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Gallery: Riot Fest 2015

Chicago’s other 3-day festival hosts an eclectic group of artists that span all of pop music.

Desaparecidos’ Denver Dalley

The band’s lead guitarist has a penchant for unusual 6-strings as he described to us in a recent Staff Picks: “The Gibson RD is such a cool guitar that they briefly made in the late ’70s. I have four of them and I’m always looking for the next one.”

A rig meant to inspire! That’s Jerry Garcia with his Doug Irwin-built Tiger guitar, in front of his Twin Reverb + McIntosh + JBL amp rig.

Photo by Frank White

Three decades after the final Grateful Dead performance, Jerry Garcia’s sound continues to cast a long shadow. Guitarists Jeff Mattson of Dark Star Orchestra, Tom Hamilton of JRAD, and Bella Rayne explain how they interpret Garcia’s legacy musically and with their gear.

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Detail of Ted’s 1997 National resonator tricone.

What instruments should you bring to an acoustic performance? These days, with sonic innovations and the shifting definition of just what an acoustic performance is, anything goes.

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Ernie Ball, the world’s leading manufacturer of premium guitar strings and accessories, proudly announces the launch of the all-new Earthwood Bell Bronze acoustic guitar strings. Developed in close collaboration with Grammy Award-winning guitarist JohnMayer, Bell Bronze strings are engineered to meet Mayer’s exacting performance standards, offering players a bold new voice for their acoustic guitars.Crafted using a proprietary alloy inspired by the metals traditionally found in bells and cymbals, Earthwood Bell Bronze strings deliver a uniquely rich, full-bodied tone with enhanced clarity, harmonic content, and projection—making them the most sonically complex acoustic strings in the Ernie Ball lineup to date.

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The Irish post-punk band’s three guitarists go for Fairlane, Fenders, and a fake on their spring American tour.

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