“WE'RE DIRTY NEANDERTHALS PLAYING HEAVY METAL, BUT THERE'S A DEEP SIDE TO MASTODON”

"With an unorthodox two-guitar attack and a mountain of gear, a band in mourning created a monumental double album. How Mastodon" dug deep: by guitarist Bill Kelliher

Improvising's Not Easy - And Ninety-five Per Cent Of It Was Just Sh*t!”

Australian psych rock band Pond have a strange approach to creating songs – applying modern editing to old-fashioned jamming. Multi-instrumentalist Jay Watson talks us through it...

ABBA'S SECRET WEAPON

Guitarist Janne Schaffer reveals his role in the biggest hit-making machine of the 70s

RELEASE VALVES

Blackstar unveils what it says are the “world’s most advanced valve pedals”

James Dean Bradfield

HE STARTED OUT PLAYING A LES PAUL TO SOUND LIKE THE SEX PISTOLS’ STEVE JONES. NOW, HE’S CHANNELING ABBA ON THE NEW MANIC STREET PREACHERS ALBUM AND DECLARING, “I LOVE MY STRAT!” JAMES DEAN BRADFIELD OPENS HIS ‘GUITAR DIARY’ TO TG AND EXPLAINS THE ORIGINS OF HIS SOUND. “IT’S NOT MAGIC,” HE SAYS. “THERE’S NO THEORY. IT’S JUST F*CKING AROUND!”

“WE'RE A VERY RIFF DRIVEN BAND”

For sisters Rebecca and Megan Lovell, the creative nucleus of Larkin Poe, the best songs come from riffing, natural chemistry, and playing cover versions as a way to raise their own game

“ALL MY TRICKS FOR WRITING COME DOWN TO THE FACT THAT I'VE GOT A GREAT RECORD COLLECTION”

The Wildhearts frontman Ginger channels everything from Motorhead to ABBA. His advice: “Educate yourself...”

“I START A SONG FROM A SPACE THAT FEELS CALM”

The War On Drugs leader Adam Granduciel reveals how he wrote their brilliant new album - and why he loves to record with one “magical guitar”.

“SONGWRITING IS LIKE TRYING TO CATCH LIGHTNING IN A BOTTLE”

Alice In Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell is a master of the art who believes a great song requires only three key elements: “The riff. The melody. And something to say.”

“WHEN YOU WRITE A MELODY, IT'S LIKE YOUR SOUL TALKING”

Sam Fender was ten when he started on guitar – playing Nirvana and Oasis songs on a Peavey Strat copy. 17 years later, he’s a major star acclaimed by Elton John and Paul Weller. He tells TG about the creative process and the gear he used for his new album Seventeen Going Under...

“YOU'RE NOT WRITING FOR OTHER PEOPLE. IT SHOULD BE WHAT YOU BELIEVE IN”

How to write the heaviest metal songs without reverting to formula, by Bullet For My Valentine guitarists Matt Tuck and Padge

JOCELYN GOULD

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

I ❤ The 80s

A track-by-track guide to the slick sounds and classy guitar playing on Mayer’s new album, Sob Rock...

Kim Thayil

AS SOUNDGARDEN’S LEAD GUITARIST, KIM THAYIL’S HEAVY, DARK AND PSYCHEDELIC GROOVES SET THE TONE FOR ALT-ROCK. NOW, ON THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BAND’S CLASSIC ALBUM BADMOTORFINGER, HE REVEALS THE ORIGINS OF HIS UNIQUE SOUND. HIS MOTTO: “I LIKE NOISE!”

The Player

Inspired by Stevie Ray Vaughan and feted by Clapton, John Mayer is one of the most gifted guitarists of the modern era. He also knows how to the play the fame game - from crafting pop hits and collaborating with fellow A-listers to teasing his new album via TikTok. This is his story: the making of a guitar superstar...

The Sky's The Limit

WE TAKE A CLOSER LOOK AT JOHN MAYER’S IDEALISED DOUBLE-CUT, WITH THE HELP OF PAUL REED SMITH HIMSELF

“I GREW UP A LONE WOLF IN MY BEDROOM PRACTISING MY GUITAR. ALL I EVER REALLY CRAVED WAS A COMMUNITY”

When John Mayer joined Dead & Company – featuring members of the original jam band, the Grateful Dead – he got a kick out of being a team player. And by honouring the legacy of the late Jerry Garcia, he found a new dimension to his playing.

