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https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fender_Stratocaster

Is Fender Stratocaster electric guitar mostly used by leading guitarists in english pop music songs?

Is it difficult for a amateur to learn & play this guitar?

In the below famous Bollywood song, is the above guitar played?

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  • Finally got to where I can play the video, and what I'm hearing is lots of disco, especially "I Feel Love" by Donna Summer and "Call Me" from Blondie, both being largely early synth creations from Giorgio Moroder. I doubt there's any Stratocaster, but rather synth, drum machine and voice. – Dave Jacoby Oct 29 '20 at 5:02
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    There are some guitar chords with distortion starting around 1:50 but it is largely electronic sounds and almost impossible to tell what kind of guitar was used. – John Belzaguy Oct 29 '20 at 6:31
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This question might be closed but in answer to your first question, no, the Strat has been used by hundreds of players in just about every style of music that uses electric guitar. It is a versatile guitar with several tone options and it lends itself to many different musical situations. Its budget versions (Squier, Fender made in Mexico) are very popular all over the world with beginners and intermediate level musicians. This list doesn’t even scratch the surface of who plays one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Stratocaster_players

As for your second question, a Strat is not really easier or more difficult to play than any other electric guitar on the market. However any instrument no matter the cost can be easy or difficult to play depending on its setup and condition. The most important thing for an amateur is to get an instrument that doesn’t have to be the best quality but does have to be structurally and mechanically sound and set up properly. This means having a straight neck with just a bit of a concave curve along the length of the fingerboard, a bridge and nut that are properly adjusted and also hardware and electronics that work properly. It is best to have a technician or at least an experienced guitarist with knowledge of setting up a guitar look it over and make any adjustments that will put it in the best playing condition possible.

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    @Tim Regarding your edit of changing concave to convex, I put back the word concave. To me convex means the fingerboard would have a hump in the middle. – John Belzaguy Oct 28 '20 at 20:36
  • You want it concave to flat across the frets for chording comfort but convex to flat from nut to bridge so that all the frets work right. Both are important, so clarifying which you meant is good – Dave Jacoby Oct 29 '20 at 5:05
  • Sorry. Saying straight neck, then concave curve made me visualise 'straight' along its length, but 'concave' from bottom to top string. That part is usually convex, a radius of around 12" ish. – Tim Oct 29 '20 at 6:13
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    Good! It just sounded a little ambiguous - especially to a beginner. We understand, but it's good to spell things out unequivocally - and as simply and clearly as possible! – Tim Oct 29 '20 at 6:34
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    @Tim to be super pedantic, as the fretboard is convex in one direction and concave in the other, the correct term is surface of negative curvature (saddle surface, hyperbolic surface). – leftaroundabout Oct 29 '20 at 9:31
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Two important "classic" electric guitar types are the Stratocaster and the Les Paul. The pick ups are a primary difference along with the mass of the body. Strat has single coil pick ups and a lighter body. The Les Paul has humbucker pick ups and a heavy body. The Strat tone is lighter and the Les Paul fuller.

Guitar neck dimensions can vary but the classic designs have a slimmer neck on Strat than Les Paul.

My first electric guitars were based on the Les Paul model. When I hold a Strat it feels very light.

That doesn't necessarily mean one is easier to play than the other. But there is a different feel. Both types are used for lead guitar. You could learn on either type.

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    This is hardly addressing the OP's questions. – Tim Oct 29 '20 at 6:36
  • @Tim seven other members disagree. I answered two of the 3 questions. As he asked about Strat specifically, I tried describing its characteristic by way of comparison to Les Paul. I thought that comparison would be useful. Otherwise the answers are simply: no, no, guitar not shown in video. – Michael Curtis Oct 29 '20 at 17:10
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Is it difficult for a amateur to learn & play this guitar?

There are two aspects of this guitar that distinguish it from others.

  • The "Tremolo" Bridge: This allows the player to lower or, if set up to do so, raise the pitch of all the strings. This can lead to the tuning to slip, especially if used intensely. Learning how to use it musically and in a way that keeps it in tune takes time, but it isn't especially difficult. Some players remove the bar and block off the bridge because they don't believe the tremolo effect is worth the cost.

("Tremolo" is varying volume. "Vibrato" is varying pitch. Leo's "Synchronized Tremolo" is vibrato, and the effect built into the Vibrolux is tremolo. We keep using the wrong terms for historic reasons but should probably stop.)

  • The Five-Way Pickup Switch: The Stratocaster has three pickups, and since the late 1970s come default with a five-way switch, which allows not only neck, middle and bridge pickups, but the combination of neck-and-middle and middle-and-bridge settings. Some of these positions are associated with some players, songs and genres, and knowing how to get those tones with those switch positions can take effort, but changing those positions do not.

For many reasons, the Stratocaster is designed to be one of the easiest guitars to play. The bridge is highly adjustable to allow you to play comfortably and in tune, the fretboard radius is usually rounded for comfortable chording, and the body is usually a lighter wood and carved to fit the player's body.

The Strat, to me, one of the easiest guitars to play, but that's opinion.

Is Fender Stratocaster electric guitar mostly used by leading guitarists in english pop music songs?

Much of pop music in America and England today is electronic and sample-based, with less guitar. There are a number of guitar builders who take aspects of different instruments and combine them. But the Stratocaster is still a very popular design.

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    Leo's had his way for 70 odd years. The time has come to eschew the term 'tremolo' for a more apt one, don't you think? – Tim Oct 29 '20 at 14:34
  • Yeah he got the terms backwards. – Dave Jacoby Oct 29 '20 at 16:48
  • So why not mention that in the answer, at least with a footnote? – leftaroundabout Oct 29 '20 at 20:39
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Any standard 6 strings guitar (such as the strat) can be used to play anything you want (you can transform the sound with amps pedals). However it has single coil pickups, this means a strong treble and a bite to the playing (if thin tiny strings are used). The gibson les Paul is a different guitar that has humbucker pickups which means a louder thicker syrupy sound (fatter louder). This lends itself to more distortion and takes hum out. So if it's a standard E tuned design 6 strings guitar they all play the same but the pickups inside sound different, the type wood has impact too. Baritone guitars are meant to be tuned lower. 7 strings and 8 strings guitars go much lower. These work well with a distortion. The strat spunds best pretty clean sounding amp.

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    I would say the Strat is very well known for an overdriven or distortion sound as well, Hendrix, Stevie Ray, Clapton and Ritchie Blackmore come to mind. – John Belzaguy Oct 29 '20 at 4:43
  • Those def good tones . – MMJ2020 Oct 29 '20 at 14:37

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