10 Legendary Telecaster Licks - Ask Zac 84

well hello friends and welcome to
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another Ask Zac today
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I'm going to look at 10 legendary
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telecaster licks
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and we're just gonna dive right in with
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lick number one
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[Music]
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that was cornell dupree's guitar part on
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rain night in georgia performed by
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brooke benton and written by the great
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tony jo white
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cornell dupree was from the dallas-fort
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worth area of texas
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moved to new york city to work with king
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curtis went on to do
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sessions with of course brooke benton
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and aretha franklin
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and you know many many others donnie
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hathaway
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and he used a late 60s telecaster a
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maple cap
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neck 67 or 68 blonde
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and used the neck pickup a lot later on
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he would add a middle pickup
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in the early 70s but
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not not on those early sessions
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that's a great example of textbook r
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b guitar work and those uh sliding
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you know fourths and fifths and sixth
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and and things like that
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and uh cornell was one of the guys that
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helped write the book
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along with you know bobby womack and
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jimi hendrix
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and others and you know reggie young and
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steve cropper
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and i think they were all influenced by
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curtis mayfield i think that was the
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influence them trying to play his guitar
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parts
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without using his uh open tuning i think
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they all
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kind of stole from him all right
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lick number two
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that was reggie young's guitar part on
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memphis soul stew by king curtis
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so funnily enough cornell dupree
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many times gets credit for playing that
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part which he did
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live but the part was created by reggie
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young and reggie played
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the you know on the original studio
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recording and reggie played
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uh same probably about a 1966 maple cap
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tele that had a transition logo on it
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into deluxe reverb
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and yeah great sound
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all right reggie of course would go on
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to play
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on all sorts of r b sessions in the 60s
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and then started playing on pop sessions
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with elvis and stuff in 69
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and then would move to nashville in the
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early 70s and play
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with everyone and their dog one of the
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all-time greats
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all right lick number three
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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[Music]
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right that was susie q by dale hawkins
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featuring a young
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james burton on guitar uh james
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was from shreveport louisiana and played
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a
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52 telly and probably into a small like
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you know epiphone or
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you know some little amp i don't think
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he had a fender yet
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and uh i played this instead of probably
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many of the other things just that james
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has done through the years
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just to showcase the blues influence
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james was very influenced by lightning
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hopkins
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and suzy q sounds like a lightning
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hopkins
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lick and if you haven't listened to
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lightning hopkins
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i highly suggest you listen to him and
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if there were one like album it would be
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the harold sessions
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and rick holmstrom from mavis staples
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band
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told me about this album and it's great
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he's lightning is playing electric
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guitar
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and there's a lot of echo on it and such
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and it's a great sounding album
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so check that out all right
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lick number four
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[Music]
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look number four was played by jessie ed
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davis
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uh on the taj mahal track six days on
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the road
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off the giant stepp album uh jesse ed
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is an incredibly important guitar player
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incredibly influential
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because of his slide work on taj mahal's
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version of statesboro blues dwayne
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allman
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picked up slide and in fact stole all of
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his licks
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off off that tune and of course that was
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the allman brothers
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signature song and how they opened the
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show
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so taj mahal and jesse had were huge
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influences
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on on the allman brothers also
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you have what jesse ed did on the song
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six days on the road which this was kind
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of a rock
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blues album and this was a gateway drug
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to
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tons and tons of rock and blues you know
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pop guitarist
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that heard the album that was the first
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time they had heard that type of
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bending and playing and it made a lot of
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guys get
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into country music and country guitar
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styles and mix that in with their
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rock playing uh a great uh example of
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that is elliott
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easton who's is you know was and is a
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big fan
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of jesse ed and that influenced his
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solos
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that he played in the cars especially
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things like my best friend's girlfriend
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um you know and other songs where you
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can hear kind of that country influence
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and pedal steel type bins
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also you have the pinch harmonics that
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he's that he's doing
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and of course in the solo he even plays
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some kind of stereotypical thing
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uh again you know you know very country
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influenced work
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uh he used the neck pickup a lot which
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that's what i was using there
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and he played a late 50s telecaster a
