About Don Felder
Donald William Felder is an American musician who was the lead guitarist of the rock band Eagles from 1974 to 2001. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 with the Eagles. Felder was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2016.
Felder was fired from the Eagles in 2001, after which he filed various lawsuits alleging wrongful termination, breach of implied-in-fact contract, and breach of fiduciary duty. He published an autobiography detailing his tenure with Eagles, Heaven and Hell: My Life in the Eagles , in 2008.
Don Felder was born in Gainesville, Florida, on September 21, 1947. He was raised in a Southern Baptist family.
Felder was first attracted to music after watching Elvis Presley live on The Ed Sullivan Show. He acquired his first guitar when he was about ten years old, which he has stated he exchanged with a friend at the five-and-dime for a handful of cherry bombs. A self-taught musician, he was heavily influenced by rock and roll. At the age of 13 he started his first band, the Continentals, which also included Stephen Stills and Isaac Guillory.
Felder's family could not afford music lessons, so he taught himself to play guitar by ear, by listening to tape recordings that he played back at half speed. He worked at a music school started by a Berklee graduate, who taught music theory and some notation to Felder during his employment there.
Around that time, he met Bernie Leadon, who later became one of the founding members of the Eagles. Leadon replaced Stephen Stills in the Continentals, which eventually changed its name to the Maundy Quintet. Felder and Leadon both attended Gainesville High School. Felder gave guitar lessons at a local music shop for about 18 months, at which time Felder also learned how to play slide guitar from Duane Allman. Although Felder claimed that he taught a young Tom Petty how to play the guitar, Petty denied that he was ever taught the guitar by Felder, clarifying that Felder instead taught him how to play piano.
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