Innehållsförteckning för October 2025 från Guitar World

Q What was your first guitar? I was around nine when I saw the Rolling Stones and the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show. I was instantly attracted to George Harrison and Keith Richards’ guitar playing, so I asked my mom if I could get a guitar. She was working at a handbag company, and her boss gave her a gift — for me — on my birthday, a no-name acoustic. That little acoustic was how I first learned to play guitar. The second guitar I got, which was my first electric, didn’t even have a name, but it was from a store called Lafayette Electronics. It looked like a Gibson ES-335, but it was cheap and came with a little amp. Q What was the first song you learned…

SHRED LEGEND ZAKK Wylde was grabbing some downtime when GW connected with him at his home in California not long after he appeared at Ozzy Osbourne’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction. Only hours before we connected, he’d been busy tracking songs for the next Black Label Society album, before heading into six weeks of rehearsals for a Zakk Sabbath tour. After that, he’s scheduled to start rehearsing for the Pantera celebration tour, followed by more Zakk Sabbath. He’s also already penciled in numerous BLS shows. As Wylde says, “It’s just music, music, music as far as I can see, and that’s how I love it.” No matter how busy he is, Wylde is always ready to talk guitars, and the rock ’n’ roll viking was stoked to tell…

FROM HIS EARLIEST days as the apple of Mike Varney’s eye to stepping in for Slash in Guns N’ Roses, it’s always the same for Ron Thal, aka Bumblefoot. “With every album, the inspiration comes from living life, from whatever you’re feeling in the moment,” he says. “Suddenly a riff pops into your head, and that expression of whatever you’re feeling and experiencing turns into a song. That pretty much sums up my last couple of years of putting wackiness to music.” Bumblefoot’s “wackiness” has led to lots of friendships, too. An example is Guthrie Govan, who features on “Anveshana,” track number nine from Bumblefoot’s new instrumental smorgasbord, …Returns!. “That song goes back to 1989,” Bumblefoot says. “I got a writeup in a guitar magazine, and a gentleman from the…

RICK DERRINGER, LONG revered as one of rock’s greatest guitarists, passed away at age 77 on May 26 at his home in Ormond Beach, Florida. Derringer first came to national prominence via the 1965 hit “Hang On Sloopy,” which he recorded with his band, the McCoys. It was released just as he was turning 17. Thus began a long and storied career that found him working as a multi-instrumentalist on guitar, pedal steel and bass, and as a successful producer. The long list of artists he recorded with or produced includes Johnny and Edgar Winter, Todd Rundgren, Steely Dan, Kiss, Cyndi Lauper, Barbara Streisand, Alice Cooper and Air Supply. He also produced, arranged and performed on six “Weird Al” Yankovic albums, including 1984’s “Weird Al” Yankovic in 3-D, home of…

IRISH ROCKERS INHALER have been on a steep upward trajectory since releasing their debut single, “I Want You,” in 2018 (having appeared on a various-artists release, Garageland, Vol. 1, the previous year). Singer/guitarist Elijah Hewson, bass player Robert Keating and drummer Ryan McMahon had been playing together since 2012 — when they were just 12 years old — with guitarist Josh Jenkinson coming on board three years later at age 16. His arrival coincided with the band’s determination to focus on writing their own music, establish themselves on the Irish club circuit and break into the U.K. market. They attracted immediate attention, especially when the news got out that Hewson was the son of U2’s Bono (not to mention the younger brother of Bad Sisters star Eve Hewson). For the…

DURING A DUAL Zoom interview with Guitar World, Billy Corgan remembers he has a bit of pressing musical business to go over with Kiki Wong. “Kiki,” I’m breaking down all these parts, so I’ve got to call you about some guitar stuff,” he says. “Awesome. Sounds good,” Wong responds cheerfully. No doubt this has been a constant in her life since the day everything changed for her back in April 2024, when the Phoenix-based guitarist and social media shredder was chosen over 9,999 other hopefuls to join the Smashing Pumpkins following the departure of longtime guitarist Jeff Schroeder. Given just three months to get up to speed (during which time she had to learn some 35 songs that might comprise a Pumpkins setlist on any given night), Wong was thrown…

