Guitar Player

Guitar Player is a well-known magazine in the United States that caters to guitar enthusiasts. It was established in 1967 in San Jose, California. The magazine features a variety of content, including articles, interviews, reviews, and lessons that cover a diverse range of artists, music styles, and products. Since its launch in late 1967, it has maintained a print presence. Currently, Michael Molenda serves as the editor. Guitar Player is also a member of the Music Player Network.

National, Consumer

English

Magazine

Outlet metrics

Domain Authority

Ranking

Global

#36828

United States

#8756

Arts and Entertainment/Music

#94

Traffic sources

Monthly visitors

Articles

“I loved his playing, I loved his presence.” Martin Barre on the guitarist that put the fire into his “Locomotive Breath” solo

1 day ago | guitarplayer.com | Phil Weller

For a guitarist adored by a score of rock royalty's most prolific figures, Leslie West has rarely been recognized to the same extent as those in his fan club. Eddie Van Halen loved the guitarist so much that he invited him to jam a Mountain song. Afterward, West said Eddie knew the tune better than he did. Even "Hot for Teacher" shows evidence of West's influence.
"For most guitarists, the idea of spending this kind of money on a pick is pretty bonkers.” How a $35 guitar pick made fans out of John Mayer and Billy Strings

1 day ago | guitarplayer.com | Phil Weller

Not many guitar players put aside a sizable budget for guitar picks, but the $35 BlueChip pick, now considered “the gold standard of high-end picks,” saved its creators from financial ruin and has been reshaping the industry ever since. It's convincing some player to reassess their budgets.
“I’ve never been very confident as a player.” Alex Lifeson reveals he had doubts about his guitar playing throughout his career with Rush

2 days ago | guitarplayer.com | Phil Weller

It may be hard to fathom that virtuoso guitar players like Eddie Van Halen, with his two-handed tapping, or Matteo Mancuso , who Joe Bonamassa said has "completely reinvented the instrument," could have insecurities about their playing. But many great players — including Pete Townshend — have had to deal with doubts about themselves and their talents. Alex Lifeson understands that all too well.
“Since we don’t have a time machine, this is our best chance to solve a decades-long mystery.” Gibson launches hunt for the 'Back to the Future' guitar that inspired John Mayer and Coldplay's Chris Martin

3 days ago | guitarplayer.com | Phil Weller

The electric guitar has had some iconic silver screen moments. Steve Vai's virtuoso performance as a guitar-touting devil in Crossroads and Steve Cropper's Blues Brothers spot immediately spring to mind. But few have proven as influential as the climactic scene in 1985's highest-grossing film, Back to the Future. Michael J. Fox’s protagonist, Marty McFly, flummoxed audiences with a rousing take of Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode” at the Enchantment Under the Sea school dance.
“Not just Wayne's sound but his attitude, and the grit and rawness of the MC5.” Tom Morello tests the new MXR Jail Guitar Doors overdrive designed with the late MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer

3 days ago | guitarplayer.com | Phil Weller

Proto-punk legend Wayne Kramer has been honored with a feral new signature overdrive pedal that re-creates the guitarist's raw and relentless tone while it celebrates his pioneering attitude. The new, limited-edition MXR Jail Guitar Doors Drive pedal from Dunlop/MXR is the result of a collaboration between the late guitarist, his friend Jimi Dunlop (CEO of Dunlop) and Daredevil Pedals owner Johnny Wator. Kramer's fingerprints are all over this pedal.
“My mum always would say, ‘You have a gift from God,’ and I’d say, ‘Sure — but I’m working my ass off!’” Yngwie Malmsteen on guitars, Eric Clapton and what he said when Kiss came calling for him in 1982

1 week ago | guitarplayer.com | Jonathan Graham

Fresh off celebrating the 40th anniversary of his groundbreaking debut Rising Force, Yngwie Malmsteen is once again unleashing the fury with a brand-new live album, Tokyo Live, that captures the neoclassical icon doing what he does best. “I don’t plan anything,” he tells Guitar Player. “Not the solos, not the intros, not even the setlist.
“You were the person that made me think, Wow, that slide can make some real good rockin’ music!” Rick Derringer told us how he inspired Duane Allman to become the greatest slide guitarist in rock

1 week ago | guitarplayer.com | Christopher Scapelliti

Rick Derringer’s guitar talents made him a go-to player for artists across the spectrum. Over the course of his 60-year career, the guitarist — who died May 26 — performed onstage or on record with Johnny and Edgar Winter, Todd Rundgren, Steely Dan, Cyndi Lauper, Barbra Streisand and numerous others over music's various genres. If Derringer’s talents rode below the radar of many rock fans, they were evident to his contemporaries.
“Guns N’ Roses is what broke us all away from Mötley Crüe and Ratt... stuff we didn't want to be lumped with in.” Tracii Guns on L.A. Guns' long run — and why Slash was the right choice for GN’R

1 week ago | guitarplayer.com | Joe Bosso

It’s a Saturday afternoon, and guitarist Tracii Guns is seated in the back of a tour bus. This is where he’s spent most of his time since March, when he and his band, L.A. Guns, hit the road in the U.S. After a short break in June, he and the group will be back at it until October, and chances are they’ll be booked through the end of the year. “All the real work gets done between touring,” he says. “You write songs, you record, you sign the contracts, you do the merch — you do all that stuff.
"There’s so much yet to come." Guitarist Paul Stanley weighs in on Kiss’s Las Vegas show, admitting, "I certainly miss the camaraderie onstage" with Gene Simmons and Tommy Thayer

1 week ago | guitarplayer.com | Andrew Daly

In late March 2025, it was announced that Kiss would be “storming Vegas.” People weren’t sure what that meant at first, other than some version, or perhaps a partial version of Kiss, probably with founders and forever holdovers, Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, performing at the event. Soon after Kiss Army Storms Vegas was announced, onlookers found out that it was, in fact, true and that Stanley and Simmons would be performing.
The earliest live Sly and the Family Stone recordings are among the treasures from San Francisco's Summer of Love era rediscovered and released by High Moon Records

2 weeks ago | guitarplayer.com | Jimmy Leslie

The late ’60s and early ’70s heyday of rock music was unlike anything before or since. While much of the era's music has been preserved on record, many groovy grooves have slipped through the cracks. That where High Moon Records looks to rediscover and release the period's overlooked gems.