Floyd Rose Black Prototype Ex Richie Sambora Bon Jovi

Richie Sambora
(1959)

Band: Bon Jovi
Main guitar: Fender Stratocaster Signature
Must-hear track: Livin’ On A Prayer

This is how the history of rock goes: for every Mick Jagger, there’s a Keith Richards. For every Steven Tyler, a Joe Perry. For every Robert Plant, a Jimmy Page. For every superstar frontman who sets crowds on fire, there’s a brooding, endlessly cool guitarist holding down the fort — stepping into the spotlight only for brief, explosive thirty-second bursts.

Richie Sambora joined New Jersey-based Bon Jovi in 1983, just a few months after the band was formed. From the start, Sambora’s playing and personality perfectly complemented frontman Jon Bon Jovi. Together, they formed a songwriting duo that would produce some of the biggest hard rock hits ever — songs that are still staples of radio airplay. Their real breakthrough came in 1986 with the album Slippery When Wet, on which Sambora co-wrote nine of the ten tracks, including the three mega-hits: Livin’ On A Prayer, You Give Love A Bad Name, and Wanted Dead Or Alive. Sambora’s playing on the album is fast, precise, energetic, and inventive — clearly influenced by Van Halen like most guitar heroes of the time, but with a unique touch all his own. His gift for impactful arrangements shines through in the use of a twelve-string on Wanted…, the pitch shifter in the solo of You Give Love A Bad Name, and, of course, the iconic talkbox in Livin’ On A Prayer.

From then on, the band skyrocketed to global stardom, playing to massive crowds of euphoric fans around the world. Bon Jovi’s genius was in maintaining relevance across decades, consistently finding success with new generations of listeners. The band topped the charts again in 1994 with Always, and once more in 2000 with It’s My Life — also co-written by Sambora — proving their staying power with a younger audience that still follows them to this day.

Struggling with personal demons, Sambora was forced to leave the band in 2013, right in the middle of yet another world tour. Since then, he formed the band RSO with his former partner Orianthi and has shown a growing interest in the Telecaster and Esquire models — a notable shift for a guitarist long associated with flashy superstrats during his Bon Jovi days. Richie Sambora’s musical journey is far from over, and it likely still holds many surprises in store.