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The Latest Breaking News from Billy Gibbons

“My playing has always sucked, but it sells because I keep it simple”: Steve Cropper was one of guitar’s most modest yet influential figures. In one of his final interviews, he looked back at making Booker T & the MG’s classics and working with Jeff Beck

The co-writer of classics including Green Onions and (Sittin’ On) the Dock of the Bay proved you don’t need technical wizardry to make a mark. In 2024, he walked us through a career marked by hits, groove and soul

Guitar World

“If all you want to do is sound like Stevie Ray Vaughan, you’re screwed. There was only one of him and he did it better than anyone else”: What Guthrie Trapp learned while escaping the country player label – and how the fretboard can change your life

The session ace explains what’s wrong with modelers, why anyone emulating SRV is doomed to fail, and how he nearly missed out on jamming with Billy Gibbons

Guitar World

“The guy in the support band was playing a Jazz Bass. We agreed to swap instruments… That guy was Ian Hunter who went on to form Mott the Hoople”: Leo Lyons on the bass that appeared at Woodstock, has been played by Hendrix, and is on three UFO classics

The Ten Years After bassist’s 1962 Fender Jazz Bass is one of the coolest four-strings you will ever see, with buckle rash on the back that any Fender Master Builder would kill to recreate

Guitar World

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“Even today, that instrument is fascinating. I’ve passed it around and players of all sorts have all come to the same conclusion – there is something magic in that instrument”: Billy Gibbons on why Pearly Gates is one of the greatest Les Pauls of all time

All Gibson Les Paul Standards from 1959 are special but what is it about the ZZ Top frontman's Pearly Gates that makes it so unique? As Gibbons says, it might be something entirely supernatural

MusicRadar

“I’m a big Slash fan but ya gotta admit John stole the show”: Remembering the night tres hombres by the name of John Mayer, Slash and Billy Gibbons gave ZZ Top’s La Grange a triple-guitar glow-up

Iconic headgear, iconic players, a gnarly Texan blues-rock groove and a legendary all-star guitar jam came to Hollywood’s House of Blues in 2009

Guitar World

“I can’t feel it. It’s bone on bone. I’ve had to adjust my style. In a way, it’s like learning to play guitar again”: Jake E. Lee on how he has changed his playing – and gear – due to arthritis struggles

The former Ozzy Osbourne shredder has had to change things up to keep on playing

Guitar World

“I said, ‘Rick, you think we should take a break?’ And he goes, ‘Oh yeah, we got it on tape three hours ago – we just like hearing you guys play!’”: ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons describes Rick Rubin as a “peculiar” kind of producer

Plus: how the Texan trio created something new out of an old hip-hop track

MusicRadar

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“It suffered a broken headstock, was completely refinished, refretted and had P-90s replaced with humbuckers”: Untangling the history of Jeff Beck’s Oxblood Les Paul, the most expensive Gibson Les Paul ever sold at auction

Will we ever know the true story of this fabled guitar? For some it’s iconic, for others it was simply a cobbled-together working tool for a master

Guitar World

“Originally retailed for around $250, they can now fetch up to 2,500 times that”: 1959 Gibson 'Burst Les Pauls sell for a king's ransom, and have been played and cherished by everyone from Jimmy Page to Billy Gibbons – but what exactly makes them special?

Widely considered to be the Holy Grail for guitar enthusiasts and collectors, 'Bursts feature on many of the most important rock albums ever made. So what exactly went into the secret sauce?

Guitar World

“I was playing the Fender Strat that Jimi Hendrix gave me. We wound up plugging the guitar straight into the board. That’s why it’s such a clean tone on that track”: Billy Gibbons on the making of ZZ Top's greatest blues song

"For some reason the guitar wasn’t working through the amp," Gibbons recalled

MusicRadar

“My dad stepped in to greet the ensemble – and then in came The King”: Billy Gibbons shares the story of the “treasured moment” he sat in on a B.B. King session – as a child

Long before he got the chance to pick it up for himself, the ZZ Top man found himself in a truly formative session with an icon of electric guitar

Guitar World

“One heck of a rock ’n’ roll vision that sounds glorious and has huge tonal flexibility. Oh, and it doesn’t look like a Fender!” Newman Honeycomb Senior review

It started with a five-string, now the UK-made Newman range has a fully formed six-string with dual swappable pickups and oh-so-’70s credentials

