Aerosmith is known to play Stratocasters...

[Ivan May]

 

While Joe Perry and Brad Whitford are known for playing Les Pauls, (and Joe Perry also played a Gretsch White Falcon at their 2001 Super Bowl halftime show), most of Aerosmith's early recordings were cut using Strats. The lead guitar riff on Walk This Way is certainly a Strat, more specifically the bridge pickup of a Strat.

 

 

 

I have read that Joe Perry claimed that Walk This Way was cut using a late fifties Sunburst Fender Stratocaster, and the amps were an Ampeg V4 amp and a Marshall 4X12 cabinet. He also used a Gibson Maestro Fuzz pedal for the distorted effect.

 

And the back cover of Aerosmith Classics Live shows Brad Whitford with a Strat. 

 

 

I am pretty aware that Joe Perry has owned various guitars. One of his Strats used during the early days of Aerosmith was a Strat that had a left handed neck on it. This is because Joe Perry is naturally left handed but plays guitar right handed. This Strat was also used when Aerosmith played at the California Jam 2 festival in 1978.

 

 

 

The slide guitar on Draw The Line, however, is an Ampeg Dan Armstrong electric guitar, and he also used a Fender Bass VI for Back In The Saddle.

 

 

Now I think I'll go listen to Rocks and Toys In The Attic and enjoy those Strat tones.

 

 

[KuruPrionz]

The left-handed Strat neck is a bow to Jimi Hendrix, who played right-handed Strats upside down. 

It was a fairly common "thing" for a while, I was a guitar tech and I remember getting requests for that, mostly from right handed players. Pretty much screwdriver work, anybody could do it if they gave it a shot. There are quite a few of us left handed folks playing right handed guitars, Joe Perry is not the only one. Steve Morse comes to mind. 

 

For one thing, you could go to every music shop and pawn shop north of Seattle and maybe find one or two left-handed guitars, they are a special order item and not all companies make them. I remember seeing 2 or 3 left handed guitars in the 50 years I was in Fresno.

 

Simpler in the long run to just get a right handed guitar and learn to play it. FWIW, us lefties learn pretty early in life to be at least somewhat ambidextrous in this right handed world. When I was 5, my left-handed uncle let me play his ukulele, he played it right handed and gave it to me ready for right handed playing. I grabbed it, grinned and went with it. I've always played guitar right handed, I write left handed and always have done that too. 

 

I saw Aerosmith during their "we are really stoned on drugs" phase. Steven Tyler and Brad Whitford were both spot on, alert and flawless. Joe Perry was a staggering mess, the drummer was buzzed out big time and I don't even remember the bassist. 

 

The Divinyls opened for them and ate their lunch big-time, they were a great band and Christina Amphlett was a stage demon as well as a hell of a singer. That's how it goes sometimes...

[Dannyalcatraz]

Tangent:

 

The only time I’ve seen Aerosmith live- taking my Mom, no less- was just a few years ago.  Brad Whitford busted out a Visionary Instruments guitar for a song or two.

 

http://www.visionaryinstruments.com

[Caevan O’Shite]

3 hours ago, Dannyalcatraz said:

I’ve seen Aerosmith live- taking my Mom, no less-

That simply RULES.
      
    

[Dannyalcatraz]

7 hours ago, Caevan O’Shite said:

That simply RULES.
      
    

More than you know!  
 

Aerosmith is one of her all-time favorite rock bands.  They were coming to town with Slash’s Snakepit opening, and she asked me if she bought tickets, would il taker her.  I did NOT hesitate.  

 

Neither did she: she found tickets within an hour.  The only down side is that the concert was on choir practice night.  (She was “Choir Mom”, not an actual performer.)  We went, and had a good time.  She wasn’t familiar with Slash beyond a few GnR tunes, but enjoyed his set for the most part.  And Aerosmith’s set was- as you might expect- essentially a greatest hits list.

 

BONUS: the googly-eyed stares we got when she told the choir director the next week why she had missed practice were EPIC!

[Caevan O’Shite]

6 hours ago, Dannyalcatraz said:

BONUS: the googly-eyed stares we got when she told the choir director the next week why she had missed practice were EPIC!