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January 2025
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59 articles
- January 9
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- “I said, 'We don't do that. We don't steal stuff.' I always felt bad about it”: How Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry acquired Jeff Beck's fuzz pedal - and what he did to pay him back
- "There’s a strange magnetism to this machine - it’s like it carried its history with it": Ringo Starr's Studer A80 tape machine is going up for auction
- “A lot of times Prince’s drums were LinnDrums. That wasn’t a human playing the drums on some of the Prince songs. That too was a machine”: will.i.am says that musicians should be inspired by AI in the same way that he was inspired by Prince
- “I fell off the bed laughing!” Why Jimmy Page thought a Whitesnake video was hilarious - and why he ended up making an album with that band’s singer David Coverdale
- NAMM 2025: New MIDI-integrated Rhodes pianos merge old-school craft with extended expression via polyphonic aftertouch
- “A moment I won't forget in a hurry”: Amateur musician unknowingly performs Green Day classic in front of Billie Joe Armstrong
- "It was a place of musical freedom": California studio where Nicki Minaj and Doja Cat recorded destroyed by wildfires
- How to get this classic Sega-inspired synth for free and use it to create next level chiptune sounds
- January 8
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- “They're poised to have a breakthrough year”: Can Shazam really predict music's next superstars?
- "It's pure analogue": Deadmau5 teams up with Telegrapher for limited-edition versions of its studio monitors
- “How do people do that? No click, he played through it and ‘bam’”: Prince’s ability to keep time when he was recording drums was remarkable, says his engineer, but it also made things difficult during the editing process
- "The soulful rough edges are what set your tracks apart from algorithmically-generated TikTok bops": 7 ways to make electronic music sound more human
- “Quality sound, volume on tap, and plenty of flexibility”: Positive Grid Spark Edge review
- “It's rare to encounter a song from the last 70 years or so that doesn’t involve it in some way”: How to work with reverb effectively
- January 7
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- “Faithfully recreated with modern upgrades, this amp defined ‘90s rock – powering metal, nu-metal, rap-rock, grunge, pop-punk and more”: Mesa/Boogie announces imminent return of the '90s era two-channel Dual Rectifier
- “We’ve never met, but I’m most impressed with Jack. He’s fearless and certainly innovative”: Jeff “Skunk” Baxter to perform at NAMM 2025 and present TEC Innovation Award to Jack White
- "We’re here to break the barriers and put powerful instruments into the hands of real musicians, not collectors": Here's the 2025 update on all the synths and drum machines that Behringer has announced that aren't in the shops yet
- “There might be a new song happening very soon... We’re in a great place creatively”: The Edge suggests new U2 single might be imminent
- "Anybody who thinks they can do exactly the same thing they did 50 years ago is mad": Deep Purple's Ian Paice and others on the demands of playing drums in your 60s and 70s
- Which streaming service pays artists the most per stream? Benn Jordan has crunched the numbers - and the answer will surprise you
- “Personally owned and used by one of Britain’s most favoured of all rock ‘n’ roll guitarists”: One of Status Quo legend Rick Parfitt’s stage-played Fender Telecasters is up for sale
- “Kim Deal with Bruce Springsteen’s guitar”: Statue of Rory Gallagher is unveiled in Belfast... but fans aren’t happy
- "A new era of accidental techno is upon us": 2025's new DIY drum machine craze is here, and all you need is a flashlight and an FM radio
- “A lot of the guitar parts were totally within my ability, but there were a couple that I just couldn’t navigate”: Steve Vai reveals the King Crimson riff that had him beat and the tip from Robert Fripp that helped him nail it
- "For me, it was essential - even though nobody has ever asked me what my qualifications are”: Should you consider music production school?
- “You could think of this as theft, but it’s standard practice in the folk world”: A music professor breaks down the theory behind Bob Dylan's Don't Think Twice, It's Alright
- January 6
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- “The music never felt like a safe choice, but it always felt like the right one”: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross celebrate winning Golden Globe for Challengers soundtrack
- “The lyrics and music to Tiptoe Through the Tulips will be free for anyone to copy, perform, record, adapt, or interpolate into their own song”: The classic songs that are entering the public domain in 2025
- "That's just basically D, B minor, E minor, A. That's the scope of all the chords in the entire song" : Finneas reveals how Billie Eilish's worldwide smash Birds of a Feather was written in 10 minutes, and has the simplest of structures
- "I'd have preferred for Uli to ask my permission. Even if he thinks it is legal, I question whether it is ethical": Roger Linn slams Behringer's unauthorized LinnDrum clone
- “I’m not the technical producer, I’ve learned how to use a compressor but I haven’t learned why it does what it does”: Revisiting the intuitive production skills that made Avicii a superstar
- “Coming up with a solo is like searching for treasure”: Mark Tremonti reveals his favourite Alter Bridge and Creed songs - and discusses his heavy new album
- “I’m not part of the inner circle - I never have been”: Julian Lennon says that he's always been "very much on the outside" as far as The Beatles are concerned
- “He was a great guitar player. He’s not looking at what he’s playing, so obviously he really knows the instrument”: Which grunge icon could Joe Satriani be talking about?
