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The Latest Breaking News from Jared James Nichols

“I have a 1968 Plexi and Leslie West’s old Sunn amp, which Joe Bonamassa gave me”: Jared James Nichols owns a few vintage amp gems – but here’s why he still prefers Blackstars

Nichols and Blackstar have collaborated on a handful of signature amps over the years

Guitar World

“Taking Klons on the road isn’t fun. It is an easy nick”: Jared James Nichols was gifted a Klon Centaur by Joe Bonamassa – here’s how he kept it safe on the road

Nichols went from nearly having his borrowed Klon stolen to being given one of his own by the blues guitar icon

Guitar World

“What Dire Straits would sound like if Mark Knopfler grew up in the deserts of Algeria rather than the streets of Newcastle”: October 2025 Guitar World Editors' Picks

Liven up your Halloween with six-string (and five-string) sorcery from Alter Bridge, Mei Semones, Whitney, Karma Sheen, Jacob Collier, Unprocessed, and many more

Guitar World

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Classic Rock's Tracks Of The Week: October 13, 2025

Eight songs you need to hear right now, from Alter Bridge, Cheap Trick, Danko Jones and more

Louder

“One of my biggest musical influences is the king of blues power. He also played in an unorthodox tuning, which is still a mystery”: Jared James Nichols on how Albert King's electric fingerpicking changed the game for blues guitar

Albert King played upside down, in a weird tuning, and influenced SRV and Hendrix alike, and he did it without a pick. So it's no surprise Nichols is a huge fan – he breaks down King's magic

Guitar World

“Dime is in there. I have a big Eddie Van Halen influence. The same goes for Eric Clapton. It all channels back to the blues”: Mark Morton explains why he’s jamming with Grace Bowers and Jason Isbell on his solo album – and those Gibson signature rumors

His second solo album, Without The Pain, features Troy Sanders, Jason Isbell, Jared James Nichols, Grace Bowers and a stack of guitars from his frighteningly valuable collection

Guitar World

“There are so many sounds tobe discovered when you get away from using a pick”: Jared James Nichols shows you how to add “snap, crackle and pop” to your playing with banjo rolls and string snaps

Here's a blues power-up for your fingerstyle technique, as the big man combines chicken pickin' with snappy pops on the strings

Guitar World

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The best new rock songs you need to hear right now

Featuring Joe Bonamassa, Mark Morton & Charlie Starr, The Darkness and five other tattooed beat messiahs

Louder

“We’re all looking for new inspiration. Some of us have been playing humbuckers for a long, long time”: Are we witnessing a P-90 renaissance? Warren Haynes has his say

Need some fresh sounds? The Allman Bros guitarist says P-90s are "instantly the tonal change I’m looking for"

Guitar World

“This is a technique that has been used to great effect by some of my biggest blues heroes”: By thumb-picking bass notes while playing a melody, you can be your own rhythm section – Jared James Nichols shows you how

The pickless blues-rock powerhouse demonstrates some picking hand independence strategies that gets it working up a rhythm that works a treat for the solo musician

Guitar World

“For me, it’s not enough to play an idea once and then move on. I’d rather develop my initial phrase and then morph it into 10 different, thematically connected ones”: Jared James Nichols shows you how to use call-and-response blues phrasing

This Blues Power-up for your playing will help your solos speak to the audience

Guitar World

“I’m always envisioning the phrases I play as being like vocal parts”: Jared James Nichols shows you how to make your solos “sing”

The blues power advocate says thinking like a vocalist can help your solos connect with your audience – he shows you how it’s done

Guitar World

“He had one of the greatest finger vibratos of all time”: Jared James Nichols on the guitar genius of Free’s Paul Kossoff

Kossoff is one of Jared James Nichols’ six-string heroes: he unpacks the Free guitarist’s signature vibrato and phrasing

Guitar World

“He was able to make each note sound so big. When I formed my first trio the first place my mind would go was the sound of Leslie West’s guitar”: Jared James Nichols explains why Mountain man Leslie West was the “king of heavy”

In this video lesson, Nichols unpacks some of West's signature techniques and demonstrates how you, too, can scale the summit of tone and feel...

