What IS the Most Important Moment in Electric Guitar History?
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I’ve been mulling this question over for quite a while. After getting input from my favorite folks I’ve finally got it done.
Keith
#Important #Moment #Electric #Guitar #History
Originally posted by UC5OAMxnvhTyc3rjgpY6u8cA at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UidQw8iQYco
![Rig Rundown - Dream Theater [2019]](https://justthetone.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Rig-Rundown-Dream-Theater-2019-390x205.jpg)
I'm shocked at no references to the Les Paul and Mary Ford shows. That completely changed how people thought about playing and recording electric guitar.
Back to the future was technically wrong. Marty McFly couldn’t have possibly played that guitar as it didn’t come out till some years later ????????
No doubt , in my mind that it was Dylan ,at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival , plugging in & going "heretical" 🙂
What IS the Most Important Moment in Electric Guitar History?
What ever comes next…
nirvana
On another tack, it was Ringo who kick started the career of many of us drummers, god bless him.
Duane Eddy.
The Ventures.
Scotty Moore.
The Beatles for me.
Hendrix at Monterey gets my vote. He was the first to crank up that Marshall stack and just shred. Without him, Zepp and Sabbath would have sounded quite a bit different, there'd be no Van Halen, no 80's shred era, no blues based hard rock….
Hey Keith – I hit pause so I could think of some way to answer your question (next moment after EVH), and I came up with… SRV! He almost single-handledly led the blues revival during that period. At the least he ignited it, and then became the leading light with a lot of others to follow. He undouibtedly helped to break bands like Blues Traveler and helped to revive guys like Buddy Guy. Now back to your vid… Ed
not to diminish the very important events that happened prior to this (Danny Cedrone solo on Rock Around the Clock – Beatles on Ed Sullivan – Scotty Moore solo on Heartbreak Hotel -The invention of the Telecaster etc…) However thee most important moment in electric guitar most definitely has to be related to Hendrix – but NOT Monterey or Woodstock. The only answer can be The Bag O’Nails club on Friday November 25, 1966, when Jimi played in front of all the Brit Rock Royalty of the moment. The game changed on that day. All of a sudden every English guitarist knew that they were playing second fiddle to Jimi & have look at the instrument like they never have before
i'd have to say Scotty Moore on Heartbreak Hotel. Not because it was the first great break that Scotty did behind Elvis, but because it was the first Elvis record with RCA.s distribution behind it. George Harrison reportedly fell off his bicycle on hearing it. Paige, Beck, Keith all talk about it being one of, if not the reason that they went and found a guitar.
you have a great channel but yesterday i caught a video of Jeff's video on picking I started playing at 14? but had to stop for 4 years financial reasons but when I started back at age 57 and I lost my touch on picking that video helped I know Jeff is a friend and on your channel a lot but tell him ty it solved my issue btw I seen him in the beginning of this video so I thought I'd mention it I will go to his channel I do subscribe to his but I have family medical issues that take a lot of my time anyway ty and love your channel the history of guitars is awesome ????btw the history of guitar most important to me was Sammy Hagar when I seen him in 79 at the San Jose Civic CALIFORNIA It ROCKED
I'm with Tim and Jeff, although I think I probably bought Jimi Plays Monterey and Van Halen within six months of each other in 1986, so kind of cheating
Mine was listening to Smoke on the Water on a commercial on TV….and later when I first heard Yngwie Malmsteen. But I would say that it is sad that the culture of electric guitar and in general playing music as a teenage dream is fast fading. It is becoming increasingly more difficult finding music instrument shops, rehearsing rooms for bands, clubs to listen to live music and even of course records shops (which were also a place of aggregation of people listening to music and giving each other advices on new bands). Yes, there are social networks like this one, but call me backward, it is not the same thing. You could meet in a rehearsing room earsdropping the band playing and asking one of the musicians to join you in a new band, or the same thing in a music shop. Can you do that on a social network?
Tony Iommi losing his fingertips and down tuning to pioneer Heavy Metal deserves a top 5 spot.
what made me want to pick up a guitar was Ace & his obsession for bionic Les Paul tone.
Another good thought-provoking video, Keith. I agree with The Beatles on Sullivan on 2/9/64. It was for me. Fred Gretsch told me about the following morning, February 10, when the phones blew up at the Gretsch factory in Brooklyn. Everyone calling wanted a guitar like George Harrison was playing. Soon, there was a six-month waiting period and Gretsch was forced to move drum production out of the Gretsch factory into a nearby building so they could ramp up guitar production ASAP. Instrument manufacturers didn't anticipate – and weren't prepared for – the huge shock wave that hit them overnight. The best case of electric guitar "cause and effect" that I'm aware of. Keep up the good work on your "infotaining" video series.
In my life, it was the first time I heard eruption and later, the release of blizzard of oz
For me personally Slash soloing outside the church in the Cold
November Rain made me think that playing guitar was the coolest thing ever.
I'm 35, and MTV wasn't the same for my generation. I saw boy bands on TV as a kid, unfortunately. The first time I saw a musical idol playing a guitar that made it click for me was Blink-182 or Greenday
The Beatles made it possible and started my time with a guitar & Hendrix inspired me to play more than chords.
I thought Al Kooper was on keyboards at Newport?
Django
I think an incredibly important moment was overlooked – The Sex Pistols 1976 Manchester "Gig That Changed The World". Like the Beatles, that show convinced so many remarkable artists to pick up a guitar. That show was entirely responsible for the Second British Invasion (every band I listened to in college). It's one of those "I swear I was there" shows. The importance of The Pistol's '76 Manchester show can't be overestimated. The NME named it as the most important gig of all time. You wouldn't have been referencing Kurt Cobain without the Pistols.
Les Paul listening to Art Tatum play piano
Before watching the video, I will say when Jimi Hendrix broke onto the scene. Purple Haze was so noteworthy that even I as a 5-year-old could tell it was different and went around singing it.
After watching. Yeah, the Beatles on Sullivan. There is always that, but it's more of a cultural phenomenon and the Beatles were more about songwriting and not being standout musicians. (Yes they were excellent musicians but they each had their parts to play in a great BAND.) Hendrix was more about performance and redefining what the electric guitar could do.
Electric guitar history and no mention of Chet Atkins. He was responsible for many developments in the electric guitar. Chet also in influenced many pop guitar players including George Harrison and Mark Knopfler.
Of course The Beatles. But! The day I heard Eddy’s Eruption well, guitar would never be the same after
When Muddy and band went to England and plugged in.
VH1
Easy…the 1st note of Eruption. There’s only two who ever moved the bar…..Jimi and Eddie. Eddie put that bar into the stratosphere.
The 3 moments that moved me for sure was :
1- the opening to Johny B.Goode
2- Brian May’s “we will rock you” solo
3- Van Halen 1 album ????
Honorable Mention – Nuno – RISE solo
The invention of the amplifier
Although I agree that it all started with the Beatles, I believe more people were inspired to pick up a guitar by Black Sabbath. They inspired an entire genre for decades to come.
Probably not a major moment for most, but I remember where I was when I heard Vernon Reid’s solo on “Cult of Personality.” I remember asking my friend Nate “What did I just hear?”, and rewinding the tape and listening to it again.