News archive
February 2023
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199 articles
- February 28
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- "We are changing vintage guitar collecting forever": Gibson officially launches Certified Vintage program
- Confused about setting up your guitar? The legendary Dan Erlewine, luthier Gene Imbody and Berklee’s Tomo Fujita have shot a 6-point lesson video to help
- Save a huge $300 on perfect guitar tones with the excellent Universal Audio OX Amp Top Box at Guitar Center
- Fender unleashes the Troy Sanders Precision Bass, a low-end Silverburst monster rich in Mastodon signature details
- Watch fan-shot footage of Marty Friedman performing live with Megadeth onstage at the Budokan
- GForce Software’s Minimonsta2 promises to give the ageing Minimoog emulation plugin “a new lease of life”
- Sample diggers use Google Assistant to reveal the source of previously undiscovered samples in music from Daft Punk
- Noel Gallagher says singing This Guy’s In Love With You with “genius” Burt Bacharach was one of the greatest moments of his life
- Deadmau5 delivers his verdict on AI music production: “It’s scary in the sense of how stupid music already is anyway”
- MixWave: Jay Weinberg gives you Slipknot's drum sound in an affordable, electronic drum set-playable plugin
- 15 essential synth patches every producer should know
- It looks like Gibson is going to start selling vintage guitars – including a '59 Les Paul Burst
- Travis Barker's mangled finger is being fixed today (fingers crossed)
- 5 reasons we’re excited about Roland’s SH-4d (plus 3 things we would've done differently)
- February 27
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- Van Morrison isn’t happy about Rolling Stone’s list of the 200 greatest singers of all time
- Hotly-tipped Irish rock duo Dea Matrona announce their first UK and Ireland headline tour and release new song
- Damon Albarn reveals that the beat from one of Gorillaz’ best-loved songs was an Omnichord loop preset
- SampleRadar: 871 free radio-ready drum samples
- Which is the ultimate Marshall reissue overdrive and distortion pedal to buy?
- Jean-Michel Jarre praises the “totally revolutionary” Osmose and shows off “the Rolls-Royce of Moogs”
- Andertons are hosting a UK exclusive Steve Vai masterclass
- Carlos Santana's 'magic' 2017 PRS Silver Sky prototype guitar is up for sale… and it's expensive
- Korg’s full-size ARP Odyssey is back, but this time you’ll have to build it yourself
- Led Zep's Rock and Roll drum intro: why you've probably been playing it wrong, and how to nail it
- February 24
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- "I was like, 'Oh sh*t, it's not free!'" Drum kit tour: The Darkness' Rufus Taylor and his DW Collectors Series
- Fender unveils jaw-dropping £5,000+ Custom Shop signature “Pinky” Stratocaster for Tyler Bryant
- Julian Lage’s excursions in acoustic jazz guitar continue with a hypnotic “adapted drone piece” titled This World
- Can HoRNet’s affordable VHS plugin help you to create better mixes while wearing headphones?
- The Guv’Nor, Drivemaster, Bluesbreaker and Shredmaster return as Marshall officially reissues its famous vintage stompbox range
- 5 quick facts you didn't know about Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti
- Vox expands its Nutube range with a combo spec’d for hollowbody electric guitars, and one for ukuleles
- Sophie Lloyd and Trivium’s Matt Heafy join forces and turn up the metal for new single Fall Of Man
- Brian Eno kept a backup, backup laptop in a fridge for his Acropolis gig with brother Roger
- February 23
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- Ariana Grande shows off her Pro Tools editing skills as she works on vocals for a Weeknd remix
- Zoom reveals its new compact bass multi-fx and amp emulator pedal: the B2 Four
- Want to hear Daft Punk’s ‘vocoder tests’? They’re included on the 10th anniversary reissue of Random Access Memories
- My pedalboard: Årabrot founder Kjetil Nernes on his guitar / bass effects
- Music meets gaming in the Beat Machine, the world's first music-making arcade machine
- Spotify now has an AI DJ feature, but it might not be the one you actually wanted
- UK R&B artist Samm Henshaw showcases the value-packed Player Duo-Sonic in this new Fender Sessions performance
- Cameo Blush: “I’ve got one of those Behringer Model D rip-offs on all of my tunes - it sounds amazing”
- Did Mark Lanegan co-write Nirvana's Something In The Way on Nevermind?