EVERY GUITARIST DREAMS of having an instrument that bears his or her name, and with not one but two models under his belt, Marcus King is living that dream before even hitting 30. Back in 2021, the South Carolina-born virtuoso was honored with a Custom Shop recreation of a treasured family heirloom: a rare Sideways Vibrola-equipped 1962 ES-345 named “Big Red” that was passed down from his father, who got it from his father. Fast-forward to mid 2025, and this quirky model takes center stage again, now as a Nashville-made variation. Unlike the Custom Shop’s detailed reproduction, this new version skips the features King finds unnecessary. The result? A streamlined ES-345 that keeps the spirit of the original, but without the fluff. As you’d expect, this new model features a…

ACOUSTIC GUITARISTS OFTEN get left out of the world of effects. However, about a decade ago, ToneWoodAmp appeared. It was a dedicated device that enabled acoustic players to enjoy effects through their guitar — without the need for a traditional amp or pedal. Flash forward to 2025, and along comes ToneWoodAmp2. Using the patented technology of its predecessor, ToneWoodAmp2 creates vibrations. And — when it is attached to the back of your guitar via a magnetic X-brace — it’s these vibrations that create effects without the need for a traditional speaker. The effects are combined with your guitar’s usual acoustic response, and the results are very impressive indeed. Designer and company co-founder Ofer Webman has taken up the challenge and widened the ToneWoodAmp’s horizons with a slimmer design, a rechargeable…

THE TC ELECTRONIC Ditto 2 is the long-awaited sequel to TC Electronic’s ubiquitous little gray box, AKA, the king of compact looper pedals. Building on the success of the 2013 original, which is small, robust and simple to use, the Ditto 2 aims to take all the best aspects of the OG and make them even better. Nowadays, however, there’s a lot more competition in the category of loopers, with similarly budget-priced offerings from Boss, Electro-Harmonix, NUX and Zoom all vying for space on our boards. So is Ditto 2 ready to continue TC’s compact looper supremacy? Let’s find out… First impressions? It’s ridiculously lightweight yet feels nice and robust in the hand. It’s a teeny-tiny thing with just a single knob and footswitch on the front fascia and an…

THE TRAPPINGS OF rock stardom have changed a great deal since the 1970s. The money and record sales ain’t what they used to be, the drug-fueled parties in Laurel Canyon have died out, and being on the cover of the Rolling Stone doesn’t have the cachet it once did. But even if having a wall full of platinum records is a thing of the past, there remains one irrefutable sign of having made it — a signature instrument. Bonus points if said instrument is made by one of the most famous guitar makers of all time. So, even if the good old days remain the old days, psychedelic rockers Khruangbin have irrefutably hit the bigs, as guitarist Mark Speer and bassist Laura Lee Ochoa became the first members of a…

LAST YEAR, IN the middle of a solo on stage, Ally Venable had a revelation. “I was playing so many shows that it started to become kind of a monotonous blur,” she says. “I noticed I was playing to my ego and just looking for applause. It was like I knew when people were gonna clap when I did certain things. After I caught myself, I started to get very intentional about playing for connection over playing for praise. And that really changed the energy for me and my band on stage and opened up a whole new world.” “Connection” is a word the fiery 25-year-old guitarist-singer-songwriter returns to often during our conversation. “I connect to the guitar on a very emotive level,” she says. “I connect with blues music,…

IN 2001, ROBERT Keeley, a top-flight engineer out of Oklahoma City, founded Keeley Electronics. His goal was — and still is — simple, and he explains it like so: “If a player can become more expressive with my pedals, I’m super happy.” In the quarter-century since his company’s founding, largely through the success of his Compressor pedal, which essentially cloned what Boss had done years ago but brought it into the 21st century, Keeley has established himself as one of the biz’s premier tone-makers. A few things set Keeley apart from the pack, such as his insistence on staying independent and upholding a cut-above-the-rest quality standard. “I’ve strived to do as much as possible in-house,” Keeley says. “From the initial concepts to engineering, development and manufacturing, I like to keep…

