Electric Guitars History

ELECTRIC GUITARS HISTORY - The Beginning

Les Paul is primarily a musician but he was more of an inventor overall. He had experimented with electric guitars and made it his life's business. He started his innovations during the early 1920's, just about when he's merely a child. During the early 1930's, Rickenbacker began creating electric guitars with electromagnetic transducers in hollow archtop acoustic guitar bodies. However, it was during the 1930's and the 1940's when the greatest innovations surfaced. This was primarily due to the fact that Jazz Orchestras have to increase the electric guitars' presence. Along with the trend, amplifiers started to gain notoriety as one important complement for the newer sounds.

ELECTRIC GUITARS HISTORY - The 30s

During the 1930's, electric guitars started to get better in performance. Gage Brewer, a bandleader and an exceptional guitarist, played the instruments of George Beauchamp at a concert in Kansas. It was also during this period that Rickenbacker introduced the first electric guitar created out of cast aluminum. Because of its appearance, it was called as The Pancake Guitar or The Frying Pan. Even so, more guitar manufacturers, Audiovox in particular, started thinking about making solid-body electric guitars. In 1938, jazz artist and guitarist George Barnes went on to become the first musician to record at least two songs using an electric guitar. The songs are 'It's a Low-Down Dirty Shame' and 'Sweetheart Land'.

ELECTRIC GUITARS HISTORY - The 40s

The most important event during the 1940's related to the guitar technology and the mass market is the solid body electric guitar that was designed by no other than Les Paul. It was the first ever solid body electric guitar that was mass produced as the Fender's Broadcaster, which was later called as the Telecaster. These events are what jumpstarted the bigger industry of guitars in the 1950's.

ELECTRIC GUITARS HISTORY - The 50s

During the early 1950's, Leo Fender had designed a fiery combination: a solid-body electric guitar with one magnetic pickup. The guitar is referred to as the Esquire, which is the utmost commercial combination of good taste and technology. And he didn't stop there. He went on to design the Fender Precision Bass, which was another successful combination of electric bass and the 1951 Fender Stratocaster or the 1954 Strat. These guitars were the improved versions of their own line of electric guitar. These models have better innovations than Telecaster. It is also during the 1950’s when modern-day and classical composers started using electric guitar as an inspiration.

ELECTRIC GUITARS HISTORY - The 60s and 70s

In the 1960's, the more popular types of guitars are the 12 string electric guitars. During these periods, Vox launched the 12 string Mark XII and Phantom XII. During the mid 1960's, Rickenbacker also introduced the 360/12 model guitar, which the Beatles' George Harrison used for playing the opening of a song on stage. It was a 6-string electric guitar that plays a louder sound. Roger McGuinn of The Byrds was the first to endorse the 12-string guitar in the rock and roll genre. Another notable event is the Jimmy Page song entitled Stairway to Heaven. He had also used the Led Zeppelin-popularized double-neck guitars in a concert. And to achieve the best result, he had to play the song with two guitars, the 6 and the 12-string guitar.

ELECTRIC GUITARS HISTORY - The 80s

The 1980's electric guitars were headed with an experimental period. Jazz artists and guitarists flourished with the 7 string electric guitars. John Pizzarelli, George Van Eps, and Bucky had made such instruments popular. However, Ibanez and Steve Vai popularized the Universe series, which have a double-locking tremolo system for the seven string electric guitars. This type of guitar is currently used in several Metal and Hard Rock bands, as a part of the long history of electric guitars.

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