February 2018

With help from our friends at the Hard Rock, we unearth Mick Taylor’s ’58 Les Paul Standard – the ’Burst heard on some of the grittiest Rolling Stones songs. We offer a great talk with Mundell Lowe, who looks back at his highly impressive career. We also speak with Ernie Isley about that time he didn’t take guitar lessons from Hendrix, and highlight his work with the Isley Brothers. Our comprehensive instrument profiles reveal the nuts and bolts on violin-shaped ’60s basses, the Migma Laute-Guitarre, Roy Smeck’s Gibson L-5, and Eko’s “celluloid” basses from the ’60s.Steven Stone talks about adding to one’s pallete with a tenor guitar, Dave Hunter explains how a bunch of very lucky teenagers ended up with the biggest amp in the world – the Magnatone Monster. Wolf Marshall shows you the best licks and tells the story of Johnny Moore, and we talk new music with Marty Friedman, Jackie Venson, Brian Tarquin, Greg Howe, Eugene Edwards, Cheetah Chrome, and Dave Wyndorf. Be sure to check out our Gear for Groovin’ guide to new basses, a bass-centric expansion of our “VG Approved Gear” reviews, “Hit List” music reviews, and much more in the February issue, available now!