The Telecaster

A well played Telecaster is a sound of beauty. It has long been the standard of country music, but is also used selectively in blues, and rock music. This page of our website, we highlight our favorite Telecaster guitar slingers across the genres.

Merle Haggard stated in his liner notes to Strangers / Swinging Doors And The Bottle Let Me Down, "The Telecaster was not for the timid; you had to be a bulldog to play a Telecaster, because it's hard to play. It doesn't respond like a lot of guitars, so you have to play it with a different attitude, and that makes the results different. 

Muddy Waters, one of my favorite blues artists played a Telecaster. Both Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones were heavily influenced by Muddy. Of course, Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones used a Telecaster, but in addition, Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin used a Telecaster in Zeppelin's early days. To add to that, Bob Dylan, also influenced by Muddy Waters used a Bob Dylan owned a black-and-white 1958 Telecaster which became one of his first electric guitars. He used this guitar on his 1966 tour of Australia and Europe. 

One of true masters of the Telecaster is Roy Buchanan, wow. A special shout out for him. Some of the other Telecaster masters reviewed throughout thebestofwebsite.com are noted below. There are other Telecaster slingers that we plan to add. This page is a living document so stop back for updates. 

James Burton is best known for his work in Elvis Presley's TCB (Taking Care of Business) Band. James Burton's resume is too extensive for this page, so we're highlighting a few select items. Also of note, Burton played with Merle Haggard. who is listed separately on this page. 

We highlighted two instrumental releases first. They are The Guitar Sounds of James Burton and another album by James Burton & pedal steel guitarist Ralph Mooney called Corn Pickin' and Slick Slidin'.  

Below we noted some of James Burton's  work with:
Gram Parsons
Emmylou Harris
Elvis Presley

James Burton sweet Telecaster guitar riffs beautifully filled up Gram Parsons two solo albums, G. P. and Grievous Angel. The basic personnel was Elvis' TCB backing band, along with Gram Parsons, and of course, Emmylou Harris.

There are only two albums with this line-up and they are magical. They are available as a two-fer, or as a box set with alternate takes and slightly better sound. I upgraded to the box-set and am sure glad I did, but casual fans will be more than satisfied with the original two albums without the alternate tracks. 

Our website features much more about Gram Parsons, these releases, along with the other bands that he played in. 

Also Clarence White is highlighted below.

Emmylou and the Hot Band toured in 1975. From Wolfgang's vault, the personnel was 
Emmylou Harris - guitar, vocals
James Burton - guitar
Rodney Crowell - guitar
Glenn T. Hardin - piano
Hank DeVito - pedal steel
Emory Gordy - bass
John Ware - drums
Nicolette Larson - vocals
Fayssoux Starling - vocals

Emmylou's first three albums are my favorite and they are listed below. If you're more inclined to get a compilation, our top choice is the two disc Anthology: The Warner/Reprise Years.

On Stage February, 1970 is a nice live Elvis performance from 1970. The remastered version includes six additional tracks. Beyond  the traditional gospel, and R&B cover songs Elvis includes material from the era: Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Proud Mary," and The Beatles "Yesterday/Hey Jude."

Jim Campilonga is a hot Telecaster guitar slinger. 

The Little Willies shows Campilongo's ability to add riffs, fills, and mellow solos on the softer songs like "Easy As the Rain." Meanwhile, he lets loose on some of the faster songs like "Roly Poly," and Gotta Get Drunk." 

THE LITTLE WILLIES are:
Norah Jones (piano, vocals)
Lee Alexander (bass) 
Jim Campilongo (electric guitar) vocals) Richard Julian (guitar, vocals) 
Dan Rieser (drums)

Steve Morse is one fine guitar player. I was lucky to see him early in his career with the Dixie Dregs and a few solo bands. Being a fan of both Kansas and Deep Purple's music, it is interesting that he became members of both of them. 

His 1991 release 88 Elmira Street is an excellent display of the immense talent of Danny Gatton. 

While Jimmy Page is primarily known in his Led Zeppelin days as playing a Gibson Les Paul and his double neck, in the early days he played a Telecaster. 

The Led Zeppelin DVD has plenty of video footage with Page playing a Telecaster. The four tracks from Danmarks Radio from 1969 shows 30 minutes of great footage.

The text below is an excerpt from interview with Page where he discusses his use of the Telecaster on Led Zeppelin I. The BBC Sessions first disc include various 1969 live performances. I'm not certain, but some or all may be with Page using a Telecaster.

