
Jonathan Horsley
Jonathan Horsley has been writing about guitars and guitar culture since 2005, playing them since 1990, and regularly contributes to MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitar World. He uses Jazz III nylon picks, 10s during the week, 9s at the weekend, and shamefully still struggles with rhythm figure one of Van Halen’s Panama.
Latest articles by Jonathan Horsley

IK Multimedia teams up with Firewind guitarist and ex-Ozzy guitarist Gus G for signature Tonex suite
By Jonathan Horsley published
Welcome to the Gus G Tone Asylum – 27 high-gain Tone Models created by the man himself using his favourite amps, now available for the Tonex ecosystem

Gibson unveils ‘84 Les Paul Standard w/ Bigsby, signed by Johnny Marr to support teen cancer charity
By Jonathan Horsley published
Limited to just 20 units worldwide, this Bigsby-equipped model, inspired by his famous red LP, will be available from the Gibson Garage London from 21 February with all proceeds going to charity

Boss refreshes the Katana:Go headphone amp – new look and exterior design, same sounds and features
By Jonathan Horsley published
Quickest product refresh ever? Boss revisits the Katana:GO a year on as the battle for the headphone amp market heats up

Schecter’s unveils the Red Dawn series – sleek, shreddable S-styles with '80s action movie vibes
By Jonathan Horsley published
Schecter hits all the sweet spots here for contemporary high-performance guitar with extra-jumbo stainless steel frets, multi-voiced pickups, locking tuners, and a super-skinny neck

Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt played Kurt Cobain’s “haunted” Martin and says it was nothing special
By Jonathan Horsley published
Åkerfeldt got a chance to play the late Nirvana frontman’s 1953 D-18, aka Grandpa, in a recent visit to the Martin Museum

How Timothée Chalamet went from a guitar novice to master Bob Dylan's style in A Complete Unknown
By Jonathan Horsley published
Chalamet's guitar teacher Larry Saltzman reveals how the pursuit of authenticity and a $200 Yamaha acoustic helped the star nail his Oscar-nominated performance in A Complete Unknown

Timothée Chalamet learned to play guitar for Bob Dylan role on a $200 beginner Yamaha acoustic
By Jonathan Horsley published
Gibson supplied the period-correct acoustics for the movie but as Chalamet's guitar coach Larry Saltzman reveals, the star of A Complete Unknown bought himself a proper beginner's guitar

Behringer’s long-awaited Mu-Tron III clone arrives, promising a rabbit-hole of retro-funk for $69
By Jonathan Horsley published
Behringer broke cover with the B-Tron III a couple of years back but it's now officially here, and is another budget friendly reimagining of a classic stompbox

Gene Simmons discusses prospect of AI-generated KISS and says the “future of entertainment is here”
By Jonathan Horsley published
Appearing on Billy Corgan’s new podcast, Simmons says people will be “blown away” by the AI experience and envisages a future in which live and AI performances exist side by side

“Surely the most versatile version yet”: DOD 250 Overdrive/Preamp 50th Anniversary review
By Jonathan Horsley published
A stone-cold pedalboard classic celebrates 50 trips round the sun with a collectable edition that reminds us what the fuss is about

The Gibson Custom Shop unveils its first Heavy Aged Murphy Lab acoustic guitars for
By Jonathan Horsley published
These stunners from Gibson's Bozeman, Montana facility go heavy on the mojo for that thoroughly played-in vintage vibe

Framus reissues John Lennon’s record-breaking $2.85m “Help” Hootenanny 12-string
By Jonathan Horsley published
Framus unveils a period-correct replica of the most expensive Beatles instrument sold at auction, the 12-string that Lennon played on Help! and Rubber Soul – and there’s a six-string too

Cream legend Jack Bruce’s EB-1 violin bass to go on display at the Gibson Garage London
By Jonathan Horsley published
The life of the late Cream bassist will be commemorated with an all-star jam to raise funds for the Jack Bruce Foundation as the Gibson Garage London celebrates its first anniversary

