December 13th, 2011 9:34 pm
When you think of electric guitars, you envision rock and roll, heavy metal, and screaming punk bands. These genres depend to a great extent on the amplification and special effects that this sort of guitar provides. It is natural to assume that the inventor of electric guitar would be a rock and roller or a metal head, but an improbable player in the game, jazz, actually contributed to a great extent to the development of the progressed day electric guitar.
Early Concepts
The 1930′s and 1940′s, the big band era was in full swing. Jazz orchestras were increasing in size, and the powerful bass segmentations were plainly drowning out guitarists, who were an integral portion of the ensemble. Inventors and guitar manufacturers experimented with attaching microphones to guitars, but the excess noise invented by the player’s hands and the rest of the body were distracting and not delighting to the ears. Bandleaders and guitarists saw a pressing need to amplify the sounds of the guitar in order to make it a more evident presence on the bandstand.
Early Hollow Electrics
Just one person can not be credited as the inventor of electric guitar, and the credit is consequently in general bestowed upon the entire genre of jazz, which devised a need and practical use for it. The primary electric guitars were fundamentally designed from hollow acoustic guitar bodies and featured an electromagnetic transducer attachment. A documented performance using an electric guitar took place in 1932, the earliest aspect of anything of it is kind. A recording would be made just six years later in 1938 featuring guitarist George Barnes, and 15 days after Barnes’ recording was made, young Eddie Durham made another that went on to become famous.
Early Solid Body Electrics
The more commonly known solid body electric guitar started to appear in 1931. It is rumored that a version of it may have been available in stores in the early 1930′s, but the instrument did not take off with outstanding success. Guitar giant Fender became the introductory company to commercially fabricate an electric guitar and trade it with a great deal of success.
Early Electric Guitarists
Charlie Christian is often times heralded as the very basi unfeigned electric guitarist. He devised a good deal of proficiencies and best exercises for the instrument, and he employed them in his career as a jazz guitarist. His work contributed to the transition of jazz from the big band era into cool jazz, bebop, and progressed styles. The foundation he laid made it possible for persons like Les Paul, B.B. King, and Jimi Hendrix to transform musical styles and create new avenues for the electric guitar.
Since it is early concepts, the electric guitar has gone on to penetrate all genres of music. Elements from the electric guitar are now applied to amplify acoustic electric instruments as well, such as violins, classical guitars, and mandolins. A great number of particular effects and distortions may add to the diverse offerings that electronics may give musicians, and it is all thanks to jazz – the improbable inventor of electric guitars.
Tags: charlie christian, inventor of electric guitar, jazz orchestras, solid body