- Timbaland chats to Justin Timberlake about how they produced some of their greatest songs: “He started humming and I’m like ‘Oh, this is it. He the one. Like Neo.’”
- Beatles and Rolling Stones members reportedly collaborating on new album
- Roland’s SH-4d is a unique instrument that packs 50 years of the company’s history into a portable “future retro” synth
- February 22
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- Guitarist upgrades his $569 PRS SE 245 guitar to get it closer to a $5,000 USA Core Tremonti model
- This viral mash-up of Radiohead, PinkPantheress and Ice Spice shouldn't work, but it kind of does
- "It’s the usual, s**t stirring, ill informed nonsense" – Roger Waters denies calling David Gilmour's Pink Floyd guitar solos on Dark Side Of The Moon "horrible"
- Lee Anderton is raffling his 1979 black Strat to raise money for the DEC Turkey-Syria Earthquake Appeal
- Behringer is planning a Eurorack-compatible desktop synth inspired by Roland’s Jupiter range
- "The better you are at the guitar the worse songs you write": Radiohead's Thom Yorke in 1992
- Nuno Bettencourt explains his secret to playing difficult guitar solos… it involves getting his leg up
- Larry Carlton demos his $641 Sire signature guitar
- This is the most impressive Kurt Cobain guitar gear collection we've ever seen
- See Eric Clapton make a surprise guest appearance with Jerry Douglas to pay tribute to Jeff Beck and play While My Guitar Gently Weeps
- Guitarist magazine demos the new PRS model that could set the standard for sub-$1000 electric guitars in 2023
- Modalics EON-Arp is a free plugin for creating wild melody and chord patterns, and comes with a built-in wavetable synth
- Hail to the queen: Sophie Lloyd takes on Avenged Sevenfold in a new shred guitar instrumental cover
- Take tone back to the '80s with Jackson Audio's New Weave chorus / vibrato pedal that combines analog and digital design
- Issue 319 of Computer Music is on sale now
- February 21
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- Gibson celebrates one of the greatest moments in blues history with the BB King “Live At The Regal” ES-335
- Rode’s new NT1 5th Generation is an “unclippable” microphone that combines XLR and USB connectivity
- Ben Weinman of The Dillinger Escape Plan launches online course for musicians wanting to “make a living without making compromises”
- New Orleans pianist Huey “Piano” Smith has died, aged 89
- Watch Josh Smith demo the Fraulini ‘Black Hole’, an acoustic guitar with a second soundhole so big you can fit Joe Bonamassa’s head inside it
- Classic interview: Skrillex - "When I did the More Monsters and Sprites EP, I did it all so quickly that I actually did the whole thing with the right speaker blown!"
