Telecasters proven to be bad for your career.....

[Ritchie200]

Ok, we all had that long discussion about how well, or not so well, that Jimmy Page played on the Celebration Day videos that I posted.  I was of the opinion that he played very well.

So, it comes down to this....  An obviously richly talented guy reduced to a Saturday morning music store hacker.  Gasp!!!! How did this injustice happen you might ask?  How could someone at the peak of his career be reduced to such a lowly cast.  What did he do to deserve this horrid beat down?  What rock and roll gods did he upset?  What planets aligned to cause such mass destruction?

Well, my friends, all he did was pick up a Tele....

Jimmy Page's Chopin Prelude n.4 - Good quality

Jim

[sluckey]

Not even a Strat could have salvaged that!

[Platefire]

I saw the problem right off the bat! He has a strat pickup in the neck postition and that messed up the whole works. If folks would quit modding the tele and just let a tele be a tele, you wouldn't be hearing a mess like that. Did I get the "T" word in there a few times or what? 

[Greenmachine]

Jeezus what happened there?! There's another arms concert that he just wails on.  It's the same piece and tele.  Maybe he didn't warm up...

[DummyLoad]

everybody has bad days... tele's just make bad days worse.  <ducks and runs>

 

--pete

[tubenit]

That was painful to watch!   


These guys seem to do OK with Tele's!


http://youtu.be/oeJHnkUKg_M

[Ed_Chambley]

I just have this to say, Sorry Jim!

Watch all of it now!

Redd Volkaert - Telewacker

[Ed_Chambley]

Ig you don't love this something is wrong.

Commander Cody & His lost Planet Airmen - Hot Rod Lincoln 1974

[SILVERGUN]

Hmmmmm....

It doesn't seem to have the same effect on everyone....

Ritchie Blackmore Amazing Guitar Solo

[Ed_Chambley]

That was painful to watch!   


These guys seem to do OK with Tele's!


http://youtu.be/oeJHnkUKg_M

Brent is a great player, the best IMO.  His hero is Jerry Reed.  I really love that he can play any style and never change from a thumb pick.  I have been doing that for years.

I met Brent Mason at NAMM at Wampler's Booth and got to swap licks with him.  Really super nice guy who just loves playing.  I have met Vince Gill as well at a show in my Hometown.  Just both great talents and act as just regular guys.

[DummyLoad]

one of my favorite players...  skip to 8:00


ahhhhhh! a tele & a twin.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4e2VgycfSw

[Ed_Chambley]

one of my favorite players...  skip to 8:00


ahhhhhh! a tele & a twin.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4e2VgycfSw

Check it out, he has the amp turned away from the audience.

Good Call, Great Player,

[SILVERGUN]

I like to get my Roy with a side of Humbler 

danny gatton boogie woogie with a can of beer

[SILVERGUN]

C'mon Jimmy,,,,meet us half way man

[Platefire]

Looking at these video clips of Roy and Danny and doing a little research on their history it's kinda sad that such great talent
was haunted by demons they seem to have. I can't even approach in my wildest dream the kind of playing they did in their time. On the other hand I'm thankful for the measure of talent the Lord gave me and will try to use it wisely to maintain a balance and keep my priorities straight--but have to ask the question---Lord why can't I make my teles play a smidgent like they did?  Platefire

[SILVERGUN]

Looking at these video clips of Roy and Danny and doing a little research on their history it's kinda sad that such great talent
was haunted by demons they seem to have. I can't even approach in my wildest dream the kind of playing they did in their time. On the other hand I'm thankful for the measure of talent the Lord gave me and will try to use it wisely to maintain a balance and keep my priorities straight--but have to ask the question---Lord why can't I make my teles play a smidgent like they did?  Platefire

Well,,,part of the reason we can't play like that is because we did keep our priorities straight....
There was a point in life where we decided that working and having a family were more important than being a great guitar player.
Imagine how much time these guys have dedicated to their craft only to find out that there is no pot of gold at the end of that rainbow.
Guitar playing alone will never pay the bills (except for a very select few), and that's why we may never see the likes of these guys again....the world is too expensive for a modern artist to live in.

Sometimes I'll get to a point where I've watched so many videos of great players that my own playing seems entirely insignificant,,,,and then I'll break out a guitar at a party and play 3 chords that makes everyone happy and re-realize that it's just about the joy that we all get from playing.

If Danny could've just found someone who wanted to put their beer label on his slide,,,things might have been different for him.

[Platefire]

Amen!

[eleventeen]

I don't know how to embed youtubes but you guys left out the most outrageous expired Telecaster player of them all, IMO, Ted Greene:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZENkj7C7Bw

[Platefire]

Ted Green, never heard of him but! now that I've heard him I'll never forget him. What a talented guy. If I wasn't seeing a telecaster in front of my eyes, I would have guess it was a Gretch or a big body Gibson of some kind. I couldn't see the amp but it must of had some bottom to get the jazzy tone out of a tele. Thanks for sharing! Platefire

[eleventeen]

A devotee of George Van Epps, probably among the greatest master of guitar chords. Yeah, agreed, he gets not so much a fatback sound but a clear, bell-like sound you'd never imagine coming out of a Tele until you actually see it coming out of a Tele. I think he used ghastly thick strings and might be tuned down a whole or half step. His book Chord Chemistry is maybe the best book on chords & totally worth it.


