What Do You Think Is The Most Influential Guitar Song Ever Recorded?

[Robin Nahum]

According to Tom Wheeler's book "American Guitars", there were two definite spikes in Gibson electric guitar production during the 60's-70's era. For statistical purposes I'm only considering Gibson's two most popular models of the era, the SG and the LP, and within those numbers only using the single highest shipping total of the specific model of each guitar.

 

1970

SG Standard 3509

LP Standard 5048

TOTAL 1970 = 8607 (1969 = 6105)

 

1973

SG Standard 3009

LP Deluxe 10,482

TOTAL 1973 = 13,491 (1972 = 6203)

 

So to me the scientific question is what happened shorty prior to those years for Gibson to feel the need for massive increases in production, and theoretically, sales.

 

Since the production numbers for 1973 are even much greater than the numbers for 1970, I would have to say that something happened, or was happening, in Rock & Roll music that caused more than 13,000 of us to go out and buy 1973 Les Paul and SG model guitars.

 

So get out your old vinyl and CD reissues and start looking for original copyright dates (most CD's have both the original release copyright date, and the reissue/remastered dates). There were a bunch of incredible albums released during the early 70's, and I would say sales figures alone during that time would answer this question unarguably.

 

Anybody up for a little research? I have a feeling I know what the sales figures would show.

 

Hi Larry,

 

A few thoughts.

 

These are just Gibson sales. You would probably also need to check out Fender sales to get a fuller picture. One thing I observed in a BBC series called the History of Rock and Roll (or something like that) was the move from Fender to Gibson from say 1963 to the end of the 60s. At the start of the period, pretty much everybody is playing Teles. By the end, pretty much everybody is playing Les Pauls. My understanding is that the "Beano" album had a lot to do with this - folks heard the "fat" sound and liked it.

 

But assuming there was a general growth in sales, a couple of ideas come to mind.

 

Playing a guitar became a more popular activity? Why?

 

Well, maybe one reason is that people "loosened up" in this period and playing guitar became more socially acceptable. Maybe there was also increased affluence and guitars became more affordable. And maybe there was more leaisure time.

 

Maybe another factor is the change in the way that pop/rock music was created; it became a more accessible process. In the early 60s, music was written by specialists like Carole King and Jerry Goffin and performed by specialists like the Beach Boys - with the recording work being done by yet other specialists like Barney Kessel and Carol Kaye - and the Funk Brothers to name a few. By the end of the 60s with the influence of the Beatles and Simon and Garfunkel, people started to write and perform their own music - both live and in the studio.

 

Oh, the most influential guitar song? Well it depends on your genre. I'd also give a nod to "Dust my Broom" but I would have thought that Charlie Christian's playing did a lot to transform the guitar into a melody instrument and that this was pretty influential - although I would also allow that the development of the pickup and amp were key enablers.

 

RN

[Mr. Natural]

Before Chuck Berry and Elvis, Rock and Roll music seemed to be as much piano and saxophone music as it was guitar music.

 

I think "Johnny B. Goode" is a defendable choice for "The Most Influential...."

[cookieman15061]

OK, this is nothing but a "he said, she said" thread, and you're all pretty. Allow me to throw a little statistical mathematics into the pot.

 

According to Tom Wheeler's book "American Guitars", there were two definite spikes in Gibson electric guitar production during the 60's-70's era. For statistical purposes I'm only considering Gibson's two most popular models of the era, the SG and the LP, and within those numbers only using the single highest shipping total of the specific model of each guitar.

 

1970

SG Standard 3509

LP Standard 5048

TOTAL 1970 = 8607 (1969 = 6105)

 

1973

SG Standard 3009

LP Deluxe 10,482

TOTAL 1973 = 13,491 (1972 = 6203)

 

So to me the scientific question is what happened shorty prior to those years for Gibson to feel the need for massive increases in production, and theoretically, sales.

 

Since the production numbers for 1973 are even much greater than the numbers for 1970, I would have to say that something happened, or was happening, in Rock & Roll music that caused more than 13,000 of us to go out and buy 1973 Les Paul and SG model guitars.

