Who was the first player to influence you on the Telecaster

Jimmy Page

Keef did it for me !

Mike Bloomfield

For me it would have to be Tommy Emmanuel in his younger electric days.
Beautiful old tele and great sound.
The first vid shows off it's versatility (as well as Tommys) and the second vid......well I just like it. Some tricky notes in there if you listen.

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Status Quo for me too. 1974 after learning some Shadows songs, I got my first battered old acoustic guitar and I used to hammer out Quo riffs ( Badly I might add) Buchanan made an impression on me too later on. I went through the whole teenage Les Paul high gain thing in the late seventies but the Telecastrer drew me back to the Fender sound in the eighties when I got into the blues. Bought my first 'proper' Tele an have always had one since.

No particular player really inspired me to get a Tele, it was more the guitar itself that inspired me, but my fav Tele player has to be Johnny Greenwood, i think. Being relatively younger most of the people here are players of the past (not saying I don't like them)

1997 Blur`s album Blur and Graham Coxon / fantastic 52 sound into marshall plexi

James Burton on Gram Parsons' "Las Vegas"
Steve Cropper on "Soul Man"
Jimmy Page on "Whole Lotta Love"

Aren't we forgetting someone???

JOHNNY GREENWOOD FROM RADIOHEAD!

+1

Keith Richards!

the first was Francis Rossi of Status Quo
then
Andy Summers
Pete Townsend
Larry Carlton
Bruce Springsteen
Crissy Hynde
Tom Petty
......

and then i discovered country music....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-DdEEiCsvQ

The guitarist in this video. He's not the best guitar player in the world, but he's the reason I bought my first Tele 5 years ago.

Stuart Braithwaite from the band Mogwai.

+1
+ about a Million.

Billy Carter of the Screaming Blue Messiahs: imagine Bo Diddley on steroids. These guys killed live.

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Gotta go with Don Rich too...

Graham Coxon for me here. In my opinion, he's probably the greatest guitarist of his generation (and a lovely chap as well!).

Also love the early Led Zep stuff with Jimmy Page playing Tele, raw tone and energy.

My first Tele influence was Clarence White. Then I really got into the work of James Burton and Albert Lee - of course, both Tele-players (well... Albert was at one time, and I -just- pulled the trigger on one of his signature guitars, hoping that I can bond with it).

With the exception of sometime-Tele player John McFee, nobody who was in their prime past the late-60's/early-70's unfortunately... I wish guitarists these days had better taste and better chops.

Don Rich / James Burton in equal measures.

the first was Richie Kotzen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7Qr3romi9U

Marty Stuart, then Vince Gill and Albert lee

Ted Greene, definitely

Now that I really think about it, when I was a young kid I really loved Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. At the time I didn't know who played which guitars, but I knew that I loved that jangly guitar tone. He's probably the reason that I dig Rics as well.

Wasn't anyone in particular, I wanted a tele because everyone has a strat, and I wanted to be differant. So here I am bought a tele and love it. But since then I'd have to say Luther Perkins has really inspired me.

Frank Black

I'd have to say Tony and Brian from the Derailers. Listening to "Reverb Deluxe" and then seeing them with their Tele's at the Crystal Palace. More recently Dan Auerbach, Dale Watson, etc.

Bill Broderick.
Bill even fronted me the cash for my Tele.
We've been friends for over 40 years.

Jim Campilongo

Page & Beck from the Yardbirds days, Keith Richards & then Bruce Springsteen.

Bill Kirchen when he played with Commander Cody; I saw them many times around the SF/Berkeley CA scene, before they ever had that hit on Hot Rod Lincoln.

Buck Owens on Hee Haw

Albert Lee. My number one guitar hero.

JIMMY PAGE!

http://www.cqbarms.com/photos/albums/userpics/JimmyPage_OaklandJuly241977.jpg

Steve Howe (video should start at 1:44):

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Andy Summers:

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TUXEDO....
Ricky's mini tele is an Electric Mandolin made by Joe Glaser here in Nashville ......Bruce Bouton on Dobro (wearing his cowboy hat backwards I might add) He's a good friend so I hope I can safely point that out !!!!!:oops::lol:

My First influence on Tele (Esquire actually) Was JEFF BECK! circa 1966

Bill Hullett

luther perkins! great player..

Definitely Joe Strummer and Wilko Johnson, as well as Graham Coxon to a degree. I just saw the Telecaster as a no-nonsense machine gun-like thing, with a stinging sound. Yet it still had a nice ringiness to it, ala early Who, Beatles and The Jam. I can easily emulate a sound not unlike the latter three bands with a tasteful amount of Vox-esque crunch using my CV Telecaster.

By the way, her's Wilko Johnson shwing what a Telecaster was made for:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eVyofFm0Rw

I think it was the sound for me first,.....TWANG of course and then the simplicity and watching the rockers be in awe at the non gizmo'd guitar making all those sound and effects by a guy with a two single coil pickup plain looking guitar. After learning more about different guitars I played one and for some reason never got one till a few years ago. Now I have two, just got a "beater Squier Affinity" to knock around on and My Number 1, Baja Tele( it's a dream!) And that neck is to kill for!!!!
Sounds and influences: Waylon, Arlen, Don Rich, Roy, Buck, Luther, Danny, Brent, Albert Lee, Burton, too many others to remember.

I think it was the sound for me first,.....TWANG of course and then the simplicity and watching the rockers be in awe at the non gizmo'd guitar making all those sound and effects by a guy with a two single coil pickup plain looking guitar. After learning more about different guitars I played one and for some reason never got one till a few years ago. Now I have two, just got a "beater Squier Affinity" to knock around on and My Number 1, Baja Tele( it's a dream!) And that neck is to kill for!!!!
Sounds and influences: Waylon, Arlen, Don Rich, Roy, Buck, Luther, Danny, Brent, Albert Lee, Burton, too many others to remember.

And the fact that you really have to play the thing and coax the sounds out of it.

Watching old footage of The Flying Burrito Brothers made me want a tele.
http://30daysout.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/flying20burrito20bros1.jpg

But seeing Jimmy Page playing one showed they can do rock and blues too, not just country.
http://i373.photobucket.com/albums/oo180/zeppy72/1969-01-31FillmoreEast4.jpg?t=1237793512

And that thought was really cemented when I found that Neil Young played a Broadcaster on "Tonight's The Night", one of my favourite albums.
http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/25165911/Neil+Young+neil_fender_74.jpg

Watching old footage of The Flying Burrito Brothers made me want a tele.
http://30daysout.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/flying20burrito20bros1.jpg

This clip shows them with the two most iconic Telecaster models IMO - an early 50's Butterscotch "Blackguard" and an early 60's Blond "Whiteguard".

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Keith, Bruce and Joe Strummer. Not in any particular order but

Keith made me want to play guitar, so I did. Bruce taught me how to wear it and use it as a tool . Joe wore it and used it the same way as Bruce.

Roy Buchanan, james Burton, Jimmy Page need I say any more.

Plus it's the coolest looking two pieces of wood on the planet

ditto on Buck Owens on Hee Haw that red white and blue was awsome :) ...lol
Daniel

Albert Lee or perhaps Danny Gatton.

