Legendary guitarist, songwriter and producer Nile Rodgers joined us in celebration of the Fender Stratocaster’s 70th anniversary at Guitar Center Hollywood. The Strat has been his signature instrument for more than 50 years of hit-making, lending itself to his iconic chucking sound and infectious grooves. The technique can be heard on classics such as Chic’s “Le Freak” and “Good Times,” Sister Sledge’s “We Are Family,” David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance,” Madonna’s “Like a Virgin,” Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” and countless more.

Rodgers’ unfathomable career has earned him six Grammy Awards, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as inductions into the Songwriters and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame. More than just an influential musician, Nile Rodgers is a seismic force who’s shaped the soundscape of popular music across genres for decades, to the tune of over 700 million records sold. Apart from his own success in funk/disco with Chic in the ’70s, he’s worked with a wide range of artists, including Duran Duran, Coldplay, Avicii, Jeff Beck, Keith Urban, Bryan Ferry, Beyoncé and Lady Gaga.

Nile Rodgers adopted the Fender Stratocaster early on, personally modifying a pawn shop purchase into what has been his unwavering primary player over the years—the aptly named Hitmaker. Rodgers brought the renowned instrument to this celebratory event, played through megahits made with it and shared anecdotes about their creation to a delighted audience.

The full scope of what Nile Rodgers has accomplished with a Strat in his hands is almost unimaginable. There was never a more appropriate artist to join us in celebrating 70 years of the Fender Stratocaster than one who has contributed so much to the world of music with it.

How Nile Rodgers Picked Up a Fender Stratocaster

In the early days of The Big Apple Band—backing musicians to R&B vocal group New York City—Rodgers played a Gibson Barney Kessel jazz box.

“My partner, Bernard Edwards—he kept trying to tell me to buy a Strat, you know? ‘Buy a Strat, man. Get that sound like Ike Turner—get that sound, that (mimics percussive funk strumming).’ I was like, ‘I don’t want that sound. I want to sound like Wes Montgomery. I want that smooth, round sound.’ And he was like, ‘Nah, nah, nah. It needs to cut through the band.’

“Now, the thing is, even though I had a big jazz guitar—of course, we wanted to look like Sly and the Family Stone. So, we had, like, either Sunn amps or Acoustic amps right across the stage.” (laughs) “[It] looked amazing, right? But meanwhile, I couldn’t turn up, because I had a big jazz box—I had a Barney Kessel—and it’s feeding back. But it looked cool.”

After hearing an opening act’s guitarist play a Fender Stratocaster through his rig, Rodgers was finally ready to take Edwards’ advice.

Pictured: Nile Rodgers Playing his Fender "Hitmaker" Stratocaster on-stage at Guitar Center Hollywood

“Right away, I was going, ‘Okay, now I see what Bernard is talking about.’ So, I ran to the pawn shop … I just looked for the cheapest Fender Stratocaster I could find … At that time, the going price was about two hundred and something dollars—maybe three hundred if you had a maple neck or something.

“I saw this maple-neck Strat that was sunburst. And I was not into sunburst solidbodies, but I loved sunburst hollowbodies. So, I gave the [pawn shop employee] my guitar, and I said, ‘I’ll take that Strat right there.’ I don’t remember how much it cost, but when I gave him my Barney Kessel, he gave me back $300. I was like, ‘Hell yeah! Now that’s a deal.’

“I happened to be a guitar repairman at the time … I got back to New York, went to my shop, stripped it down and made it sort of antique white … because Hendrix [played] an antique white Strat.

“So, that’s how I (points to Hitmaker) did that … and it’s looked like that ever since. I’ve never changed it. It’s the same guitar.”

A Jazz Cat Turned Groove-Writing Machine

With a background in classical and jazz, and idols like Wes Montgomery, it’s curious how Nile Rodgers took his earliest passions and applied them to more broadly popular styles of music.

“I was taking jazz lessons from a tutor named Ted Dunbar. He had replaced John McLaughlin in The Tony Williams Lifetime, so Ted did the second album. Ted was really an old-school jazz guy. He played with his thumb like Wes. And so, I thought that’s how I wanted to play.

“But—I had to play guitar for a living. We were in these pickup bands—honestly, we’d play five sets a night for $15. So, one day I went for a lesson—I was trying to score jazz brownie points with my tutor. I told him I was really upset, and he says, ‘Hey, why are you upset, youngblood?’ And I said, ‘Because I gotta play this [awful] song tonight.’

Pictured: Nile Rodgers Fender Signature "Hitmaker" Stratocaster Headstock

The song was “Sugar, Sugar” by The Archies, which a young, jazz-crazed Rodgers felt was an underwhelming composition.

“He looked at me, and he said, ‘Do you know that [song] has been #1 for about three weeks? … Let me tell you something. Any record that has been in the Top 40 is a great composition … It’s a great composition because it speaks to the souls of a million strangers.’

