the greatest moment in guitar playing history?

pippy · September 12, 2011

Like milod's, my nomination isn't as 'sexy' as most but when Les Paul used that spare head on his Ampex the result was what he called 'The New Sound' and we all know as multitracking.

P.

cam011235 · September 12, 2011

I tend to agree EVH eruption changed contemporary guitar and was the link to those greats like vai gilbert petrucci etc..i still remember when i was a young pup it just blew me away i was like WTF?? now i see people play it on youtube ..still an amazing piece so well constructed [thumbup]

Searcy · September 12, 2011

Like milod's, my nomination isn't as 'sexy' as most but when Les Paul used that spare head on his Ampex the result was what he called 'The New Sound' and we all know as multitracking.

P.

That's a good one.

Searcy · September 12, 2011

How about this?

Ernest McLean becomes the worlds first rock & roll guitarist after playing with Fats Domino on his first hit , “The Fat Man” in 1949.

bonzoboy · September 12, 2011

To me there were 3 guitar moments that turned the guitar world on its ear and they all involved the same guitarist. The first was the orgasmic cataclysmic ending of Jimi's Monterey set,heralding his triumphant return to U.S. soil. Next was Woodstock with his emotional yet technically brilliant rendition of the Star Spangled Banner.The third was his New Year's Eve Concert at the Fillmore East with his brilliant anti-war dirge Machine Gun.There are parts of this performance where you can close your eyes and picture jets screaming over the napalm devastated forests of the Mai Kong Delta and the winds blowing through the bombed out ruins of what were once villages.

Jimi's playing transcended that of all others and took guitar to another level that no one before or since has been able to.There was something about his music that could just reach in and touch your soul.

SG FAN · September 12, 2011

Any one of these:

This x1000!! But you left off "Never Say Die". Yeah, I'm a little different :)

MojoRedFoot · September 12, 2011

Didn't read any comments but I am going to say the greatest moment in guitar playing history happened on November 6th, 1966 in Illinios.

S t e v e · September 12, 2011

Didn't read any comments but I am going to say the greatest moment in guitar playing history happened on November 6th, 1966 in Illinios.

hetfield was born?

Kimbabig · September 12, 2011

Didn't read any comments but I am going to say the greatest moment in guitar playing history happened on November 6th, 1966 in Illinios.

I'll say Paul Gilbert, he was from Carbondale, Illinois.

FirstMeasure · September 12, 2011

Here's a pretty important moment in Guitar History. After Solo Flight everyone had to have a lead guitar in the Band, and Charlie Christian undoubtedly influenced Generations of Swing, Jazz, Blues and Rock guitarists including Wes Montgomery, T-Bone Walker, Kenny Burrell, George Benson, Jimi Hendrix, SRV and countless others. Doesn't get much earlier or more influential than that! (UFO? [omg] :lol: [lol] )

grampa · September 12, 2011

Here's a pretty important moment in Guitar History. After Solo Flight everyone had to have a lead guitar in the Band, and Charlie Christian undoubtedly influenced Generations of Swing, Jazz, Blues and Rock guitarists including Wes Montgomery, T-Bone Walker, Kenny Burrell, George Benson, Jimi Hendrix, SRV and countless others. Doesn't get much earlier or more influential than that! (UFO? :lol: )

That may be it.

FirstMeasure · September 12, 2011

That may be it.

And it's still a Modern Sounding lead to my Ears. Always loved Solo Flight [thumbup]

Searcy · September 12, 2011

Here's a pretty important moment in Guitar History. After Solo Flight everyone had to have a lead guitar in the Band, and Charlie Christian undoubtedly influenced Generations of Swing, Jazz, Blues and Rock guitarists including Wes Montgomery, T-Bone Walker, Kenny Burrell, George Benson, Jimi Hendrix, SRV and countless others. Doesn't get much earlier or more influential than that! (UFO? :lol: )

I never said UFO were early or influential.

grampa · September 13, 2011

I never said UFO were early or influential.

I had to Google UFO to find out who they were and even then I didn't know much. But maybe it's just me and my old age.

milod · September 13, 2011

Nothing against Charlie Christian at all, but even back then it was not "new" to have lead guitar parts. What was new was doing it with a big band that was far louder just with its instrumentation than had allowed a practical lead guitar part.

Django was doing it in a small combo jazz situation and that was known even over here. Country string bands had been having guitar leads for ages. All unamplified.

We can't forget that we're talking about a 20-year time period of great transition here between 1920 and 1940. If you were living that era, you'd see new technology and wonder where it was going and whether it would catch on - much as we argue on occasions over cloud computing and Mac OS vs PC, etc., etc.

