A DAY AT
FENDER U
BY OSCAR JORDAN
University chooses the people they think would
be the best fit and by the time they arrive, they
know exactly what they’re doing. Programs
are setup, lessons created, books, recordings
and everything else. The curriculum is custom
tailored to the player. It’s an entire week of
intense Fender guitar immersion.
Fender University Spring 2009
Graduating Class photo: FMIC
Close your eyes. Take a deep breath. Imagine a
magical place where the greatest guitar players
on Earth will welcome you with open arms, be
your best buddy in the whole world and give
you a Fender Stratocaster. Imagine if you will a
Fantasy Island for guitar players where legends
like James Burton just happens to walk by. You
get to ask him the tough questions about Ricky
Nelson, Elvis, or the metaphysical properties of
that “Suzy Q” guitar lick.
The genius that came up with this idea is Richard
McDonald, Senior Vice President of Global
Marketing for Fender Musical Instruments
Corporation. McDonald wondered why Fender
would give away all their stuff to rock guitar
programs when they could make a rock guitar
program themselves and do it better. I sat down
with McDonald and came to the conclusion that
he has the coolest job in the world.
Open your eyes. This place is real. It’s called
Fender University and I was there! It was real
and surreal! Guitar freaks of all levels can partake
in a truly once in a lifetime experience that only
Fender can offer. It’s a school inside the Fender
Museum of the Arts Foundation in Corona,
California. The chosen few receive personalized
instruction on how to improve practice techniques, write bitchin’ guitar solos and get the
most from their gear. It’s Club Med for guitar
players wrapped in 60 years of Fender music history and the players who made them famous.
“If we’re making someone else’s party cool,
just imagine how cool ours would be,”
explained McDonald. “It was a vision that I
had a couple years ago. For several years we
would always get the request to participate in
various rock n’ roll academies and the rock n’
roll experience type programs. It was either
to hook up artists who were our friends or
supply equipment. That was combined with
all the requests that people were making to
get a factory tour or to meet a master builder
in the custom shop. I thought it was time to
do it ourselves but make it very intimate.
Upon arrival students choose a Strat, Tele,
Precision bass or Jazz bass, meet master
builders, get their instruments set up to perfection and get a factory tour. They learn and
experience what Fender is all about. Fender
University not only teaches students how to
wail over a Cm7b5 chord, but also teaches
them how Fender master builders create
necks, how a guitar set up is done and the
varieties of tone woods.
$6500 bucks gets you three hots and a cot in a
fancy hotel with great food all week long. The
Spring 2009 session included guitarists Greg
Koch, G.E. Smith, Gary Hoey, Dick Dale, James
Burton, John 5, Phil Collen and Wolf Marshall.
The one-on-one guitar instruction, group master classes and after hours elbow rubbing is like
Candy Land for guitar players. Their clinics get
deep into string bending techniques and chord
inversions for students of all levels. From absolute beginners to the advanced, their master
classes challenge everybody.
I needed to figure out what it would be, what
it would look like and what it would feel like.
I laid it all out last year when we did the first
session with Yngwie J. Malmsteen, John 5
and Greg Koch, giving lessons and personalized clinics. The thing I didn’t realize would
happen was the friendship dynamic. These
people really came together.”
Students apply, tell why they want to come,
discuss their musical background and what they
expect to get out of the experience. Fender
Gary Hoey’s Fender U class photo: FMIC
Throughout the week they get private lessons
with guitarists such as Wolf Marshall, Gary
Hoey or Greg Koch. I sat in Gary Hoey’s class
and got the inside skinny on the finer points
of Jimi Hendrix’ guitar techniques. The classes
were laid back, fun, small for maximum education and the teachers were first rate. I also sat
in class with legendary teacher Wolf Marshall
and the madcap Greg Koch. “For someone
coming to this thing, it’s like a guitar orgy,”
says Koch. “If you’re a Fender fanatic you
get to hang out with James Burton. Imagine
hanging out with James Burton! We had Eddie
Kramer here yesterday. Dick Dale was here on
Wednesday. Then you have mutants like me
and bassist Reggie Hamilton showing students
