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Top 10 Big 5 Interviews of 2021

This year we uncovered that Billy Gibbons X-rayed his hands, John 5 celebrated his unsung guitar hero, and why Tommy Shaw has beef with the guitar industry. Now see our most memorable chats from 2021.


10. Red Fang's David Sullivan

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The sludge-metal aficionado takes the mic on Teles, "Holy Grails," and how he stays chill in the spotlight.


9. Megadeth’s David Ellefson

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Metal's bass icon on his Jackson's P-pickup mod, Kiss' 'Destroyer,' and the owner of his lonely '80s heart.


8. Blackberry Smoke's Charlie Starr

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The Southern-rock ringleader opens up about his vintage-refin No. 1 and not letting trolls get him down.


7. John 5 on How He Gets Old-School Tones from His Metal-Friendly Tele

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Plus, find out which guitar hero the Rob Zombie sideman ā€œbegs and pleadsā€ with you to listen to.


6. Steve Stevens

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Billy Idol’s trusted sideman digs deep on classic prog and even gets a little zen as he takes on our questions.

5. Yngwie Malmsteen

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How does the same answer apply to three of our five questions? Everyone's favorite sweep-picking Swede loves going against the grain—that's how!


4. Billy F. Gibbons

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The ZZ Top legend on what makes his "Pearly Gates" Les Paul so special, why he recently had his hands x-rayed, and the "slithering" slide guitarist whose work still inspires him.

3. John Petrucci

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The Dream Theater legend shares surprising desert-island-album and guitar-hero picks, and remembers finally saying "screw it " to self-consciousness about his "super nerdy" secret weapon.


2. Warren Haynes Reveals His Secret Studio Weapon

Premier Guitar …And it's not his vintage Les Paul. Plus, the Gov't Mule mainstay "cheats" on his desert-island album pick.

1. Styx’s Tommy Shaw on What Irks Him About the Guitar Industry

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Plus, how he cried the day Wes Montgomery died, and the surprise family connection with his prized '54 Tele.


See and hear Taylor’s Legacy Collection guitars played by his successor, Andy Powers.

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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.

ā€œI met Jerry Garcia once, in 1992, at the bar at the Ritz Carlton in New York,ā€ Dark Star Orchestra guitarist Jeff Mattson tells me over the phone. Nearly sixty-seven years old, Mattson is one of the longest-running members of the Grateful Dead tribute band scene, which encompasses hundreds of groups worldwide. The guitarist is old enough to have lived through most of the arc ofthe actual Grateful Dead’s career. As a young teen, he first absorbed their music by borrowing their seminal records, American Beauty and Workingman’s Dead, brand new then, from his local library to spin on his turntable. Around that same moment, he started studying jazz guitar. Between 1973 and 1995, Mattson saw the Dead play live hundreds of times, formed the landmark jam bandZen Tricksters, and later stepped into theJerry Garcia lead guitarist role with the Dark Star Orchestra (DSO), one of the leading Dead tribute acts.

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PRS Guitars today launched five new three-pickup, 22-fret models across the S2 and SE series. The S2 Series release includes the S2 Special Semi-Hollow and S2 Studio, while the SE Series welcomes the SE Special Semi-Hollow, SE Studio, and SE Studio Standard.

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For the first time ever, two guitar greats, John 5 and Richie Kotzen will be heading out on the road this year. The tour will launch October 16 and run through November, hitting markets across the U.S.

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