GUITARS, THEN AND NOW…

Summers performed most of The Police’s hits on his 1961 Fender Telecaster, bought from one of his guitar students in the early 70s for a few hundred dollars. It had already been modified, with a fat neck humbucker, phase switch, built-in preamp and overdrive unit, and Summers loved it from day one. “The actual one is hidden away,” he reveals, “because it’s so valuable now, but Fender reproduced it perfectly in 2007 [with their limited edition tribute model; Summers used that on the band’s reunion tour]. I’ve got about four of those left.”

These days one of his go-to guitars is his signature ‘Monochrome’ Stratocaster, a custom shop piece made in conjunction with Fender and camera company Leica. It features Leica-designed hardware and is decorated with a collage of Summers’ black and white photography. “It’s unique,” says Summers. “It’s a custom shop guitar with a beautiful maple neck, and the headstock’s got a great shot of someone diving. It’s a one-off, and

I play it all the time.”

string, 14th fret for a B note.

l As per step 2, pluck the D on the second string with your ring finger.

l As per step 1, pluck harmonic on the fourth string, 14th fret for the E.

l Pluck the first string for the G note.

Practise until these notes ring together smoothly. Summers picked this technique up from guitar great Lenny Breau: “Lenny was an absolute genius player, and I was lucky enough to have a lesson with him in Nashville, around 1981. Chet Atkins was maybe doing [harp harmonics] a bit but, with his incredible harmonic ear, Lenny took it into very advanced chords. When you do it, you don't want octaves or repeating notes – the chords that work for this, if you normally struck them with a pick, would sound pretty weird and atonal. But if you do it with this harmonic technique, you get something else, that's very exotic and lovely...”