Fender Musical Instruments Corporation (FMIC) today announced the launch of the all-new Player Plus Series. As a new generation of guitar players continues to emerge, Player Plus puts the power of guitar squarely in their hands with new versions of Fender's most iconic models. Combining precise playability with unbridled style, these seven guitars and basses are engineered to remove any obstacle to effortless playing and are finished in vibrant, head-turning colors.
Player Plus is an extension of the Player Series, which was the most widely-adopted Fender guitar series in 2020 and has sold over 400k units since its 2018 debut. Millions of new players began their learning journey during the pandemic, and for many, the Player Series provided a seamless entry into the Fender brand.
As digital platforms like TikTok have opened up new pathways for artists to find worldwide audiences, Fender has designed Player Plus for the generation leading the charge: both online and as live music begins to roar back after its hiatus. The launch of Player Plus will also serve as the debut of Fender's very own TikTok, @fender. Fender's presence on the app will include exclusive content, product demos and educational content, tailor-made for both passionate musicians and aspiring artists. To highlight Player Plus on TikTok, Fender has teamed up with guitarists currently pushing the boundaries of genre and creativity in terms of what and how they are creating music. They include Blu DeTiger, Hannah Dasher, Gabriel GarzoĢn-Montano, The Destroy Boys and the Nova Twins.
Introducing the Player Plus Series | Fender
The launch of the Player Series in 2018 helped spark a movement in the guitar industry, one where Fender has committed to showcasing the youthful, creative and evolving universe of guitar and bass. This movement has been accelerated over the past twelve months with even more new players entering the world of guitar than ever before. This new generation of players have more diverse opinions, styles, tastes and perspectives than any cohort of guitarists before them. The launch of Player Plus is Fender's continued opportunity to unite this new generation of guitar players with a campaign that bridges creation, energy and style with expression, connection and collaboration. With the new Player Plus Series, Fender aims to highlight the diverse perspectives behind the creativity and self-expression that will shape the style, culture and music of the future.
"Artists will always be at the heart of what drives us to create and innovate," said Evan Jones, Fender CMO. "For us, this means listening closely to their needs, studying the evolving music landscape and delivering tools that will help them move and inspire fans. Inspired by the continued emergence of new artists who are taking guitar into new spaces and putting their own stamp on musical traditions of the past, the Player Plus series is built for artists who want to transmit a bold aesthetic and are unapologetic in their approach to their craft. Our hope is that working artists & emerging players will be attracted to the undeniable style, feel, energy and of course Fender tone that has and will continue to inspire generations of creators."
Blu DeTiger | Player Plus Sessions | Fender
The future of music has inherently adapted due to the rise of social media platforms like TikTok, which amasses over 100M monthly active users, many of them musicians. As a result, Fender is launching its own TikTok this month to inspire not only guitarists but also other content creators on the platform. Additionally, the new lineup of models will be featured in Fender's new content series, Sessions Plus. Building on the fan-favorite Fender Sessions, Sessions Plus profiles the artists at the forefront of a boundary-pushing musical subculture and the Player Plus guitar or bass they use to bring their passions to life. The series highlights how digital platforms have created new genres and made old ones more dynamic: from Blu DeTiger taking bass playing to center stage, to Destroy Boys' new twist on time-honored punk genres.
All Player Plus models are designed with features and hardware that are approachable yet empowering to the seasoned player. The necks for the series feature 12"-radius fingerboards, with rolled edges perfect for intense playing while maintaining comfort. The New Noiseless pickups used throughout Player Plus models deliver classic Fender tones with modern clarity: delivering highs that can cut through the mix without distracting hum. These electronics are controlled with advanced switching capabilities to give players easy access to a wide variety of tonal options, while locking tuners provide professional-grade stability and make string changes easy. These features differentiate Player Plus guitars and basses from traditional or vintage-style instruments, but maintain their ability to seamlessly blend and mesh with every conceivable use occasion, genre or creative situation.