Guitar World

“We missed him and are looking forward to turning it up and rocking out with him”: ZZ Top confirm Frank Beard is back

“Welcome back, pardner” says Billy Gibbons

MusicRadar

"Driving in the middle of the night in North Ontario, someone flags us down. At that same moment, I smell smoke": Six things you didn't know about The Damn Truth

They were saved by the rock community, they’re produced byBob Rock and dug by Billy Gibbons. They're Canadian rockers The Damn Truth

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Guitar World

“We haven’t broken a string on a Les Paul for more than three years”: Joe Bonamassa swears by this easy string-saving hack – which was inspired by Jimmy Page and Billy Gibbons

Bonamassa’s go-to stringing method for his Les Pauls improves durability – and helps achieve a slinkier feel

Guitar World

“Dime is in there. I have a big Eddie Van Halen influence. The same goes for Eric Clapton. It all channels back to the blues”: Mark Morton explains why he’s jamming with Grace Bowers and Jason Isbell on his solo album – and those Gibson signature rumors

His second solo album, Without The Pain, features Troy Sanders, Jason Isbell, Jared James Nichols, Grace Bowers and a stack of guitars from his frighteningly valuable collection

Louder

"We were just hanging out on the beach and sipping cool libations; Keith Richards was totally living the rock’n’roll lifestyle": Billy Gibbons’ wild tales of The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Muddy Waters and Ministry

Meet the only man to have played with Hendrix, the Stones and Chad Kroeger from Nickelback

Louder

ZZ Top add yet more dates to ever-expanding Elevation tour as Frank Beard continues to miss shows

46 shows already played on ZZ Top's mammoth Elevation tour, 63 more to go

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Guitar World

“To be honest, I didn’t like Stevie’s tone as much in the heavy Dumble period. It sounded a little tight to me”: Ian Moore on jamming with the Stones, writing with Billy Gibbons, and discussing those SRV comparisons – with Stevie Ray Vaughan

The SRV disciple admits he confused people by moving from Texas blues to art rock, but believes his skills are only increasing, despite a neurological condition that means he can barely speak

Guitar World

“Who doesn't want to hear the recording of Ted Nugent and Eddie Van Halen jamming?” Ted Nugent's colossal archive includes sessions with EVH, Billy Gibbons and the Mothers of Invention

Nugent has just launched his most recent project – the Nuge Vault – which includes never-before-seen or heard concert footage and archival audio

Louder

“There was chicken-wire around the stage. Al Jourgensen was climbing around like a caged beast. I knew this was a guy for me”: Billy Gibbons’ wild tales of Jimi Hendrix, Keith Richards, Muddy Waters and Ministry

Meet the only man to have played with Hendrix, the Stones and Chad Kroeger from Nickelback

Guitar World

“I played Brian Setzer’s personal guitars – the pickups give you more dynamic control. I thought, ‘I have to recreate this!’” How TV Jones revived That Great Gretsch Sound – despite being an underdog in the pickup world

One persona’s small-shop attitude and one-to-one service secured his company’s place in a challenging market, and helped revitalize the Gretsch brand

Guitar World

“I said, ‘The only way we can play 40 minutes is if we include Purple Haze.’ This guy grabbed me and said, ‘You got a lot of nerve!’” Billy Gibbons once covered Jimi Hendrix hits while supporting Hendrix on tour – and the guitar hero watched

Few players would have had the nerves to cover Hendrix while supporting him on tour, but Gibbons is made of sterner stuff – and the bold move sparked a lasting friendship

Guitar World

“This is basically the single-coil equivalent of what Eddie Van Halen did when he wired a humbucker directly to the volume control on his Frankenstein guitar”: Why the Fender Esquire remains a stone-cold classic

Loved by Billy Gibbons, Steve Cropper and Jeff Beck, the Fender Esquire is one of those guitars that have stood the test of time and proved that sometimes one pickup is all you need

Guitar World

“Would I play it for a whole show? Absolutely not! I’m so happy to get that thing off. It’s brutal”: ZZ Top’s Elwood Francis on his latest weird bass acquisition – the 15-string ‘High Selecta’ bass

The guitar tech-turned-band member already struggled with a 17-string monstrosity, before adding a 15-string to his arsenal – and says he can’t forget his days cleaning the band’s fuzzy guitars

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