We're going from an era of even recordings being operated without electricity at all, let alone amplification, to an era when bands were much bigger and so loud that the singer hadda go to a microphone with that new-fangled electric tube stuff to be heard.

Radios in that time period evolved to have speakers instead of earphones if they were in a town and if they had electricity. The vacuum tube didn't arrive as a commercial thing until the mid to late 1920s, depending on how you define "commercial."

It was about 1927 before there was a loudspeaker system for the local rodeo, and then only because the president of the US was here. Talkies were coming in by the very late 1920s to replace silent movies, but that was using the very latest technology. Through the 30s we then had a burst of radio station development and people buying amplified radios as well as movies producing such classics as Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz.

Even when I was a kid, we listened to records in school with a wind-up portable record player that had no electronic amplification. You wound it up. Yeah, I'm old, but that should put things into perspective when looking at the time period. The first records I remember were 78 RPM that you could hear without amplification; then the .45s that you could stack and worked in juke boxes. It was a while before the 33 1/3 rpm "LP" entered the market and then stereo? Yeah, it was nice, but gee, the records cost a lot more. <grin>

From the perspective of the time, you might wonder if Charlie were seen as playing a "real" guitar. A lot of people didn't consider the newfangled electrics to be "real" guitars. What the heck, some still don't.

So... I wouldn't say Charlie did anything that new - he just used that new vacuum tube technology and an amplifier with one of those pick-up things on his guitar. <grin> Of course, it didn't hurt at all that he was a heck of a skilled and very talented musician.

m

FirstMeasure · September 13, 2011

Nothing against Charlie Christian at all, but even back then it was not "new" to have lead guitar parts. What was new was doing it with a big band that was far louder just with its instrumentation than had allowed a practical lead guitar part.

Django was doing it in a small combo jazz situation and that was known even over here. Country string bands had been having guitar leads for ages. All unamplified.

We can't forget that we're talking about a 20-year time period of great transition here between 1920 and 1940. If you were living that era, you'd see new technology and wonder where it was going and whether it would catch on - much as we argue on occasions over cloud computing and Mac OS vs PC, etc., etc.

We're going from an era of even recordings being operated without electricity at all, let alone amplification, to an era when bands were much bigger and so loud that the singer hadda go to a microphone with that new-fangled electric tube stuff to be heard.

Radios in that time period evolved to have speakers instead of earphones if they were in a town and if they had electricity. The vacuum tube didn't arrive as a commercial thing until the mid to late 1920s, depending on how you define "commercial."

It was about 1927 before there was a loudspeaker system for the local rodeo, and then only because the president of the US was here. Talkies were coming in by the very late 1920s to replace silent movies, but that was using the very latest technology. Through the 30s we then had a burst of radio station development and people buying amplified radios as well as movies producing such classics as Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz.

Even when I was a kid, we listened to records in school with a wind-up portable record player that had no electronic amplification. You wound it up. Yeah, I'm old, but that should put things into perspective when looking at the time period. The first records I remember were 78 RPM that you could hear without amplification; then the .45s that you could stack and worked in juke boxes. It was a while before the 33 1/3 rpm "LP" entered the market and then stereo? Yeah, it was nice, but gee, the records cost a lot more. <grin>

From the perspective of the time, you might wonder if Charlie were seen as playing a "real" guitar. A lot of people didn't consider the newfangled electrics to be "real" guitars. What the heck, some still don't.

So... I wouldn't say Charlie did anything that new - he just used that new vacuum tube technology and an amplifier with one of those pick-up things on his guitar. <grin> Of course, it didn't hurt at all that he was a heck of a skilled and very talented musician.

m

See, I forgot about Djago. The search for the Moment Django made his historical splash onto the scene is under way.

{edit}I'd still say Solo Flight was the Greatest Moment in Electric Guitar Playing History.

I never said UFO were early or influential.

I thought "Greatest" kind of implied "Influential" at least. "Early" just weighs in favor of any influential moment vying for the title of Greatest (even if it's only in a thread on a guitar forum). I mean "Greatest" is a very definite word, it doesn't leave a lot of room for subjection.

I mean, you can say Rome was the greatest civilization that ever existed, maybe Greece or the Sioux Nation. But you can't say that Calico Ghost Town was once a Thriving Civilization nearly as great as Rome. That's simply not great enough to be considered Greatest. UFO is a good band, perhaps even a Great Band, but Greatest Moment in Guitar Playing History requires some sort of historical significance, or at least some influence.

Even Peter Frampton's Talk Box solo on 7 minute live single that broke the top 40 has more historical significance than UFO's big moment.

cookieman15061 · September 13, 2011

Well the single greatest guitar moment had to be The Beatles on Sullivan.

So many guitars were being sold and orders for guitars given right after their appearance that the major companies (Fender and Gibson but especially Gretsch and Rickenbacker) couldn't keep up with the demand.

