GUITAR BANDS & ARTISTS

Although many people in the 1950s thought that rock and roll would be a passing fad, by the 1960s it was clear that this music was firmly rooted in American culture. And electric guitarists had become the superstars of rock. Live performances in large halls and open-air concerts increased the demand for greater volume and showmanship. Popular groups like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones generated an international following that verged on the hysterical.

By then, most rock guitarists were no longer aiming to achieve clean, cutting sounds on the electric guitar. They began to experiment, and new sounds and textures, like distortion and feedback, became part of the guitarist's language. Jimi Hendrix was rock's great master of manipulated sound. By using techniques such as maneuvering the guitar's tremolo arm and playing close to the amplifier, Hendrix achieved spectacular effects.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s guitarists continued experimenting. Their new musical vocabulary emphasized loud, raunchy power chords, flashy solos, and overall volume, becoming known as heavy metal. Eddie Van Halen experimented with sounds like "dive bombing," using the tremolo arm to drive the guitar's lowest note even lower. Hendrix had done this and frequently forced the instrument out of tune as a result. But by the mid-1980s, inventor Floyd Rose had improved solid-body guitar tremolo systems, making it possible to "dive bomb" repeatedly.

from the story of the commercial success of the electric guitar