Well, there was not one person in particular to influence me to buy my Tele. The following players have me picking up my Tele more and more. This is in no particular order.

Frank Black & Lyle Workman- Frank Black and the Catholics

Jerry "Hot Rod" DeMink- Billy Bacon and the Forbidden Pigs. I saw Billy and the Pigs live and Jerry is awesome live.

Peter Wood-Dramarama. The intro to Anything Anything...... well?

Greg Dulli- Afghan Whigs. Greg plays a Rosewood Tele, fricken cool!

Prince- Prince's performance at the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame induction of George Harrison is in my opinion.... awesome!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWvzTYlHpqU

I was aware of plenty of Tele players, but the first guitarist whose music I really loved/respected who played a Telecaster:

Charles Thompson / Black Francis / Frank Black

I locked into the Pixies hard after 'Doolittle' came out, and quickly gobbled up everything I could find. Darned if I didn't discover that Frank was (and still is, IIRC) primarily a Tele player.


+1 on Frank Black.

Saw The Pixies last year in London on the Doolittle anniversary tour and he is still playing a Tele :smile:

Johnny Greenwood and Ed O'Brien from Radiohead. They were coaxing some ridiculous stuff out of their Teles. Radiohead was my favourite band for a while there but now I rarely if ever listen to them. Their greatest contribution to me as a musician is not in their influencing my style of playing per se but in pushing me towards buying a Telecaster. I had no idea how versatile and awesome these guitars were at the time but in my ignorance I bought what is to this day my one and only axe.

A decision made so hastily could have turned out pretty horrible. Luckily for me it didn't. I absolutely love my Telecaster!

the first was Richie Kotzen

My brother, Kris. I watched him play and new I always wanted to do that. He had a 74 tele that sat in a closet for a long time, until 1989 when I asked him if he'd sell it to me. He told me, if I got it fixed and gave him $150 it'd be mine. Still the best deal I've ever gotten and I'd never part with it. Unless, of course it was back to him. I'm sure it was his way of giving me a gift, but making me work a little for it. {:-)

a young guy I saw play one at a party when I was a teen ....was awed by his vibrato...........then a few weeks later another young guy with an natual wood tele.......watched him change strings then wail.........I guess I was as a college older teen to see and here two teles up front and personal

Keef, Joe Strummer and just the general beauty and sound of a tele.

Jimmy Page and Roy Buchanan.

Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt of Status Quo... saw them first on tv when I was about 8.

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Yup, Rossi and Parfitt for sure. Also Rory Gallagher on the inside sleeve of his 'Jinx' album, and Luther Perkins - used to love listening to my dads' Cash LPs, still do.

Roy buchanan sweet dreams

Springsteen! Been a long time fan!

Keith Richards, Joe Strummer and Jimmy Page

To my mind the Holy Trinity of Rock and Roll Tele players.

Frank Black (Black Francis)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vC02eNaevG4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vC02eNaevG4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTTPv8_95KY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTTPv8_95KY&feature=related

graham coxon and joe strummer opened my eyes. i still think graham's chunky rhythm tone is the greatest guitar tone of all time.

after these guys opened the floodgates, i discovered jim campilongo and, probably my favorite guitarist, marc ribot.

honorable mentions are george harrison, keef and peter buck in the early REM days.

i first listened to keith richards and i loved that hard sound, clean and simple... but the one who show me the way was gatton

This sounds weird, but it wasn't a player as such. I watched Terminator 2 when Arnie walks into the bar naked and heard that twangy country music playing in the background. Loved the guitar sound and realised that some day I was gonna learn guitar and get a Tele! Anyone know the band playing on the soundtrack???

Saw Vince Gill in concert back in the mid 90s and was blown away by what he could do on a guitar.

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I'm puzzled the way it sounds like a battle won, and over and done with on almost all of these posts.

Maybe it is the way the original question was posed, or the way the first 20 responses went.

I gotta tell you I was fickle; I wanted this guitar then that one, then that one then that one.

And my "favorite's" choice of guitar sometimes has nothing to do with the guitar I thought would be suit me, my role, and my style of play. Just because Gary Cooper was a cool actor did not mean I wanted my hair cut the way he had his, is what I'm saying.
But ten minutes later and I am trying to look like, trying to be like some other role model. I guess I was a movies/books/radio kind of kid since we had not TV in the house. Different types of influences; I was thinking should I practice the piano, the Farfisa, or the guitar. The only difference that sometimes mattered between guitars was the amount of feedback the guitar produced. :wink: Or whether it was a Harmony piece of cr8p that could not be played at all. :mad:

For some people, the deal is made, everything in locked in tight and forever. I don't feel that way. I may enjoy playing a Tele more than the others but I am still gonna be caught looking the other way, to see what other folks are doing. I guess that usually, I would rather be influenced subtly by someone as opposed to be seen obviously aping them. Sometimes I intentionally chose another brand or model of guitar just so my inspiration would not seem so facile.

:^)

My Dad, back in 1966. That's when he gave me a brand new Tele and a Twin Reverb to go with it.

golfnut...by now, I'm sure someone has told you the Tele master with Ricky Scaggs is Ray Flacke...one of my absolute favorites...he refired my interest in Teles. And, like Albert Lee, he's British! Amazing player(s)! But the first guy was James Burton, playing with Ricky Nelson on the old Ozzie & Harriet TV show, which I watched as a little shaver. Even now, his solos on the old Rick(y) Nelson singles are just great!
Many great players were later influences, but Burton and Flacke are the strongest.

Since I am a recent convert to loving Telecasters, my Tele influence is a bit different.
Mine is Bill Frisell. Love the sound he uses, with delay and reverb to play jazz, country, and all the different things he plays.
Also, Ted Greene sounds wonderful.

Since I am a recent convert to loving Telecasters, my Tele influence is a bit different.
Mine is Bill Frisell. Love the sound he uses, with delay and reverb to play jazz, country, and all the different things he plays.
Also, Ted Greene sounds wonderful.

Yup. Bill Frisell was the first for me as well.

James Burton in his Presley days.

Roy Nichols and Pete Anderson. Still do.

Terminator 2..."Guitars, Cadillacs"...Dwight Yoakam

Syd Barrett. That's when I knew I had to have one.

In the early 70ies most big main-streamers played a Stratocaster or a LP. In my small Teen world the iron curtain was just that and maybe a little ES-335. Then some day I saw Slade's Noddy Holder playing a Tele on some of their single covers. It was a shot from the rear that showed him and the Tele headstock that really got my attention. Thought that this headstock looked like serious business compared to the baroque strat headstock and that the Tele design as a whole sure looked a lot more masculine an sportive than any other apparato. Seemed to be the right guitar for such a wild live act like the Slade definitely were in those days.
However it took a long time until I realized what can be done w. such an odd minimalistic piece of shrill sounding plank.

The guy who really teached me what a Tele can do was Albert Collins in a small club in 1979. Although there are a world of fantastic tele players around, Albert was my most influental experience.

