“When I first went to England, there was Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, and Eric Clapton sleeping in a van. They all bought Strats after they saw me play”: Buddy Guy reflects on his relationship with the Strat during a jam with Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram
In Fender's new Strat Sessions series, the two blues greats come together for a stripped-back take on a Willie Dixon classic – and to discuss the enduring influence of the Stratocaster
(Image credit: Fender YouTube)
As many of you are probably aware, the Fender Stratocaster celebrates its 70th anniversary in 2024. Now, Fender has continued its celebrations with the help of Buddy Guy and Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, bringing together two generations of blues greats for the first installment of its Strat Sessions jam series.
However, it leans into that intimacy with aplomb with a stripped-back, improv-rich performance that sees Kingfish and Guy take on Willie Dixon's classic blues standard, (I’m Your) Hoochie Coochie Man.
There are no drums, and no overdrive pedals get stomped on; what you get is two Strats played cleanly and personably with just their smooth, soulful voices for company.
Buddy Guy has his iconic, time-beaten polka dot Stratocaster draped over his shoulder for the performance. Kingfish, meanwhile, plays his Tobacco Burst Player series model.
The word 'smoky' is an over-used adjective when it comes to the blues, but hearing the pair's voices – Guy's gravel-flecked and honest, Kingfish's warm, round and deep – brings that particular word to mind.
They may represent two completely different generations of blues players, but during the raw, minimalist jam, they are united by their ability to pour their soul into their instruments.
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Asked by Kingfish why he plays a Strat above all other guitars, Guy revealed: “The first one I saw was [played by] Guitar Slim, and I thought it was a joke; all I knew about was the acoustic guitars I saw in the catalog.
“The band would play for 20-30 minutes, then all of a sudden Guitar Slim would come from the back of the room playing the Strat.”
Returning the question, Kingfish said that Guy himself was “definitely one of the reasons”. The 25-year-old guitarist, who believes you need to understand the history of the blues to play it well, then embellished his answer.
(Image credit: Fender YouTube)
“A lot of blues and gospel guys in my area, all I saw them using was Strats,” he says. “The specifics of a Strat have always been trebly-sounding pickups; you can get a nice screaming blues sound and it’s always a part of my arsenal when I need it.”
Kingfish isn’t the only player that Guy, who has stoked the flames of the blues across his dazzling career, has inspired to pick up a Stratocaster.
In the video, Guy explains how a trip to England in the mid-’60s left a huge impact on a trio of British blues masters.
“When I first went to England in 1965, there was Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, and Eric Clapton sleeping in a van,” he says. “When I got to know them, they said, ‘I didn’t know a Strat could play the blues.’ They all went and bought Strats after they saw me play.”
He also details how he’s accepted it’s “impossible” to please everybody. As such, a stubborn but ceaselessly personal approach to the instrument has defined his playing style.
“I turn this damn thing on and say, ‘I’ll give you what I got, take it or leave it,’” he says, with his polka dot Strat sat like a cat on his lap. “If you pick up the guitar and give it the best you’ve got, it’ll give you the best it’s got and that’s how I look at it every night I play the guitar.”
Guy calls his Strat his wife, and his love for the instrument has outlived his actual marriage.
(Image credit: Fender YouTube)
He says: “I was once married but if I decided to practice in bed for a little bit, she had to get out. I don't know if that caused us to not stay married for long, but I said, 'When I met you I had a guitar and I guess when we leave one another I'll still have a guitar with me, because it took me around the world.'”
Fender has been celebrating the Strat's 70th anniversary in style. So far, it has dropped the futuristic color-changing Ultra Strat HSS and souped-up its Player and American Professional II models, bringing a well-loved finish back in the process.
A freelance writer with a penchant for music that gets weird, Phil is a regular contributor to Prog, Guitar World, and Total Guitar magazines and is especially keen on shining a light on unknown artists. Outside of the journalism realm, you can find him writing angular riffs in progressive metal band, Prognosis, in which he slings an 8-string Strandberg Boden Original, churning that low string through a variety of tunings. He's also a published author and is currently penning his debut novel which chucks fantasy, mythology and humanity into a great big melting pot.