“When he said that to me, I broke down. I started crying. I thought to myself, ‘He just described what an artist is … a person who’s going to do work that will probably be absorbed, and listened to and change people that you will never, ever meet.’

“Two weeks later, I wrote [Chic’s ‘Everybody Dance’].”

Nile Rodgers Talks Writing and Tracking Guitar Parts

Nile Rodgers prefers making modern records with the same method he’s used all along. Typically, that means peeling back an existing arrangement to just the drums so he can play on top. Even when he works with a contemporary artist like Daft Punk or Beyoncé, he’s given the freedom to write and record his parts just as he did in the Chic days.

“If you listen to [Daft Punk hit ‘Get Lucky’], people think that I do it like it’s a modern recording … Daft Punk and Beyoncé, everybody, they just let me play from top to bottom. That’s what I do—it’s like a Chic record. I start at the beginning and end at the end.

Pictured: Nile Rodgers Answering Audience Questions on-stage at GC Hollywood

“So, you’ll hear these parts [on ‘Get Lucky’] changing because I’m sort of jamming, right? I have a chart, so I know I’m not going to make a mistake—I’ve got the chart written out.”

From there, it’s a matter of improvising and layering his parts, which Rodgers demonstrated for this song. Further elaborating, he rarely, if ever, plays a song the same way twice after it’s been recorded and it’s time to play live. When tasked to perform a classic hit from his repertoire the way it’s heard on the album, he goes back to the record to work out what he originally played.

Production, Arrangement and Technique on David Bowie's "Let's Dance"

Nile Rodgers produced, played guitar, engineered and assisted the mix on David Bowie’s 15th album, Let’s Dance. The title track was a massive hit, and Rodgers walked the audience through its origins.

His involvement in the project was the result of “accidentally” meeting Bowie, when Billy Idol—Rodgers’ “partying partner for the night”—spotted the icon across the club. “I had introduced myself, and we hit it off instantly … We were heavily engaged in deep conversation, and it was nothing about rock ’n’ roll, nothing about R&B, nothing about funk—only about jazz. The deeper we went, the happier he was. I think we tried to out avant-garde each other … Somehow that initial vibe and conversation was just so cool, he invited me to his house in Switzerland.

“He says, ‘I’m considering asking you to be the producer of my next album.’ At that point, I was coming off of three flops … After ‘Good Times,’ I never had a hit again—at least not with Chic … Boom, 1982—I run into Bowie. 

Pictured: Nile Rodgers GC Hollywood Event Autograph Cards

“So, he invites me over to his crib, and I’m spending the night … He walks into my room, and he goes, ‘Nile, Nile, darling—I think this is a hit.’” The projected hit was the basic structure of “Let’s Dance.”

“All of my records that are hits are dance records. I come from dance music. If we call it ‘Let’s Dance’—which he was totally into—it’s gotta make people dance. I don’t think I said that to him—honestly, I didn’t, because I thought he’d be offended. So, I pulled this move. I pulled a jazz move on him. I said, ‘Hey, David, can I do an arrangement?’ And I used to sleep with manuscript paper next to my bed, like a big stack. And he says, ‘Yeah, I’d love that.’

“So, I pick up my guitar, and I get his little lick down. I go, ‘Okay, well, that’s sort of folky and corny to me.’ Since I knew he liked jazz, right away I went to a minor 13 chord … And I went, ‘Wow, that’s pretty cool.’ But then I went, (jokingly) ‘What the hell—I’m pretty smart. Why don’t I move the whole [thing] up an octave?’

“And I thought about the voice leading. So, now you take something that’s sounding pretty sophisticated, and it really is just (strums through chord changes).”

Major components of that “sophisticated” sound are Rodgers’ chord choices, strumming technique, and his attention to harmonic and melodic movement within those shapes. And while he’ll fret a full chord shape on the neck, he generally focuses his strumming on the top three strings, explaining, “The upper strings are enough to cut through, give you the harmony and what I’m really into is voice leading. I want you to hear the simple voice leading as opposed to complex voicings.”

He chose “Let’s Dance” as a perfect example to highlight this technique, demonstrating how integral it is to his signature sound—which can be heard all over the Bowie record.

“Every single song [on the album] I demoed—I don’t remember demoing them. I only remember doing ‘Let’s Dance.’ To me, that was going to be the single. In my heart, I had to make it the single.”

Pictured: Nile Rodgers' Legendary "Hitmaker" Fender Stratocaster

The hit-making continues, and the instrument of choice for Nile Rodgers has always been a Fender Stratocaster. If you’ve been stirred to pick up a Strat for your own collection, feel free to peruse our online offerings, or drop in your local Guitar Center to find your musical mojo. Don’t forget to check out Fender’s reproduction of Hitmaker, too—it cuts right to the chase.

For more, have a look at How to Buy the Best Stratocaster for a comprehensive breakdown of currently available models for every style and taste. Your dream Strat is right around the corner.