NILE RODGERS

A Wes Montgomery die-hard in his formative years, Nile Rodgers reveals that being upstaged by a ‘kid’ was the reason he first picked up a Strat…

- Jamie Dickson

To call Nile Rodgers’ guitar-playing career a success is a gross understatement. More than $2 billion worth of music has been recorded with his ‘Hitmaker’ Strat, a guitar that cost him just $149 and which, at the time, he wasn’t even sure he should buy. He’s not regretting that purchase anymore, to say the least. We caught up with the Hitmaker himself while he was in town testing out the new Acoustasonic version of Fender’s ever adaptable Strat at Abbey Road. Here, he opens up about the secrets behind his hyper-effective rhythm playing, his enduring love of jazz guitar and why being upstaged back in the 70s led to him picking up a Strat for the first time.

You’ve just filmed a video for Fender in which you’re playing the new Acoustasonic Stratocaster. It’s quite a departure from the ‘Hitmaker’ Strat you’re known for using. What attracted you to it?

“They gave it to me over at Abbey Road and I was just putting the guitar through its paces. And the next thing you know I wound up doing session after session after session – just over and over and over again, trying to figure out what the guitar did. And as I did it I wound up having so much fun playing it that I just didn’t stop playing it – it was a weird thing. It sort of grew on me almost right away… I really love jazz guitars, I just can’t help it.