Pro players weigh in on 2022’s best new albums, songs, guitar moments, guitarists of the year and more
Compiled by DAMIAN FANELLI, JOE BOSSO, JIM BEAUGEZ, JON WIEDERHORN, AMIT SHARMA AND ADAM KOVAC
TO HELP US sort through the new music that blasted out of our noise-canceling headphones (and earbuds!) in 2022, we turned to a horde of guitarists — gifted men and women with their noses to the grindstone and their ears to the ground — and asked them to name their favorite guitar-centric albums, songs, guitar solos and riffs from 2022 — plus their favorite 2022 guitar moments, new bands/guitarists and gear. Some of them even named their guitarist of the year, which, we have to admit, makes for some interesting reading! Dig in — and enjoy! — DF
JOHN PETRUCCI
SONG: “Tippa My Tongue,” Red Hot Chili Peppers
RIFF: “Kill or Be Killed,” Muse
SOLO: “Desolation,” Joe Satriani
NEW BAND/GUITARIST: Arch Echo
GEAR: Archetype: Petrucci plugin from Neural DSP
GUITAR MOMENT: Wolfgang Van Halen at the Taylor Hawkins tribute concert in London. I couldn’t believe how brilliantly he played.
ALBUM YOU LISTENED TO MOST (NEW OR OLD):
Swinging Strings, Joscho Stephan
GUITARIST OF THE YEAR: Tommy Emmanuel. I’ve been a fan for years. I saw him recently at Town Hall (New York City), and
he was astonishing.
CHRISTONE “KINGFISH” INGRAM
SONG: “All Cranked Up,” His Lordship
ALBUM: Crown, Eric Gales RIFF: “Bad Habit,” Steve Lacy NEW BAND/GUITARIST: His Lordship GEAR: ProCo Lil RAT distortion pedal and the new Fender Kingfish “Mississippi Night” signature Telecaster ALBUM YOU LISTENED TO MOST (NEW OR OLD): The Very Best of Prince GUITARIST OF THE YEAR: Eric Gales
KYLE SIPRESS (The Devil Wears Prada)
SONG: “Pass the Nirvana,” Pierce the Veil
ALBUM: A toss-up between Meshuggah’s Immutable, Cloakroom’s Dissolution Wave and Viagra Boys’ Cave World RIFF: Botch, “One Twenty Two” NEW BAND/GUITARIST: Dying Wish GEAR: My new Dunable Gnarwhal. It has a sick, Gold/Green color-shift paint job, Bareknuckle Blackhawk pickups and an Evertune bridge. It’s stacked!
GUITAR MOMENT: Finally seeing Limp Bizkit live. I’ve always been a very mild fan, but I’m a full Bizkit fan after their live show. Also, the fact that Rage Against the Machine are finally able to play their comeback tour is pretty huge.
MIKE STRINGER (SPIRITBOX)
SONG: “Spillways” by Ghost! I always have it stuck in my head, and the solo rips.
RIFF: “The Abysmal Eye” by Meshuggah. I love how they build off of the main riff — and how pummeling it is the
