Born 76 Years Ago Today In Florida, This Rocker Learned Guitar From An Eagles Legend

Tom Petty is an almost universally-agreed upon rock legend. From his emergence in 1976 as leader of the Heartbreakers, his drawling, raspy, soulful voice and bluesy, twangy, and country-influenced electric guitar powered countless arena rock hits to classic status. 

Born on October 20, 1950, Petty might not have ever sold out venues or moved millions of copies of albums containing bangers like "Don't Do Me Like That," "Refugee," "Free Fallin','" "Mary Jane's Last Dance," and "The Waiting" had he not honed his craft from another all-American rock 'n' roll treasure: Don Felder. Like Petty, he's a co-writer behind some of rock's most iconic songs — in Felder's case, of course, it was as a member of the Eagles.

Petty died in October 2017 at age 66, just days after completing a 40th anniversary Heartbreakers tour. His substantial legacy was set in motion by his guitar teacher and eventual member of the Eagles, Don Felder — who was a teenager himself at the time.

Many feel that Tom Petty sounded polished and accomplished from the beginning, deftly blending his influences and to create a Southern rock-arena rock hybrid that was often imitated — but never perfected — elsewhere. But before Petty captured the hearts of the classic rock world in the mid-1970s with the Heartbreakers, he struggled as a teenager in the 1960s with one of his earliest bands, the Epics. He was playing bass guitar in that group when he went into a music store in his hometown of Gainesville, Florida, in search of someone who could instruct him in the ways of the regular electric guitar.

The shop had 16-year-old Don Felder on hand, who taught neophyte guitarists in exchange for store credit. Felder, a future integral part of the Eagles, took a keen interest in Petty as well as the Epics. "I wound up teaching him guitar, going to his house, listening to his band," Felder recalled to "People Now" in 2019. "He had two guitar players in his band that just plugged in, turned up, and flailed artlessly, loud and blaring." 

Felder instructed the guitar players to lower the volume, pump up the lead guitar during Petty's vocal breaks, and facilitated Petty's move to rhythm guitar. In those lessons and rehearsals, Felder helped establish many foundational elements of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.