• Thomas Custom Guitars

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    Thomas Custom Guitars

    Rarities from the Pacific Northwest

    Certain makes and models of electric guitars are rightfully prized for their elegant physical designs and superior craftsmanship. Even better are those also revered for their playability and particularly rich tonal qualities. Thomas guitars, on the other hand, are usually noted for their odd (sometimes controversial) shapes and zany features. Built by the late guitarist/machinist/luthier/and

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David Catching

Desert Eagle

Producer and owner of the enigmatic Rancho de la Luna studio in the California desert, guitarist David Catching has been touring with Eagles of Death Metal since 2004. In November…

Chris Squire

1948-2015

Yes bassist Chris Squire died June 27th at age 67, after a brief battle with leukemia. Squire co-founded Yes in 1968 andwas its only constant member. The English musician carved…

Classics: June 2022

David Hood’s Alembic Bass

Like the engineers and musicians who, in the ’60s and ’70s, helped create legendary songs at FAME Studios and its offshoot, Muscle Shoals Sound, Frank Manno is a diehard music…

Roman Bulakhov

Ukrainian Trailblazer

If there’s a 21st-century guitar style, Roman Bulakhov is a prime example, particularly how he fuses rock, funk, jazz, hip-hop – and everything else – into a radical stew. The…

Alvin Youngblood Hart

Alvin Youngblood Hart

Electric Gutbucket

Alvin Youngblood Hart surfs the musical landscape of blues-based music to make his own great art. His influences range from Howlin’ Wolf, Link Wray, Thin Lizzy, and Skip James, to…

Mark Karan

Dead and the Dog

Photo: Alan Hess. Ten years, 800 shows, and countless solo flights into the journey, Mark Karan, lead guitarist of Bob Weir and RatDog, thinks he may have found his secret…

Arlen Roth

No Stone Unturned

To guitarists raised on his “Hot Licks” instructional video series, session and touring great Arlen Roth is something of a legendary figure. His latest release, Paint It Black, is the…

Nancy Wilson

Fire in the Heart

In the early ’70s, women didn’t play rock guitar. Nor did they front bands. Nancy Wilson was an exception. Few guitarists present as memorable an onstage image as does Wilson…

Punky Meadows

Heavenly Guitar

In the 1970s, glam-rockers Angel carved a niche with five albums of arena-rock anthems and an image that stood in antithesis to their Casablanca label mates, Kiss. After retiring from…

Lemmy Kilmister

Lemmy Kilmister

Lessons in Longetivity (and Loud Music)

Motörhead bassist/vocalist and heavy metal icon Lemmy Kilmister will, in a few years, be 70. But the enthusiasm for his craft – and the decibel level at which his music…

Roy Clark

Planes, Guitars, and Automobiles

Legendary multi-instrumentalist Roy Clark has owned a number of the first “consumer items” listed in this article’s subtitle, and he collects the latter two. Knowing that Clark is into aviation…

John Fogerty

Ol' Flannel Shirt is Back

John Fogerty’s music has always been unique. As a singer, songwriter, and guitarist that has been in the international spotlight since the late ’60s (when his band’s cover of “Susie…

Gary Rossington

1951-2023

As a boy, Gary Rossington would grab a broom and mime in front of a mirror whenever an Elvis Presley hit played on TV or the radio, pretending to be…

Alan Lancaster

Alan Lancaster, co-founder and longtime bassist in Status Quo, died September 26. He was 72 and had been living with multiple sclerosis. At age 13, Lancaster formed The Scorpions with…

Steve Morse

Steve Morse

Already busy touring and recording with Deep Purple, axe virtuoso Steve Morse has added another dish to the menu – Flying Colors. Featuring well-known aces like drummer Mike Portnoy and…

Blues guitarist Charlie Apicella’s “Booze and Blues” and “Just Like a Woman”

Honoring B.B., Rainey Being V.P. of the North Jersey Blues Society isn’t the only thing that separates Charlie Apicella from the typical blues player. A devotee of B.B. King (and…

Zakk Wylde

All photos Neil Zlozower. With Zakk Wylde, what you see is very much what you get. An unassuming, tell-it-like-it-is guy, he makes no apologies for being the beer-swilling, English-language-brutalizing, boot-and-leather-wearing,…

Spencer Kirkpatrick

Spencer Kirkpatrick

Jammin’ Southern Hero

In the ’70s, Hydra was a Southern-rock band that owed more to the heavy British blues of Cream and Free than Skynyrd. Its secret weapon was lead guitarist Spencer Kirkpatrick,…

Adrian Belew

Still Going Up

Even after 45 years of guitar heroics with King Crimson, David Bowie, Frank Zappa, and solo, Adrian Belew’s career is still ascending. With his latest album, Elevator, Belew delivers Beatles-infused…

Chuck Loeb

“Most Wanted” For Melody

From its terrific melodies to the meat-and-potatoes playing that makes him a mainstay of smooth jazz radio, guitarist Chuck Loeb’s latest CD, Presence, is full of the stuff for which…

Neil Giraldo

Neil Giraldo

Guitarist, Producer, Partner

Quiz time, guitarheads. What was the second video played on MTV? If you guessed “You Better Run” by Pat Benatar, you win. And, since there was no guitarist in the…

Nick Perri

Constant Creator

The elements of life that mold a person are constant and ever-evolving. Influence is all about perspective. Philadelphia-born Nick Perri grew up in a strict Catholic household where pop music…

Johnny Marr

Brit Gets a Git

When pop-music fans in the U.K. talk about guitar heroes, they tend to put more stake in the way a player’s work fits, contextually, into that of his band. To…

Black Joe Lewis

Garage Soul

Eectric Slave is the third album by Black Joe Lewis, and marks a return to the sound of his roots – Hound Dog Taylor, Elmore James, Ron Asheton, and Jimi…

Rick Vito

Disciples Of Greeny

A Grammy-nominated guitarist with an enviable career, Rick Vito has played with everyone from Bonnie Raitt to John Mayall and appeared on hundreds of recordings. He even did a stint…

Dominic Miller’s Tasty “Mi Viejo”

Sting Guitarist’s Serene Harmonic Expressionism Using his new artist tribute model classical (the label says “1/1”!) made by K. Yairi, Dominic Miller plays “Mi Viejo,” a track from his new…

Guy Pratt

Rickenbackers and a Resistance

Guy Pratt has been the bass player for Pink Floyd since signing on for the tour to support 1987’s A Momentary Lapse of Reason. With the gig came a rapid…

King, Landon Visit the Delta

Bucket (List) Full ’O Blues

Five decades after their bands first charted with hit singles, two guitar legends recently reunited for a sojourn to the Mississippi Delta, birthplace of the blues. Mark Landon was a…

Scott Holiday

Unrivaled Son

Regardless of the state of pop or rock music, it’s invigorating when a group comes along to remind us what rock and roll sounds like when it’s written from the…

Classics: February 2024

Sean Slade’s 1964 SG Junior

They might not seem to have a ton in common aside from first names. J Mascis, Dinosaur Jr.’s co-founder and guitarist developed a style equal parts guitar heroics and left-side-of-the-dial…