“I use a lot of chords with open strings. The guys in the Heartbreakers used to laugh at me, saying, ‘You’re doing the bagpipes again!’” Mike Campbell on his unorthodox guitar style – and how Tom Petty saved his definitive Breakdown lick

Mike Campbell first tasted fame in the late ’70s as the lead guitarist in Tom Petty’s backing band The Heartbreakers.

He has worked with Stevie Nicks, Johnny Cash and the Eagles’ Don Henley, co-writing the latter’s ’80s classic The Boys Of Summer. And after touring with Fleetwood Mac in 2018-19, he has made three albums with his cheekily-named band The Dirty Knobs.

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Andrew Daly is an iced-coffee-addicted, oddball Telecaster-playing, alfredo pasta-loving journalist from Long Island, NY, who, in addition to being a contributing writer for Guitar World, scribes for Rock Candy, Bass Player, Total Guitar, and Classic Rock History. Andrew has interviewed favorites like Ace Frehley, Johnny Marr, Vito Bratta, Bruce Kulick, Joe Perry, Brad Whitford, Rich Robinson, and Paul Stanley, while his all-time favorite (rhythm player), Keith Richards, continues to elude him.