 

So get out your old vinyl and CD reissues and start looking for original copyright dates (most CD's have both the original release copyright date, and the reissue/remastered dates). There were a bunch of incredible albums released during the early 70's, and I would say sales figures alone during that time would answer this question unarguably.

 

Anybody up for a little research? I have a feeling I know what the sales figures would show.

 

What you need to do is look up the spike in sales for all guitars, bass and drums in 1964 after the Beatles were on Sullivan.

 

Gretsch, Rickenbacker and Ludwig could not keep up with the demand even after hiring more employees and adding round the clock shifts.

[surfpup]

I think this one probably influenced a few folks too...

 

[milod]

I don't think it's just "electric."

 

Don't forget that the folkie thing also was going full-bore at the time.

 

Personally I think that several factors enter here.

 

1. Economics: The early 60s are around 20 years after WWII and the WWII generation was doing pretty well economically and their kids were doing pretty well because of it. That meant there was more cash available for stuff such as guitars and those new-fangled color televisions.

 

2. Television: TV was playing pop music which increasingly was guitar centered in small combos. That's true whether more pop-folk oriented or that new "rock and roll" stuff. <grin> Everybody finally had a TV, several radios and an amplified record player. Big record companies were pumping out rock combo and folk records like popcorn.

 

3. The beginnings of a counterculture were there. The guitar, the anti-establishment use of it a la Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger came through in rock as well as among the folkies. Rock increasingly went from being a wilder segment of pop music to being counterculture - or at least as counter as living at home in high school would allow.

 

4. Postwar manufacturing and trade: We had increasingly a boom in postwar manufacturing capacity not only in the US but in Europe and Asia. The guitar could be manufactured with relatively simple tooling anywhere; woods were coming available from a shrinking world and nobody worried yet about saving trees, but more about saving starving babies who got to eat thanks to sale of trees. The guitar fit the lifestyle of young people regardless of politics.

 

5. Increasing music venues: The economy brought more competition among saloons in an era when you could drink twice what you legally can drive with. Live music brought 'em in. Under age folks could go to a coffeehouse where "coffee" was the same price as booze, but it made for a pretty okay date.

 

6. New technology: I know it's apparently currently popular to badmouth Gibson's efforts at using latest technology, but don't forget that the electric guitar and amplifier were relatively new and prices were just getting in line for kids involved in thinking they could be stars - or at least make enough money for their guitar habit, get some girls interested in a non-athlete and have their egos boosted. So the new tech was embraced 'stedda badmouthed.

 

So...

 

m

[shaved_ape]

See I thought the question was what was the most influential Guitar song as in rock and roll.

 

I agree about the beatles and rolling stones (love the stones though), to be honest I can't stand the beatles, I may be one of the only people on the planet that hasn't listened to one of their albums in it's entirety, and not feel guilty about it.

 

So as far as EVER?!?...

 

I would think it's a matter of opinion and I am trying to think of songs that kick started the guitar riff as we know it.

 

This is a good thread, sort of like asking what came first, the chicken or the egg.

 

This one probably doesn't matter in this timeline, but this song still gives me a sense of eerieness, one that I hope will never die.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1st_9KudWB0

 

I think what counts as a riff, is a track that lots of people try to learn to play when they first start playing guitar or years after.

 

I loved trying to learn to play this song when I was a kid.

 

Regardless if it counts in this discussion, I just think it's a cool slide riff.

[zigzag]

 

Arthur Smith....'Guitar Boogie'

 

 

Arthur Smith is from my neck of the woods, around the Piedmont, NC area. Also credited with writing "Dueling Banjos." Close to Doc Watson territory.

[jaxson50]

Songs featuring guitar was no new when rock finally discovered the guitar blues artist had been banging the six string box for years...they never got air time..The first recognized "rock" song was Rocket 88 recorded on March 3-5 1951 by Jackie Brenston and the Delta Cats featuring Ike Turner at Sam Phillips studios, but it featured saxophone solos, not guitar. But in June of 1951 Bill Haley and the Saddlemen covered Rocket 88 featuring a guitar solo, Haley's version was a hit in the North East..