- “I hate a song that makes you think that you are not any good. I hate a song that makes you think that you are just born to lose”: Woody Guthrie's songwriting philosophy debated
- Sonicware CyDrums is a "next-gen digital drum synth" that promises four-dimensional sound
- “Stick to our chords”: Chris Martin rags Jacob Collier for his reharmonisation antics as they duet on a simultaneously stripped-down and more complex version of Coldplay’s Fix You
- “Many games were replete with quirky arpeggios, an abundance of pulse wave-based lead melodies and generally frantic delivery”: Exploring the retro video game-inspired chiptune universe
- January 3
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- “This supercharged amp-in-a-box pulls no punches in channeling the hallmark haymaker that inspired it”: Keeley Electronics and Sweetwater team up for exclusive $99 fuzz, overdrive/distortion and reverb pedal collection
- “There’s something about the harmonics of a V8 that’s just mind-blowingly badass and powerful sounding”: Mesa/Boogie founder Randall Smith on how his high-gain amp designs were influenced by hotrodded muscle cars
- “When I finally left the hospital I was still in a wheelchair and couldn’t use my left arm… but I was determined to make music again”: Guitarist teaches himself to play one-handed after suffering “devastating” stroke
- “People were like, ‘Your tone was really great.’ ‘Yeah, it was the Crush!’”: Orianthi played live on television for millions of viewers using her $219 Orange practice amp
- Neil Young WILL play "corporate turn-off" Glastonbury after all
- "More trucks, more drivers, more gasoline, more travel. And we've already seen a lot of bands canceling tours. You're gonna see a lot more, because I know where we're at": Avenged Sevenfold star says touring is now "almost impossible" for most bands
- "Each time I'm about to play it, I take a deep breath and I exhale on that first note": 5 songs guitarists need to hear by… Rush
- Get strumming: The 22 essential beginner, blues and folk guitar chords every guitarist should learn first
- "I looked at my bandmates and missed them already and I felt sad to see such joy in Neil’s face when we were down to the last few bars of our last song played together": Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee recall Rush's final live moments
- “The next time a musician says to you 'shall we try this a little more allegro?' you will know exactly what they mean”: The quick guide to the theory behind tempo and bpm
- January 2
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- “Atomika goes an awful lot further than the original Polivoks”: Cherry Audio Atomika review
- 30 essential acoustic guitar chords, with charts
- "It’s a common misconception among the unconverted that the Grateful Dead’s music was characterised by aimless noodling, rather than by deftly deployed fretboard know-how": 5 songs guitarists need to hear by the Grateful Dead
- “In an age of artifice, media management and manufactured pop stars she’s come through as a breath of fresh air": Inside the making of Adele's seminal second album, 21
- "A corporate turn-off, and not for me like it used to be": Neil Young will not, repeat not, be playing Glastonbury, blaming BBC demands "we were not interested in"
- “People like The Stones, or later on The Kinks. They all really liked us and thought that we had something special": The Liverbirds on life as Britain’s first female rock band
- “If she had, like, 3 more hours in the day, she would just figure out what we do and she wouldn't need any of us”: What Max Martin said to Ryan Tedder about Taylor Swift and music production after they’d both won Grammys for working on her 1989 album
- January 1
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- “Have you ever wondered why we find ourselves counting to 4 before we then go back to 1, and start all over again?”: Breaking apart the theory behind beatmaking
- “The experimental effects box and sample mangler you didn't know you wanted… but it's not quite finished”: Torso Electronics S-4 review
- “New Year’s Day set the template for a more direct sonic vision for U2 - and marked the point at which they shifted their gaze towards political issues around the globe”: The making of an ’80s rock classic
- “If you had suggested this in 2015, you would have been laughed out of the room”: Music is now reportedly bigger than cinema globally