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top loader
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meaning the strings did not go through
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the body and
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that was the guitar he played throughout
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his entire career
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his professional career well i guess in
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the end he had a made in japan telly but
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but the guitar was finished many
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different colors
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and so at times it had kind of a flowery
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appearance and then
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by the time the like concert for
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bangladesh
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it was it had been refinished sunburst
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and had a strat
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neck pickup by that point but it had a
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normal neck pickup you know when of
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course he played
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six days on the road and that was neck
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pickup probably through
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he was a big fan of a viper champ to
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record with and then
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live he used a 410 a 50s 410 basement
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loaded with jbl speakers
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and then of course you know big outdoor
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gigs you might use a dual showman or
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something bigger than that or svt and i
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used light gauge strings
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9 through 42 and a heavy gauge pick just
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an incredible player
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all right lick number five
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[Music]
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that was pete anderson's guitar part on
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dwight yoakam's
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guitars cadillacs and hillbilly music
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that was released in 1986 and was a huge
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record
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country music had gone to uh strats and
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chorus pedals and
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things of that sort and plugging in
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direct and uh
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pete anderson was playing a telecaster
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into deluxe reverb
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and he was playing low string twangy
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stuff and he turned country music on its
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ear by
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showing what it had done in the past
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especially out of country out of
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california so that song
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is a tribute to bakersfield and
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california country music
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and pete was another guitar player very
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influenced by jesse ed davis and he
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mentions uh
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six days on the road as influence
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influencing him
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to switch from blues which he had mainly
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been a blues player
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to learn about country music and such
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so there you have it all right
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lick number six
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[Music]
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do
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[Music]
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that was bobby womack's guitar part on
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the
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tune i'm in love as recorded by wilson
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pickett
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now the tune also features reggie young
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but reggie is playing a lower part
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[Music]
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that kind of thing but uh what i was
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playing was bobby womack's guitar part
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and bobby womack was a very important
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writer of course he wrote that song i'm
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in love
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and it was a great artist if you want to
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dig deeper into him
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listen to his album fly me to the moon
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great telecaster player
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and it was reggie reggie young's work
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that got him to play atelier and
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again this was you know mid late 60s and
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so uh
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you know bobby womack played a 67 or 68
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maple cap
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telly on a lot of sessions with aretha
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franklin and wilson pickett on his own
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records
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and used fender and peg amps
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great player all right look
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number seven i think for this one we're
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gonna
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switch guitars
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[Music]
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all right that was clarence white's
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bee bender telecaster work on you ain't
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going nowhere as recorded by the the
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birds and that was
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of course what he would play on on the
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uh on the live versions the studio
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recording featured
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uh lloyd green playing pedal steel
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guitar but of course when they played it
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live they didn't have a pedal steel
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player
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and which left a great opening for uh
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clarence to use his
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b bender which he did to great effect of
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course
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clarence uh would have been uh legendary
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if he had never picked up the electric
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guitar just his work on acoustic guitar
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um helped bring it out as a lead
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instrument where it had mainly been a
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rhythm instrument in bluegrass music he
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and doc watson
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uh really pushed the acoustic guitar as
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being a solo instrument
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and of course he was a huge influence on
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tony rice and tony rice played
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one of his guitars for most of his
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career
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clarence was you know you know inspired
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to pick up electric guitar by james
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burton
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and in fact was very james burton
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influenced
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but he uh you know he also had his
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bluegrass you know style and also his
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unique sense of syncopated rhythms
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and just the feel that he had and then
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when you add the string bender in he had
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a completely unique style
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he used a 54 tele that of course it had
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a b bender added and then later on it
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had a strat
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neck pickup and uh
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i used very light gauge strings kind of
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like 9 through 42 but used
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you know maybe a 13 for a g string and a
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10 or 11 for a for a b
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string such an amazing player
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all right we're gonna switch back
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lick number eight
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[Music]
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so
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[Music]
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all right that was a doozy that's a
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highlander boogie by john jorgensen as
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recorded with the helicasters
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john played a made in japan jv
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uh telly sunburst with white binding
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rosewood fretboard into a voxer
