THE TWANG’S THE THANG 70 YEARS of ELECTRIC GUITAR

The Riffs – and Records – That Changed The World. By Jonathan Scott.

Guitarists can be ridiculous creatures – posturing, strutting peacocks, thrashing out compensation chords from ludicrously shaped instruments that emanate from the groin. But there is an innate coolness to the guitar, which inspires many an uneasy teen to follow his or her hero and pick up the instrument. Guitarists take many forms: the technically brilliant virtuoso, the three-chord garage thrasher; but they all trace their electric lineage back to 70 years ago this month, when the first piece of electric guitar music was recorded.

We have attempted to trace a history of the electric guitar, choosing one recording for every year. We have chosen those who did something new, and inspired others to follow.

Solid-body electric guitars trace their roots back to the Hawaiian boom of the 20s and 30s. Adolph Rickenbacker, George Beauchamp and Paul Barth, who had been experimenting with the concept of a magnetised pick-up, formed the Electro String Company. In 1931 they produced the first Rickenbacker “Frying Pan” Hawaiian guitar.

Meanwhile, the Rowe-De Armond company had begun to produce the first commercially available pick-up, designed to be clipped to the soundboard of an ordinary acoustic.

Soloists such as Eddie Lang, Teddy Bunn, Dick McDonough, Carl Kress, Lonnie Johnson, Alan Reuss, and of course Django …

by Jonathan Scott
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