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TrueFire. Hi, this is Keith Williams. Welcome to 5 Watt World. We're here to help you get the most music from the

least gear. From the father of rock and roll to the king of the blues, the ES-335 family of Gibson guitars were the

instrument of choice. Introduced in 1958, the guitars Gibson called semi-solid arrived just in time to carry rock and

roll and the blues to the top of the charts. Many, many guitarists have reached for a 335, 345, or 355 on occasion, but when

it came down to it, I could only name 10 that I believe changed the world of music and the guitars we choose to play

it on. With a few honorable mentions thrown in for good measure, I'll remind you that this is a list of those that I

felt had the greatest impact; not necessarily my favorites, though some of those are in here, and not necessarily

those that had the greatest technical ability, though some of those are in here too, but those that changed the music

in the greatest possible way. As the saying goes, your mileage may vary, and that's cool. I'd hope we can all enjoy

each other's opinions and learn from what others love. If you enjoy this sort of countdown, then stay tuned because

this is the 5 Watt World short history of the top 10 ES-335 players that changed the

world. If you enjoy our videos, make sure to subscribe or grab a t-shirt, hoodie, hat, or a stomp preset pack to support what

we do and become a bigger part of 5 Watt World. Sign up with Friends of 5 Watt

on Patreon. There's a friend level to suit any budget. The links are in the description. Number 10: Chris

Cornell, often cited as one of the greatest rock singers of all time, was also an influential guitarist and a

stalwart user of semi-hollow body guitars, and in particular, late 50s-inspired Bigsby-equipped ES

335s. A core member of the original grunge scene with the band Soundgarden, playing L5 ball Customs, Cornell would move

towards semi-hollow guitars using Dusenberg Star Player guitars and Gibson 335s. Later, his use of both even overlapped

with his signature 335s being originally released in 2013, and a Duesenberg 'Aeon' series Black Hole Sun guitar was

released in 2016. But the guitars Cornell used the most during his later years were the Gibson Custom '50s-style 335s from their

reunion in 2010. In 2013, Gibson released a Chris Cornell signature 335 that came in flat army green and flat

black, as on Cornell's personal guitars. The signature guitars had clear knobs along with brushed nickel machine heads and

hardware. Both models had Jason Lollar pickups, which are based on the original Gretsch Filter'Tron pickups. In

the signature guitars, the olive drab model shipped with the Bigsby, and the flat black guitar shipped with a stop

tailpiece. Before the signature 335, he had used a red 335 with an unbound neck.

That guitar has a set of Lollar low-wind Imperials, a PAF-style pickup with lower

output to simulate aged PAFs. Cornell had openly talked about his struggles with depression, isolation, and

suicidal thoughts in several interviews. Managing the depression across his career, on and off drugs, he finally took

his own life in May of 2017 while on tour with Soundgarden. Cornell's impact on the music world can be seen in the

endless tribute performances of his songs that persist to this day. Number nine: Freddy King. Though his early use of

a P-90 equipped 1954 goldtop, as seen on the cover of *Let's Hideaway*,

influenced Eric Clapton.  Clapton began seeking his own Les Paul. King switched to using semi-hollow Gibsons in the mid-60s when

he bought his famous 1960 ES-345. As a boy, he had keyed in on the blues players T-Bone Walker, Lightning

Hopkins, John Lee Hooker, and Muddy Waters. Credited with taking the blues rock of T-Bone Walker and turning it into

crossover hits, he had six singles on Billboard's R&B charts in 1961 alone. His

playing influenced the guys in England as well, with Eric Clapton covering *Hideaway* on the legendary *Beano* album.

King would use many different 345 and 355 guitars, all with the Varitone circuit that can be heard in his recordings of

the guitar tones. In 2019, the Gibson Custom Shop did a limited run of 200 guitars based on Freddy's 1960 ES-

345. Number eight: Dave Grohl. Heading one of the biggest rock bands of our time, Dave Grohl has been rocking out, holding a

pretty unusual variant of a 335. Grohl used many different guitars early in the band's history, but increasingly he relied on his Gibson Memphis-era

Trini Lopez reissue. You might not know who Trini Lopez was; don't feel bad, neither did Dave Grohl when he bought the

guitar in either '92 or '93 when he was still in Nirvana. He hadn't heard of

Lopez; he just thought the guitar looked cool with the different inlays in the headstock. Lopez had had a hit song in

1963 with "If I Had a Hammer," a protest song written by Pete Seeger and Lee Hays back in

1949, but by the 60s these protest songs were much more mainstream, and Gibson offered Lopez his own signature model.

Lopez asked them to change the f-holes to diamonds and to match the split diamond fret inlays that Gibson was

using at the time. There were two models of the guitar: a deluxe version with two sharp points on the double cutaway and

the standard model. The standard was effectively a 335 with diamond holes and inlays and regular soft cutaways. The

other startling feature of the standard model was the Firebird-style headstock. Lopez never had another hit, and the

model was dropped in 1977. It's clear that Dave's signature model that came out in 2007 is based on that original

red guitar. The 2007 signature run had just 200 guitars in Pelham blue and ebony.

