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The Latest Breaking News from Martin Barre

“He’s very underrated. If you asked David Gilmour, he’d probably say, ‘Yeah, he’s my idol!’” Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt names prog’s great unsung guitar hero

This 1970s player is an influence to many, he says, but doesn’t get the credit he deserves

Guitar World

“In the 70s the support band had to blow the main act offstage. I thought it was distasteful. There’s room for everybody”: Jethro Tull ex Martin Barre insists he’s not underrated, and explains why he has no time for egos

Guitarist reveals what he learned from one of his band’s opening acts, names a guitarist who’s a “real yardstick” of brilliance – and touches on what he misses about being in Ian Anderson’s band

Louder

“I said, ‘Just start again. It would be good for you.’ He persuaded me to stay. I never felt good about it”: Martin Barre tried to quit Jethro Tull in 1980, but Ian Anderson wouldn’t have it

Their musical partnership finally ended after 43 years – but the guitarist says he wanted to break it up decades earlier

Louder

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“It’s not cute and it’s not nice. I was afflicted. I never conquered it, but I dealt with it”: Prog guitar icon’s struggle with shyness brought him to music and made him a success

His world changed when he realised that playing in bands meant he’d never have to dance

Louder

“If you have a 16-bar guitar solo, please don’t turn into Yngwie Malmsteen orJoe Satriani”: Ian Anderson had some soloing advice for Jethro Tull’s new guitarist

No Arpeggios From Hell!? Denied! What the hopping flautist with the wild-eyed stare told Jack Clark when it came time to track leads for Jethro Tull's latest album, Curious Ruminant

Guitar World

New issue of Prog is on sale now! The essential end-of-year issue!

Featuring Steven Wilson, Genesis, Marillion, Yes, David Gilmour, Rush, EBB, Martin Barre, Steeleye Span and more...

Louder

“An attitude of jokey sabotage helps them avoid seeming precious – it even reinvents a couple of the tracks”: Jethro Tull’s Aqualung Live demonstrates its power 20 years on

First time on vinyl for 2005’s live take on a bona fide prog classic

Louder

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“It was beginning to feel like everyone’s mind wasn’t on the job… a feeling that there should be some hiatus”: Jethro Tull’s saddest, darkest album could have been even darker

Death, dysfunction and ecological disaster surrounded Ian Anderson as his changing world shaped a “forever tainted” record

Louder

“I had this void in front of me. It was intimidating. Then I realised I had total freedom, and it’s been amazing”: When one of prog’s biggest bands shut down, their guitarist bounced back by releasing three albums in two years

Suddenly out of work in 2012, he started to take songwriting seriously and learned to stop feeling intimidated by other musicians

Louder

Martin Barre announces UK book tour dates for November and December

Former Jethro Tull guitarist Martin Barre will release his autobiography, A Trick Of The Memory: The Autobiography Of Jethro Tull’s Guitarist, in November

Louder

“If it gets a bit tense we chill out with a joke. He’s good at that. Most of our messages are in a West Country dialect!” Thom Yorke isn’t the very serious character you may have thought, says one collaborator

Electronic artist reveals Radiohead vocalist is more likely to say “Wasson there, bey?” than “What’s your problem, eh?” – and their new album might just contain a pinch of King Crimson and Gentle Giant

Louder

Former Jethro Tull guitarist Martin Barre to release autobiography in November

Martin Barre will be touring the UK in December and in Europe throughout April

Louder

“He goes, ‘You know, Joe, you’d be my favorite guitar player if you’d just divide by two’”: The playing advice Joe Bonamassa got from Leslie West – and why it’s finally paying off

Three decades later, Bonamassa is taking West’s pointers on board – and they’re making a difference

Guitar World

Black Sabbath! The final interview with Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward – all yours in the new Guitar World

Plus interviews with Jake E. Lee, Adam Jones, Creed Bratton from The Office, the guys from Goose, former Jethro Tull man Martin Barre, K.K. Downing, Zakk Wylde, Jerry Cantrell, Tom Morello, Lzzy Hale, Billy Duffy, Robben Ford and more

Guitar World

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Guitar World

“I’d met Leslie West, and like a lot of guitar players, you couldn’t meet Leslie West and come out unscathed”: Martin Barre explains how the Mountain man influenced his most iconic solo on Jethro Tull’s Aqualung

The Jethro Tull legend says his meeting with the Mountain man left an indelible mark on him as a player

Louder

“I never write about people I know. I’ve always been against the idea of betraying any kind of confidence”: Are the touching tales of Jethro Tull’s Minstrel In The Gallery really just fiction?

