SPOTLIGHT: Encouraging A New Generation of Musicians, Fender Expands Play Series Family
THERE IS NO GUITAR MANUFACTURER QUITE AS ICONIC AS FENDER. From Jimi Hendrix to Bruce Springsteen to H.E.R., Fender has supplied some of music’s greats with iconic instruments for over 70 years. However, when the pandemic hit and live shows dried up, Fender ensured their focus turned to the millions of people across the world picking up guitar for the very first time. Fender acknowledged the people who had found a dusty guitar in the garage or ordered online that bass they’d always wanted to learn to play. “There’s been a kind of musical renaissance that’s come out of all this,” Fender’s EVP of Products, Justin Novell, notes. “The demand that we’ve seen has been fantastic, inspiring.” From this surge of new players comes the Play Plus Series, a fresh and exciting addition to the Player Series family of guitars built especially for the next generation of creators.
Fender’s Player Series have been known to handle any style of music and serve as the perfect tool to aid artists in finding their unique sound. With the latest launch of the Player Plus Series, a new series of 11 guitars will “introduce an offer of instruments that have heart and foundation, but with thoughtful improvements and upgrades,” according to Norvell. “The Player Series has been the super successful gateway to Fender instruments for several years now, and we wanted to build upon this assortment,” Norvell explains. “These go to 11, if you will.”
Through the launch of any new products, Fender ensures that artists always come first and the Player Plus Series is no different. “We test them on artists while they’re in process,” Norvell says. “There’s usually a constant flow of artists … which goes back to the beginning of Fender when Leo Fender would hand Bill Carson a guitar and say, ‘What do you think?’ … We make art so people can make their art.” Jason Klein, Fender’s Artist Marketing Manager emphasises this further. “Artists directly influence the evolution of a line like this — everything from aesthetic to spec advancement come from conversations with artists over the years about what they want from their tools.”
For those interested in the technical developments which have been made to these guitars to make them truly Fender-worthy, Norvell lists the Player Plus’ assets: “Improved pickups for a classic tone without the hum, flatter fingerboard radius for fluid leads and effortless bends, rolled fingerboard edges for supreme comfort.” The list of improvements goes on, truly allowing the Player Plus Series to blend together the reliability of the Fender brand with modern technology.
Meanwhile, in terms of aesthetics, the Player Plus series showcases a range of classic colors and designs, but also includes new gradient finishes in “Silver Smoke,” “Tequila Sunrise” and “Bel-Air Blue” to turn audiences heads and pop on social media.
“What you see happening right now is an acceleration of creativity through social media, through other platforms, and through guitar being used in so many new and different ways,” Evan Jones, the CMO at Fender says. “We want to make sure we’re amplifying that.” Therefore, alongside the exciting launch of Player Plus, Fender will finally be launching their own TikTok page. “Social media obviously has been where a lot of people have turned to recently, finding platforms and places to connect,” says Jones. “I think the power that music has to do — that is another reason why we’re so excited to expand into TikTok. I mean, perhaps we should have been on TikTok a year or two earlier, but we also don’t want to just step in there with a partial swing — we want to step in there with a full commitment, and we’re really excited that once we launch our TikTok channel, that’s going to become a really important part of the brand. What’s important is that TikTok is really a community that’s driven by music followers and lovers so excited to be there.”
Not only do Fender’s guitars support new artists, but the relatively recent launch of their app Fender Play gives new guitarists the perfect place to learn technique and their favorite songs on acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar and/or ukulele. “We prepared for the worst when we saw live music go away, and that’s been a challenge for us,” Norvell explains. “[But] based upon this time period, there could be a huge musical wave that’s going to come in this next generation, [with] so many people going to pick up instruments and start playing.”
Created to support a new generation of musicians, Fender hopes to expand Fender Play in the future. “Our vision would be a year from now we could make a version of Fender Play available globally as a free product, so that in the early stages of people’s journeys they can get access to it,” Jones says. “Fender Play as we’ve constructed it today … is the most effective way of learning guitar just based off the sheer volume of people who have come through it and the feedback that we get. There is no finish line here — we’re learning so much on a regular basis.” Norvell emphasizes the fact that Fender Play is a key example of the culture surrounding Fender, one in which guitarists are supported and encouraged: “With Fender Play, we’re trying to help enable people to be able to play and get to the point where they stick with it and become players for life.”
Whether you’ve picked up guitar for the first time in the past two turbulent years or are a seasoned player, Fender’s new Player Plus series is here to work for all. The collection, like all of Fender’s products, is built for artists by artists, and is there to support musicians of all kinds on their journey to becoming just as successful and legendary as Henrix, Springsteen, and H.E.R. As Jones himself states, “Despite the lack of live performances, artists have never been more influential or important to us. I think the power that they have to move people and inspire people — especially during challenging times — has never been more profound.”