Gibson did another run in 2014 with colors chosen by Dave: a metallic gold and a pink champagne. Grohl has been quoted

as saying, "This is the sound of the Foo Fighters on every record. I might use different guitars now and then, but for the

Carl Wilson. Carl was one of the three Wilson brothers, along with Brian and Dennis, that founded the

Beach Boys when they were still teenagers. He was the lead guitarist, and though he was the youngest brother, after

Brian became less involved in touring, he became the de facto leader of the band from 1965 until his death in

1998. He said in interviews that he was deeply influenced by Chuck Berry and the instrumentals of the Ventures. In the

band, he primarily functioned as lead guitarist and backing vocals, but he also sang lead vocals on some hits in the

later 60s, including "God Only Knows" and "Good Vibrations." Known for playing a number of Fender and Rickenbacker

Guitars. The guitar he was mostly seen using in the later days of the band was a blonde ES-335 with a factory Bigsby

tremolo tailpiece that he bought in 1970. It's believed that the guitar was built

in 1962. Wilson used it live for the band's early hits. From that point forward, this is the image of Carl that most of us

remember. If not for the 335, he was holding a 1967 Epiphone Riviera 12-string

in Tobacco Burst. Carl said he preferred the 335 for its rhythm tone and that he found it easier to play for leads than a

Stratocaster. Number six: Alex Lifeson, as one of the members of Rush, Lifeson epitomized progressive rock

guitar from the time the band burst onto the scene until the untimely death of their drummer, Neil Peart. This is the first

player on our list that's best known for using the Cadillac of the ES-300 series guitars, the

355. Initially offered as a mono guitar, the majority of 355s were wired as stereo. Starting in '59, the 355 carried

many of the features of the Les Paul Custom: the block fretboard inlays, gold hardware, and split diamond headstock. Never as

popular as Gibson had hoped, they stopped production in 1982. They went on to produce the model in artist signature runs, like those for

B.B. King and Lifeson, and in 2018 they began building them again in a number of

finishes and configurations. Lifeson often described his white 355 as his main guitar. Lifeson bought the guitar in 1976, having custom

ordered it from Gibson. At the end of the *Caress of Steel* era, he said of the guitar, "It's been my main guitar and it is the iconic

Alex Lifeson guitar." In May of 2022, along with many other iconic instruments from his career, Lifeson auctioned off the

White '355. He said he wanted the instruments to be enjoyed by someone else, and that he and his wife were at a point in their

lives where they just wanted to have less stuff. He said, "I was sitting in our mudroom, just off the garage, while the

removal truck was waiting. I sat there with the case between my legs, and maybe it sounds a little corny, but I was

talking to it. I was reminiscing about the gigs we did together." He continued, "Kissing the bubble wrap..."

The Wikipedia page for the Gibson ES-355 currently shows a picture of Alex Lifeson playing a white ES-355. Number five: Marty

McFly. Okay, I had to include this one, which is both sort of a spoof and one of the most impactful images of an ES-3

series guitar on record. In 1985, the highest-grossing film was *Back to the Future*, and our main character, Marty

McFly, has to step in to play guitar with the band. The setting is a 1955 "Enchanted Under the Sea" high school

dance. The ballad goes so well that the band asks for a second tune, and McFly launches into a rousing version of Chuck

Berry's "Johnny B. Goode." Famously, the movie shows McFly playing a Gibson ES-345, a guitar that wouldn't be released

until the spring of 1959. The 345 was developed alongside the 335, 355, and 358, but didn't get

shipped until the following spring. It was designed as an upscale version of the 335, sitting just under the

355. Like other guitars in the Gibson line, the model number was based on the guitar's price in the year it was

released: $345 in the standard sunburst finish. And to clean up the citations, "Johnny B. Goode" wouldn't be released until March 31st,

1958. The actor, Michael J. Fox, who does play guitar, learned all the licks for the performance so that the director

could cut to his hands with confidence, but the actual guitar performance was done by Tim May, and the vocal was done

by Mark Campbell of the R&B band Jack Mack and the Heart Attack, when I made the video "Short History of the 335."

The comments were full of folks saying that they wanted a red 345 because of *Back to the Future*, or as some put it,

more simply, "My favorite 335 player will always be Marty McFly." I reached out to TrueFire to be my sponsor because I've

used them for years. In honor of this topic, I've currently gone back to Larry Carlton's 335 blues

courses. With over 2 million users worldwide, whether you're a beginner, intermediate, or advanced-level player,

TrueFire has lessons to enhance and inspire your playing. Get 35% off courses using promo code 5W35, or, like I do,

sign up for the all-access pass to use the entire TrueFire catalog. I really like TrueFire, and I think if you give

them a shot, you'll like them too. Sign up now to start your journey to being a better guitarist. I'd like to thank

Top 10 ES-335 Players Who Changed the World

Top 10 ES-335 Players Who Changed the World

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