STEVE JONES HAS been on the road with the Sex Pistols. And like his old-guard bandmates, bassist Glen Matlock and drummer Paul Cook, he’s been reinvigorated by their vocalist, who — you might’ve noticed from our photos — isn’t John Lydon, also known as the infamous, sneering, occasionally cantankerous Johnny Rotten. Jones says he has nothing but love for Lydon but also acknowledges that they’ve grown apart. Lydon, based on the poison-covered darts he sometimes slings at his old pals through the media, seems to agree. But, really, who cares? Jones certainly doesn’t, as the Sex Pistols have a range of dates planned for 2025, and the door is open for more. All of this was made possible by Frank Carter, the 41-year-old vocalist of Gallows and Frank Carter and…

WE WERE THE first band of our generation that started to grow up,” Billy Corgan says, reflecting on the making of the Smashing Pumpkins’ 1995 grand opus, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. “The band was coming off a golden moment, which was the grunge explosion. But all movements start to run out of gas, and then the gatekeepers come in and start trying to say what it really means — when they had nothing to do with authoring it. In our case, we made the move to grow up before anybody else, and then we were sort of singled out for criticism as far as other people were concerned, either because A) the party needed to continue, or B) growing up was some sort of sell-out or something.” Wong…

THERE’S NO DENYING that Roland’s Jazz Chorus is the most legendary solid-state guitar amp of all time. Its pristine, punchy clean tones and god-tier built-in chorus have given it a place on the pantheon. So it’s about time we got the ability to run it in our DAWs from the comfort of the home studio. The software is a rather simple affair, all told. You get the amp as it is in real life with a clean and dirt channel, high and low inputs for each, three-band EQs and the universal chorus and vibe effects with speed and depth control. We’ve played a few JC amps in real life, and that ultra-responsiveness is present here, with a brilliant but neutral-sounding clean tone that’s great if you need something with clarity,…

WHILE MOST DUAL-GUITAR bands tend to have designated roles in terms of what kind of sonic space their members occupy, Momma six-stringers Etta Friedman and Allegra Weingarten enjoy being unrestricted, fluid and free. They both write and sing, switching from rhythm to lead, depending on what is required for the song. It’s a very easygoing musical partnership born out of the mutual respect that’s come from working together over the past decade, having formed the band at school while in their mid-teens. That sense of collaboration and cohesion is more than evident on the 12 tracks that make up hook-laden fourth album Welcome to My Blue Sky, which blurs the lines between grunge, dream pop and indie in the most brilliant of ways. By their own admission, it could very…

YOU’LL BE FAMILIAR with the New York five-piece the Strokes, renowned since their formation in 1998 for their angular, stripped-down rock singles. While that band remains sporadically active, back in 2013 singer Julian Casablancas announced the formation of the Voidz, a side project featuring guitarists Amir Yaghmai and Jeramy “Beardo” Gritter, bassist Jake Bercovici, keyboard player Jeff Kite and drummer Alex Carapetis that has grown dramatically in profile over its decade-plus in business. The appeal of the Voidz is obvious. Their charismatic debut album, Tyranny (2014), set the tone perfectly, with Yaghmai and Gritter exploring a wide range of experimental textures on singles such as “Human Sadness.” As musicians, the guitarists use unorthodox tones and complex lines to complement the synth-heavy songwriting, leading to a sound that’s worlds away from…

WYN BARNUM AND Ricky Dana, guitarists for New Jersey indie band Phoneboy, are onto something when it comes to crafting memorable leads and fills. “You should ideally be able to sing the guitar solo,” Barnum says, while Dana adds, “You play the part over and you sing something and say, ‘That’s a good melody’.” Along with bassist James Fusco and vocalist/keyboard player Jordan Torres, recently added as a full-time member, Phoneboy has been steadily gaining fans over the last five years by putting out melodic yet melancholic albums, including their latest, Heartbreak Designer, supported by consistent touring. “On this album, we pulled heavily from our pop-punk influences growing up,” Dana says. “A lot of Blink-182, some Weezer. We really tapped into what inspired us to start a band in the…

