Biography

Eric Johnson’s stature as one of the premier guitar players in contemporary music is his artistic trump card, backed by a Grammy Award and five nominations, platinum album, Top 10 hits like “Cliffs Of Dover,” praise from critics and the esteem of his peers. But the full hand of his talents marks him as well as a gifted songwriter, dynamic live performer, singer, pianist, song interpreter, and creator of a rich and diverse musical legacy.

Guitars

Johnson is best known for playing stock Fender Stratocasters and Gibson ES-335 electric guitars through a triple amp setup that consists of Fender amplifiers, Dumble Amplifiers and Marshall amplification. Johnson has also played other guitar brands such as Robin, Rickenbacker, and Jackson Charvel, which appears on the cover of the Ah Via Musicom album. In 2001, Johnson added a Gibson Custom Shop ’59 Les Paul Reissue to his guitars of choice.

Effects

He uses effects pedals such as the Ibanez Tube Screamer, Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face, BK Butler Tube Driver, TC Electronic Stereo Chorus, Vox Cry Baby wah-wah, Electro-Harmonix Memory Man Delay, a MXR Digital Delay, a Line 6 Echo Pro Studio Modeler, an Maestro Echoplex tape delay. All of these are connected to multiple A/B boxes to create sounds and tones that are both clean and distorted. Although the majority of Johnson’s setup is vintage, he has recently started using more modern equipment, including a stereo chorus made by AnalogMan and a Fractal Audio Systems Axe-Fx Ultra.

Discography

• Seven Worlds (1978)
• Tones (1986)
• Ah Via Musicom (1990)
• Venus Isle (1996)
• Souvenir (2002)
• Bloom (2005)
• Up Close (2010)