Guitar World

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Guitar World

“Everything I do in life is left-handed, except for guitar playing… Using a plectrum never felt comfortable in my right hand”: Jared James Nichols on how he came up with his unique fingerstyle approach – and why it can make your playing more expressive

In his debut Guitar World column, the master wrangler of the Les Paul shows us why you don't need a pick to wrestle a tune out of your guitar

MusicRadar

“This thing’s f***ing sick! This one’s good!”: Watch Jared James Nichols unleash Blues Power magic on Lester Williams’ “Texas Troubador” 1954 Stratocaster, one of the most vibe-y Strats you will see

Nichols might be a Les Paul guy but as a long-time SRV fan he still knows how to light up a Stratocaster... And besides, he also took the opportunity to put a '57 LP Custom through its paces

Guitar World

“When I picked up a guitar, I held it righty, but the pick never felt right in my hands, so I started to make up my own technique”: Jared James Nichols reveals how he developed his unique fingerstyle technique – and the perks of going pick-less

Nichols also demonstrates how to achieve optimum attack and dynamics with his fingerstyle technique, which was inspired by Albert King, Derek Trucks and Mark Knopfler

Guitar World

“Imagine the dirtiest Les Paul on the planet, but even worse”: Jared James Nichols is reviving a storm-destroyed Gibson – a 1975 Custom that was being played when its original owner died

The vintage instrument was ravaged by hurricane Katrina, after it had been put in storage for decades following the tragic death of its first owner

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MusicRadar

“The original owner died while playing this very guitar”: Jared James Nichols resurrects another vintage Les Paul from a devastating storm – named Katrina, it has one heck of a story to tell

Nichols has a lot of work to do to make this 1975 Les Paul Custom road-worthy but early signs are it will sound amazing and give him another vintage guitar with a legendary back story

Guitar World

“We’re taking guitar amps to where they should be in the 21st century”: Inside the incredible rise of Blackstar Amplification, from vintage-inspired beginnings to cutting-edge digital tech and the world's lightest tube amp

Blackstar's Chief Engineer Paul Stevens and Head of Products Alex Gee pull back the curtain on what keeps the British amp company at the sharp end of amplifier innovation

MusicRadar

“It’s really awesome because you have to focus on the bending, the vibrato, having the right tone, the right attack”: Watch Jared James Nichols teach Eric Clapton’s Sunshine Of Your Love solo

Nichols is the cat who caught the Cream in this tabbed Gibson video lesson unpacking one of rock’s greatest solos

MusicRadar

"You can sing it, you can hum it – you can play it": Jared James Nichols teaches you Mississippi Queen by Mountain

Fire up the P-90

Guitar World

“I lost my footing with the guitar off the hook. I get up thinking, ‘I've broken the guitar.’ I couldn't believe it”: When he was 15, Jared James Nichols played a high-end Flying V at a guitar store – but it almost ended in total disaster

As a youngster, Nichols would frequent his local Guitar Center – and he wouldn't be afraid to try out the more expensive guitars on show...

Guitar World

“I never thought I would like coated strings, but these are silky, easy to play, and lasted 9 shows”: Jared James Nichols and Henrik Linder have a new favorite set of strings – and they're designed to “get more from your guitar”

DR's Dragon Skin+ strings feature an innovative coating design that aims to get strings vibrating to their full potential – so much so that Henrik Linder thinks they “will change the way I play music”

Guitar World

“He fell in love with this guitar. He played it the entire night and it sounded phenomenal”: A lost first-year Gibson Les Paul Junior has been brought back to life against all odds – and Jared James Nichols wants to buy it

The rare guitar was discovered in a disastrous state, but has been transformed into a gorgeous and characterful blues machine

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