"We designed the Player Plus series to match the unique characteristics of today's players and creators," said Justin Norvell, EVP Fender Products. "When we first launched the Player Series in 2018, we set a new standard for what an entry-point Fender could be. Now, the Player Plus series offers a next-level playing experience to help a new generation share their passion and distinct perspective. The newly-voiced Noiseless pickups and rolled edges of the neck deliver the power and precision modern artists demand. With the Electric new gradient burst finishes, we've delivered a visually-striking line of performance instruments that exemplify Fender's ethos: honoring our past while looking to the future."
Player Plus guitars and basses come in a range of finishes that nod to Fender's history and culture. These include Belair Blue, Silver Smoke, Tequila Sunrise, Aged Olympic Pearl, Aged Candy Apple Red, Cosmic Jade and Opal Spark. Several of these finishes are a modern take on the gradient finishes seen on '80s-era, high-performance Fender models and differentiate Player Plus from any other series in the company's portfolio. The Player Plus series of electric guitars and basses feature seven new models available at local dealers and on Fender.com.
Models:
- Player Plus Stratocaster guitar ($999.99 USD, Ā£939.00 GBP, ā¬1,049.00 EUR, $1,999.00 AUD, Ā„137,500 JPY)
- Player Plus Stratocaster HSS guitar ($1,029.99 USD, Ā£979.00 GBP, ā¬1,099.00 EUR, $2,049.00 AUD, Ā„140,800 JPY)
- Player Plus Telecaster guitar ($999.99 USD, Ā£939.00 GBP, ā¬1,049.00 EUR, $1,999.00 AUD, Ā„137,500 JPY)
- Player Plus Nashville Telecaster guitar ($1,029.99 USD, Ā£979.00 GBP, ā¬1,099.00 EUR, $2,049.00 AUD, Ā„140,800 JPY)
- Player Plus Active Precision Bass guitar ($1,049.99 USD, Ā£1,069.00 GBP, ā¬1,199.00 EUR, $2,099.00 AUD, Ā„148,500 JPY)
- Player Plus Active Jazz Bass guitar ($1,099.99 USD, Ā£1,069.00 GBP, ā¬1,199.00 EUR, $2,199.00 AUD, Ā„159,500 JPY)
- Player Plus Active Jazz Bass V guitar ($1,149.99 USD, Ā£1,159.00 GBP, ā¬1,299.00 EUR, $2,299.00 AUD, Ā„165,000 JPY)
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Onstage, Tommy Emmanuel executes a move that is not from the playbook of his hero, Chet Atkins.
āMy biggest decision every day on tour is, āWhat do I want to start with? How do I want to come out of the gate?āā Emmanuel explains to me over a video call. āA good opener has to have everything. It has to be full of surprise, it has to have lots of good ideas, lots of light and shade, and then, hit it again,ā he says, illustrating each phrase with his hands and ending with a punch.āYou lift off straightaway with the first song, you get airborne, you start reaching, and then itās time to level out and take people on a journey.ā
In May 2023, Emmanuel played two shows at the Sydney Opera House, the best performances from which have been combined on his new release, Live at the Sydney Opera House. The venueās Concert Hall, which has a capacity of 2,679, is a familiar room for Emmanuel, but I think at this point in his career he wouldnāt bring a setlist if he was playing Wembley Stadium. On the recording, Emmanuelās mind-blowingly dexterous chops, distinctive attack and flair, and knack for culturally resonant compositions are on full display. His opening song for the shows? An original, āCountrywide,ā with a segue into Chet Atkinsā āEl Vaquero.ā
āWhen I was going to high school in the ā60s, I heard āEl Vaqueroā on Chet Atkinsā record, [1964ās My Favorite Guitars],ā Emmanuel shares. āAnd when I wrote āCountrywideā in around ā76 or ā77, I suddenly realized, āAh! Itās a bit like āEl Vaquero!āā So I then worked out āEl Vaqueroā as a solo piece, because it wasnāt recorded like that [by Atkins originally].
āThe co-writer of āEl Vaqueroā is Wayne Moss, whoās a famous Nashville session guy who played āda da daā [sings the guitar riff from Roy Orbisonās āPretty Womanā]. And he played on a lot of Chetās records as a rhythm guy. So once when I played āEl Vaqueroā live, Wayne Moss came up to me and said, āYou know, you did my part and Chetās at the same time. Thatās not fair!āā Emmanuel says, laughing.
