tops. If I take two, I might play the first in a lower register and work my way up into a higher register. It depends on my mood, though. I might just keep all of it really quiet and end the solo with a low, held root note. As shown in the key of C in FIGURE 1, a sustained high C is followed by a classic B.B. King-style “stab” on a…

ONE OF MY biggest influences is the great Paul Kossoff from the band Free. Paul had a guitar riff that changed rock radio in the early Seventies, “All Right Now.” Like Leslie West, Kossoff wrote incredible songs that were larger than life, transcending the world of three-piece guitar rock. The distinctive ways in which Paul bent notes and voiced chords exemplified the feeling of freedom as a guitarist. For example, when he played an A5 power chord, he wouldn’t just play the typical three-note voicing shown in bar 1 of FIGURE 1. He would expand it to include notes barred across the top two strings, as shown in bar 2. Broadening power chords in this way gives them a unique, powerful sonic punch. We can apply the same approach to…