I fell in love with it because of two people:

one of the guitarists of the eagles in a live performance of Hotel California (you could hear the difference and the twang in the solo against a Double Neck SG)

Ralph Macchio in Crossroads... (lol)

I know he wasn't playing (it was Ry on the slide parts) but he looked cool and I liked the whole "David vs Goliath" thing I mean, a Tele fighting a FloydRosed Charvel??, fighting a double neck SG?? WOW

but I'd never like to see a battle between a tele and a PRS Singlecut... the Singlecut will win... by a nose.

Sorry, I just can't stop drooling over PRSs, I'm a Tremonti guy... (see avatar)

I was weaned on The Beatles - so when it was time to look for a guitar I wanted a Gretsch or a Rick like George's. Wasn't very aware of the different types of Fenders. Springsteen was the first who I identified as a tele player (though I remember some confusion when looking at the Born to Run album sleeve - why did his tele say "Esquire"...hmmm...) and then Joe Strummer came along and sealed the deal for me.

Steven Stills in the 70`s actually an Esquire..

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Don Rich, but Ray Flacke made me buy one.

Keith Richards. Exile, plus his two solo records. Fantastic playing and tone. I'm headed to get the Exile reissue right now.

Terminator 2..."Guitars, Cadillacs"...Dwight Yoakam

Cheers Slann!!!

Chrissie Hynde and Sheryl Crow

I'll have to go with James Burton (Ricky Nelson) Albert Lee The Hot Band and Roy Nickles.

Feb52

Jeff Buckley's "Grace" had just come out and the guys in The Smoking Popes had just released a new album with a lot of tele goodness. That's what convinced me to get a tele over a strat back when I was buying the first guitar my did didn't give me. Shortly after that Albert Collins helped me feel even better about that choice.

I almost wish I could say it was other guys that got me there first, but I didn't learn about all the other people that played tele's until a long time after that.

Although, Jeff Buckley played absolutely amazingly on that album. In hindsight (aka, potential hogwash statement incoming) I would say his expressiveness, and the Smoking Popes straight ahead chord bashing style showed me, at the time, that I could play a lot of different things with a tele. It's still true today.

Luther Perkins with Johnny Cash, and countless Nashville session players who recorded in the 60s and 70s.

My parents were both big country music fans, and had music playing all the time at home or in the car. My mom, especially, loved Johnny Cash... so from the day I came home from the hospital as a baby I was hearing that sound.

I can remember not long after I started playing music (I was about 14 or 15) I saw a country band performing at a carnival. The guitarist was playing a Tele, and it was the first time I realized, "Oh THAT'S the guitar that makes that country sound... that Johnny Cash sound." Even though I leaned more towards punk rock at the time, I remember how good it sounded to me to hear that sound live, instead of just on a recording.

Andy Summers

Russell Lissack and Kele Okereke

Arlen Roth (:

When I was growing up in the sixties and seventies, all the legends were playing strats or LP's. I thought Tele's were an old design, very uncool. Now there seems to be a new guitar model out every day, and I started to realise what a classic design the tele is. Then I started to notice that a lot of *very* good guitarists played the thing. Roy Buchanan, Ted Greene, Andy Summers, and even Jimmy Page. To me now, it's the ultimate guitar. It has everything you need and nothing you don't need. It's like Leo took a chunk of wood, and removed everything that wasn't guitar. And how did I ever think the headstock was ugly?

Status Quo when I saw them live in 1973

Albert Collins

For me, unbelievably, it was Clapton! I've got a book somewhere which has a picture from the 70's of him playing a 52 style butterscotch blonde, black guard, maple neck Tele and I remember thinking how cool it was! Little did I know that that was a very rare happening - Clapton and a Tele. In terms of actual Tele players - I'd say Muddy Waters, Jimmy Page and Keef.

Don Rich.

When I was growing up, me and my best friend loved Buck and the Buckaroos. He got a blue paisley Tele and I had a Duo Sonic. I finally got a Tele, and still have it.
Great guitars!

Bruce Springsteen, My dad was a big fan of bruce springsteen so I was constantly seeing his tele everywhere around the house.Then when I started playing guitar a Tele was the one I wanted. I saw a live performance rock n roll hall of fame anniversary where he played a solo with Tom Morello on"the ghost of tom joad" it was pretty awesome.

Steve Cropper!!:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5N35kQAPv0

Tommy Emmanuel!:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQavIV4YEfc&feature=related

Jeff Buckley!:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mc7blE6kXsI

The first Tele player that influenced me was Muddy Waters. I took no notice of the Tele at the time, it was all about the playing.

Fast forward 15 years and I heard Sue Foley. She's a good player, but the sound of the Tele sent me out shopping and started changing the way I played.

Fred

Jim Campilongo Heaven Is Creepy. Amazing tones and technique.

My father. There's a picture at my grandmother's house of my dad and uncle performing at a talent show when they were in high school. My dad was playing a Tele and my uncle played piano. My dad quit playing and sold the Tele to help pay for a car when he joined the Army in 1962. I bought him a 52 Reissue and a Blackface Champ for his 65th birthday last January and he was absolutely thrilled.

Although I love the guitar sound on the first two Zeppelin albums and on early Floyd stuff, no "player" influenced me. My Tele seed was planted by a 50 year old photograph.

John 5 and Danny Gatton, plus the fact that the body cuts on my strat dug into my chest when i played sitting down.

Actually, there are 4 players who turned me on to Teles: Keef; Dave Davies; Roy Buchanan and George Harrison. Keef was the first, though. He showed me that Teles can be used for other things than country.

Before I even know what a Telecaster was, I dug the sounds of Steve Cropper, Andy Summers and George Harrison, but I'd never seen pictures of them playing!! I discovered the Telecaster without any conscious influence, but after I bought one it's been Bruce Springsteen, George Harrison, The Edge, Tom Petty, Jimmy Page, Joe Walsh, Lindsay Buckingham, and Elliot Randall's guitar work in Steely Dan's "Reeling In The Years," STILL blows me away! Oh yah, and that gnarly lookin' dude in The Rolling Stones, Keith...uh...something...

he's not what people consider a "tele player", but i saw him playing this in a guitar magazine, and i didn't care what it sounded like...it was just bada**!!

good thing my first tele also sounded good...now its heavily modified and sounds GREAT.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/149/341006236_b57bfaf5a4.jpg

Jim Messina / Poco did it for me back in the earlier days of country rock.

Ed

TED GREENE!!!

Nobody"s mentioned Stuff"s Cornell Dupree-tastiest groove alive combined with the funky
slick Gibson Super 400 of Eric Gale.

Keef. For the Tele...Absolutely. Keef was the first.

Keef was my hero as a little kid. When I finally decided I need to play instead of listen I took a picture from CREEM magazine into Havertown Guitars off of Rt. 3 in PA and asked the guy if he had "one of these" Didnt know anything about other than I could read 'Fender' on the headstock. I still have it, plays terribly, a little butchered up and a few dings from 35 years of use, but I'll never get rid of it and still use it all the time.

Mike Bloomfield, and the first Butterfield Blues Band album. Later, Jimmy Page with the Yardbirds.

Roy Buchanon. (First time I saw Danny G., he was playing a Les Paul!)

