FretNerds — Guitar talk for people who actually play
Rush Played Live for the First Time in 11 Years — With a New Drummer
Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee debuted new drummer Anika Nilles at the Juno Awards in Hamilton — Rush's first live show in 11 years. One song: "Finding My Way." Lifeson quipped: "Also, it's the only song we know how to play." The Fifty Something tour kicks off June 7.
Joe Perry Is Playing .08s on the Bottom — And Arthritis Is Why
The Aerosmith guitarist is 75, early arthritis is kicking in, and he's already found the workaround: a hybrid string set (.09s on top, .08s on the bottom) on his Fender/Warmoth Rat Strat. "It's nothing I can't play through."
Doug Irwin, Builder of Jerry Garcia's Tiger and Wolf, Dies at 76
The luthier who built Tiger and Wolf — two of the most technically ambitious guitars ever played on stage — died March 27. He was 76. His instruments sold at auction for millions. But the money was never the point.
Dunlop Brings Back the Cry Baby BB535 — The First Multi-Function Wah, Back From 1999
The original BB535 from 1994 was the first commercially available modded wah — frequency selector, MXR Micro Amp–based boost, custom 535mH inductor. Dunlop just reissued the 1999 six-position version. They even tracked down the original inductor supplier and restarted production.
Alice Cooper Has a New Guitarist — She's 22, She's British, and Nita Strauss Picked Her
Nita Strauss is taking maternity leave — so she found her own replacement, trained her, and publicly vouched for her. Anna Cara, 22, from Newcastle, made her live debut with Alice Cooper on April 2. The Alice's Attic tour is underway.
Crossroads Guitar Festival 2026: Clapton, Mayer, Bonamassa, Townshend in Austin
Seventh edition of Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival lands in Austin, Texas on September 26–27 at Moody Center. Buddy Guy, John Mayer, and Joe Bonamassa return — Pete Townshend, Trey Anastasio, Tommy Emmanuel, and Julian Lage make their Crossroads debut.
Behringer Sues Boss Over Polyphonic Tuner — and Boss Already Pulled the Feature
Empower Tribe — parent company of Behringer and TC Electronic — has sued Roland/Boss for allegedly cloning the patented PolyTune technology. Boss already removed polyphonic tuning from the GT-1000, GT-1000CORE, GX-100, and GX-10 via firmware update.
Richie Sambora Got His Stolen Gibson Explorer Back — 41 Years Later
A 1976 Gibson Explorer stolen from a warehouse in 1985 while Bon Jovi were on tour has been returned to Richie Sambora by a Paris guitar shop. He composed most of Bon Jovi's early hits on it — and it's going back on stage.
Pearl Jam's Mike McCready Went Digital — And Says It Made Him a Better Guitarist
Mike McCready ditched his tube rig for digital modeling and FRFR cabs on Pearl Jam's last tour. His verdict: "it made me a better guitar player." The purists are not going to like this.
Ritchie Blackmore's Secret Tone Circuit Is Back — Someone Brought It Back to Life
Bernd Meiser cracked Ritchie Blackmore's Master Tone Circuit, built a replica by hand, then died of cancer in 2024. The Spice Box disappeared with him. Singlecoil Guitars just brought it back — same circuit, tighter tolerances, same hand-drawn instruction sheet.
Gibson Thunderbird Bass Returns in 2026 — 63 Years of Automotive DNA
Gibson has relaunched the Thunderbird Bass worldwide. The design is still from a car guy. The 34-inch scale is still there. The SlimTaper neck is new. Here's what changed.
Jerry Garcia's "Tiger" Sold for $12 Million — Then Derek Trucks Played It That Same Night
The world record for most expensive guitar was shattered three times in one night at Christie's. Tiger went for $12 million. Then the new owner let Derek Trucks play it on stage hours later.
