Lindsey Buckingham

A pickless fingerstyle wizard who turned pop into sonic architecture

Lindsey Buckingham grew up in Palo Alto, California, in a sporting family; his older brother Greg won an Olympic medal in swimming. He taught himself guitar partly by playing along with his brother's rock and roll records and fell in love with folk music and the harmonies of the Beach Boys. In high school he joined the band Fritz, which also recruited a singer named Stevie Nicks. The group opened for major acts around the Bay Area before breaking up at the start of the seventies.

Buckingham and Nicks moved to Los Angeles as a duo and released the album Buckingham Nicks in 1973. It sold poorly, but producer Keith Olsen played one of its songs for Mick Fleetwood, who was looking for a guitarist. Fleetwood invited Buckingham to join Fleetwood Mac at the end of 1974, and Buckingham insisted that Nicks come too. Their first album with the band, 1975's Fleetwood Mac, went to number one in the US, and 1977's Rumours became one of the biggest sellers in history.

Rather than repeat that formula, Buckingham steered the band toward the sprawling, experimental double album Tusk in 1979, much of it recorded with home-studio techniques. He began a solo career with Law and Order, which yielded the hit "Trouble," and wrote "Holiday Road" for the film National Lampoon's Vacation. After the 1987 album Tango in the Night, which featured his song "Big Love," he left Fleetwood Mac. His ambitious solo album Out of the Cradle followed in 1992.

The Rumours lineup reunited for The Dance in 1997, a live album and special that became a huge success, and the band entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame the following year. Buckingham returned full time for Say You Will in 2003 and released a run of solo albums, plus a 2017 collaboration with Christine McVie. He was dismissed from Fleetwood Mac in 2018, underwent heart surgery in 2019 and released a self-titled solo album in 2021.

The 10 greatest Lindsey Buckingham solos

1. 1
   I'm So Afraid

   Fleetwood Mac · solo by Lindsey Buckingham · 1975
2. 2
   Go Your Own Way

   Fleetwood Mac · solo by Lindsey Buckingham · 1977
3. 3
   Big Love

   Fleetwood Mac · solo by Lindsey Buckingham · 1987
4. 4
   Never Going Back Again

   Fleetwood Mac · solo by Lindsey Buckingham · 1977
5. 5
   Frozen Love

   Buckingham Nicks · solo by Lindsey Buckingham · 1973
6. 6
   The Chain

   Fleetwood Mac · solo by Lindsey Buckingham · 1977
7. 7
   Tusk

   Fleetwood Mac · solo by Lindsey Buckingham · 1979
8. 8
   Second Hand News

   Fleetwood Mac · solo by Lindsey Buckingham · 1977
9. 9
   Trouble

   Lindsey Buckingham · solo by Lindsey Buckingham · 1981
10. 10
    Go Insane

    Lindsey Buckingham · solo by Lindsey Buckingham · 1984

The sound

Buckingham plays without a pick, using his thumb and fingers in a rapid, rolling style that draws from folk banjo and fingerpicking traditions. This gives his playing a percussive snap and lets him mix bass lines, chords and melody in one part. His solos are often short and explosive, and on stage he can erupt into frenzied, almost violent passages, as on "I'm So Afraid." In the studio he is a meticulous arranger who layers many guitar parts into intricate, orchestral textures.

• Rick Turner Model 1 (guitar) His signature electric from around the Tusk era onward, built by luthier Rick Turner.
• Turner Renaissance (guitar) An acoustic-electric model from the same builder, used for his fingerpicked acoustic material on stage.
• Gibson Les Paul Custom (guitar) A mainstay of his early years with Fleetwood Mac in the mid-seventies.
• Acoustic steel-string guitars (guitar) Central to fingerpicked pieces such as "Never Going Back Again" and "Big Love" in its live form.
• Multitrack tape layering (effect) In the studio he builds dense, orchestral arrangements by stacking many overdubbed guitar parts.

Covers

• Oh Well, originally by Fleetwood Mac (Peter Green era) Buckingham sang and played the heavy Peter Green classic on the band's mid-seventies tours.
• Farmer's Daughter, originally by The Beach Boys A warm, harmony-rich tribute to the California band he adored.
• I Am Waiting, originally by The Rolling Stones A hushed, fingerpicked reimagining of a lesser-known Stones song.
• Try for the Sun, originally by Donovan He reshaped the folk song into an intimate, intricately picked arrangement.
• She Smiled Sweetly, originally by The Rolling Stones A tender closing track that shows his gift for quiet, spacious arrangements.

Timeline

• 1949 Born in Palo Alto, California
• 1973 Releases Buckingham Nicks with Stevie Nicks
• 1974 Joins Fleetwood Mac along with Nicks
• 1977 Rumours becomes a global phenomenon
• 1979 Leads the band into the experimental double album Tusk
• 1981 Solo debut Law and Order yields the hit "Trouble"
• 1987 Leaves Fleetwood Mac after Tango in the Night
• 1997 Rejoins for the reunion album and concert The Dance
• 1998 Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
• 2018 Dismissed from Fleetwood Mac

Facts

1. He plays guitar with his fingers rather than a pick.
2. His older brother Greg won an Olympic silver medal in swimming in 1968.
3. He met Stevie Nicks when both were in the Bay Area band Fritz.
4. Buckingham agreed to join Fleetwood Mac only if Nicks was invited as well.
5. The title track of Tusk features the USC Trojan Marching Band, recorded at Dodger Stadium.
6. He wrote and recorded "Holiday Road" for National Lampoon's Vacation.
7. Rumours won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year.
8. Much of Tusk was recorded using home-studio methods he developed himself.
9. His 2019 heart surgery left him with vocal cord damage that he had to recover from.
10. In 2017 he released a duet album with Christine McVie.