My first recollection of learning what a Tele was came form an article on Roy Buchanan in some guitar magazine in the late '70's/early '80's. He was on the cover with his Tele, and I was intrigued by its "primitiveness" and simplicity. I dove into the article, and after reading it, I have always equated his skill and mystique with that Blackguard Tele. Since then, rightly or wrongly, I have associated Telecasters in other contexts with excellence, taste and reverence for great playing. Clearly, I still do.

Whenever I see a guitar player break out a Tele, I initially presume that he is going to be a cut above the rest. They usually have been. It seems like many players who choose Teles are really into playing above all other showmanship and/or fanfare. I like lots of different guitars, but there is nothing like a Telecaster.

Could this be the one?
http://i337.photobucket.com/albums/n380/kizzie_015/scan0001-2.jpg

Clarence White.
Saw him 2 x's with the Byrds

Of course-- "My Girl," "Hello Mary Lou" -etc. and many more 60's stuff impressioned my tone imprintinting Tele genome project


/

I remember borrowing a guitar instruction book from the library when i was @ 13, and it was written by Arlen Roth. I didn't know who that was and had never knowingly heard any of his stuff. I was working through the book, and pictures of him holding a '52 Tele with his Italian 70's fro, it for some reason solidified in my mind how cool it looked to play rock or country. I think that I view other Tele's like the 70's and 80's models as inferior because of that image. I don't even like white pickguards on a Tele. The Tele that adorns the top of the page is what I think of as a Tele.

Buck Owens and Don Rich

This

http://members.tripod.com/great_offwhite_dude/albertcollins3-400.jpg

http://www.themusicoasis.com/images/andy_summers.jpg

Yup.

My earliest memory of a tele player that impressed me was Don Rich playing Buckaroo! That was the coolest thing i'd ever heard! Still try to play that tune !I remember Luther Perkins but I didn't know what a tele was ! That was when stuff sounded good ! Of course things always sounded good when you're young, oh to be yooung again.

For me it was Albert Collins. When I was a kid I saw him on an episode of Austin City Limits, I always wanted a Tele after that.

Since I am a recent convert to loving Telecasters, my Tele influence is a bit different.
Mine is Bill Frisell. Love the sound he uses, with delay and reverb to play jazz, country, and all the different things he plays.
Also, Ted Greene sounds wonderful.

I'm with you. Any doubts about the telecaster sound vanished after hearing Bill. Bill Frisell, Charlie Haden, Ry Cooder, and others straightened out my misconceptions about country, folk and jazz music.
In my opinion, Bill sounds like Bill on any guitar. In fact, you could probably identify his sound if he played ukalele... especially if he used a looper.:cool:

Dan Vickrey from Counting Crows. "Recovering the Satellites" era.

Totally Ted Greene!
http://m.youtube.com/?&&client=mv-google#/watch?client=mv-google&v=t_nkUSKPJeU
http://m.youtube.com/?&&client=mv-google#/watch?client=mv-google&v=zDuee6blvj8
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll91/VolkswagenNut1970/84299c84.jpg

Mike Stern. The Standards and other songs album. Though I guess technically it was a Sadowsky made tele I think.

Joe Messina, and I always like Albert Collins.

Keet....the Freddie Sessler pronunciation

Ronnie Wood. I saw him with the Birds in '66. Hank Marvin was first guitarist I really noticed, but when I heard Ronnie and his tele I thought "Wow! That's the sound I want to make!" 44 years later I'm still trying...:smile:

For me three guys, (ok four) Bruce Springsteen, Status Quo and Joe Strummer, i'm a worker type of guitarplayer no thrills just a working horse and the tele is my mainthing nowadays.

Vince Gill and my pastor Bob Thornburgh. Bob gave me an 88 American Standard Tele in 93 and that was my first tele. I still have it. Vince is one of the most under rated players around these days if ya ask me. If he can hang with Clapton and hold his own I'd say thats pretty impressive

Keith Richards - I'm a huge Stones fan and have watched and heard him play his Teles for along time! Thanks for all the great tunes Keef!!

After giving it some thought, I have to agree. I remember as a kid seeing a pic of Keef with a cig drooping out of his mouth strumming away on Micawber. I think that may well be where my Tele love began.

I had that poster up in my room all through my teen years! And then I saw Springsteen. And then I found out the truth about the first Led Zeppelin album....

-GB

P.S. Sadly nobody hipped me to the whole Alnico 2/3/5 thing until I was much older.

Burton on O & H, but it all came together for me in '68-'69:
Big Pink
Nach'l Blues-Jesse Ed
Buch's PBS special
Sweetheart of the Rodeo
Cornell Dupree w/ King Curtis

First person to influence me towards getting a telecaster? John Flansburg, I love the look of a Sonic Blue Telecaster with rosewood fingerboard. Then after that I wanted a tele even more after seeing fdser654 play RHCP with one, then it was John Frusciante with two tele customs. And then there is also Kurt Cobain, who had one right before his death, and loved it. Out of all these, fdser654 is the oddball. He is the only one that doesn't have a Custom Telecaster(Double Bound body), so I am looking towards getting a 60's classic vibe custom. It'll be the only "normal" guitar I'll have, seeing as my other guitars are a Squier Cyclone, and a Fender Jag-stang.

Ed Bickert, Don Rich, Roy Buchanan, and later, Keith Richards. There are so many great players "representing" on the Tele, but those were the first I recall.

Clarence, James Burton, Roy Nichols, Roy Buchanan, Albert Lee.

Funny thing is I didn't realize most of my guitar faves were tele players until after I started getting interested in them. Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page were mostly pictured with Les Pauls and Strats when I was a teenager; Jimi had a strat, of course; and most of the blues guys I listened to were ES-335 or Flying V players. But once I discovered that Beck, Page, Strummer, Andy Summers, Jerry Harrison and damn near everyone else had made their mark with teles -- and then I started messing with them myself... well, I was hooked.

Honestly, I think you can play anything on anything (Ted Greene, anyone?), but the tele just sounds and feels right. Of course, I still want an ES-335. And a Les Paul. But that's just bad GAS talking. :-)

Roy Buchanan or Albert Collins. I opened for Albert in the 80`s and loved the way his tele cut through the band.. Damn he was a loud player.

I'm relatively new to the Tele world. It was Brad Paisley. After I bought Mud on the Tires, I loved the guitar sound so much that I ran out and bought a floor model Squier black and chrome special edition. It was all that I could afford, at the time, but I wanted to get as close to that sound as I could.

Jimmy Page for the most part, and then I learned about David Gilmour using one early on and for "Animals"

Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt of Status Quo
Muddy Waters

Waylon...that tele covered in leather...man that was something else!

+1 for Waylon. Also a big fan of Webb Wilder's tele tone.

The first person to influence me towards the Tele was Keith Richards, even before I realized he was only using 5 strings and alternate tunings.

After that, Billy Squier, Elliot Easton, and G.E. Smith, I remember watching SNL in the early 90's and seeing G.E. seldom without a Tele, and one of my favorite sounds out of a guitar is the twangy western-ish bit at the end of The Dangerous Type off The Cars Candy-O album when it comes to EE's work.

I first became intereted in the Telecaster in high school when I learned Page used one a lot on the Led Zeppelin albums. It made sense. None of the guitar on at least the first couple albums really sounded like a Les Paul to me.

