Who did most for Rock Guitar or who made you take it up.

[fasteddie]

Jimi. Jimmy. Richie. Eddie.

Under starters orders, get ready....set....go.

[Dave Scepter]

Ronnie Montrose 

[fasteddie]

41 minutes ago, gtrdaddy said:

Hendrix changed the game forever. As a yute, Jimmy Page was my impetus for playing.

Some might say all he did was play blues, but a bit louder, and a bit more showy?...Just sayin'

[hamerhead]

The Monkees made me take it up. I was 6 or 7 when they were on TV and it was sooo cool.

In my lifetime Jimi and Eddie changed the game the most. Seems weird they were only about 10 years apart. People have taken the Eddie thing and expanded on it, but nobody since has really - successfully/ popularly - blown the doors off it the way he did. He was a cold slap in the face that's now 40 years past. Where's the new Ed?

The Rev and Jimmy have been favorites from the beginning, with a dash of VH for good measure.

[tommy p]

Malcolm and Angus, in that order.

[scottcald]

AC/DC and Jimmy Page.  

[BubbaVO]

Ace.  And I ain't ashamed to admit it.

[tbonesullivan]

Brian May and Angus Young. Probably more Angus, as AC/DC is much more "accessible" to a starting guitarist. Brian May's stuff is unconventional as hell.

[kizanski]

Two very different questions here.
The first is all opinion, but when you consider who did "the most for Rock guitar," you have to look at who one person had for an influence or a body of work from which to benefit. You can keep going back and back, but eventually you have to decide who the originator was.
Certainly my favorite guitar player who ever walked the Earth is Hendrix, but even he wouldn't have had the idea to bring the instrument so far out front had Chuck Berry not done it first.
So, my answer is Chuck Berry, as much as it pains me to say it, because I think he's as overrated from a player standpoint as Jimi was great.
Sure, you can say Berry was influenced by this one and that one, but no one brought the guitar front and center the way he did before he did. Certainly no one of any popularity, and Berry had a ton of that going for him.
After that, there are the ones who made the seismic breakthroughs with the instrument, like Jimi and EVH, but they had Berry's example on which to build.

As for who made me take it up, there's no opinion there and I've cited this many times on the forum.
The artist was Jeff Beck, and the record was "Wired."

[Steve Haynie]

As soon as I saw the thread title my thought was Chuck Berry.  He wrote catchy guitar songs that everyone could learn, and everyone who grew up in the 50's and 60's learned those songs.  The Rolling Stones and The Beatles were among those people learning Chuck's licks and songs. 

Elvis made the guitar look cool.  Eddie Cochran and Buddy Holly put the guitar out front with their own songs, but Chuck Berry was more influential. 

[diablo175]

19 hours ago, gtrdaddy said:

And they'd be wrong.

This.

Jimi was well known for bringing in other musical elements and styles he himself was exposed to, funk, jazz, certain world styles, etc. albeit, later in his all-too-short career. To the blues point, he could and did play the blues but took the blues in a direction they had never been taken. And some might argue; never have or will.

 

As far as who did the most for Rock guitar- I'd say Jimi, Jimmy Page, Ace Frehely and Eddie Van Halen probably had the most profound impact on people wanting to learn rock guitar.

They certainly have my vote (along with Angus) as the most influential.

 

 

[Jakeboy]

An incredibly insightful, though somewhat rare post from the Kiz just absolutely nails it. Nails it, I say.

For me it is all about 3....Keith on Satisfaction. Beatles on Hard Day’s Night  first chord, and Jimmy. Page on Heartbreaker.

[gorch]

For the most, the named one‘s and Tom Scholz certainly. His sound was remarkable and went into the self made SR&D products the replicated to many guitarists from 70s into the 80s, Eddie included i.e.

For picking it up I‘d say Brian May, Andy Scott, and, Rick Nielsen.

[tommy p]

On 10/3/2018 at 11:16 AM, tbonesullivan said:

Brian May and Angus Young. Probably more Angus, as AC/DC is much more "accessible" to a starting guitarist. Brian May's stuff is unconventional as hell.

AC/DC's simplicity is probably what hooked me too.  When I started trying to play guitar, Highway to Hell was one of the first songs I can remember wanting to learn and it sounded easy enough.  Malcolm Young is my favorite guitarist now, but back then I thought he sucked.  I thought "what kind of guitar player could he be if he NEVER plays a lead?"  I had convinced myself that any single note lines I heard on AC/DC songs were all Angus.  The dumb things you make up in your head when you don't know any better!  Luckily, I used to pan AC/DC albums hard left and hard right to hear Angus and Malcolm's parts separately and when I heard that Mal doing the riffs to Riff Raff and Beating Around the Bush but with that grunty, cleaner tone of his I changed my tune pretty quick.  Seeing them live further convinced me that he was THE MAN.  I play lead, but I still prefer to play rhythm and it's because of him.

