Guitar History

Joseph Kekuku

Feb 9, 1885

Joseph Kekuku runs a railroad spike on his steel string guitar. The sound it made interested him and he invented the Hawaiian slide guitar technique

Guitar History

Period: Feb 9, 1885 to Nov 8, 2005

Andres segovia's first performance

May 12, 1908

Carl T. Sprague

Jan 5, 1925

Carl T. Sprague becomes Hollywoods first singing cowboy. His 1925 album sells 900,000 copies which is huge for the time.

Lonnie Johnson and Eddie Lang

Apr 20, 1927

Lonnie Johnson and Eddie Lang record popular interracial duets. Johnson plays blues; Lang plays jazz.

The First Electric Guitar

Jul 17, 1931

Ro-Pat-In creates the 'frying pan,' which is the first electric guitar.

The First 'Flat Top' Acoustic Guitar

Sep 5, 1934

Martin developes the modern 'flat top' acoustic guitar.

Charlie Christian

Jun 11, 1936

Gibson debuts its guitar/amp package. Charlie Christian uses this to popularize the electric guitar.

Gibson introduces the cutaway

May 15, 1939

Gibson introduces the cutaway. This makes it so that people can reach high notes easier.

Django Reinhardt

Mar 8, 1940

Django Reinhardt records 'Nuages.' With this Gypsy jazz is born.

T-Bone Walker's 'Mean Old World'

Apr 28, 1942

The blues goes electric with T-Bone Walker's 'Mean Old World.

Muddy Waters goes electric

May 21, 1948

The first single sells out, and this brought the blues to a more modern aidience.

'Lover' by Les Paul is released

Aug 10, 1948

Les Paul's 'Lover' is released. It features a lot of guitar effects like delay, echo, reverb, phasing, flanging, sped-up recording, muted picking, and layered overdubbed recording. This is the first recording to feature all these effects.

First decent whammy bar is invented

Oct 14, 1948

Bigsby builds the first whammy bar for Merle Travis.

Leo Fender's Telecaster debuts

Apr 15, 1950

It's a hit with the pros because it has a wide range of tones, is very durable, and is highly playable.

Gibson introduces the 'Les Paul' guitar

May 25, 1952

Surprisingly this guitar actually flopped at first, but later as we've seen it becomes one of the most famous models in the world.

Bill Haley's "RockAround the Clock" is released

Apr 12, 1954

This is the opening song of the teenage gang movie "BLackboard Jungle." It instantly topped the charts and along with solo guitarist Danny Cedrone.

Fender debuts the Stratocaster

May 18, 1954

This guitar has three pickups, a really good whammy bar, and a limitless variety of tones which makes it one of the most successful and famous models in the world

That's all right with mama is realesed

Jul 5, 1954

Elvis records with guitarist Scotty Moore. Moore's playing on the song "That's All Right with Mama" inspires a generation of guitarist.

Chuck Berry records 'Maybellene'

May 21, 1955

Berry's lead guitar style becomes the definitive rock sound

Seth Lover invents the humbucker pickups

Jun 12, 1955

This allowed guitarist to be able to have the volume really loud without the annoying hum and buzz.

Bo Diddley releases his self-titled first album

Feb 8, 1957

Ricky Nelson on 'The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet

Mar 11, 1957

Ricky Nelson played rock guitar regularly on this show and brought rebal rock to typical American living rooms.

Buddy Holly introduces rock to the world

Dec 1, 1957

In the minds of most Americans, guitar was mainly acoustic and jazz, until Buddy Holly came along. On the Ed Sulivan show, he showed of his strat and rocked the stage on TV so everyone could see it.

Vox introduces AC15

Jan 12, 1958

British invasion rockers used this as their amp of choice and it gave a new definition loud.

Link Wray releases Rumble

Apr 21, 1958

This was probably the first song to use the power chord. Also fun fact he actually punches a hole in his amp to get that distortion sound you hear.

Duane Eddy releases 'Rebel Rouser'

May 18, 1958

This album is full of twangy guitar intrumentals and popularized the idea of the rock guitar intrumental.

Chuck Berry releases Johnny B. Goode

Jul 3, 1958

This song literally became one of the mose influential and recognizable guitar songs ever.

The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery is released

Jan 28, 1960

With this he becomes the acknowledged successor of Charlie Christian.

Robert Johnson rediscovered when King of the Delta Blues is released

Jan 1, 1961

This album was known as the source amoung many British rock player.

Dick Dale invents surf rock with Surfers Choice

Feb 14, 1962

With a 100 watt amp, tremelo picked middle eastern scales, and a lot of reverb makes this one loud guitar fest.

Maestro FZ-1 debuts

Mar 18, 1963

This is the first distortion pedal ever made and the first important effect pedal of any kind.

The Yardbirds form

May 25, 1963

This band launches the careers of Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, and Jeff Beck. These guitarist later were known as some of the best guitarist ever.

The Beatles come to America

Feb 9, 1964

The Beatles appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show and this was the first time they ever appeared on American television.

Pete Townshend auto destructs his guitar

Sep 2, 1964

Pete Twonshed smashes a Rickenbacker guitarat the Railroad Tavern at Harrow and Wealdstone. This moment literally changed rock and roll.

