Duane Eddy
0Loading crowd target
0Loading crowd target
6correct to beat the crowd
40 free Duane Eddy trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Duane Eddy made the electric guitar a lead voice in rock and roll. Starting in 1958, his low, echoing instrumentals sold by the million on both sides of the Atlantic, and his sound shaped players from the British Invasion to heartland rock. This quiz covers the whole story: the desert studio where the hits were made and the odd trick behind their echo, the singles and film themes, the sidemen who became session legends, his signature guitars, and the comeback that won him a Grammy decades later. It is pitched for fans of early rock and roll, guitar players and anyone who knows the riffs but not the man behind them. Every answer comes with a short explanation.
30 of 40 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What did Duane Eddy's producer buy to use as an echo chamber for the twangy guitar on his early hits?
A water storage tank
A water storage tank holding 2,000 gallons did the job, because the Arizona studio where the records were cut had no echo chamber of its own.
Q 02Which Duane Eddy instrumental, his breakthrough hit of 1958, was later featured in the film Forrest Gump?
Rebel-'Rouser
Rebel-'Rouser reached number six in America and sold over a million copies, earning Duane Eddy his first gold disc.
Q 03Which TV detective theme did Duane Eddy re-record with Art of Noise in 1986, winning a Grammy?
Peter Gunn
Peter Gunn had already been a hit for Duane Eddy a generation earlier, and the electronic remake took him back into the British top ten.
Q 04In 1960, readers of Britain's NME voted Duane Eddy the world's top musical personality, ousting which star?
Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley lost the top spot in a British music paper's poll, a sign of how much better Duane Eddy's records did in the UK than at home.
Q 05Which producer of Duane Eddy's early hits went on to write Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'"?
Lee Hazlewood
Lee Hazlewood co-wrote many of the guitarist's instrumentals, then became a star in his own right through his 1960s duets with Nancy Sinatra.
Q 06Duane Eddy's twangy lead style inspired some of the guitar playing on which 1975 Bruce Springsteen hit?
Born to Run
Born to Run became Bruce Springsteen's first Top 40 single in America, and its writer is one of many rock stars who have acknowledged the older guitarist's influence.
Q 07Unhappy with his singing voice, Duane Eddy built his sound by playing lead melodies where on the guitar?
On the bass strings
On the bass strings, his melodies came out low and reverberant, the sound listeners soon knew as twang.
Q 08Which British guitarist, who named Duane Eddy as an influence, played on Eddy's 1987 album alongside John Fogerty?
George Harrison
George Harrison was one of a crowd of famous guests on the 1987 album, which also reunited the American with two players from his original backing band.
Q 09Which country singer, later the wife of Waylon Jennings, was married to Duane Eddy from 1961 to 1968?
Jessi Colter
Jessi Colter was still recording under her real name, Mirriam Johnson, during the marriage; the stage name came later.
Q 10Duane Eddy was the last surviving musician from the top ten of the first-ever issue of which chart?
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 first appeared in 1958, the year the guitarist's breakthrough single climbed to number six in America.
Q 11Which guitar maker built the Chet Atkins model 6120 that Duane Eddy bought as a teenager in 1957?
Gretsch
Gretsch won him over with its vibrato arm, so the 19-year-old traded in his old guitar; 40 years later the firm launched a Duane Eddy signature model.
Q 12Which TV host starred as a high-school teacher in the 1960 film that gave Duane Eddy his biggest hit?
Dick Clark
Dick Clark was already a champion of the guitarist, who made many appearances on the host's own network show.
Q 13Which 1960 teen drama's title theme, recorded with a string arrangement, became Duane Eddy's biggest hit?
Because They're Young
Q 21Which guitar company introduced the Duane Eddy signature models DE-400 and DE-500 in the early 1960s?
Guild
Guild is credited with making him the first rock and roll guitarist to have a signature model, decades before two other makers built guitars in his name.
Q 22In which Arizona city did Duane Eddy record his early hits at the Audio Recorders studio?