“I'M NOT SURE HOW I'D FEEL IF SOMEONE WROTE MY SONG BEFORE I DID!”

English singer-songwriter Mary Spender was already a successful YouTuber when she had the idea to finish and release John Mayer’s new single before he could. “I’m glad he had a sense of humour about it”, she says...

“THE GUITAR TONES ON THIS ALBUM ARE SUBLIME”

PRINCE’S SHELVED 2010 ALBUM WELCOME 2 AMERICA IS NOW BEING RELEASED, AND IT’S A FUNK TOUR DE FORCE

THE SHAPESHIFTER

In ten key collaborations, John Mayer has travelled from classic blues to hip-hop, modern rock to mainstream pop and beyond...

“We wanted to be more in your face!”

Rising stars of the UK’s thriving post-punk scene, their latest album a top ten hit, Shame specialise in punchy three-minute songs. So why do they need three guitarists in the band? As they explain, it’s all about interplay...

“SINGING IS WONDERFUL, BUT THERE'S SOMETHING VERY CATHARTIC AND ZEN ABOUT PLAYING LEAD GUITAR”

Myles Kennedy is best known as a singer – for Alter Bridge and for Guns N’ Roses legend Slash. But on his new solo album, he’s taking the spotlight as a guitarist

CEDRIC BURNSIDE

Aged just 13, Cedric Burnside was immersed in playing blues music with his grandfather, aka “Big Daddy” - the legendary R.L. Burnside. Now commander-in chief of the second generation of Hill Country Blues, the younger Burnside’s latest album, I Be Trying, encapsulates the past, present, and future of a whole genre in a way that only he could. “It’s who I am,” Cedric says. “This Hill Country Blues stuff is definitely not new to me. I was born with it in my blood.”

“IT WILL BE TWO YEARS SINCE WE PLAYED A GIG. THAT'S THE FIRST TIME THAT'S HAPPENED SINCE I WAS FIFTEEN”

As the Manic Street Preachers prepare to tour again, guitarist/ vocalist James Dean Bradfield speaks to TG from the band’s rehearsal space in Wales and reveals how he gets his chops up - by jamming classic rock and soul tunes, and working that little finger...

“I WANT YOU TO FEEL THAT RAGE”

Mdou Moctar has been hailed as ‘the Hendrix of the Sahara’. And in his new album, Afrique Victime, he channels the spirit of revolution – with a tremolo-picking technique that has to be heard to be believed...

“The novelty of a post lockdown music environment is new for everyone. We're starting to enjoy music again”

In a small town in Wiltshire, something magical is happening. A band is playing a gig! And not just any old band – it’s Squid, whose new album Bright Green Field is arguably the best debut of 2021. Guitarists Louis Borlase and Anton Pearson tell TG how “lucky” and “emotional” they feel to be playing live again, and explain the band’s improvisational ethos: “It’s about putting adventure over precision.”

“PEOPLE LOVE LIVE MUSIC BECAUSE IT'S NOT PERFECT”

The Darkness have played everywhere – from pubs and clubs to the giant stages of Download and Glastonbury. And so, as they get ready to rock again, frontman Justin Hawkins presents a handy refresher course for TG readers – on how, and how not, to play live. His motto: “A note played with supreme confidence, no matter how wrong it is, will always be the right one.”

“I'M PRETTY LIMITED WHEN IT COMES TO PLAYING SOLOS. BUT I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I'M DOING WHEN I PLAY A RIFF, WHICH IS CRUCIAL...”

Joe Duplantier is the mastermind who has made Gojira the most exciting metal band of the modern age. A self-taught guitarist who says, “I like to explore the instrument from a slightly different angle”, he tells TG about his new signature model and Gojira-branded plug-in, and discusses the creation of Fortitude – arguably the best metal album of 2021...

FENDER MUSTANG MICRO £89.99 Less is more...

Gear is subjective – we all gravitate to different things, sometimes surprisingly when it’s something we didn’t expect to like. But there’s a fundamental question we like to ask about new guitar gear; is it going to make a lot of people want to play more?

GET YOUR GEAR GIG-READY

Get your rig ready for action and prep for live performances with TG’s how to guide