Want to learn how to play guitar like Jack White?

Check out this Jack White Player Study Course, and you’ll be shredding like the White Stripes and Raconteurs guitarist in no time!

Background

Jack White was born John Anthony Gillis in Detroit, Mich. in 1975. He was the youngest of ten children, and his earliest musical influences growing up were his older brothers, who were in a band called Catalyst. He started playing the drums in first grade after finding a kit in the family’s attic. While in elementary school, he started listening to bands like the Doors, Pink Floyd, and Led Zeppelin.

As a teen, Jack started listening to the blues music and 1960s rock that would inform the sound of The White Stripes. Accepted into a seminary as a high schooler, he could have ended up becoming a priest – but he chose to go to a public high school instead, concerned that the seminary wouldn’t let him bring his new amplifier.

While attending high school, Jack played drums and trombone in band. He had an upholstery apprenticeship with a family friend who he credits for exposing him to punk rock music. They played music together, recording an album as “The Upholsterers”.

Following his apprenticeship, Jack actually opened an upholstery business of his own, but Jack claims his creative approaches -including making bills out in crayon and writing poetry inside the furniture – made it unprofitable. At 19, he had his first professional musician job as a drummer for the band “Goober & The Peas”. The band broke up in 1996, the same year Jack married Meg White, taking her last name. Meg learned to play the drums and the couple began performing as The White Stripes. They put out six albums before disbanding in 2011.

Jack has also put out music with The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather, as well as solo albums. He co-founded Third Man Records in 2001.

Style

“Jack White Photo 2021” by David James Swanson is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Jack has a unique style that showcases his influences – blues music and garage rock. He prefers vintage guitars, as well as analog recording equipment and methods. His home studio in Nashville consists of just two rooms and two pieces of equipment: a Neve mixing console and two Studer A800 2-inch 8-track tape recorders. 

Legacy 

Jack has been nominated for 33 GRAMMY Awards and has won 12. He was awarded the title of “Nashville Music City Ambassador” in 2011. 

Once you learn Jack’s signature style, put it to work with this song lesson! 

Seven Nation Army