Phoenix
Phoenix drew him from Coolidge, the small Arizona town where, at a local radio station, he had met the disc jockey who became his producer.
Q 23Which composer wrote the TV private-eye theme that gave Duane Eddy a UK top-ten hit in 1959?
Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini built the theme on one relentless riff, and the pianist on his original recording was John Williams, later a famous film composer himself.
Because They're Young reached number four in America and number two in Britain, becoming the guitarist's second million-selling single.
Q 14In 1965, Duane Eddy released an album of twangy instrumental versions of which songwriter's songs?
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan's name went straight into the blunt title, Duane Eddy Does Bob Dylan, which came out on the Colpix label.
Q 15Which instrument, played in Duane Eddy's band by Steve Douglas and later Jim Horn, answered his guitar on the hits?
Saxophone
Saxophone breaks were a fixture of the records; Jim Horn replaced Steve Douglas in 1959 and stayed on the road with the guitarist for five years.
Q 16Duane Eddy recorded the theme of which TV western, also acting in it beside its star, Richard Boone?
Have Gun – Will Travel
Have Gun – Will Travel starred Boone as the hired gunfighter Paladin, and the 1962 single of its ballad took the guitarist into the UK top ten.
Q 17In 2024, Duane Eddy joined dozens of guitarists on a charity re-recording of whose film theme "Going Home"?
Mark Knopfler
Mark Knopfler's all-star version raised money for two teenage cancer charities and reached the top 20 of the British singles chart.
Q 18At which English festival did Duane Eddy perform in June 2011, the month his album Road Trip came out?
Glastonbury
Glastonbury capped a late British revival that began with a sold-out concert at London's Royal Festival Hall the previous autumn.
Q 19Duane Eddy sidemen Steve Douglas, Jim Horn and Larry Knechtel all joined which famed Los Angeles session group?
The Wrecking Crew
The Wrecking Crew played on a long run of 1960s pop hits, with Knechtel going on to work for Simon & Garfunkel, the Doors and the Byrds.
Q 20Duane Eddy was born in which New York city, best known as the home of a famous glassworks?
Corning
Corning gave way to the desert in 1951, when his family moved to Arizona, the state where his recording career began.
Q 24Duane Eddy's track "The Trembler", used in Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers, was co-written with which musician?
Ravi Shankar
Ravi Shankar, the Indian sitar master, shares the writing credit with the twang guitarist on a piece that reached a new audience through the 1994 film.
Q 25Which film composer brought in Duane Eddy to play the guitar riff on John Woo's 1996 thriller Broken Arrow?
Hans Zimmer
Hans Zimmer said he had always thought Ennio Morricone wanted to work with the twang guitarist, so he simply hired the real one for the whole scoring session.
Q 26Duane Eddy played lead guitar on "Until the End of Time", a 1995 adult contemporary hit for which rock band?
Foreigner
Foreigner reached the top ten of the American adult contemporary chart with the ballad, one of several 1990s sessions for the veteran guitarist.
Q 27Duane Eddy played his signature twangy lead guitar on "Rock and Roll Lullaby", a 1972 hit for which singer?
B. J. Thomas
B. J. Thomas and his producer wanted the famous sounds of early rock on the single, so they also added harmonies in the style of the Beach Boys.
Q 28Which girl group, featuring Darlene Love, sang on Duane Eddy's 1962 million-seller "(Dance with the) Guitar Man"?
The Blossoms
The Blossoms were billed on the label as the Rebelettes, and the single earned the guitarist his third gold disc.
Q 29Duane Eddy's 1975 UK top-ten hit was co-written by Keith Potger, a founder of which Australian group?
The Seekers
The Seekers' co-founder wrote Play Me Like You Play Your Guitar with hitmaker Tony Macaulay, and a female vocal group sang on the single.
Q 30Which surf instrumental did Duane Eddy record as a duet with the Shadows' Hank Marvin in 1992?
Pipeline
Pipeline was a 1963 hit for the Chantays, and the two-guitar remake appeared on Marvin's album Into the Light.