Guitar World Events

Johnny Winter graces the cover of the first issue of Guitar World magazine, which was published back in July of 1980. Also featured inside were George Thorogood and Merle Travis.

The cover of Guitar World's second issue features a great shot of Pat Metheny with jazz box in hand.

Journey's Neal Schon talks some smack on this month's cover. Also inside, articles on George Benson and vintage amps!

The late, great Frank Zappa poses with his trusty sunburst Custom for a classic Guitar World cover in March of 1982.

The age of metal is ushered in at Guitar World with this Judas Priest cover featuring K.K. Downing, Glenn Tipton and a boatload of spandex and leather!

Holy big hair, Batman! No, that's not Roseanne on this month's cover, it's a very glammed up Steve Stevens, Billy Idol's shredding sidekick. Note the pre-Wentz bat belt, and mystery butto...

Steve Vai makes his Guitar World cover debut alongside David Lee Roth bandmate Billy Sheehan. Note Steve's awesome Performance flame guitar... and Skittles pants!

Yes' Trevor Rabin and Chris Squire make their way onto this month's cover, and for those keeping score that's 2 people and 17 strings.

Michael Schenker lands on the cover of this issue with his custom black and white Flying V and outer space haircut!

George Lynch kamikazes his way onto this month's cover with his signature ESP a-blazin'! Check out those velvet pants!

A great cover shot of Keith Richards looking very cool despite wearing a very dainty watch. Guitar nerds note the replacement modern solid saddles and flat plate on Keith's Tele.

Robert Cray brings his blues styling and blue Strat to the cover of Guitar World this month. Also peeking out at us through his shades is Bon Jovi's Richie Sambora.

Night Ranger's Jeff Watson and Brad Gillis are featured this month, and although Night Ranger is not metal per se, Brad Gillis' hair earns this cover a "big hair" tag nonetheless. And hey...

Guns N' Roses young guitarists Slash and Izzy Stradlin are photographed for this month's classic cover with Les Pauls ready to go.

This issue featured the "Young Guns of Metal", with cover shots of Winger's Reb Beach, White Lion's Vito Bratta and a young and skinny, borderline big-haired Zakk Wylde!

No, that's not Edward Scissorhands, it's Steve Stevens--whose hair shows no signs of slowing down now that he's left Billy Idol. The talented guitar player makes the cover as his debut so...

Steve Vai and Joe Satriani share their first Guitar World cover, and give their first-ever joint interview--all the while rocking some cool Ibanez guitars (Vai's swirl 7-string and Satria...

This cover showcases "Metal's Cutting Edge" and features Extreme's Nuno Bettencourt, Winger's Reb Beach, and Richie Kotzen.

A great photo of Ozzy Osbourne and Zakk Wylde graces the cover this month. Dig Ozzy's yellow zoot suit, complete with crucifix.

This issue pays tribute to the great Stevie Ray Vaughan, who at that time had recently passed away in a tragic helicopter accident. He was 35 years old. It is incidentally the first issue...

Skid Row's Scotti Hill and Snake Sabo are featured on this month's cover, while Edward Van Halen peeks out from the upper corner.

James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett get fired up on this cover! This Metallica-laden issue included lessons, photos and a pull-out Pushead poster.

Pearl Jam's Stone Gossard and Mike McCready are photographed for this month's cover with their Les Paul and Stratocaster. Also inside, an incredible, in-depth Beatles lesson... pretty fab!

Blues, babes and the bizzare world of Billy Gibbons. That kind of says it all... Also on the cover, Billy Corgan--the Smashing Pumpkins' superman and the Readers Poll results.

Move over Diamond, here comes Dimebag! In his first mag appearance as Dimebag Darrell, the Pantera axeman shows you why he's the world's most dangerous guitarist! He's pictured on the cov...

Apparently on the list of the 100 most important people in guitar, it's being at #57 that will put you on the cover of Guitar World. Here's Soundgarden's Kim Thayil and Chris Cornell piss...

Stone Temple Pilots brothers Dean and Robert DeLeo appear on this month's cover with a vintage Les Paul Junior and a trippy Hofner violin bass clone.

It's hard to rock a salmon colored lace blazer, but Prince can do anything--including having custom guitars made to match the symbol he temporarily adopted for a name.

A man and his blues: Eric Clapton is featured on the cover and throughout most of the annual Blues Power issue.

The late Kurt Cobain's triumphant appearance with Nirvana on MTV's unplugged is celebrated on this month's cover. Also inside, the results of this year's Readers Poll.

Bruce Springsteen appears for the first time on the cover of this Guitar World special Rock & Roll Hall of Fame issue.

A classic photo of The Beatles during the Help! era graces the mag this month, and inside George Harrison offers a look back at the fab days.

The Offspring pose for their second Guitar World cover, on an issue that offers survival stories from some of rock's enduring successes.

Get ready to be schooled as Guitar World offers a history of hard rock, represented on the cover by a very hairy Jimmy Page rocking a Zoso sweater, awesome.