Fender strat players

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The almighty Fender Stratocaster- the guitar most people think of when they hear the word ‘guitars‘. A mainstay in the music industry since its invention, and will continue to be for a long time. Lets talk about some of the players who helped ensure the guitar went into legend.

Iron Maiden. All three members of Iron Maiden have at one time or another played with a Fender Stratocaster. Other than Steve Harris, Dave Murray is the only other founding member of Iron Maiden that is still with the band. Throughtout the years he used a Fender Strat, which up untill 1990 he was using Paul Kosoff of the band ‘Free’s Stratocaster. Fender have released a signature model of the guitar, with Hotrail pickups and Floyd rose tremolo system, two items rarely seen on any Fender guitar. The two other guitar players in Iron Maiden, Janick Gers and Adrian Smith also play Strats, yet Smith seems to always be photographed with a different guitar in his hands.
Eric Clapton. Ol’ ’slow hands’ as hes known, has played as many guitars as most people have had hot dinners, using everything from a Gibson Les Paul from his days in Cream and a Telecaster when he was in the Yardbirds. Clapton is most well know for using a Stratocaster – nicknamed ‘Blackie’ which was used up until 1985, when it was retired. In 2004 Clapton sold ‘Blackie’ for just less than one million dollars at auction, using the money to fund his Crossroads rehabilitation centre. Clapton swapped over to Fender Strats in 1969, and never looked back.
Jimi Hendrix. Jimi is considered the greatest guitar player ever after changing the way we use a electric guitar. Hendrix took to playing Strats in 1966, using them for recordings and gigs. Hendrix also tried out many different styles of guitars before choosing a Fender Strat, much like Clapton. Hendrix was also the first well known left handed player to take a right handed guitar and string it in reverse order and play it upside down, as left handed guitars cost alot more back then. Eric Clapton’s birthday present to Jimi was supposed to be a left handed Strat, which Jimi never received due to his death. The guitar he famously set fire to at the 1969 Monterey international pop festival was a Strat.

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