Articles by: Henry Yates

The story of Randy Rhoads and Blizzard Of Ozz: "He was the best guy at overdubbing solos and tracking them that I’ve ever seen. I mean, he used to blow me away"

By Henry Yates published 19 March 23

Classic interview: Remembering the genius of Randy Rhoads, 41 years after his tragic death

“Sometimes there’s songs that get put aside until it feels right” – the story of The White Stripes' Dead Leaves On The Dirty Ground

By Henry Yates published 29 November 22

“Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground was written before we did our first album”

“You wouldn’t exactly hear Bon Jovi writing about a church in Blythburgh, would you?” – the story of Black Shuck by The Darkness

By Henry Yates published 17 November 22

Only The Darkness would be daft enough to write a rock anthem about the local hellhound. But only The Darkness are awesome enough to pull it off

The story of Black Sabbath's Children Of The Grave: “If you listen to critics too much, you’ll lose your identity. We didn’t listen."

By Henry Yates published 7 September 22

US Rock critic Lester Bangs once described the song as “naïve, simplistic, absolute doggerel"

Smoke On The Water at 50: The story of Deep Purple Mk II and the most famous guitar riff of all time

By Henry Yates published 25 March 22

Between 1969 and 1973, Deep Purple’s MkII incarnation took on the world then tore itself apart. This is the story of the axe fights, smashed Strats, neo-classical solos and power struggles behind British rock’s most dysfunctional family

Billie Eilish and Finneas at No Time To Die premiere

The making of Billie Eilish’s No Time To Die Bond theme: “Finneas came up with this chord progression, and we were just immediately like, ‘Oh!’”

By Henry Yates published 30 September 21

“We had an intense amount of writer’s block as soon as we were called to action”

Classic interview: Slash on the story of Guns N' Roses's Use Your Illusion I & II

By Henry Yates published 30 June 21

Looking back on a double barrel of rock 'n' roll, 30 years on

10 guitar heroes' day jobs before they were famous

By Henry Yates, MusicRadar last updated 30 July 20

How Slash and Clapton made ends meet

Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton and Peter Green: the story of of the greatest guitar handover in blues history

By Henry Yates published 27 July 20

Two legendary players. Two near-mythical Les Pauls. Two all-time-great blues albums.

13 guitar hero Simpsons cameos

By Henry Yates, MusicRadar published 21 July 20

From Keef to Kirk and Corgan to Costello

10 reasons why guitar is the best instrument

By Henry Yates published 23 June 20

The six-string takes the crown

10 rock 'n' roll guitar brainiacs

By Henry Yates published 22 June 20

Cerebral rock guitarists

10 classic guitarist stage moves

By Henry Yates, Rob Laing published 6 May 20

From Pete Townshend's windmill to the Hendrix showboater and beyond!

10 types of guitar YouTuber and how to spot them

By Henry Yates last updated 16 March 20

As YouTube turns 15 we offer a guide to the menagerie of guitar vloggers you can find on there

On JJ Cale: “He would buy a $100 guitar, then if he messed it up by drilling holes, it was okay. That was the cost of educating himself”

By Henry Yates published 24 July 19

Cale's widow and bandmate Christine Lakeland reflects on his career and gear

John Petrucci: “The last thing you want to do is be complacent or just have ‘okay’ guitar parts and uninspired solos”

By Henry Yates published 22 May 19

The DT man talks Distance Over Time, six-string evolution and guitar-player camaraderie

Robert Fripp: The Crimson King returns

By Henry Yates published 15 April 19

On the countdown to three rare UK dates from his prog giants King Crimson, we look back at the seismic career of a “difficult” genius…

How Takamine acoustics became the hardest-working guitars in music

By Jamie Dickson, Henry Yates published 29 March 19

We head to Japan to study the roots of the luthier

Stereophonics’ Richard Jones: “I always had an affinity with the bass”

By Henry Yates published 18 March 19

The Welsh bassist on Andy Fraser, ‘filling-in’ and five-strings

Lance Lopez: “Texas guitar playing is the attitude of putting everything behind each note”

By Henry Yates published 26 October 18

Championed by Billy Gibbons. Mentored by Johnny Winter. Shattered by addiction. The Texas gunslinger tells his story

Then play on: the story of Fleetwood Mac guitarist Danny Kirwan

By Henry Yates published 24 October 18

Bernie Marsden, Jeremy Spencer and more reflect on the underrated six-stringer

James Hunter: “I think guitar playing needs to acknowledge what kind of record it’s on. A solo shouldn’t disappear up its own arse”

By Henry Yates published 14 September 18

We talk to the UK soul star

Steve Lukather: “I’m a journeyman guitar player. And I’m proud to be that. I’m the guy you call to fix s**t”

By Henry Yates published 14 June 18

The session ace looks back on 40 years of Toto

James Valentine and Sterling Ball: “Building a guitar is not like writing a song. You’re creating a three-dimensional tool”

By Henry Yates published 7 June 18

The Maroon 5 star and Ernie Ball Music Man head honcho discuss the making of the Valentine signature model

Gibson: how did we get here?

By Henry Yates published 15 March 18

Charting the troubled guitar giant's decline and how it can rise once more