- Wearable Bluetooth device tells singers when to take a break and protect their voices
- Scott Poley from Rumours of Fleetwood Mac just played a 100-plus date arena tour with a Harley Benton ST-20 he bought for £30
- 5 ways to play guitar like Manic Street Preachers' James Dean Bradfield
- Behringer’s upcoming Mooger Fooger pedal clone looks… like a Mooger Fooger
- Stanton “returns to its roots” with the STX portable scratch turntable
- Steve Vai recorded a full album with Ozzy Osbourne that never saw release: “I’m sitting on a whole Ozzy record”
- 10 tips for maximizing stereo width
- How Johnny Rezeznik overcame writer's block to pen the Goo Goo Dolls' smash hit Iris
- 5 songs guitarists need to hear by… Manic Street Preachers
- February 20
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- Here are 10 Remo Rototom performances that will remind you why you want a set
- Tiësto takes a sonic sledgehammer to The White Lotus theme with his feverish "official" remix
- Guitarist mods a Squier Bullet version of the world's most expensive guitar – learns a valuable lesson about gear snobbery
- Brian Eno and Roger Eno release the first track from the concert film of their first ever live performance together
- The Wampler Tumnus takes on a Klon Centaur and the latest klone pedal, does itself proud
- Step inside The Rolling Stones’ mobile recording studio, the iconic ‘studio on wheels’ that changed the course of rock music history
- Classic album: Om Unit on Threads
- February 17
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- Charvel covers all shred bases and nails that hot-rodded Strat vibe with new-for-2023 Pro-Mod So-Cal Style 1 electrics
- Fractal now has dedicated UK distribution
- This huge free sample library is packed with over 1200 sample packs recorded by a "global collective of sound nerds"
- Stereophonics guitarist Adam Zindani on going solo, Daft Punk's genius, Sabbath's groove and the 10 albums that changed his life
- Pedal Pawn got hold of the Marshall Blues Breaker reissue before the official release, and this is what it sounds like
- Teenage Engineering's new Duty luggage range bears quite the resemblance to those classic Ikea bags
- Gretsch announces epic electric guitar launch, headlined by stunning 140th Double Platinum Anniversary models, with new pickups and finishes at all price points
- SampleRadar: 335 free soulful keys samples
- Atau Tanaka: "I didn’t want to hide behind racks or synths - I wanted electronic music to become a live medium"
- More than 150 of Peter Green's guitars to be auctioned by Bonhams in June
- Spitfire Audio's Autograph Grand is the best free piano plugin we've heard in years
- February 16
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- Jackson rolls out high-performance at a mid-range price point with new-for-2023 X Series Rhoads, Soloist and Concert Bass
- Fender unveils epic expansion of Player and Player Plus guitars and basses, with classic colours and more left-handed options
- Auden Musical Instrument Co buys assets of UK Guitar Builders Ltd following its liquidation and hails "exciting new project" for British guitar building
- NAMM 2023: Fender makes a strong play for the modders with Strat and Jazzmaster Cunife pickups and Player Plus necks
- IK Multimedia brings its AI Machine Modeling to the floor with the TONEX Pedal, promising “unlimited amp and cab rigs” from one compact unit
- Nord unveils next-generation Stage 4: is this the best performance keyboard on the market?
- Audient's new iD24 audio interface "made with producers and engineers in mind"
- February 15
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- Universal Audio's native plugins are now available to buy in three new bundles with big savings to be had
- Watch Paul Reed Smith nail it live with Alter Bridge
- 5 Rory Gallagher songs guitarists need to hear
- "Holy shit, these things are tiny, but they're loud as hell": Positive Grid and Zakk Wylde team up for super-limited edition Spark Mini O’Doom
- February 14
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- Epiphone wields the sword for the latest in its Adam Jones Les Paul Custom Art Collection series, ‘The Berserker’
- Flashback: synth legend Suzanne Ciani soundtracks a pinball machine in this mesmerizing '80s documentary
- Joe Bonamassa says his long-awaited Fender ’48 Dual Professional JB Edition amp is about to be released
- Inner Ocean's 4trak brings the Tascam Portastudio into Ableton Live
- It looks like the WoFi sampler / granular synth can emulate classic samplers and could be the most surprising launch of the year
- Are you a Grateful Dead fan looking for somewhere to hang your guitar? How does Jerry Garcia’s hand grab you!?
- Dave Mustaine confirms Marty Friedman’s return as Megadeth’s Rust In Peace era guitar partnership reunites for Tokyo show
- David Guetta: "The future of music is in AI"
- Inside the fight to fix streaming: “It's absolutely, fundamentally broken. Some people are getting paid an awful lot of money, and no one else is getting anything”
- February 13
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- Is Marshall actually going to reissue the Bluesbreaker pedal after all? Looks likely
- 22 arranging tips and tricks to try today
- Is Fender's The Pelt the most underrated fuzz pedal around?
- The Casper x Bastl Aikido quad VCA mixer aims to bring harmony to your Eurorack system
- U2 will celebrate their seminal Achtung Baby album with a Las Vegas residency – but where are the UK and Ireland dates?