The manufactures had never experienced that kind of single influence and sales spike because of a single event.

Even Ludwig put on 2 more shifts to work around the clock but couldn't keep up for the demand for Ringo's drum of choice.

Searcy · September 13, 2011

I thought "Greatest" kind of implied "Influential" at least. "Early" just weighs in favor of any influential moment vying for the title of Greatest (even if it's only in a thread on a guitar forum). I mean "Greatest" is a very definite word, it doesn't leave a lot of room for subjection.

I mean, you can say Rome was the greatest civilization that ever existed, maybe Greece or the Sioux Nation. But you can't say that Calico Ghost Town was once a Thriving Civilization nearly as great as Rome. That's simply not great enough to be considered Greatest. UFO is a good band, perhaps even a Great Band, but Greatest Moment in Guitar Playing History requires some sort of historical significance, or at least some influence.

Even Peter Frampton's Talk Box solo on 7 minute live single that broke the top 40 has more historical significance than UFO's big moment.

Ok, that's your way of interpreting the title of the topic. Another way of interpreting it is on a more personal level which is how I and I believe Steve (the OP) read it. UFO isn't a good band. They are the greatest band in the world. They are this because I say they are. That's all that's necessary. Just as when Steve answered this question Gary Moore is the greatest ever.

Now really... when's the last time you listened to a Charlie Christian record? [biggrin]

pippy · September 13, 2011

See, I forgot about Django. The search for the Moment Django made his historical splash onto the scene is under way...

If you don't mind my helping you out, FM....

According to Django's biographer, Michel Dregni, the first meeting between the pair came about as follows;

Stephane Grapelli was playing with a jazz band led by the pianist Alain Romans. One evening in 1931, when they were playing in a popular Parisian jazz club called "Le Croix de Sud", he was approached by a young man who addressed him (in Grappeli's own words) '..in strange sounding French: "Monsieur Drappelli, I believe? (DR had a problem pronouncing the letter 'G', apparently)". "Yes", I answered, and asked him what I could do for him. Then he told me...that he was a musician, too, and was looking for a violinist who played like me. "And what is your name?" I asked. "Django Reinhardt." '. Django invited Stephane back to the gypsy campsite to jam and SG duly accepted. The pair played all afternoon.

The story really kicks off in the summer of '34, however, when a group led by Louis Vola were waiting to play their set in the Claridge Hotel on the Champs Elysees. Both SG and DR were due to be playing that day. Grappelli broke a string whilst getting ready to go on stage and, unable to hear to tune up properly because the previous band were still on-stage, retreated behind the curtains to get some quiet. There he found DR. This is Grappelli's own account of what happened next; "..I tuned my violin and at the same time improvised a chorus that just passed through my head. This music seemed to impress Django because he took his guitar and accompanied my improvision. We took (to) this mutual game and, every day, when the others left for the bistro during the break...Django and I would find ourselves behind the curtain at the Claridge improvising whatever came to mind."

P.

FirstMeasure · September 13, 2011

Ok, that's your way of interpreting the title of the topic. Another way of interpreting it is on a more personal level which is how I and I believe Steve (the OP) read it. UFO isn't a good band. They are the greatest band in the world. They are this because I say they are. That's all that's necessary. Just as when Steve answered this question Gary Moore is the greatest ever.

Now really... when's the last time you listened to a Charlie Christian record?

Charlie and Benny Goodman hold valued space on my MP3 player, and get played quite often on long drives or after band practice. I also like to subject bar audiences to a little Solo Flight between sets when we have to supply our own Canned Music on the breaks. I usually stick it between Ozzy and ZZ Top.

Back to the OT, if it said "Greatest Moment in Guitar Playing" you could be right about the personal preference issue, but "in History" puts a finer point on the question. It kinda sounds like it's gotta be a historical event, like the event Pippy mentioned. Very historical.

milod · September 13, 2011

Firstmeasure...

Yeah perhaps on "electric guitar history."

And if we wanna get touchy on words, what's a "moment."

I guess personally I see so much of a combination of technology and musicians, changing culture and economics, that it's difficult for me to point at a specific performance.

Heck, the vacuum tube invention itself was huge, and in many ways that affected the guitars we play today.

The invention of the archtop itself is huge or we wouldn't have seen guitar with a big band presence in the 20s and 30s, for example, and then its electrification as we know it now.

Don't forget, either, that there were a number of pre-Beatle television shows, social trends and musical trends that since WWII helped to gear the guitar up as both a rhythm and lead instrument in many styles of music. The big burst actually came in ways before the Beatles, and one might make a case that the foreign imports already were poised to play a role in the death of two American icon guitarmakers, Harmony and Kay.