One of the most famous electric guitars is the Fender Stratocaster. Originally designed way back in 1954 the Fender Strat was the instrument favoured by the late, great Jimi Hendrix. This is also the guitar selected by Pete Townsend of the Who and, of course, Eric Clapton. The Fender Stratocaster is as popular today as it ever was, a testament to the excellent design.

Another well known guitar from Fender is the Telecaster. This beautifully simple instrument was first introduced as the Broadcaster in late 1949 and has been in continuous production ever since. There are and have been many well known and talented guitarists who like to play Fender Telecasters. One of the most well known is, of course, Keith Richards who takes to the stage with an array of Telecasters, open tuned to a ‘G’ chord for that classic Rolling Stones sound.

If we are talking about classic guitars we must of course mention the fantastic Gibson Les Paul. This is another design classic, first produced back in the 1950s and made ever since. Jimmy Page, guitarist with Led Zeppelin and the Yardbirds, is a great lover of the Gibson Les Paul. A modern day guitarist who is a great exponent of Les Paul is, of course, Slash of Guns ‘n’ Roses fame.

Since I’ve mentioned a couple of Fenders its only fair to mention a couple of great Gibsons. I could have chosen the fantastic ES335, a favourite with many great guitarists, including BB King but instead I have chosen the exceptional Gibson SG. This fantastic looking electric guitar, with the distinctive double cutaway, was introduced in the early 1960s to compete with the popular Fender Strat. This is the guitar of choice for Angus Young, lead guitarist and songwriter in the Australian rock band ACDC. This is also the guitar used by the great Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath.

There are just so many great guitars but these four are, without doubt, at the top of the list of great electric guitars of our age.

If you are just getting into playing electric guitar I can recommend any of these guitars. But the one that I would start with is the Fender Telecaster. This was the first really good guitar that I bought for myself and it worked wonders for my guitar playing.