So I bought my first decent guitar in High School and it was a Japanese Fender Telecaster with a grand piano black finish, humbucker in the bridge position, and wammy bar. It's the one pictured in my avatar. I played that guitar until about 8 years ago. My new Tele is a more traditional black guard.

I didn't become more interested in Telecaster Lore until I discovered the TDPRI about a year ago. I'm really enjoying the players I've learned about here, Jim Wilsey, Jim Campilongo, Will Ray, John Jorgenson, Jerry Donahue, Brent Mason, Doug Seven, Johnny Highland, Redd Volkaert, Tom Principato, and many others. I knew nothing about any of these guys until I came here.

Nice lists from everyone. All~All Stars.

My 1st was some hillbilly show from Roanoke, VA that was on once a week. There was this "ridiculous" group called THE TIDE FAMILY; and they all had 1st names like Ebb, Bow, Tongue, etc. and there was some mean-ass Tele picking that I still hear in my ears.

Danny Gatton

+1 for Keef R. When and where I grew up the Tele was not in style. But when KR started playing them regularly I noticed.

Same here. This was when I was in high school and noticed that the Stones guitar player was playing a C&W guitar, when everyone else was playing Pauls and Strats. This was about the same time I heard "Get your Ya Yas out!" live album. I thought it was really cool because it was really different and I had to have one. Almost got one when I was a senior in high school, 1973. I switched to playing acoustic when I went away to college and bagged playing completely in 1976. In 2006 I finally got around to getting my Tele and really wished I would have gone with my gut instincts in 1973. The good thing is, after a 30 year lay off you do approach things with a new fresh perspective.

Chrissie Hynde all the way, if only i had a blue tele.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE-JQzj2aEA

Jimmy Page. This is only a snippet of the song, but he was the first one that made me really listen to a Tele. Still love that sound he's getting here.

I hate to be so unoriginal, but at least I'm being honest.

None of my influences play a telecaster I have just recently developed a taste for them. I dig my tele.

Don Rich, Ray Davies, John McNally, Steve Cropper, Jesse Ed Davis

Danny Gatton turned me on to its versatility, Bill Frisell opened my eyes to the beauty of its tone and the hook was sunk with Jim Campilongo

'Visually' it was Keith Richards - just.. iconic
'Sonically' it was Wilko Johnson - just .. sonic !

After that, well

Mick Green, Joe Strummer, Andy Summers, Francis Rossi (in the 70's only - NONE of that later cabaret/wedding band rubbish !) The Pretenders, early Page, Hugh Cornwell, Mike Campbell .. so many
And - visually again - the cover photo of Born to Run.

Took me yeeears to get round to actually getting one though,

For me, it was Steve Howe. Before I even had an inkling to get a Tele

His playing on the whole Relayer album is Absolutely astonishing It sold me on the Telecaster and his stature as a guitar player. :O

Ted Barchetta

John Frusciante plain and simple. Gotta love the double bound sunburst tele

Steve Cropper all the way for me : first class, IMO, when it comes to the Tele sound. Albert Collins impressed me very much too.

Can't do no better than those two guys for Telecaster tone, not at least in R&B and blues. I own every single Booker T. and the MGs recording ever made, and Steve is still one of my main men on guitar. I still grieve over losing Albert Collins; man alive, did I love his music. Saw him probably 10-12 times in all, in his prime in the late 1970s and 1980s, he was unbelieveable.
I still play several of Albert's tunes. Another great R&B/blues/jazz guy for me is Cornell Dupree, whose LP "Teasin'" is one of the finest instrumental albums ever, in my view. If you haven't yet heard it, order it - you'll be glad you did. Some of the most soulful, inventive playing around, with an all-star band of NYC pros like Bernard Purdy, David "Fathead" Newman, Richard Tee, and many more.

Couple of other tele giants who influenced me. For country, Pete Anderson. I know all about Don Rich, Jimmy Bryant, Roy Nichols, Albert Lee, etc. now, but Pete Anderson was the first guy who made me want to learn hot country guitar. For learning Travis-style alternating bass, Merle himself, plus Doc Watson, and the Allmans "Little Martha" did the job - none played a Tele, but I use that style on mine all the time. For rock and roll, Keef. First time I ever tuned my Tele to an open G and played "Brown Sugar" or "Start Me Up," like to have died and gone to heaven. The Boss strictly for his attitude with his Telecaster/Esquire, and for simple but fun tunes like "Glory Days."

Roy, Bruce, and Joe.

Robbie Robertson

Yiou know I want to say Gatton, but I can't because it ain't true. Not Andy Summers either (although Sting was the first bass player whose lines I copped), or Buchanan, or Cropper, or James Burton.

Rather, it was a beautiful '53 blackguard through a cranked cream tolex Fender, blasting into my living room every Saturday Night with a big horn section, Hammond, piano, etc.

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Teddy Spelios 1966 we were skipping summer school and dropped by a music store in Vienna Va. Teddy could make anything sing.

Later early Jimmy Page, and Jim Messina.

Guy Picciotto from Fugazi. Yes, I know, I know - he usually plays a Rickenbacker. But earlier on he played a Telecaster which helped influence some of that incredible tone on earliest albums.

OK, I admit to skipping about 10 pages of this. For me - Steve Cropper. Anybody remember the song, "Soul Man" by Sam & Dave (covered by the Blues Brothers) "Play it, Steve". That's Mr. Cropper on the Tele - both versions. Ever hear an Otis Redding song, how about Booker T & the M.G.'s?

He was the guitar man for Stax Records (the home of Memphis soul) - his cowriting credits are astounding.

Ted Greene. One of the Jazz greats and an ardent Tele player. His tone, playing and sense of harmony were second to none. He will be missed.

On the Telecaster ? . . .



Jeff Buckley. After hearing the "Live at Sine' " set, that was it. I had to have one.

Buck Owens and Don Rich.

It's funny. Reading through this I see so many guys from Australia in the same boat. Mid 80's and I convinced my brother to take me to a few shows, I was under age, but hey... The Emmanuel Brothers with them both playing those beat up old 60's Tele Customs. Convinced me that a Tele could do anything. Even when Phil switched out to the Strat for his Shadows stuff or Tommy grabbed the beat up old Takamine to do his fingerpickin' thing it was those Tele's.

Another one being a High School kid I loved a band called Matt Finish and the main man Matt Moffit who also played a sunburst custom. Just a short note....

Kristina

I'd have to go with one of the obvious ones and say Springsteen. While the Born in the USA concert was my first live rock experience way back when, that didn't do it. It was years before I started trying to play guitar. I have had several no-name and low-dollar guitars over the years, in addition to one very nice 1948 Gibson ES150, but none of them really made me want to play for one reason or another.

A little over two years ago I heard a radio broadcast of this place called Wolfgang's Vault, and I looked it up online. As many know, they have all kinds of amazing vintage stuff, and they have photos as well. I saw some of Springsteen on there, and that, plus the radio show's broadcast of an early performance that morning - both of those things came together, and I went, "That. I have to have THAT! I HAVE TO HAVE A TELECASTER!" Couldn't even really explain it, I just suddenly felt like I absolutely had to have one.

