both the up and down movement with furious speed
play his new creation: the Fender Stratocaster.
– in the style of an oud-player. The result was
Dale’s first attempt made Fender fall off his chair
sensational when he used that method to attack an
laughing. Dale was a left-hander, but had never
electric guitar.
learned to play the way a left-hander should –
rearranging the strings so he could finger the chords
properly. Instead, being self-taught, he had learned
to play the chords upside-down and backwards. It
was an amazing feat, and the kind of
unconventional thinking that would lead him to
create sounds that had never been heard before.
Dale thrashed his new guitar on stage, driving
for all the power he could force out of it. The
problem was that his amps weren’t powerful
enough to handle that kind of energy. One amp after
another exploded or caught fire. Leo Fender’s next
job was to build a new amp that could survive
Dale’s performances. Together they created a new
amp and speaker arrangement with unprecedented
power – and now Dale could play R-E-A-L-L-Y
L-O-U-D!!! He was a pioneer in raising the volume
and the visceral energy of rock music. It’s why he is
also known as the “Father of Heavy Metal.”
Along with these technical innovations, Dale
Surfing became a big part of Dale’s life when
his family moved to Southern California in the
1950’s. He spent the days riding the waves, and at
night played to packed halls of barefoot surfers
introduced the “reverb” sound to guitar playing. It
gave his tones the “wet”, underwater sound that
became the signature of surf music. It was a whole
genre that grew out of his popularity. Soon his fans
stomping to his wild rhythms. But Dale wanted to
started calling him “King of the Surf Guitar,” and
get an even bigger sound from his guitar. He
other groups followed in his wake – including The
imagined a sound that was thicker, heavier, and
louder – than the limits of his equipment would
allow. He wanted a sound as powerful as the roar of
the ocean he heard when he was shredding the
waves. That was when he met legendary guitarmaker Leo Fender. He offered Dale a chance to
Ventures and yes, the Beach Boys (who were his
opening act). Dale released Misirlou in 1962. He
was inspired by one of his young fans, who asked if
he could play a tune on one string, as the oud
players do. Dale spent a restless night worrying
over it. Then he remembered Misirlou, which he