Most influential electric guitarist

[Chankgeez]

In light of a number of factors, prime among them being some of Les Paul's musical equipments bringing almost $5,000,000 at auction recently:

Which guitarist has singlehandedly, in your opinion, influenced the development of the electric guitar the most?

(Don't be afraid to tell me what you really mean.)

[snipelfritz]

Gilmour.

And that's what I really mean.

[dubkitty]

Charlie Christian. if he hadn't more or less popularized the whole idea of playing lead in a jazz ensemble with a pickup with Benny Goodman, the height of our ambition today would be sitting in the back row of the band spanking out chords on a Super 400. without a mic.

Les Paul certainly has to be a prime candidate given the amount of influence he had on the genesis of the solid-body guitar, guitar-based electronics, multitrack recording, and his eponymous signature lines of guitars which are almost image macros for "electric guitar." however, he's got to share some of the credit for the solidbody with Leo Fender and the Fullerton crew as well as Paul Bigsby of vibrato tailpiece fame, who was building custom solidbodies for country players in the late 40s. but the "first" thing is a wild goose chase, anyway...a recent Smithsonian documentary turned up a commercially-produced solidbody from the 1930s.

Jerry Garcia, the Grateful Dead, and their crew played a huge and very underappreciated role in turning live music and guitar electronics from the primitive state of the late 60s to the high-fidelity megasystems of the 80s and 90s...in fact, entire companies were founded on the back of the Dead's quest for sound, including Alembic, Bag End, and Meyer Sound. they were among the first to gut their guitars' wiring and replace everything with mil-spec pots; through their collaboration with Alembic, Garcia and especially Phil Lesh were early adopters of active onboard electronic systems of fiendish complexity; and in 1973-74 they assembled what is still regarded by some as the best-sounding stadium system ever toured, featuring separate amplification and stacks for each instrument (no biamping whatsoever) and totally eliminating crossover distortion. this "Wall of Sound" system was also the genesis of the high-quality compact rectangular wooden modular speaker cabinets we see today, which replaced the Voice Of The Theatre-style PA cabs as soon as people could drop them.

and then, of course, there's Jimi Hendrix. but Hendrix IMO didn't influence the development of the guitar. he played a Strat straight off the shelf; Strats were pretty much the same after he died, and are still pretty much the same today. Q.E.D. Jimi influenced the WAY the guitar is played tremendously, but that's a different thing entirely.

[snipelfritz]

Charlie Christian. if he hadn't more or less popularized the whole idea of playing lead in a jazz ensemble with a pickup with Benny Goodman, the height of our ambition today would be sitting in the back row of the band spanking out chords on a Super 400. without a mic.

Les Paul certainly has to be a prime candidate given the amount of influence he had on the genesis of the solid-body guitar, guitar-based electronics, multitrack recording, and his eponymous signature lines of guitars which are almost image macros for "electric guitar." however, he's got to share some of the credit for the solidbody with Leo Fender and the Fullerton crew as well as Paul Bigsby of vibrato tailpiece fame, who was building custom solidbodies for country players in the late 40s. but the "first" thing is a wild goose chase, anyway...a recent Smithsonian documentary turned up a commercially-produced solidbody from the 1930s.

Jerry Garcia, the Grateful Dead, and their crew played a huge and very underappreciated role in turning live music and guitar electronics from the primitive state of the late 60s to the high-fidelity megasystems of the 80s and 90s...in fact, entire companies were founded on the back of the Dead's quest for sound, including Alembic, Bag End, and Meyer Sound. they were among the first to gut their guitars' wiring and replace everything with mil-spec pots; through their collaboration with Alembic, Garcia and especially Phil Lesh were early adopters of active onboard electronic systems of fiendish complexity; and in 1973-74 they assembled what is still regarded by some as the best-sounding stadium system ever toured, featuring separate amplification and stacks for each instrument (no biamping whatsoever) and totally eliminating crossover distortion. this "Wall of Sound" system was also the genesis of the high-quality compact rectangular wooden modular speaker cabinets we see today, which replaced the Voice Of The Theatre-style PA cabs as soon as people could drop them.

and then, of course, there's Jimi Hendrix. but Hendrix IMO didn't influence the development of the guitar. he played a Strat straight off the shelf; Strats were pretty much the same after he died, and are still pretty much the same today. Q.E.D. Jimi influenced the WAY the guitar is played tremendously, but that's a different thing entirely.