Ian Anderson reflects on giving Roy Harper his movie break, aggressively defending Dee Palmer from paparazzi intrusion, losing bassist Jeffrey Hammond, planning to quit touring – and the quiet couple of weeks he spent recording Tull’s masterful 1975 album

Louder

“Rush fans know Alex Lifeson has moved away from soloing. You probably wouldn’t know it’s him unless you were told”: What happened when Tiles’ Chris Herin gathered Peter Frampton, Martin Barre and others for his first solo album

An Alex Lifeson track worthy of an alternative mix, a digital reunion of former Jethro Tull members and a delightful solo from Peter Frampton colour Chris Herin’s solo album Hiding In Plain Sight

Guitar World

“In the beginning, I was a terrible rhythm player. I avoided it like the plague”: Martin Barre once distanced himself from rhythm playing – but some Steve Lukather wisdom changed his mind

The former Jethro Tull lead guitarist reassessed his playing priorities after hearing some wise words from the Toto legend

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Guitar World

“My wife heard Locomotive Breath on the radio. She said, ‘I wish you played like that now.’ I was a bit upset”: Martin Barre on revisiting Jethro Tull, Leslie West – and the bootleg Les Paul that bent like a banana

We might still have some trouble thinking of Barre as the "former Jethro Tull guitarist" but, here, as he anticipates his solo acoustic tour and looks back on the band's epic legacy, he is okay with it

Louder

“He’ll be 78 this year, but Ian Anderson is on something of a later-years creative roll.”: Jethro Tull lean into the twilight on inspired and poignant 24th album Curious Ruminant

Age cannot wither Ian Anderson, as Jethro Tull’s new album Curious Ruminant proves

Louder

“Ian’s flute solo got stretched out… Martin Barre and I would sit and play cards on stage, with a pot of tea. He had no clue what was happening”: Former Jethro Tull members share their favourite moments

Mick Abrahams, Clive Bunker, Jeffrey Hammond, Peter John Vettese and Tony Iommi recall what they learned from – or what they did to – band leader Ian Anderson

Louder

“I wound up on the bill with them in Malaysia, where I got escorted offstage by police with automatic weapons”: Despite the drama, Joe Satriani still loves Jethro Tull

Guitar maestro professes his love for Ian Anderson’s genius, along with early Yes, ELP and King Crimson

Guitar World

“Aqualung was Ian’s riff. The solo was all done on the fly. If I hadn’t got it in two takes then it would have been a flute solo. That’s when Jimmy Page came up to say hello”: Martin Barre on Jethro Tull, the Aqualung sessions –and supporting Hendrix

A signature-shifting collision of bucolic folk and frayed-edge rock, Jethro Tull’s Aqualung is one of the ’70s’ most daring records. Barre takes us on a deep dive back to those fabled sessions, from winging hisparts to snubbing Jimmy Page

Guitar World

“I was truly terrified. In the first few months, I was on the same stage as every one of my heroes: Mike Bloomfield, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix”: Martin Barre explains why his early days with Jethro Tull were a trial by fire

Jethro Tull went on tour with Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and Vanilla Fudge right after Barre joined the band

Guitar World

“Jimmy Page was in the control room window, waving madly. I was in the middle of the solo, and I thought, ‘Sorry, but I can’t stop.’ I just turned my back”: Martin Barre on the time Jimmy Page nearly cut him off mid-Aqualung solo

“I think it was take two,” the Jethro Tull guitarist recalled, “and if I hadn’t got it in two then it would have been a flute solo”

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