That was in fact the first "rock" record featuring a guitar solo..But in reality guitar solos had been a part of Country & Western, Honky Tonk and Blues for years.

It was when those three music forms were blended that rock was born..and if you were around in the '50s you know that saxophone played a large roll, I'd say as large a roll as guitar up until Chuck Berry, Carl Perkins and Duane Eddy.

[cookieman15061]

It was when those three music forms were blended that rock was born..and if you were around in the '50s you know that saxophone played a large roll, I'd say as large a roll as guitar up until Chuck Berry, Carl Perkins and Duane Eddy.

 

I guess I was doomed to be a guitar player because the first time I saw film of Elvis and everyone's eyes were on him I was mesmerized by Mr. Scotty Moore and the riffing he was doing behind the King.

 

 

His fingerprints are all over early rock guitar.

[Versatile]

It just occured to me the huge innovation and influence of Charlie Christian, possibly the first high profile electric guitarist

The first guitarist to be heard above the saxes/brass in a jazz band

Probably inspiring millions to explore the guitar's potential in subsequent years.....

 

 

 

[Versatile]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x52x5hjpD5k

 

 

 

Dig this perhaps <_<

 

 

[ksiegel]

I think the first "guitar" piece I really remember was Peter, Paul, and Mary's "A-Soalin'"; but then, I was born in 1957.

 

The first "electric" pieces I really remember with great clarity are "Wipe Out" by the Surfaris, "Apache" (can't recall the artist), and The Ventures.

 

 

I'm pretty sure that the Beatles and Buffalo Springfield were in that era, because I remember all of the "Big Kids" (10 years older than me) coming over to have my mom play records out on the front porch on the Portable Stereo Record Player.

(especially the West Side Story and Bye Bye Birdie soundtracks, and Four Seasons singles..)

 

Of course, in retrospect, I also remember that I was listening to Les Paul and Mary Ford records around the same time...

[jaxson50]

V. I love the clip of Christian..

Here is a clip of Bo Diddley from 1955

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgBbmuD_LQw

[milod]

ksiegel

 

Asoalin isn't that hard to play. I'd like to know where they got the idea, though.

 

..... Apache - depends on whether you were in the UK (I think it was the Shadows) or the US where a guy on the European continent Jorgen Ingmann was the picker.

 

Personal opinion here only, but... I think the economics of the small combo plus the post WWII technology and parts supplies of electronics to make amps and mikes affordable made the electric guitar a "natural" for the time. Exactly where and how that music might have gone may have been up to question, but not the heavy use of the electric guitar in combos. Heck, it could sound almost like a sax or clarinet or trumpet... and could solo along those lines regardless. It can chord comp like a piano or solo like a horn.

 

So... Nothing at all against Charlie Christian or a number of late 40s and early-mid 1950s players regardless of style, I think the separation of "Rock" from the generalized "pop" movement in the late 1950s made the real difference. Although they're now "rock" icons, let's face it, a lotta Beatles stuff qualifies better with 50s pop heard through better sound reproduction than with what might be termed "rock." Not all, certainly, but a lot. "Hide your love away" ain't exactly a 4/4 rock tune.

 

Ditto also with Les Paul. He was ahead of the pack in pop but... still pop.

 

So... although a lot of heavily "produced" pieces in the late 50s and early 60s still were considered "rock," I personally tend to look more toward the combo that makes heavy use of the guitar. I do wonder on occasion what might have been had Jerry Lee Lewis not become a "bad boy" whether the piano might not have retained greater popularity. Still, the darned things were too heavy to carry at the time.

 

m

[lespaulj45]

"It hurts me too"-google it and look at the list of players who have covered this song since the '30's

however,Elmore James is my favorite!

[S t e v e]

imo ;)

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwK22mMlyXE