Atkins is the reason Emmanuel got into performing. His mother had been teaching him rhythm guitar for a couple years when he heard Atkins on the radio and, at 6, was able to immediately mimic his fingerpicking technique. His father recognized Emmanuelās prodigious talent and got him on the road that year, which kicked off his professional career. He says, āBy the time I was 6, I was already sleep-deprived, working too hard, and being forced to be educated. Because all I was interested in was playing music.ā
Emmanuel talks about Atkins as if the way he viewed him as a boy hasnāt changed. The title Atkins bestowed upon him, C.G.P. (Certified Guitar Player), appears on Emmanuelās album covers, in his record label (C.G.P. Sounds), and is inlaid at the 12th fret on his Maton Custom Shop TE Personal signature acoustic. (Atkins named only five guitarists C.G.P.s. The others are John Knowles, Steve Wariner, Jerry Reed, and Atkins himself.) For Emmanuel, even today most roads lead to Atkins.
When I ask Emmanuel about his approach to arranging for solo acoustic guitar, he says, āIt was really hit home for me by my hero, Chet Atkins, when I read an interview with him a long time ago and he said, āMake your arrangement interesting.ā And I thought, āWow!ā Because I was so keen to be true to the composer and play the song as everyone knows it. But then again, Iām recreating it like everyone else has, and I might as well get in line with the rest of them and jump off the cliff into nowhere. So it struck me: āHow can I make my arrangements interesting?ā Well, make them full of surprises.ā
When Emmanuel was invited to contribute to 2015ās Burt Bacharach: This Guitarās in Love with You, featuring acoustic-guitar tributes to Bacharachās classic compositions by various artists, Emmanuel expresses that nobody wanted to take ā(They Long to Be) Close to You,ā due to its āsyrupyā nature. But for Emmanuel, this presented an entertaining challenge.
He explains, āI thought, āOkay, how can I reboot āClose to You?ā So even the most jaded listener will say, āHoly fuckāI didnāt expect that! Wow, I really like that; that is a good melody!ā So I found a good key to play the song in, which allowed me to get some open notes that sustain while I move the chords. Then what I did is, in every phrase, I made the chord unresolve, then resolve.
Tommy Emmanuel's Gear
āIām writing music for the film thatās in my head,ā Emmanuel says. āSo, I donāt think, āIām just the guitar,ā ever.ā
Photo by Simone Cecchetti
Guitars
- Three Maton Custom Shop TE Personals, each with an AP5 PRO pickup system
Amps
- Udo Roesner Da Capo 75
Effects
- AER Pocket Tools preamp
Strings & Picks
- Martin TE Signature Phosphor Bronze (.012ā.054)
- Martin SP strings
- Ernie Ball Paradigm strings
- DāAndrea Pro Plec 1.5 mm
- Dunlop medium thumbpicks
āAnd then to really put the nail in the coffin, at the end, āClose to youā [sings melody]. I finished on a major 9 chord which had that note in it, but it wasnāt the key the song was in, which is a typical Stevie Wonder trick. All the tricks I know, the wonderful ideas that Iāve stolen, are from Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Lionel Richie, James Taylor, Carole King, Neil Diamond. All of the people who wrote really incredibly great pop songs and R&B musicāI stole every idea I could, and I tried to make my little two-and-a -half minutes as interesting and entertaining as possible. Because entertainment equals: Surprise me.ā
I share with Emmanuel that the performances on Live at the Sydney Opera House, which include his popular āBeatles Medley,ā reminded me of another possible arrangement trick. In Harpo Marxās autobiography, Harpo Speaks, I preface, Marx writes of a lesson he learned as a performerāto āanswer the audienceās questions.ā (Emmanuel says heās a big fan of the book and read it in the early ā70s.) That happened for me while listening to the medley, when, after sampling melodies from āSheās a Womanā and āPlease Please Me,ā Emmanuel suddenly lands on āWhile My Guitar Gently Weeps.ā
I say, āIām waiting for something that hits more recognizably to me, and when āWhile My Guitarā comes in, thatās like answering my question.ā
āItās also Paul and John, Paul and John, George,ā Emmanuel replies. āYou think, āThatās great, thatās great pop music,ā then, āWow! Look at the depth of this.āā
Often Emmanuelās flights on his acoustic guitar are seemingly superhumanāas well as supremely entertaining.