It took a few months, but I finally got a used red MIM from a guitarist friend. Had that for a year, realized it was one HELL of a lot more comfortable to play on the couch versus the Gibson, realized it made me actually WANT to practice, realized I wanted to play it enough that after a year I had finally really learned to play a few things on it, and then I sold it plus the Gibson and used the resulting cash to buy the '63 Relic I have now. Love it. LOVE IT!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jvpbpobj9pk
francis rossi played the hell out of a tele in the seventies . there;s more technical players but to me that solo tone is what a tele is all about . raw, nasty ,biting yet deep and organic sounding . a good case made here for the sg /tele combination .

One of the versions of Led Zeppelin's BBC sessions (not the one on youtube, a different one) has Page playing Heartbreaker with a tele and it sounds like it's straight to the amp. The guitar solo goes on for a couple of minutes and Page plays for a while quietly. This was probably the first time I ever really listened to a tele. Wish I still had that album.

Although I'm a huge James Burton fan (I didn't realize until years later he was the guitar player on all those cool hit records), Keith Richards was my first telecaster influence. I bought "Some Girls" when it came out (I was 12) and I was hooked on that sound forever! There a re two types of guitars: Telecasters and Telecaster wannabees! The tele is all you need...EVER!

James Burton in "A Black and White Night."

James Burton playing with Ricky Nelson--I must be a couple of years older, LOL.

James Burton playing with Ricky Nelson--I must be a couple of years older, LOL.

I guess I should follow up and say that while Burton was the first, if you are speaking of people playing today, I would have to go with Bruce Springsteen, Marty Stuart and Kenny Vaughn.

Actually the first time I ever heard Burton was on "Susie Q" by Dale Hawkins that combination of Tele and cowbell still knock me out over 50 years later--CCR did't even come close with their version of capturing the savage intensity of Burton on that song.

OK, I admit to skipping about 10 pages of this. For me - Steve Cropper. Anybody remember the song, "Soul Man" by Sam & Dave (covered by the Blues Brothers) "Play it, Steve". That's Mr. Cropper on the Tele - both versions. Ever hear an Otis Redding song, how about Booker T & the M.G.'s?

He was the guitar man for Stax Records (the home of Memphis soul) - his cowriting credits are astounding.

I'm with you. Cropper was definitely "The Man" between Burton and Springsteen/Stuart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7Qr3romi9U

Marty Stuart, then Vince Gill and Albert lee

No love for Kenny Vaughn on this video? LOL

Don't know for sure, but most likely these guys
http://pds.exblog.jp/pds/1/200907/25/50/e0135950_1143826.gif
http://edant.clarin.com/suplementos/especiales/2006/02/24/thumb/st4.jpg

Springsteen. Love Keef, always have. But even Micawber seem like just a tool for him. Bruce plays the Esquire/Telecaster mongrel like it's a part of him.

Michael Houser of Widespread Panic. Played a Tele Plus through a Soldano, not exactly your most typical tele tone but helped bridge the gap from the music I listened to to the twang I typically hadn't liked of a tele. Can't get enough now.

Keith Richards (first concert in '75) also Francis Rossi & Rick Parfitt of Status Quo!

i have to say Johnny Oaks. Just a local picker around here. Played with a few stars that came thru and with a Wal-mart customer appreciation band, back when Sam was the man. funny thing was that he was using a Peavey USA Reactor. My uncle had the first real tele that I heard. A 52 RI. Course now he plays a custom shop and a valley arts Brent Mason(his hero).

My first recollection of learning what a Tele was came form an article on Roy Buchanan in some guitar magazine in the late '70's/early '80's. He was on the cover with his Tele, and I was intrigued by its "primitiveness" and simplicity. I dove into the article, and after reading it, I have always equated his skill and mystique with that Blackguard Tele. Since then, rightly or wrongly, I have associated Telecasters in other contexts with excellence, taste and reverence for great playing. Clearly, I still do.

Whenever I see a guitar player break out a Tele, I initially presume that he is going to be a cut above the rest. They usually have been. It seems like many players who choose Teles are really into playing above all other showmanship and/or fanfare. I like lots of different guitars, but there is nothing like a Telecaster.

+1-- WEll said - I'll add that all styles are played on teles' not just country and/ or twang.
Ive been to many Mike Stern Shows and he used to have a 50's vintage tele ( it was stolen from him in an armed roberry! ). Now he plays a custom tele style made by Michael Aronson.

Brent Mason and Johnny Marr.

I didn't go back through the thread in it's entirety, but put me in the Springsteen camp.

I, too, skipped through this thread a bit, so I don't know if he was mentioned already . . .

For me it was Ted Greene, the jazz genius. I've loved the sound of Teles for a long time (the twang) but this guy made me join the fold (albeit with Partscasters--I have yet to get a real Fender).

It was a good friend of mine...Louie (RIP), just loved Teles and always was buying them. I was younger and could not afford stuff like that at the time...so he influenced me greatly. Then I saw Roy Buchanan in the early 70's and that was it.

My first memory of the Telecaster was when I was in seventh grade I saw a band at a sock hop made up of people from my junior high school and the high school. The lead singer was in 9th grade and he played a Telecaster bass, although I think the model was actually referred to as a Precision. The lead guitar player was in high school and he had a mid-fifties telecaster. I thought they were the ugliest guitars I had ever seen, but at the same time there was a primitive beauty about them. They looked raw like real rock and roll to me. The sound cut through like a burning knife searing into my brain and left an indelible impression. They did all the garage band songs of the day, with their show piece being "I'm a Man." I knew I would get a Telecaster one day, but it took me many years before I actually purchased one. My first electric was a Gibson Les Paul Junior, then later I had a Gretsch, but all the time I was longing for a Telecaster. The first electrics were purchased because they were great deals at the time when I was young and had very little money. Once I actually got a Telecaster and started playing it I knew it would always be my go-to guitar most of the time.

Keef started me thinking about Tele's but as a callow youth I associated them with strictly country players and was basically a strat guy because more of my favorites had them. Springsteen cemented the deal with that Darkness tour and the lead tones he got out of it. He made playing lead on a Tele a cool thing. Prince put a punctuation mark on it a couple years later.

I didn't find out until later that Page had been using them, he was always synonymous with Les Pauls.

Albert Lee, first time I heard him was on Emmy Lou Harris' Quarter Moon Album, "Luxury Liner" likterally struck a chord, and I still haven't figured the whole song out, but I can be convinced to do my own version from time to time...

Ralph macchio

Wow this is gonna be a tough one ok here goes... In no particular order Jeff Beck over many years. Jimmy Page Yardbirds, and even recorded LZ 1 on a tele. Eric Clapton in his Yardbirds years. Of cours I will say Keith Richards cause no Tele inspiration list can be done without him. Muddy Waters, Roy Buchanan, Albert Collins, Steve Cropper, James Burton, Bruce Springsteen, Robbie Robertson.. Also lets not forget Andy Summers, Susan Tedeschi, Chrissie Hynde, and Tom Morello... This is not a complete list just a few very inspirational Tele players......

Richie Kotzen or Robben Ford...can't remember which...

