There was so much great guitar music to celebrate this year, with the return of Metallica, The Rolling Stones and a fired-up Nuno Bettencourt, alongside the rise of modern virtuosos Matteo Mancuso and Sophie Lloyd. But the story of 2023 began with the loss of one of the most influential players of all time…
So many things happen in a year in guitar, it can be hard to keep track. But when 2023 is done and dusted, how will it be remembered? Will it be remembered? Perhaps not by Kevin Buell, Bruce Springsteen’s guitar tech, who, in February, during ashow at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena, got cleaned out by the world’s first massproduced electric guitar when The Boss threw his Telecaster to him in customary fashion and it connected with his head. Thankfully there was no lasting damage from an incident that proved there was still danger in rock ’n’ roll.
The guitar and those who play it are fated to live out a strange existence; this instrument takes us to some strange places, doing some strange things.
What went through DragonForce’s Herman Li as he shredded down a water slide in amask and snorkel during the 70,000 Tons Of Metal Cruise? Chlorinated water, if he’s lucky.
The year in gear is a story unto itself, but we must note some of the weird builds we have seen from outside of the music instrument industrial complex; guitars like the custom S-style that Devil &Sons’ Daniel Wallis builds that was equipped with an iPad where you would normally find the pickups. The official line from Wallis says it’s for playing along to video lessons and backing tracks. Our six-string obsession can steer us towards new discoveries. If you follow Aaron Rash on YouTube you will see why. His relentless quest to explore Kurt Cobain’s In Utero tones culminated in the building of a replica aluminium Veleno and recreating a tone unerringly close to what we hear on the recording.
VIRTUOSITY AND ‘THE FUTURE OF GUITAR’
Obsession steers us to new heights in performance, too. This was a year in which virtuosity was once more pushed a little further, in hard-rock by the longanticipated return of Extreme and Nuno Bettencourt with a fire under his ass. We also witnessed the rise of Sophie Lloyd, whose all-star debut album, Imposter Syndrome, finally secured her place at shred’s top table –and a number one –after years building a YouTube following that’s now millionsstrong, and becoming first-call guitarist for Machine Gun Kelly. We also bore witness to the debut of Matteo Mancuso with TheJourney, which feels like an epochal moment for the instrument. Whether applied to rock or jazz, the Sicilian’s bravura fingerstyle approach is audacious and it looks like Al Di Meola, Steve Vai and Joe Bonamassa were right; this kid is the f
