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Guitar World
Guitar World
Entertainment
Phil Weller

“Those records made me think the guitar could be as good as jazz. Up until then, the electric guitar was a stupid instrument to me”: The songs that made Tom Verlaine take the guitar seriously

Tom Verlaine Television
Television perform at the Bottom Line club, New York, June 1978, Tom Verlaine. He plays an Ampeg Dan Armstrong transparent perspex guitar.

It took some time for Television frontman and alt-rock guitar hero Tom Verlaine to warm to the instrument that made him famous. He played piano and saxophone first, but two records changed everything for him.

Verlaine sadly died in 2023, but left behind a legacy whose echoes can still be heard in alt-rock of all kinds today. His unusual approach to guitar made him a pioneering figure in the 1970s in both the punk and new wave scenes, as Television found a way to retain attitude while adding smarts in equal measure. His journey towards six strings wasn’t straightforward.

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