Before he became a member of the Eagles, Don Felder taught guitar lessons in his hometown of Gainesville, Florida. In a recent interview with Gibson.com, Felder revealed that one of his early students was a young Tom Petty.
"I was working in that music store in Gainesville and like I said, the only way I had to make money was after school I would go teach guitar in this music store. One day this kind of scrawny, scraggly blond-haired kid came in and wanted guitar lessons. I started teaching him guitar and we became friends and I went over to his house a couple of times," Felder explained.
"He had actually set up a microphone in one of the rooms in his house and he was playing bass in this little band," Felder said. "He wanted to learn guitar so he could play guitar instead of just bass in the band. So I went over to his house and was hanging around and he would play songs."
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June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.