IF YOU FIRST came around to Laura Pleasants’ guitar playing through the maximalist, effects-soaked sludging she brought to Kylesa — the cult metal quartet she co-founded in Savannah, Georgia, in the early ’00s — the sound of her current solo project, the Discussion, might come as a surprise. On her debut album, All the Pretty Flowers, the now Los Angeles-based musician pulled herself away from a swampy drop-G aesthetic to explore a more harmonically approachable standard tuning. While stripping away her muddiest tendencies, she discovered a skeletal guitar style inspired by Siouxsie and the Banshees/Magazine guitarist John McGeoch and minimal wave music. “Toward the end of Kylesa we were doing more psychedelic stuff,” she says, adding of the Discussion, which she’d begun in 2017, “I wanted to continue along that…

AL JARDINE WILL be the first to tell you he didn’t play much guitar for the Beach Boys in the Sixties. Early Beach Boys albums — like Surfin’ Safari (1962) and Surfin’ U.S.A. (1963) — feature plenty of nifty vocals and a ton of great songwriting but little to zero Jardine-related six-string action. Later records — including Pet Sounds (1966) and Wild Honey (1968) — did little to change that narrative. Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys’ brilliant yet deeply eccentric and erratic bandleader, had a vision manifested via sounds in his head, and he relied on a revolving group of L.A. session musicians called the Wrecking Crew, rather than Beach Boys guitarists Jardine and Carl Wilson, to bring it to life. But Jardine wasn’t bothered. “In the Sixties, when the…

SINCE THE BEGINNING, the face and voice of the Sex Pistols has been John Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten. Beyond that, the imagery associated with the band mostly stems from the drugged-out, bass-slung-low antics of Sid Vicious. But Lydon only wrote the lyrics and Vicious could hardly play bass. And none of it would have been possible without Glen Matlock, the Pistols’ original bassist and (depending on when and who you ask) chief songwriter. Regardless of who wrote and played on what, songs like “Anarchy in the U.K.,” “God Save the Queen” and “No Fun” became classics. What’s more, Vicious is dead and Lydon isn’t fronting the Pistols for their latest reunion. Instead, former Gallows frontman Frank Carter is out front. What does Matlock think of all this? “We’re celebrating,” he…

THERE ARE VARYING degrees of guitar hero, but Carlos Santana is a name you’d expect to find near the top of any list. Like Jimi Hendrix, Brian May or Slash, Santana has transcended guitar music and permeated his way into popular culture, immortalizing his name into legend on every corner of the globe. Of course, he’s a tremendous player, but it goes way beyond that; he’s a highly prolific composer and collaborator, the type of musician who can thrive in just about any musical environment, drawing from an impressively wide pool of influences to make his guitar speak to any kind of audience or listener. His latest album, Sentient, serves as yet another reminder of these universal talents. It consists of 11 tracks, three of which were unreleased until now,…

THE JACKSON SIGNATURE Misha Mansoor Juggernaut ET6 is a forward-thinking metal guitar that’s all about performance and playability. Its poplar body features ultra-thin, carved horns and a sculpted neck heel, prioritizing upper fret access. The thin-profile caramelized maple neck is bolted to the body and topped with a stainless steel-equipped ebony fingerboard with Luminlay side dots. “It sounds so good, it almost feels like cheating” The centerpiece is the EverTune F6 bridge. For the first time ever, we have to read the manual for a guitar to find out how to tune it. Handily, it comes with an EverTune-specific manual. EverTune bridges are designed to hold your guitar in tune no matter the atmospheric conditions, how hard you bend or fret the strings or how long you play it. There…

GIVEN ITS CONNECTION to Eddie Van Halen in the Eighties, Kramer is a brand steeped in history for high-gain players hoping to dazzle audiences with technical proficiency. The brand-new Volante series follows that trend, with the Gibson-owned brand hoping to “transcend nostalgia” and position itself as the “progressive choice for high-performance guitarists.” There are twin humbucker models with a Floyd Rose 1000 tremolo and classic super-S-style options with a single-coil in the neck and a vintage-style two-point tremolo system, like this Volante HSGT in Triburst. You can see the effort in the craft. The Premium Quilt options with AAAA maple tops are certainly the most eye-catching in the series, but there’s a vintage charm to this Triburst finish that feels elegant and enticing. Kramer chose to use a lightweight alder…