Bob Dylan goes electric

Mar 22, 1965

Bob Dylan revives folk music introducing a electic guitar into it.

Marshall debuts 100-watt amp

Apr 30, 1965

Rolling Stones release Can't Get No Satisfaction

May 10, 1965

Funk guitar is invented

Jun 10, 1965

Jimmy Nolen invents funk guitar on James Brown's Papa's Got a Brand New Bag

B.B. King releases 'Live at the Regal'

Nov 21, 1965

This album is considered the greatest live blues recording of all time.

The Byrds release 'Eight Miles High'

Mar 14, 1966

This album was banned on the radio for it's refrences to drugs. It also uses a electric 12-string guitar to invent 'jangle' tone.

John Mayall releasses 'Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton'

Jul 22, 1966

People in London started to graffitti 'Clapton is God' throughout London.

Jimi Hendrix releases 'Are You Experianced?'

May 12, 1967

This album raises the bar for guitarist everywhere.

Jimi Hendrix plays at the Monterey Pop Festival

Jun 18, 1967

To put the period on the performance, Jimi Hendrix lights his guitar on fire, smashes it to pieces, and then throwes the pieces into the audience. This highly increased his popularity.

Vox introduces the wah-wah pedal

Nov 10, 1967

Kustom introduces 'solid-state' amplifiers

Dec 5, 1967

Mason Williams 'Classical Gas' reaches #` on the charts.

Feb 13, 1968

This is the only time a guitar intrumental has done this.

Electro Harmonix debuts the LPB-1

Oct 21, 1968

This pedal provides gain by clipping the signal resulting in a raw distorted sound full of sustain and harmonics.

Led Zeppelin debuts

Jan 12, 1969

Jimmy Page's multiple styles (folk, metal, blues, psychdelia, punk) made this album one of the best in rock.

John Mclaughlin records with Miles Davis

Feb 15, 1969

With this fusion is born.

Santana is released

Mar 8, 1969

Carlos Santana basically made the Latin rock genre with this release.

Jimi Hendrix Plays The Star Spangled banner at the Woodstock Festival

Aug 18, 1969

Black Sabbath is released

Feb 13, 1970

This gives birth to heavy metal and it's satanic mythos

Ovation introduces piezo acoustic/electric pickups

Oct 10, 1970

Allman Brotheres release 'At Fillmore East'

Jul 6, 1971

In this album Duane Allman proved that he was a great improvisor and electric guitar player.

Deep Purple releases 'Smoke on the Water'

Mar 25, 1972

This becomes one of the most recognizable guitar riffs ever.

Frippertronics is released

Sep 1, 1973

Robert Fripp effectively uses loop effects to create massve walls of sound on this album.

Jeff Beck releases 'Blow by Blow'

Mar 29, 1975

This albuum amazed guitarist because of Jeff Beck's virtuosity and fusion style harmonic complexity

KISS releases 'Alive'

Sep 10, 1975

This album was marketed toward youth, and they go absolutly wild for KISS guitars, make-up, costumes, and wild stage antics.

'Frampton Come Alive' Is released

Jan 6, 1976

The way he was able to make his guitar 'talk' with the use of voice box effects became really popular.

The Ramones ivade England

Jul 4, 1976

Punk music rises to popularity with it's speed, volume, stripped down aesthetic, short songs, and anti establishment lyrics.

Ai Di Meolas 'Land of the Midnight Sun' is released

Oct 25, 1976

This album raised the bar on technical virtuosity for guitar players.

The first Van Halen album is released

Feb 10, 1978

This album raised the bar again for guitarist. Guitarist haven't felt the bar raised since Jimi Hendrix.

Paul Reed Smith builds the golden eagle guitar

Jul 13, 1980

This raised the standard on quality parts in the guitar building industry.

U2 releases 'Boy'

Oct 20, 1980

This album takes guitar effects and production values to new heights.

John Lennon is Assassinated

Dec 8, 1980

This caused people to mourne for days after his death. Not even Elvis had the impact of The Beatles

MTV debuts

Aug 1, 1981

New shred guitar style is broadcasted into peoples living rooms by music videos.

Randy Rhoads dies in a plane crash

Mar 19, 1982

After his death he became known as a heavy metal icon to aspiring shredders

Stevie Ray Vaughn's 'Texas Blues' takes guitarist by storm

Jun 13, 1983

Yngwie Malmsteen releases 'Rising Force'

Mar 5, 1984

This album takes neo-classical technique to a whole new level.

Satriani releases 'Surfing with the Alien'

Oct 15, 1987

This album becomes the best selling guitar intrumental record of the decade.

The internet is born

Aug 6, 1990

The music industry will suffer but the average guitarist will be able to get a lot of exposure through youtube and through free education.

Stevie Ray Vaughn dies in a helicopter crash

Aug 27, 1991

Thanks to him the blues continued on.

Nirvana kills hair metal

Sep 24, 1991

Jennifer Batton rocks Super Bowl XXVII

Jan 31, 1993

White Stripes release 'White Blood Cells'

Jul 3, 2001

This album made raw primal rock solos become popular again.

Guitar Hero debuts

Nov 8, 2005

This game brought back classic rock and made it popular again.