Launched in 1967, Guitar Player was the only guitar publication in existence when the '60s and '70s six-string explosion ignited across the globe. As a result, Guitar Player interviewed scores of seminal guitar stars as the magic happened. Now Guitar Player has opened its archives to present a thrilling collection of articles that detail the equipment and tone explorations of transcendent guitarists such as Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Duane Allman, Steve Howe, Peter Green, and many others. Every article originally appeared in the 1970s, when these young guns were in the midst of conjuring world-changing guitar sounds, riffs, and musical concepts – all building the foundation for what has become revered as “classic rock.” Anyone wishing to study the building blocks of what drove audiences to first utter the phrase “Guitar Hero” can now get the story straight from the players who earned the title.

(Book). Foreword by Joe Satriani Guitar Player: The Inside Story of the First Two Decades of the Most Successful Guitar Magazine Ever is a reflection on Guitar Player 's often pioneering early days, from its 1967 founding through its 1989 sale by founder Bud Eastman and editor/publisher Jim Crockett. This book looks at the magazines evolution from a 40-page semi-monthly to a monthly exceeding 200 pages, with a gross yearly income that grew from $40,000 to nearly $15 million. The story is told by many people important to Guitar Player 's history, including Maxine Eastman, Bud Eastman's widow, and Crockett, who edited this book with his daughter Dara. Also here are recollections of key personnel, including Tom Wheeler, Jas Obrecht, Roger Siminoff, Mike Varney, Jon Sievert, George Gruhn, and Robb Lawrence; leading early advertisers, such as Martin, Randall, and Fender; and prominent guitar players featured in the magazine, including Joe Perry, George Benson, Pat Travers, Country Joe McDonald, Pat Metheny, Steve Howe, Lee Ritenour, Johnny Winter, Steve Morse, Larry Coryell, Michael Lorimer, John McLaughlin, Stanley Clarke, Liona Boyd, Steve Vai, and many others. Among the many illustrations are then-and-now shots of performers and staff, early ads, behind-the-scenes photos from company jam sessions (with such guests as B. B. King and Chick Corea), various fascinating events, and key issue covers. Rich in history and perspective, Guitar Player: The Inside Story of the First Two Decades of the Most Successful Guitar Magazine Ever is the definitive first-person chronicle of a music magazine's golden age.

Everyone knows the legends – Hendrix, Page, Clapton, Beck, and all the other six-string giants – but the evolution of guitarcraft wasn't forged purely by über-famous players with large cultural footprints. Scores of lesser-known pioneers such as Tommy Bolin, Danny Cedrone, Tampa Red, and Sister Rosetta Tharpe contributed vast numbers of licks, riffs, solos, tones, compositions, techniques, and musical concepts that inspired generations of guitarists and advanced the art of playing guitar. Their stories are as critical to modern guitar music as is electricity or amplification. Any guitarist seeking to devise a unique and individual sound should study the wacky, off-kilter, unfamiliar, and criminally underutilized creative concepts of the unsung greats, straight from the pages of Guitar Player magazine.

(Guitar Player Presents). Culled from the archives of Guitar Player magazine, one of the most credible and longstanding music publications, Guitar Player Presents Clapton, Beck, Page traces the mammoth and influential careers of the three most important guitarists in rock and roll Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page with insightful interviews from the '60s and '70s to the present. Learn how these guitar heroes developed their styles and sounds as they were doing it . It's all here details on legendary collaborations, stories from the studio and the road, breakdowns on gear, early influences, musical philosophies, secrets and tricks. Thrill to their own assessments of their technique, tone, and creativity over the years. Share in the musical triumphs, disappointments, goals, and dreams of three men who forever shaped the sound of rock guitar. Also included are style lessons and licks from Guitar Player 's staff of music writers and transcribers that will help you crack the code of how these giants crafted their magic.

