It seems appropriate that in this fiftieth anniversary year of the Fender solid body electric amplified guitar that we visit web pages that do homage to some of the folks that play it. Before we do though, we should know a little about the man who made such an impact on the rock world, Leo Fender, who has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his creation of the original stratocaster. You can find out more about Leo and the company he founded by visiting the Fender Company homepage, where, among other things, you will find out that fifty stratocasters have been made to the exact specifications of the original and are going to be prizes. Boy are they going to be hot items!
While many artists from all parts of the music world play a Fender, the single most renowned of them has to be Jimi Hendrix. And no guitar probably took more of a beating or produced a more unique sound than a Fender in the hands of Jimi. There are two fine pages about Jimi and Hendrix which have loads of pictures, interviews and even guitar lessons. Jimi also is an inductee into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Although the acoustic guitar is his current choice, Eric Clapton is another famous Fender fingerer. Check out Clapton's fan page for some good info on the blues magician. Who does Eric think is the best Guitarist? Buddy Guy who plays a Fender just like Eric's and every bit as well! A side note: Clapton plays on two of the CD's reviewed in this month's issue.
Of course who can forget that marvelous blues guitar virtuoso, Stevie Ray Vaughan, whose talents were cut short so tragically. There are many pages on the web devoted to him but I like this one which has a lot of interesting interviews among other things.
The most recent famous Fender Bender is Kurt Cobain of Nirvana who even had his own special brand of Fender he modified to create that unique sound that made him a cult idol. The Web Page is interesting, in that it has a very detailed review of Kurt's equipment - quite a project by the webmaker! It seems a shame that so many of these Fender folks' talents were wasted in accidents or self destruction.
Of course not all the guitar greats use Fenders and one of the best known, Ace Frehley, formerly of KISS, uses a Gibson - no slouch when it comes to guitarmaking either. Ace is given credit by many well known guitarists such as Kim Thayil from "Soundgarden" and Dimebag Darrell from "Panterra," for influencing their careers. Check out the official Ace Frehley page, and the article in this month's issue on him.
These are only a few of the many gifted guitarists out there, and I'm sure in the future the Linkster will be searching out the others for one reason or another.