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matchless amp
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maybe used a boss reverb or delay
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and that's you know a song that he wrote
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and i actually saw him perform it
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without the helicasters before the
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helicasters were
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you know recorded it on a nashville
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television show in the very early 90s
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and just as a trio himself
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bass player and drummer and it was
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ridiculous hearing that song
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even with just one guitar bass and drums
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sounded so big and so
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full and of course it you know it's an
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amazing guitar part
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really uh you know not not the easiest
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thing to play
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not the easiest thing to pull off and i
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did my best there so
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but uh yes highlander boogie is one of
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the great
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telecaster instrumentals uh ridiculously
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good
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all right lick number nine
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[Music]
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so
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[Music]
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of course that was luther perkins guitar
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part on folsom
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prison blues written and recorded by
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johnny cash and i guess it was the
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tennessee 2
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still at that point johnny and luther
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perkins and marshall grant
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they they were all you know uh met
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at a car dealership in memphis where
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some of them were working and they
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started playing music together in the
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living rooms and then they
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you know recorded it at sun records and
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had
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uh hay porter and then they recorded
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folsom prison which
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is a you know a fantastic song
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and a really amazingly wonderful but
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simple guitar lick that really has stood
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the test of time
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unlike songs like you know smoke on the
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water or stairway to heaven which
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you know people uh really you know start
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gagging on
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i think folsom prison uh the opening
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look to that is just
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so cool and iconic that it hasn't
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it hasn't worn out it's welcome so
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that's look number nine and uh luther
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played a telly
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uh when he played an esquire uh 50s
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esquire and
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probably with the stock strings which
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were like 12 through 52 with a wound
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third
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and he played that boom chicka style and
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it was great perfect for uh johnny
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cash's uh
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you know songs he had written all right
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here
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is lick number ten
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[Music]
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do
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[Music]
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that was james honeyman scott's guitar
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work on kid by the pretenders you might
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be
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surprised that i had that on my on my
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list but uh
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the pretenders are one of my favorite
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you know pop bands and james honeyman
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scott was one of the great
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pop guitar players of all time so good
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so melodic
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uh great parts and he played that on a
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telly he played that on
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uh rosewood board 66 uh telly that was
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owned by chrissy hein he plugged it in
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direct
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and recorded all those great parts the
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great
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intro and that amazing solo it's one of
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the uh one of my favorite solos of
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all time all right well that's my
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10 legendary licks and i hope you've
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enjoyed it
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if you have been enjoying the show i
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hope you will
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subscribe also uh you know if you've
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already subscribed i hope you will
17:48
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really appreciative of everyone that's
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done that okay
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if you've made it through all this you
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get a bonus lick all right
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here we go uh this is from a player that
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i recently interviewed
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and i really think that a hugely
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influential guide so i'll just go ahead
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and play
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[Applause]
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[Music]
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all right that was our honorary 11th
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which is jimmy olander
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and his telecaster work with uh diamond
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rio
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on their first single meet in the middle
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which went straight to number one on the
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country charts in 1990.
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uh of course jimmy used a double bender
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and
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that lick used to always uh i just
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thought it was impossible to play and
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then when i interviewed him recently for
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the true tone lounge
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he said it was possible to play it
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without benders and
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so i figured it out and i used open
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strings and
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and manual bins but yeah it was a lot of
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fun
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all right and also for those that made
19:17
it to the end i'm going to tell you
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about this guitar this is a 1957
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esquire the body has been refinished and
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of course a neck pickup has been added
19:25
and
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i'm using i'm still
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trying these out these are gabriel
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tenorio
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strings and these are pure nickel
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round round core strings and
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they're very nice sounding i'm still
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kind of testing them out
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and i'm using a blue chip
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tpr 35 pick
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and this is my 1965 deluxe reverb that
19:54
has
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a mesa boogie version of the
19:58
uh celestion vintage 30 and the bright
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cap has been clipped and i was not using
20:03
any type of effects of any kind
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and i was just straight into the amp and
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then i switched over
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for the clarence white uh segment i
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switched over to this uh
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crook tele it's paisley and it has a a
20:16
new joe glazer
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bender on it and it's a great guitar
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all right guys well thank you so much
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for watching and i'll see you next time