The great electric guitarists tended to favor one make of guitar over all others. They may have used others in the studio but live they became known for their trademark choice of guitar and any deviation was very noticeable. Say a name and you associate a particular make and model of guitar with them. Not surprisingly most of the choices are between the Gibsons (usually the Les Paul) and Fenders (usually the Stratocaster) but there are a few exceptions. Here are a few of the greats and their guitars.
Jimmy Page – Strictly a Gibson man. The Les Paul and his custom SG-style double neck (for “Stairway to Heaven” and a couple of others).
Jeff Beck – He started with the Les Paul but moved to Stratocasters on his second solo album in the seventies and has used them since. I always think of that iconic cover photo on his “Wired” album.
Neil Young – Electrics of choice for Young are the Les Paul (“Old Black”) and the Gretsch White Falcon. The exception was 1973 when he played a Gibson Flying V (“Time Fades Away” winter tour) and a Fender Telecaster (“Tonight’s The Night” fall tour). You could write a book about what was going on with Neil Young in 1973.
Eric Clapton – Similar to Jeff Beck EC started out playing the Les Paul in the Yardbirds and Cream. Sometime in the early seventies between his time with Delaney and Bonnie and Derek and the Dominoes he moved to the Stratocaster. It’s been his axe of choice ever since.
Duane Allman – Another Les Paul man except when he played slide and then he used a Gibson SG.
Keith Richards – Keith’s is a bit of an exception favoring multiple models of guitars for his unique 5-string open tuning riffs. Though I always think of him with his Fender Telecaster on songs like “Gimme Shelter” or “Brown Sugar”.
Bruce Springsteen – Fender Telecaster. Full stop.
Pete Townshend – Another great player who never settled for just one type of guitar. Townshend favored the Gibson SG during the heyday of “Tommy” but through the years he’s played Les Pauls and Fenders.
Mark Knopfler – It was exclusively the Fender Stratocaster for the Dire Straits front man until their “Brothers in Arms” album when he starts mixing in the Les Paul. The Gibson is featured on the beautifully understated title track.
David Gilmour – Generally a Fender man, The Pink Floyd guitarist plays a wide selection of guitars but the classic Floyd solos (“Money”, “Shine on You Crazy Diamond”, “Comfortably Numb”) were played on his favorite “black” Stratocaster.
Jimi Hendrix – Right-handed white Stratocaster turned upside down for this left-handed guitar legend.
Lowell George – Only a Stratocaster for this distinctive slide guitar player from the band Little Feat.
Bonnie Raitt – Another great slide player that favored the Stratocaster. Very understated, reminds me of Lowell George’s style and tone.
ARTS ROUNDUP
Books – “The Feral Detective” by Jonathan Lethem is not your typical detective story. It takes place in early 2017. Phoebe Siegler travels from New York to Los Angeles to hire Charles Heist to find the daughter of her close friend, narrates the story. Phoebe, who is going through her own existential crisis, is quite the character. If this novel ever gets made into a movie Heist would be played by Jaoquin Phoenix. Surreal doesn’t begin to describe their journey to find the lost girl. It took me a while to decide to read this book but I’m glad I did.
Streaming – “Bruce Springsteen on Broadway” (Netflix). The day after Springsteen wrapped his 14-month run on Broadway this recording of a July 2018 show was released on Netflix. Not exactly the live experience but it still works, on the small screen (sometimes better because of the various camera angles and way cheaper).
Music – “Songs for Judy”, Neil Young. This is a compilation of the songs from Young’s acoustic sets during his November 1976 US tour with Crazy Horse. The record was compiled by journalist /filmmaker Cameron Crowe and photographer Joel Bernstein (who recorded all the shows that November). There are songs from almost every show including two from the late show on November 20th at the Palladium that I attended. About a third of the songs were unreleased at the time.
