In 1958, ES-335 guitar model was produced and in that same year Chuck Berry made his single “Hit the Sweet Little Sixteen”. Berry started using this guitar in 1958 and used it until his death.
Since the release of Maybellene in 1955 many guitarists around the globe have tried to copy and grasp songs that Berry yielded effortlessly with his guitar. From musicians like Keith Richards and Angus Young, any rock guitarist who has ever played the six-string guitar is indebted to Berry and his innovation of music.
What Guitars Did Chuck Berry Play?
The granddaddy of rock also played the Gibson’s Guitars, however before the Gibson’s were introduced Berry used to play the Kay Thin Twin model K-161.
When Hen Berry was starting his career he liked to use a 1957 model Gibson guitar make ES-350T which had the company’s P.A.F. He did most of his recordings of songs with the chess Records. Also, Berry played the 1956 model of Gibson that was hollow in body ES-350TN make. This guitar had a thin, natural finish and a nice strap. On numerous events, he was spotted on television with this guitar.
As an attribute to Charles Berry Eric Clapton said that the ES-350 model was gorgeous, so he bought the guitar because he considered Berry as his Hero. In 1986 Eric used this model of a guitar to perform a concert and said later that he wanted to impress Charles Berry by performing with the guitar, however, while laughing he acknowledged that he never even knew what he was playing during the concert.
In many occasions, pictures of Berry were taken while he was with ES-335 models (a number of them), but it is said that they were provided for him so that he could not strain himself flying with the model that he loved to perform with. On several performances, he was seen using the ES-330 Gibson’s that were hollow in body and electric and also played the Les Paul custom black Gibson. In the 1980s, Berry liked BB King Gibson who was used by Kenny Rogers when he released the song, Lucille.
The guitar that Charles favoured most was the cherry ES-355 Gibson which he played within many concerts. It doesn’t matter which version of the guitar you play with, whether, Bigsbys, maestro vibratos or those with no vibratos all this guitars are able to be told apart and this is all thanks to a diamond split that is laid over the headstock.
Besides playing the Gibson’s Berry also played other models of guitars such as:
- 6121 Roundup Gretsch 1959
- G6136DC Gretsch white falcon that was a double cutaway.
In his later years, the legend was spotted using a 1967 red cherry Gibson flying vee. Also, he used the Super 400 Gibson model. The whereabouts of this few guitars are unknown, but others are in the museums however one model will never be seen because Berry was buried with his favourite Gibson the ES-335 when he died in 2017.
Background
Charles Berry was born on 10/18/1926 and died on 03/18/2017. Berry was an American songwriter and a singer too, he pioneered the rock roll music nicknamed the rock and roll father. Chuck developed and refined blues and rhythm tunes into elements that formed up rock music. He hit the charts with songs like Maybellene which he released in 1955, Rock and Roll which was released in 1957, Johnny B Goode released in the year 1958 and Rolled over Beethoven which was his second song released in 1956. He mainly wrote lyrics that focused on the youth of those time since they were significant consumers; he also developed styles of music whereby he played showmanship and solo guitars. Berry greatly influenced rock music.
He was born in a middle-class family that was American in St. Louis, from a younger age Berry had shown interest in music, and his first performance was when he was in high school of Summer. Berry was sentenced for murder while still a student at high school and sent to a reform school where he spends four years from 1944-1947. When he was released, Berry got married and settled down. In the year 1953 early his influence came from showmanship techniques and guitar riffs by the musician T-Bone Walker, and he started to perform with Johnson Trio.
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