Our Led Zeppelin section.

Source:
http://www.modernguitars.com/archives/003340.html
by Steven Rosen.

What kind of guitar were you suing on the first Led Zeppelin album?

JP: A Telecaster. I used the Les Paul with the Yardbirds on about two numbers and a Fender for the rest. You see the Les Paul Custom had a central setting, a kind of out-of-phase pickup sound which Jeff couldn’t get on his Les Paul, so I used mine for that.

Was the Telecaster the one Beck gave to you?

JP: Yes. There was work done on it but only afterwards. I painted it; everyone painted their guitars in those days. And I had reflective plastic sheeting underneath the pick guard that gives rainbow colors.

While Merle straps the Telecaster on, he isn't the lead player, but his guitar slingers like Roy Nichols and James Burton favored the model.

In 2006 the early Capital Merle Haggard releases were brilliantly remastered and repackaged with two discs combined together, two for one. Further, there are bonus tracks to supplement the original albums. 

They did a remarkable job on the remastering. They sound incredible. 

The New Riders reformed in 2005. They released a superb studio album in 2009, entitled Where I Come From. They also have quite a few live archive shows available. As of this writing, the most current release is from Winterland 1977 and it is very good.

New Riders of the Purple Sage overview

That's only around half of the story. Raising the Roof has very good song writing, a first class backing band, and blistering guitar.
by Barry Small 

The studio releases are well known that we point out. The live release, Live Licks, from The Rolling Stones 40th Anniversary tour of 2002-03 is a great listen so we've decided to select a less obvious recommendation. Plus we wanted to include a recommendation with the guitar duo of Ron Wood / Keith Richards. Sheryl Crow is a guest on "Honky Tonky Women."

More Rolling Stones content

Steely Dan turned out some brilliant music. The earlier albums are more rock oriented than their latter ones. 

As the subject of this page is the Telecaster, the earlier Steely Dan albums are drenched with Telecaster solos. Denny Diaz favored a Telecaster and graced many of the solos. Jeff "Skunk" Baxter also added some smoking guitar licks, though I'm not sure the model of guitar he used. Baxter also added a bit of pedal steel. Steely Dan's later albums as they moved toward Aja and beyond had a whole host of other guitarists, less rock 'n roll more jazz influences. They're all really good, just different.

The link below is a youtube video of dueling Telecaster's, featuring Denny Diaz and Walter Becker. Steely Dan Reelin' in the Years 1973 Midnight Special

The sound of Muddy Waters running a slide up and down his fret board is a sound of beauty to my ears. Not my wife's, "what is that noise." I love the blues live. His two disc Legacy Edition of Muddy :Mississippi" Waters Live gets more playing time than any other Muddy Waters release in my collection. Great sound quality too. 

The liner notes have some nice photos of Muddy playing his Telecaster. The very enjoyable liner notes by band mate Bob Margolin makes note of Muddy's "red '57 Telecaster (new extra-wide rosewood neck in '61, now in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame) as he describes guitar playing. 

Muddy Waters overview

Clarence White guitar playing is sort of like a combination of three of my favorite guitarist's, Jerry Garcia, Roy Buchanan, and James Burton. He plays with the melody of Jerry, the tone and brilliance of Roy, and the conciseness and sweetness of James. Now that is saying something. 

Some notable Clarence White electric guitar playing can be heard with one of the the earliest country rock albums Nashville West, the Byrds with Gram Parsons on Sweetheart of the Rodeo (comes in single or double edition), feature Clarence as a session musician.

As an official member of The Byrds,  we suggest on or more of live Byrds releases. 

Product Description
The Telecaster is the only guitar to have ever spawned its own cult following of "Teleplayers." The Tele's raw, penetrating sound, combined with unique physical characteristics such as a deeply scooped headstock and placement of its volume and tone controls, enables Teleplayers to exploit techniques and sounds not available on other guitars. 

In this video, Telemaster Arlen Roth teaches you all the classic licks and riffs of the great Telemasters, as well as techniques such as PEDAL STEEL BENDS, BEHIND-THE-NUT BENDS, CHICKIN PICKIN', CLASSIC ROCKABILLY, RHYTHM STYLES, BLUES TECHNIQUES, SHUFFLE PATTERNS, FULL CHORD BENDS, BANJO ROLLS, and much more. Plus, Arlen review the styles of all the Tele greats, like ALBERT LEE, DANNY GATTON, KEITH RICHARDS, STEVE CROPPER, and JAMES BURTON.