- This wearable, wireless controller uses breath and head motions to help you slay MIDI sax solos (among other things)
- De La Soul founding member David Jolicoeur dies, aged 54
- February 10
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- Janie Hendrix says the first time the family heard Are You Experienced it was being blasted by their hippy neighbours – and her dad didn’t recognise Jimi’s voice
- Danelectro refreshes its lineup with smart new finishes for ’59 doublecuts, and a change of pickups for the ’56 Baritone
- This new Kickstarter combines a guitar and amp stand
- Issue 393 of Future Music is out now
- Watch Paul Gilbert pay tribute to the late, great Burt Bacharach with a solo guitar performance of God Give Me Strength
- First Brit Award winners revealed: David Guetta named Producer of the Year and Kid Harpoon named Songwriter of the Year
- Beck returns with acoustic-led new single Thinking About You
- Erica Synths’ Zen Delay gets a software successor in the shape of the ZDV plugin
- The Midlife Synthesist: “I was buying gear at a rate that was becoming a real addiction. That's when I decided to turn my Gear Acquisition Syndrome into a YouTube channel”
- February 9
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- DOD is back and bringing an Overdrive Preamp 250 pedal reissue to prove it
- The most metal guitar of 2023? Architects guitarist Josh Middleton's new custom ESP has thrown down the studded gauntlet
- Depeche Mode are back in black with Ghosts Again
- Burt Bacharach, one of the greatest songwriters of all time, has died aged 94
- "Aged 15, 16 and 17, I wanted to be Stevie Ray Vaughan – that’s all I cared about": Jared James Nichols on blues heroes, Zakk Wylde, Patsy Cline and the 10 albums that changed his life
- You may not fully understand this free stochastic synth plugin, but it might not matter
- Watch Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith play for audience of 17 after crashing open mic night
- David Guetta reveals ‘Emin-AI-em’, a deepfake rapper that sounds remarkably like Marshall Mathers
- Roger Waters has secretly re-recorded Pink Floyd classic Dark Side of the Moon: “I wrote The Dark Side of the Moon. Let’s get rid of all this ‘we’ crap!”
- Neil Cowley on playing keys for Adele's biggest singles: "I did three afternoon’s work and spent the next ten years listening to myself in supermarkets"
- February 8
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- The Eventide H90 Harmonizer is more than just two H9s stuck together
- A Black Sabbath ballet is coming to Birmingham and it might just turn out to be a genius meeting of worlds
- Teenage Engineering’s new Field Desk costs just as much as you’d expect and then a little bit more
- FabFilter’s Twin synth plugin comes in from the cold and arrives at version 3
- Pedalboard tour with Maybeshewill's Robin Southby and John Helps
- Is AI the future of beatmaking? We spoke to the developers working on "DALL-E for sound design" to find out
- February 7
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- Gibson and Keb’ Mo’ team up for the classy Custom Shop “3.0” 12-Fret J-45 signature acoustic guitar
- Foo Fighters are releasing a new album in March, according to Radio X’s Chris Moyles
- The PolyBrute Noir is a black version of Arturia’s acclaimed analogue polysynth
- Piano sensation Lang Lang secretly judges ‘street players’ at UK railway stations in new TV series
- Buchla releases updated version of its touch-capacitive keyboard controller for the Music Easel
- Watch John 5 split the shred atom on playthrough video for new single Strung Out – his love letter to playing guitar
- Joe Bonamassa plays his newly-bought 1964 Fender Strat in… Greenburst?!
