Foo Fighters took to the Saturday Night Live stage over the weekend to perform The Glass with the help of Stratocaster-toting singer-songwriter H.E.R.
Under normal circumstances, the collaboration itself would have been enough to have music fans hooked, but electric guitar fans would have been especially intrigued by the onstage link-up owing to H.E.R.’s choice of six-string for the event.
Why? Well, rather than playing her Fender Chrome Grow Stratocaster signature model – or, for that matter, her Blue Marlin-finished signature guitar – the guitarist instead decided to play a Charvel.
It was an eyebrow-raising instrumental choice from the Grammy winner, whose eye-catching signature model has become a mainstay of both her sound and live performance. She did, for example, stay loyal to the Strat for her recent Crossroads Festival appearance, and used it alongside Lenny Kravtiz and Travis Barker for a star-studded Medley at last year’s Grammys ceremony.
That H.E.R. has now decided to branch out away from Strats makes an interesting point for speculation. Charvel is owned by Fender, so it’s not a completely unthinkable move to make, but could this be indicative of where the artist sees her future guitar allegiances lying?
To that end, could this be the early signs of a formal collaboration between Charvel and H.E.R.? It’s worth pointing out she was also spotted playing a Charvel while on tour with Coldplay, so this is becoming something of a frequent occurrence. All we’re saying is, a Chrome Glow-finished Charvel needs to happen.
Mind you, this isn’t the first time H.E.R. has temporarily hung up her signature guitar for a notable alternative: last December, she wielded a stain-glass Stratocaster to shred as Belle in ABC’s live-action Beauty and the Beast show.
Whatever the case, H.E.R. navigates the fretboard of her Charvel USA Select DK24 HSS 2PT CM just as effectively as she does her prized signature Strat, treating Grohl and co’s live rendition of The Glass with some interlude licks and a bend-heavy guitar solo.
“Can’t believe I get to jam with these legends,” H.E.R. wrote on Instagram before the gig, which may have been something of a bucket list performance for the Fender signature artist. After all, back in 2021, H.E.R. teased a collaboration with Dave Grohl, saying, “I would love to work with him on an album or something.”
