Guitar Player

YOU HAVE WITNESSED a revolution. When Guitar Player made its debut 58 years ago in 1967, it marked a new era for guitar. For the first time, the instrument was celebrated in a regularly published magazine devoted to furthering guitarists, guitar gear and its makers, and guitar virtuosity. What founder Bud Eastman began laid the first stone of an empire that would go on to launch many other magazines — including Bass Player, Frets and Keyboard — publish books, release records and videos, and much more. Guitar Player’s success also opened the door for numerous other titles, including our sister magazine Guitar World, further enriching the lives of guitarists everywhere. And now our print run has come to an end. With this issue, Guitar Player will move fully online to GuitarPlayer.com, where…

SOMEWHERE BETWEEN DISSECTING guitars as a teen and opening his own shop half a dozen years ago, Justin Abernethy has worked with several of the finest guitar makers in business today. All of that has inspired the Abernethy Sonic Empress THC, a guitar that reflects some of the most appealing trends of these offset-inspired times. The guitar shown here is not just any example of Abernethy’s cornerstone model but one built specifically for that icon of offset-leaning indie/alt/Americana, Jeff Tweedy, who kindly let GP divert it on the journey from its birthplace in Guadalupe, California, to the Wilco loft in Chicago, for a quick run through its paces. Although the rather Mustang-like upper bout and more bulbous lower bout may suggest otherwise, the Sonic Empress THC is made to a full…

SADLER VADEN’S NEW album, Dad Rock, is bursting with hooky, well-crafted tunes that recall the glory days of ’70s classic rock and power pop, but it still sounds fresh and vital. Every song is loaded with big guitar sounds — some bright and sparkly, others snaggle-toothed and gnarly — but they’re not buried in distortion. It’s one of those rare records that’s impossible not to like. And it doesn’t wear out its welcome: Its eight songs zip by in something like 40 minutes. All steak and no fat. “I’m not a fan of super-long records that just don’t know when to stop,” Vaden says. “I grew up on my dad’s record collection. He had all the great stuff from back in the day. Sure, there were some double albums that…

MR. BIG HAS always blended dysfunction with virtuosity. That probably wasn’t the intent when bassist Billy Sheehan, vocalist Eric Martin, drummer Pat Torpey and guitarist Paul Gilbert got together in Los Angeles in 1988. In the years since, the hard-rock group has navigated music’s changing styles, from the shred badassery of their 1989 self-titled debut and 1993’s Bump Ahead to their hit power ballads “To Be With You” and “Just Take My Heart.” At the same time, they’ve endured more than their fair share of inner turmoil. Gilbert left in 1999 and was replaced by Richie Kotzen before Mr. Big called it quits for the first time, in 2002. But there’s something about the original quartet’s “occasional dysfunction” (as Gilbert calls it) that has kept them coming back for more.…

“YOU DO WHAT YOU DO. THAT’S ALL THAT MATTERS” WHEN ASKED TO describe how his guitar playing has evolved over the years, Zakk Wylde lets out a chortle. “Bro, there’s no way I can answer that,” he insists. “I’m still evolving!” Simply put, the rock legend finds joy and purpose in doing the work. Whether he’s on tour or recording (and there’s little time out of the year when he’s not involved with one of the other), he maintains the same sort of rigorous practice routine that he followed as a guitar-obsessed teenager more than 40 years ago. “It’s like anything. If you want to get good at something, you put the time in,” Wylde says. “I’m always going over my technique and trying to better myself. It’s not going…

“SONGS KIND OF jump out of a guitar,” Justin Hayward notes via Zoom from his home in the south of France, where he splits time with his native England. He should know. Shortly after he discovered his beloved Gibson ES-335 — particularly the 1963 model he plays to this day — the Moody Blues guitarist from days of future passed had a magic guitar to begin writing songs on. It was a 12-string gifted to him by skiffle great Lonnie Donegan when he signed the then 17-year-old Hayward to a publishing deal (unfortunately lopsided, as so many were at the time). “It was the first nice guitar I’d had,” Hayward recalls. “A guitar is so rhythmic, so harmonic. It contains so many resonances within it. It’s the perfect instrument to…