Berry, Chuck

The Godfather of rock ’n’ roll...

Neither bluesman, entertainer nor country boy, Charles Edward Anderson Berry fused all three personas into a rip-snorting style that formed the very language of rock guitar as we know it today.

It’d be easy to see Chuck Berry simply as a flamboyant character from the early rock ’n’ roll days – the duck walk, the chunky boogie rhythm and those signature doublestop introductions. But there was much more to it. We often view players from that era in terms of being a ‘beginning’. Without Chuck Berry or Duane Eddy, there could never have been a Jimi Hendrix or Eddie Van Halen, and so on.

As it turned out, Chuck was particular about his gear too. Of all the guitars he used in his lifetime, two are predominant: the Gibson ES-350T and ES-335. In 1955, coinciding with the release of Chuck’s first single, Maybellene, a thinline version of the 350 – the ES-350T – was born into the new age of rock ’n’ roll (although it’s alleged that the actual guitar used for the recording session was a Gretsch Duo Jet). Chuck has been pictured with both the P-90 and humbucker versions. The release of the ES-335 in 1958 was the same year that Chuck had further hits with Sweet Little Sixteen, Carol and, of course, Johnny B. Goode. Another thinline model, but this time with a double cutaway, the 335 took full advantage of the nascent humbucking pickups as well as offering added access to the guitar’s upper register with its 19th-fret neck joint. If you’re dead set on authentic Chuck Berry tones, it’s just got to be Gibson!