Jimmy Page and Keith Richards - my first two vinyl LPs were Stones Let it Bleed and Zep I - possibly in that order - I was 14 or 15 I think.

My very 1st guitar was an old 1980 no name Les Paul copy thing. (1988)
Thank you Slash.

Tele education came much later.
I think Keef kicked it off for me, and then, to a degree, Tom Morello & Soundgarden.
But the final push, deff came from Richie Kotzen. (at the same time i got into RATM, round about 1997/8)


http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g317/bluetone73/BANDS/chris_cornell.jpg


http://www.guitarmessenger.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/Richie-Kotzen.jpghttp://img.youtube.com/vi/qb9S2gRqPZ8/0.jpg

Ralph Macchio


http://www.thecontrarianmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/crossroads.jpg



:wink:

Ray Flacke

Well I'll add my inspiration (as the new guy) and say Bruce Springsteen. When I first started guitar, it was because of Bruce. I've been listening to him for years. And after I decided to get my first electric guitar, I chose a Telecaster.

Scott

Danny Gatton after being pointed to him by a band member. Funky Mama was the first song I heard of him and his style/technique, was rather blewn away by that song (still am).

Before I was more into Vai/Satriani and things like that. I had a prejudgment one can't set things on fire with an "ol' fashined" Telecaster.

How wrong was I about that!!! :D

I 'm having the Barden pickups send to me next week, also the Barden bridge will arrive next week. I'd like to get a close Gatton sound out of my MIM Tele.

Keef and Albert lee

I don't know WHO influenced me on a tele... in particular.. I never aspired to own one a few years back... having a nice 89 strat for years to play electric...
I played a lot of acoustic at home then.. unless a mate came over with a plug in,,and we'd fire up amps ..

he was a teacher/music shop guy.. and we'd been working on Danny Gattons " Sky King" for lessons.... he had the gatton lead work nailed exact.. he taught me the chord run.. his missus had the bass line nailed when she was there...
they didn't even know the name of the song.. just knew it was DG and worked it out by ear off a music file/cd...
I searched online to find out who he was and grab some files...
played 3 cd's of some wonderful git.. until I heard the famiar intro to the song we play.. Sky King...
I rang up my "teacher" mate to tell him what the title was and gave him all the sound files to listen to/work on...

I can sit here and listen to Sky King and play along with all the right pauses and changes... it's great!!!..

anyway he rocks up for a play one day with a different case...

check this out.. you want it?.. it's for sale... mmmkk?

an orig '83 Tele,in hard case, brass nut, fat jumbo frets, worn edged smith bridge, been in a studio for recording purposes most of it's recent life...
gave it to me to play.. he grabbed my strat and we played a basic 12 bar thing we play to warm up....
God it felt GOOD!!!..
after the run.. he smiled over.. said.. do you realise that was the first warm up run where you didn't make a mistake....

I said.. I was too scared to make a mistake on such a fine sounding guitar... maybe the guitar had "mojo" and helped me along...

bought it on the spot, no haggle,,about 1500 ...

I've got a few more teles now,,, nice,,,mmmm,,,

so I suppose the first influence was a song.. then the right guitar.. to play Danny Gatton on, along with other stuff ...

still don't know a whole lot about Danny Gatton,, however I'll never forget Sky King, Danny's easy style.. and the sounds of his Tele....

might just put it on and strum it up... simple boogie type muted run.. with a nice chorus/turn around.. there's no words either.. I love instrumentals,, back from the Ventures/Dick Dale era..

Hi. For me Mr Roy bucchanan was the deffinitive Telecaster sound

Shame, he Passed away

Definite thumbs up for that!!!

Billy squier.

http://i1006.photobucket.com/albums/af181/ibanezfanatic/08d6f2a0.jpg

But those who first got me interested in fender were curt cobain and Hendrix. I blame them for most of my love for fender guitars.

One of my earliest memories was watching Buck and Don "playing" those red, white, and blue Teles on Hee Haw.

Keith Richards - It's only Rock 'n' roll
He was rock and roll to me back then ...

Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand. I remember trying to learn their whole debut album and when I found out he used a tele I wanted one until I saw the Les Paul. Nonetheless, my curiosity was piqued again when I listened to Keith Richards.

Nobody really, until after I owned one. Then I started listening to peeps I knew played them. I wasn't really listening for it until I really wanted to figure out what it could do...Ummmm, everything.

THis guy from Emery. LOVE that song...

The party song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOtAgiH2Wfo

For me it was this chap:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Gbj0mpn5XyA/SzLr7g5rwbI/AAAAAAAAC2s/7iXP0jzsuag/s400/joe-strummer-tele.jpg

My year 12 Biology teacher, John Bowden.

D. Boon of Minutemen. No question.

Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck. (how much i love...)

I know it's been said, but Page mainly. some of the early zep footage shows page mainly using his dragon tele. of course, I'm also a yardbirds nut, so obviously beck as well. also, clapton used a tele some (to what extent, I don't know) during the yardbirds, which sounds so good. It is that twangy country sound, but the music is blues

I was lucky to grow up in a country music household. In the video you'll find two guys playing Teles. One we all lovingly call Waylon Jennings and the other I lovingly call Pops. My dad (Billy Ray Reynolds) played with Waylon in the late 60's into the 70's and was lucky enough to have several songs cut by him. He and Waylon were the two that made me worship this hunk o' wood we call Telecaster.


KyVwcwkF6Q8

Well I am a huge Pearl Jam fan so for me; the influence of playing a Telecaster came from watching Mike McCready play his 52 reissue and Eddie Vedder play his 63 Tele with sparkle finish and the P-90 for the neck pickup.

keefers

Before I knew what Telecaster was, Terry Kathe of Chicago and his work on "25 or 6 to 4" just grabbed me, and I thought (as a 12 year old), "Ya know, playing guitar could be cool....".

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v328/PraiseCaster/2452647488_4acaed4d9f_o.jpg

Then in a short few weeks, I found this guy:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v328/PraiseCaster/1969-01-31FillmoreEast4.jpg

But I "THOUGHT" he was playing Lesters, and I bought more LP's than most mom-n-pops shops stocked in 5 years.

About 15 years ago, these two guy's, along with the realization that Page also played a Tele, made me make the big switch:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v328/PraiseCaster/Keith-Richards.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v328/PraiseCaster/summers-corbis-530-85.jpg

A Tele, and then ultimately my partscaster has been my main guitar ever since then.

I was in a club playing old 60s r n b and this Otis redding song comes on called PAIN IN MY HEART. When I heard that guitar I was hooked, wanted to know who it was and what he was playing. When I found out it was Steve cropper playing a Tele I wanted to play like that. Steves genius is he makes the simple sound amazing. With class licks and fills and an awesome cutting but clean tone. He is my first and biggest influence, also love Keith Richards. He is a riff-master.

+100. Cropper's work on many of Redding's songs is awesome. Sounds like Cropper on Clarence Carter's "Slip Away" but never been able to confirm it. May be Carter himself.
First Telemaster hero of of mine was James Burton.

