The Eagles’ Don Felder Gave a Teenage Tom Petty Guitar Lessons
Don Felder and Tom Petty both grew up in Gainesville, Florida, in similar parts of town. While Felder was older than Petty, they were both involved in the local music scene. As it turns out, Felder helped Petty establish himself as a serious musician. When Petty decided he didn’t want to be a bass player for the rest of his life, he turned to Felder for help. Years later, both would be famous musicians.
Tom Petty and Don Felder both grew up in Gainesville, Florida
Felder and Petty grew up in Gainesville. While they were in different grades at school, they had similar childhoods. Both had a deep love of music, and Felder had to use his family’s television to play guitar.
“I think we were the last family in our town to get a black-and-white television,” Felder said, per the book Petty: The Biography by Warren Zanes. “It was the size of a washing machine, with a screen that was about twelve by twelve inches. When I got my first guitar, I would plug it into a jack in the back of that TV. I’d be watching Mighty Mouse and the other cartoons on Saturday, playing the guitar, trying to learn.”
He gave the younger boy guitar lessons
Both Felder and Petty played in local bands. Petty had recently become the lead singer of his group, the Epics, and he no longer wanted to play the bass.
“He was playing bass at the time in this band which I think was called the Epics,” Felder told WMMR. “I remember them as the Rucker Brothers Band. It had two guitar players that both just flailed artlessly on the electric guitar, and Tommy was playing bass and singing and fronting the band, and he really didn’t want to be the singing bass player.”
He turned to Felder for help.
“He wanted to play guitar so I started teaching him guitar in this music store and going out to see him and teaching him at his house.”
Felder said that even then, he could tell that Petty had something special.
“Tommy was very charismatic on stage,” he said. “I remember standing at one Tom Petty show and there were three young girls standing right next to me and they were going, ‘Omigod, he’s so great!’ and Tommy was flipping his long blonde hair and shaking his hair. He had a great stage presence and a commitment that he could sell on his presence which was great, and a lot of people might have the talent, they just don’t have the commitment and charisma to get it across, and Tom has it in spades.”
Don Felder shared a statement honoring Tom Petty after his death
After Petty’s death in 2017, Felder shared a statement about his friend, who he’d known longer than most.
“It is with a shattered heart that I write this post. Tommy’s passing feels like I’ve lost a little brother,” he wrote, per Billboard. “Growing up together in Gainesville and seeing one of my students blossom as an incredibly gifted musician and songwriter has been one of my most fulfilling experiences in this life.”
He wrote that Petty’s talent moved many people.
“It was obvious very early on in his career that his talent, magnetism and charisma were a very special gift that few souls in this world are given,” he wrote. “He has given this world so many wonderful memories and touched millions with his magic. Gone far too soon. May he rest in peace knowing how much he is loved and appreciated by all of us that are left behind.”
