(LOOTPRESS) – There are few sounds in this world as captivating as that of an electric guitar. What’s more, “the sound of an electric guitar” can refer to a million different things. Entire universes lie along that neck, many of which are still waiting to be discovered.
To hear both Chuck Berry and B.B. King play a Gibson ES-335, the uninitiated listener may find it hard to believe that the two axe-slingers were playing the same instrument at all, let alone the same model.
Aside from general style, model, and applicable effects – an entire other discussion which won’t be touched upon here – there is also the method of attack to consider.
While most electric guitarists prefer to play with some type of pick,there are several variations which can be implemented even here, such as U2 guitarist The Edge’s unique approach to flat packing which involves striking the strings with the wider end of the pick, as wells as the use of finger and thumb picks which combines fingerpicking and flat picking in a versatile style often incorporated in – generally acoustic – bluegrass music.
Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham is notable for the exclusive use of fingerpicking in his playing, having for years been able to evoke soaring tones from his instrument without using a pick at all.
Furthermore, to hear the way players like Duane Allman, Ron Wood, and Howlin’ Wolf could make the strings practically sing with the glissando effect brought about by use of a slide can make for an otherworldly listening experience.
The versatility of the guitar as a tool is not limited by design, or even by the twelve-tone serialism around nearly all Western music is constructed.
Consider “The End,” the penultimate track of The Beatles’ landmark 1969 album Abbey Road. The tune famously is the only one featuring a solo section from all four Beatles – drummer Ringo Starr, who was notoriously averse to solos, recorded his drum track with instrumental accompaniment which was later turned down in the mix to give the illusion of a drum solo.
The remaining three Beatles each traded alternating solo bits on guitar, and these sections have been noted by listeners as being indicative of the distinct playing styles of each musician.
Despite the three developing their instrumental abilities by listening to and learning much of the same 50s rock & roll material, the shift in styles when each player begins a part during the solo sections of “The End” is clearly discernible, despite the rotation occurring in fleeting, 2-bar sequences.
Paul McCartney’s biting, trebly leads are offset by George Harrison’s fluid, tasteful licks and John Lennon’s sputtering, rhythm-based stabs. But writer Jonathan Gould describes the exchanges perhaps most succinctly, explaining,
“Paul opens with a characteristically fluid and melodically balanced line that sounds a high A before snaking an octave down the scale; George responds by soaring to an even higher D and sustaining it for half a bar before descending in syncopated pairs of 16th notes; John then picks upon the pattern of George’s 16ths with a series of choppy thirds that hammer relentlessly on the second and flattened seventh degrees of the scale.”
Gould notes the progression of the rotation, continuing,
“The second time through, Paul answers John’s bluesy flattened 7ths with bluesy minor thirds and then proceeds to echo George’s earlier line, spiraling up to that same high D; George responds with some minor thirds of his own, while mimicking the choppy rhythm of John’s part; John then drops two octaves to unleash a growling single-note line. On this final two-bar solo, Paul plays almost nothing but minor thirds and flattened sevenths in a herky-jerky rhythm that ends with a sudden plunge to a low A; George then reaches for the stars with a steeply ascending line that is pitched an octave above any notes heard so far; and John finishes with a string of insistent and heavily distorted 4ths, phrased in triplets, that drag behind the beat and grate against the background harmony.”
This exploration of the guitar’s versatility is something of a controlled burn, conducted only within the relatively safe confines of the rock vernacular which had been established throughout the 50s and 60s.
As such, it doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of the levels to which innovators of the instrument such as Tom Morello, Steve Vai, Eddie Van Halen, and so many others would take the sonic capabilities of the six-string not all that long afterward.
Even the heavily blues-influenced work of Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour opened entire musical realms based upon the visceral, atmospheric quality of his approach to playing.
From the rambling, borderline-violent six-string musings of Neil Young and the contemplative minimalism of Tony Iommi, to the contrapuntal open-tuning genius of Keith Richards’ playing, much of the most influential guitar-work to emerge from rock’s classic area encapsulated but an iota of the endless possibilities for creative exploration made available through the electric guitar.
Whether it be fat, restrained leads and sophisticated chords that strike your fancy, or blistering punk music – or anything in between – there are few avenues of expression which cannot be accessed by way of the electric guitar; and what’s more, there are few sounds sweeter.
Additional LOOTPRESS music commentary can be found here.
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December 05, 2022 at 12:56AM
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The Sweet Sound of Electric Guitar - Lootpress
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