Favorite Telecaster Player/Song/Photo?

Lately I've been paying a lot of attention to guitar tones, and finding plenty of good ones out there, but there's just something about the Telecaster I find so appealing.

The first successful solid-body electric guitar, the simplicity of its technology produces an iconic sound, but there have been players who stretch the boundaries of the instrument as well.

I don't know if I could pick just one player - I go back and forth between Don Rich, whose perfect tone and simple yet compelling lines define the Bakersfield sound, and Roy Buchanan, whose jaw-dropping virtuosity has to be heard to be believed.

Obviously the guitar is only a part of the player's overall sound, and few play one instrument exclusively; both of those guys have been spotted with other (some would say lesser) axes later in their careers, but they made their bones on the Tele.

Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page are two more who, although they may have more of a body of work on different models, made significant contributions to music on their Telecasters in their salad days.

Please feel free to post any thoughts on the Telecaster and its players/songs/photos whatever.

 

my personal favourite Telecaster player...

 

Bill Kirchen

 

your link doesn't seem to work, it says blocked in my country on copyright grounds.

So I took the liberty, couldn't find a whole show link though:

 

Another favourite of mine...

 

Though he is more often remembered for playing Les Pauls, Mike Bloomfield played one earlier in his career.



I'm not terribly fond of the Tele sound. I acknowledge it's place in the pantheon of guitar tones, but it can be too thin and trebly for my ears, especially through certain amps. I do understand that its tone sits quite well in many recordings.

 

Robbie Hoddinott of 70s group Kingfish - I think he gets a really nice sound with that back pickup.

 

If only for his use of the Tele backing Dylan at Newport, Bloomfield takes his place in the history of Rock music. (Did he also play it on East/West or was that the LP?)

 

Danny Gatton. Vince Gill. Roy Nichols. Albert Lee.

 

Also Steve Cropper on all those great Stax/Volt recordings.

 

This is a collage of different versions of the song King Kong by Frank Zappa.
It's starts with a recording from the 1980's but from 5:02 until 12:12 Zappa is playing a Sunburst Tele through a Marshall Superlead at the Rainbow Theatre in 1971. This is the show where he was pushed off the Stage by an audience member, not long after this piece was recorded.

He was using the Tele because his Gibsons had been burnt in the Montreux Casino fire (immortalized in Smoke on the Water) a week earlier. He said that he liked the tone of the Tele but it was difficult to play due to heavy gauge strings.

I absolutely love his tone and technique on this one. When the band drops out and it's just him and the drums is where it really gets good. He rolls off the tone on the bridge pickup and it gets really thick sounding, after a while he rolls the tone back on and switches to the Neck pickup. You even get to hear him invent the main riff to "Big Swifty" right there in the moment.
Wonderful stuff...

 

James Burton.

 

Jimmy Bryant

 

Haha! I feel your pain.

And, oddly enough, I was a Nirvana and Floyd fan who didn't realize exactly how rich a body of influences both bands had. I'm pleased to say I've mostly learned my lesson.

 

Albert Collins, "Master of the Telecaster".

 

Keith Richards in "Ladies and Gentlemen the Rolling Stones". 5-string open tuning.

 

I spent a lot of time with those guys, Robbie was a brilliant and innovative player . . . sadly, never got the credit he deserved. Absolute killer tele tone.

 

Don Rich, about 1:20 -

 

more Don Rich:

 

born to run • 2016

 

Old, worn Fenders are a beautiful sight (Gibsons too)