[Slowhand] Think of the electric guitar as the Wright Brothers of music --

[An English Boy]

http://torontosun.com/Entertainment/Music/2006/04/23/1546703-sun.html


Strings attached

Think of the electric guitar as the Wright Brothers of music -- without it, 
rock would never have gotten off the ground

By JOHN KRYK

THE COOLEST INSTRUMENT

Pete Townshend used to regularly smash all his to bits.

Keith Richards once swung one at the head of a fan who rushed him on stage. 
And he likes to jam a lit cigarette into the ends of his.

Stevie Ray Vaughan abused his "Number One" so badly once at a Toronto club 
he stood on it, as if to surf it.

And Jimi Hendrix famously set one of his on fire during the Monterey Pop 
Festival.


And they say nothing is as precious to a rock guitar hero as his sacred 
"axe."

But it's true. "My guitars are my umbilical chord," Metallica's Kirk Hammett 
once said. "They're directly wired into my head."

How valuable has the electric guitar been to rock 'n' roll? Without it, rock 
might never have begun rolling in the first place. We might still all be 
swinging to the latest Tommy Dorsey-knockoff big band, or 
hot-diggity-dogging it to some aw-shucks neo-Como ditty.

Maybe rock music is rock music because of the electric guitar.

Over the past 50 years, if you're a teenager and you want to start a rock 
band, what do you have to have? Right: One electric-guitar player.

And who always winds up the coolest guy in the band? The guitarist, of 
course.

Who knew popular music would take such a dramatic left turn soon after the 
invention of electrified, solid-body guitars in the early 1950s? The 
instrument's urgent new sound -- hard, crisp and loud -- was unlike anything 
anyone had ever heard. Its sound was not only 'futuristic,' it was 
dangerous. The music played on an electric guitar just had to follow suit.

It did. The electric guitar's musical possibilities were quickly explored by 
the late '60s --a remarkably short period of time.

In 1955 Chuck Berry popularized the 'barre-chord' style of rock/blues 
playing, which later begat the Brit Invasion power-chord songs of the 
mid-'60s.

Those songs, in turn, gave way to the man who really turned up the volume 
knob, who dreamed up guitar solos that no one before --or since --has quite 
matched: Jimi Hendrix.

He effectively removed the "and roll" from rock. Credit him with adding the 
"hard" too.

Hendrix was the ultimate guitar hero.

"Sometimes you want to give up guitar, you'll hate the guitar," Jimi once 
said. "But if you stick with it, you're gonna be rewarded."

As long as you don't burn it or smash it.

---

PROFILES OF THE 'FOUR-MOST' ELECTRIC GUITARS

FENDER TELECASTER TELY

The original. Was the first mass-produced solid-body electric guitar, 
starting in 1950. Originally had only one single-coil pickup before adding a 
second. Has Fender's trademark angled headstock with the string tuners all 
in a row, rather than the traditional three-per-side look.

SOUND: "Bright, metallic cutting tone and a plangent, twangy string sound," 
according to Eyewitness Companions Guitar book.

QUOTE: "Obviously the Fender Telecaster is a favourite, but I love Gibsons 
too ... They are all great, particular sounds for particular songs." -- 
Keith Richards

FAMOUS PLAYERS: Keith Richards, Bruce Springsteen, Muddy Waters, Chrissie 
Hynde, Andy Summers, Albert Lee

FENDER STRATOCASTER STRAT

The most famous electric guitar in the world. Introduced in 1954. Has three 
single-coil pick-ups. The built-in tremolo bar is ideal for soloists wanting 
to bend or vibrate notes.

SOUND: "Bright tone, ringing sustain, lively string sound, tremendous 
clarity," according to Eyewitness Companions Guitar book. Introduction in 
1959 of a dark rosewood fingerboard, as opposed to the original light maple 
fingerboard, provided a warmer, smoother sound.

QUOTE: "All the Strats have personalities of their own and feel completely 
different." -- Stevie Ray Vaughan

FAMOUS PLAYERS: Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Clapton ('70s-'90s), 
David Gilmour, Ritchie Blackmore, Mark Knopfler, Eddie Van Halen, Chuck 
Berry

GIBSON LES PAUL

The classic. Debuted in 1952. A much heavier, more carefully constructed and 
more expensive instrument than the Fenders. Amazingly, went out of vogue by 
the end of the '50s, but Eric Clapton and then Keith Richards revived 
interest in Les Pauls when they were reintroduced by Gibson in 1968.

SOUND: "Has tremendous sustain and a distinctive smooth tone (owing largely 
to the heavy mahogany and maple woods used), with high output from the 
pickups that makes it ideal for overdriven and distorted guitar solos and 
riffs," according to Eyewitness Companions Guitar book.

QUOTE: "I wanted something very dense, something that would sustain long and 
more pieces of wood that would be soft, sweet, for more of a mellow sound." 
-- Les Paul

FAMOUS PLAYERS: Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton (late '60s), Ace Frehley, Duane 
Allman, Joe Walsh, Joe Perry, Slash

GIBSON SG

Debuted in 1961, a year after Gibson discontinued (for eight years) the Les 
Paul line. Its incurved "horns" allowed a soloist greater access to the 
upper-fret notes. Had a tremolo bar to match Fender's Strat, something the 
Les Pauls didn't have.

SOUND: "Lively yet balanced tonal response, and is ideal as a stage 
instrument," according to Eyewitness Companions Guitar book.

SOUND: "I'd always wanted an SG. I think the cutaway horns reminded me a bit 
of myself." -- Angus Young

FAMOUS PLAYERS: Angus Young, Pete Townshend, Tony Iommi, Jerry Garcia, Gary 
Rossington, Frank Zappa