Photo by Ekaterina Gorbacheva
A trick I like to employ as a writer, I say to Emmanuel, is that when Iām describing something, Iāll provide the reader with just enough context so that they can complete the thought on their own.
āYou can do that musically as well,ā says Emmanuel. He explains how, in his arrangement of āWhat a Wonderful World,ā heāll play only the vocal melody. āWhen people are asking me at a workshop, āHow come you donāt put chords behind that part?ā I say, āIām drawing the melody and youāre putting in all the background in your head. I donāt need to tell you what the chords are. You already know what the chords are.āā
āWayne Moss came up to me and said, āYou know, you did my part and Chetās at the same time. Thatās not fair!āā
Another track featured on Live at the Sydney Opera House is a cover of Paul Simonās āAmerican Tuneā (which Emmanuel then jumps into an adaptation of the Australian bush ballad, āWaltzing Matildaā). Itās been a while since I really spent time with There GoesRhyminā Simon (on which āAmerican Tuneā was first released), and yet it sounded so familiar to me. A little digging revealed that its melody is based on the 17th-century Christian hymn, āO Sacred Head, Now Wounded,ā which was arranged and repurposed by Bach in a few of the composerās works. The cross-chronological and genre-lackadaisical intersections that come up in popular music sometimes is fascinating.
āI think the principle right there,ā Emmanuel muses, āis people like Bach and Beethoven and Mozart found the right language to touch the heart of a human being through their ears and through their senses ... that really did something to them deep in their soul. They found a way with the right chords and the right notes, somehow. It could be as primitive as that.
Tommy Emmanuel has been on the road as a performing guitarist for 64 years. Eat your heart out, Bob Dylan.
Photo by Jan Anderson
āItās like when youāre a young composer and someone tells you, āHave a listen to Elton Johnās āCandle in the Wind,āā he continues. āāListen to how those notes work with those chords.ā And every time you hear it, you go, āWhy does it touch me like that? Why do I feel this way when I hear those chordsāthose notes against those chords?ā I say, itās just human nature. Then you wanna go, āHow can I do that!āā he concludes with a grin.
āYou draw from such a variety of genres in your arrangements,ā I posit. āDo you try to lean into the side of converting those songs to solo acoustic guitar, or the side of bridging the genreās culture to that of your audience?ā
āI stole every idea I could, and I tried to make my little two-and-a-half minutes as interesting and entertaining as possible. Because entertainment equals: Surprise me.ā
āIf I was a method actor,ā Emmanuel explains, āwhat Iām doing isāIām writing music for the film thatās in my head. So, I donāt think, āIām just the guitar,ā ever. I always think it has to have that kind of orchestral, not grandeur, but ā¦ palette to it. Because of the influence of Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, and Elton John, especiallyāthe piano guysāI try to use piano ideas, like putting the third in the low bass a lot, because guitar players donāt necessarily do that. And I try to always do something that makes what I do different.
āI want to be different and recognizable,ā he continues. āI remember when people talked about how some playersāyou just hear one note and you go, āOh, thatās Chet Atkins.ā And it hit me like a train, the reason why a guy like Hank Marvin, the lead guitar player from the Shadows.... I can tell you: He had a tone that I hear in other players now. Everyone copied himāthey just donāt know itāincluding Mark Knopfler, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, all those people. I got him up to play with me a few times when he moved to Australia, and even playing acoustic, he still had that sound. I donāt know how he did it, but it was him. He invented himself.ā
YouTube It
Emmanuel performs his arrangement of āWhat a Wonderful World,ā illustrating how omitting a harmonic backdrop can have a more powerful effect, especially when playing such a well-known melody.
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