John Frusciante

Welcome…

In this issue we celebrate The Best of

X-CCEPTABLE IN THE 80s

Jackson’s affordable Dinky gets a hair-metal makeover

“IT FEELS LIKE THE AMP’S ABOUT TO EXPLODE!”

THE BLUES ROCK POWER OF JARED JAMES NICHOLS, A MAN OF MANY LES PAULS…

MAESTRO PEDALS

Remember back at the start of 2022 when

FENDER J MASCIS JAZZMASTER PICKUPS

The Dinosaur Jr man has gone signature model

ORIGIN M-EQ DRIVER

To the uninitiated, the M-EQ could appear to

MAJOR PENTATONIC ROCK

Paul gets 80s with some big powerchords and melodic bends

TROPICAL GOTHCLUB

Needles

Wilko Johnson 1947 – 2022

The unlikely guitar hero who had a style like no other – and wielded his Tele like a machine gun

The Year in Guitar

The return of the mega-gig. The rise of the guitar synth. Amazing new music, surprise comebacks and mindboggling new gear. The story of 2022 has all this and more...

The Newbies

Crazy crazy nights YouTube shredder Sophie Lloyd on

The Tone Trends

STARS OF THE SHOW Clockwise from top: Idles’

The Comebacks

It was a good year for owners of

The Mega-Gigs

Bring the noise Bring Me The Horizon headlined

The Gear

The US NAMM show has always been the

The Year Ahead…

Could nylon strings be the stars of 2023?

The Albums of the Year

So many great albums have been released this year, including two from Jack White, two from the Red Hot Chili Peppers and five from the relentlessly brilliant King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard. In TG’s top 20 there’s everything from indie-folk to instrumental tech-metal...

The Songs of the Year

Wet Leg created a breakout hit out of one chord. But there was nothing minimalist about King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard’s 18-minute psychedelic freakout with its cacophonous triple-guitar throwdown…

SOLOS OF THE YEAR

John Frusciante paid tribute to EVH. David Gilmour and Buddy Guy rolled back the years. But the most extraordinary solo of 2002 came from Steve Vai’s collaboration with Polyphia...

The Riffs of the Year

How to create a killer riff? Muse did it by going full-on metal, Ghost channeled their inner Def Leppard, and Animals As Leaders went where other bands fear to tread...

Play Like the Stars of 2022

Take your pick from an Eric Gales-style blues lick, a proggy King Gizzard-style riff and much more...

The Gear of the Year

The six-strings, amps and effects pedals that have had us reaching for the indigestion tablets as the GAS takes hold...

ACOUSTIC GUITARS

01 Fender Player Series Acoustasonic Telecaster £1049A Is

AMPLIFIERS

05 PRS HDRX 20 £799

Effects / Multi-effects

01 Boss GX-100 £489 With the long-awaited addition

RAINBOW SINCE YOU BEEN GONE

Learn that iconic riff, rock out and let

METALLICA SAD BUT TRUE

TG and Rockschool explore James Hetfield’s guitar mastery in one of Metallica’s career-defining releases

OPEN-MIC SONGBOOK OASIS

HALF THE WORLD AWAY

THE GAS STATION

REAL WORLD REVIEWS OF THE BEST NEW GEAR

START ME UP!

Five awesome new products to get your gear engine revving this month…

EPIPHONE JOE BONAMASSA 1962 ES-335

Epiphone’s latest collaboration is a trip down memory lane

VICTORY V1 PEDALS

First amps, then pedal-sized amps, then preamps, now amp-in-a-box distortions. Victory know what they’re doing when it comes to tone...

WINNING STREAK

In conclusion, the Victory V1 pedals are equal – but some are more equal than others...

LAVA MUSIC BLUE LAVA

Lava’s Smart guitar concept gets more affordable

BOSS DS-1W

The DS-1 is many players’ first pedal. Now, it gets the boutique Waza treatment...

MXR DUKE OF TONE

The King is somewhat unavailable. Long live the Duke?

TUK SMITH

Over the last few years, bandleader, guitarist and