From 1965 until their breakup in 1973, the Byrds were a bona-fide electric-guitar powerhouse.
During the California band's initial—and most popular—incarnation, Jim McGuinn turned the 12-string Rickenbacker 360 guitar into an institution.
Its glorious trademark "chiming" sound actually became the band's trademark sound—a sound that even influenced the almighty Beatles.
As the years went by and the hits piled up—"Turn! Turn! Turn!," "Eight Miles High," "My Back Pages" and "Chestnut Mare" among them—the band's original lineup—Jim McGuinn,David Crosby, Gene Clark, Chris Hillman and Michael Clarke—went their separate ways, leaving McGuinn to pilot the plane with a host of new musicians.
Luckily, a true guitar legend was waiting in the wings: Clarence White.
A master of chops-busting bluegrass guitar, White, who initially recorded with the band as a session guitarist but became a full member in mid-1968, intertwined his formidable fingerpicking, flatpicking and hybrid-picking technique on his Tele with the use of a device he helped invent (with Gene Parsons), the Parsons-White StringBender (also known as a B-bender), which allowed him to recreate pedal steel guitar licks with stunning accuracy.
It also should be noted that three members of the Byrds—White, McGuinn and Hillman—have (or have had) their own signature-model guitars or basses. This, I assure you, is uncommon..
During the California band's initial—and most popular—incarnation, Jim McGuinn turned the 12-string Rickenbacker 360 guitar into an institution.
Its glorious trademark "chiming" sound actually became the band's trademark sound—a sound that even influenced the almighty Beatles.
As the years went by and the hits piled up—"Turn! Turn! Turn!," "Eight Miles High," "My Back Pages" and "Chestnut Mare" among them—the band's original lineup—Jim McGuinn,David Crosby, Gene Clark, Chris Hillman and Michael Clarke—went their separate ways, leaving McGuinn to pilot the plane with a host of new musicians.
Luckily, a true guitar legend was waiting in the wings: Clarence White.
A master of chops-busting bluegrass guitar, White, who initially recorded with the band as a session guitarist but became a full member in mid-1968, intertwined his formidable fingerpicking, flatpicking and hybrid-picking technique on his Tele with the use of a device he helped invent (with Gene Parsons), the Parsons-White StringBender (also known as a B-bender), which allowed him to recreate pedal steel guitar licks with stunning accuracy.
It also should be noted that three members of the Byrds—White, McGuinn and Hillman—have (or have had) their own signature-model guitars or basses. This, I assure you, is uncommon..
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