Masters of the Telecaster

The Fender Telecaster is a simple, unpretentious guitar. Introduced in the early 1950s, the Telecaster was the first production solid-body electric guitar. It’s not the easiest guitar to play, nor the most sonically advanced, but it’s been the guitar of choice for some of the world’s best guitarists, including Scotty Anderson. Here are my top six Masters of the Telecaster:

1. Clarence White
Clarence White (1944-1973) is recognized as a major bluegrass innovator for his acoustic guitar flatpicking with the Kentucky Colonels, but his electric guitar playing with the Byrds beginning in 1968 is even more mind-boggling. A protégé of James Burton, White had a brilliantly idiosyncratic sense of timing, all the technique a guitarist could ever want, and space in the four-piece Byrds to stretch as far as he wanted. He’s the Jimi Hendrix of country-rock guitar. Check out his extraordinary live work with the Byrds on Untitled; Live at the Fillmore West February 1969 and Live at Royal Albert Hall 1971. Yow.

2. Roy Buchanan
Roy Buchanan (1939-1988) could play the frets off a Telecaster, but he could never quite find the commercial niche that would allow him to display his gifts to the fullest. He was at his best on deep blues, displaying a ferocious attack and unearthly sense of dynamics, and country music, where his unequaled mastery of the Tele’s distinctive electronics gave him an instantly recognizable sound.


3. Don Rich

Don Rich (1941-1974) is one of the unsung heroes of country music. A key architect of the “Bakersfield Sound,” Rich was the leader of Buck Owens’ band the Buckaroos, the hottest band in country music in the early 1960s. Also a superb harmony singer—Owens and Rich were one of the great country duets—Rich didn’t play lengthy solos, but his crisp, punchy fills and breaks perfectly framed Owens’ music.

4. Danny Gatton
The most technically gifted player on this list, Danny Gatton (1945-1994) could play it all—rock, country, blues, jazz and various combinations thereof. Like Roy Buchanan, Gatton struggled to attain commercial success, but his nickname within the guitar world—The Humbler—says it all. Redneck Jazz Explosion, a quartet with steel guitar great Buddy Emmons, was his finest moment.


5. James Burton
The quintessential sideman and session musician, James Burton (born 1939) helped define and codify the role of the Telecaster in country, rockabilly and country-rock music. Burton first gained attention in 1957 for his playing on the swamp-rock classic “Suzy Q,” and later played in the bands of Ricky Nelson, Elvis Presley, Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris and recorded with everybody (pictured here with Elvis).

6. Steve Cropper
As a member of Booker T & the MGs—the house band at Stax Records in Memphis—Steve Cropper (born 1941) proved that one doesn’t have to play extended solos to be a great guitarist. Cropper played on some of the best R&B and soul records of the 1960s, backing such artists as Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, Eddie Floyd and many others.