I was lucky to grow up in a country music household. In the video you'll find two guys playing Teles. One we all lovingly call Waylon Jennings and the other I lovingly call Pops. My dad (Billy Ray Reynolds) played with Waylon in the late 60's into the 70's and was lucky enough to have several songs cut by him. He and Waylon were the two that made me worship this hunk o' wood we call Telecaster.


KyVwcwkF6Q8

Whoa! Lucky indeed:grin:

I guess Waylon too. Watching Dukes as well... Then I saw Freddie Mercury live with a Tele and thought "This is the ugliest guitar I've ever seen !" :lol: Then later I saw Keith with one and my mind kinda changed. Being re-introduced to Waylon's music, I decided it was the coolest ever.

I was lucky to grow up in a country music household. In the video you'll find two guys playing Teles. One we all lovingly call Waylon Jennings and the other I lovingly call Pops. My dad (Billy Ray Reynolds) played with Waylon in the late 60's into the 70's and was lucky enough to have several songs cut by him. He and Waylon were the two that made me worship this hunk o' wood we call Telecaster.


KyVwcwkF6Q8

:shock: :cool:
Their version of Me And Bobbie McGee on HeeHaw is the coolest thing I've ever heard. You must be proud. :grin:

Rich Robinson.

Hollies, Status Que , Keeth!
Next to al regular the US country bands, the brits were my influence!!
Cheers
Funny enough I think the British bands are use more teles

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Definitely Bruce Springsteen. Darkness on the Edge of Town was one of the first albums I ever bought, back in jr. high...bought it on a whim, at a variety store that was going out of business. This was shortly after I first started playing the guitar. The solo work on that album became THE definitive telecaster sound for me...then I started backtracking to the previous albums and discovered Backstreets, Jungleland, Incident on 57th St., Kitty's Back, etc. etc. Some amazing guitar work...

Albert Collins and Rory Gallagher.

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Definitely Bruce Springsteen. Darkness on the Edge of Town was one of the first albums I ever bought, back in jr. high...bought it on a whim, at a variety store that was going out of business. This was shortly after I first started playing the guitar. The solo work on that album became THE definitive telecaster sound for me...then I started backtracking to the previous albums and discovered Backstreets, Jungleland, Incident on 57th St., Kitty's Back, etc. etc. Some amazing guitar work...

Ever since I can remember everyones called me Bruce or the boss. I was a janitor for a nursing home and even all the old ladies called me brucey lol, rather embarrassing and humbling. I guess I look like him? Like his music though and one day I aspire to be like him with the blues. The first time I heard Jimi Hendrix was the time when I wanted to pick up a guitar. Haven't put one down since. Then got really into the history of the blues and it's been good to me. Belly button window was just a genius interpretation of life, and only a real artist can write something like that.

buck, don, & merle and those around them. now, around 40 yrs. later, i finally made it to the party and got myself a tele! but man is it sweet to be late rather than never !!

Jimmy Thackery, Albert Lee and Steve Cropper.

Mike Bloomfield and Steve Cropper

Cody bonnette of as cities burn. I loved the tone he produced especially his clean tone. Most pictures I see of him he has a black American standard with maple. I'm planning to buy the same guitar and amp, he runs through a bogner shiva.

Teppei Teranishi of Thrice and the Song "So Strange I Remember You"

Klaus Flouride of the Dead Kennedys- He took Tele tone to a new level- so much cut and bleed, sort of bittersweet I suppose!

Steve Cropper first, and the band from Muscle Shoals

Before I ever heard of Albert Lee, I hated Telecasters. That was in the early 1980s. I did see Jeff Beck's TeleGib in a Creem magazine once and thought it was kinda cool; but after I saw Albert Lee, it was Teles forever.....

My guitar teacher...coolest guy ever...and thats why I ended up with one of my one...for a rocker, probably Jimmy page

By no means the best, but earliest Tele player influence was Hugh Cornwell (when he was obviously much younger):

http://www.performing-musician.com/pm/mar09/images/HughCornwell_1.jpg

Steve Cropper--first.
Buck Owens and the Buckaroos--country--man if I had a Tele, I could play "Buckaroo" that twangy.
and of course, now, Brad Paisley--does anybody else have more fun chickin pickin than Brad?

BTW, my band and I had Fender Jaguars. We felt sorry for the losers who could only afford that beginner's guitar--Telecasters! Live and learn.

Tim Farriss. Not so much his playing, but the fact that he stuck that sleek headstock into the camera during INXS's "The One Thing" video, and let me see that that clunky-cool Fender with the better-looking-than-a-Strat headstock that I was seeing all over Mtv was called a "Telecaster".

As far as playing one and "getting" why the sound was so special-Must have been James Burton on the "Elvis-That's The Way It Is" documentary. I'm not a Country player, but the way that trebly, buzzy stick was complimenting his playing made me covetous.

Russell Lissack. =]

Danny Gatton.
I played one for a while and then I saw him playing one. He opened my eyes about the range that a tele can cover. From Jazz to country to ....you name it.
Still am upset that he left us.

Mr. Roy Buchanan...
The King of "The Hanger".

nuf said...

Buck Owens and Don Rich

+1

Either James Burton or Steve Cropper. Probably Cropper.

Roy Buchanan. Saw him in 87 or 88 in Florida. An old blues player mentor took me.

Don Rich

The edge or Ed Bickert

Believe it or not, Steven Stills was the first, but Vince Gill, Danny Gatton, and Brent Mason pretty much do it for me now...

Oh jeez, boy I was so young when I fell in love with the Tele. Probably Jerry Reed. I think he was the first real chicken picker I ever heard or saw play. My grandpa had a bunch of his LP's. I had never heard anything like that before! Then we were watching Hee-Haw or the Opry one night and I saw him play, that sealed it, I was hooked! That's been about 20+ years ago and that fire still burns in me today, I've not made much progress but the passion is still there! Haha. When you play with passion, from your heart, you never know how you might effect a young person who hears you.

Keith Richards...David Gilmore.

Brad and Brent. I know I'm late to the party, but that's where it started post college/grunge era.

Alan Jackson's 'Don't Even Know Your Name' came one summer during formative years. It was eye opening.

My best friend Ange. He had an original antigua tele with a PAF at the neck and fat strat on the bridge. Great guitar. I was always a strat guy.

Now I have the tele and he rocks a strat. Go figger.

probably Jimmy Page for me

Brad Paisley, but it was Keith Richards that finally pushed me over to the dark side. This thread is about to go EPIC!

Its funny I've heard others comment on the ugliness of the Telecaster. I think its the nicest looking guitar ever made and every time I see one it turns my head like good looking girls turn the heads of most of us men.
As for being harder than other guitars to play, I guess because its the first electric I picked up I don't find it harder than other types. I find strats and les pauls harder to feel comfortable on. I don't even like the teles with the contoured shapes on the body for supposed comfort.

my tele has gthe contour and i love it. it sits perfectly on my gut. lol. i def wouldnt hav any problemswith a normal tele body tho

JIMI!

Dale Clark. I was a Strat guy until I heard his tone on CD and mesmerized after seeing him live.

Keith Richards of course, and like a previous poster ive been playing one so long that I find Other guitars hard to play. They are just so classically simple, but once you fall for one you are in love forever.

I'm a King Bee, buzzin round your hive...