The Tele you are seeing is probably a 1954, he had quite a few, most of them modded quite a bit. Back in the 70's in So. CA, used old Teles were $100-120 things nobody ever thought would run out. I think he's just playing thru a Vibrolux or some other Fender reverb amp.


I could kick myself, because I lived only a few towns away from him in Los Angeles for 20 years and why I never thought to take lessons from him is semi unfathomable.


He has numbers of You Tubes...not lots.


Quite the mind blowing player when it comes to chords and playing bass lines along with.   

[tubenit]

I think he is playing a Polytone amp that is favored by many jazz players?  Almost anything you plug into that amp has that type of tone to it, IMO.

With respect, Tubenit

[eleventeen]

Dunno. In that video, he is playing at the wedding of one of his students. If he brought his own amp and it was 1989, yeah, could be a Polytone which were the shizzle in Los Angeles...though a little more in the 70's than so close to 1990. Equally, he could be playing through the student's amp (since he would then not have to lug an amp to the reception) which, without knowing anything whatsoever about it, is slightly more likely a Fender. But good point and in favor of your guess is the potential for a 15" speaker w/a Polytone. I am not a huge expert on Ted Greene but I do not think he was especially picky as to his amp choice.

[Ed_Chambley]

Check out what a Gibson will  do to your career.

Scuzz Twittly - Keep Yer Hands Off My PBR

[eleventeen]

Awesome, Ed!!

[G._Hoffman]

The most obvious counter-argument would have to be Bruce Springsteen, whose career doesn't seem to have suffered from playing a Tele.

http://youtu.be/B-c6GphpAeY


Gabriel

[Ritchie200]

Gabriel,

I quote from Bruce's guitar tech:

"Bruce Springsteen's Guitar

 During the band's lengthy performances, Springsteen would keep a large bucket next to the drum riser filled with ice water and towels. Periodically, he would take a towel and wrap it around his head, dousing his guitar in the process. He also drank Gatorade throughout the show that would often spill onto his guitar. The moisture that built up would wreak havoc on his instrument.

 "I took his guitar apart and found that it was full of this smelly, rotten, moldy crud," he recalls. "So I decided to drill holes through each pick-up cavity running through the back of the guitar. This allowed the moisture to escape without creating further damage.

 "At the end of each show, however, when Bruce would raise his guitar, his shirt would have water marks adjacent to where the holes were on his guitar."

If you notice in that video you posted he has what, an ESP or Dean backing him up and carrying the load?  Whatever it was it did have a beautiful unique body shape........   Based on the first video I posted that started this thread, I would say that a tele filled with smelly rotten moldy crud is not an uncommon occurrence?  Plus, I'm sure those extra holes to the pickup cavities had to do something to improve the tone, you cant get much worse.

Jim



 

[Ritchie200]

Ok and yet another example.  No peeking!  Do you prefer clip number 1:

Pete Townshend - Magic Bus (Live) 1996

OR do you prefer clip number 2:

Magic Bus - The Who (Live at the Isle of Wight)

OR even clip number 3:

The Who Magic Bus Las Vegas 1999

Jim

[G._Hoffman]

During the band's lengthy performances, Springsteen would keep a large bucket next to the drum riser filled with ice water and towels. Periodically, he would take a towel and wrap it around his head, dousing his guitar in the process. He also drank Gatorade throughout the show that would often spill onto his guitar. The moisture that built up would wreak havoc on his instrument.

 "I took his guitar apart and found that it was full of this smelly, rotten, moldy crud," he recalls. "So I decided to drill holes through each pick-up cavity running through the back of the guitar. This allowed the moisture to escape without creating further damage.

Yeah, but if you tried any of that with a Les Paul it would just fall apart and die.  A Tele is a working man's guitar!


Gabriel

[Platefire]

Go Gabrial

The Tele, the bedrock foundation of solidbody electric guitar manufacturing and sounds that has become the standard of America's classic tones. The Les Paul and strat follow up took years to catch up while the tele was flying high and is still is flying high. So yeah, strats and Les pauls have made their mark along with their hybrids follow ups but when it comes to down home good old American classic tones give me a Tele and a AB763 Deluxe Reverb---pure and heavenly!
  Getting back to Jimmy and the original post video, Jimmy undoubtedly had a bad start with that. I've seen plenty of good live videos where he was smoking great. The first Led Zeppelin album was done with a tele I think was given to him by Beck/yardbirds. Of course he latter switched to Les Paul. I never recall seeing Jimmy play a strat??? He probably has, but I haven't seen it.
  A strat is a cool guitar and I have several variations of one but a strat just can't do a realistic tele that I've heard? So if you want that sound/feel, you have to go to an original tele format. IMHO every serious guitar player aught to have a tele in their guitar inventory. What have you got it your case? Platefire

[Ritchie200]

IMHO every serious guitar player aught to have a tele in their guitar inventory. What have you got it your case? Platefire

SHUDDER!!!!!!! 