Jimi Hendrix is still widely revered as the most gifted guitarist in the history of rock. His fluency on an electric guitar was breathtaking, and he had a way with words that somehow paralleled his music. Fortunately, Jimi gave many interviews during his short life. Here is what he had to say... I used to like to paint. At school the teacher used to say 'Paint three scenes'. And I'd do abstract stuff like Martian sunsets.Because I didn't have a cent in my pocket, I walked into the first recruitment office I saw and went into the army. Anyway my discharge come through... and I found myself with my duffle bag and three or four hundred dollars in my pocket. I went in this jazz joint and had a drink, liked it and stayed. I came out of that place with sixteen dollars left... All I can do I thought is get a guitar and try to find work. Woodstock was groovy and all that, but anybody can get a field and put lots of kids in there and put band after band on. I don't particularly like the idea of groups after groups. It all starts merging together. Music is religion for me. There'll be music in the hereafter, too. Many say they can understand themselves better when they take LSD. Rubbish! They're idiots, who talk like that. I had one [car] back home, but a girl-friend wrecked it. She ran it straight through a hamburger joint. After that, I started to devote more times to my music than to girls. Yeah, I never did want to go to the moon too much. I always wanted to go to Saturn or Venus, or something like that. I believe that maybe in one sense we might be nothing but little ants to them, you know.

This visual celebration and musical analysis of Jimi Hendrix, the genius who created modern guitar, includes 300 color and b&w photos--many never before published.

Secrets of master guitarists, revealed in conversation. Guitar Talk offers interviews with many of the most creative guitarists of our time. This new book presents these conversations, between Joel Harrison and Nels Cline, Pat Metheny, Fred Frith, Bill Frisell, Julian Lage, Elliott Sharp, Michael Gregory Jackson, Ben Monder, Anthony Pirog, Henry Kaiser, Mike and Leni Stern, Vernon Reid, Mary Halvorson, Nguyên Le, Rez Abbasi, Ava Mendoza, Liberty Ellman, Brandon Ross, Wayne Krantz, Dave Fiuczynski, Wolfgang Muthspiel, Miles Okazaki, Sheryl Bailey, Rafiq Bhatia, and Ralph Towner—twenty-seven great guitarists in all. An enormous range of approaches and sounds exist in the modern guitar. The instrument can howl, scrape, scratch, scream, sing, pluck, and soothe. What stands out in this book is not so much the instrument itself, rather the wonderful and idiosyncratic personalities of these bold souls, their sometimes wild, often zigzagging, and ultimately profound journeys toward beauty, meaning, and excellence in their work. We find out that jazz icon Bill Frisell won a high school band contest playing R&B tunes, beating out future members of Earth Wind and Fire. We learn which of Nels Cline's compositions he wishes to have played at his funeral. Michael Gregory Jackson recounts painful episodes of racism as he stretched between the chasm of avant jazz, rock, and blues in the 1980s. Many more revelations, amusements, and philosophies abound.

Fifty years since Bruce Springsteen's debut album Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. brought a new songwriting talent to the public, Bruce Springsteen is long established as one of the giants of popular music. Through a long career of studio and live albums, archival releases, massive tours with the E Street Band, and more recently solo performances on Broadway, Springsteen has demonstrated a remarkable talent for communicating with a wide audience. Whether acoustic or electric, plainly presented or richly orchestrated, his narrative and character-based songs have captured and reflected the pains, hopes, dilemmas, and dreams of millions. Bruce Springsteen: Songwriting Secrets, Revised and Updated presents his music as the starting point for a masterclass in the art of writing powerful—and successful—songs. Songwriting guru Rikky Rooksby surveys Springsteen's rich catalogue and shows how the common techniques they employ can help you: Structure intros, verses, choruses, and bridges Write songs using anything from two to seven chords Arrange instruments for maximum effect Mimic the sound of Springsteen's chords and progressions Write lyrics that escape cliché, achieve clarity, and ring true This revised edition takes into account all the original music Springsteen has released since the first edition of 2004, including Devils & Dust (2005), Magic (2007), Working on a Dream (2009), Wrecking Ball (2012), High Hopes (2014), Western Stars (2019) and Letter to You (2020), along with other archival material.