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From Muddy Waters and Jimmy Bryant to Prince and Susan Tedeschi, the Telecaster has at all times been a formidable instrument of guitar expression, and no different guitar sounds prefer it. This yr marks 75 years since Leo Fender started to construct his Spanish-style solidbody on the market out of his restore joint, Fender’s Radio Service. Right here’s a have a look at 21 basic solos performed on the indomitable, invincible, redoubtable Telecaster!
Emmylou Harris
“Luxurious Liner”
The Telecaster is the quintessential American solidbody – paradoxically, one in all its best practitioners is an Englishman. Albert Lee was already turning heads round London within the Nineteen Sixties, however as a member of Emmylou Harris’ Scorching Band, he grew to become a ’70s country-rock pioneer. Cue up “Luxurious Liner” to listen to Lee’s hybrid choosing in two burnin’ breaks bathed in reverb. One other Albert masterpiece, 1979’s “Nation Boy,” exhibited dazzling dotted-eighth-note echo runs, inventing the trade customary impact nearly each participant has employed.
Albert Collins
“Freeze”/“Frosty”
Whenever you say “blues” and “Tele,” one immediately thinks of Albert Collins – a proverbial grasp of the Telecaster. Along with his Fender tuned to the weird open F minor, usually capo’d, Collins attacked electrical blues with unbridled ardour for 35 years. His 1958 single “Freeze” had a uncooked, vicious tone that predated Hyperlink Wray’s assaults by a yr. A later single, “Frosty,” grew to become Collins’ signature, and codified him as one of many best Tele heroes in all bluesdom.
Booker T. & the MGs
“Inexperienced Onions”
A definitive soul instrumental, “Inexperienced Onions” is a 12-bar blues over a greasy vamp – surprisingly groovin’ for the in any other case sq. pop of 1962. Booker T. provides slinky Hammond B3 organ, whereas Steve Cropper, bassist Lewie Steinberg, and drummer Al Jackson maintain down that churning riff. Cropper’s Telecaster breaks are easy and large – simply ask The Who’s Pete Townshend, who counts Cropper amongst his prime influences.
Led Zeppelin
“Stairway to Heaven”
Aspiring guitar heroes usually imagined Jimmy Web page’s legendary solo performed on classic Les Paul by a Marshall stack, however the actuality was fairly totally different – a Telecaster by a Supro combo. The axe was Jimmy’s ’59 Fender, a present from Jeff Beck when each have been members of The Yardbirds. Initially blond, Web page added small convex mirrors and later, the “dragon” paint job. The “Stairway” lead was lower at Island Studios, a transformed church in London. On reflection, it was the proper web site for a heavenly guitar solo.
Paul Butterfield BlueWs Band
“Born in Chicago”
Was Mike Bloomfield a Les Paul hero – or Telecaster hero? Judging by the landmark first album by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, in 1965 he was a bona fide Tele king. Cue up “Born in Chicago” to listen to a few of the earliest sounds of precise blues-rock, as Bloomfield tears up and down the neck of a his ’63 with fury and angle, then ups the ante on “Shake Your Cash Maker” with savage slide and bass riffs. Really historic.
The Yardbirds
“I’m a Man”
Rock and roll modified in a single day with the Yardbirds’ “I’m a Man,” a Bo Diddley lower the Yardbirds partly recorded at Chess, in Chicago. It builds to a radical jam the place Beck, utilizing a mid-’50s Esquire, steps on a fuzzbox for spastic leads and percussive strums. In Jeff Beck: Loopy Fingers, he says, “The Yardbirds had this fame for doing climactic music, the place it could begin off smooth, construct up and go fully loopy. It was so animal, and so easy.”
Ricky Nelson
“Howdy, Mary Lou”
Peering into the mists of Telecaster historical past, “Howdy Mary Lou” stands tall. This 1961 smash from TV heartthrob Ricky Nelson featured a thin child named James Burton on electrical guitar and, within the area of some seconds, modified the way in which individuals performed guitar. How? Utilizing gentle banjo strings, he opened a brand new universe; his solo is a barnburner of Fender tone and multi-string bends, half rock and roll, half nation – and all badass. Additionally try Burton’s good break in Merle Haggard’s “I Am a Lonesome Fugitive.”
The Eagles
“Resort California”
How usually have you ever heard “Resort California” on the radio? In all probability tons of of occasions. The Eagles’ anthem builds to a two-guitar finale, kicked off by Don Felder’s thick Les Paul. Seconds later, Joe Walsh arrives with double-stops, performed on a Telecaster fed by a section shifter. Felder and Walsh swap licks till merging for a concord of arpeggios and fade-out. It’s probably the most iconic moments in FM historical past.
Buck Owens & His Buckaroos
“I’ve Received a Tiger By the Tail”
There’s candy Nashville nation after which there’s the robust tones of Bakersfield nation – that’s Buck Owens territory, and “I’ve Received a Tiger By the Tail” is one in all his finest singles. Launched in late ’64, it has a sassy, radio-ready lyric and Don Wealthy’s Leo-fueled break. Wealthy’s hybrid choosing is current all through, even behind Buck’s vocal. The solo is a single-note scorcher, with fabulous tone and artful bends which are staples of nation approach at present.
The Hellecasters
“Hellecaster Theme”
Whereas the Stratocaster dominated the ’90s, one band was wholly devoted to the Tele – The Hellecasters! Fronted by a three-headed hydra of Jerry Donahue, Will Ray, and John Jorgenson, the instrumental group was a short sensation. Their debut, The Return of the Hellecasters was a Tele inferno; although Ray and Jorgenson really spanked G&L ASATs, Donahue caught with a Fender. “Hellecaster Theme” lets us hear all three as they decide, twang baritone, B-bend – and hellaciously rip the roof off.