Jim

[Platefire]

Soooooo----TWANG TWANG!
 
A MILLION TWANGERS TWANGING GLEEFULLY TOGETHER WITH TELES HAPPILY WHAILING ON
REBEL ROUSER AND GHOST RIDERS IN THE SKY IN THE KEY OF E PERFECTLY IN TUNE FROM THEIR
CLIP ON TUNERS AND ON THE BRIDGE PICKUP WITH THE TREBLE WIDE OPEN.
TAKE THAT>>>>>>>

[G._Hoffman]

A MILLION TWANGERS TWANGING GLEEFULLY TOGETHER WITH TELES HAPPILY WHAILING ON
REBEL ROUSER AND GHOST RIDERS IN THE SKY IN THE KEY OF E PERFECTLY IN TUNE FROM THEIR
CLIP ON TUNERS AND ON THE BRIDGE PICKUP WITH THE TREBLE WIDE OPEN.
TAKE THAT>>>>>>>

Duane Eddy played a Gretsch, thank you very much.  And Rebel-Rouser is one of the all-time great guitar songs.

By the by, the reason you can't get the sound of a Tele on a Strat is largely, though not entirely, because of the angle of the pickup.  The Tele pickup is at a steeper angle than a Strat pickup, so the difference between the bass and treble strings is exaggerated (treble strings are a bit brighter!).  Also, width of the pickup changes the size of the overtones the pickup can detect, which means you get a different set of comb filtering effects.


Gabriel

[Platefire]

Yes and to correct myself Ghost Riders would normally be played in A-minor instead of E. Also I always thought of Duane Eddy style to be super simple because all I ever heard was his hits but I bought one of his albums at a flea market several years ago and learned he's a lot more accomplished than playing twangy bass notes.


I can't help but think that the steel/brass ashtray bridge plate that the pickup and bridge saddles is mounted in adds to the tele personality. I have a 54 RI Strat and before I changed the vintage type pickups it sounded closer to a tele than any strat I ever had but it now has Texas Specials that changed that. Don't want a strat sounding like a tele anyway--that can be so much better accomplished with a tele. I would be the first one to admit in my younger years I use to hate a tele and thought it was a pretty worthless instrument but in my senior years have learned to appreciate it and because of it's construction is different than any other guitar. Because of that difference, I think it generates either a love or hate response. Platefire

[G._Hoffman]

Rebel-Rouser only seems simple.  All those damn key-changes!!!  OK, so it doesn't require the greatest chops to play, it is still cool, and just about a perfect rock and roll instrumental.  Also, you're supposed to play the rhythm guitar at the same time.  Much more work.


Gabriel

[Ritchie200]

Sounds like you need something like this: 

Michael Angelo Batio: Double Guitar Shred Medley

Hang in there for the whole thing, its worth it!

Jim

[Platefire]

Gabriel

I never really played Rebel Rouser other than playing around with it--not with a band or anything, so I can't really say with experience that it's simple. I do very well recall the first time I heard it live at a local Catholic dance hall, also the first time I saw a Gibson Firebird. It was like the guitar from outer space! That was in the early 60's, I was impressed and went home and worked on RR for a while. That was in the day instrumentals could be #1 hits on top 40 AM radio. Boy I'm old:>)

Ritchie

Never seen that guy before! He bound to had a headache after all that. It's just amazing what some folks can technically achieve. Seems impossible but there they are doing it right before your very eyes. I also watch another video that your video led me to "Women Shredders". Was some pretty amazing women shredders on there. Platefire

[P Batty]

Real guitarists play Esquires…
 

[Platefire]

Har! A real player can take a hickory stick with a piece of bailing wire tied to it and play "Flight of the Bumble Bee"! 

   

[thermion]

I was holding out to see if anyone mentioned John 5...nope!
He claims Hee Haw made him a tele believer for life.

[Platefire]

Last word on Telecasters:


               TWANG
 

[jeff]

KEEF!

(and he don't even need to put 6 strings on it)

[DummyLoad]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ln7F-a05aQI

[Platefire]

yep! Amen++

[SILVERGUN]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ln7F-a05aQI

Niiiizzzzz
 
Mike Campbell makes me want to play like Mike Campbell....what a job!

[DummyLoad]

...and the original version.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NU4MxvLQ6nw 


--pete

[Platefire]

What About Jim Campilongo 1958 Tele and his band???

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciGIsNPfvEI#t=317

[DummyLoad]

m/c grrl.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DI9irFLcVgA