- Mastodon’s Bill Kelliher says ESP is working on a new signature “reverse” Sparrowhawk
- Fantastic (free) plugins and how to use them: Spitfire Audio LABS & BBC Symphony Orchestra Discover
- Avenged Sevenfold's Synyster Gates on contemporary guitar music: "When I check in I don't see anything where I'm going, 'I'm missing out on this piece of technical wizardry'"
- ZVEX Effects gives the Fuzz Factory 7 a UV makeover with the USA Vexter edition
- Grimes calls the Grammys “irrelevant” and says she wasn’t allowed to nominate SOPHIE for Producer Of The Year when she had the chance
- Auto-Tune creator Dr Andy Hildebrand has won a Grammy Award for his groundbreaking achievements in the recording field
- Steve Albini hates Steely Dan: "Christ, the amount of human effort wasted to sound like an SNL band warm up"
- February 6
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- Mick Fleetwood describes continuing with Fleetwood Mac as “unthinkable” after the loss of Christine McVie
- The best new free music-making software: unmissable freeware synths, drum machines and effects for March 2023
- Nile Rodgers reveals that he recorded the guitar part for Beyonce’s Cuff It in one take
- Tom Bukovac on his favourite guitar amp of all time and why the 100-watt version is better than a 50-watt
- Win a vintage Minimoog signed by Rush’s Geddy Lee: “It has a fat, identifiable tone. I really like that”
- SampleRadar: 195 free instant hooks samples
- See guitarists Mark Lettieri and Martin Miller give Michael Jackson's Human Nature the cover treatment
- Chris Brown isn’t happy that Robert Glasper beat him to the Best R&B Album Grammy
- 3 reasons why Richie Sambora is the Jacket Potato on the UK's Masked Singer
- Ovation brings its Ultra electro acoustic guitar series back for 2023
- Grammys 2023: Beyonce breaks all-time winners record, Ozzy wins Best Rock Album and Harry Styles scoops coveted Album of the Year award
- February 5
- February 4
- February 3
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- DSM Humboldt unveils the Black Clouds Lead Tone Machine, the “ultimate distortion” for high-gain adventure, complete with an onboard noise gate
- Solar Guitars launches high-end European Master Built Series with a super-pointy, made-for-metal Type X model
- In Flames’ Björn Gelotte: the 10 albums that changed my life – “That combination of Ritchie Blackmore and Dio, I haven’t heard anything since that hits me that hard”
- Prince wanted to make a Fleetwood Mac-style album with Shania Twain - it never happened, but you can listen to his long-lost version of You’re Still The One
- Snow Ghosts: "Playing instruments is so much more expressive than using a synth can ever be - but we like processing them too"
- Julian Lage announces new album, The Layers – watch him work magic with his signature Collings acoustic on the title-track
- The 1975 surprise fans by playing debut album in full at small UK show, demand Oasis reunite
- Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly beats OK Computer to become highest-rated album of all time
- Imagine an EBow that can be used on multiple guitar strings at once: someone has just designed one
- February 2
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- Strymon has just revealed a compact ambient reverb pedal called the Cloudburst and you will probably want to buy it
- Electro-Harmonix is reissuing its rare '70s Slap-Back Echo analogue delay pedal
- Spitfire Audio's Albion Colossus brings the epic sound of Hollywood blockbusters to your DAW
- Why has Paul Gilbert recorded an album of classic Dio songs?
- See the first song from Joe Bonamassa's new live album Tales Of Time and his biggest show production to date
- John Fogerty will play a UK festival headline exclusive set in May
- How to make your mixes translate across different systems
- Need a Celestion-loaded guitar cab? Harley Benton's new G-Plus cabinets might be unbeatable on price
- February 1
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- This new Fender Charcoal Frost Player Plus Strat with US pickups is giving us serious GAS
- Soundghost's Scatter granular effects plugin transforms any sound into an ambient soundscape
- Fortin's latest Meshuggah amp sounds as chugging great as you'd hope
- Are triad chords your key to unlocking the guitar fretboard? Yes!
- Mark Holcomb plays Periphery's new song Zagreus on his stunning new PRS SE signature guitar
- Pittsburgh Modular's Taiga is a new semi-modular that "pushes the boundaries of analogue synthesis"
- Pete Thorn demos his touring pedalboard for classic rock tones
- Radiohead drummer Phil Selway cools reunion talk: "We have got together and we’re talking about future plans, but in the immediate future we’ve all got other projects"
- Trikk: "FL Studio allowed me to become who I am today as an artist. It gives you a platform, it empowers you - it's more than just software"
- Ozzy Osbourne retires from touring: "The thought of disappointing my fans really F**KS ME UP"