NOT JUST THE BILLIE JOE SHOW

HELLO, AND WELCOME to the final issue of Guitar World to be produced in 2023. It’s also the first issue to actually come out in 2024, the first issue to feature Billie Joe Armstrong on the cover since March 2017 and the third Armstrong cover — Louis, Lance, Neil or otherwise — during my 13 years at GW. It’s also the issue that’ll be available at the 2024 NAMM Show in Anaheim, California, in January. Sadly, I won’t be able to make it to the show this year, so please give my regards to halls B, C, D and E!

With the end of the year so close that I can reach out and smack it upside the head, I’d like to thank our readers — everyone who subscribes; anyone who picks up an issue at a newsstand, book store or Jiffy Lube waiting room; everyone who writes in with opinions, requests, reader art, Defenders of the Faith entries or weird stories about Johnny Thunders. We truly appreciate your being a part of this crazy thing that we do over the course of every four weeks.

As much as I enjoy editing and assembling themed issues (like last month’s Eric Clapton special), I really love issues like this one, aka the “everything but the kitchen sink” issues — the ones where at least seven different features are overflowing from the table of contents. It’s where/how/when I feel the magazine does the most good in its attempt to cover and mirror the ever-expanding world of guitar — or at least to deliver an enjoyable slice of said world. To that end, I’m loving this issue’s mix of characters and topics, from Marty Friedman and his interesting comments on guitar solos, to Johnny Marr (whose new book is highly recommended for gearheads), to Chelsea Wolfe, Adam Jones and Code Orange, over to Ace Frehley, who took the time out to discuss Kiss in the Seventies, to the eternally young-looking Billie Joe Armstrong (Maybe I should try jumping more?), to former NYC session ace Eddie Martinez, who ends a debate and claims ownership of the “Addicted to Love” guitar solo, to Ted Nugent (not to mention Jimmy McCarty and Dan Erlewine), to Bernie Hamburger, the Las Vegas luthier who made a few of George Harrison’s favorite instruments, some of which wound up on the final Beatles recordings.

I look forward to much more of this in 2024!