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Guitar Research Paper

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Guitars have a long history, some types even dating back to 1500 B.C.! The modern guitar has been played for many years, as far back as the 1920s to 1940s era of jazz. Guitars have also influenced many genres around the world. Guitars have been a major part of popular music for many decades. Guitars have many models, in all different shapes, sizes, and colors. Some of the oldest guitar-like instruments were the bowl harp and tanbur. Bowl harps were made of tortoise shells or calabashes as resonators, or amplifiers, for their hollow shape. The neck was made of a bent stick, with strings made of gut or silk. The tanbur was “a long-necked string instrument with a small egg or pear shaped body, with an arched or rounded back, usually with a soundboard …show more content…

Before the 1920s, guitar music as more on the classical side with Spanish guitarists like Fernando Sor and Francisco Tárrega. A new music style was born from spiritual music and old slave songs to jazz and blues, which changed guitar music forever. During the 1920s, Kansas City bands played a musical style with a 4 even ground beat. Traditional New Orleans jazz had a 2 ground beat. This has been believed to have paved the way for modern jazz. Also in the 20s, Kansas City became the wildest city in America, which was perfect for jazz. Charley Patton, or the “Father of Delta Blues”, “channeled the feelings and sounds of slave songs and spirituals into a new art form: the Blues.” (History of Modern Guitar Playing”). In the 1930s, swing music started taking a new meaning and began to form into its permanent form. Also Jean “Django” Reinhardt invented “hot” jazz techniques and influenced many bands of many different genres, including art-rock. In the 1940s, Woody Guthrie brought more of a folk sound to blues and jazz. Also, T-Bone Walker became the 1st artist to record blue on the electric guitar. In the 1950s, Les Paul signed with Gibson guitars. Although he was a guitarist, he was remembered more for his guitar model with Gibson: the Gibson Les Paul. The guitar was the 1st solid-body electric guitar that was for the to the public. The model was used by the iconic Keith Richards and Eric Clapton. Also, Scotty Moore rewrote the role of the lead guitarist of a band by placing it forward and in front of the bass and drum rhythm. B.B. King introduced blues to style and fluidity and practically invented the guitar solo. Chuck Berry was one of the very first people to combine blues styles with rock and roll styles, bringing a large audience. Elvis was a huge icon in the 50s. His guitar style added to the rock and roll image he was creating for himself. Like Elvis, Jimi Hendrix was n icon in the 60s and still is today.

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