Rock Of Ages

How rock was born is one of the

Diamonds & Pearls

An anniversary model celebrating 75 years since Clarence Leonidas Fender launched the company that would change popular music forever

Practically Packed

Blackstar’s upgraded entry-level practice amp delivers great tone and much more for what, in anyone’s book, is a serious steal

Modern World

Aside from making guitars for a host of brands including PRS, Cort’s own electrics and acoustics are making serious waves.  This new G300 Pro throws down the gauntlet

the Wishlist

Dream gear to beg, borrow and steal for

Studio Returns

It’s the second return to the PRS Core line for the Studio. So, what’s new and what’s changed since it was last introduced 10 years ago?

Choices, Choices

It might centre on that one classic outline, but PRS’s Core range is full of options, particularly when it comes to pickups. We ask Paul Reed Smith for some advice

Little Mix

It’s the age of the smaller-bodied acoustic – but being petite doesn’t mean you won’t stand out in a crowd, as these two new 12-fretters from the Lowden workshops set out to prove

Zenith Amplitude Controller

A classy tone-conditioning workhorse from the Brit boutique amp maker

Echoline pedals

Homegrown, hand-built effects in new, more compact enclosures

Walrus Audio Mako pedals

Boutique maker bolsters its Mako series with a reverb and amp/cab sim

Gas Supply

Our pick of the month’s most delectable and wallet-bothering new gear

Albums

The month’s best guitar music –a hand-picked selection of the finest fretwork on wax

Tones Behind The Tracks

Recorded at Real World studios last September, the worst of times has produced an album that John Smith cites as his best to date

In The Loop

Recording sample packs is not only physically demanding, it requires mental stamina, too, as Adam Goldsmith explains

Up To Speed

Neville Marten stresses the importance of playing slow before you play fast, and offers a way to hone your skills once lockdown is lifted

Small Talk

Alex Bishop reflects on the experience of building his first tenor guitars, and considers whether four strings might even be better than six…

Tone Transplant

Using a preamp pedal in the effects loop Return of your amp can transform its sound. Jamie Dickson explores further with Dan Steinhardt

Taking The 5th

This issue Richard Barrett explores how omitting the 5th in chords can affect their sound and open doors to a much wider vocabulary

Feedback

Your letters to the Guitarist editor. Drop us a line at guitarist@futurenet.com

Synth Sounds

Stefan Fast of YouTube channel ThePedalZone shares his love of synth and shows you how to add synthetic flair to your sound with common effect types

Longtermers

Kemper Profiler Stage Floorboard

PJD Carey Standard

with Dave Burrluck Like the rest of the

JOANNA CONNOR

The blues guitar maven reveals her aversion to baseball-bat guitar necks and regret at trading in a ’64 Fender Twin

FENDER TWEED AMPS

Terry Foster, co-author of Fender: The Golden Age 1946-1970, imparts his expert knowledge on Fender’s earliest amps

D-DAY

Five decades ago, a young guitar player on the New York scene named Larry DiMarzio was about to change the future of the electric guitar. Dave Burrluck looks back on the birth of modding

Cream T Billy F Gibbons WhiskerBucker

Cream T’s Thomas Nilsen has made pickup winding a science of his own

Gibson ES-175

With its Florentine cutaway, this hollowbody electric archtop was a Gibson first

1962 Gretsch Duo Jet in Champagne

Our vintage guitar veteran shines his light on this custom-ordered sparkle finish Jet

Guitarist Next month

Photo by Yoram Kahana, courtesy of Magnolia Pictures

POWER PLAY

Regardless of what fate throws at ’em, you just can’t keep a great band down. Here, AC/DC six-string legend Angus Young discusses life after Malcolm and the band’s positively charged latest album, Power Up

THE BLACK CROWES

SHAKE YOUR MONEY MAKER

SMITH/KOTZEN

Recorded days before Covid bit, the debut album from Iron Maiden’s Adrian Smith and journeyman virtuoso Richie Kotzen fuses guitar heroics with stellar songwriting.  The pair told us about swapping rigs, moonlighting on bass and why analysing guitar technique is “creepy”

ROCK TILL YOU DROP

RICHARD BARRETT TURNS UP THE VOLUME TO GIVE YOU A PRACTICAL LESSON IN HOW BLUES GUITAR EVOLVED INTO MODERN ROCK

ANNIVERSARY GIBSON LES PAULS

We catch up with Steve Hove of Vintage ‘n’ Rare Guitars in Bath for a close-up look at a stunning collection of anniversary model Gibson Les Pauls dating back to the mid-1970s

DUTCH COURAGE

Eric Smid of Smitty Custom Guitars is the kind of maker the world could do with more of: dedicated to quality and blissfully unconcer ned with marketing hype. We meet him to find out what makes his guitars sound so good

Blues Headlines

Richard Barrett is on a mission to make you a better blues player – with full audio examples and backing tracks

Hear It Here

KIRK FLETCHER LIVE AT THE BAKED POTATO –

Trading Licks

Robbie Calvo helps you enhance your lead playing with expert concepts to add to your own licks