As you might've guessed by now, our September 2024 issue brings Slash, Christone "Kingfish" Ingram and Samantha Fish together on the cover for the first time since, well, ever.
And for those of you who are keeping track, this is cover number 4,357,201 for Slash, cover number 2 for Samantha Fish and, depending on how you count them, cover number 2 or 3 for Kingfish. Hell, let's call it 3.
Why did we cram these three humans into a Los Angeles photo studio and take a billion photos of them? Because they – and other great artists, including Warren Haynes, Larkin Poe, Robert Randolph, ZZ Ward, Eric Gales and Jackie Venson – are hitting the road together for a little something called the S.E.R.P.E.N.T Festival.
Which you can read about in the new issue. And speaking of which, here's what we've crammed into GW this month:
>>> With his S.E.R.P.E.N.T. Festival, Slash – a favorite son of the '80s L.A. hard rock scene – has put together a summer blues tour for the ages. The GNR guitarist talks B.B. King, some unexpected gear choices and why and how his blues passion was reignited (and what that means for the future).
>>> Christone “Kingfish” Ingram discusses hitting the road with Slash and Experience Hendrix, his LP-style signature guitar (made by Fender), his five essential blues tracks and how it felt growing up as a blues-digging outsider.
>>> S.E.R.P.E.N.T. Festival co-star Samantha Fish talks meeting Slash (during this issue’s cover shoot), her five essential blues tracks and why you might need a swig of R.L. Burnside’s A Ass Pocket of Whiskey.
>>> ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons – a longtime Slash amigo – discusses his Hoochie Coochie Man gear, Kingfish and the B.B. King album he can’t live without.
>>> Gary Clark Jr. – the one-time "savior of the blues" – has thrown off his many labels and delivered JPEG Raw, his most musically diverse offering yet.
>>> Lefty giant Eric Gales shows off (and explains) (his pedalboard!
This issue – aka the vertically appealing September 2024 issue of Guitar World – is available right here, right now.
But wait, there's also this other stuff!
>>> Ahead of their joint Ashes of Leviathan tour, Lamb of God’s Mark Morton and Mastodon’s Bill Kelliher look back on having rocked the boat and torched the metal scene with their respective 2004 releases.
>>> On Drama, his vintage-gear-fueled new album, former Megadeth man Marty Friedman promises “the absolute purest, highest-percentage, highest-calorie version” of who he is as a guitarist and artist.
>>> Bruce Kulick – the steady-as-a-rock guitarist during Kiss’s non-makeup era – discusses the making of Crazy Nights, Hot in the Shade and Revenge (and, um, not being asked to take part in the band's final shows).
>>> No amp company launched over the past two decades has infiltrated the market quite like Blackstar Amplication. As we learn from two head designers, their secret lies in understanding what modern guitar players need – and then thinking outside the box.
Plus new interviews with Towa Bird, Nick Johnston, Goo Goo Dolls' Johnny Rzeznik, Witherfall's Jake Dreyer, Parlor Greens' Jimmy James, Blushing's Michelle Soto, Jamie Dickson and Orianthi.
Gear-wise, we explore the history and allure of the Gibson Explorer and review a whole bunch of stuff, namely:
>>>EVH SA-126 Special
>>>Orangewood Guitars Juniper Sunburst Live (Rubber Bridge)
>>>Warm Audio Warm Bender and Ringerbringer pedals
>>>Dophix Medici More Fuzz.
We have new columns by Andy Wood, Joe Bonamassa, Andy Timmons and David Grissom, plus transcriptions of the Allman Brothers Band's Jessica, Chris Stapleton's Midnight Train to Memphis and the Dead Kennedys' Police Truck (by popular demand, believe it or not).
You can buy new issues of Guitar World at Barnes & Noble, Walmart, Hudson News, Books a Million and other stores – and online from Magazines Direct. And, while you're at it, why not save on every issue by subscribing?
