2. The
Re-Birth
of an Instrument
The
story of the evolution of Rock and Roll is the story of
Bands. But once Bands became the vehicle that carried Rock n’ Roll, the
story of the electric guitar played a huge role in shaping the product.
The best way to explain that is to look at the history of the electric
guitar and its relationship with the genre.
The Guitar as a Folk and Rhythm Instrument
The guitar has many advantages. It is light, easy to take on a camping
trip or to a friend's place for a party. It can be relatively cheap to
make, and anyone with capable hands and a sense of rhythm can learn a
few chords and strum along with a folk song.
But it is not very loud.
It was good for accompanying singers around the campfire. As a solo
instrument, it worked well in a small room. It was okay in the big band
era for chording behind the vocals and the horns.
There is a format we've come to expect in popular music.
There is some sort of instrumental introduction, the singer sings a few
verses, steps away from the microphone, and then and another musician,
often a guitar player, gets his / her twenty seconds to shine.
It's the format that created rock n' roll.
But in the big band or in the jazz era when the singer stepped away
from the microphone to allow for an instrumental break, it was the
saxophone or clarinet player who stepped in to the spotlight.
Eventually guitar players got tired of that.
They knew how to play solos and fills. They could play melody. They
just couldn't be heard when they did.
Inventing
The Electric Guitar
First Efforts...
To get the guitar louder, they tried microphones like the singers used,
but when you cranked up the volume all you got was noise.
The big hollow body of the instrument - designed that way to make it as
loud as possible - caused a phenomenon called feedback - that ear
splitting squeal you get when a public address system is turned up too
much.
Then they tried attaching a microphone right to the guitar.
In “Cool Guitar History”, it says that 86 years ago on Aug. 10, 1937 a
patent was issued for the first electric guitar, the Rickenbacker
Electro A-22, aka the "Rickenbacker Frying Pan". The instrument earned
its nickname because its circular body and long neck obviously made it
resemble a frying pan.
A guy named Les Paul invented the first electric guitar by making the
body out a solid block of wood and building a microphone right into the
body.
It was aptly called “The Log” and it worked. But it wasn't very
pretty, or very comfortable to play.
The Fender Telecaster...
Working at about the same time as Les Paul, Leo Fender came up with his
first design. The Telecaster was the first mass-marketed electric guitar
It was simplicity itself.
Fender seems to have taken a plank and a jig saw and re-thought what a
guitar should look like.
This one, made in about 2000 looks virtually identical to the first one
sold in 1950.
It too hasn't been much improved upon over the decades.
The Gibson Les Paul...
Motivated
by the success of Fender guitars, the Gibson Co. hired Les Paul to
create a marketable alternative. He came up with an electric guitar,
shaped sort of like a regular guitar, but more compact and with a solid
body.
Made in 1982, this one is virtually identical to the first one sold in
1952.
To this
day the Gibson Les Paul remains the iconic rock n' roll guitar.
Many would argue that no one has come up with a better guitar. But
there was another contender.,.
The Stratocaster..
If the Telecaster showcased simplicity, the Stratocaster introduced in
1954, aimed for sophistication.
The body is contoured for comfort. It features a vibrato arm to allow
for subtle (and not-so-subtle) variations in pitch that add colour to a
note. It was sleek. The three pickups add to its sonic versatility
Fender crafted a design that has since been much imitated.
If you're interested...."More about the Strat"
And back again…
With solid body
electric guitars seemingly perfected, guitar makers then worked to try
and get the best of both worlds – the fuller natural sound of an
acoustic with the volume of an electric. Two notable options were
popular early in the rock n’ roll era.
The Gibson ES 335 and similar models were used by Chuck Berry and
gained a new popularity in the late 60’s when seen in the hands of Eric
Clapton and Alvin Lee.
Gretsch hollow body models were also popular, and George Harrison used
them almost exclusively on the early Beatles records.
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