 

 

On 10/3/2018 at 12:59 PM, kizanski said:

Two very different questions here.
The first is all opinion, but when you consider who did "the most for Rock guitar," you have to look at who one person had for an influence or a body of work from which to benefit. You can keep going back and back, but eventually you have to decide who the originator was.
Certainly my favorite guitar player who ever walked the Earth is Hendrix, but even he wouldn't have had the idea to bring the instrument so far out front had Chuck Berry not done it first.
So, my answer is Chuck Berry, as much as it pains me to say it, because I think he's as overrated from a player standpoint as Jimi was great.
Sure, you can say Berry was influenced by this one and that one, but no one brought the guitar front and center the way he did before he did. Certainly no one of any popularity, and Berry had a ton of that going for him.
After that, there are the ones who made the seismic breakthroughs with the instrument, like Jimi and EVH, but they had Berry's example on which to build.

As for who made me take it up, there's no opinion there and I've cited this many times on the forum.
The artist was Jeff Beck, and the record was "Wired."

Nice analysis.  I agree that answering the question "who had the biggest effect on YOU?" is different than "who had the biggest effect on guitar?".  Chuck Berry, Eddie Van Halen, Jimi Hendrix, etc. are all fine answers to the latter question but when people ask who I think was the best guitarist of all time, Jeff Beck is always my answer.  His playing has more expressiveness in it than anyone else's I've ever heard and it sounds effortless.  I saw him play in a tiny place 15+ years ago and it just seems like whatever sound is in his head magically comes out of his guitar with no effects - just fingers, volume and tone knobs, and the bar.  No one comes close IMO, but I wouldn't say he had a tremendous effect on guitarists in general.

[Steve Haynie]

19 hours ago, kizanski said:

You can keep going back and back, but eventually you have to decide who the originator was.

This sums it all up.  Chuck gave us "rock and roll" guitar. 

[Steve Haynie]

The cool guitar solo on Rock Around The Clock is not the same as the chunking R&B influenced way Chuck Berry played.  Chuck may not have been the best, but people copied the way he played when they came up with their own music. 

[Bennyboy-UK]

Marty McFly.

[The Shark]

I think about things from a different perspective sometimes.  I like Kizanski's reasoning, but think some of the greatest leaps and bounds came through innovation.  Les Paul invented so much shit early on that every recording or performing guitarist uses or has used, he has to be right up there. 

The Thin Lizzy album Jailbreak was my gateway to taking lessons at the age of fifteen.  I quickly branched out to UFO.  The solo in Too Hot to Handle did it for me.  Then, I was just washed over by so much great music and so many great players.  I really feel blessed to be fifty six years old.  I came up in a great musical time.  My kids?  Not so much.

[kizanski]

Les Paul invented electric guitar, but that was a long time before rock or rock and roll existed.  You could argue that Jim Marshall did more for rock guitar than Les Paul.  

Les Paul electrified the guitar, but I doubt many people heard it until Marshall made it loud.  

The answer is still Chuck Berry.  

[Funky Chicken]

The Beatles probably caused more kids to pick up a guitar than anyone else.

i was already a musician when Rick Nielsen caused me to switch from piano to guitar.

[Dutchman]

Danny Cedrone, First time I heard him play I wanted to play guitar.  I never got anywhere near as good as he was. And yes I'm old!!

 

 

[Dutchman]

I admit I didn’t read all the responses before responding... but I remember what that band did to people... Rock around the Clock would come on the radio and my mom and dad, would start jitterbuggin’ my gramps would even tap his foot. I knew then I wanted to make people happy like that!!

[Biz Prof]

On 10/3/2018 at 9:54 AM, BubbaVO said:

Ace.  And I ain't ashamed to admit it.

I admire your steadfast courage in admitting such. Truth be told, you could probably play on Ace's level after your first year on the instrument. 

[BubbaVO]

3 hours ago, Biz Prof said:

I admire your steadfast courage in admitting such. Truth be told, you could probably play on Ace's level after your first year on the instrument. 

As s a 12 year old in the early 70s, I was definitely  inspired by Space Ace  "to take it up."    Uh about that being on Ace's level...I"m still working on it.   lol.

[DaveH]

On 10/6/2018 at 6:55 PM, Bennyboy-UK said:

Marty McFly.

I promise, your kids are gonna love it...

[fasteddie]

On 10/4/2018 at 6:50 PM, gtrdaddy said:

@kizanski got me thinking, yes Chuck Berry put Rock Guitar solidly on the map, but who else could’ve contributed to inspire Chuck? I’m not sure how much or if at all, but Bill Haley and the Comets began what we now call Rock ‘n’ Roll in 1952 with their cover of Rocket 88. I think many of us are familiar with Rock Around the Clock and its lead guitar. That was before Chuck.  Danny Cedrone’s guitar work on that song still stands tall today as a great piece of playing. He died shortly after recording that. I have to wonder what other great playing we missed out on due to his untimely death, much like Hendrix, SRV and Rhoads. 

If he hadn’t died, would Chuck have stood in his shadow? Maybe, maybe not. Either way fodder for thought.

Dude, Elvis invented rock. That's alright mama, was 1954 he recorded it for his ma and most rock historians make it the first "rock and roll" song.

Thank you very much.