Ahem, I believe you forgot something, switching the strings around. I think that was the secret to awesomeness. I need to get a leftie guitar on my hands, reverse the nut, and then I'll be the guitar hero I've always wanted to be.

[nieh]

by development, do you mean, like the actual physical guitar evolving, or development like playing?

[DarkAxel]

Gilmour.

And that's what I really mean.

yeah, at least for me

and to be more provocative... you know... for all the people who have some taste


Gilmour OR Hendrix, but personally - Gilmour wins BY FAR

[GardenoftheDead]

Willie Kizart from Ike Turner's Kings of Rhythm. Perhaps the first use of distorted guitar on a popular single (Rocket 88). And the rest is history.

[Rob Fossil]

Of course the correct answer is Les Paul, but for an innovator who has influenced pretty much everyone on ILF (whether they know it or not), I'm going with Robert Fripp. Frippertronics, New Standard Tuning, alternative picking techniques, etc, Fripp casts a long shadow on the ILF community.

[DarkAxel]

Of course the correct answer is Les Paul, but for an innovator who has influenced pretty much everyone on ILF (whether they know it or not), I'm going with Robert Fripp. Frippertronics, New Standard Tuning, alternative picking techniques, etc, Fripp casts a long shadow on the ILF community.

nice two words...

whole-tone scale

[yallerhon]

You guys have just given me a whole bunch of stuff to read up on, on Wikipedia. Great posts!

[Chankgeez]

by development, do you mean, like the actual physical guitar evolving, or development like playing?

By "development" I mean anything you take it to mean.

I think actual physical evolution and evolution of playing technique goes hand in hand. One influences the other, right?

So far, I think dubkitty's come closest with his suggestion of Charlie Christian. Though I would opt for Christian's contemporary T-Bone Walker as having slightly more of an impact. Walker had more popular appeal. Ask any blues lawyer. (Or don't because they probably don't even know who T-Bone Walker is.)

(Funnily enough, I was listening to a Jackie Brenston & His Delta Cats song this morning. Kizart's good, but he didn't have a sustained enough career to make much of a dent. I doubt most people even know who he is. His boss, Ike Turner, on the other hand is a different story.)

[jfrey]

Since I spend probably 60% of my listening time on metal, I'm going to throw out someone specific and overlooked that relates to the development of music in that field.

Louis Dambra of Sir Lord Baltimore.

"Sir Lord Baltimore is an American rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 1968 by lead vocalist/drummer John Garner, guitarist Louis Dambra, and bass player Gary Justin. They are notable for the fact that a 1971 review of their debut record, Kingdom Come, contained the first documented use of the term "heavy metal" to refer to a style of music.[1] Additionally, Sir Lord Baltimore featured a drumming lead singer, traditionally a rarity in rock and metal music.[2] The group have been called "the godfathers of stoner rock.""

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Lord_Baltimore

He isn't the most influential person by any means, so maybe I shouldn't have brought him up, but I think he's up there. All of metal, and a lot of rock would probably be pretty different today if it wasn't for them.

[Big Mon]

Marty Robbins' pedal steel guy, and Marty Robbins himself. That one blown tube, and the green light from Robbins to keep on playing...the birth of fuzz-the reason this forum exists. Not necessarily saying the MOST influential ever, but I think we all owe those dudes a debt of gratitude

[univalve]

Dick Dale:
Reverb, Showman Amps and Hendrix

[phantasmagorovich]

Keith Rowe of AMM for me because he was the one to understand the electric guitar as a sound source that does not have as much to do with guitar as most people think. It's only a controller for your entire rig and as such one of the greatest because it is physical and malleable and warpable and able to produce a myriad of sounds that were not intended by people who think of the electric guitar as a guitar.