When you first picked up the bass, did you know you would end up being your band’s secret badass? Admittedly, it’s a strange kind of badassery, in that you don’t need to brag or be cocky. It’s simply the quiet confidence of knowing that you’re not just driving the musical train, you’re the engine. Many of us are more than content hanging back from center stage and driving from the rear, choosing instead just to make folks move by improving the groove, all while having little to prove. Of course, this doesn’t describe every bass player. But if the shoe fits, there can be a flip side: Having ..read more

The guitarist, singer, and songwriter Marcus King began drinking heavily around age 15, in part because the sorts of venues he was playing in the Southeast considered Pabst Blue Ribbon to be fair pay. “I was like an alley cat,” he recalls via Zoom, describing how these clubs would leave a case of cheap lager out back for their precocious guitar slinger. “Other stuff,” King says, “got introduced a little later.” Such war stories aren’t uncommon among musicians, especially rock ’n’ soul road warriors like King. But the good-natured 28-year-old isn’t smiling, or laughing, or inviting flattery ..read more

Boris announces Amplifier Worship Service Tour across North America, performing all songs from their first album. Featuring two drummers and Starcrawler as support, tickets on sale April 26th. This fall, Boris will trek across North America performing all of the songs off of their beloved first album, Amplifier Worship. Featuring two drummers and an extended backline, this will be a Boris tour not to miss. Starcrawler will support all shows and tickets go on sale Friday, April 26th at 10am local time— a complete list of tour dates can be found below. Boris has been in constant pursuit of th ..read more

Introducing the new Gibson Dual Falcon 20 2x10 Combo amplifier, paying homage to Gibson's legendary past with vintage tone reimagined in a modern two-channel design. Two-Channel Flexibility The Dual Falcon features two channels with identical Volume, Tone, and footswitchable Reverb controls, plus footswitchable Tremolo. Players can also select between Full, Half, or Low power modes on each channel, giving you tons of tonal flexibility without needing pedals. Effects Loop If you do use pedals, the Dual Falcon takes them beautifully. A buffered series Effects Loop gives you more proces ..read more

The JMaster prewired pickguard features hand built pickups with Alnico 5 magnets and wide stacked coils for a rich and balanced single coil tone without the extra noise. The pickguard comes with unique upper horn controls that can be used with both pickups. The beloved SPC control packs a punch with its mighty mid-boost at the turn of a dial; while the EXG Control simultaneously boosts the low and high frequencies giving your instrument a liquid tone with full bottom end and enhanced highs. With the flip of a switch, the SPC can be changed to a clean boost across the full frequency spectrum ..read more

To hear Phil Collen tell it, he joined Def Leppard almost by accident. He had loaned the band one of his amps, and when they asked him to play some leads on their upcoming record Pyromania, Collen thought he was just doing his friends a solid. The rest is history. He and Shifty talk through Collen’s formative years on guitar, where he soaked up the scorching playing of classic guitar heroes: Jimmy Page, Ritchie Blackmore, Mick Ronson, Michael Schenker, and Gary Moore all played a hand in Collen’s high-flying fretwork. Collen’s solo on “Photograph” is a perfect example of the sort of “ear ..read more

With variable voices, accessible prices ranging from 99 to 129 bucks, and slide controls that evoke old synths and vintage Jen pedals, Walrus Audio’s Fundamental series effects are functional, stylish, and dish a lot of awesome sounds at a nice price. The newest addition to the Fundamental series, the Ambient, will be good news for budget-constrained atmospheric musicians that otherwise settle for less-durable pedals at the market’s most inexpensive extremes. Some of those pedals are pretty cool, but the Walrus’ construction quality, sense of substance, and function—which is flat-out fun—mak ..read more

David Gilmour's first album in nine years, Luck and Strange, will be released on September 6, 2024, featuring the first track "The Piper's Call." Luck and Strange was recorded over five months in Brighton and London. The record was produced by David and Charlie Andrew, best known for his work with ALT-J and Marika Hackman. Of this new working relationship, David says, “We invited Charlie to the house, so he came and listened to some demos, and said things like, “Well, why does there have to be a guitar solo there?” and “Do they all fade out? Can’t some of them just end?”. He has a wonderful ..read more

The legendary shred maestro—best known for his work as a solo artist and as a member of Return to Forever and other high-profile, hot-shot collabs—drops by to chat with Cory about his new epic full-length, Twentyfour. It features “sixteen brand-new compositions and they’re all very involved. I hope I don’t have to do this again.” One of Di Meola’s biggest projects is, of course, the guitar trio he shared with John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucía and their thrilling 1981 record, Friday Night in San Francisco, which elevated the acoustic guitar ensemble to the level of high art. Di Meola share ..read more

In the midst of working on her first album, the 17-year-old guitar star takes PG through her rig. Guitarist Grace Bowers is a 17-year old California transplant tearing it up in Nashville. Currently working on her first album with producer John Osborne of the Brothers Osborne, Bowers invited John Bohlinger and the PG team to walk through her studio and live rig. Brought to you by Molly Tuttle Knows: https://ddar.io/tuttle-rrXPND Pedalboard: https://ddar.io/xpnd_rrD’Addario: https://ddar.io/wykyk-rr Mostly Stock Special Bowers’ number-one is her mostly stock 1961 Gibson SG Special. The P90s a ..read more