Brian May recalls the time he played live through Hendrix’s Marshall – and it didn’t go well
By Jonathan Horsley published
Hendrix might have had the Marshall stack under his spell but the Queen says he struggled to play a chord

Jerry Cantrell reveals how Jeff Beck and Martin Scorsese influenced new solo album I Want Blood
By Jonathan Horsley published
How archive footage of Beck with a curious piece of vintage gear and Scorsese's cinematic sensibility helped Cantrell jemmy open the doors of inspiration
![Joe Bonamassa [left] plays his Epiphone 1955 Les Paul Standard and wears a bright blue suit and polka-dot; Sammy Hagar [right] wears shades, a black Cabo Wabo T-shirt and plays his red Gibson Explorer with white pickguard.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/mJhoR4YDuLs9qkUkeyS3vK.jpg)
“The track is a monster!”: Joe Bonamassa and Sammy Hagar have got the Fortune Teller Blues
By Jonathan Horsley published
Bonamassa played the entire track with an Ovation acoustic through an overdriven amp
![Joe Satriani [left] plays his Chrome Boy Ibanez signature S-style on stage, and wears a black T-shirt and wraparound shades; JImi Hendrix [right] wears a bright patterned shirt and plays his Olympic White Fender Stratocaster onstage at Royal Albert Hall.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/sPWCirz8fjBvGixtRANGCo.jpg)
Joe Satriani explains the difference between today’s online virtuosos and Jimi Hendrix
By Jonathan Horsley published
Satch says Hendrix was never played anything that sounded like an exercise – he “just sounded like music”

“Put it away and get a proper guitar!”: Andy Fairweather Low on playing with Eric Clapton
By Jonathan Horsley published
Low got the Teisco Spectrum V bug after seeing Ry Cooder with one. Eddie Van Halen loved them too. Clapton? Not so much...

Guild has holiday strumming covered with the Travel Spruce, a compact acoustic with a “big sound”
By Jonathan Horsley published
This compact but perfectly formed spruce-topped acoustic has an arched back to give it a voice that belies its modest dimensions

Sophie Lloyd is auctioning stage-played signature Kiesel in fundraiser for Pasadena animal charity
By Jonathan Horsley published
The bidding is at $7,000+ for the shreddable collectible that Lloyd played at her Whisky-A-Go-Go LA debut, with 100 per cent of the funds raised going to the animal and wildlife charity

Adrian Belew has surgery to relieve carpal tunnel syndrome following BEAT Tour
By Jonathan Horsley published
The former King Crimson guitarist was operated on by the surgeon responsible for the first successful human hand transplant in America

“A vibrant update”: By popular demand, Gibson gives the ES-335 its Custom Color refresh
By Jonathan Horsley published
Spearmint, Watermelon, Ocean Blue, Blood Moon Burst, the ES-335 and its AAA figured maple siblings have never looked so bright

“It is pretty ludicrously loud for its size”: Orange’s O Tone 40 is a solid-state powerhouse 1x12 combo for small gigs and practice and it is priced just $399 street
By Jonathan Horsley published
Those 40-watts of Class A/B power can drive that single 12" Voice Of The World speaker hard, with plenty of juice for gigging – and there's onboard tremolo and reverb to sweeten the deal

DigiTech’s HammerOn is a radical Whammy-related pitch-shifter that lets you “play the impossible”
By Jonathan Horsley published
This dual-footswitch pitch shifter has a four-octave range, seven modes including "Impossible," and can be used to create automatic trills, note sequences and much more

Fender unveils the $599 Acoustasonic Standard: is this the moment the hybrid truly went mainstream?
By Jonathan Horsley published
The Indonesian-made model breaks new ground for Fender affordability and is sure to put the Acoustasonic into the hands of more players than ever when it starts shipping in April
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