Fender Telecaster 75th Anniversary: Five New Models, One Historic Milestone
Fender marks 75 years of the Telecaster with five new models — from a $1,099 Diamond Dust sparkle Player II to a $2,999 American Ultra II with their first-ever dual rail humbucker. Yes, the Tele finally gets a humbucker that Fender actually designed.
Steve Vai Played a New Solo Over Van Halen's Jump — and It Works
Coca-Cola made Jump the official 2026 FIFA World Cup anthem and brought in Steve Vai to re-solo it. Travis Barker plays drums. J Balvin and Amber Mark sing. It shouldn't work. It does.
So You Want to Record Guitar for YouTube. Have You Considered Therapy?
Video first or audio first? Logic or GarageBand? Interface or amp sim? Final Cut or just cry? A completely honest field guide to recording guitar for YouTube without spending six months reading gear forums instead of actually recording anything.
I Sent Paul Gilbert Five Emails. He Never Replied. He's Still the Best.
A guitar teacher writes five emails to his hero. Gets ignored five times. Watches a video of that hero play a fingerpicked ballad while tapping and singing simultaneously. Has thoughts — not about the silence, but about what control actually means.
Paul Gilbert Plays "To Be With You" Fingerpicked, Tapping, Singing. All at Once.
The man famous for drilling through picks at 200 BPM puts the pick away at Guitar Wars 2003 and plays a Mr. Big ballad fingerstyle, two-hand tapping, while singing. Unhurried. Clean. Completely impossible to look away from.
Eastwood Just Recreated the Guitar That Bob Dylan Used to "Betray" Folk Music
Sixty-one years after Newport 1965, you can now own the guitar Mike Bloomfield played when Dylan went electric and the folk purists lost their minds. Eastwood built a replica of it. Of course they did.
Joscho Stephan and John Petrucci Improvised on Acoustic Guitar and the Internet Noticed
A Gypsy jazz guitarist and a prog metal legend sat down with acoustics and improvised. 16,000 likes later, turns out cross-genre acoustic improv is exactly what the guitar internet needed this week.
The Verso Log Is a Lap Steel for People Who Think Lap Steels Aren't Weird Enough
Verso released the Log — a lap steel promising "a whole new world of soundscaping." Most guitarists have never seriously played a lap steel. That's their loss.
Janelle Monáe Is Playing Epiphone's Cheapest Les Paul — and That's the Point
When a major artist gets spotted with a guitar, it's usually an expensive signature model. Janelle Monáe teased her new era with a $149 Epiphone Les Paul SL. Pino approves — and explains why that's exactly the point.
Bumblefoot Played the Pink Panther Theme on a Fretless Guitar in a Rainstorm. Rock in Rio 2011.
On October 2, 2011, Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal stepped up for his guitar solo spot at Rock in Rio and played Henry Mancini in a biblical downpour. On a fretless guitar. With GN'R behind him. He later called it his Spinal Tap moment.
Zakk Wylde Led the Ozzy Tribute at the BRITs — and It Was Exactly What Ozzy Would Have Wanted
Zakk Wylde walked out with the bullseye Les Paul and the pentagrams and did the one thing BRIT Awards tributes almost never manage: he committed. The most metal four minutes in British pop awards history.
Why Kids Don't Practice (And What Actually Works)
Every guitar teacher has been there: the kid who loves lessons but never touches the guitar at home. Here's what the research says — and what actually works.
Is Ichika Nito Actually Miming? One Video Has 570,000 Opinions
A Jacob Hansen video claiming to expose Ichika Nito as a "fake guitarist" has hit 570k views. Pino watched it, took notes, and has thoughts. Some of them are even coherent.
Why Your Barre Chords Still Suck (And the One Thing That Actually Fixes Them)
Barre chords don't fail because you're weak — your thumb is in the wrong place. Here's the one real fix, and the fret where you should actually start practicing.
Your Pick Is Lying to You
That thin pick you've been using since 2003 isn't a preference — it's a habit. Here's what your pick choice actually reveals about your playing, and what happens when you switch.