Way back in the 2000s, when Wilco (The Album) was about to come out, Paste once dedicated its website to the band. There haven’t been many themed events since then, and I think it’s time we get back to that. Throughout 2026 we’ll be dedicating one week of editorial to one idea, trend, genre, or fantasy. Later this spring we’ll write a lot about love songs, music in film, and record labels, but we’re kicking off the year with something easy: Guitar Week. The title speaks for itself, as the Paste writing cohort will spend the next seven days (eight, really) writing about the albums, on-screen moments, solos, and players it loves most. As a historically indie-rock-focused publication, this site’s pages have never lacked guitars, nor will it ever. And we’ve done some good guitar writing in recent years, like my tribute to the late Dickey Betts or Tom Curtis-Horsfall talking with Ty Segall about his ax heroes. It makes sense to start here, and we’re going to have a good time doing it.
We’re kicking things off today with some help from Grant Sharples, who wrote about how a Yasmin Williams concert reaffirmed his belief in music’s ability to conjure new possibilities from ubiquitous sources. Tuesday, we’ll be picking the greatest guitarists of the 21st century. On Wednesday, I’ll be writing about Cindy Lee’s wild and wonderful radio station from another dimension. And that same day, we’ll highlight our all-time favorite guitar scenes in film and TV. Come Thursday, Cassidy Sollazzo will walk down the paths that Joni Mitchell’s guitar has traveled. Friday we’ll present our master list of the 150 greatest guitarists of all time and associate editor Casey Epstein-Gross will write about the music that inspired her to pick up a guitar. Saturday’s Time Capsule feature will see me talking about Masayoshi Takanaka’s first five albums and, in the home stretch, we’ll choose our 50 favorite guitar solos of all time on Sunday. I’ll round out the week’s coverage with another essay on Monday and a review of Joshua Chuquimia Crampton’s new album Anata on Tuesday. So read on, you face-melting shredders. Happy Guitar Week to all. The sustain, listen to it.