Speedy West & Jimmy Bryant
“Outdated Joe Clark”
Jimmy Bryant was the primary hero of the Telecaster and an early grasp of hybridizing jazz and nation music, making it swing like hell on 1954’s “Outdated Joe Clark.” Primarily based on a standard folks tune, Bryant makes straightforward work of the melody and solo with blinding Sixteenth-note phrases and even just a few proto-rock and roll licks. Certain, there have been different speedy pickers of the period – Tal Farlow, Johnny Smith, Joe Maphis, Les Paul – however no one may catch ol’ Jimmy Bryant.
Roy Buchanan
“Wayfaring Pilgrim”
Not each nice Telecaster solo is about quick, nation twang. On this minor-blues ballad from 1974, Roy Buchanan deploys a clean, heat tone on his ’53 Tele, extra B.B. King than James Burton. But the blues-rock pioneer’s strategies are staggering; his quantity swells, tremolo choosing, and bends pierce the center like few others. Later, he turns up the acquire for extra Tele chunk and edge-of-pick harmonics – suffice to say, “Wayfaring Pilgrim” is a mindblower. Someplace, Jeff Beck was listening to each notice Roy performed.
Commander Cody & His Misplaced Planet Airmen
“Scorching Rod Lincoln”
Invoice Kirchen isn’t a family title, however his licks on the 1972 novelty hit “Scorching Rod Lincoln” cemented his title within the halls of Telecaster immortality. A quick I-IV-V boogie-woogie, Kirchen performs the core riff at, effectively, hot-rod tempo, one thing few can duplicate with out extreme wrist cramps. For the duty, the guitarist deployed a ’59 Tele with a maple fretboard and sunburst end. True story: Kirchen acquired the Fender in 1967 by swapping his Gibson SG with a whole stranger on a bus.
Sure
“Sound Chaser”
Steve Howe isn’t normally related to a Telecaster, however he acquired a blond ’55 for the quasi-experimental Relayer LP of 1974, modifying it with a neck humbucker, additional pickguard, and second toggle. On “Sound Chaser,” you may hear him going berserk. A fusion idea, Howe performs speedy scalar riffs together with classical arpeggios and fiery flamenco runs. Manic electrical flamenco on a Telecaster? For the ever-groundbreaking Howe, it was enterprise as ordinary.
Marty Stuart
“Hummingbyrd”
There are fairly just a few B-bender legends, together with Byrds co-founder Clarence White. Jimmy Olander is one other, however let’s go together with Marty Stuart, who really owns Clarence’s previous Parsons-White Tele. A modded masterpiece of components, it’s probably a ’50s physique with a late-’60s neck and the mechanical guts of the B-bender. “Hummingbyrd” is dead-on good Tele twang with wonderful faux-steel bends galore. Important listening.
Prince
“Let’s Go Loopy”
When is a Tele not a Tele? When it’s a Hohner Madcat, a replica with a tortoiseshell pickguard and deep amber end. That is the axe Prince performed on Purple Rain, an album that offered greater than 13 million copies and yielded a string of hits. For “Let’s Go Loopy,” the Minneapolis celebrity drops crunchy energy chords and solos dripping with distortion and octave results. Eighties rock was by no means the identical.
Danny Gatton
“Blues Newburgh”
Whereas the Tele is universally related to nation and rock and roll (together with just a few jazz greats), it’s a killer blues plank. Danny Gatton proved this on this 1991 lower dovetailing all these genres into one guitar inferno with chordal vamps, blistering banjo rolls, bebop phrases, and screaming bends from finish to finish. Even higher, Danny adopts a feisty overdrive to make his frenzied Fender howl on the moon.
The Byrds
“Lover of the Bayou”
The union of Roger McGuinn and six-string wizard Clarence White helped start the style of country-rock, with clear twang and B-bender licks aplenty. However in 1970, White took his Tele into the post-psychedelic stratosphere on the reside “Lover of the Bayou,” a Dylanesque rocker with fuzz-heavy leads. You may hear Clarence’s monster choosing, to which he added voodoo-laden fuzz. That is purely apocalyptic Telecaster.
Dixie Dregs
“The Bash”
The Southern-fried fusion of the Dixie Dregs allow them to discover infinite kinds, together with whimsical corn-pone nation. On 1979’s “The Bash” (taped on the Montreux Jazz Pageant), Steve Morse rolled out a few of the cleanest, quickest Tele pickin’ of all time, all of the extra stunning for a younger participant tagged as a “jazz-rock” musician. Throughout Allen Sloan’s fiddle solo, take heed to Morse use the Quantity knob of his famed components Tele to emulate the swells of a pedal metal. It’s a country-rock-fusion efficiency for the ages.
Brent Mason
“Scorching Wired”
If there’s a Marvel superhero armed with a Telecaster, it could be Brent Mason. On his trademark instrumental, hybrid choosing and chordal bends are simply a part of a jaw-dropping show of pyrotechnics and rhythmic depth. Even on the quickest tempos, there’s by no means a notice misplaced or slopped collectively. Right now, Mason twangs a signature Tele with stacked pickups within the bridge and center slots, and a cool mini-humbucker within the neck. Like Brent himself, it’s one in all a form.
Marcus King and Billy Strings
“Summertime”
Right now’s younger blues-rockers often seize Teles, most notedly Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, J.D. Simo, and Marcus King. Enterprise on-line and watch Marcus jamming with flatpicking sensation Billy Strings on a model of Gershwin’s “Summertime” throughout a go to to Carter Classic in Nashville. With Billy on a ’36 000-28, Marcus performs sweeter-than-sweet runs on a ’54 blackguard. It doesn’t get far more Tele-tastic.
This text initially appeared in VG’s October 2025 challenge. All copyrights are by the writer and Classic Guitar journal. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
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