Matt Owen

United Kingdom

Trainee News Writer at GuitarWorld

Articles

“Any fan of Geordie Walker or Billy Duffy will be won over in seconds by this imperious, gothic riff”: May 2025 Guitar World Editors' Picks

1 week ago | guitarworld.com | Jackson Maxwell |Matt Owen |Janelle Borg

Hello there, and welcome to Guitar World editors’ picks – our monthly guide to the guitar tracks that have captured the attentions of our editors over the past four weeks or so. With the aid of our Spotify playlist below, we’ve rounded up all our favorite new releases from the month of May, and put them under the microscope to wax lyrical on the playing, tones, and songwriting that have set our six-string senses a-tingling.
“Everyone who met him will carry Chris’ enthusiasm and love for music of all kinds. It was impossible not to be affected by it”: Chris Bird, Guitar World Lessons Editor and former Total Guitar Editor, has died aged 48

1 week ago | guitarworld.com | Matt Owen |Matt Parker |Michael Astley-Brown

Guitar World is sad to announce the loss of Chris Bird, our friend and colleague, who passed away earlier this week, following his cancer diagnosis in 2024. A pillar of Future’s music-making titles for just shy of two decades, Chris spent the last 22 years lending his knowledge, personality, support and passion for guitar playing for his job to create lessons, tuitions, and content for Guitar World and Total Guitar.
Chris Bird, Guitar World Lessons Editor and former Total Guitar Editor, has died aged 48

1 week ago | yahoo.com | Matt Owen

Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience.Generate Key TakeawaysWhen you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Guitar World is sad to announce the loss of Chris Bird, our friend and colleague, who passed away earlier this week, following his cancer diagnosis in 2024.
“We had a remote control at home for my TV. I was messing around with that…”: The unlikely origins of Strandberg’s innovative EndurNeck - which was partly inspired by a humble household object | Guitar World

1 week ago | guitarworld.com | Phil Weller |Matt Owen

Strandberg's intuitive EndurNeck profile is a divisive design. While its angular approach may put off traditionalists, those who have experienced it themselves are quick to praise its ergonomic benefits. Now, Ola Strandberg has revealed it was partly inspired by the most unlikely everyday objects. The firm's signature and patented asymmetrical neck design utilizes flat surfaces rather than a traditional round profile.
“I talk a lot about ‘the serious musician,’ and that's our opportunity to create the next generation of serious musicians”: Guitar Center CEO Gabe Dalporto lays out one of the store's next biggest priorities for 2025 - and it isn’t selling gear | Guitar W

2 weeks ago | guitarworld.com | Matt Owen

Guitar Center CEO Gabe Dalporto has spoken at length in the past about how he’s hoping to safeguard the store’s future by improving its stock of electric guitar gear and beyond, but there’s another priority he’s passionately pursuing as the company looks to get back on track – and it has nothing to do with selling gear.
“The surgeon said I actually died on the operating table”: Thin Lizzy’s Scott Gorham recovering after suffering near-fatal health scare last year

2 weeks ago | guitarworld.com | Matt Owen

Thin Lizzy’s resident electric guitar hero Scott Gorham has revealed he came close to dying last year when he developed sepsis following surgery. As Gorham explains in a new interview on the Paltrocast podcast, he went to hospital for a kidney removal operation and ended up with sepsis, a condition that sees the body's immune system mistakenly attack its own organs in the wake of an infection. Sepsis is serious and potentially life-threatening – a fact that Gorham is now all too aware of.
“Some of the most ambitious custom shop guitars I’ve ever seen”: These are the gear releases that have caught my eye this week - and the essential launches you might have missed | Guitar World

4 weeks ago | guitarworld.com | Matt Owen

Hello, and welcome to Guitar World’s sparkly new weekly gear round-up, which will serve as your one-stop-shop for keeping up to date with what’s been happening in the big wide world of guitar gear over the past seven days. From new electric guitars to amp modeler updates, the guitar industry is never short of fresh releases, and it can sometimes be hard to stay afloat of every new launch that may be of interest to you.
“What started out as an instrumental album quickly changed”: Stone Temple Pilots’ Dean DeLeo announces One More Satellite - a new collaborative project that stars a host of special guests | Guitar World

1 month ago | guitarworld.com | Matt Owen

Stone Temple Pilots’ Dean DeLeo has lifted the curtain on One More Satellite – a brand-new collaborative project, which will be dropping its debut self-titled record via Symphonic later this summer. For One More Satellite, the electric guitar maestro has called upon a host of special guests, from old bandmates to new collaborators, all of whom will feature sporadically across the upcoming record’s 10-song tracklist.
“I realized he couldn't play well enough to put the video out”: Rick Beato weighs in on the Giacomo Turra controversy - and discusses their ill-fated collaboration | Guitar World

1 month ago | guitarworld.com | Matt Owen

I didn't want to comment on this, but... - YouTubeWatch On Rick Beato has weighed in on the online controversy surrounding Giacomo Turra, revealing that the social media guitar star was slated to appear on his channel – but the video was pulled due to the quality of Turra’s playing.
“I realized he couldn't play well enough to put the video out”: Rick Beato weighs in on the Giacomo Turra controversy - and discusses their ill-fated collaboration | Flipboard

1 month ago | flipboard.com | Matt Owen

“B.B. King was in a wheelchair for maybe four or five years before he died, and I’m not on crutches yet”: Fresh off his cameo in Michael B. Jordan’s Sinners, Buddy Guy confirms he’s not done with performing just yetIf you've been anywhere near the cinema lately and managed to catch Sinners – the buzzy new movie starring Michael B. Jordan – you may have noticed a …

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