Keith Richards

The Rolling Stones were founded by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards (b. 1943) in 1962. The original line up included Bill Wyman on bass, Charlie Watts on drums and Brian Jones was added as a second guitar player. Other guitar players that have been in the Rolling Stones lineup include Mick Taylor and Ronnie Wood.

Richards was influenced by Chuck Berry, Jimmy Reed and Muddy Waters. Keith is also credited as being an early adopter of the fuzz pedal, employing it on “Satisfaction” in 1965. Keith Richards is strongly associated with the Fender Telecaster and often employs open tunings to create chordal riffs that help drive many Rolling Stones songs. Richards has also been known to remove the low E string from his guitar to help create his unique sound. Richards is said to own over 1000 guitars including a ’59 Gibson Les Paul and a Gibson ES-335.